Bob Vila / This Old House

[norabird]

Doing some guerrilla market research. I used to watch this Old House growing up, but wasn't of an age to be into any home reno at the time. For those on the boards who do construction or DIY remodels, do you still consider Bob Vila and the show a good resource?

Thanks!

[paddedhat]

I don't really follow TOH, or know what Bob is up to anymore. That said, in the past it pretty much was the gold standard of how to renovate a place with competent tradesmen, top notch material, and little concern for budget.  Contrasting this to the latest overgrowth of "Flip" shows on all the networks is like comparing Norm and the TOH crew, lovingly restoring a valuable 200 year old home, to a bunch of drunken frat boys erecting a tent.  As a pro, I alternate between toe curling cringes, and howling with laughter, while watching some of these asshats.  Ridiculous timelines ("we are gutting this place to the studs, repairing major foundation defects, and have an open house scheduled a month from today") added to laughable budgets (" we can probably do all the latest hot buttons, high end fixtures, and finishes,  in the totally gutted, 300 sq. ft. master bath, for $5K, or so, right?") and my favorite,  the guys who whine like overtired toddlers EVERY time they find another minor issue hidden behind the sheetrock. From a DIYer's perspective, there is literally NOTHING to be gained by watching most of the current crop of home improvement shows.

 What a bunch of drama queens. Makes me miss the class of the old TOH series.

[BudgetSlasher]

I haven't watch in some time now but as I remember, Yes and No.

Yes:

When they have a segment on how to do something simple like install window trim it can be useful and you might even pick up a few useful little tricks. If it is a larger project you are going to hire out (or already have a large developed skill set) their coverage of larger project is sufficient to know what the final outcome should look like.

No:

In the more "advanced" items, say a tankless water heater installation, they really do not give enough detail on the installation steps to feel confident. Like I said above if you are contracting it out and just need ensure it looks right or are not learning any new skills/code knowledge on the project you will be good to go, but otherwise you will be doing more research. And in the cases of more research I prefer to skip ahead (seems like all the basics will be covered again).

[incognito]

I have watched TOH for years. To me, it's more of an "idea" show rather than a "how to" show. They show you different ways of doing projects, but they don't give enough detailed info to actually learn how to complete the task just by watching the show.

[Papa bear]

I don't really follow TOH, or know what Bob is up to anymore. That said, in the past it pretty much was the gold standard of how to renovate a place with competent tradesmen, top notch material, and little concern for budget.  Contrasting this to the latest overgrowth of "Flip" shows on all the networks is like comparing Norm and the TOH crew, lovingly restoring a valuable 200 year old home, to a bunch of drunken frat boys erecting a tent.  As a pro, I alternate between toe curling cringes, and howling with laughter, while watching some of these asshats.  Ridiculous timelines ("we are gutting this place to the studs, repairing major foundation defects, and have an open house scheduled a month from today") added to laughable budgets (" we can probably do all the latest hot buttons, high end fixtures, and finishes,  in the totally gutted, 300 sq. ft. master bath, for $5K, or so, right?") and my favorite,  the guys who whine like overtired toddlers EVERY time they find another minor issue hidden behind the sheetrock. From a DIYer's perspective, there is literally NOTHING to be gained by watching most of the current crop of home improvement shows.

 What a bunch of drama queens. Makes me miss the class of the old TOH series.

+ 1,000,000,000

Although the new TOH show can still show some good stuff and give pointers; usually it's on PBS. The magazine is more ideabook anymore. Maybe a few beginner DIY tips.


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[meghan88]

I don't really follow TOH, or know what Bob is up to anymore. That said, in the past it pretty much was the gold standard of how to renovate a place with competent tradesmen, top notch material, and little concern for budget.  Contrasting this to the latest overgrowth of "Flip" shows on all the networks is like comparing Norm and the TOH crew, lovingly restoring a valuable 200 year old home, to a bunch of drunken frat boys erecting a tent.  As a pro, I alternate between toe curling cringes, and howling with laughter, while watching some of these asshats.  Ridiculous timelines ("we are gutting this place to the studs, repairing major foundation defects, and have an open house scheduled a month from today") added to laughable budgets (" we can probably do all the latest hot buttons, high end fixtures, and finishes,  in the totally gutted, 300 sq. ft. master bath, for $5K, or so, right?") and my favorite,  the guys who whine like overtired toddlers EVERY time they find another minor issue hidden behind the sheetrock. From a DIYer's perspective, there is literally NOTHING to be gained by watching most of the current crop of home improvement shows.

 What a bunch of drama queens. Makes me miss the class of the old TOH series.

