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

♪♪ Today, do you find the winter air in your home too dry?

Ross will show us a solution to this problem.

Then Mauro shows us tips that will save time painting shutters.

And Tommy shows us how to build a teak side table.

All that on "Ask This Old House."

♪♪ Ross: Hey, Jeff.

Jeff: Hi, Ross.

How are you?

Ross: How's it going?

Jeff: Good.

Good to see you.

Ross: Well, Jeff, what a space.

This is awesome.

Jeff: Great.

Thank you.

We've been here for about 15 years.

We built the house, and the house has been great.

Love it.

One issue we do find, though, however, is that, in the winter months, it seems to get really dry.

Ross: Yeah.

Well, cold air is dry air, so it's notorious in cold climates, where we live, where the house has air leakage, right?

And so when you heat that air in this house, it's leaving.

It's trying to get out through the roof.

And when it's happening, cold air is coming in to try to replace that air that's being lost.

Then you run bath fans and kitchen exhaust fans and things like that, you induce more infiltration.

So that cold air is dry, and that's going to reduce the humidity in this space.

You said you had measured the humidity?

What are you at right now?

Jeff: Yeah.

We got a sensor just to check out various levels of interior air quality, and humidity is one of them.

And we noticed that in the teens is where we're seeing the humidity level in the winter.

Ross: Wow.

Okay.

So, we want to keep the house between 30% and 60% year round.

So, the wintertime, we're really shooting for 30% to 40%.

So if you're in the high teens, that's definitely on the low side.

So that's what's causing the, you know, static cling, dry skin.

Jeff: Sure.

Ross: That's for sure.

So, what we'd like to do is add a steam humidification system.

If we can add that to the ductwork, then we can actually add moisture to the house to keep it in that 30%-to-40% range.

So, it starts with taking a look at the heating system.

Jeff: Sure.

Makes sense.

Ross: Yeah.

Jeff: Let's go take a look.

Ross: Let's take a look.

Jeff: Cool.

♪♪ Ross: It's nice to be working in a nice high-height ceiling.

Nice and clean down here.

This looks great.

Jeff: Absolutely.

This is our system, Ross.

Ross: Cool.

Alright.

So, I can see the dehumidifier over here, water heater power-vented outside, and we got our gas furnace right there.

All looks good.

So, when I'm thinking about a steam humidifier, I'm looking for a couple things.

Number one, a water supply, okay?

So, the first thing here, we have a water line coming right to the water heater, so any steam humidifier is gonna be fine to get water to it.

Second thing is drainage.

So, we have a tube right here.

This is the condensate for the dehumidifier and for the gas furnace.

We can tie into that for drainage, so check there.

The next thing is electrical power.

I can see an electrical panel right over there.

The last thing is where the steam gets introduced, and that's the steam-distributor wand.

And where does that get placed?

So, I like to mount the distributor right here on the supply plenum, but when I measure it, I can see that I have about 30 inches of space, and I'm really looking for at least 6 feet of length.

That's really what I'm shooting for.

So 30 inches is not going to cut it.

On top of that, I got two zone dampers here.

These are the gates that control airflow to the upstairs.

So, do you know where this zone goes and where this zone goes?

Jeff: I believe this zone here goes over to the -- stays at the main house.

Ross: Okay.

Jeff: And this one here goes over to the great room.

Ross: Okay.

So, the main-house zone is a nice straight run of duct.

It's 8"x18".

So that's a perfect-sized duct for what we need.

And it's got the length that we need, right?

So we could put an air-proving switch, we can put the steam wand, and we can put the high limit all on this run downstream of the zone damper, and that can be a perfect place to introduce the humidity.

How's that sound?

Jeff: That sounds great, yeah.

Ross: Okay.

Alright.

Well, I got to get some equipment, but I'll be back in a little bit, and we'll get started on the install.

Jeff: Okay.

Sounds good.

Ross: Cool.

Alright, Jeff, so, I sized up your unit.

You're going to need a unit for about 6 to 7 pounds of humidity.

