The finishing touches are being added to the interior of the home in St Petersburg. The appliances are being delivered and installed. The home features an open plan with a modern design. The kitchen, dining, and living rooms are all one open space. This provides a free-flowing atmosphere where everyone can see each other. The space is made up of two containers and the space between the two containers has conventional framing, which creates a bigger space with a higher ceiling for the living area. Off the central hall are four bedrooms, including a master bedroom with its own dedicated bathroom. There are three additional bedrooms and a spacious bathroom at the end of the hall. Drywall was placed on the metal furring strips and then a wood frame was put in place for the windows. Construction adhesive was used to secure the wood baseboards. The interior walls are faced with DensArmor Plus fiberglass wallboard from Georgia Pacific. When building in a humid environment like Florida, it's very important to use material that is resistant to mildew and mold. DensArmor uses a fiberglass mat instead of an organic face. The fiberglass does not provide a surface for mold to grow. The ceiling has a knockdown texture painted with semigloss paint. The interior walls have a satin finish with an orange-peel texture.

Back on site, Bob joins Ray Price for a look at the ISBU's on their foundations. The total footprint of the house is 58 feet from front to back, or 1,800 square feet in total, with 2 ISBU's on each side. Between them, 7 3/4 inch-wide steel floor joists will run 16 inches on center and be welded on each end to the ISBU's, creating a total steel structure that will then get a plywood subfloor. Price shows Bob the floorplans for this Highland model. It has a front entry that leads to a living room, dining room, and kitchen combination that functions like a great room and family space. A central hallway leads to the back of the house and passes between two bedrooms on the right with a bath between them and two bedrooms on the left, including a master bedroom with its own bath, walk-in closet, and utility room. The single-car garage is built of cement block. The exterior will be finished in stucco like a traditional Florida home, and will match its identical, but smaller, prototype down the block.

Bob and developer John Druley walk through a home under construction by Qualker Homes in Falmouth, Massachusetts. This standard design is used for both the market-priced and affordable homes. The overall dimensions of the house are 26 feet by 36 feet. A center-door entry leads to 13-by-18-foot living room on one side and a 16-by-13-foot master bedroom on the other. The back of the house has a 13-by-18-foot kitchen with a back door and a window onto the backyard, a half-bath and laundry, and an entry to the master bedroom with full bath, tub-shower combination, double-bowl sink, and linen closet. The upstairs has two bedrooms with operable skylights and a full bath. This three-bedroom, two-and-one-half bath Cape will be lotteried as an affordable home to eligible families who make between $29,000 and $65,000 per year, and who qualify for a traditional mortgage. The home is stick-built with traditional 2X4 framing, oriented strand board (OSB) exterior sheathing, low-e glass, tilt-in vinyl windows, and gas heat. Bob and Druley point out that an affordable home must be affordable to operate and heat as well as being affordable to purchase.

Bob is joined on the site of the Punta Gorda, Florida, storm-ready home by Jim Crain of Precise Forms. Precise Forms partners with Mercedes Builders to create high-quality, reinforced concrete homes throughout Florida. Precise Forms began in 1967 by supplying cast-in-place forms for subterranean foundations and basements. In 2000 they began to set forms for full wall, cast-in-place houses for Mercedes Homes. Once the forms are set, Bob walks through the layout with Jesse Gonzalez of Mercedes Homes. Gonzalez points to window placements that are encapsulated behind the aluminum forms as they walk past view windows in the family area, past the three bedrooms, bath, laundry, and two-car garage of this four-bedroom home with master suite. Mark Newton of Solid Wall Systems joins Bob as the pour begins. He explains that they are using a 2,000 pound psi, small aggregate concrete mix for the entire pour. We watch as the concrete is pumped into the forms, which are braced at the top by two-by-fours that hold the tops of the forms square to prevent movement as the forms receive the static pressure of the concrete. Newton explains that they will vibrate around all door and window openings before allowing the concrete to set. This will help eliminate voids, honeycombing, or any blowout due to bad adhesion or conformity of the concrete.

