♪♪ Kevin: On "Ask This Old House," our experts travel across the country to answer questions about your house.

♪♪ Today, Jenn helps a homeowner who is struggling to manage her gutter runoff.

Jenn: So see all the water coming out of this downspout?

This is going to have a place to go.

Kevin: Then we meet a carpenter who found his calling teaching the next generation.

And Heath replaces a ceiling fan that lacks the proper support.

Heath: It's all designed to hold the weight and the vibration of a fan.

Kevin: Coming up next on "Ask This Old House."

Jenn: Hi, Lauren.

Lauren: Hey, Jenn.

Thanks for coming by.

Jenn: Thanks for writing in.

You want to tell me about the storm water situation going on here?

Lauren: Yeah.

So we have two downspouts on this side of the house.

One right here, and then one all the way down the other end.

And what we're finding is that we're getting water in the basement and also getting pools of water here on the sidewalk that are freezing over in the winter, so we're pretty concerned about that as a liability.

Jenn: Yeah, that's a huge liability.

You know, it's a very busy street, two sidewalks coming together.

So when I was looking at your pictures, originally I was thinking that we take this downspout and that downspout and tie together and bring it to a dry well over here.

But then I thought of all the labor digging up all of these boxwoods.

I didn't want to disturb all that.

So over here, I think we'll just put in a pipe and a pop-up emitter to diffuse into the grass.

And then coming this way, we'll take -- since this is definitely a very important area -- we'll take this downspout, put a little mini dry well right here and then it'll mitigate the water, send it back into the ground.

What do you think?

Lauren: Sounds great.

Jenn: Alright.

So I'm going to grab some tools.

We might have a few thunderstorms today but maybe not.

Lauren: Sounds good.

Thanks, Jenn.

Jenn: Cool.

Okay.

This is the setup that I have for the front yard solution.

I'm going to walk you through it, okay?

Lauren: Great.

Jenn: Over here, Your downspout.

It doesn't need this elbow anymore.

So this elbow was directing water on this to this straight out to the road.

Right?

We'll get rid of that.

Take this elbow off.

Don't need it anymore.

This is the downspout connector.

It's going to fit.

It's a four-inch.

Slide it right up here.

So then this connector will fit to this piece right here.

And then this will go into this elbow.

Right?

So this setup is going to go underground.

You won't see it from here down.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: So the elbow connects to this pipe, right?

So this is a schedule 40 solid PVC pipe that will insert into one of these holes.

But I want to wait to punch these holes out until we get it situated in the ground.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Some people use perforated pipe, which lets water diffuse into the ground, but I wanted to get away from the house directly to this pit.

Lauren: Great.

Jenn: This is the catch basin.

And this catch basin is going to sit within the dry well.

And the dry well basically is a big hole at the bottom.

We're going to put about three inches of crushed stone, and the manufacturer calls out to put a landscape fabric bag.

But I'm just going to add crushed stone because I think it's important in this situation.

So I'm going to do that.

Here's the lid.

Goes on here.

Right?

This is the drain inlet.

So any surface water is going to come in.

It's also you could take these screws off and you could clean it out, so it's a good clean-out.

This sits right on top after you pop out little area in there.

And then crushed stone is going to be filled up to just about here.

We're going to pop all these holes out just in this middle section.

So water will diffuse out, the rest will be open, and then we'll put it in the ground, bury it.

And you won't even see it.

Lauren: Sounds like a great solution.

Jenn: Great.

So let me show you what we have for the back.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Okay.

So back here, much more simplified, right?

We're going to do the same connection with the downspout connector and everything, solid pipe out to this pop-up emitter.

Right?

So this is going to pitch underground just like -- pitch meaning like it's going to be just directed at a slant to get the water over here.

This is called a pop-up emitter.

So what it does, there's a spring on the inside.

So the force of the water is going to come through this pipe.

It's going to lift it up and the water is going to diffuse into this area.

So this will be situated here.

This will be at the level of ground.

And then we'll dig, you know, 18 inches by 18 inches and put gravel underneath just so it doesn't just become soggy and clogged in this area.

It will help it disperse.

