Holmes on Homes

Anybody besides me watch this show on HGTV?? http://www.hgtv.com/holmes-on-homes/show/index.html This is one guy who knows that Half-arsed is not good enough.

I enjoy that show. We get it on a cable service over here.

It's probably old shows we get but it is good watching.

Try to not miss any of his shows. Amazing reno's but not what the "average" home owner could afford themselves.....

I don't watch him anymore, got a little annoying. While iu agree that he doesn't like Half-arsed work, he goes to extreme... "that nail is 1/8 of an inch to close to the end of the stud....this whole wall has to come down"

He has gotten a little too big for his britches... now he has his own magazine

Whoa! I didn't know about the magazine!

In a world full of Lurch & Lunge Contractors whose qualifications are a bag of tools, a dog, and pickup truck, I think he does more good than harm in educating the public of the problems that ignorance of good construction practices exacerbates. I don't know how it has been in Canada, but in the USA, we have pretty well gutted any meaningful public school acqaintance with simple shop practices from our curriculum's, and there are plenty of folks out there looking for their first house who are at risk. I know we would not tolerate sloppy workmanship, skill, and knowledge of good practices when having our cars worked on, and I'm sure we wouldn't tolerate crappy work and attitudes applied to our homes when hiring out for work done. But first, you have to know the difference. That is where his show comes in. If you watch some of the other shows on HGTV, you can see some pretty amateurish work done, mostly to fit within a budget.

Its a good show when I can get it. He does dump on the contractors though. Holmes really seems to hate shoddy electrical work done by "the brother In law".
It wasn't until I started helping out my son, the electrician that I saw how bad some home's are wired. Just a fire waiting to happen.

I find you learn allot from his show, All the new materials they use in construction now a days, how and were to use em.

If you get the chance, find the show he did In Louisiana (after Katrina). he took the whole crew down, he basically built a new home for a home owner , its totally up on stilts, We never get to see homes built like that around here. Just very cool.

I watch his show when I happen to catch it even though I do agree he is a little full of himself. Of course I might be too.

Bob I couldn't agree with you more about the stripping of hands on experiences from public schools who are under the No Child Left Behind edicts. It's criminal. Everyone needs to learn how to saw, sand, file, etc. by example. Some even take up a trade based on the classes. I was lucky in that my youngest discovered cars at school in the second semester of his senior year. Now he goes to the GM factory mechanics program at the local CC and is enjoying life!

I used to be involved in building maintenance for a modern office building (a corporate HQ) working alongside truly good electricians, plumbers, and other trades persons. Going in on a weekend to help a friend work on his 50-80 yr old house often was a revelation as to how close people were to burning their house down or flooding it or having an addition shear off of the house. The problems often reflected the circumstances of the Previous Owners (yes, houses have them too) who tried to do too much with too little, or were just ignorant of good practices.

Bob, here is the link to Mike's magazine

http://www.holmesmagazine.com/index2.html

Ken

We watch it, although there haven't been any new episodes recently. We like it mostly for some of the nifty products and applications they show since it seems we always do some home improvement or another around our house. However, if I were ever raked over by a builder or contractor, I want Holmes on my side!
;)

Someone mentioned the 'getting your electrical done by your brother-in-law' thing.

I enjoy watching the show every now and then too. I get a bit annoyed at the repetitive problems, however I'm always
suprised to see how much 'crap' work is being done out there, and how much work was started and then never completed.
Do people not have any scruples anymore?

Coincidence is that my brother-in-law (Charlie) did an episode with Mike Holmes where they re-did someones poorly done
kitchen etc. Charlie wrote and performed the new theme song for "Make it Right" and knows Mike quite well.

<http://www.charliemajor.com>

I do a lot of home reno work on my 85 year old house and think Mike Holmes is great. Many times as I'm working out what I should do, one of his oft repeated philosophies comes forward and steers me right...especially the rip it out and start again and "make it right"...it is sooo easy on a house, (and a B) to take a short cut to finish the work that weekend, or avoid a trip to the hardware store, or to try and reuse that piece/part and you end up screwing around more than if you had just done it right and from scratch in the first place. He does get a bit high on himself but generally the messages are positive and accurate.
tc

I can really relate what he does to mechanics/bodymen who work on cars. How would anyone like potentially hazardous "fixes" on their car, only covered up nice and pretty with Bondo and shiney paint? Yes, it does seem he may go to far, but if that were my house, I would want him on my side! I want my house as well as my car to be done right.

BTW, I told my wife that he should come to the Rio Grande Valley, where I live. I'm willing to bet he'd have a heart attack with what he'll find here.....

Here is a condo that not even Holmes himeself could fix. A shame it was not even finished. I'ts coming down this Sunday.
http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/City-Prepares-For-Ocean-Towers-Demolition/UX808Lz6jEWLN7_a8PP_VQ.cspx

At times you see screw ups done on his show:

A bathroom fan box was not sealed to the vapour barrier.A future moisture problem created by Holmes and crew.
This same box was vented to outside air with an uninsulated metal duct. Another future problem.
He applied exterior sheathing of OSB over the dead airspace below a window opening and did not cut vent holes. Again not "done right".
One of his guys was using a reciprocating saw to cut some pipe out of a wall and was pulling up with his left hand with his thumb in the path of the blade.