This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers | Hacker News Reader

This Old House: The Rare Home-Improvement Show That Spotlights Skilled Workers

theatlantic.com

304 pointspseudolus128 comments

The intellectual successor to This Old House's take on the entertainment potential of skilled craftsmanship probably isn't drama-filled reality TV, but rather YouTube channels like that of Paul Sellers. My drama-detesting father-in-law and his grandchildren watch those videos all day long to appreciate the craftsmanship, learning opportunities, and creativity of final products.

I don't feel particularly concerned by the espoused narrative that skill is being replaced by drama on TV. We live in a world where people seeking drama-free, skilled craftsman content can access all they could want and more, and This Old House can be proud of their contribution to this through a 40 year legacy of television content (and, relatedly, an awesome YouTube channel)

Agree so much with this. Frank Howarth, Abom79, This Old Tony, Welding Tips and Tricks, Jimmy DiResta, Stumpy Nubs, Stefan Gotteswinter - there's so much great content like this on youtube. TV was never a great place for craft because it has to serve a general audience. Youtube has so much niche specific content with pretty great production values.

Wow you named almost every channel I pay attention to. I would add Matt Cremona, AvE, NYCCNC and April Wilkerson.

I listen to the Welding Tips and Tricks podcast that features a 60 year old from Alabama (Hi It's Jody from Welding Tips and Tricks) talking to two guys in rural Ohio. They regularly mention how Instagram in particular has encouraged friendly competition amongst welders. Whereas previously a great welder would only be known to the 20 guys in his shop, now he can post those intricate welds on Instagram and people countrywide try to emulate that technique. The maker community is positive, kind and encouraging. For all the negativity swirling around social media, it is nice to see it used in positive ways to unite people.

Yeah, those channels are all on my list. How could I forget NYCCNC? He's taught me so much. I grew up with a pretty hands on education in basics of mechanics and woodworking, but youtube and web forums have made it possible for me to self-teach the CNC, Machining, and Woodworking hobby at pretty much any level I want to engage with it. There's always a video for what you want.

Project Binky, from Bad Obsession Motorsport

Two rally car fabricators and lifelong friends in Shropshire who, over the last five years, have been fitting an AWD turbo Celica into the rusted out shell of an old Mini, while adding an air conditioner and a stereo. The craft and attention to detail are absurd.

Binky is absolutely fantastic. I've been following it for years and it's great they're posting more often now that their Patreon is supporting the show.

I'd also add B is for Build.

I’m sure there are perfectly good reasons having to do with logistics, but I find it hilarious that they put the sound system in before they had the radiators built.

Doing the important work first :)

Bob Moffat from weld.com channel on yt is great

I'll add to this Ishitani Furniture. It's not quite informative like many of the others you mentioned as there is no narration or exposition, it's a little more artistic in that you simply admire a skilled craftsman performing his craft from start to finish.

If you like them Essential Craftsmen is also a great channel. He is a bit more no-nonsense compared to like This Old Tony (who I LOVE) without being dry.

Plus he has Cy

Just discovered him this weekend and binge watched his spec house series!

Love this one.

Great list. Also really good - Mustie1 who does a lot of old VW "rustoration", and South Main Auto, who's a whiz with electronic diagnosis tools. I've learned a lot from these channels.

+1 for Mustie1

I would add to this list Matthias Wandel, who has tutorial videos about making his own jigs and tools from wood, including a a 20" bandsaw from plywood. He also invented a "pantorouter", which allows a router to follow a template at 2:1 scale.

I used to think it was great, but now I think about a powermatic bandsaw.

(AvE was involved. I chose wood shop because he said there weren't any old welders i.e. they don't live long)

ever seen a welder wearing a mask? I really haven't. But, I've seen many welders breathing stick welding fumes through a lit filter cigarette...sigh.

As someone who welds as a hobby, I'd say the bigger danger for anyone welding is probably grinding dust/silicosis, rather than welding fumes. (But, There are obvious qualifications, like don't weld zinc, etc.)

