texts: How can I fix my concrete front porch landing

texts:
My front porch is concrete, but it's too far below the front door, so there is a landing. The landing is also concrete. However, this landing is not long enough (in the travel direction, IE when coming out of the house it's too short). It looks to be about 2 and a half feet (will measure when I get home), but the code is 3 feet. People stumble when going out my front door because of it.

I think it was up to code when the house was built, but it is not anymore.

So what would be the process to make this landing larger? I would like to build a new one with concrete. Do I have to chisel away and destroy the old landing first? Or could I just put a new form around the outside of it, put some kind of joint in place and pour new concrete?


texts: Can a GFCI receptacle protect other receptacles?

texts: My contractor has wired one GFCI receptacle in the main bathroom on the same circuit as a normal receptacle in our en-suite bathroom (it is less than a foot from the sink). he says that since they are on the same circuit that the GFCI in the en-suite is not needed. Is this correct? Do I still have the same protection - say if I dropped a running hairdryer into the en-suite sink - as I would if there was a GFCI receptacle in the en-suite?


texts:
I have a hallway light that doesn't light up with the switch is flipped. My first move was to change the bulb. This did not work. I used a multimeter to test the voltage across that socket and I'm getting 80V. I found this surprising because the other bulb sockets I've tested in the house get the expected 120V.

Any thoughts? Is this something where I need a special bulb or do I have a bigger problem that requires some additional work?


texts: How can I eliminate one 3-way switch to leave just one switch on the lighting circuit it's on?

texts:
I have two sets of lights in my kitchen. At one end of the kitchen, I have a 2 Gang light switch which operates both sets of lights, and at the other end I have a single light switch which operates the lights at that end of the kitchen. I want to eliminate the single gang light switch totally so it just leaves the 2 gang light switch to control both sets of  lights.

How do I do that?


texts: How to connect metal conduit to in-wall NM cable?

texts: I have NM cable in metal conduit running along a wall. At a corner, the conduit enters wall space, and ends at a metal box in the wall. The line is continued by in-wall NM. How should I handle the point where the conduit enters the wall? Just a hole in the sheetrock?


texts: Can you paint Dow THERMAX WHITE FINISH INSULATION?

texts: Can you paint the insulation boards after installing them?  This would be for an attic interior installation. Then could I skip the dry wall?  How good would it look compared to drywall?


texts: Replaced door hinges and now the door won't close - hits the door stop on the hinge side

texts:
I replaced the 3.5" hinges on an interior door with hinges of the same size. The only difference that I can see between the old and new hinges is that the barrels on the old set are slightly larger.

When I attempt to close the door now, the door hits the stop on the hinge side before it's completely closed - making it impossible to close the door.

I tried adding shims, since the hinges were not flush, but this didn't do anything to fix the problem. Any ideas of what could be happening here?


texts: Setup for attaching drywall to metal studs

texts:
What type of screwdriver setup is best to use for attaching drywall to nonstructural steel studs? Yesterday, I tried using my dedicated drywall screwdriver with fine-threaded drywall screws (which specifically advertised they could be used with light-gauge steel studs) to attach 1/2" drywall. This resulted in the screw stripping a hole in the stud. After about 3 screws of the same result, I switched to an impact driver and screwed in the rest of the screws flush on that same sheet of drywall without any special effort to keep from driving the heads in too far or stripping the hole (no drywall simpler attachment or anything, just a magnetic bit holder).

While I may have gotten lucky with good results on a single drywall sheet using my impact driver since its sensitive enough that I can really slow it down and control it's motion, what setup is typically recommended for attaching drywall to nonstructural steel studs?


texts: How to handle huge amounts of mold in my wall

texts:
I have big problems fighting the mold in my wall.

First of all, where I live my concrete wall is entirely covered with nothing more than paint in the exterior and inside. The building is surrounded by walls, so it's in the shadow all the time, it's on the first floor and there is a concrete gutter surrounding it, so basically i'm saying I almost cannot fix the feed source of the mold.

Sunny days when I clean with bleach I can forget about it for like 1-2 weeks or a month when it's very dry, but rainy days it's like mold every 3 days, I even can see the water that comes through my wall.

I called some construction dudes to paint my room and outside with mold protection paint (I don't know what brand), and it worked for months, but when winter came, the mold nation attacked again.

I've been reading that mold is even capable of dealing with UV radiation as I found in this paper. Also is said that bleach can help but cannot penetrate the wall and I can assure that because I've used pure sodium hypochlorite (I had to sleep on my couch for like 2 days).

So I came up with the next alternatives which I want to discuss:

Use an hydrophobic coating in my wall
Cover my wall with asphalt
Put a fake wall and forget about the mold and let it grow
Modify my DNA to be able to live with mold and avoid the health problems.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What are safe alternatives of electrical tape?

texts: What are safe alternatives to using electrical tape? I don't have it right now nor am I sure when I'll be able to get it. Could I just use regular scotch tape over one of the shattered festoon bulbs?


texts:
I received my new compressor today. The break-in instructions say:

  PREPARATION FOR STARTING

  Push in switch to OFF position, and plug in power cord at the wall.

  Pull up the red power switch and run compressor unit for 30 minutes to
  break in the pump parts.

  Turn regulator knob fully counterclockwise to cause air to bleed off.

  Attach the hose and tool to the compressor using the Euro type quick
  release couplings on the compressor.

The problem is about 30 seconds after starting the compressor it shuts off because it has reached the maximum pressure.

Here are the instructions.

Cheers.


texts:
My house has very small rim joists spaces in the basement.
I have noticed that the floors are cold, as are the walls. So I want to take action and this is where I thought to start.
My problem is that the space is maybe only 2" and quite deep, which is going to be very difficult to do the traditional way (using foam board and spray foam).
Should I buy some insulating spray foam and just seal the cavities? As far I know this is fine as long as it is air tight to prevent mold and such.
Any information would be super helpful! I included a picture, although it is not easy to see what's going on.


texts: Issues with 4 Prong to 3 Prong Conversion

texts:
I've really been at a loss trying to figure this out. Quick backstory: GF moved into apartment built prior to NEC code change so it has a 3 prong outlet. Her GE Profile dryer had a 4 prong plug attached. I may ask the complex to see if they will update the outlet to a 4 prong, but assume that doesn't happen. This is a second floor apartment and the device is in a cramped laundry closet.

I opened up the back panel and the terminal block was oriented in a bizarre way from anything I've seen online. This is a used dryer so she doesn't have the owner's manual and I couldn't find anything for this model number (DPSR473EV0WW) on GE's instruction manual/owner's guide website.

I disconnected the 4 prong including the green wire from the ground screw. I was expecting to find an internal ground wire from inside the dryer that I could reconnect to the ground screw, but there was no green wire to be found. I went ahead and hooked up the 3 prong as shown:

 (closeup)

You might be wondering why the 3 prong is threaded behind the terminal block and it's because there wasn't enough slack (or enough room) in the 3 prong heads to connect them on the slanted terminal block when coming in from the right side. Hopefully this isn't an issue.

