04x18 - A House Divided

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Home Improvement". Aired: September 17, 1991 - May 25, 1999.*
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Tim the "toolman" and his wife Jill raise 3 children with the wise neighbor Wilson.
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04x18 - A House Divided

Post by bunniefuu »

Hello.
Anybody home?

- Tim?
- Under here.

l picked up my application
for graduate school.

You know what? l have to write an essay
on why l'd make a good psychologist.

Easy. Tell them you're the kind of person
who gives people advice

whether they want it or not.

Thank you so...
What are you doing?

l put an attachment
on your garbage disposal.

Don't touch that!
lt's working fine.

lf you want to grind up normal stuff,
which it doesn't do that well anyway,

but l got a vision.
l'm talking about real stuff -

whole corn on the cob
with the husk included.

Avocado pits? Heck,
avocado trees ought to go down this thing.

Other tool guys ask, ''Why?''

This tool man asks, ''Why not?''

This tool man's wife asks, ''Why me?''

l'll show you why, you.
Just in case you need extra power.

(motor revving)

(motor roaring)

Thank you.

Hey, Al, l wish you'd stop cleaning,
you know. You're a partner, not a janitor.

l know, but l don't mind. A tidy hardware
store is a successful hardware store.

- lsn't that your philosophy?
- ln a nutshell.

- Hey, Harry. Hi, Al.
- Hey, Tim. How are you?

- Pretty good, buddy.
- All right.

- So what can l do for you?
- A spark plug for my garbage disposal.

- You put a gas engine in your disposal?
- Have you got a problem with that?

Are you gonna race it
against the other disposals?

- Benny.
- Hey, everybody. How are you doing?

- Benny, how are you?
- Hi, Al.

- Can you guys loan me a space heater?
- What for?

The furnace in my residence has a gas
leak. l don't have the means to get it fixed.

What kind of dump
are you living in now?

For your edification,
it's an eight-room house.

One room, l'm not sure what it is.
lt's got a lot of books in it.

The bathroom.

You can't afford
an eight-room house.

True, but my beloved aunt
is in Florida for a few months.

And while the aunt's away,
the nephew will stay.

My guess is he won't pay.

And l'm covered till May.

Hey, a leaky gas valve
can be very dangerous.

- That's right, Benny. lt really is.
- Relax. lt was shut off weeks ago, the gas.

So that means
you don't have any hot water?

That means
you can't take a shower?

Not to worry. l boil water on my hot plate
and give myself a nightly sponge bath.

Makes you glad
you're not a sponge, huh?

Wait a minute.
We could help him out.

Why don't we take a crew and fix the
furnace for that heating and cooling show?

- That's a good idea.
- Tim, you yourself would do the repairs?

- Yeah.
- Forget it.

- lt's free.
- l'm in.

We can schedule this Monday morning,
about am.

Monday's no good for me.
l got my Gamblers Anonymous meeting.

- Well, how about Tuesday?
- Also no good. l'm going to the track.

Does everybody know
what time it is?

Tool Time.

That's right. Binford Tools is on location
with Tim ''The Tool Man'' Taylor.

Thank you, Heidi. l'm Tim Taylor,
and you all know my assistant, Al Borland.

We're here on location
at the Barony home.

Our project today
is fixing a gas furnace.

lf we have time,
maybe we'll fix this broken windowpane,

maybe put on some new gutters,
maybe some new shutters.

Maybe we'll do a TV show.
Maybe we'll call it Tool Time.


Maybe l'll be the host
and you'll be the humorless assistant.

Maybe.

But first we should get to
our leaky gas valve in the furnace.

With any kind of gas leak, make sure
you shut the gas off to the home.

The gas has been turned off on this house.
Heidi will show you how that was done.

You're gonna take your crescent wrench
and turn the valve a quarter turn,

so that the wrench
is perpendicular to your pipe.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

Now, let's go take a peek at our leak.
Watch your step, buddy.

Speaking of peeks, aren't those drawers
a little tight on you, Al?

Ow!

Well, here we are in the basement.

Good observation, Al.

Maybe tomorrow you can tell people what
that big room upstairs is with the stove in it.

Oh, gosh, l'll tell you!

All right. Fixing that leaky valve involves
taking the plate off this old furnace here.

Sometimes these old furnaces are tough,
you know. You gotta... Oh, boy!

When they're old like this,
you gotta really...

Yeah, right.
After l loosened it for you.