That's a funny claim. I know welders of all ages. The older ones seem to tend to migrate to other work which requires less physical exertion, but that's true of every job I see.

I don't know any old dancers, but that doesn't mean dancing is lethal. It means they tend to shift to choreography or teaching or something else as they get older.

His tone of voice was really funny. ISTR it was on a video about beginning stick welding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fUAHkUfTps&t=17m34s

Somewhat surprised not to see ClickSpring [1] on your list. Though maybe not so much home-improvement (I'd argue Welding Tips and Tricks isn't so much either), Chris' series on making a skeleton clock shows some top notch craftsmanship, and the production values are amazing.

At the other end of the spectrum (low-tech but maybe considered home-improvement) would be Primitive Technology [2] - an Aussie that builds all manner of things from clay, sticks, vines, and fire.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/clickspring

[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA

I've found "Acorn to Arabella" [2] to be a wonderful series/channel so far - "building a 38’ sailboat from stump to ship".

"People building things" is easily my favorite genre on YouTube. Old things [0, 1, 2], new things [3, 4], useless things [5], repairing things [6] - all fantastic.

0: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA

1: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEjEAxdJLOg4k854j-oESfQ

2: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAiDWnTP0WB1xCp6uuUo0VA

3: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSvdee86uThqIrloZjWwNVg

4: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2rNse2XX4Rjzmldv9GqrQ

5: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRkUtHQ774mTg1vrQ6uA5A

6: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJvsSlrbdhn4PDXdIuLKW...

Man, I can't watch acorn to Arabella after watching them pour that lead keel. That was super dangerous and irresponsible.

Yeah, there were almost certainly far better ways to do that. Not to mention they now have two lead keels, since they haven't done anything with Victoria's... (But I don't remember if they had bought Victoria as a parts ship yet when doing the Arabella pour)

They have seemed to start taking PPE more seriously in recent episodes though, at least for welding bronze.

Victoria had an iron keel.

Well that certainly explains why it wasn't melted down to contribute to Arabella's lead keel then

I would add “The Crazy Framer” to the list. He gives a great insight into production level rough carpentry and also the shear amount of work one person can accomplish in a short amount of time when they are focused and competent.

Matthias Wandel has some excellent woodworking from the perspective of an electrical engineer; Andrew Camarata's channel has hundreds of hours of practical ingenuity and problem solving.

Nice. Came here to mention Paul Sellers too.

Humorist Adam Carolla has pointed out several times on his podcast that guys who work with their hands (his examples have been car guys and carpenters) don't have time to worry about the drama-filled escapades that the creative types or the white collar types engage in every day. Having worked in both there seems to be some validity in this.

This is a pretty big generalization. If you've stepped foot in many construction sites and seen no "drama" between workers, you weren't paying attention.

I think Marc Spagnuolo (the Wood Whisperer) belongs on the top of this list. Wonderful content and teaching style that helped me go from a noob to producing quality hardwood furniture in a matter of months.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer

Don't forget that Roy Underhill in the Woodwright's Shop on PBS is also an intellectual predecessor to people like Paul Sellers.

Oh my goodness, if there was ever a reason to donate monthly to PBS, it’s for the old episodes of the Woodwright’s shop on their “PBS Passport” service.

That show, apart from being educational, is gentle and warm in the same was that the late great Bob Ross makes people feel from his show. It’s salve for the soul.

I discovered that they had many seasons of The Woodwright's Shop on pbs.org freely available while dealing with a bout of the stomach flu. That show is great. Even my three year old daughter enjoys it.

When I was a kid my parents took me on a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia. My Dad is an amateur woodworker and while we were walking down a dirt road in the colonial district area, Roy Underhill was working alone in the front yard of one of the houses and my father recognised him (he's a huge fan of The Woodwright's Shop) and walked over to say hello and thank him. He was a great guy, super friendly and totally cool about talking shop. I took of picture of them together that I still have.

Anyway, without that PBS show I would have never gotten into hand-tooled woodworking.

Oh man, what a great story! I’m usually scared to meet my heroes, because I don’t want to be disappointed. Glad to know Underhill was able to live up to you and your dad’s expectations.

