BobVila.com

Here's a way to replace damaged ceramic tile. Remove the grout with a grout saw. Crack the tile with a hammer and cold chisel. Remove adhesive with an old chisel or putty knife. Apply latex tile adhesive to the new tiles and press firmly into place. Force grout into the joints removing the excess and avoid contact for 24 hours.

Here's a technique professional carpenters use to conceal nails or screws: use wooden plugs. Use a dowel bit to drill out the plugs. Dip each plug in carpenter's glue, and tap it into place over the nail or screw. Let the glue dry, then shear the plug off with a wood chisel. Sand the suface smooth and apply your finish.

Bob talks with Nick Christy of Atlantic View Landscaping Construction about the "hardscaping" work being done in the yard. Christy explains how the granite retaining wall was installed in the front of the house. The antique stone used in the project was salvaged from the Danvers State Hospital. The stone still shows the old chisel marks . Christy reviews how the stairs from the curb were replaced with the salvaged granite. The walkway up to the house was also dug up and replaced with a bed of compacted stone dust and a top layer of small pebbles edged in steel for a more relaxed walkway. The stones used in building the stairs and retaining wall were dry set within a trench. The stones were cut using a diamond blade on a portable saw. Sometimes the cut pieces were flamed with a torch and the edges chiseled to regain the antique look. Christy reviews how the front yard was replaced with a raised bed. A natural fieldstone pathway will run across the yard to the back of the home. Christy shows Bob the work being done on the backyard, including the French patio being lined with natural fieldstones. The yard will have a gravel base with pebbles embedded into that surface. To prevent flooding, a sloped sub-grade was added below the center of the terrace and a perforated pipe installed and covered with fabric and crushed stone. This pipe should handle all the run-off from the hillside and carry it away from the home.

Bob visits the Sumner Mansion with UVM professor Tom Visser to learn more about the proper restoration and preservation procedures for an antique brick home. The original early 1800s brick has been sandblasted - removing the outside fire skin of the brick to reveal the soft inner core - leaving the brick permanently damaged. The only option now it to re-point it up and re-paint it. Care should be taken with masonry sealers as they can often trap moisture in the wall and lead to accelerate spalling of the bricks. If you have paint on old brick walls, your best option is to use a commercial paint remover such as a caustic soda, a Peel-Away type product, or even a solvent-based stripper. As for repairing the mortar, very often people patch and re-point using a Portland Cement mortar. This is not a good choice as it stands out like a sore thumb and is too hard for the bricks - putting stress on them and causing them to fail. To select the right mortar to use, loosen a sampling of the original mortar with a mason's chisel, crush it with a geologist's mortar and pestle, and then dissolve the lime binder with household distilled white vinegar. What will settle in the bottom of your jar is the sand from which the mortar was originally made. You can then take the sand to a mason and match its color and texture and make up new lime and sand mortar to match the original.

She is constructing a drawer made of poplar. After measuring she gets to work with a chisel and saw. She uses a Japanese Back Saw for a precise cut. The pieces that fit into a dovetail are called pins. The narrower the pins, the more artistic and refined the joint. When all cuts are completed the pieces are gently forced together.