This Old House | The Brookline House [S5, E1] | Full Episode

We're just 36 days away from our big 40th-anniversary TV special on PBS! In the meantime, take a stroll down memory lane with Bob Vila, as he introduces the Season 5 in Brookline, MA. This series premiere episode is available FREE for a limited time in celebration of TOH's 40th anniversary! To view the rest of Season 5, get a FREE trial membership to TOH Insider. Learn more https://bit.ly/2XEaAPf #ThisOldHouse #AskTOH SUBSCRIBE to This Old House: http://bit.ly/SubscribeThisOldHouse In this episode: After a recap of the first 4 seasons, the star of this season's The All New This Old House is revealed: an energy-efficient solar home to be built from scratch in Brookline, MA. Host Bob Vila introduces the new house site and taks to designer Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates about construction plans. By the early 1980s, oil costs had fallen from the 1970s' dizzy heights, but Americans, burned by the energy crunch, remained cautious about heating their homes. Old houses were beginning to seem like money pits; spacious and charming but drafty and hard to heat. In addition people were working longer hours and had less time than ever for maintenance, let alone renovation. So This Old House embarked on a new sort of construction project: a brand new, energy-efficient, low-maintenance solar home that could heat itself. The approximately 2,500-square-foot house plan featured state of the art passive and active solar energy techniques, a low maintenance interior and exterior and layers of extra insulation designed to conserve all the solar energy collected within the house. The location of the lot, on a steep slope in Brookline, Massachusetts, enabled the crew to build the house facing true south to give its solar collectors maximum efficiency. The house was then built right into the slope, allowing heat from the earth to leech through the well-insulated masonry walls and help keep the lower level- including two bedrooms, library, living and laundry rooms-warm. Upstairs at street level, a master suite, dining room, eat-in kitchen and an attached garage completed the house's layout. This design focused the private living space at the back of the house replete with large, south-facing windows and decks overlooking an expansive backyard. About This Old House TV: This Old House is the No. 1 multimedia home enthusiast brand, offering trusted information and expert advice through award-winning television, a highly regarded magazine, and an information-driven website. This Old House and Ask This Old House are produced by This Old House Ventures, LLC and are presented on PBS by WETA Washington, DC. Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House: Facebook: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseFB Twitter: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTwitter http://bit.ly/AskTOHTwitter Pinterest: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHousePinterest Instagram: https://ift.tt/2ROpRve Tumblr: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTumblr