Join us as we get to know the newest Ask This Old House team member: Lee Gilliam. Lee is a landscaping contractor with over 30 years of experience in the industry. He explains how he got started in the business, how far he’s come, and even offers advice to up-and-coming folks who want to start their own businesses.

Next, we join plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey as he helps a homeowner replace his shower valves. With a classic bathroom and timeless tile on the line, Richard shows the homeowner how to remove the individual valves (the ones so prone to scalding people in the shower) and replace them with a modern, safer option without ruining the look of the tile.

Finally, landscaping contractors Jenn Nawada and Lee Gilliam help a homeowner deal with a troublesome slope in their front yard. With every rain storm, the yard washes out and covers the sidewalk, but Jenn and Lee know exactly how to handle it. By removing the existing mulch, finding the right plants, and coming up with some creative uses for existing field stones, the three work together to anchor the yard in place.

Ask This Old House Introduces Lee Gilliam

The newest Ask This Old House team member takes us for a ride to tell us about himself and how he started his business and offers some advice to budding entrepreneurs.

How To Repair a Leaking Shower Valve

Richard Trethewey helps a homeowner repair a leaking 3-valve shower while retaining the bathroom’s original 1930s tile.

Where to find it?

Richard replaces an old 3-valve system in a 1930s bathroom with a pressure-balanced
shower valve and cover plate.

First, Richard loosens the calking around the tub spout with a utility knife. Then he uses a pipe wrench to remove the tub spout.

Richard uses an imp tubing cutter to cut the connecting water pipes easily and removes the old shower valve.

He then lays masking tape around the 3 valves openings and traces out a template of the cover plate.

Richard then uses a drill driver and drills holes around the perimeter of the template. Next, he cuts through the tile and mud job with an oscillating saw, following the template.

Richard assembles the new pressure-balancing shower valve by cleaning out the fittings and the exterior of the pipes with a wire brush. Then, applying a layer of flux to the interior fittings and exterior of the pipes. He installs the valve by heating up the pipe along the joints using a torch and soldering them securely to the water lines.

All supplies used for this project can be found at most home centers.

How To Landscape a Sloping Yard

Lee and Jenn work together to refresh a homeowner’s eroding sloped yard by removing excess mulch and installing boulders and ground cover plants.

Where to find it?

Lee and Jenn find a landscape solution for a homeowner dealing with an over mulched and under loved sloped front yard.

To start, Lee and Jenn use shovels to carefully dig up existing plants to be replanted.

To get rid of the excess mulch, Lee and Jenn raked down the mulch into manageable piles to be recycled elsewhere.

To relocate the boulders, Lee and Jenn use a tree dolly.

To aerate the soil, Lee uses a rototiller. This will prep the soil for the new plantings. A rototiller can be found at a local home store.

After staging they use shovels to dig and plant the ground cover and other selected plants. Lee suggests planting in threes, for a more natural look.

To help the newly added plants thrive, Jenn adds organic plant food to the soil when backfilling.

Original Air Date: Oct 12, 2023, Season 22; Ep. 3 23:42