My bigger question though concerns the yellow wire which I currently have attached to the ground screw. The yellow wire (barely visible in the second image) was originally connected to the neutral terminal along with a white wire (red wire fed the top, black wire fed the bottom). I have no idea what this yellow wire is. Is it it the ground? Should I connect it as I have done to the ground screw or is it something else I need to put back onto the neutral terminal? The back of the dryer discusses a ground strap which of course is long gone so I can go get one to connect neutral to the ground screw, but this yellow wire has me perplexed. I'm trying to do this right, but this GE design is really bizarre compared to all the guides online.

I'm leaning towards putting the yellow wire back on the neutral since I don't know specifically what it does. I've heard that ground straps are not recommended anymore as it may not actually ground the chassis, so I'm kind of at a loss for what to do to make this safe.

Any ideas or advice?


texts:
Live in a condo and stacked washer/dryer are in a closet.  New w/d installed, but now closet door wont close as w/d stick out 1/2 inch more than old w/d.
There is trim molding around door. Can we nail on another piece of molding on top of existing molding around door and rehinge door again?  What is best way to get door to close?


texts: Our house is not in being used for years. Only one person is living and using only one washroom. Now we don't have water coming out from taps in other unused areas of house. Really appreciate your suggestion. House is in hot area so no issue of frozen pipe.


texts: My Caroma Smart dual flush toilet isn’t filling up. Water supply is turned on,but there is no water coming into the thank. The tank is completely empty. I manually filled the tank  up with water and iit flushed appropriately,but didn’t fill back up on its own.  I can’t even hear the water running. Can someone please help me?


texts: Only 1 out of 7 baseboard have heat coming out

texts:
House Heating system: Mini Gas Low Pressure Boiler

I have 4 Thermostats in the house (1-Master Bedr, 1-Kids room, 1-guest room, 1-living room)
All 3 rooms are generating heat exept in the living room.
The living room have 7 baseboard and only 1 of them is generating heat

what would caused the other baseboard to not generate any heat?
I check the crawl in, and I can visibly see all the pipes running to each baseboard and i don't see any leak and none of them are warm/hat to touch


texts:
Daughter left the oven on full heat and our house's RCD tripped.
Strangely, after removing the oven light bulb, we are now able to use the hot plates!
However, switching the oven/grill selector switch still trips the RCD. I've tried the switch in all its positions - full grill, half grill, bottom element only, both grill and bottom element.
I even changed the lower oven element, but this has made no difference.
What should I try next?
Adding picture of incoming 3-phase supply - the oven/grill circuit is formed by the brown wire from phase 2 and the blue wire from phase 3.


texts: Looking for ideas on how to attach piece of wood to eye bolt

texts:
Sorry if some terms are sounding weird, I have no idea how those things are called in English :/

Intention: I have a piece of wood (a thick stick for instance) and some eye bold sticking out of a wall. Now I would like to place said piece of wood on top of it and lock it in position.
Here are some pictures of a test:

The bolts are already in the wall. I cannot thread the wood through the eye and since it will be placed in our living room it should look good.

Things I've tried

Cable ties -> look terrible but are strong
Plastic thread -> you see the picture? :) Looks odd, not very stable, fishing threading would be more stable but visually still not great
Metal hose clamp: Sturdy, looks still not that great but diameter of the eye bolt hole requires a smaller clamp width, small clamp width results typically in a smaller clamp diameter (too small for the wood)
Bolt through the wood -> wood to thin to bear the weight

Hiding the fastening will be considered, but I am looking for something that looks cool


texts: I have a sink which emits an odor from the drain.  I checked the p-trap and there was a pretty nasty buildup of black slime in it.  I'm cleaning that out, but find it strange that just this one drain has this problem.  Another right next to it is fine.  The drain with the problem is the highest drain in the house.  The vent for these drains seems to be fine, but sometimes I do smell the same odor coming from it.  Any ideas on the cause of the slimy buildup in the p-trap?


texts: What's the correct name for this type of bath and shower mixer tap?

texts:
I'm looking for a way to find a certain type of tap but I'm not native English and have no idea of the terminology, or even what I need exists...

Wall has 2 pipe endings, 15cm apart.
I need one big lever to mix both hot and cold (ceramic thing?).
Output is 1 tub filling normal flow.
Another output is to handheld shower head.

The most important is that the switch between the 2 outputs should NOT be automatic. I've seen those with 2 different controls (one hot, one cold) where the switch is manual. But I haven't seen any solution with manual switch that also has 1 big lever for mixing.

The reason is that the automatic is very fiddly for me. I almost exclusively use the handheld shower output and I hardly ever want the tub filling output (but it's nice to have). I don't wish to fiddle every day with the pressure-sensitive switch, since it all defaults to tub-filling mode as far as I know.


texts: How can I hang a shelf off of existing screws in brick wall?

texts:
Recently moved into an apartment, and setting it up.
I need to hang a projector and a video game console off of a brick wall in the home.

Ideally, because it's an apartment, I don't alter the wall.

There are 2 existing screws coming out of the brick - screwed into the brick itself. There seems to be some plastic anchor supporting them. The screws are 5ft (1.5m) apart, come out about half an inch, and the "shelf" needs to come out about 12-18in (30-45cm) and support ~15lbs (~7kg) of weight at most.

Is this possible? If so, how? I have woodworking tools and patience, but not much know-how. My intention here is to make a make-shift shelf cutting up wood and hanging it however I can. Alternatively, happy to buy something if I can find shelving with mounts exactly 5ft apart.

If not, what's another no- or low-damage way of hanging such a shelf (minimum 12in depth, 3ft wide)?


texts: How can can I get replacement wood siding to match the existing siding?

texts:
I have some wood siding on my house that is rotting and crumbling away.  Here are some pictures of what I am talking about:

What kind of wood is this?  If I buy new boards likely it is not going to match whatever I don't replace.  What can I do to make everything match?


texts: Consider the following image. Is the part pointed out by red arrow a stud? What is the blue part called?


texts: Household receptacle - For a 2-wire, can I tap the adjacent bond for grounding?

texts: I have a 2-wire circuit in my utility closet that I'd like to connect to a receptacle. In the closet is the bonded water & gas pipes. Can I tap into that bond to provide a ground to the receptacle?


texts: Important features in electric screwdrivers for furniture dis/assembly

texts:
I decided that it's a good time to give myself the luxury of (dis)assembling furniture with an electric screwdriver. For the odd table or chair it's not a big deal, but for painting a room and moving the furniture out then in, it is.
So far I figured that two features are essential in an electric screwdriver:

A clutch. Without a clutch I can too easily strip the wood when I am reassembling.
Gradual speed. Until I know that I've chosen the correct size of the tool, it's wise to first go slowly. Hence a trigger that starts slowly is important.

These two constraints basically eliminate the cheaper tools I see on the market.
But I also see some very serious models. Are there any features I'm missing besides the two just mentioned?
It would have been nice to get a tool that also helps with bike work ("use torque of 5 N.m"), but it seems one cannot rely on the precision of the torque on the electric models and a manual torque bike wrench will still be needed as a separate tool.
Note
Whoever closed the question has almost surely read it inattentively. I am well aware of the obsolescence issue, and I phrased the question very carefully to be sure it'd apply 20 years down the road. But anyhow, happy to delete.


texts:
I'm preparing to do my first tile project in my house, and have recently been told conflicting statements about what I need to do to my floor as it exists now.  I'm going to tile the floors in my kitchen, entry way, and bathroom.  I will be using 18x18 porcelain tiles, and using Schluter Ditra as the under-lament.