Bob meets architect Bill Bauhs in his office to take a look at the changes that are going to be made. Bill tells us that the house has been measured and the information entered into the computer to make a CAD footprint of the building. He shows us the off-center bearing wall that runs through the building with rooms on either side. This is typical of buildings of this era, but it is important to open up the wall and create larger spaces to bring the house up to modern standards. By eliminating one bedroom, Bill creates a large living and dining space. He also consolidates two bedrooms into a galley kitchen and breakfast area and makes the original kitchen and porch into a master suite. Next Bob and Bill take a look at the plans on paper. They point out the changes that have been made and transferred to the paper drawings. The new breakfast area features a window seat and the new master suite has a dressing area and enlarged bathroom. The basement is opened up to allow future bedrooms and a family room and the mechanicals are grouped along one wall. The upstairs rental unit is reconfigured the same way as the first floor giving it a more open and updated look.

Bob meets with Chris Vila to discuss the demolition and clean up. One of the project's early obstacles was the roof. To close the building to the weather, the old roof was removed, and a temporary weather barrier put in place. Bob and Chris then review some of the steel framing and the exposed beams, noting how portions of the existing wood beams will be left exposed. The tour the layout of the two-bedroom apartment that has been framed up for the bedrooms, kitchen, living area, bath, and entry.

Bob tours the greystone flat with Catherine Caravette, assessing the work to be done and pointing out a few of the house's unique features. Although the existing bedrooms are small, the proposed new layout increases their space. Water damage is discovered in the bathroom.

Bob and designer DD Allen visit another Miami apartment designed by Pierce Allen. This 1,000-square-foot apartment was made of two former units and now has three bedrooms and an open living, dining, and kitchen area. The unifying concept of the apartment is the color scheme that is all white with punches of color throughout. Allen found vintage pieces like the Kagan sofa and table that were refurbished for the apartment. Vintage lighting designs from France, ship's dining chairs recovered in white, and a dining table made with surfboard technology complete a sleek, shape-focused blend of modern design and contemporary finishes. The kitchen, too, is white with lime green accents, an all-white, molded Corian counter, and an island with a floating, stainless shelf. Vintage glass panels with an etched bamboo motif and original handles grace the doors to the guest bedroom. Pivoting, laminated, frosted-glass doors open onto the master bedroom done in white, with a lime green upholstered back wall that softens the space and functions like a huge headboard. Lucite shelves, a bright pink ultra-suede wall, leather, and glass bring a funky feel to the sleek, monochromatic design that runs thorughout the apartment.

Bob Vila shows a Victorian Style house where the rough plumbing is being installed. The house has a half basement with the remainder being just crawlspace. Bob meets Jim Timino the plumbing contractor who is running PVC pipe for the rough plumbing. Jim is installing a 2" waste line from the kitchen that will run to the main waste stack or piping. The main waste piping is 4" PVC and it runs into the sewer system in the backyard. Jim demonstrates how to properly cement or glue PVC fittings with the PVC pipe. They also take a look at the master bedroom suite, which will be magnificent because of its roominess and the extravagant master bathroom. They show the vent piping from the basement to the roof including a future vent that is required by Massachusetts Plumbing Code. The vent pipes allow proper drainage as well as a place for sewer gas to be expelled outside of the home. Bob tours the upstairs children�s bedrooms and overviews the header vent pipe and how it interconnects all the waste pipes in the home.

More and more baby boomers are looking to expand space in their homes to make room for aging parents. Bob talks with Howard Brickman, an old friend of the show, who specializes in hardwood flooring installations. Brickman is adding space to his home to make room for his mother-in-law. The house was originally built by Brickman 24 years ago and the family has been living in it ever since. The home is two stories, approximately 2,500 square feet with four bedrooms and a full basement. The size of the home will roughly double to make room for the new space. A full bedroom, bath, kitchenette, and a large living area will be created in the project. The home is in Norwell, Massachusetts, hwere glacial activity left a mix of soil types, large rocks, and groundwater in the area surrounding the home. There were some conservation issues that delayed the building permit for about eight weeks.