OH yeah - the timelines, budgets, drama ... YEESH.  There are a scant few shows these days where they show concern for materials and proper workmanship but even those can be controversial:  Mike Holmes, Brian Baeumler (though their latest series make me ill), and Nicole Curtis (Rehab Addict) might be the best of a really sorry crop.

[Metric Mouse]

I don't really follow TOH, or know what Bob is up to anymore. That said, in the past it pretty much was the gold standard of how to renovate a place with competent tradesmen, top notch material, and little concern for budget.  Contrasting this to the latest overgrowth of "Flip" shows on all the networks is like comparing Norm and the TOH crew, lovingly restoring a valuable 200 year old home, to a bunch of drunken frat boys erecting a tent.  As a pro, I alternate between toe curling cringes, and howling with laughter, while watching some of these asshats.  Ridiculous timelines ("we are gutting this place to the studs, repairing major foundation defects, and have an open house scheduled a month from today") added to laughable budgets (" we can probably do all the latest hot buttons, high end fixtures, and finishes,  in the totally gutted, 300 sq. ft. master bath, for $5K, or so, right?") and my favorite,  the guys who whine like overtired toddlers EVERY time they find another minor issue hidden behind the sheetrock. From a DIYer's perspective, there is literally NOTHING to be gained by watching most of the current crop of home improvement shows.

 What a bunch of drama queens. Makes me miss the class of the old TOH series.

OH yeah - the timelines, budgets, drama ... YEESH.  There are a scant few shows these days where they show concern for materials and proper workmanship but even those can be controversial:  Mike Holmes, Brian Baeumler (though their latest series make me ill), and Nicole Curtis (Rehab Addict) might be the best of a really sorry crop.

Nicole Curtis' accent makes me cringe.

[zolotiyeruki]

Agreed that contemporary Home Improvement shows are a lot more about personalities, terrible decision-making, and fake drama than they are about actually fixing the house.  Property Brothers?  They get halfway through the episode before they swing a sledgehammer, and of the remaining 22 minutes, the last 3-4 are the couple ooh-ing and ah-ing, 5 minutes of the customer picking granite or furniture or flooring, 5 minutes of agonizing about unexpected problems, and *maybe* 10 minutes of the actual renovation process.  Flip or Flop?  Besides the obvious teleprompter reading, there's the constant agonizing over budget and problems and "this could bankrupt our family," while we are shown them tooling around in an Escalade and eating dinner in a *very* nice house.  Fixer Upper is too much human-interesty, etc.

I binge-watched Holmes on Homes, and really enjoyed it.  I agree with pretty much all the other opinions in this thread, though.

[Jack]

This Old House isn't detailed enough, but it's still loads better than any other contemporary show (other than Mike Holmes stuff). However, there's also Ask This Old House, which is more one-off DIY project oriented (as opposed to "watch pros gut renovate an entire house"-oriented) and is therefore more valuable.

I still remember when Bob Vila left TOH and they brought in the new guy with glasses -- what's his name?  I actually probably watched more of the shows with him than with BV, and liked his personality better.  But good old Norm Abram was clearly the master anyway.....

Bob Vila has been gone for literally decades. I think "the new guy with glasses" you're referring to is Steve Thomas, and he's been gone for more than a decade too! The current host is Kevin O'Connor, the baby-faced guy with the curly hair.

Also, I get the impression that these days, even Norm Abram is more of a "carpenter emeritus" than someone actively involved full time. Tom Silva seems to be the one actually running the projects (as well he should, since he's the GC) and does a lot of the carpentry demonstrations too.

[Gibbelstein]

Mike Holmes notwithstanding (Holmes is usually dealing with disasters, rather than remodel, but he's a favorite for sure), This Old House is really the only how-to centered home improvement show going right now (maybe there are more I'm not aware of?).  Any of those other shows are entertainment centered.  They serve their purpose (which can be encouraging ill-fated purchases at Home Depot for some, or stoking eyerolls and a feeling of superiority in others), but they're not what I'm looking for.  Unfortunatly, yeah, TOH seems to be modeling "how to have a crew of subs to get the job done" rather than "how to pick up a hammer and do it yourself". 

Maybe this kind of project-based DIY stuff for houses is going to youtube the way it seems to have with automotive stuff?

[paddedhat]

Even the much praised Mr. Holmes can get a bit strange at times. I have seen him, and his crew, do major structural framing with cordless impacts and deck screws. As in, WTF are you thinking, and who is the clueless code inspector who signs off on that silliness? From a structural standpoint, Chinese deck screws are not only brittle, but are not a replacement for nails. The company I  worked for got extremely lucky when a set of stairs they installed failed, and caused a worker to fall two stories. The top of the stairs were anchored with six large deck screws. Seems like enough, until you start discussing shear values, brittle junk steel, and other issues.  I also watched a show where Mike addressed a failing foundation on an attached two unit home. The foundation was poured concrete that had frozen, hard, while setting, and lacked structural strength. He spend a massive ($80-90K) amount to build a new block foundation INSIDE of the home. Like many with a lot of construction and design experience, I just shook my head, as this whole process looked might impressive, but did what exactly?