Each of these floors are currently linoleum. As far as I can tell, under the linoleum is some sort of particle board, and underneath that should be the bare floorboards.  It is/was my understanding that I needed to rip out the linoleum, have a decently clean surface, and then use thin-set to bond the Schluter Ditra down.  It also is/was my understanding that you could also leave the linoleum down if you desired, but that you had to nail it down every so many feet.

My problem is now I've been told that I also need to take out the particle board layer that is underneath the linoleum.  I'd prefer not to have to do this, as I'm sure I will have to cut it out around my counters, and around the areas where linoleum stops and carpet begins.  I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of having to make "precision" cuts only deep enough to cut the particle board, but not the floor board.

So I'm not sure what to believe.  I thought Schluter Ditra would do just fine on top of the particle board, and possibly even on top of the linoleum.  Boiled down to a very simple question, what can I safely put Schluter Ditra on top of?


texts:
We recently purchased a new home that has a 16 x 30 steel building in the back yard approximately 100ft from the main panel. The building has power run to it off a 60 amp breaker in the main panel. The current sub panel is an old fuse box that desperately needs an upgrade. It appears that at some point a previous owner started to upgrade the electrical but never finished. There are three #2 aluminum feeders 2 hot and one neutral but no ground. I am going to replace the sub panel with a new GE panel and want to know the proper way to add a ground. Can I just run #4 wire from the panel to two grounding rods outside of the building or do I need to run a new wire back to the main?

The big reason I'm asking is that if I am going to pull a new wire I'm going to end up redoing the whole feed with a larger wire so that I can run a 125 amp sub panel. The building will eventually become my new shop with power hungry equipment. If I can safely get it up and running now for a minimum of expense that would be great otherwise I will have to plan for the larger project. Thanks for the advice.

Shawn in New Orleans


texts: Why is CFL bulb life terrible in a three-stage off/low/high lamp?

texts: I have a floor lamp with a three-stage turning switch: off->low->high. I use the lamp only on the high setting, but need to pass through the low setting to get there. It's rated at 150W and I've been using CFL 150W equivalent. The bulb life has been terrible. Do I need dimmable CFLs?


texts: Why did my humidifier water bottles get discolored inside?

texts:
I've had a stand alone type of whole house humidifier for many years. It has two 2.75 gallon white plastic water bottles. In addition to using an anti-bacterial with each fill-up, at the end of each winter I put some water in each bottle, add a little bleach and shake it several times. Then I rinse the bottles out, get as much water out as I can through the small openings and let them sit open for 1-2 weeks to thoroughly dry. Finally, I put the caps back on and store the unit away.
Yesterday, when I took it out to set up, both water bottles have large areas of brown discoloration inside as shown in the photo. I don't think it's mold. Could it be deterioration of the plastic? I'll be getting new bottles anyhow, but would like to know what happened to prevent a recurence.


texts: Do I expand or crimp pex water line, and why?

texts: New construction water lines, should I use expansion on the fittings or should I crimp them?? And why- pros and cons of each. I have another question posted about proper sewer venting diagrams and information. I am currently getting ready to help a friend plumb his new construction home that he's and it's been several years since I've done plumbing for a living (a lifetime ago). CPVC was still the big thing when I quit plumbing and went to HVAC. Pex was just coming onto the scene, so I know very little. Any information is welcomed and greatly appreciated. I want to be able to --know-- beyond any doubt that I can help my friend and everything will work properly for the life of his new home.


texts:
We are anticipating the delivery of a lazy spa hot tub soon and am sussing out how to get power. We have an outdoor socket, but it’s 10m away so I would need to use an outdoor extension lead to connect here. I’ve read the pros and cons and it looks like as long as you are sensible and using a good external quality extension it’s ok to do. The shortest one I can find is 10m long, and don’t need anywhere near this amount, more like 3m. To reduce voltage drop am I best to reduce the length of the extension.

Or... I could plug the spa directly into an indoor socket but this would mean cutting the manufacturers plug off, drilling a hole and re-fitting the plug.. Are indoor sockets ok generally for this type of appliance. The load is approx 2kw.

I can’t move the hot tub nearer the outdoor plug sadly and would prefer to avoid getting another one installed.

Any advice appreciated.


texts: How to install multiple individual led strips?

texts:
I have started my final year in interior design and I really want to buy some LED strip lighting to light up my scale models to give them a much more lifelike appearance for photos.

I wouldn't really need longer than 1m for this, but I will probably want to cut them up into individual strips. My issue is what do I do with the strips after they have been snipped? Will they all need their own individual power supply, or could they connect to an individual one?

If anyone would be able to shed any light on this id greatly appreciate it, and if you could possibly list items I'd need?


texts:
The caulking in my shower was old and had some mold stains, so I removed it and am planning to re-caulk. After removing the old caulking, I noticed that parts of the removed silicon (the ones removed from the space in the picture) were damp and the sand/grout beneath them was damp. This even though I had not used this shower in about 3 weeks.
I am planning to spray some mold killer in the spaces before resealing. My concern is that the gap is a little big (maybe 3/8 inch), and if I apply silicon directly, water may seep through again over time. Would it be better to put something in the gap first, before applying silicone? Also, how worried should I be about the slight dampness in the gaps?
Thank you very much


texts:
I replaced a few outlets in my home over the past weekend and now some other outlets (which I assume are downstream) are not working.  The outlet that I replaced still works fine but I cannot figure out why the others are not working.  I checked the circuit breaker and reset all the switches.  All of the wires in the outlets have been double checked to make sure there are no loose wires.

One of the outlets that I replaced (and assuming this is the problematic one) has a black wire, a res wire, 3 white wires, and a ground.  I screwed them all into the new outlet and no luck.  I tried bypassing the outlet all together by putting the red and black wire together and all the whites together but still no luck.

Any suggestions?  I have gotten a few quotes from electricians but they all want $300+ to come out and fix it.

Thanks in advance


texts: How do i kill off the termite inside the wood beam indoor?

texts:
How do i kill off the termite inside the wood beam indoor as a effective way?

After quite a long while to search youtube i don't find anything useful and hopefully the answer will be just to spray termidor or Demaon Max or other chemical treatment pesticide onto the wood beam.


texts: Water heater noises when my neighbor's sprinklers are active

texts:
Hello I recently (few months ago) installed a tankless water heater following a failure of the old 55gal gas heater.

Performance has been fantastic, it actually resolved a number of problems, but I also noticed an increase in water hammer, most likely due to the fact that there is no tank to damped the water movement. I installed a couple of anti-hammer devices in strategic points and now that problem has been resolved too.

However, sometimes I still had noises coming out of the water heater itself, especially late at night. With the recent warm weather, I started leaving the windows open at night, and the other day I realized that those noises coincided exactly with my neighbor's sprinkler system becoming active. The noise repeated again 9 minutes later when the sprinkler changed zone.

The water meter of our houses shares the same location near the road, about 100ft from my house. I measured water pressure in my house while my neighbor's sprinklers are active and when they are not and it's similar at about 75PSI.

