TV host offers advice for renovators

By MEREDITH FINE

Essex County Newspapers

homeowners' worst enemy is water and her best friend may be an architect.

Those are some words of advice from the North Shore's most famous home improvement expert, Steve Thomas, host of public television's "This Old House."

"The biggest mistake people make is a lack of an overall plan," said Thomas, during an early morning telephone interview from his hotel room in Texas. "If there's one piece of advice I can offer, it's to spend the money on a comprehensive architectural plan for your house.

"Most people recoil in horror at spending $5,000 on nothing. But what happens is they start on the kitchen in the absence of a plan and inevitably renovations become bigger, not smaller," he said. Sometimes, people don't see how rooms interact or understand traffic patterns, leading to confusion and expense, he said.

"The prospect of renovating a kitchen or house is frightening to most people. The technology is now quite dazzling," he said, pointing our that some refrigerators cost three times what some might have paid for their first car. "All of that requires a guide."

For 13 years, Thomas has been that guide for upwards of 50 million people a week. "This Old House" is seen on public television stations around the nation and on the Discovery Europe channel. The show is the highest-rated home improvement series in television history and Thomas himself won a daytime Emmy in 1998 as Outstanding Service Show host. It's been an amazing experience for the self-effacing carpenter who grew up in Southern California.

Thomas' career is marked by twin passions, for carpentry and for the sea.

Thomas paid his way through Evergreen State College working as a painting contractor and carpenter. He fixed up his first old house in 1974 and continued renovating homes until 1980, when he moved to the North Shore. His wife, Evy, had gotten a job in the Boston area at a computer firm.

In 1984, Thomas traveled to a remote Micronesian island in the Pacific to learn about ancient navigation methods, which led to a 1987 book and a documentary the following year, "The Last Navigator."

The film was shown on PBS as part of the "Adventure" series. It was the publicist from that series who called Thomas one day to ask him about auditioning for "This Old House" to replace Bob Villa, who had left after a disagreement over commercial endorsements.

The request came just as Thomas had arrived at a personal crossroad. He was converting his attic into office space and wondering how to make more money to help support his wife and toddler. Making documentaries was expensive and required extensive travel.

Hosting a television show "seemed like a nutty idea," he said, and the show had already auditioned more than 400 potential hosts unsuccessfully. Still, he talked it over with family and friends, and decided to give it a try.

The audition went well except for one thing: His beard made him look too much like co-host Norm Abrams.

When Thomas was called back for an interview, he brought along a Bic razor and a promise to be a team player. He was hired.

What made Thomas rise above hundreds of other applicants? "I understood what the job was," he said. "The role of the host is to take the audience to the experts but not necessarily be the expert. You have to use your skills to bring your audience to your material and not insert yourself in between. You're the conduit, the guide. I described my role as an adventure guide."

"This Old House" has no formula for choosing its renovation projects. "Every year we look for something different," he said. The show looks for a project in the Boston area that's large enough to sustain 18 or 19 episodes, and "the house has to be interesting." The owners have to be willing to work on the show's schedule and also to spend an adequate amount of money to do the job right.

Disagreements between homeowner and contractor can actually help the show, said Thomas. "Disagreements over design occur on every show, it's part of the process. We follow the projects as they are, not an idealized project that occurs in the studio. If we run into problems, we talk about them."

Kitchens frequently generate friction over design. Thomas and Abrams may give advice and even build a mock-up of the proposed kitchen, so homeowners can see its drawbacks, but ultimately, the person writing the check gets the final say. "It's the homeowners' house and the homeowners' money. We've seen a couple of homeowners build kitchens we wouldn't build."

Perhaps the worst experience on the show was not in Massachusetts but across the Atlantic, in London. The homeowners went against Thomas' recommendation for an architect for their historic home, and the city's Planning Commis-sion ended up hauling them in over the design for the roof.

The show had to hire a mediator, the couple got divorced and the roof had to be replaced in the last episode. Choosing the wrong architect "turned out to be a pretty costly decision on their part," said Thomas ruefully.

"The cost of renovation has gone up so much, it's the same cost as building new. You only want to build it once and you want to build it right," he said.

'A good investment'

People can avoid costly mistakes with good planning and some research, said Thomas.

The first step is buying the right house in the first place.

"Location, location, location is truer than ever," said Thomas. "Buy the worst house in the best neighborhood you can afford. You want to be able to get the full value out of your work. And don't be afraid to sell and do it again."

When considering a house, "stand back and look at it," he said. "See if it's square on its foundation and plumb, sitting level. Look for big cracks in the foundation or settling.

"Look at the condition of the roof. Ninety percent of the trouble in a house starts with water coming in somewhere, whether from the roof or the ground, gutters, downspouts. Look for evidence of water running down the side of the house or paint flaking off under the eaves.

"Look at the sill. Over time, the soil around the outside of the house covers the sill. That will cause the sills to rot, a fairly expensive fix.

"If the basement is damp and smells musty, it's a clue that the house might not have gotten the best care over the years. It had better be a really good value to keep looking. If I see water problems, I just walk away from it typically."

Another clue to a house's value is its internal structure. "The other thing to look for how much has the house been cut up over the years," he said. "Ideally, the house has been well-cared for but is really down at the heels. The house is sound. It still has its original character hidden behind the shabbiness. Paint and paper and landscaping are ideal jobs for the average homeowners. There are great rewards to result earned, it's a good investment."

Once the architect has drawn up a plan, the homeowner can swing into action.

"You can become an excellent project manager," said Thomas. "Once you do have a plan, specify every piece of hardware _ faucets, lighting, down to the model number. You can get a handle on the cost." Many fans of his show, typically women, carry big notebooks full of specs for their home project. "They are superbly organized."

The next step is hiring a contractor. "To a certain extent, you ignore price and go with reputation. Reputation is key," he said.

Good contractors will be busy and customers will have to wait their turn. And homeowners will get what they pay for. "They will charge you fairly and it wouldn't be cheap," he said, adding that customers who complain about bad contractors are often the victim of their own decisions to cut corners.

Thomas' enthusiasm for his work is evident, and he is constantly aware of the high esteem in which his show is held. Contractors will tell him that they watch the show because their customers watch it.

"It's not often that you find a show with this kind of following and respect, in the industry, among professionals and among the general public," he said.