Lauren: Great.

Jenn: Okay?

Let's go get started up front.

Lauren: Sounds good.

Jenn: So, this is the area where I think the dry well should be dug.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Before you put any shovel on the ground, we call dig safe.

Everything's been marked.

The gas line is over there, so we're clear of that.

Uh, next, what we do is measure this.

Right?

So this is how wide we want the hole.

I want it to be 36 inches, so I want a overhang of five, six inches on either side and we'll fill that with crushed stone.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: And then we want to measure to the top of this.

Tell me what you see for measurement.

Lauren: Let's see, that plus the gravel gets us to about 40 inches.

Jenn: Perfect.

So when we dig in, we're going to dig 36 by 40 inches.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Here's the 36.

I'm going to make a mark right here.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Alright.

So let's just dig a square.

We'll try to save the sod and then we'll get cranking.

Lauren: Sounds good.

Jenn: Kick your foot underneath and just pry it.

Perfect.

Look at you.

Lauren: Got it.

Jenn: You're a natural.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ Alright, so now the downspout connector is attached to the pipe.

We just have to put in the catch basin.

Lauren: Alright.

Jenn: Perfect.

Okay.

The catch basin is in.

And we need to fill it up with 3/4-inch crushed stone, about 8 inches.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Alright.

So then we'll get the lid and then we'll wrap the fabric around it.

I already cut a hole.

Lauren: And this is so debris doesn't get... Jenn: Yeah.

So soil doesn't get in here.

Lauren: Awesome.

Jenn: Before the rain comes, I think we should get started on the trench out back.

What we're going to do is cut 10 feet out from this downspout, go about five inches on either side of this pipe, and then at the end, we'll dig like a 18-by-18-inch little spot for crushed stone for the pop-up emitter to sit.

Lauren: Okay, great.

♪♪ Jenn: Alright.

Well, I'm glad we got the trench dug before it started torrential pouring.

Lauren: Yep.

Jenn: But now we can see it work in action.

Lauren: Exactly.

Jenn: So see all the water coming out of this downspout?

This is going to have a place to go.

Okay?

So what I'm going to do... Take this off.

So we could adjust it to whatever we need for the pipe.

Do you want to grab the big pipe?

Lauren: Yep.

Jenn: Okay.

That's good.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: So I'm just gonna slip that on here.

Alright, so these are all snug connections.

I'm gonna have you come over here and hold it, and then I'm gonna put some crushed stone underneath.

Lauren: Okay.

♪♪ Jenn: That should be good for right now.

Lauren: Okay.

Jenn: Then you can let it rest.

Then we could tweak it and adjust it.

Lauren: Great.

Jenn: So let's do the same for down here.

Lauren: Okay.

♪♪ Jenn: Tell me when to stop.

Lauren: That looks good.

Jenn: Alright, Lauren, I just want to see it has a ever so slight pitch.

By eye, it looked good.

And by level, it looks good.

So let's backfill this baby.

♪♪ Okay.

♪♪ So it doesn't look that beautiful right now, but it's functional.

And give it, say, a month, it's gonna all knit back together, and it'll be just like your old grass.

Lauren: [ Chuckles ] Perfect.

Jenn: So let's go finish up in the front, and then we'll see how it all goes.

Lauren: Sounds good.

Jenn: Feel that sun?

So psyched the rain stopped.

Lauren: Yeah, it was raining pretty hard there for a while.

Jenn: It was brutal.

Alright.

It looks like we just need a little more on this side.

Yeah?

Lauren: Okay.

Yeah.

Jenn: And then let's just backfill.

♪♪ Alright, now everything's backfilled.

Let's just clean up and, uh, put a little grass seed down.

Lauren: Alright.

Almost done.

Jenn: Cool.

Alright, Lauren, I think this looks pretty good.

Lauren: Awesome.

Thank you so much, Jenn.

Jenn: Yeah, that was great.

I think this is going to be a big accomplishment.

Just keep your seed watered until it pops and then you should be good to go.

Lauren: Awesome.

Thank you.

Jenn: Alright.

That's your present.

Lauren: Bye.