Two questions: should I suspect maybe his sprinklers, for some odd reasons, are connected to my own water lines? Pretty unlikely also given his house is much closer to the road than mine.
Also, how do I fix the noise in the water heater? Note the noise comes from within the heater, not from the pipes.

As far as I know, my house does NOT have a pressure regulator, nor an expansion tank.

Also, I have never heard any noise from the heater during the day, and as I worked from home pretty often recently, I had plenty of times to stay in a very quiet house during the day.


texts:
What is the correct way to attach a wooden trellis to brick? Should the mounting bolts (screws?) go into the brick or into the mortar between the bricks? What is the best practice?

If it matters and to be clear, the trellis will be attached to multiple pressure treated wood 'footings' at the base (I'm thinking deck rails which are available precut at HD) buried a few feet into the ground. So the PT footings at the base will bear much of the load. But of course the trellis still needs to be attached to the brick.

The trellis needs to be proud (i.e. in front of) the brick by a few inches for purposes of the climbing rose I will plant at the base (ventilation etc.). So my thinking is to cut a few PT wood blocks, attach them to the brick at strategic points, and then attach the trellis to the PT blocks.


texts: What specifications should I look at when choosing an exterior door?

texts:
I'm considering replacing the front door, and I'd like to know what to look for to get the most insulation.  When shopping for doors, I'm not sure what I should be looking at to determine which doors will provide adequate insulation.  I live in New York, so the winters can be quite cold.

What should I be looking at, to figure out if a door has adequate insulation?


texts: Dimming led ceiling fan with remote and dual switch wiring

texts:
I currently have a similar setup for my Stile Anderson 22 in. LED Indoor/Outdoor Brushed Nickel Ceiling Fan with Remote Control.

Black wire controls the fan, while the blue controls the light kit on the fan. The only modification I made was to piggyback the light control from the remote to the blue/red wire nut. This way the remote module will control the fan and light (when the corresponding wall switch is in the ON position), and the other switch will control the light independently.

The problem I'm having is flickering of the led lights when using the remote dimmer control. Could this be a result of the modified wiring I've used or should I assume the issue is elsewhere. If it is a potential problem with my wiring is there and fix to keep the current operation the same? Thanks.


texts:
Unfortunately our new outdoor AC unit – a usual with a fan and aluminium heat exchanger – does not contain plugs to a water heat exchanger.

That's a pity as the waste heat in summer could be used to heat a pool or perhaps water for showering too.

I found online some commercial setups that plug between the compressor? and heat exchanger, but 1) the AC unit probably does not have easy access to this pipe and 2) the total cost is way too steep (around 10x the pvc pool cost).

I calculated that for a 20 tonne pool a modest AC usage could heat it up around 3° Celsius every day.

The solution must not involve modifying the coolant line as the cost would be too high.

So pretty much that results in spraying or pouring water in the unit on the aluminium blades. Probably not the chlorinated pool water but a normal water that would form some kind of primary circuit which would interface in a heat exchanger with the pool water.

But I have two questions.

How much water the AC unit can safely tolerate. (It should perfectly withstand heavy rains, right?)

Will the water heat up, or rather just evaporate? (Thus not actually heating up the water.) That probably depends on the amount of water sprayed/poured on the system.


texts: protecting electrical wires below 8' in open framing garage

texts: how do I protect electrical wires run horizontally below 8' in open framing garage? its all done already, I have lots of scrap plywood and 2x4s, I was hoping to run horiz plywood strips 6" wide for protection.


texts: Connecting gas logs to small propane tank

texts:
I'd like to install some propane-gas based logs in my fireplace to use as an auxiliary heat source this winter.  Mainly for when the power goes out (I have electric heat pump), or for very cold morning while eating breakfast.

As such, I don't want or need a massive buried tank for propane at my house.  I considered a 100lb tank however, 1) the local gas companies won't fill these at the house, and 2) as I understand it, these tanks must be transported vertically, which will be very difficult for me (even though I have a pickup).

I would like to use 40lb tanks instead or even the bbq size 20lb tanks (keeping extras on hand), but am confused on what parts I need to hook the gas logs up.  Assuming I come out of a 1/2" black pipe from the outside wall of the chimney, I believe I need a twin regulator with a pigtail connector like this one, but I'm not 100% it's correct.  Can anyone verify this will work with what I am trying to do?


texts: How can I restore my carpet's pile after too much cleaning product was used?

texts: I recently moved into my new place and have found that my carpet on my landing is completely flattened.  I was told by a carpet cleaning company that it has been caused by too much cleaning product from a Vax carpet cleaner.  I want to find a way of removing the excess cleaning solution and bring the carpet pile back up to what it should be.  Any ideas on how i could do it without bringing in a cleaning company to do it.


texts: What is the dry time where can you pressure test a DWV system after glueing?

texts: I just pressure tested my system and found a leak in some old connections. So I removed them and added some piping. The dry time for use is 2 hours. Is it the same for pressure testing to 5psi?


texts:
I'm looking for a toilet with an integrated sink.  I've seen them on rare occasions: flushing the toilet activates the sink, which re-fills the toilet and tank using the water that drains through the integrated sink above the tank.

Is there a simple way to retrofit an existing toilet with a top-mounted sink?

If retrofitting one is not an option, is there a name for this that I can search for?


texts: One dodgy lamp: Differential is triggered and several separate circuit breakers become differential-triggering. How is that even possible?

texts:
I had a bit of a phenomenon on the neighbour's electrical circuit.
What was observed:

The differential had blown

What was tried:

I tried to to isolate the faulty circuit by trying to get the differential stay closed.
Trial and error resulted in several circuit breakers set to "open" until this was managed, with no obvious pattern. For example, the circuit breaker for the fridge and the circuit breaker for the oven both had to be "open". Closing them would trip the differential. Even then, the differential randomly tripped after maybe 5 minutes of stability.

What fixed it:

The neighbor remembered a dodgy lamp plugged in. It was indeed doddy, as the power supply was broken open with the transformer spool clearly visible and the grounding cable had broken loose.
After unplugging said lamp, all the ciruit breakers could be closed and the differential could be satisfactorily closed and stayed this way.
I'm not sure whether I "isolated" that lamp through opening one of the ciruit breakers earlier, but probably yes (judging from the inscriptions on the breakers at least).

Question:
How is it possible that a single device on the "power plug" circuit causes the circuit breaker of the "stove" or "fridge" circuit to become differential-triggering-when-closed?
I actually suspected a major problem with the cabling at first, like water intrusion or a rat having a final meal. I reckon one should have a professional take a good look at this phenomenon?


texts: What is causing extremely high water usage?

texts: Our condo's (12 units, 2 buildings) water usage went from $300 to $3000 in a few months. We don't have separate water shutoffs to test each unit. Nobody's reporting any visible leaks. Any idea how to proceed? We are going to go bankrupt at this rate.


texts:
I am looking at a property with a serious fixer-upper on it.  I want to place a mobile home on the property while gutting out existing building to see if it can be renovated.  My question is about the septic.  I has a well and eptic, but has been abandoned for a few years now.  I believe the septic will need to be updated, parts of it replaced.

