Episode 41: A Visit to America’s Oldest Carpentry School, plus “Timeless” Style
Carpentry education, what makes for a dated look, working on scaffolds and platforms, and roofing.
In this episode of the Fine Homebuilding Podcast, Rob talks about his visit to the North Bennet Street School in Boston, which offers the oldest carpentry program in the United States. The guys offer advice to a shop teacher on “timeless” vs “dated” styles in home renovation. Also on the slate: large high-performance houses on sloped lots, working platform safety vs cost vs efficiency, and Brian’s first job working on roof tear-downs.
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The Fine Homebuilding Podcast embodies Fine Homebuilding magazine’s commitment to the preservation of craftsmanship and the advancement of home performance in residential construction. The show is an informal but vigorous conversation about the techniques and principles that allow listeners to master their design and building challenges.
Resources and links related to this podcast:
- The North Bennet Street School
- The NBSS carpentry program
- #KeepCraftAlive website
- Fine Homebuilding’s Design Channel
- Using Extension Ladders Safely
- Scaffold Shelter
- Simple Homemade Scaffolding
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Really enjoy the podcast - the section on timeless design was spot on.
You discussed the high end appliances and I agree with most of what you said about the appliances in a kitchen that doesn’t get used and is just there for the wow factor until they tear it out in 2-3 years. The side of the coin you didn’t address was the homeowner who is building forever and doesn’t care about the resale but wants the quality so they don’t have to rip it out and replace in a few years. Specifically, in my case, I bought a 48” Wolfe range (4 burners, 2 ovens, griddle and char broiler) for my house when we built because of the reported quality. When we bought that, I figured I would use the griddle but I didn’t think I would use the char broiler much if at all, but now I love it – it is way too easy to cook a steak on that when it is cold and nasty outside. At the time, the cost of the unit was a real tough pill to swallow, but after using the stove for 10+ years, the only thing I wish I could change is to get a larger unit with a double wide griddle while keeping the 4 burners and char broiler.
When we built, I designed our kitchen layout similar to a commercial kitchen and it is fairly compact with a great work triangle that makes cooking and cleanup a breeze. I would argue that the important item here is the size and workflow of the space and your focus on an appliance du-jour is really addressing just one minor symptom of poor kitchen design that favors the fashion of the day over real performance and is intended to be ripped out and replaced every few years. In a well-designed kitchen that is used as a living space as opposed to a show space, the appearance is secondary to performance and layout is your biggest issue, not necessarily the cost of the appliances. In the case of a real kitchen, I would argue that a quality appliance is like any other quality tool in your shop; you can go cheap with substandard results from the tool and dread using that or you buy quality tools, enjoy the experience and have a better end product. The decision on what to put in there will be different for everyone and in my case, I made a decision to go with Wolfe and don’t regret that at all.
It was a great discussion item and made me think in a different way. I always learn something from the show and hope you keep up the great discussions.
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