Nate's Manly Makeover

To make her wish come true, Nate traveled to Joan's home in upstate New York to take a look at the family's basement for the first time. "Welcome to the danger zone," Ken says. The unfinished basement is basically a storage room, Nate says—complete with leaking pipes, electrical problems and even a mouse! "It was absolutely a gut job," he says.

When Joan and Ken first moved into their home, it was already 43 years old and the basement needed a lot of work. "Several years back, I started the project," Ken says. "What I wanted to do was bring the living space over. And the basement, it was prime for our kids for a playroom and activity room." However, Joan's cancer has put Ken's plan to halt—and Nate is ready to step in.

The goal: Give the boys a space to relax and hang out with friends while giving Ken a work space for his tools. Can Nate do it?