Is this something I can do myself, with the help of my brothers and dad?  If so, what kinds of costs am I looking at?


texts: How can I build a vertical hinging stair safety rail/siding?

texts:
I live in a New York apartment and want to use the loft bedroom for 4 year old daughter.

The stairs are wooden slats built into the wall but completely open on one side...there is no safety rail/guard.  Due to how tight the space is, we need a safety rail that can be hinged down when we need to carry things up the stairs.

I was thinking of a piece of wood with a hinge that allows it to go straight up or down but lock in the up position.  Hinges allow the wood to move up/down but only come out a few inches while happening. There is not enough room for something to swing down through 180 degrees, it needs to stay in a vertical plane but can move laterally a few inches while going up/down.

Can anyone suggest what is the name of the hinge I need or idea for where to look ?


texts: How to ground a junction box extension when using a non-metallic box?

texts:
I have a water heater that gets electricity from a dryer cord plugged into an outlet on the wall.

I need to remove the outlet and replace it with permanent wiring and some form of quick disconnect.

Based on a conversation with my local inspector the best way he thought to get this done is to use the following:

1 gang box extender (like this or this),
2 pole 30 amp switch (example) mounted on the face of the extender
Connect one end of a whip (example) to the bottom of one of the 1/2" hubs/knock out
Connect whip to the top of the hot water heater

I am only able to find a few types of handy box extensions and they are all made of metal.

My existing box is non-metallic and so doesn't have a grounding screw.

The extensions don't have spots to screw in a grounding screw as I guess they assume they are being screwed into a metal box that is grounded and so they expect to be grounded through the screws used to attach them.

How can I ground the extension so that I don't have an ungrounded metal handy box/junction box extension?

Ps, if you feel this is the wrong way to do this in the first place add a comment and I will ask a separate question more generally about the best way to go from a hot water heater hooked with with a dryer plug to something code compliant.


texts: I have 10 laser pens of the same type(cheap Chinese ones) in aluminum and the threads are a bit loose, is there any way to improve the friction for the threads by applying some friction grease/paste? its for adjusting the focus of the lens so right now there is a slight wiggling room that i would like to get rid of.


texts: Is air conditioner installation a DIY project?

texts:
We got a bargain on a brand new 6.2kw Split System Inverter Air Conditioner.

The quotes we've received for installation are almost as much as the unit cost itself.

Is this something I should be brave enough to attempt myself? It's a back-to-back installation.


texts:
I have old electromechanical relays that were installed in a panel with a transformer as part of a remote controlled lighting circuit.  It's a nifty setup except the relays are no longer manufactured.  Here is a patent that describes the relay.  The relay itself is marked:

1/2 HP - 125VAC, 20A-277 VAC
20A-125VAC, 60 CY., COIL 30VDC

And it accepts four pairs of DC inputs that seem to have 200-400 mV when a particular light is ON and 30V when the light is OFF.
What does 1/2 HP mean here?  Why are there two different ratings for VAC (i.e., 20A-277 and 20A-125VAC)?
My goal here is to find something I could use to replace these components without having to redo the entire panel.


texts: I have major erosion issues with millings road. My property is sloped . Needed advice for installing either channel drains with existing road or go with blacktop.


texts: Adding another line/wire in metal conduit

texts:
I have an outlet box in garage that contains two No. 6 wires that was used for an electric heater. Would like to covert it to a NEMA 14-50 outlet to be used to charge an electric vehicle.

The No. 6 wires come into the box through a 3/4" metal conduit. Do I need another No. 6 for common? And can another No. 6 be pulled through the conduit with the other two 6s already there? The distance of the pull would be about 45 feet with two 90 degree bends.

Thank you very much.


texts: How to keep floor insulation dry and safe from pests?

texts:
Hi I'm in process of constructing a small house I want to live in. The house will be built on foundation of concrete pilots. Since I want to insulate the floor I am now in process of designing such barrier which will keep the insulation dry and pests (mouse or similar which would get into the crawlspace) away. I have now this construction in my mind (cut below):

===================== - subfloor
||-------------------
|| Joists, spaces filled with insulation
||-------------------
+++++++++++++++++++++ - one way vapor barrier
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - chicken wire

What do you think about this solution? Are there any better? I don't want to re-invent the wheel...


texts: How can I use drain motor as aquarium motor?

texts:
I want to circulate water which falls from a tank that 2.5 meters up to the reservoir tank at the ground level. I know there are numerous pumps but I want to use a washing machine drain motor if it is possible because it is cheaper than the other pumps.
If I can please guide me
- how I can soak water from the reservoir?
- is it possible to pump the water to 2-2.5 meters high?
- if I can't why?

Thanks in advance for your kind answers.

Edit:
The title has aquarium to create right imagination for water pumps but I'll do fodder system like this:

I need to raise water from the reservoir to the top of the shelves. I know aquarium motors will be usefull and cheap but I found washing machine motor 3 times cheaper.


texts:
I am renovating my cellar. The electrician wired the room a couple of years ago and until now i´ve not had the money or time to finish it off. I was looking at the wiring for the wall sockets today and realized that for every box there is at least 8 wires stuffed into it separated into 2 groups of wires. 1 group of wires has 5 colours...brown, black, grey, green/yellow and blue, the other group had green/yellow, blue and brown. I mostly have double sockets so this setup is then repeated for the second socket next to it. How do I install the socket...what is grey? My wall socket has only 3 input holes...so what do I do?

Thanks for any advice.


texts: How should I mount a TV to a wall that slants inwards 8 degrees?

texts:
I am going to attach a piece of plywood across 3 studs and then attach the mount to the plywood, as described in the answer to Can I use 2x4s to extend studs so I can mount my TV?.

However, my wall slants inwards 8 degrees ("inwards" meaning that the bottom of the wall is further out than the top). How should I handle this so that the mount is ultimately vertical? One thought I had was to have a 2x4 cut to the right dimensions with one side having an 8 degree angle to match the wall. I'd then place this on the bottom of where the mount will go, ultimately leaving me with studs > 2x4 > plywood > mount on the bottom, and studs > plywood > mount on the top.

Is this the right approach?


texts: Wall Mount TV to Drywall with Backing (Without Studs)

texts:
I've been a very long time lurker on this forum and decided to jump in and post my first question!
I'm a total newbie with DIY and live in a condo. I've been trying to mount my 55" tv that weighs around 45lbs to the drywall without studs. I purchased Toggler SnapToggle bolts but to my surprise, I noticed some sort of backing behind the drywall - possibly plywood?
I haven't seen anything before where there is some sort of backing behind the drywall. I've pretty much wasted my time drilling 8 holes using my 1/2" drill bit as there is not enough clearance for me to use the SnapToggle bolts. I can't get the anchor to pivot behind all of this drywall and plywood.
I'm not sure how the plywood is attached to the wall as I don't see any bolts so I'm not sure how to properly mount my tv. Also, is it possible to "re-use" the 8 holes I already drilled? My wall is shared between my living room and bathroom.
I've also attached some images showing the drywall and backing.
Appreciate it!


texts: Low-voltage splices behind Drywall without junction box access?