♪♪ Kevin: We love celebrating talented tradespeople who are thriving in their fields.

Today, we highlight a lead carpenter who embodies not only the spirit of craftsmanship, but also mentorship.

Lasana: Hi, my name is Lasana Harper, and I'm a lead carpenter and I work for Kevin Cradock Builders.

Kevin C: Lasana is a great guy.

He's really passionate and engaged in carpentry, and as a carpenter myself, I really connect with that.

He wants to learn.

He's always doing research, trying to figure out how to do a better job for his, for his personal growth, but also to contribute to the company.

He's a great guy.

He's an asset.

Lasana: Everyone has their own experience and story of why they came into the trades.

And so I think it's important for, you know, everyone around to recognize that, you know, carpenters are your peers.

We are your family and friends.

♪♪ So a friend of mine, Alec, introduced me to his father, who gave me a job working on his properties.

I worked for him for maybe two years.

And I remember after the first year, he came to me one day and said, "Do you like this stuff?"

And I was like, "Yeah, I do."

He said, "You know, well, if you like this stuff, feel free to stick on and learn as much as you can."

And I pretty much did just that.

Kevin C.: And when I first got into this business, I didn't really see like a clear path, but I had to figure it out on my own.

So that's one reason we really want to engage young people and bring them into the company and kind of give them a clear path to success.

Like you're finally a carpenter now.

So we have a four-stage program.

It takes about four years.

So a big, big mission of ours in the apprentice program is really to connect the young people in Boston to the amazing work that's happening here.

Eric: My name is Eric Coughlin, and I'm a level three apprentice woodworker here at Kevin Cradock Builders.

Lasana: So, I'm a lead carpenter.

So a typical day for me would be getting on-site, opening the job up for everyone.

Maybe someone needs something specific done for the day and so I'll help, like, move people around to make sure that, you know, we kind of execute the goal for the day or the week.

And, you know, especially when we have apprentices, a lot of the time, I'm, you know, standing behind them, not necessarily like critiquing their work, but just being around for them to have questions.

And, you know, I try to let them, you know, kind of do their own thing and not like take it from them and do it physically by showing them, but more so just letting them ask the questions and then letting them do it.

Eric: It's been so great to be surrounded by all this high-quality work that we do here, and I'm so thankful to be around, you know, so much knowledge and eagerness to share with the next generation of woodworkers.

Lasana: I try to give them that same patience that I wanted when I was an apprentice, and especially, like, giving everyone a chance to show Kevin that, you know, that they are really into this and they are trying to learn and trying to improve.

And so I just try to give everyone that opportunity.

Kevin C.: And to me, that's really what it's all about.

You know, teaching and learning and learning while teaching and being an example to say like, if you're into something, you're passionate about it, you care so much, you can eventually do anything.

You can run a company, you can run a division of a company, you can start a small business, you can do all this.

So Lasana is really an example of, like, really the possibility of what you can do or what you can become if you're passionate and you care about it.

Lasana: I think it's very important for any trade to get apprentices and give new people a chance.

Eric: Even though you're going to be at the bottom of the totem pole and learning something brand-new, it's going to really broaden your horizons and just give you so much more.

Lasana: I would tell people, you know, look around your neighborhood.

There's work being done, and you can go door knocking and say, "Hey, do you guys need help?"

If you want it, just go after it.

A lot of thanks to my friend for even referring me to his father, and then his father as well, for just giving me a chance.

I take what they taught me, and I kind of carry it on my shoulders to this day.

Kevin: If you've got a contractor in your area who you think is worth celebrating, we'd love to hear about them.

Write in and let us know.

Heath: Hi, Becca?

Becca: Hi.

How are you?

Heath: Nice to meet you.

Becca: Nice to meet you.

Heath: This is a great spot.

Becca: Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

So the house was built in about 1900.

Heath: Okay.

Becca: But there's an addition that was put on in about the '80s.

Heath: You can kind of see it.

I'm guessing that was the original portion of the house up here with that roof line and then the addition to the left?

Becca: Absolutely.

Heath: And you can kind of tell from the poured foundation on this side is a little bit newer.

