In North Carolina, Kevin O’Connor and Richard Trethewey take a ride on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway before going their separate ways to check on the progress of homes that were damaged by Hurricane Helene.
Kevin heads to Swannanoa where builder Chris Cronin and project manager Noah Swaty are working in homeowner Miah’s kitchen. They walk Kevin through the planned layout of Miah’s kitchen and once he has a lay of the land, he joins in to help them install the upper and lower cabinets. Noah explains since they are using stock cabinets that do not exactly line up size wise with Miah’s retro fixtures, they must be mindful of the placements to ensure the upper and lower cabinets line up as close as possible and use filler to make up any differences.
Meanwhile in North Asheville, Jenn Nawada is at homeowner Matt and Melinda’s front yard to meet with National Disaster Recovery Contractor Matt Gierden. Matt explains how he and his team are working with FEMA to remove all of the hazardous trees that remain in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Inside, she meets with Melinda to catch up on progress with the house and to see how her family is feeling since the storm.
Later, Mark McCullough is in town, and he heads straight to The Grove Park Inn where Isabel Miller introduces him to the historic Asheville hotel and all of its marvelous stonework.
Over in East Asheville, Richard is at Paula’s house with building science experts Abe and Caleb who will seal Paula’s house using a fine mist through pressurized air. They start with a blower door test for an air leakage baseline, and once that’s complete, they begin spraying a fine mist that gets pushed into the gaps and cracks of the house and then hardens to seal the air gaps.
Original Air Date: Oct 23, 2025, Season 47; Ep. 5 23:42
Products and Resources
- Contractors and services:
Balsam Built
Ward Enterprises
Old North State Building Company - Insulation: Aeroseal
- Disaster response: AshBritt
- HVAC: Ferguson
- Side trip: The Omni Grove Park Inn and Spa
- Location: Explore Asheville
