# Reality TV remodel questions



## woodworkbykirk (Sep 25, 2011)

most of the reality shows are for entertainment not for educational purposes... 

diy shows are a big thing right now. originally pbs started it all with this old house then "ask this old house",, then "home time", from there "home again".. these shows were actually educational for diyer's and occasionally the pro.

im speaking as a professional who specializes in high end renovations and custom new home construction.. roughly 90% of the renovation shows on tv i just shake my head at. They show people how to do things the wrong way technically,, things that are unsafe... "10 grand in your hand" definitely fits the bill. though ive only watched it a couple times.. they bring in a guy who is supposedly a master carpenter.. yet what they build is something that looks terrible and i could have done before i was an apprentice 10 years ago and still done a better job.. Safety wise i never see them bring in an engineer if they want to remove a bearing wall to check things over first... among so many other things

if you want to watch reno shows that will actually show proper procedures for things.. holmes on homes, real renos, holmes inspection, this old house, ask this old house, diy disaster" are the ones to watch.

and thats me on the right


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## titanoman (Nov 27, 2011)

They're probably not going to pick a project that has asbestos.
They don't appear to practice safety because safety is boring.
These "masters" are just television personalities acting for entertainment purposes.
Never watched one.
Unless I just need a laugh, and it was the last thing on t.v.
Nah. I'd read a book.


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## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

My guess is they probably take lot of cam shots casually doing the job. For example they probably have all the camears setup and it's like "ok swing that hammer a couple times" and do various angles, then they remove all the camera equipment and actually continue working with proper safety gear. At least that's my guess, I may be wrong. I even heard rumors that lot of these shows are actually setups, and not really reality. They'll put fake cabinets, fake floor etc that looks good on camera but that is not actually part of someone's house. Could be a studio or something. I don't know if I buy into that though.


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## princelake (Feb 19, 2012)

i've watched alot of these shows and i've noticed it on probably all of these shows. only one i see is mike holmes but he goes way over board, like they dont have to touch the duct work and theres abestos on it and hes like OMG we have to get rid of this!! no dont touch it if you dont have to. untouched abestos is completely safe. the worst i have to say for the shows i watched is flip men for this. They got the big shiny head retard just smashing stuff with a hammer and working under a budget with junky houses they bought. the worst was when they bought a house that had a flooded basement for weekss probably months!! completely moldy with mold ive never seen soo big and gross and i've been on quite a few mold jobs and basements that have been sitting flooded for weeks. and they get a professional and say ohhh thats going to cost to much lets just fix the mold problem ourselves. did it completely wrong with no containment up, didnt clean the air, probably didnt use any chemicals, just wrong!! the problem in the basement was probably not fixed and now theres million upon millions of mold spores in the air. the poor ppl that bought that house after and got ripped off.


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## titanoman (Nov 27, 2011)

Red Squirrel said:


> My guess is they probably take lot of cam shots casually doing the job. For example they probably have all the camears setup and it's like "ok swing that hammer a couple times" and do various angles, then they remove all the camera equipment and actually continue working with proper safety gear. At least that's my guess, I may be wrong. I even heard rumors that lot of these shows are actually setups, and not really reality. They'll put fake cabinets, fake floor etc that looks good on camera but that is not actually part of someone's house. Could be a studio or something. I don't know if I buy into that though.


Attention: No need to read this one either. Nothing of any value to anybody (some would say as usual) here. Very boring content.