I always wanted to see a crossover episode that had both Roy Underhill and Norm Abrams -- two extreme opposite ways of woodworking (hand tools vs cool power toys). Would be really entertaining to see how they would approach a similar project.

Roy Underhill is so damn good. I guess I thought I'm the only person that used to watch that show.

Matt Risinger. My hero, although would love him to do more of an "amazing quality on a budget price" diversion.

We love Matt's work. We just watched his series on ICF construction as part of getting ready for a project we have.

We also like Anna White's construction videos since she and her husband build in cold environments whereas Matt is often talking about Texas projects.

Agreed that there are some real gems on Youtube. What is more, the various presentations work for different people, so finding someone who can explain the process to you in a way you understand is more manageable.

I think the subtext of the article which is that skilled tradespeople are to be admired just as much as skilled professionals (doctors, lawyers, Etc.) is sometimes overlooked.

For young people, especially those who have been told that a STEM job is the only job you can excel at and get respect, this message needs to be surfaced more often. You can be respected and in demand and well paid by mastering a skill that takes practice and experience. You don't need an expensive college degree, you just need a solid mentor.

>>What is more, the various presentations work for different people

This is such an excellent point, and something that really gives YT an advantage. For instance, AvE certainly has some excellent information in his videos, but I personally have found the presentation style (all the channel-specific jargon & toilet humor) increasingly off-putting; while a channel like this old tony still manages humorous content without sacrificing approachablility & technical accuracy.

For another example, there have been multiple people upthread reccomending channels like Abom & OxToolco. I really enjoyed Tom Lipton's (OxTool) book "Metalworking: Sink or Swim"; I just have trouble with the typical length of the videos so I rarely watch them. None of these channels can draw a large enough audience for television, but there's enough space online for these smaller, distinct presentation styles.

It's interesting how AvE has become more bombastic as he's gotten more popular. And for Tom Lipton, his videos are significantly better if you speed them up to 1.5.

Can you really?

A sibling lives near an old industrial center; he drives truck for Sysco. We occasionally discuss different careers. Tool & die makers near him don't make more than truck drivers.

I'm sure there are some examples -- if you can do eg old-style timber framing for people who can afford 10-inch old growth timber and want 30+ foot ceilings, there will always be a handful of well-paying gigs.

But how common are these jobs for people at the, say, 70th percentile of skill rather than 95th?

>I don't feel particularly concerned by the espoused narrative that skill is being replaced by drama on TV.

This isn't even that new; your post reminds me of Orange County Choppers, supposedly a show about custom-made motorcycles. I tried watching this once or twice, many years ago (10+), when it first came out, thinking I'd get to see some interesting welding and such. No, I just saw a bunch of yelling and arguing. And this was on the "Discovery Channel".

I was super bummed to see there is basically zero technical creativity of any kind that goes into those choppers, all have the same geometry and huge v twin engine. Now I get its more a visual work of art but I could care less what kind of flames are painted on the gas tank and can’t imagine who pays 20K for these.

I would add Matt Jackson and his Next Level Carpentry channel on YouTube. He's a true craftsman, and as far from drama as you can imagine. Definitely worth viewing.

[edit to make the channel name obvious]

Man, I love This Old House.

Even as someone who is not terribly handy, it is so nice to see professionals at work. Even though they are all hosts, you quickly can see that they know their stuff. Contractors and handymen are so hit and miss - it's a great way to understand quality work.

And again, the professionalism. These guys are all old fogeys who know their way around 100+ year old construction techniques. But the show has a great focus on embracing new technology and weaving it in successfully. If anything, it is a great way to wave off false nostalgia - seeing a host talk about how robust an octopus furnace was back in the day, but then describe how superior a modern system actually is.

In comparison, the HGTV shows seem obsessed with blinging out boxes of drywall.

> But the show has a great focus on embracing new technology and weaving it in successfully.

My favorite clips from This Old House is when the hosts talk about how much better the new tools and techniques are and why.

