This Old House Season 42, Episode 21: Dorchester Triple Decker | A Project for Every Floor

Behind the Built | Designing Kitchens

We take a tour of kitchens – from fireplaces used for cooking in colonial times to marble counters of modern days. Follow the evolution of appliances from white to avocado to stainless, as well as cabinet finishes from natural to painted, as we uncover favorite kitchen scenes from long ago.

Behind the Built | Factory Made

From precast concrete foundation walls to bathtubs and doors to windows, This Old House explores the places and people who provide building and finishing materials for our projects. Kevin visits factories in US and Canada to see how foundation walls, framing lumber, and doors are made, while Richard travels to see watch how a bathtub is fabricated and glass is melted for windows.

Behind the Built | Memorable Makers

Featuring talented makers who make beautiful household items we meet a lumberjack who sources his own cypress from the bottom of a river and turns it into a unique table. In Detroit, a stained-glass artist restores original window panels. A family run business creates a metal stovetop hood. A painter shows a Lazure technique for the walls of a bedroom. Blacksmithing students forge an iron gate.

Behind the Built | Anatomy of a Kitchen

In the Arlington Arts and Crafts project, the homeowners improve their outdated kitchen. They meet with a designer to make a plan and select the finishes. For countertops, they decide on local marble. Kevin sees a metal range hood being assembled. Back at the house, a cabinet installer puts in each section himself. After the finishing touches, the homeowners show Kevin the new kitchen.

26 min

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Project Interrupted

Kevin, Richard and Tommy set the stage for the restoration of our 1887 Queen Anne Seaside Victorian Cottage. The homeowners were excited about renovating a historic home in this oceanside community. Kevin met them to hear about their plans to preserve the historic details while updating the interior space for modern living and creating a new wing for a garage and master suite.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | New Light in Old Windows

Decorative Queen Anne style barge rafters are reproduced for the addition. Richard Trethewey shows how Jeff Sweenor’s team hid the mechanicals in the house. At Jeff’s shop, Tom Silva meets Jeff and Riley as they rebuild old sashes and build new ones. Back at the house, they install a refurbished original window. Tom shows a new window with simulated divided lights that resembles the originals.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Chimney Straightener

The original chimney bricks from the Queen Ann Victorian are cleaned and repurposed for a new, straight chimney. Staggered shingles are reapplied to match the original shingle pattern. Steel is brought in to support an open floor plan. Kevin O’Connor learns about the unique glass orbs hidden on Block Island. Richard Trethewey finds the plumber installing a new kind of shower drain.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Back to Narragansett

After months of meticulous restoration, the stained glass windows are ready to be reinstalled in the dining room. Electrician Ben has an apprentice. Kevin meets them at the new breaker panel. Tom re-creates original shingles. During the Covid lockdown, Jeff and his crew demoed the porch and built a new one. Jenn has a landscape meeting with homeowners.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Upgrading Old School

The original Seaside Victorian home had Yankee Gutters and the Historic District Committee wants the restored house to have them too. The Generation Next initiative continues with an apprentice learning from Jeff Sweenor’s electrician Ben Giles. Richard Trethewey and plumber Josh Jordan show how a tankless hot water system will never run out of hot water. Tom Silva and Jeff install porch corbels.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Outside Details

Mark McCullough describes to Kevin O'Connor how the masons put down a cobblestone apron on the driveway. Inside, the crew reinforces old floor joists to allow for a more open floorplan. Tom Silva helps Jeff Sweenor hang a drop finial on the exterior and then they install a swinging window in the cabana. Kevin meets with local paint experts to discuss choosing exterior colors on a Victorian house.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Design Elements

Kevin O'Connor and Tom Silva watch a technology expert hide sound speakers in the living room ceiling. Richard Trethewey discusses the efficient updates on outdoor condensers with the HVAC contractor. The garage doors are installed with side mounts. A prefabricated pool gets lowered into the ground. The interior designer and homeowner show Kevin their choices on design elements for the kitchen.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Pizza Time

Kevin O'Connor watches as the outdoor kitchen with pizza oven arrives and is assembled. Tom Silva meets the flooring installer who's laying down engineered flooring in a herringbone pattern. Designer Kristen Martone works with the homeowner on the bathroom finishes. Jenn Nawada sorts through all the plants that have been delivered and Kevin sees an automatic cover going on top of the new pool.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Narragansett Windows

Elaborate interior window trim and custom storm windows; an updated electric meter and panels; working on the limestone hardscape in the backyard; assembling a Victorian style shed.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Cold Weather Landscape

Transplanting trees and sod; installing a custom deck hatch; assembling a smart lock system; mounting a unique range hood.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | Tommy in the Kitchen

Hanging the pantry door; finishing up the tiling and backsplash; creating a custom surround for the gas fireplace.