texts:
For 120VAC, I know that 'splices' in NM/Romex are not allowed behind drywall: there must be a junction box to inspect the splice.
For low-voltage, such as CATV, how big of a deal is it?
The previous owner left my house with a CATV splice (pictured below), and we're about to add drywall to this ceiling.
Do I need to remove this CATV (RG6 Quad Shield) cable and re-run it as a continuous run with NO splice?  (Or add a junction box for access; but I don't want to do this).


texts: Can an 8 gauge wire melt due to arcing on a 35 amp breaker

texts:
I recently was having some HVAC issues with a heat pump blower motor not running.  Being comfortable using a multimeter, I opened up the panel to the furnace and was checking voltages on the capacitor and blower motor when one of the hot power wires arced by touching the metal furnace. I now have a complete loss of power to the furnace.  Immediately after the arc, the dual gang 35 amp breakers tripped.  I reset the breaker to find that the power was still not reaching the furnace at all.  I checked the wires coming out of the breaker with a non-contact voltage meter and confirmed voltage is coming out of the breakers.
There is only about 8 feet of wire from the main electrical panel where the breakers are and the 8 gauge wire coming into the furnace electrical panel.  The wire coming out of the breaker leads goes up in my attic into nearly inaccessible areas before coming down through the ceiling into the furnace panel. I checked the resistance between the breaker and the input of the furnace power and there was no connectivity.  The ohm meter was 0.L, if the wires were good, there should be connectivity.

QUESTION: Is it possible for both 8 gauge wires coming out of the two 35 amp breakers to completely burn out so as to not be able to feed power to the furnace because one of them arc'ed?
If so, is the 8 gauge wires being burned and not providing current the only scenario or could something else be amiss with the wires feeding the furnace from the breaker?

I went up in the attic and tried to investigate any visual failures from the 8 gauge wire but I was not able to find any nor could I get a non-contact voltage detector to work on any of the 8 gauge wires since the sheath is too thick.


texts: Replace one of the 3way switch to sensor switch in the hallway

texts:
I have TWO 3-way switch in my hallway for light fixtures and I tried to replace one of the them to be a motion sensor switch.  Both are working before the replacement, I can turn on and off with both way.

1st New motion sensor 3way switch will be nearby door and 2nd is located at the end of the hallway.

I find out the problem is if I install the motion sensor on the main door, when i open the main door, it will trigger the switch to turn on the light. Then, i switch off the light at the end of the hallway. When second guest come in, it won't trigger the sensor (i dont see the led light flashing on the sensor, unless you press the button manually to power on the sensor switch). when i switch ON the 3 way switch at the hall way. the sensor switch is flashing and it works.

This is the wiring on the sensor switch

May i know how to wire it correctly.
Thanks folks


texts: How do I make this wiring inside cabinet safer?

texts:
tl;dr: How do I make this wiring meet code, or at least safer?

The pic below is inside one of my kitchen cabinets. Once upon a time the stove was located below these cabinets, and that wire must have run to an exhaust fan (note the metal vent in the pic). The stove had been moved to another spot by the time I bought the house, but the wire is still in the cabinet and still live.

When I bought the house the wire (old 2-wire NM, no ground) ran to a light fixture on the underside of the cabinet, but there was no junction box at all. Just exposed pigtails inside the cabinet. I'd like to improve things here, so what can I do, short of running a brand new wire with a ground through the wall? I figure putting the pigtails in an actual junction box would be a good place to start.

I plan on staying in the house for a few more years, so I'm more concerned with safety than exactly meeting code.


texts: How to Run Fan Only with Thermostar Furnace With G Wire

texts: I have a Thermostar Furnace that works great for Heating our home.  We do not have AC and do not want that.  But, we do want to be able to just run the fan without heat.  The W and RH wires were connected and I thought I could just connect the G wire and it would work.  But, that doesn't seem to be the case.  Is there something else I need to do?


texts:
I removed the paint from this wood, the top ring of a raised garden.
While scraping I got to a soft part and easily removed this rotten wood, creating the hole in the pictures: it is 2x2x5"

Should I fill it completely with one of those things they sell to fill wood holes? is it too big for that? should I just fill it or first use the liquids to "harden" the wood?
should I just spray it with something and keep it as is (it is kinda artistic, so I may go with that option, as long as it will not cause it to become worse faster).

if filling it, is it better to fill it with actual wood first and the rest with the filler (instead of wasting tons of filler?)

Lastly, will I be able to stain the wood, or since it will be a mix of wood and whatever filler I use, stain will not look good and I need to paint?

should I just remove the 4 woods (all 4 sides) and install new ones (all 4 so they look the same, not 3 old and one new).


texts: What is an open ground and why would the neutral wire measure 50v?

texts: What is an open ground? Also, why would there be 50 V in the neutral and ground wires? I have replaced all outlets and switches and still I have no light.


texts:
I've seen a lot of discussion about using plywood instead of drywall over rigid foam insulation when finishing basement walls (here and here). As I look to insulate my basement, I have several reasons why I'd prefer plywood to drywall as a covering.

However, none of the discussions about plywood over rigid foam mention fire code concerns. There are separate discussions (here and here), but so far no direct answer to this question:

Does plywood over rigid foam meet the fire barrier requirements? Any specific type, thickness, or installation method?

I am in Wisconsin, USA, where our fire code is NFPA 1, Fire Code — 2012. I've searched the modifications and didn't see anything about fire block or barrier, so assume standard NFPA applies.

I am considering 2" foam glued to the cement, furring strips over that, and 1/2" plywood over that. Basement will not be finished, I'm just insulating for warmth. I want to cover the foam since it is used as a workshop.


texts: Copper NPT male fitting: accepted practice to sweat to the inside?

texts:
My plumber did this and I'm finding it hard to search about, asking for my next project.

Here's an example: the 1/2" side of this fitting is 1/2" male NPT, but you can also sweat a 1/2" copper pipe to the inside.

I've seen other references to this practice but I'm just wanting to know if it's taught in trade schools?  Or is it regarded as a hack?


texts: How should I repair this poor deck rim joist connection?

texts:
Still working on a deck rehabilitation, and I ran into another interesting problem.  When building the deck, rather than trimming the siding corner cap, some genius decided to simply build around it.  They stopped the ledger short of the corner cap, nailed in an extension piece to the face of the ledger, then nailed the rim joist into the end of the extension piece.

The framing in the corner of deck looks like this.

To make matter worse. There's a single step attached to the rim joist, which is unsupported (sank into the ground). Every time somebody steps on the step, it yanks on the rim joist. This has caused the rim joist to begin to be pulled away from extension piece (since it's nailed into the end grain of the piece).

I'm obviously going to fix the sinking step issue, but I'd like to find a better way to attach the rim joist as well.

I was thinking of installing a 90° strongtie on the inside corner of the joint. Unfortunately, I can't get a driver in to drive screws (don't want to use nails into the rim joist, because that wouldn't be any stronger than what's already there).

The other thought was to put a 90° bracket on the top of the extension and rim joist.  The problem there, is that it would be in the way when attaching my decking boards.

What should I do to make this connection stronger?


texts: How to remove ceiling joist cross blocks without tearing up roof?

texts:
I have a building on my property where the roof is made of 12' 2x4 joists with plywood laid directly on top of it.  Between the 2x4 joists there are 2x4 cross blocks positioned where the pieces of plywood meet together.  The plywood is then nailed to these cross blocks.