So, that's based on the square footage of your house, the air leakage of your house, your bath fans, et cetera.

So, this unit right here that we've picked is a 10-pound-per-hour unit, alright?

So we're covered on the humidity.

And let's talk about the way it works.

So, first, we have the waterline that comes into the unit.

This has got a local shut-off and it's got a shock absorber.

This is a water hammer arrestor.

So, this is when the valve closes, you don't hear any banging of the water pipes.

It also has a sensor in here to detect if there's ever a leak.

The controller would detect that and it would shut this valve.

So you're never going to have to worry about water coming out of this unit and getting onto the floor, causing any damage.

Jeff: Great.

Ross: The other thing we have here is a condensate drain that comes through a trap that will get drained away.

And then, on top of that, we have this steam canister.

So, this right here, this white unit right here, has two electrodes in it that produce the steam.

And, so, water will fill up, and when that water comes in contact with those hot electrodes, they're going to make that conduction happen and you're going to create steam.

And that steam is going to come out through this wand.

So think of, like, a steam kettle.

And that is going to be connected to a steam distributor.

And the steam gets connected here and it comes out through these holes, alright?

So you can imagine this being in the duct, just like that.

Now, we have a couple of safeties.

For one, we have an air-proving switch.

So, this is a key safety element to make sure that we don't introduce steam without the blower motor active.

So we need air to be moving across this for it to actually absorb the steam and put it into your duct system.

We also have a high limit.

This high limit is mounted 10 feet downstream to make sure that we don't put too much humidity into the duct system.

And the last one is a return-air humidity sensor.

That will sense the humidity in the space and it will get mounted right behind the return register, alright?

And, so, we opted for this with the controller down here.

And you should be able to set it once -- kind of set it and forget it.

We'll set it for 35%.

You can make minor adjustments up or down through that first winter.

One thing we don't want to do is play with it too much and turn it up too much, because if you turn up too much, you could actually have a rainforest in your house.

Jeff: Oh, we don't want that.

Ross: You definitely do not want that.

Jeff: Okay.

As far as maintenance, anything I should be concerned with?

Ross: Yeah, so, there is one big maintenance item, and that is this canister.

So, that canister is going to be dependent on how much humidity and how often it runs.

But, typically, every two years, that needs to get replaced.

Jeff: Okay.

Ross: Alright?

So, it is an easy fix, though, as far as removing these electrodes and removing the high level and removing this canister and replace it with a whole new canister, because there will be a lot of mineral deposits that get caked under the electrodes.

Jeff: Okay.

Sounds simple.

Ross: Cool.

Alright, well, it's not D.I.Y.-friendly to install this, so I brought in a team of contractors to help with the install, and so we're ready to get started.

Jeff: Okay.

Fantastic.

Let's do it.

Ross: Let's go.

Jeff: Great.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct conversation ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Ross: Alright, Jeff, the installation is complete.

So, just to recap, we got the air-proving switch installed.

We got a distributor wand, right here, installed.

We got a see-through window so you can see the steam right from here.

The steam humidifier itself is mounted on the wall, like we talked about.

Everything's all plumbed up.

We also have the wall controller right here.

It's already set for 35%.

So if you need to make any adjustments at all, 1 or 2 percentage points up or down at a time, no big changes in that.

Jeff: Sure.

Ross: But it should be ready to go for next winter.

Jeff: Fantastic.

It looks great, Ross.

Thanks so much for your help.

Ross: Alright.

Jeff: Look forward to having a good winter.

Ross: Alright.

Nice and moist.

Jeff: Yeah.

Take care.

Ross: See ya.

Kevin: Mauro, if it was anyone other than you, I'd be afraid I was getting taken out.

Mauro: [ Laughs ] It's just preparation for painting.

Kevin: Just paint.

Mauro: This is my every day.

Right?

Kevin: Just your every day.

Painting shutters, I presume?

Mauro: Not an easy job.

I got these wooden shutters.

