Broken House Chronicles is home improvement like you’ve never seen it before. The series chronicles the adventures of first-time homeowner George and his roommate and co-host Leigh. In each half-hour episode the do-it-yourself duo tackle home improvement projects in their “broken house” with an overabundance of enthusiasm and humour.
1001 “Gutters and Order”
In this episode of the Broken House Chronicles, the boys face some rain gutters in a serious state of disrepair. With a Law and Order style introduction, we are presented with rain gutters in a criminal state of neglect. The boys set out to inspect the damaged gutters, but quickly discover that their ladder is not up to the task. So it’s off to the hardware store, where the ins and outs of ladders are explained. Back at the house, they tackle the repairs, replace damaged sections of the rain gutter and build a down spout assembly.
1002 “The Big Dig”
After an archeological dig proves the living room floor is in bad shape, the boys set out on a floor refinishing adventure. They make several visits to an equipment rental shop to find the right equipment for the job and then tackle refinishing the floor. What equipment to rent, proper sanding techniques and different finishing products are covered in this episode.
1003 “Over the Top”
Using an off the wall “bad dream” style introduction, this episode tackles roof repair. Diving off the deep end, the boys decide to re-shingle the entire west side of the roof and patch and repair the east side. Assessing the condition of the roof, choosing materials, tool selection and repair techniques are all explained as the boys discover the “joys” of do it yourself roof repair.
1004 “Through the Looking Glass”
A picture window has an unfortunate encounter with a model rocket, so the boys decide it’s time to install a larger, better window. Shopping for the right window, preparing the new frame, installing the window and weather sealing are covered as our hosts plunge head-first through the looking glass.
1005 “Water Damage”
This episode begins with the boys analyzing water damage on the living room ceiling. Upon closer inspection they notice that a water stain has a strong resemblance to Jerry Garcia (the deceased member of the Grateful Dead). Reluctantly, the boys decide to repair the water damaged sections. This involves replacing a section of gypsum panel, re-securing several other panels, re-taping and finishing cracked seams, and finally re-surfacing the entire area.
1006 “Toilets, Sinks and Party Drinks”
After a wild party, George discovers the toilet is completely clogged. With guests coming over, he recruits Leigh to help with the messy affair. Discovering that the toilet is totally blocked, the boys decide to remove it. In their attempt to repair the toilet they manage to break the porcelain and are then faced with buying a brand new toilet. Proper plunging techniques, the use of a toilet auger and removal and replacement of a toilet are all covered in this episode.
2007 “Shed of Regret”
In this episode the boys are building a little cabin in the woods. OK, it’s more like a storage shed built out behind the house! This complex little project takes us through the many steps involved in building a shed from scratch. Studs, stringers, headers, sheathing, shingles… all the cool construction terms are used. The boys also rely on used materials wherever possible. After this large undertaking is completed the lads regret ever hearing the word “shed”.
2008 “Watch us Dry”
This episode has the boys doing some basic wall painting, ceiling painting and wall papering. We look at proper surface preparation, various rollers and brush types and explore the myths and mysteries around acrylic and oil based finishes. Leigh agrees to help paint the main room, on the condition that he and George switch and do each others bedrooms (like that TV show we can’t remember the name of). It soon becomes obvious that Leigh has a much more adventurous sense of colour and style than George does. In the end, Leigh’s work must be undone, which provides the chance to talk about wallpaper removal!
2009 “Poker Face Potty”
Leigh is in a high stakes poker game with some shady characters. He’s one on one, and he’s out of money. But he’s confident, and he bets a weekend’s worth of the boys time as a last-ditch effort to stay in the game. Leigh loses (of course). George strangles him (of course). And now the lads are faced with a substantial bathroom renovation. The project involves enlarging an upstairs bathroom by stealing room from an adjacent closet. The existing sink is removed, the walls are taken down, the closet opening is sealed, and the plumbing lines are moved to the new sink location. Much to their amazement the job goes fairly smoothly, that is until they crack the toilet. When the shady home owner arrives home to see the results, the boys decide the best solution is to take the quickest route out – through the window.
2010 “Dishwasher Dreams”
After introducing the 20 Second Chef, the lads find themselves in one seriously messy kitchen. As they contemplate the massive cleanup job a conclusion is reached: any kitchen that doesn’t have a dishwasher is ‘broken’. Well, the lads can’t have a broken kitchen. It must be fixed! And, well, it’s obvious that the current kitchen layout won’t work for a dishwasher. The lads decide that they need to do some serious renovation work. After a series of mishaps (Leigh can’t measure correctly and George lacks some important plumbing skills), they eventually get the job done. Ah – a dishwasher. Heaven!
