This Old House

The Billerica House - 9

The local electric utility is on site to bring power across the street to a new pole positioned in a discrete spot along the front edge of the Silva's property. Far cheaper than digging beneath the road, this method will still allow for electricity, cable, and telephone wires to be undergrounded to the house, avoiding unsightly overhead wires. Inside the house, kitchen designer Phil Mossgraber and Sandra Silva are going over her wish list for the kitchen; our host joins them as Phil suggests eliminating a closet in the mudroom and putting in a service door to the dining room, a good idea Sandy embraces. Richard Trethewey is on site with the head of the American Fire Sprinkler Association, seeing the first steps in designing a sprinkler system for the house, while our host visits Underwriters Laboratories th see how they test all kinds of materials relating to fire and fire safety. Out in the workshop, our master carpenter gives the machines a test by fashioning a flat-panel cabinet doo