Marv, if you get down here, we'll find
that valve. ln these ones they're hard to see

'cause sometimes they're...
right there in front of you.

There's that pesky little devil, there.

Now, the first thing we wanna do
is loosen up the flexible connector

with a seven-eighths-inch wrench.
All right.

Then you wanna loosen
the module control wires, here.

Then you wanna loosen up Al
with a stiff martini.

Simply unscrew the old gas valve like that.
Now we're ready for the new one.

Before we put this in, we want to seal
the valve at both the gas inlet and outlet.

We need a compound known as plumber's
dope. Tim, where's the plumber's dope?

(silly voice) lt's right here.
Ha ha ha ha!


Sorry l'm late.
Hi, Al.

Sorry l'm late.
l thought the basement was upstairs.

Ha ha ha.

All right.
Once you've applied the plumber's dope,

we'll put on our new gas valve
and we're ready to reconnect the wiring.

All right.
We've reconnected the wiring.

Now all we have to do
is reconnect Al.

We've reconnected Al.
Let's see if the furnace is working.

For that,
let's go to Heidi and the gas cam.

- Heidi? My gas, please.
- There you go, Tim.

All right. We bypassed the thermostat
upstairs with this little switch.

Flick her on.
See if she goes.

All ready to go.
Now just put the panel back on.

Now, if you still have a problem,
there's many possibilities that...

These old furnaces sometimes are tough.
They put...

That's all the time we have for today. Catch
us next time when we do our salute...

Hey, you big lug!
You left the seat up again.

...to toilets.

- Hey, that was a really great show.
- Thank you, Heidi.

You know, on these location Tool Times,
l feel the audience gets to see the real Al.


lf you don't zip up your fly, the real Al's
gonna make a personal appearance.

Finish those doughnuts.
The truck's packed.

- No problem.
- All right.

Uh, excuse me.

l'm from across the street. You're
on that show, Tool Time, aren't you?


- Yes, we are.
- You're just as attractive in real life.

Thank you.
l try to stay fit.

l was talking to her.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

So, what brings you
to the neighborhood?

Oh, we just fixed the leak
in Mrs. Barony's furnace.

- Good.
- Yeah.

- What about the leak in the stove?
- Well, we're, uh...

The stove?

That's why she shut off the gas
before she left for Florida.

Benny!

Did your aunt happen to mention
that there's also a gas leak in the stove?

Maybe. lt's hard to understand her
when she's not wearing her teeth.

You realize there's the possibility gas
has been leaking in for the last half hour?

A spark could cause combustion.

Take it easy. l disconnected all
the electrical appliances like you told me.

- Good.
- Except that lamp over there.

But don't worry. lt's the kind
that only goes on when you clap.

Come on, guys.
Let's go.

Let me guess.
There was another leak?

- The stove.
- Benny!

(all shout)

Everybody, shut up!

l'll have to get back to you.
Guys!

Hey, there's no doughnuts.

And you didn't buy any more?

Did it ever occur to you that l might not
have time to fulfill all your snacking needs

because there might be something
more important going on in my life?

Yeah, right.

l'm trying to finish my application
to graduate school.

- l thought you were in graduate school.
- Me too.


l can't believe you guys. l've been taking
undergraduate courses since September.

You have no idea
what l've been doing in school?

Well, your teacher
didn't send home any notes.

We assumed everything was fine.

Look, if you're not gonna
care about my life,

would you just not care about my life
quietly for a few days?

You got it, Mom.

- That's just how l see it, all right?
- l don't care. You blew up my house.

- l didn't blow up your house.
- Who clapped?

l've clapped a million times.
lt hasn't caused an expl*si*n.

- Till now.
- Hey, guys, can you keep it down?


- (Tim) Yeah, yeah. Come on, Benny.
- Hiya, roomie.


l beg your pardon?

- Didn't l tell you l was gonna tell her?
- Tim blew up my house. Need l say more?

l didn't blow up your house.
l didn't blow up his house.

There was a gas leak we tried to fix,
and there was an expl*si*n.

Oh, Benny, l'm so sorry.

So l said until we figure out
what we should do,

he should stay here.

Don't worry. Tim said he's gonna
fix up the house better than new.

And l won't be an imposition.
You won't even know l'm here.

How long won't we know
that you're here?

- A couple of days.
- lndefinitely.

(Benny) # Funicul…. funicul. funicul…

Well, either Benny's singing
or there's a sick cow in this house.

How come we're not eating eggs?