[postvmvs]

Bob Vila has been gone for literally decades. I think "the new guy with glasses" you're referring to is Steve Thomas, and he's been gone for more than a decade too! The current host is Kevin O'Connor, the baby-faced guy with the curly hair.

Also, I get the impression that these days, even Norm Abram is more of a "carpenter emeritus" than someone actively involved full time. Tom Silva seems to be the one actually running the projects (as well he should, since he's the GC) and does a lot of the carpentry demonstrations too.

One of the first celebrities I saw in person was Norm Abram at a home improvement convention. This was in the early 90s, I was a kid, and the controversy over the ouster Bob Vila was still a hot topic. I always enjoyed watching TOH as well Norm's "New Yankee Workshop" with my father growing up.

[Drifterrider]

Nicole Curtis' accent makes me cringe.

But she is nice to look at :)  Better than the other "host" of DIY shows.

[lthenderson]

I don't think I saw this mentioned but I find ASK TOH to be incredibly useful for doing projects. They do detailed step by step processes to fix various common problems one finds when fixing up a house. The modern version of TOH has great segments at time that are really helpful but there is a lot of fluff segments in-between.

Another good show was Hometime though it no longer has new episodes anymore. It was on PBS and they did lots of step by step stuff though they tended to shy away from fixing up old stuff for just renovating or building new homes.

[Franklin]

Agree with most here on everything.  I still watch TOH and I've been watching it since childhood.  Their DIY teachings are subtle, because their projects are WAY more than a DIYer can handle.  But interspersed are simple teachings of how to use a carpenter's square, back-butter a tile, leave room for expansion, plant the right seeds in your yahhhhd, and so on.  I usually watch it at a time when I am relaxed, like late on Saturday afternoon in the winter.  It's so much better than those hacks on HGTV.

A little history - I believe Bob Vila left the show because he wanted to sign sponsorship agreements with big name corporations and that was against PBS policy at the time.  (Maybe still is.) The show spawned New Yankee Workshop and Ask TOH.  Both quality in their own right, and even more applicable to a DIYer.

[zolotiyeruki]

... leave room for expansion, plant the right seeds in your yahhhhd, and so on. 

*snigger*  I always find their accents amusing, too :)

[Franklin]

... leave room for expansion, plant the right seeds in your yahhhhd, and so on. 

*snigger*  I always find their accents amusing, too :)

Kevin, Nahm, Tawmee, Raja, and Richud :)

[Nothlit]

I'm not even a homeowner, but I still enjoy watching TOH and Ask TOH. There's something relaxing about watching an expert perform their craft. And I'm sure I'm picking up various tricks and tidbits (mostly from Ask TOH) that may come in handy someday for doing repairs on my own place. My only real complaint about the shows is that it's painfully obvious how scripted they are, even though they are trying to make the conversations look spontaneous.

[With This Herring]

I'm not even a homeowner, but I still enjoy watching TOH and Ask TOH. There's something relaxing about watching an expert perform their craft. And I'm sure I'm picking up various tricks and tidbits (mostly from Ask TOH) that may come in handy someday for doing repairs on my own place. My only real complaint about the shows is that it's painfully obvious how scripted they are, even though they are trying to make the conversations look spontaneous.

I'm okay with that.  We know it's scripted, they know it's scripted, and everyone is happy.  It's not like HGTV with pointless manufactured drama.  I agree that it's a very soothing show.  Sometimes things don't go quite their way, but they are okay with that, and no one makes a huge fuss over it.

One of the biggest things I learned is to make sure your concrete footahs go below the frawst line. :)

[J Boogie]

I recently started listening to the Fine Homebuilding Podcast.

I enjoy woodworking (making furniture) more than carpentry, although I own a 1890's duplex, so this show is pretty interesting to me.

It's a very good podcast.  The guys are all pretty relatable, obviously knowledgeable, and just irreverent/funny enough to make it a good listen.

[Koogie]

I've been watching these videos for home repairs and building info lately. The guy is very knowledgeable and straight forward. 

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

Ditto.  Shannon is a great guy.  Also leaves in a lot of his gaffes, which is more relatable than something highly edited.
I still watch TOH and Ask TOH on Youtube all the time.  There are a million clips and episodes on there.

If you want to recommend videos for absolute beginners, tell them to watch SeeJaneDrill on Youtube.  The woman who presents it used to be a shop teacher and contractor and has a good knack for explaining things in a simple fashion.  My wife subscribed to the channel.