Those are mostly native ads which is the main weakness of the post-Abram series.

Are you sure of that? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I find the lengths TOH goes to to obscure and omit brand names fanatical. It's never "The Home Depot", it's always "your local big box store" (even though it's always orange shelves).

Likewise, a lot of logos are blurred out or taped over. They use generic references whenever possible.

But, despite all that, I know that Tommy loves Festool, and Norm is Kreg guy. But is there money changing hands?

It's from Ask TOH, but there's things like https://www.thisoldhouse.com/watch/solar-panels-follow-sun-i... which is surely a "native advertisement".

I haven't seen This Old House in years. As an apartment-dwelling teenager in the 80's, I watched it every week. My grandfather had been a carpenter and I was amazed at the skill of Bob Vila and Norm Abram, who at first was a peripheral character.

The current "reality show" home improvement shows all have the same flaw: no one cares about the actual work; it's all about the fake drama. We used to love the Restoration show on the History Channel when it actually showed the process they went through to estimate costs, get parts and do the real work. But a season later, all that stuff was pushed to the background for, you guessed it, more fake drama!

It really bugs me because you'd think that with as many available TV channels as there are, there'd be room for all kinds of quality entertainment, but in the end it all just seems to be a race to the bottom in search of more viewers with miniscule attention spans.

The only reality show I've watched was Swamp Loggers---they seemed to have half a clue and be interested in the actual work involved. I understand the show was cancelled because the production company wanted them to drama-it-up.

Flipped over to watch one of the other logging shows and in the first scene they were loading logs over the cab of the truck (!), which was occupied by the driver at the time (!). Nope.

Try "Detroit Muscle", "Truck Tech" and "Extreme Off Road". They show how to customize/restore cars without any drama. Just straightforward exposition.

Vaguely remember an Orange County Choppers episode taking gratuitous potshots at Intel

OCC was definitely dramatized. The parent comment's suggestions though are indeed TOH-style mechanic shows.

Which was such a shame, since the guys definitely had great technical skills & I really wanted to like the show but couldn't get past the screaming. I'm not really into choppers, but am into antique bikes (currently mounting a sidecar on a 73 HD), so it should have been right up my alley.

Not a bike guy, but definitely watched to see their creations in the end.

Wheeler Dealers is another good one. It's been on for decades and Ant Antstead does some incredibly engaging and informative work despite the fast pace of the show.

This Old House has a very active YouTube channel.

As an aspiring woodworker and handyman, I just want to suggest This Old House Insider [1]

The subscription gives you access to the entire This Old House and Ask This Old House library. They're in the process of adding all New Yankee Workshop episodes as well as PDF plans of those projects (normally $14.99 each). It's become my Sunday morning go-to now.

1) https://www.thisoldhouse.com/introducing-this-old-house-insi...

The most recent episodes of the current season are also available on PBS Passport which you can get for a $5 monthly donation to your local station.

Edit: It's something like $95.60/year. I've been getting it as a gift so didn't realize how bad the signup form was. Also, they don't have any app/roku support yet so I cast the video from Chrome.

This looks really interesting. However they don't seem to list any prices without you first giving them all your personal contact information. Would you mind sharing the price?

I believe it's $95.60 per year.

There's a YouTube channel that I feel espouses the values set forth by "This Old House" - and is as much fun to watch:

Essential Craftsman

I grew up on This Old House, and I relax to Essential Craftsman today. I hope someone else can find it as much fun as I do.

Essential Craftsman is fantastic. For anyone who doesn't know, the concept is that he is building a spec house and walking you through every step of the process, from surveying the site, to getting permits, all the way through building it.

It's going to take him a long time, but anyone who wants to catch up he has a playlist of the first 32 episodes at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRZePj70B4IwyNn1ABhJW...

Strongly agree. I'd like to point out that his Spec House project is only one of many things he's involved with. The blacksmithing, woodworking, and other videos are equally great. One video in particular is ostensibly about construction work ethic, but I like to think applies quite well to software development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP1AmDRhoas

I just recently found Essential Craftsman, and I absolutely love it!

