Check Out: This Old House Radio Hour

The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

American Public Media

Arts, Food

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we’re sharing an episode from our friends at This Old House Radio:

Episode 19: Make Your Home Allergy Free + Fix Squeaky Wood Floors

This week on This Old House Radio Hour, we’re talking about something you can’t see but definitely feel: the air inside your home. Kenneth Mendez, president of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, shares the smartest, science-backed ways to improve indoor air quality—from high-heat laundry to HEPA vacuums—and explains why your bedroom might be the most important place to start.

Then, The Splendid Table’s Francis Lam takes us back to the New Jersey home of his childhood. With vivid stories of birthday parties, incense-filled kitchens, and Hardy Boys books read in a mirror-covered living room, Francis reflects on how homes carry our deepest identities and contradictions.

We also help callers tackle squeaky floors, stubborn drafts, mismatched temperatures, and that infamous 1970s gold bathtub. Plus, a fresh edition of House Rules and a real estate segment from Cheap Old Houses featuring a tiny Gothic summer cottage and a quirky Kansas gem for under $55,000.

All this, plus a “Simple Fix” from Tom Silva that will stop your window drafts cold.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

How to reduce indoor allergens room-by-room (0:55)
Where to place air purifiers for maximum impact (3:56)
Tips for dealing with uneven heating in split-level homes (17:13)
How to fix squeaky wood floors with a DIY plug-and-glue method (22:49)
When that faint stain on your drywall means trouble—and when it doesn’t (27:53)

Transcript

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1:08.3	Hey, it's Francis.
1:09.8	I want to share something a little different with you this week.
1:12.8	So I recently had the pleasure of talking with the team at this old house radio hour about the meaning of
1:18.5	home and how the places we live often define who we are. So in my case, the suburban New Jersey
1:24.4	house I grew up in represents the time when I tried to fit into a world
	...

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