Tom Silva

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Thomas "Tom" Silva is the General Contractor on the PBS show This Old House. He also appears on Ask This Old House and Inside This Old House.

Silva has provided years of expert advice to home enthusiasts across the country on This Old House. Tom also brings his expertise to This Old House's latest additions, Ask This Old House and Inside This Old House. Renovating houses since he was a child, Tom's first major project, working alongside his dad and brother, was installing a basement fallout shelter underneath their 1787 Colonial in Lexington, Massachusetts.

After digging out the 20 x 40 x 12-foot hole under the house, by hand, and hauling away all the boulders, they framed it and finished it off. "It took us two years, and I felt such pride in what we had accomplished that I knew I wanted to do this for a living," says Tom. Silva Brothers Construction, made up of Tom, his brother Richard, and his nephew Charlie, built the original set for the WGBH-TV Boston production The Victory Garden in the parking lot of WGBH. Russell Morash, the creator of This Old House, discovered the Silva crew while they were conducting a major restoration on an 1845 Greek Revival-style house. It was then that Russ named Tom and his crew the general contractors for the show.

The firm's work has been showcased on many Massachusetts-based This Old House projects including the bed-and-breakfast in Lexington; the Kirkside in Wayland; the Victorian in Belmont; the 1710 Colonial in Acton; the Federal-style home in Historic Salem; the 1725 New England Colonial and barn in Milton; the Queen Anne-style Victorian in Watertown; the Second Empire Victorian in Billerica; the 1883 Shingle-style home in Manchester-by-the-Sea; the 25th anniversary project, the 1849 Greek Revival-style farmstead in Carlisle; and the current project, a 1916 two-family home in East Boston.

Tom says, "Each job is unique and different, which is just what I like. Besides loving my work, I've made good friends with the entire crew of This Old House, and it's been a rewarding experience." Tom has contributed to Complete Remodeling and Complete Landscaping, published by This Old House Books in conjunction with Sunset Books in 2004, and the Homeowner's Manual, published by This Old House Books in 2000. He is on the editorial board of This Old House magazine, published by This Old House Ventures, Inc., where his work and expert advice are featured regularly.

Parents of a daughter and a son, Tom and his wife live in a 19th-century house he continues to renovate in a Boston suburb. He is a native of Massachusetts and a boating enthusiast.

[edit] Trivia

A 1994 This Old House project involved the rebuilding of Silva's brother Richard's house, after it had been destroyed by fire.