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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.

In this segment, Bob Vila visits the Simplex Industries modular home plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the Home Again project house is being constructed. Dave Boniello, the Vice President of Marketing for Simplex, gives Bob a plant tour during the construction of the Modular Mountain Retreat project house. Building the majority of a home in a factory and delivering it to the home site to be assembled presents unique challenges. Simplex Industries, a privately owned company that ships over 400 homes a year, utilizes a mix of traditional framing techniques and modular home construction-specific practices to ensure that the transportation of the home from factory to building site can be accomplished without structural or cosmetic damage to the house. Examples include eaves that can be folded up for transportation, extra bracing between walls and floors, metal shielding to protect rough electrical work, and drywall that is glued, not screwed, into place.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. Showers account for more than one-fifth of the water Americans use every day. We can conserve more of this precious resource with a low-flow showerhead. If you re not convinced you need to cut your water flow, put a 2-quart pan under your showerhead and turn it on. If it takes less than 12 seconds to fill the pan, you could conserve. Low-flow showerheads limit flow to 2 and a half gallons per minute or less and cost between $8 and $50. Contrary to popular belief, they do not reduce the water pressure of your shower. Some mix the water with air, others pulse and some are elevated to provide a rain shower effect. For between $70 and $250, you can buy one that will even filter chlorine and other chemicals from your water for a truly clean shower that won t dry out your skin. Take a look at the end of your faucet: Most are threaded to receive an aerator. If your existing aerator has a number greater than 2.75 GPM written on it or there isn t one at all, it s an easy upgrade to install. Remove the old one by turning it to the left. If it s stuck, gently use vice grips or tongue-and-groove pliers. Add a piece of Teflon tape over the faucet threads before screwing on the new one to form a tight seal. Faucet aerators only cost $5 to $10 and will pay for themselves in water savings in only a few months. Installing faucet aerators and low-flow showerheads in your home is one of the best ways to reduce your environmental footprint, and it can save you 50 percent of your water and hot water costs to boot. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008