Episode

Building a raised garden bed with landscape timbers.

Landscaping contractor Roger Cook helps a pair of homeowners build a raised garden bed for growing vegetables using landscape timbers made from recycled plastic and sawdust. Roger installed wooden stakes to mark the corners of the bed and ran level string lines to establish the bed's outside edges and its finished height. After removing the top layer of grass and digging down for the base timbers, Roger installed the bottom timbers that would sit below grade. He then laid more timbers on top and secured them with 6" timber screws spaced 18 inches apart. Roger then installed 1/2" rebar through the base courses and into the ground to keep them from moving. Additional timbers were then installed until the finished height of the bed was reached; each timber was fastened using more rebar and screws. Afterward, up in the loft, Roger shows some landscape timbers made from other types of materials, including a wooden timber that has been pressure-treated with liquid glass.

Clearing a bathtub drain

Plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey helps a homeowner clear a bathtub drain that has been draining slowly for the past 13 years. Richard begins with an anatomy lesson of how a "bath waste and overflow" system works. He explains that the best place to insert a snake is through the overflow opening. Richard removes the plate along with the linkage inside. He then takes a snake with a steel cable and runs it down through the overflow opening and down through the trap. Before reinstalling the drain assembly, Richard adjusts the "stopper" so that it allows water to pass freely when the drain's trip-lever is in the "open" position. Later, up in the loft, Richard shows a "drum trap" and explains why a plumbing snake might not work if you have one in your house.