Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Arts & Culture

This Old House: Los Angeles Project, Part 3 Of 10

Master carpenter Norm Abram, homeowners Kurt Albrecht and Mary Blee, and host Kevin O'Connor appear on "This Old House" in the first-ever renovation project in Los Angeles -- a 1933 Spanish Colonial Revival home located in the picturesque hillside community of Silver Lake.
Courtesy of Image Group LA
Master carpenter Norm Abram, homeowners Kurt Albrecht and Mary Blee, and host Kevin O'Connor appear on "This Old House" in the first-ever renovation project in Los Angeles -- a 1933 Spanish Colonial Revival home located in the picturesque hillside community of Silver Lake.

Airs Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 1 p.m. on KPBS TV

America’s favorite home improvement series, the Emmy Award-winning "This Old House," continues with host Kevin O’Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, landscape contractor Roger Cook and master carpenter Norm Abram.

Los Angeles House Webcams

Follow the project in real time!

For the second project of the season, "This Old House" goes Hollywood with the first ever renovation project in the Los Angeles area.

Resources

Visit the "This Old House" website to browse photo galleries, get money saving ideas and watch how-to videos.

In this episode, host Kevin O’Connor arrives to find the new clay roof tiles on site as well as the custom windows and doors, which are made of wood and single-glazed to keep a historic look. They meet the strict California energy codes with a combination of tempered glass and Low-E coatings.

Advertisement

Roofing contractor John Dybas returns to show Kevin the plan they’ve come up with for the new roof: using the roof tiles from the old house for the perimeter of the new roof only where they can be seen from the street. The rest of the field will be new, manufactured two-pan tile to cut down on costs.

Down in Corona, California, Kevin sees how piles of clay and sand are mixed with water and fire to produce our roof tiles.

Back in Silver Lake, John shows Kevin the polypropylene underlayment he’s using, the flashing details, and how his expert crew sets the tiles along the ridges using nails, mortar, and hand tools.

Out on the reservoir, the director of operations for the LADWP, Marty Adams, shows plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey how the neighborhood landmark has been providing LA with drinking water, and why it is being taken offline.

Up in Griffith Park, they go thirty-five feet below ground to see the new infrastructure going in that will supply the city with water in the future.

Advertisement

Back at the house, stucco specialist Alfonso Garcia evaluates the condition of our stucco, which he’ll be working on next time.

Preview: This Old House: Los Angeles Project