- Benny ate 'em.
- Or bacon?

- Benny.
- Toast?

Benny.

Who ties up the phone, puts dark laundry
in with our whites, watches TV all night?

Benny.

- Who do we want out of the house?
- Benny!

l don't know.
l kinda like having Uncle Benny around.

''Uncle'' Benny?

Yeah. He says when l'm he's gonna
take me to Vegas and get me comped.

- Why did his house have to blow up?
- Ask Mr. Claphappy.

l didn't blow up the house.

- You gotta find him a place to stay.
- l've tried to find him a place to stay.

Harry won't take him.
He laughed and hung up.

- l even called some sisters. They hung up.
- His own sisters won't take him in?

No, no, no. l'm talking about the sisters
at the Perpetual Mercy Mission.

(hums)

- (Tim) Morning, Benny.
- Hey, Tim, l borrowed your bathrobe.


That's my bathrobe.

l should've known.
lt feels so soft against my body.

- l'll put it back.
- Keep it.

(dance music plays)

Oh!

- Neighbor, are you OK?
- Oh, yeah. l think l'll recover.

l just saw something
no human being should look at.

Benny Barony doing pelvic thrusts.

Whoa. l hope for his sake
he doesn't get stuck in that position.

Hey. How would you like
to have a roommate for a little while?

Oh, no, Tim.
These days l prefer the solitary lifestyle.

He's great. You'd love Benny. After his
square meals a day, he's happy as a clam.

Well, you seem to be in quite a hurry
to unload your crony Barony.

He's driving my family crazy.

But how do you
kick a good friend out?

Especially after
you blew up his house.

l didn't blow up the man's house.

When does he move back in?

lt'll take Al and l a couple of weeks
to fix that house. l got a problem.

You know, you wouldn't have a problem
if you were an African buffalo weaver.

No kidding.
l'd be in Africa weaving a buffalo.

No, no. See, buffalo weavers
are birds who nest communally.

When the nest is damaged, instead of
one bird spending months trying to fix it,

eight to ten birds working together
can rebuild it in no time.

Perfect. Perfect.
l've just gotta find a sparrow that spackles,

a duck that can dry-wall,
and use some plaster of parrots.

No, what l'm saying is maybe you should
try to find some birds of your own feather.

Hey.
Oh-ho-ho!

lt'd be tough finding a duck that dry-walls.
Who can afford a union duck?

Their bill is enormous.

Come on, hustle up!
Come on! Come on! Come on!

Dad, why did we have to get up
at five in the morning?

We're gonna do building.
Wilson and Heidi on wiring,

Al and Harry, dry-wall and carpets,
Mom and l on windows.

Why do l have to go?

Think about it.
The faster we get Benny into his house,

the faster we get him
out of our house.

OK, everybody. Move it.
Let's go. Let's go.

Come on.
Hyah! Hyah! Move it.

- Comfy, Benny?
- l could use a throw pillow.

- Hey, Wilson.
- Hi-ho, Tim.

- Having fun, guys?
- Oh, it's a dream come true.

straight hours
of fixing a house that you barbecued.

l didn't blow up this house.

(# ''Funicul Funicul…'' by Luigi Denza)

l got Benny a place to stay, and maybe
a new project house for Tool Time.


Oh, l'm so tired.
l think my feet are just gonna fall off.

- l'll rub 'em when we get home.
- They've been in work boots for hours.

l'll spray them for you.

This has been fun today,
working together.

Yeah, it has.

l don't think that this whole day we had one
argument with all this fixing and building.

'Cause we're sparrows
that spackle from Buffalo.

- What?
- What's important is we're good at this.

We should get a contractor's license,
go on the road and do odd jobs.

- Cool. We'd be together hours a day.
- Perfect.

- Seven days a week.
- Great.

days a year.

Oh, my!

(chuckles) Sharing our innermost feelings.

Help me.

- Hey, Benny.
- Hey, guys.

l just want to thank you
for everything you did.

- You're welcome, buddy.
- Though l'm not crazy about the paint job.

Can l impose upon you
for a second coat?

- Honey?
- Mm.

- Bye, Benny.
- Bye-bye.

Maybe just a different color?

(motor revving)

(motor whirring)

l didn't blow up your house.

l didn't blow up his house.

l didn't blow up the house.

l didn't blow up your house.
l didn't blow up his house.

l didn't blow up his house.

- Come on, l didn't blow up your house.
- Who clapped?
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