Bob confers with framing contractor Larry Landers, as Larry and his crew assemble the front porch framework on the ranch house remodel at Lake Cochituate, Mass. Larry explains the type of roof and framing required to hold it up. He shows how the fascia board and how the roof is adhered to it. Bob reviews the earlier framing and beam placements to support the porch roof. The porch is thirty-two feet long and seven feet deep. Larry then explains how to marry the old roof with the new one.

The Melrose home had only one gutter left on the front, which had been neglected and was clogged with muck. In the back of the home, a vinyl gutter had been installed by the homeowners. New England Gutter Kings were called in to install a seamless aluminum gutter system. The old gutter was removed and the lengths were carefully measured. Heavy-gauge sheet aluminum was measured and extruded right out of the truck in front of the house. This 32-gauge aluminum holds the profile of the gutter well and will stand up to years of abuse and cleaning. It also gives the profile of the crown molding. Only about eight feet of fascia board needed to be replaced, so western red cedar was used before the gutter was installed. The installation required three people and is set on a slope to drain the water out to the street and sewers.

Bob reviews the varous elements of the roof, including the fascia, soffits and sheathing. The shingles are then applied in layers, adhearing to the row beneath. Flashing is also installed and discussed.

Bob meets with Ed Weller and looks at the roof flashing details. Bob reviews the various pieces involved in flashing including the drip strip, fascia, felt and roofing nails.

Carpenter Ryley and Bob apply exterior trim to the ranch house roof dormer window. Ryley shows Bob how to avoid having a seem in the trim on the front side of the dormer to prevent weather from entering the seem. Ryley then shows bob how to transfer an angle from the roof to the trim. He adds a spacer to keep the ice out from under the trim. Then shows Bob how to create the perfect triangular cut for the mitten or ear board.

The house is finally finished, and Bob takes us on the grand tour. First we tour the exterior; and see the finished landscape, the paint, the gutters, and the trellis. We also look at the finished basement.

The front of the home is complete and looks like the exterior of any home in the American suburbs. Bob talks with Ray Price, the project manager for St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services and Steve Armstrong, the architect. There were some speical issues in this project due to the four different types of materials used for the building exterior. The challenge was to find a finish that would blend the surfaces and textures together. The garage and foundation use concrete block construction; four ISBU's or converted metal shipping containers make up the four corners of the home; conventional framing connects the ISBU's; and plywood makes up the gable ends. To blend and transition these four types of material, a horizontal band is used as a design element to separate the two types of materials. A water table band was placed near the base of the home to solve the problem of closing the joints. The stucco face of the house is actually a stucco coating that is applied over the 16-gauge sheet metal. It is a smooth finish with a traditional stucco look. The insulation behind the stucco is SuperTherm, an insulating ceramic coating. SuperTherm is an energy-efficient thermal coating with an R-factor of 19 and is similar to the substance used to coat the space shuttle. SuperTherm is becoming more available for commercial and industrial applications. Around the back of the home, much of the original vegetation, including the big oak trees, is still in place. The neighboring lots have been cleared but great pains were taken to preserve old growth. The garage door is accessed by an alley around the back of the home. The neighborhood was originally designed with alleys between the blocks so people could have their trash picked up and deliveries made. The alley system is being cleaned up and brought back. Having a back alley for the garage entrance allows for a front porch on the main street. The roof overhang is made of sheet metal, aluminum fascia, and a soffit which gives it a nice clean look. This overhang is low maintenance and meets hurricane code requirements. Right next door to the home, a second prototype follows roughly the same setup and construction. Using lessons learned from the first home, the detailing around the windows will be refined in the construction of the second home. All the windows are made of impact-resistant glass made by PGT. Although this second house will follow the same wooden roof truss system as in the first house, there are some alterations. Different types of insulated panels are being investigated as a possibility for the roof. These insulated panels are very strong and work well with the tie-down to the ISBU's.

Bob meets with Bob Fulmer, Sr. of Harraseeket Restoration, Inc. to see how the gutters are installed on the copper roofed breezeway. The gutters are a single bead half-round copper gutter that attach by circle-type fascia hangers. First Bob, Sr. installs the outlet for the downspout. To cut the hole he punches out a hole in the gutter and, using aviation snips (called clinks), cuts a circle in a spiral till it's large enough. Next he solders the outlet into the bottom of the half-round gutter to achieve a watertight connection. It's important to get it hot enough to melt the solder but to sweat it underneath the lap joint. Once it's sweated underneath, he makes a second pass to build up the layer of solder and then solders a "lock" on the back for extra strength. Then he slips the gutter into the hangers and adds one more soldering joint. The gutter is secured inside the circle-type hanger with a brass clip which allows for contraction, expansion, or movement in the gutter.

Bill Powers of GutterPro joins Bob at the Mashpee, Massachusetts, affordable home sites for the installation of their LeafGuard gutters. These gutters are fabricated on site with a specialized installation truck that extrudes the aluminum, bends it, and crimps it to form the unique overhanging guard and gutter as a one-piece system. The fabricator creates each job on site, cutting each length to fit and drilling holes for connector pipes with little or no wasted material. Once installed with heavy-duty vinyl brackets to hold the gutters away from the fascia, these unique gutters will use the principle of liquid adhesion carry water from the roof to the surface of the gutter cover and over the lip into the gutter itself. Leaves and debris fall away, while water follows the pathway directly into the gutter. This system is priced by the lineal foot and typically runs $10 per lineal foot installed.

Bob visits the Global Solar factory in Tucson, Arizona, to see how they make their unique solar-electric (photovoltaic) devices. Neil Holstad, president of Global Solar, leads a tour of the plant. The factory itself includes many environmentally friendly features, including abundant day lighting, recycled brick fascia, graywater recycling, concrete containing fly ash, rammed-earth garden walls and energy efficient windows. They go inside the ultra-clean plant and see the unique flexible photovoltaic devices. The flexible material allows the devices to be used in many applications, such as the solar shingles used in the Habitat for Humanity project in Yonkers. Robert Wendt, Director of Technical Operations, shows Bob the materials used to make the solar cells and one of the manufacturing machines they invented for producing them.