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP1AmDRhoas) popped up on my YouTube feed about a month ago and really spoke to me. I encourage everyone to spend 13 min and watch/listen.

Great stuff!

Love that guy. I'll probably end up with an anvil someday because of him.

That guy is great. Every time I work on a project I remember him saying that scribing beats measuring.

This Old House is great for people interested in DIY or just knowing more about how houses should be built and renovated. Having done a fair amount of that myself, the HGTV shows can be very misleading. There's no sense of the scale of a project when everything finishes within the duration of a one-hour episode and the HGTV budget numbers are completely opaque and questionably realistic. I sometimes wonder if they're including any promotional discounts they receive in those budget numbers since some of them are far below what it would cost me to do a project even in a lost CoL area of the country.

It's a great show, sort of the housebuilding equivalent of "How It's Made". One of the problems with the various HGTV shows is that they tend entirely gloss over the nature of the work that's actually performed. Plus, you got to love those Boston/Massachusetts accents.

Another gem from that area on PBS is Rough Cut with Tommy Mac. It kind of makes you want to quit your job and just build furniture, but I love that he tends to go into the weeds of the little tricks and techniques.

The Woodwright's Shop (https://www.woodwrightschool.com/): he's been doing this for longer than I've been alive, he's in freakin' great shape, and he has the sharpest tools known to man.

[Edit: Holy poop! "BlockChain Implementation w/ Roy Underhill" (https://www.woodwrightschool.com/classes/blockchain-implemen...).

Hometime (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hometime_(U.S._TV_series)) with Dean Johnson and (as the Dianne and I liked to joke) this season's TV wife.

The blockchain implementation course is the best thing I have ever seen. So deadpan

"How It's Made" is often fascinating to watch, and it always reminds me of a childhood favourite: "The secret life of machines":

http://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Machines

Full episodes are available on Youtube, for example The Quartz Watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ9_bOIj49s

I still watch the show and as I'm closing on my first house this week I am more dedicated to watching it. However, for a long time they have done these super expensive houses with cutting edge techniques that don't really reflect the homes of most homeowners or the techniques available to most (the current house is a midcentury modern house with EIGHT different sets of stairs.) They have recently done more modest homes in Detroit and Charleston but even then they did two houses at a time which meant they were more superficial than I would like. Ask This Old House is more my speed.

You will have noticed that the "B story" during the midcentury modern project is other projects they did in old episodes.

The unrealistic element in TOH is possibly down to sponsors or donations. One house will be done with cast-off-site foundation walls and another house will be done with poured-in-place foundation walls and it is not clear why.

I watch the show religiously obviously.

> The unrealistic element in TOH is possibly down to sponsors or donations

Or budget.

How does This Old House select project houses?

This Old House chooses two projects each season.

The fall project is usually located in or around our base of Boston, so that the crew can stay close to home for a significant part of the season.

The winter project is generally located in a mild climate where outdoor work may be undertaken during the winter months.

The renovations are completely funded by the homeowners and not by This Old House, though the show arranges for product discounts and donations where possible. All donated items are considered gifts and the homeowners pay taxes on them.

In addition to This Old House, I'd also really recommend viewers check out a Canadian show Holmes on Homes (and some of the successor series by the same guys) - That's more how modern construction and repairs should be done right and they also tackle cleaning up after some nightmares left behind by bad contractors.

Then there was that one season (roughly around when Bob Vila left) where they had new carpenter who was missing some fingers. One episode he shows up with a mass of bandages on one hand, gives a lecture on saw safety, and never appeared again.

Riley. He was the carpenter on Villa's clone show. (Home Again?)

here in the city, we do sew them back on now, you know..

Sometimes, we use toes, too.

These guys always do things 'the right way'.

I'd love to see a similar show on software development. Building an interface for ecommerce with an existing 20 year old computer system.

'This old mainframe'

> I'd love to see a similar show on software development.

Given the quality problems with most software systems, I would expect the host to be Gordon Ramsey, not Norm Abrams.

This API call is RAW. Come on, what are you doing man.

