Mistakes on "Ask this old House"

[wolfb]

I love these programs along with Norms show, but there are some glaring errors that you can't help notice, and could be the dead fall of the home owner. For example in a recent episode (Aired Sat) the plummer puts a sump pump on a basement dehumidefier and plumbs it out the side of the house. Did you notice when they pulled the full condensate catch pan from the unit it shut off. They then immediately placed the pan back in the unit and it started right back up. This is a major no-no. If you shut off any refrigeration unit you should wait at least 10 mins to start it back up. This is one of the reasons why brown-outs and short power interruptions are hard on your appliances. The other thing they neglected to detail on that particular installation is the routing of the sump lines from the catch pan. You can't just put the pump in there without making some provision for the discharge lines to go out. A bit of an oversite in my opinion. Just my observations. Have you got any other examples???

Wolf-==-

[Abe]

--------- I saw that particular goof also. I think it was just for the sake of the TV demonstration they did that fast cycling.

I don't remember other goofs, however.

[John Grossbohlin]

I caught a ATOH show recently where Tom Silva replaced the broken panes of glass in a door. The door had two panes with a dividing muntin bar and nailed on trim. Both panes were broken and the muntin was clearly broken. An application of glazing compound with a chalking gun, stick in the glass and glazer's points, nail on the trim and done... Tom did need to create one new piece of trim that he cut from a piece of cove molding and shaped to match the original trim. Overall it was informative for the uninformed but leaving the broken muntin was a bit much.

John

[Roger Shoaf]

What I would like to see is the out takes from these shows. Norm cutting the board too short, or attempting to assemble the joint only to find that he had cut the tennon too long making the board too short etc.

[Lee Gordon]

Yeah. It seems that every week one of the guys has some tool that he can't figure out what it is so he asks the other guys and they go around the table and give him bullshit answers like you'd expect from the high school kid at the Borg who just can't bring himself to say "I don't know." I thought these guys were supposed to be experts.

Lee

[Cherokee-Ltd]

Maybe Mike Holmes should follow these guys around and correct their boo-boos.

- One of my favourite TV shows, this guy comes to the rescue when homeowners discover they have been had by fly-by-night contractors. The gallery on the site shows various episodes with a little story and before/after photos. Some of the crap he comes across would blow your mind.

-Brian

[Dave]

Roger, a great idea. Out-takes are popular and entertaining. Worth a look.

Dave

[George]

It's supposed to be a joke. You haven't figured it out yet?

As to outtakes, you don't elevate yourself by putting someone else down - or demanding that they do it themselves.

[Glenna Rose]

It's sad the comedy of it escapes you. I think it's a refreshing aside from some of the more serious consequences of not doing it right. It has the additional advantage of folks remembering the item in question. Some of their speculations are rather creative (some even "logical"), and, undoubtedly, the collaboration of several people. Surely, you have not believed that those answers were the actual responses of the people in question.

You did catch, didn't you, that the guy who "can't figure cout what it is so he asks the other guys" is also the one who has the answer?

Or maybe your post was as tongue-in-cheek as their absurd answers?

Glenna

[Phillip Hallam-Baker]

Norm is building his projects in two days. Back when he started he was doing a bathroom cabinet with box joints. Today he is building mahoghany dining room tables.

I don't think Norm could build the things as fast if he made many mistakes during filming. Thats why he almost always does a prototype.

[Duane Bozarth]

And pretty lame, too. I've not seen a one that was the least bit actually funny, which may be Lee's problem....

I'd much rather they spent the time on something (actually, ) else...

[Phillip Hallam-Baker]

Norm is building his projects in two days. Back when he started he was doing a bathroom cabinet with box joints. Today he is building mahoghany dining room tables.

I don't think Norm could build the things as fast if he made many mistakes during filming. Thats why he almost always does a prototype.

[Lee Gordon]

But apparently not any funnier. I really thought the satire of my post was self-evident enough that I didn't need to include a smilie face. But after three posts (so far) explaining to me that the "What Is It?" is suposed to be humorous (yes, I know it is), I guess I shouldn't take anything for granted. :)

Lee

[Mark & Juanita]

While this is true, I seriously doubt one or two instances of this action is going to cause serious issues in the overall scheme of things.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Charlie Self]

Mark & Juanita responds:

It doesn't bother it much, I'm sure. We've got a basement dehumidifier. I dump it when it needs dumping and stick the condensate pan right back in. I'm not waiting 10 minutes for the thing to cool down; it is about 16 years old and still going fine.

Charlie Self "One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected." George W. Bush

[Roger Shoaf]

The issue is not elevating ones self, the issue is the humor. Norm has become a fine craftsman. That road was no doubt paved with many small errors. We all make these errors, it is part of being human just like the Oscar winning actor that flubs his lines or the consummate professional newsman that mispronounces the Senators name.

PBS might even make a pledge break special of this.

[Duane Bozarth]

John Grossbohlin wrote: ...

I didn't see the particular episode, but I think you're being a little hard on Tom in this description. How would he make a replacement muntin in a reasonable amount of time on site? And if he did, how would he get it in place w/o disassembling the frame? If the break was relatively clean, I suspect it was pretty much concealed by the repair and certainly suitable for the type of thingy ATOH is doing...

I like to watch Tom a lot...don't do everything like he does, but I've learned some neat tricks I've not seen before, too...

[Duane Bozarth]

It's tough to tell for sure, sometimes...I had my doubts, and wouldn't have responded directly, but did via another respondent...

I'm not sure whether your sense is they are humorous or not, but to me they've been universally so lame as to be almost embarrassing to watch. I'm thinking they probably hate the producer that dreamed it up... :)

[bf]

This is exactly the reason I don't watch "Ask this old House" That act is supposed to be funny, but it's very annoying.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

It was sort of funny the first time. Annoying the second time, Downright tedious after that.