This Old House

The season begins with a tour of the country's oldest wood-frame house: the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts, built in 1636. We then go to the season's project house (and the oldest house the show has worked on): a 1710 colonial in Action, Massachusetts, owned by Terry and Sima Maitland. Though suffering from bad sills and much settling, its real problem for this family of five is lack of space. The Maitlands' $150,000 budget will barely cover an addition, and our master carpenter and Tom Silva advise them to ""let sleeping dogs lie,"" and not attempt to correct many of the original house's problems, which would soak up that amount and more.