Seaside Victorian Cottage | A Queen Anne Revival

The historic Seaside Victorian Cottage is restored and expanded; a new addition matches the existing architectural details; new hardscape and landscape.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Return to Dorchester

"This Old House" returns to Dorchester, Mass., to follow the renovation of a triple decker that was burned due to illegal fireworks.

Dorchester Triple Decker | 3 Decker Heaven

Removing asbestos; a plumber works on dormant pipes; visiting a community garden; architectural historian Arthur Krim talks about three-deckers; pulling off the melted vinyl siding.

Dorchester Triple Decker | House Fire Reclamation

The original back porches on the triple decker are brought up to code. Ice blasting is used to get rid of the char and fire odor. New vinyl siding is installed on the entire house while homeowner Carol considers accent trim colors to coordinate with the siding. Framing begins inside.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Urban Oasis

Jenn Nawada brings together a team and supplies to build an urban patio in the backyard. Heath Eastman rewires part of the house with intact plaster ceiling. Charlie and Tom Silva hang a fire rated door off the kitchen. Richard Trethewey explains how a new tub is fitted in. Kevin O'Connor and Tom install a replacement window.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Three of Everything

Mauro Henrique teaches the apprentices how to fix damaged plastered walls. Plumber Ronnette Taylor shows Richard Trethewey the new sprinkler system. Carol and her sister select new tile for their bathrooms. The apprentices get a lesson on floor patching with Tom Silva. Antique glass expert Cathryn Blackwell shows Kevin O'Connor how shell fix the doors on the second floor china cabinet.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Finish Work Begins

On the first floor, Tom Silva and Kevin O'Connor reinstall the upper cabinets that survived the fire. Tom teaches the apprentices to trim a window in the kitchen. HVAC contractor James Bouchard shows Richard Trethewey the plan for hot water and heating. Kevin joins Carol and her sister Willie to shop for appliances for all three levels. Mark Ferrante is tiling the first of three bathrooms.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Roof University

Kevin O'Connor joins the apprentices as they take a two-day roofing class. Then they apply their new skills on a roof at a Silva Brothers jobsite. Back at the project, a new vinyl floor goes in the top floor kitchen. Mauro Henrique touches up the first floor saved cabinets. Tom and Charlie Silva install French doors to divide the living room from a new bedroom.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Almost Home

Kevin O'Connor checks out whats left to do in the triple decker before the move in. Mark McCullough is working at the front steps. Inside Heath Eastman shows Kevin a surge protector hes installing. Ronnette Taylor is putting in a toilet in the first floor bathroom, while the original hardwood floors are getting refinished in the rest of the house. Jenn Nawada and crew are installing fences.

Dorchester Triple Decker | Our 3 Decker

The team arrives at the Triple Decker, which burned a year before. They discuss the hurdles of the build. Kevin O'Connor tours Willie's 1st floor apartment. Richard Trethewey shows off the sprinkler and heating systems. Tom Silva tours the 3rd floor unit. Jenn Nawada meets Fred Pendleton who is putting final touches on the patio. Charlie Silva gives Carol the key to her updated apartment.

Summer Special: Scandinavian Modern

This Old House follows the renovation of a Cambridge, Massachusetts 1887 two-family house becoming a bright, open Scandinavian-style one-family. In this Summer special we compress the efforts to restore this beauty into one episode. Follow the action as our team takes this old house from rundown to remarkable.

Summer Special: Generation Next

The number of people entering the building trades has declined over the past few decades. This Old House launched the Generation Next initiative to highlight the issue and encourage young people to consider the trades as a viable profession.

Summer Special: Rebirth of Detroit

A family sets out to restore a derelict house in a Detroit neighborhood.

Summer Special: Return to Paradise