Becca: Yes.

Heath: So you wrote in about a project in the addition?

Becca: Yes.

So we've got a ceiling fan that we would love to replace in our primary bedroom.

Heath: Perfect.

Let's go take a look.

Becca: Awesome.

So, this is the fan I was talking about.

We've done a lot of work in the house, but definitely want to replace the fan.

Heath: Got it.

Uh, yeah.

Everything else in the room looks great.

Freshly painted.

The furniture looks great, the rug.

But the fan is kind of starting to show its age, huh?

Becca: Definitely.

Heath: Okay.

You said you did kind of like the look of it, though.

So something similar, but maybe a little more modern?

Becca: Absolutely.

We do like the look of it.

We don't have AC in the house, so we do use the fan.

Heath: So you really need the fan to move a lot of air to keep you comfortable in the summertime.

Becca: Yes.

Heath: Alright, that's not too bad.

So let me grab some tools, take a look at a couple of things, and then we'll go over our options.

Becca: Sounds great.

Heath: Alright.

♪♪ ♪♪ Alright, so I found some stuff that we can leave in place and a couple of things that we want to change.

So the first thing we found that we're gonna leave in place is we took apart the switch over here to see what the wiring was like.

Now, since you said the remodel was done or the addition about mid '80s, we found what we thought we'd find.

We found the newer generation of NM cable, which is perfectly fine to leave as it is.

So we can put that back, reuse that cable.

We don't have to touch a thing.

Becca: Great.

Heath: The second thing I wanted to check was the height of the ceiling.

So the ceilings are a little bit low.

We have 94 inches from the ceiling to the floor.

Our code dictates that we have to have 84 inches minimum from the floor to the fan blades themselves, so that gives us a 10-inch space to fit the fan blades in.

Now, a fan like this, this type of hugger fits perfectly fine.

These blades are great, and there are plenty of other fans that'll still fit within that space, but it does limit our selection a little bit.

So picking a fan, we can find one.

We just need to be careful about what we pick.

Becca: Okay.

Heath: The third thing I checked was when I took the canopy down to look up inside and see what we had for a box.

I didn't expect to find a fan box up there, and we didn't.

What we found was this bar box up there.

So you have the joist going this way, a bar that spans across and is screwed in on both sides.

And what happens is a box like this slides up in and then screws in just with this one screw into the middle of that.

Now, it's perfectly fine for a light fixture.

It's not sufficient to hold the weight of a fan.

So we want to put in something like this.

You can see it's much beefier.

So, the bar is bigger.

This will spread out, go between the joists, get a little pressure, the teeth will bite in and hold the weight of the fan.

The box is beefier.

Where the screws attach is bigger, the screws are bigger.

It's all designed to hold the weight and the vibration of a fan.

So we're going to go ahead and tackle that.

A lot of times we do that from the bottom.

We take the old one out, try to get to the screws, if we could unscrew that and then slide this up and in as an old work and put this into place.

Two things though -- It's going to be a little difficult to reach those screws, so I think it'll be easier from the attic where you do have attic access.

And the second thing is you had some insulation done, right?

Becca: Yeah, we had some blown-in.

Heath: Which is great for energy.

But my other concern would be is if I did try to do that from the bottom and take this box out, the blown insulation is just going to come pouring out like snow, and I don't want to have that happen.

So I think the best bet is to go up there, sweep this away, unscrew this, slide this into place, and then we can do the fun part of putting the fan up.

What do you think?

Becca: Sounds great.

Heath: Alright.

Alright, Becca, let's start taking this down.

We're going to start with the light bulbs and then get the globes out of the way.

Becca: Alright.

Heath: Perfect.

I'll take that.

♪♪ Alright.

Now we'll take the light kit right off.

So we should have three or four screws on the side.

You can see those.

♪♪ Almost there.

There you go.

Now, there's no need to worry.

You're perfectly safe.

The breaker is off.

Nothing can happen.

Whenever we're disconnecting, we always want to take the hot lead, the black, off first, white second, ground third.

Then when we reconnect, the same order in reverse, ground first, white or neutral second, and then finally, the hot blast.