Although I would pay serious $$$ to see Gordon Ramsey do a code review.

"Would you let your mom online shop at a store using this code?!"

Building an interface for ecommerce with an existing 20 year old computer system.

We had e-commerce in 1999. But that does sound like a fun show, I'd watch.

Yup, eBay was founded in 1995.

Pluto TV has a 24/7 This Old House streaming channel that I often find my way into as it makes for wonderful background entertainment while doing other things around the house. Always interesting DIY material, drama free, no wasted air time.

I don't watch much of HGTV these days, but from what I've seen of the shows on it, I get the impression that the reason they don't feature the worked of skilled tradespeople is that they don't use skilled tradespeople. A lot of the work you see go by at double-speed is quick and dirty set dressing.

That is true at least some of the time. Some close friends were selected for a renovation of their living room and at the end it looked nice but things like electrical outlets weren’t hooked up, tv mounted on new wall but no plug, etc.

Looked good on the show but there was definitely work to be done to finish it so it was livable.

One of the main problems with This Old House, the cost of the homes and projects are for the top 10% of income earners, so generally, they're not examples of rebuilds that can be had by the majority of home owners. I get that real copper gutters are cool and will last two lifetimes, but how many people can afford that? I could think of about a dozen examples like this that regular folk can not afford, slate roofs, stone fireplaces, old growth flooring etc.

This is where "Ask This Old House" comes in. It's aimed at more normal person level of material.

They do all kinds of houses, but simple jobs go quick so there's not much to put on TV. Sometimes they'll follow 2 or more jobs concurrently, one of which might be relatively straight-forward.

Hoo boy, you aren't kidding. I have an older home and my wife reached out to this old house about getting some work done. I have a slate roof, real plaster walls, needed some wood working done like a new french door crafted, etc, etc. I don't remember the exact number any more but I think they weren't interested if my budget was less than $650k. I didn't pay that for my house!

Wasn't a fan of This Old House, but was a huge fan of HomeTime, which is of a similar vein and as other's have said, much better then the current crop of Reality Home Improvement shows out there.

http://www.hometime.com/home.html

I absolutely love the sub PBS channel, Create (56.3 in Detroit). It comes in over the air, plays This Old House and all of the other content is soothing, professional and drama free. If you've cut the cord, but sometimes just want to turn on tv again, it might be a good idea to pick up a 5 dollar antenna

I will second create tv. In Boston it’s 44.3 They tend to have a lot of cooking shows, but there is a fair amount of woodworking/this old house.

I love the cooking shows! It's all instructional and not competition. It's really nice to have in the background while working from home, at the volume level I wish my open office was at (a decibel over a whisper)

The New Yankee Workshop

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0184144/

Just sayin'

I remember norm abrams asking someone to be allowed to measure their table. Cut to back at his workshop recreating it from his notes. Amazing woodworker

Check out their reddit AMA from 2017

https://old.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/5m7ild/hi_reddit_greet...

Since I bought a house, I have begun to truly appreciate the craft that goes into house construction and repair, as well as how little it's appreciated outside of the industry. Screw all the "project guys" who have their insane ideas of how something should work; they're not worth as much as a properly concreted fence post any day.

I'm still no DIY home guy but I love learning from professionals when I need something done. I've used Angie's List and Thumbtack successfully, but honestly there are still huge parts of matching crews to projects that are entirely offline and very inefficient.

Skilled workers and safe practices. There are people all over the DIY and HGTV networks that make me wonder how they they still have all of their digits.

Had TOH offered the Generation Next apprenticeships 20+ years ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity to spend a few months working alongside these master craftsmen. They've been a great example of the skill and hard work it takes to do things the right way and turn a busted old house into a beautiful home.

I find myself only watching the cars shows that are pure amateur affairs.

The instant that there's money involved (or Motortrend TV) it gets awful. I could give a rip about some pro shop putting together a $200k Camaro in about 22 minutes...usually artificial deadlines and all.

I got to work as a Production Assistant for Bob Vila back in the mid-90s for a shoot he did in my local town. It was after he left This Old House.