2011 “Grout and Shout”
This episode finds the lads installing tiles on the kitchen floor. Thought tiling was easy – it isn’t! All the steps are featured from removing the existing flooring to dry fitting the tile, to laying the tile, to the grout and grout sealer. Now you know everything there is to know about tiling! Oh, did we mention Tile Boy and Laser Man – the dynamic duo fight it out for weekend warrior supremacy – well not really, but it sounds good!
2012 “Re-Face it”
Now that the new dishwasher is in and working great, George decides that it just doesn’t fit with the rest of the kitchen décor. Nothing short of a cabinet re-surface and a whole new set of matching kitchen appliances will do! We show the before and the after, and reveal how a simple application of laminate can bring a kitchen into the 21st century! Along the way Leigh introduces us to his new cult followers, “The Children of the Hammer”.
2013 “Do-It-Yourself Mind Control”
With a few brainwashing techniques, George convinces Leigh to help him install interlocking pavers in the driveway. The adventure begins with digging…. and digging… and more digging. Finally with the help of the Tool of the Day Page the boys begin play in the big leagues with some series landscaping equipment including, a Bobcat, a Compactor and a Jack-hammer. With Leigh’s penchant for power tools, this is like home improvement nirvana!
2014 “Sub-floor Love”
The boys begin with the idea of finishing George’s unfinished concrete basement. Before long the project leads to a whole new heating system, the installation of an innovative sub-floor system and the framing of walls. George and Leigh learn all about gas furnaces, and in particular how to annoy your local furnace installer. Once the furnace is in, the lads tackle the sub-floor. While picking up supplies at the local home center, Leigh falls for an attractive female customer – soon to be known as his sub-floor lover. After the floor goes down, the walls go up and now they’re ready for more. Bring it on!
2015 “Light it Up”
In this episode the lads explore the basics of electricity as they rough in the electrical wiring throughout the basement. With the initial job complete, the electrical inspector pays them a visit. Wearing their finest, they boys greet the inspector with unabashed enthusiasm. This fades quickly after they receive a failing grade. Three strikes your out and the boys are back at it fixing their mistakes. Along the way they learn a ton and never loose site of the importance of safety. In the end, they light it up!
2016 “Dazed and Drywalled”
After a short trip to the emergency room due to a school project gone horribly wrong, Leigh and George get back to the basement. It’s all about George getting a lofty idea! But before they can tackle his design dreams, they must finish the drywall – taping, filling, sanding, and then more filling and sanding. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Right!!
2017 “Basement Blues No More ”
We begin by finally learning how Leigh and George stumbled into getting their own show! Then the lads jump in over their heads when they decide to complete the semi-finished basement. George wants a glass block wall off of his laundry room, but first they realized they must finish up the electrical work by connecting the plugs and wiring the lights. Then it’s off to the supply store where they run in to an unsuspecting contractor, who with a little encouragement from Leigh, decides to help out with the glass block. Throughout the project, the lads demonstrate the importance of keeping your contractor happy.
2018 “A Stage for Salsa”
George is dumped by his Spanish dance partner because of the state of the basement floor – it’s just not good for dancing! To win her back, the floor must be finished, and Leigh is once again dragged to the basement, tools in hand. In this episode, a new floor is installed on top of the sub- floor. George decides to go with engineered hard wood. The loft look is then completed with a wall of faux stone. Bring back the dancers!
2019 “The Real Cover-up”
In this episode, George decides he wants to re-do the exterior of the house. Nothing less than cedar shakes will do and so they’re off to find out more. What they soon discover is that cedar is actually a fairly weather resistant product that often lasts as long as aluminum or vinyl siding. But before the shakes go up the old siding (a lovely pressboard circa 1980) must come down or so the boys thought. After removing a number of panels, the lads realize that they would have to remove the fascia, and the gutters to get it off. With the thought of having to re-do the gutters for the entire house, they decide to slap it back on and nail the shakes over top. Not only is this easier, George also discovers that this will improve the insulation value of the home. He also discovers that Leigh has a thing for cedar!
3020 “Stairway To Heaven”
Taking direct orders from the spirit world, George and Leigh tackle finishing the basement. They add trim to the windows, paint it and then add baseboards to the room – putting on the finishing touches. Or not! After George falls off the side of the shoddy basement stairs, the boys decide to install a new set of pre-fabricated stairs. Step-by-step sort of. When the basement is finally finished, it’s time for a swinging underground party!
3021 “Floors Are Our Friends”
A Telethon to raise money for the “Floors are our Friends” fund inspires the boys to repair the floor in George’s bathroom. What seems like a simple project – laying a sheet of vinyl flooring has the boys stumped. After a few words with the floor, the boys go to the experts to find an easier way to install the floor. They fill, level and install a beautiful sheet of vinyl floor. On a roll, the boys continue their flooring adventures and lay vinyl tiles in the laundry room – easier said than done. The trick? Let the glue dry and follow the lines.
