BobVila.com

When choosing wallboard, remember the difference between drywall and blue board. Drywall panels are covered with paper that will take paint directly once they've been taped and the joints and fasteners have been covered with compound. Blue board's more absorbent paper layer is designed to bond with a veneer plaster coating before it is painted.

To determine how many four by eight drywall panels to buy, divide the square footage you need to cover by thirty-two. You'll need about a half gallon of joint compound and forty feet of drywall tape for every hundred square feet of drywall. To estimate fasteners, figure about three pounds of screws (or about 5 1/4 lbs. of drywall nails) for every thousand square feet.

While the house is being dried out, the siding can be put in place. The furring strips are attached to the foam exterior with an adhesive foam. Fasteners are used to affix the fiber cement siding and make sure it's secure. Bob talks with Jack Armour from Powers Fasteners about the fasteners used to secure the siding. Holes are drilled into the structure that are the same diameter as the fasteners . The fasteners are built with a "S" shape and are heat treated so that when the fasteners exert pressure against the cement walls and heat up, they try to return to their original shap, causing them to tighten their grip within the walls . Powers Fasteners is a company that is almost 100 years old. The fasteners were originally made of jute and then gradually started being made of plastic. HardiPlank, a product made of fiber cement, will be used for the siding. The planks are made of a mix of wood fiber and cement, which work well together. The planks are durable and hold paint well. The siding being used is prefinished.

Attaching heavy-duty industrial shelves to concrete or cinder block walls requires special tools and fasteners.

Bob meets Todd Skulksy of Perfection Fence as he installs the classic New England-style vinyl picket fence. This product has a wood look and is made of mono-extruded vinyl so that it has only one layer and will not show nicks or discolorations over time. The fence is installed without mechanical fasteners and has been engineered with the crimps molded into the rails. The rail locks into the post piece and the crimp holds it in place. Perfection Fence vinyl fences come in different styles, this one with traditional New England features like the Colonial cap and ball finial for the top. Skulsky explains that these fences are moderately priced and cost less than finished wood fencing, but more than an unfinished wood fence. They are maintenance free, however, which will save money over time.

In this segment Bob watches the crew install the railing on the deck. The composite railing product comes pre-milled to accept all the railing components. As with wood decks, building codes calls for a post every six feet between the railings. The posts are pre-hollowed for wiring if the homeowner decides to light the deck with post-mounted lamps. The balustrades and railings are cut to length on site. Stainless steel screws are used to assemble the pieces. The use of stainless fasteners is an added cost, but longevity of the deck material means that uncoated fasteners would rust long before the deck might need replacing.

Bob visits the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park with Doug Blonsky of the Central Park Conservancy. The carved sandstone structure is maintained by on-staff conservators who clean the sandstone and repair it using the dutchman technique, where a deteriorated piece is cut out, refashioned, and replaced. They then visit the underside of the terrace where a brick ceiling was once covered with 49 Minton tile panels. In the 1980s, the Conservancy discovered that the panels were deteriorating structurally so they were removed and stored until restoration could take place. The $3.5 million restoration is now underway with two representative panels already in place and the other 47 being restored and refashioned with a stainless-steel frame to prevent future rust. Bob looks at a panel with Vice President of Operations Chris Nolan. The wrought-iron backing deteriorated over time, rust expanded and caused failure in the mechanical fasteners that held each of the 16,000 individual tiles to the metal backing. The project will remove the wrought iron backing from the tiles, assess damage to the tiles, and repair or replace those damaged piece before putting a new stainless-steel backing on each of the one-ton panels. The project is expected to take two years to complete.