The 2x4 joists are sagging so I am planning to sister 2x6s to them to give more support.  In order to do this I will need to remove the 2x4 cross blocks.  My first thought was to just take a hammer to them and knock them out - I assumed that the nails would just come out.  The problem I am running into is that instead of the nails pulling out of the cross block, they are pulling through the plywood that makes up the roof.

How can I remove these blocks without damaging the plywood that is above?

To clarify what is going on i've attached some pictures.  Here is a picture of the joists and the one block that I have removed, on either side of it you can still see the blocks:

This is a closeup of where I have knocked out the block.  If you look closely you can see that the nail heads have pulled through the plywood roof above:


texts: I just bought a big used tire and hung it as a tire swing. I pressure washed it, but it still sheds a little black residue. I'd love to seal it/paint it, but am not sure what would stick to a tire and not crack over time in the sun. Any recommendations?


texts:
My ice maker won't shut off and leaks all over the freezer.  This is seriously maddening since I then have to unplug my refrigerator every week for a 24 hour period to defrost the ice on the bottom of my freezer.  I then chip at it until I can pull out the sheet of ice and start over for another week.

Any suggestions besides getting a new refrigerator?


texts: 2 black and 2 white wires, but one black & one white are on the same side of a switched receptacle

texts:
I'm in the process of replacing old electrical outlets and switches to more modern Decora type outlets.  I've done a few so far with no problem, however, this one has a different configuration that's got me stumped.
I've attached a few images.  The duplex outlet is switched and there are the normal 2 black and 2 white wires plus a ground wire.  But as you can see in the photos, there is one black and one white wire attached on the same side of the receptacle, not the normal 2-black-on-one-side-and-2-white-on-the-other-side configuration.  Also, the B&W wires that are next to each other on the receptacle are twisted together from different strands farther back in the box shown in the picture.
How would I wire this to a standard 15A outlet with 2 screws on each side?  I know that I need to break the tab on the new outlet and black goes to brass, and white goes to the silver screws - I'm just confused at the B&W wires on the same side of the outlet.
I've also attached a picture of the breaker box.  The one breaker switch that's turned off is the one powering the outlet in question.  All blue breaker switches are 15A and this is a blue breaker BUT it's got an orange tape on it.  Another orange tape is marked to a 20A breaker.  (An electrician must have done this some years ago when I had a kitchen remodel).
How do I interpret this marker on the breakers?
BTW, this particular receptacle was never touched during the remodel.


texts: Corner crack moved 0.1mm 6 weeks after fitting crack monitor

texts:
I found this plaster corner crack between two external walls after removing wallpaper. I fitted an Avongard crack monitor 6 weeks ago which hasn't shown any movement until now.

The left wall in the photo has now moved inwards by 0.1mm. There's no sign of cracking on the external brickwork.

I'm assuming this isn't normal and would have cracked if it had been replastered.

Is getting a surveyor in the best option now?

Additional details:

Foundation type: concrete slab
Climate: South East England. Currently 12c/54f
House age: 1970s

Photo taken 6 weeks ago after being glued to the wall with epoxy


texts:
We're nearing the end of our remodel and we're not happy with the backsplash. We apparently chose a hard tile to work with as there are a lot of little pieces (but sheeted 12x12). Knowing we chose a tough tile, I'm okay that many areas don't have consistent grout lines, I'm even ok with a little lippage. But the showcase area, underneath our hood, looks bad.
The GC has redone part of it a few times but they're saying that the lippage is due to uneven studs. I've done some research and it seems like it might be the thinset was laid on too thick and is shrinking in some places. Is this a normal recent with small sheeted tiles? Can it be fixed?


texts: Drain dripping noise from Garbage disposal into P trap

texts:
after running the dishwasher or just running water into the sink, about 30 seconds later goes this nerve wrecking:  POCK... POCK... POCK
The dripping comes from the garbage disposal pipe and the water drops are falling into the P-Trap below. The figuration worked for over 10 years. What changed?


texts: Tell the difference between mortar and grout?

texts:
I had a contractor come in and lay new tile in my home. When the job was done, there were 2 or 3 tiles that were uneven and we asked the tile setter to chip out those tiles and replace them.

For those 2 or 3 tiles, I suspect (for various reasons) that the tile setter used mortar (Versabond thinset) between the replaced tile and its neighbors rather than grout.

How can I tell for sure?


texts:
Getting ready to tile my first shower. Planning to start at the bottom and work up. Do I place the bullnose trim alongside the courses of tile as I go up? Or finish the big pieces then place all the bullnose pieces around the edge last?

While on the subject, is it ok to finish a few courses then come back the next day to finish, or should it all be done at once to avoid the thinset from drying out between courses?


texts: How to fill 3/4" gap between tub and tile floor

texts:
My house is 120 years old and there are very few level surfaces or right angles.

I just had the (alcove) tub and shower replaced. One end of the tub apron is nearly flush with the floor, but the other end has about 3/4" clearance.

Without ripping the floor up, how can I seal this gap to keep the subfloor under the tub dry?


texts:
I cut some L-shaped notches in the corner between my walls and ceiling in order to pull some electrical wires through.  Now I'm not sure how to repair the hole... should I just cake in joint compound to fill in the hole, or cut some small pieces of drywall to fill in the hole?

One method that came to mind was to cut small wood pieces an inch or two longer than the (already small) hole, put them behind, screw them to teh existing wall/ceiling, cut small drywall pieces to fill the notch, screw those into the wood, then put on joint compound + corner tape, but that seems like a lot of work for a hole so small.  I'm not sure I could even fit the wood bars through a hole that size.

I found many resources online describing the process of pulling wires through corners using the notch method, but nothing describes how exactly to repair the drywall when complete.


texts: Installed NEST thermostat heat works fine, AC compressor comes on but no fan on AC unit

texts: I installed a new NEST thermostat last fall so only used it for heat so far.  When I went to turn on AC, compressor came on but AC unit fan didn't.  AC worked fine last year.  Could this be a NEST problem or is it an AC problem that has coincidently come up at the same time?  Thanks.


texts: Why is plywood with tongue and groove preferred for flooring?

texts: I'm just curious - in reading more about subflooring I see that a lot of sources are saying to use plywood with tongue and groove.  Why? What is the benefit of tongue and groove plywood as opposed to plywood (of the same thickness) with flat edges? Does the interlock help the subfloor be more stable? Does it protect against leaks?


texts: What are the typical height differences between carpet and hard floor?

texts:
I'm raising an 80's style dropdown livingroom to be even with the rest of the floor. The dropdown area I'm raising will be carpet and the adjoining floors will be laminate (hard floor).

The goal is that the carpet and laminate look the same height, with a simple transition strip between them to hide the ends. To do this right, I need to know what height difference I should make between the dropdown area and the adjoining floors. What are the typical transition heights between hard floor and carpet? Is this completely dependent on the carpeting and padding I select?

