This Old House

A new project begins in Belmont, Mass., with a focus on salvage and restoration; homeowners Katherine and Murat Bicer plan to revive their 1895 Victorian by building a front porch, refurbishing the original windows and opening up the kitchen.

Roger and Katherine take inventory of plants; plans for the kitchen/dining area; Belmont's Victorian home styles; Tommy determines how to provide structural support; repairing window pulley systems; usable items are removed during demolition.

Tommy jacks up the basement ceiling with braces and installs a new support to fix the floor; saving a marble tub; Tommy pulls up flooring for patching other areas; Tommy and Kevin finish the basement with new lally columns.

Assembling a flitch beam; Kevin travels to West Virginia to see how laminated veneer lumber is made; a rear-mounted toilet on the third floor is replaced with a bottom-mounted fixture; ideas for the shade-covered space; the open space is revealed.

An excavator works on the footings for the new porch; cabinet and counter selections; framing the new closet and bathroom for the master suite; removing old fiberglass insulation with a giant vacuum; resizing a door to fit in a smaller opening.

Kevin meets a mason as he lays blocks for the mudroom foundation; Tommy teaches Kevin to use a Dutchman's patch to cover the holes left from abandoned electrical outlets; Kevin finds Tommy putting in another beam to open up the front entryway.