But I'd like to share my technique for painting wooden shutters when I get a lot of them.

Kevin: Alright, well, walk me through it, 'cause if you've got one shutter, you probably have 20.

Mauro: We got 20.

Sometimes, we come to a project that we have like 80.

Kevin: Oh, yeah.

Mauro: Right?

When you count them, you have to have a technique to get that work done and done fast.

Kevin: Okay.

So, what is the technique?

Mauro: Well, what we're going to do here is, we're going to stack them up, okay?

I got four of them.

One top of the other, on the same position.

Kevin: Mm-hmm.

Mauro: And then I get my spray.

We're going to spray all the four sides first.

And then we're going to spray the top of each one of it.

Kevin: So, obviously, you're not opting for a brush.

You prefer the sprayer.

Mauro: Well, let's say you get about 50 shutters to paint.

Kevin: Yeah.

Mauro: Alright?

You can use a brush, but it's going to take forever.

Kevin: Sure.

Mauro: Alright?

Kevin: I mean, look at All the nooks and crannies.

You got to get into the slats and everything like that.

Mauro: You got the slats.

You got this.

And it's much easier with the sprayer, even if you have like a couple shutters or three or four with the sprayer.

A sprayer -- that's the way I like to do it.

Kevin: Alright.

So, show me this stacking idea that we're talking about.

Mauro: Alright.

Let's do this right now.

They should have -- They would go on the same position, line up nice.

Kevin: So we're not sticking in between.

You're actually going to lay them, you know, face-to-face.

Mauro: Face-to-face, yes.

Kevin: Okay.

And you got the slats in the same orientation.

Mauro: The same orientation, same position.

Kevin: Oh, I think I get what's going on now.

I gotcha.

Mauro: The legs goes this way.

Top goes that way.

Kevin: Yep.

Mauro: Make sure they're nice and flush here.

Kevin: Because you are going to -- Mauro: We are going to make them look great.

Kevin: You're going to paint -- I see the sides of all four.

Mauro: All four sides.

They all match.

Kevin: So now you've got basically what feels like one surface, even though it's four.

You can come down with your sprayer and hit that.

Mauro: We're going to spray all the four sides, okay?

Kevin: Alright.

Mauro: All the four sides first.

And then we're going to do the top of each one.

Kevin: One at a time.

Mauro: Yep, we do one.

We'll move it out to the dry station, do the next one, and that goes on.

Kevin: It's like buttering my pancakes.

Alright, let's get the sprayer set up.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ You are smooth with that gun, Mauro.

Mauro: See?

Kevin: Let's have a look.

Doesn't that look nice?

What about the color?

Kevin: The color is terrific, but the coverage is just fantastic.

Look, every little nook and cranny -- completely covered.

So, one coats or two?

Mauro: One -- This is the first of two.

Kevin: So, you're going to let these dry for how long?

Mauro: We're gonna let this dry for about four hours, and then we can put the second and final coat on.

Kevin: Which is the exact same process -- Mauro: Same process as the first coat.

Kevin: I love it.

Alright.

Well, I appreciate you sharing your technique.

Mauro: Good.

Look good.

Look at this.

♪♪ Kevin: Hey, this is an adorable little table right here, Tommy.

That's nice.

Tom: Yeah.

I've had this thing a long time.

It's probably been 20 years.

It's a great outdoor table.

Sometimes, I use it on the boat, but it's a great little corner table also.

Kevin: Very nice.

So, you've got sort of a triangular top.

Tom: We're gonna use the slats so the water won't puddle on it.

Kevin: And then you've got some legs there with a nice flare.

Tom: Yeah, they curve down like that.

And we're going to make it out of teak, 'cause I want it to last.

Kevin: So top, bottom -- where do you want to start?

Tom: Let's start with the top.

Kevin: Alright.

Table saw then.

Tom: You got it.

Alright, now we're going to cut the frame for the perimeter of the top, so I need to cut two pieces 3 1/4.

And we're going to cut them slightly bigger and fine-tune it after.