One thing must be true.
They wouldn't be able to concentrate on a real job...
They (carpenter/actors) know millions of people may be watching, so they emote because their friends (if any) are watching them too.
They are told to make it interesting because in reality its boring watching people work.
So they need to add...conflicts on the job, life stories of tragedy in one of the workers lives so he turns to drugs or alcohol which becomes a problem on the job and causes near-miss accidents, the job running out of money yeah right, an employee on the edge of being fired for making an expensive mistake and he's been a problem employee anyways but he's the cute likable one -oh no! Please don't fire HIM he's why I watch the show!
These shows are about as real to construction as WWE is to wrestling.
(ouch! Say it ain't so!)
Or you have a little more genuine DIY T.V like Bob Villa (he has lousy taste. Ever seen his real house?). 
Less action, more boring. But even really good carpenters can learn something good once in awhile from Bob's old house or those other "pros" on...Hometime, I guess it is.
But how many shows we must sit through to finally learn something we could use oh the pain!
Some people might even believe some of these pros actually do know it all gosh he's good at everything.
Cut it out. They all consult with real pros about every project before the taping. They probably get to familiarize themselves with all the neat new money is no object top of the line tools (ah. heaven!), and probably build the deck or the desk once to get it down and again for taping.
(not a bad way to learn, really)
They didn't get their own show because they are good at anything besides acting and adlibing (what's that word there for? I don't even know how to pronounce it or what it means alrighty then): its because they had money and knew people that could arrange it.
Its not what you know, but who you know and can they be bought to do the things that you don't know how to do and how much to fix this for me because I'm gonna get in trouble once she sees what I've done to her dogwood, that her great-grandfather planted (of course), trying to pull it out of the way (it always has loose soil too, also of course) so I could run the facia on the garage.
(the dogwood thing is true. She still hates us 20 years later, no matter that we saved her from making a $10,000 mistake...long story about her sleeping with the architect and him making a major mistake on the "grand" entry to her new home, the home by the dead dogwood tree).
I know...the special thing about dogwoods...may pay for that in the end.
Anyways, like previously stated, kind of, there is no such thing as reality tv.
It must be fake to work.
Mr. Neilson has proven this.

Ohh..
Finger cramp.
(I had to finish "cramp" with my elbow. Now there's earwax on my phone...)

Zzzzz....


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## homefixr (Mar 6, 2012)

woodworkbykirk said:


> most of the reality shows are for entertainment not for educational purposes...
> 
> diy shows are a big thing right now. originally pbs started it all with this old house then "ask this old house",, then "home time", from there "home again".. these shows were actually educational for diyer's and occasionally the pro.
> 
> ...


Holmes on homes is the only one I watch now. After a couple of episodes of rennovation realities i couldnt take it anymore. I started getting pissed at these homeowners putting in beams and removing load bearing walls without even an inspection, let alone an engineers approval. Those shows only encourage homeowners to not hire a qualified contractor and they do it themselves and screw things up. Im getting mad just thinking about it...


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

woodworkbykirk said:


> most of the reality shows are for entertainment not for educational purposes...


When we first got satellite TV I was looking forward to watching HGTV and DIY networks. It didn't take me long to realize the above.

And while I am not defending them, it doesn't take a genius to figure out when they whittle down a full blown kitchen or bath remodel to 30 minutes (actually closer to 20 with commercials) _something_ has to be cut.


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## chrisBC (Dec 28, 2010)

Yeah, I think there is a lot you don't see. The hosts of those shows tend to be way too clean throughout the workday.

For asbestos I would think they would make sure of it beforehand though. 


The lead paint thing differs from canada to the US-here there is no formal legislation (around here anyawys) like south of the border.

This old house I think is the one show i've seen that actually resembles some reality.


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## sevenlol (Aug 8, 2011)

i saw a mike holmes behind the scenes episode, and he basicly said that the days the cameras are there (since his projects are usually weeks long, obviously the cameras aren't there the whole time) everything takes 6x longer and they basicly have to do take after take to make it look "real".


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## titanoman (Nov 27, 2011)

Ty Penningtons show is kinda cool, though I've only seen part of one episode one time.
That stupid hair-do of his just plain irritates me.
Somebody, not him, is in charge of coordinating 200+ workers and building a house, foundation to turn-key, in a week.
Including bull-dozing the old one and landscaping the new one.
Most generals can't even schedule a carpenter and an electrician and a HVAC guy to work harmoniously together without somebody waiting on somebody or getting in each other's way (it's okay. we'll go have a beer and come back).
It's not impressive that it can be done except for finding that many people that don't screw-up their assignments putting maybe dozens of others behind in theirs faster than their screw-ups can be discovered when the family is sick of camping or Disneyland and just want's to come home and sleep now
(We'll have to give them an Escalade too, now).
Only in Hollywood.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

I love watching the former Miss Canada moving furniture and painting in high fashion and open toe heels.

And Design on a Dime? Makes me cringe. Ty's show is but a sappy advertising forum.


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