Really enjoyed the day, he was quite friendly, as was his crew. Always have a soft spot for him and that kind of show.

I have no idea what the Japanese text is, in fact, there are no words spoken, but this channel is addictive: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3N0EPxNFKDFKHFNhB9YaZw

It's Japanese Crafts. Not a whole of details as each video is 3 to 5 minutes. For example, this video shows Japan Hakone Marquetry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvOMHoLRBY&list=PLYNekzFSRD...

I love TOH, but the last few seasons they have started doing more "field trips" (lets go see how glass is made) and less home improvement. For me this makes it less enjoyable to watch.

That, and the trips to the design centers. I find no enjoyment watching the homeowners browse through different color swatches and light fixture designs.

Ohh, in this same thread I recommend danger marine. He is currently rebuilding an old steel trawler. Welding, painting, engine work, all great stuff.

Wow, I totally kept reading this headline as: "The Rare Home-Improvement Show That's Spotlights killed Workers".

There’s always the next World Cup for that.

Some some odd reason I really enjoy Townsends.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxr2d4As312LulcajAkKJYw

A channel dedicated to exploring the 18th Century lifestyle

Wonderful show, with wonderful hosts. I can't recommend it highly enough.

It's one of the many pieces of entertainment that should be far more popular than it is, but instead most people choose whatever the heck is going on over at HGTV shudder.

Anyone know where to get old seasons of This Old House?

There is a free app for AppleTV that has a subset of TOH and AskTOH seasons. Looks like there is a similar Roku channel.

Hulu used to stream a few seasons, but when they did it was a subset of the seasons available on the apps mentioned.

I love watching their youtube channel for the comments. So many things they do aren't up to code depending on location and it's amazing to see what is kosher and what isn't just depending on where the house is.

I really hate the "code worshipers" that pop up in the comments on everything building related.

You give someone advice on how to do something and then a million assholes take it as their opportunity to butt in with some comment that usually start with "well actually". They're all just virtue signaling to each other about how much they know the code. Like, screw you. I told OP how to replace his water heater. If the old didn't fill his house with CO then the new one won't either assuming he does a straight swap. Trying to give practical advice is such a pain in the ass.

On the one hand, yeah, it's annoying. On the other hand though, if a piece of advice is wrong, it's wrong. It's not really a great idea to just ignore the building code when it doesn't suit you. There's a real problem in some parts of the internet where people with a superficial understanding of the problem space offer advice as if they were experts, and it needs to be pushed back against when those people offer bad advice.

Yeah, but bad advice is easy to tear down without resorting to the "hurr, durr, check your local code, my code requires X." The people that just worship the code without understanding why the code says what it says are what I'm complaining about. A lot of building code is there to facilitate consistency and ease of inspection and in those cases the "wrong" way of doing things is perfectly fine at small scale but it would be impractical/expensive to do that at a larger scale.

Any time someone from Phoenix posts their new deck, there will always be someone chiding the shallow footings. ("Frost will destroy that in 3 years, hurr, durr.")

When a new home addition in Los Angeles is featured, you get the Brick Mafia laughing about how we use wood frame construction ("You yankees use cheap stuff"). Never mind that earthquakes favor the bendy sticks over the brittle blocks.

Huge swaths of code are tied to local weather and common disaster scenarios. Florida really likes their hurricane ties, California loves their Simpson ties, in New England you need to dig down 4 feet to install a birdbath!

Other large discrepancies just come from different attitudes toward methods. Like mechanical vents for plumbing (where the vent goes to an interior check valve instead of up through the roof). Some places allow it, others prohibit it. I don't know why exactly, or who is "right".

But the point is: if The Code is someone's only objection to a construction technique, then I don't think it's a valid objection. They need to say why the technique or omission is wrong or dangerous.

On the other hand, if you have a choice of whether to do it according to code or not, wouldn't you rather pick the one that's legal? Or, if you judge it not worth it, at least be aware of it?

its like the difference between Overhaulin and Pimp My Ride

where is Bob Vila????

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