Now we are ready to cut the three pieces that make up our triangle -- the two sides and the base.

Kevin: Right.

Tom: If you look, two sides are wider than the bottom.

What we have to do is find that angle.

So I took two pieces of scrap wood, same width, and I bisected the angle with those to give us the angle and the length that we need.

Now we transfer those pieces to our teak, like that, and we'll cut them on the saw.

Kevin: And you'll use these to set your angles on the chop saw.

Tom: Exactly.

Because our pieces are the exactly the same length on each side, the same width, and the same angle, we're going to put them together and cut them at the same time.

With my template flipped over, I now transfer the angle that's on the other end to my saw.

Now I have to mark my length... and cut them.

Now I have both pieces cut exactly the same length and the same angle.

We're ready to cut our groove.

We've got a router bit set at the right height and the distance out, which will allow our slats to be flush with the top.

I temporarily screwed our two pieces together that are going to go on the sides of the triangle like that.

And this is the bottom piece right there.

Now, what we're ready to do is cut the slats that are going to go in the center.

We could rip down each individual slat, but I want to do it all as one piece from this one sheet.

Okay, so there's our piece.

Now what we have to do is measure the depth of our groove.

Do that with my combination square.

Put it in, push it down, hold it down tight, lock it.

That's the exact depth of our groove.

I want to make that just a little bit less.

I'm going to slide it down about 1/16 of an inch.

I'm going to line up my square with the line and put a mark to the long.

Kevin: So you're going to extend your triangle's dimension so that you've got a little extra for that rabbet?

Tom: Yep.

Alright.

Now we have our piece all sanded.

That's our triangle with the flat center.

But we want one, two, three, four, five slats divided equally over the run.

So I'm going to use this tool here that will automatically divide it into five equal spots.

We'll put the blade right on that line, and the thickness of the blade will become our groove.

Transfer that, make a straight line to follow all the way down.

We're ready to install these, but I still want them to be able to expand and contract.

So we're going to put a dab, like, right there.

I'll push it in.

The glue will hold the center of the board, and it can expand on each side.

Alright, our slats are in place, waiting for the glue to dry, but we can mark for the bottom, so we'll simply trace it.

Kevin: Alright, put that... Tom: All the way out.

Then you take it and mark the rest of it over there.

Ooh!

So, what we'll do now is, we'll cut that on the bandsaw.

Kevin: Alright, Tommy, so, top is done.

Tom: Yep.

Alright.

Now we're going to work on the legs, and to match the legs, what I did is, I took a tracing of the curve of the legs, which makes a template.

That template -- we then transfer it to this piece of teak, and then we'll cut them on the bandsaw.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Putting together the frame that goes under the top so we can mount the legs.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Each pair of legs have two stretchers.

So, we're building the first set right now.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ There we go.

That's right.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ There you go.

Kevin: Let's have a look.

Oh, yeah.

Tom: Looks pretty nice.

Kevin: That looks great.

Look at that top right there.

Tom: Yeah.

Kevin: That's beautiful.

And let's see how we did matching it to the original.

Tom: Came pretty close.

Kevin: Look at that, huh?

Twins.

Tom: Looks Good.

Kevin: Very nice.

So, any thoughts on a finish?

Tom: Well, I can tell you that this one hasn't had a finish for over 20 years, and if you were going to put a finish on it, you could use, like, a teak oil or linseed oil.

You could use a varnish -- exterior varnish -- or an epoxy.

But I can tell you this -- once you put a finish on it, you're going to have to put a finish on it every two or three years, if it's outside.

Kevin: I say leave it natural, right?

Nice match.

Tom: Absolutely.

Kevin: Cool.

Great project.

And you know what?

Now that there's two, you can have a guest on the boat.

Kevin: Next time on "Ask This Old House," Mark repairs a patio that has settled over time.

Then Nathan talks about types of ladders and accessories that can make some tall tasks easier.

And he helps a homeowner install an EV charger.

♪♪ All that on "Ask This Old House."