3022 “A Home Of His Own” (Leigh’s Palace)
The beautiful shed George and Leigh built last year needs siding or it won’t last. After consulting a siding specialist, George decides to cover it with practical, durable, and inexpensive vinyl siding. Braving the torrential downpour, the lads manage to install the siding. In the end, George looses a roommate and gains a brand new neighbour as Leigh moves into his “Shed, sweet, Shed.”
3023 “Broken Witch Project”
The wooden rails on George’s front porch are in a sorry state. Something or someone has been gnawing their way through the posts. One by one they are all falling out. After weeks of trying to solve the mystery with the help of his camcorder, George finally happens upon the mystery creature. Problem identified, it’s now time to give the porch a facelift! First replace the support posts then the rotting floorboards and finally build a new railing. The cedar porch is a thing of beauty and gives the House a whole new look. Next on the list: how to keep that crazy creature at bay.
3024 “Ryley’s Revenge”
Donning the foreman’s hard hat and cracking the whip is our Tool of the Day Page! After years of stellar service for no pay, Ryley decides it’s time the boys did something for her. Pay back has the boys scraping their plans to build themselves a kick ass entertainment room in favour of building a treehouse/backyard play structure. A complete role reversal has the boy’s frantically building under our Tool Girl’s watchful eye. Some cedar planks here, a couple of swings there, throw in a slide, and finally a ladder, and Ryley’s revenge is complete.
3025 “Fools With Big Tools”
The lads are having another party. An all-out-outdoor DJ dance fest to be exact. When morning breaks, the results of too much partying become clear – the lawn is destroyed. No problem the lawn could use a makeover anyway. George comes up with a detailed plan that includes building a concrete retaining wall. With the help of one of the previous evening’s revellers and some big ass construction vehicles the boys try to dig their way out of the party mess.
3026 “Weather Or Not”
With a retaining wall in place, George continues with his plans for an outdoor makeover. The next project: a hot tub deck. Realising they need help, the boys contact a decking company. George’s dreaded high school bully, Brian arrives on the scene – he now works for the decking company! The past is the past or is it? The boys forge ahead with the work, to build a deck while taking a few jabs from his old high school bully.
3027 “Gnome Alone”
What started out as rescue mission for the lawn has evolved into an epic sculpting-the-yard-and- putting-in-a-big-deck adventure. George and Leigh go over the ins and outs of lawn installation and maintenance, lay down sod with loving care, and fill the empty beds with lovely new flowers and plants! Overseeing the entire project are two very cynical Garden Gnomes.
3028 “Rock, Paper, Life!”
The Don is back!!! It’s pay back time. The Don picks up where he left off and has the boys digging their own graves after destroying the Don’s toilet. After some fast-talking by Leigh and a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with George, the Don spares them this time. Now they must finish the rest of the bathroom. George and Leigh start with some minor repairs that turn into a full blown renovation – removing all the old tiles and the fibreglass shower stall and replacing everything with highly fashionable subway tile. Hopefully fashionable enough for the Don to spare the boys?
3029 “A Fine Finish”
Books, CDs, tapes and more books, CDs and tapes. George can’t seem to come up with enough space to store it all. Nothing a full-length floor to ceiling built-in wall unit can’t fix. George draws up a plan and under the watchful eye of a rather fine carpenter and their new best friend, the boys create a storage wonder and learn a thing or two about finish carpentry.
3030 “You Can’t Choose Your Neighbours”
Leigh’s Grandma needs help with a pesky neighbour. He’s not only obnoxious but a bit of an eyesore. Nothing a new fence can’t fix. The boys learn the ins and outs of fence building 101, as they tear down the decrepit old fence to replace it with a 6ft. high cedar one. This episode has the boys exploring different fence designs and budgets, and fence maintenance. But the fun really begins when Leigh gets to use a air compressor nail gun.
3031 “Grandma House Blues”
“Good help is hard to find.” A little something Leigh’s other Grandma discovers after she hires a bad contractor. She’s hoping her grandson and his charming friends will come to the rescue to help finish installing dormer windows for her upstairs bedrooms. The boys realizing the project is definitely big league and out of their league call in a reputable, reliable expert. Working with a local contractor they learn the ins and outs of managing a large-scale renovation from start to finish!
3032 “`Tis The Season”
“Neighbourhood Watch” is an understatement in this episode. The lads tackle a grab bag of seasonal maintenance projects around town, making unannounced visits to their neighbours and watching out for potential problems. Going through each season, the boys look at furnaces, sweep chimneys, test air conditioners and examine the long list of maintenance projects that most homeowners should undertake on an ongoing basis. Monthly and bi-annual checklists, tips, and lots of advice are on order as the boys make their round of house calls.
