This Old House Radio Hour: Sound Proofing Your Bathroom + How To Paint Your Garage Door + Walter Mosley’s Los Angeles

California Love

LAist Studios

Music

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on This Old House Radio Hour, we meet Bo Petterson—a 66-year-old dad, DIYer, and unexpected TikTok sensation. Known to millions as @DadAdviceFromBo, Bo began posting home repair videos with his daughter Emily as a way to help her recover from a traumatic brain injury. What started as a private act of love has grown into a viral force for good, offering step-by-step repair tips, emotional support, and the quiet reassurance that it’s okay not to know everything.

Then in *My Old House*, acclaimed author Walter Mosley returns to the South Central Los Angeles bungalow where he grew up—a 1,500-square-foot home filled with fruit trees, family, and the kind of detail that shaped his voice as a writer. With warmth and reflection, Mosley explores the power of place, the meaning of identity, and the memories that never leave the walls we call home.

Plus: your DIY questions, a round of *What’s That Sound?*, the surprising history of toilet paper etiquette, and Mauro Henrique’s clever painter’s tape workaround you’ll want to try this weekend.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Jacob Margolis. I'd like you to stop what you're doing and ask yourself, where is my emergency kit?
0:05.9	If you don't have a good answer, then I highly recommend visiting preppy.com slash LAist for a free emergency kit with any purchase over $100.
0:15.7	That's preppy, P-R-E-P-P-I dot com slash LAist.
0:20.9	Support comes from Siklavia, catalyzing and celebrating car-free streets. As pop-up parks for the day, sick-L-L-V-Sundays are free and open to all. Details at C-I-C-L-A-V-I-A.org. Hey, it's Jen Largis. I'm the host of the podcast, This Old House Radio Hour. It's a spin on the decades-old home improvement show. Each week on the podcast, we tackle your home repair questions, share expert advice, and bring you incredible stories of craftsmanship and renovation. I can't wait for the California love listeners to hear this episode in particular. In the My Old House segment, we take you to the bungalow where writer Walter
0:55.7	Mosley grew up in South Los Angeles.
0:58.3	He talks about the power of place, the meaning of identity, and the memories that never
1:02.6	leave the walls we call home.
1:04.4	A familiar feeling for any Angelino.
1:06.7	Without further ado, here's the show.
1:12.3	Welcome back to This Old House Radio Hour, from LASD and APM.
1:16.4	I'm your host, Jen Largis.
1:19.2	Offline, Bo Pettersen is just another dad, a father of six from Washington State and a full-time
1:24.9	equipment salesman.
1:26.0	But online, thanks to his daughter Emily, he's
1:28.4	become a helpful dad to millions. Their TikTok channel, Dad Advice from Bo, started by his daughter
1:34.4	Emily, is now a quiet phenomenon featuring short informative videos about how to drain your hot
1:40.1	water heater or just keep going when life feels overwhelming. Bo Pedersen, welcome to this old
1:45.8	house radio hour. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here. Oh, we're so happy to have you.
1:50.7	For listeners who maybe aren't following you, can you share what kinds of videos you post about?
1:56.8	My daughter and I make videos on basic household repairs, basic car repairs, maintenance, some gardening, just anything that we think somebody should really have an understanding of, just a basic understanding.
2:13.8	There's a approachability to your content that is so incredible.
2:19.0	And can you share how you started posting these kinds of videos online?
	...

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