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Ask This Old House Celebrates 20 Years

The home-improvement show that goes anywhere to answer your questions is celebrating two decades on the road. Take a look in the rearview mirror at some house-call highlights, epic episodes, and notable detours along the way.

By Suzanne Zenkel
Image of four men exiting a house next to a ATOH trailer
2002: After homeowners across the land put in requests for on-the-ground advice, AskTOH gears up to hit the road. On board at the outset: landscape contractor Roger Cook, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, general contractor Tom Silva, and host Steve Thomas. 
This Old House Production

This story originally appeared in the Spring 2022 Issue of This Old House Magazine. Click here to learn how to subscribe.

New Faces and Famous Guests (2003 – 2012)

  • 2003: The show rings the doorbell of a Queen Anne fixer-upper and finds a young couple trying to strip off layers of painted-over wallpaper. By the time the steam evaporates and Season 2 begins, AskTOH has a new host: Fellow DIYers, meet Kevin O’Connor
  • 2005: In the AskTOH workshop, Richard shows off his first cutaway, a garbage disposer that he opened up to best explain its inner workings. This Old House Production
  • 2008: In the first show featuring kids’ projects, the AskTOH team offers hands-on instruction, building a soccer goal from PVC pipe, a pair of poplar stilts, and a sandbox.  This Old House Production
  • 2010: Making his AskTOH debut, painting contractor Mauro Henrique helps a homeowner refinish a rusty bulkhead door.  This Old House Production
  • 2011: During a barnstorming trip to Wichita, Memphis, Little Rock, and Tulsa, the team tours Elvis’s home (shag-carpeted ceiling, anyone?) and gives live demonstrations, making plenty of house calls along the way.  This Old House Production
  • 2012: In a special episode, the show heads to the Big Apple, where guest star and Late Night host Jimmy Fallon participates in a round of What Is It? in Times Square.  Courtesy WGBH
  • 2012: Home technology expert Ross Trethewey makes his first appearance, demonstrating a solar-panel installation on a San Francisco roof.  This Old House Production

Milestones and More (2014 – 2021)

  • 2014: Having reached a milestone 300th episode, the guys surprise Kevin with their celebration. VIEWER WARNING: DANCING MAY OCCUR  This Old House Production
  • 2015: Tom and Kevin create their first official build it project, around-top shaker side table. This Old House Production
  • 2015: Landscape contractor Jenn Nawada makes her AskTOH debut, helping Roger build raised-bed gardens at an elementary school and teaching third graders how to plant them.  Holly Redmond
  • 2016: Actor, author, and woodworker Nick Offerman stops by the AskTOH workshop for a round of What Is It? and offers up some solid, hands-on advice.  Holly Redmond
  • 2017: During the first of many appearances, mason Mark McCullough teaches a Milwaukee homeowner how to repoint brick, and quickly becomes a cornerstone of the team.  This Old House Production
  • 2018: The show adds on, welcoming carpenter —and 2017 Generation NEXT apprentice— Nathan Gilbert to the AskTOH roster.  Colleen McQuaid
  • 2019: Master electrician Heath Eastman conducts his first AskTOH house call, installing a dining room chandelier. This Old House Production
  • 2020: With Covid-19 calling the shots, AskTOH suspends filming for five months. Production resumes in fits and starts, with restricted travel and mandated safety protocols that, like the virus, will prove to have staying power.  Anthony Teiuli
  • 2021: Working outdoors feels better than ever. For the first time, all nine AskTOH pros gather to tackle a single project—building a barn for Mark’s chickens—as the show marks another milestone: two decades of terrific teamwork. Mike Casey

Favorite Moments from the Cast

After 20 television seasons and more than 1,000 house calls, what are some of the episodes that really hit home for the Ask This Old House team? We asked, they answered.

  • “Stripping woodwork for a house call in Sacramento. The house was very old with lots of beautiful, varnished woodwork under a coat of paint, which we took off with a zero-VOC stripper. It came out really nice.” —Mauro Henrique  Colleen McQuaid
  • “When we went to Brooklyn and took a messy, weedy, unkempt brownstone front and dressed it up with dogwood trees, new planters, and low-voltage lights.” —Jenn Nawada  Makayla Townsend
  • “Any episode where I get to be quiet and work next to some of these folks. I take a lot of satisfaction in working with my hands, just tackling a task and getting it done.” —Kevin O’Connor  Anthony Teiuli
  • “There was a woman in Atlanta who said she couldn’t leave her house for more than twelve hours at a time because she had to empty a bucket underneath her water heater’s leaking hose bib. After a quick, easy fix, she gave me the biggest hug, overjoyed to be free of her daily chore. ...I live for a good hug.” —Richard Trethewey  This Old House Production
  • “When I visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and saw the technology used on the International Space Station—an engineer’s dream!” —Ross Trethewey  Colleen McQuaid
  • “We went to Houston after Hurricane Harvey, and it has really stuck with me—thinking about the people who go all over the world to volunteer when disaster strikes. There are a lot of good, good folks out there.” —Tom Silva  Colleen McQuaid
  • “Restoring a brick beehive oven from 1750. I had only two narrow openings to reach inside the oven interior. Any wrong move could have caused it to collapse.” —Mark McCullough  Makayla Townsend
  • “I put the finishing touch on a home-office project by making a display case for my grandfather’s American flag—my proudest moment on Ask This Old House.” —Nathan Gilbert  Sarah Chasse
  • “When you do all the hard work in the beginning, and then it all lands exactly where it’s supposed to when it’s done, and the homeowner’s happy, there’s no better day.” —Heath Eastman  Makayla Townsend