That's perfect.

You're going to have to lift this motor up and off of this bracket now.

Great.

♪♪ Hey, Becca, take a look at what we found.

Becca: Whoa.

Heath: Right there.

I know it's a little hard to tell, but you see the two nail holes right here?

Becca: Yeah.

Heath: So the bar box that we had up here before actually went from strapping to strapping, not joist to joist like we thought it did.

Becca: Oh, goodness.

Heath: So they had that nailed into the strapping on both sides.

And the good thing that was actually keeping it from twisting with the fan was that the box was resting against the side of the joist.

Obviously still not strong enough to hold the fan.

So we wanted to take this out like we did.

The one drawback we have now, though, is the fan brace we were planning on installing that was going to go from here to here, this hole is a little too tight to this joist, so by the time the foot of the fan brace rests up against here, the box would be off of here, another 3/4 inch, and we'd have to cut a little more of the drywall on the ceiling out to fit that, and then we'd have to patch it afterwards.

I really don't want to have to do that to you, and I don't think we have to.

So what we can do is I can take a piece of 2x6 and go from joist to joist, screw it in, make sure it's nice and rugged, and then we can install a fan rated octagon from the bottom, screw that right into the joist, keep the original hole, not do any patching, and I think we'll be good.

What do you think?

Becca: Sounds great.

Heath: Alright, let's do it.

Since we're adding new structure, I could secure the 2x6 to the bay by screwing through the outside of the two joists.

This will give us the support we need to properly secure the fan.

Alright, so our blocks' up in the attic.

The insulation is all back in place.

Insulation left.

Becca: [ Laughs ] Heath: First, I'll mark the screw holes for mounting the new box.

Okay, so I'm going to go there.

Next, in order to prevent damaging the threaded holes in this box and to keep the box from pushing off of this piece of wood, I want to pre-drill holes in the wood blocks so that these machine screws have a place to rest.

I'll remove one of the knockouts under the clamp so I can thread the wires back into the box and then clamp it down.

Now I grab our wire.

I want to get that started in our box.

And then screw that to the ceiling.

Becca: Great.

♪♪ ♪♪ Heath: Alright.

So next we're going to go ahead and wire this up.

And it has a hook up here for us to hook this and hold it in place.

So we don't need multiple sets of hands so we can go ahead and wire it.

And as you can see it already comes with this module attached to it.

This is the remote control module.

It's already built in.

That's designed to stay up in the canopy.

So we'll just wire this and then you control it right from the remote.

Becca: Awesome.

Heath: To wire the new fan, we're simply going to repeat the same process we did earlier when we took it down.

But we're going to do it in reverse.

Ground to ground, white to white, and then finally black to black.

Finally, we can assemble the remaining parts of the fan and turn the power back on.

♪♪ Alright.

And that just has a couple little dimples on the inside here.

And just like that, one ceiling fan.

Becca: Looks great.

Heath: Alright, Becca, so the power's back on.

This unit comes with a remote like we were talking about.

We saw the module is up in the canopy, and that module came from the factory with this remote, so this will control it.

It's already been paired, and there are also a lot of other nice features that come with this.

It's also smart-home-friendly.

So if you have a voice-controlled system, Wi-Fi, anything like that, it can tie into it pretty easily and let you control the fan that way.

Becca: Awesome.

We do.

So this will be great.

Heath: Perfect.

So one remote.

Give it a shot.

There's our light.

And our fan.

Becca: It looks great.

Heath: That's nice.

I'm happy with it.

Are you happy with it?

Becca: I love it.

Thank you so much.

Heath: Great.

I think it looks great.

Becca: Thank you.

Heath: See you later.

♪♪ Kevin: Next time on "Ask This Old House," I travel to Miami to help install natural wallpaper.

Is it the pop you wanted?

Woman: The pop, the color, everything.

I love it.

Kevin: Then Lee shows us the various types of sprinkler heads and how to use them in your landscape design.

That's the sound of summer right there.

Lee: It is.

Kevin: The sound at my house.

And Richard helps a homeowner install a sump pump.

All that on "Ask This Old House."