Picture the following diagram:

  Laminate    Carpet
A --------------------- 1
B __________            2
C ==========|__________ 3
D           |__________ 4
E           |========== 5

Level A and level 1 are the carpet and laminate tops, evenly installed (assume there's a low profile transition strip between them).
On the laminate side, level B is the bottom of the laminate. Level C is the top of the floorboards. Levels D and E are under the floorboards. On the carpet side, level 2 is carpet bulk. Level 3 is the bottom of the carpet. Level 4 is the bottom of the pad. Level 5 is the top of the floorboards.

What is the typical difference in height between levels C and 5?


texts: How can I fasten nuts in narrow places when installing a faucet?

texts:
Recently I replaced a faucet in the kitchen, but there is not enough room to fasten two nuts. These are not the nuts on the end of the supply lines; they thread onto studs to hold the faucet down. They're too close to the supply lines to be able to grab.
I tried with a wrench and a rib joint pliers, unsuccessfully.
How can I fasten nuts without calling a plumber? Is there a specific tool to achieve this or something else?
UPDATE:
I added some pictures to explain my case better.
Pic #1: These are the nuts. At the moment, they have been tightened just by hand:

Pic #2: As I said before, there is really not so much room to tighten due to sinks and pipes. As for pipes, they are almost attached to the nuts, hence a basin wrench is not the best option, in my opinion:

Pic #3: This is a detail from the faucet assembly instructions that shows a better perspective.


texts: I am about to install my frameless shower door and realized I am missing the stud by two inches I have two layers of 1/2 cement board and have found some anchors that can hold 600lbs will this be enough support the door weighs about 80lbs


texts: Identifying the conductors in a light fixture

texts:
The lead on my chandelier was too long so I cut it, only to find the wires are not colored (there are 3 of them, all white).

Is there anyway I can still wire it up? I don't want to have to throw it away.


texts:
We're planning to carpet the basement in our 100-year-old house, which presently has a painted concrete floor.  The floor happens to be quite uneven and seems to have been designed to channel water into a now-plugged drain.  No water issues in the basement since we've lived here, so this appears to be an obsolete feature due to likely corrected basement water problems.

Several contractors visited and told us that all we need to do is lay down the carpet and padding on top of a vapor barrier, skipping subfloor construction. They said they'd even out (but not level) the flooring by using a form of leveling compound.

I'm not particularly concerned about the "cold floor" issue, but I am of course concerned about the possibility of moisture buildup leading to mold or musty smells.  It's certainly appealing to skip the whole subfloor given that it would save the need to level the floor, save money, and we'd retain important headroom.

However, I'm concerned about the moisture implications.  A couple of the contractors seemed confident that the painted floor stops moisture from rising through.  If it's as simple as just painting the floor, why do I read about so many people recommending insulation and a full subfloor?


texts: How can I route an in wall dryer vent through double top plate?

texts:
I am looking to move the washer/dryer into the 1st floor walk in closet. Part of the process is putting in a dryer vent. I have seen some in wall vents for dyers and considering that as an option.

My main question is how do you vent it through the top? (see image for a reference). Is it ok to completely cut the double top plate in the section it needs to run? This is not a load bearing wall.

As an alternative, is it possible to run it straight down? In that case, would it be ok to go through the sole plate?

Bonus Questions - this is partially related to this

Is it okay to have a dryer vent in the wall cavity?
How difficult is it to clean something like I am describing? My worry is that I would have to climb into the attic, disconnect and clean it to the outside. It might be easier to clean if it went down and out, that way i could have an access panel or something to clean it in the basement.
Can a dryer be vented through the roof? The other question answered this somewhat which was a 'yes'. But would having it go straight up to the roof be easier to clean? Could just go on the roof and clean it straight down or even get it from the inside?
Update
I ended up going below. It was a easier and straighter shot that trying to go up.


texts: Ground fault causing main breaker to trip

texts: If there was a ground fault causing severe electric shock, and no gfci protection in place, could it ever reach and trip the main breaker, or would it always trip a regular breaker for that circuit first? I'm aware that this wouldn't provide the adequate protection, as the question is more theoretical than anything else. I'm wondering what is the most likely situation in which this could possibly happen for fiction purposes.


texts: What is a wall called which has plywood installed behind the drywall?

texts:
I live in Japan (non-native Japanese), so this may be only something done here.

Some of the walls of my house are reinforced to aid in mounting cabinets and shelving.  It was built this way from the beginning.

In these areas the wall is 12.5 mm drywall, then 12 mm plywood, and then the standard wooden 2x4 framing behind that.  It is not like this in all walls, only a few areas.

For example, it has the same reinforcement for the kitchen cabinet wall, walk in closets, stairway railing, and a few other areas.  Basically anywhere something needs to be hanged.

Before buying the house I was told by the construction person that it makes mounting shelves and cabinets easier (no need for anchors).  It seems like that is the main purpose.

I have searched in Japanese and English and still struggle to find much information on the Internet.  Everything I find is usually about drywall only.

Is there a name for this type of wall or construction method?


texts: How do I make professional grade double pane glass at home?

texts:
I've been shopping around and no one near me will do Argon filled double pane and only one place will do a vacuum. The price seemed astronomically high considering I can buy the glass and the local hardware store (single pane 2x amount to make double pane) for ~1/10 of the cost. So ranting aside, what is the best way to make double pane glass / window inserts from single pane glass?
I was thinking about using something easy like a few 1/4" plastic tile spacers to keep a uniform spacing with weight or light clamp then applying heavy silicone bead to everywhere but the spacers, coming back later to fill in all but one or two of the spacer holes. Do a good inspection and cleaning if necessary, plug to have one hole left and then pulling a vacuum to ~7-10psi (~5 psi vacuum from ambient). Last hole (vacuum hole) will have to be plugged/corked with something else then silicone to ensure longevity.

My project calls for 24 ~8.5"x11" inserts, trying to weigh in my approx. time to build these and that I already have vacuum pump, I could have a 50% success rate and still save money so if it at all possible to do this at home/shop I'm going with that option.


texts: Apartment with no grounding/earthing... do I really need it?

texts:
Just a quick question. I don't know much about electricity, so here it goes. I got an apartment where there is no grounding. In fact, there is no grounding for the whole building. I have 110v and 220v appliances installed.

Do I need to be worried about potential electric shocks?

The apartment is on the 6th floor, so it could be really hard to install a proper grounding wire.

Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Thanks.


texts: How should I attach laminate foil dryer transition duct?

texts:
I've got a laminate foil dryer duct coming up from the crawlspace.  I need to attach my dryer transition duct to the exhaust duct, but these really don't like to go inside one another since they're exactly the same size.

I managed to force on inside the other and secured them together with duck tape (If this is a bad idea, please let me know!).  Are there better ways of doing this other than getting into the crawlspace and installing a new exhaust vent?


texts:
Could someone please help me find out what kind of tool this is?

The right arm is inscribed with (218 1/2)


texts: Why do fluorescent lighting tombstones melt?

texts:
I am fixing the lighting in an older building and one of the plastic tombstones has melted.

There are approximately 100+ tombstones and one has melted.  A search found a forum discussion that indicated:

  lamps that were supplied to me were made for magnetic ballasts not
  electronic ballasts

I would think that it takes a combination of significant power and current to generate the heat necessary to melt plastic. I have new bulbs of unknown age for replacing bulb failures and in this case tombstone failure: the bulb was removed before my custody of the project.

QUESTIONS

How can I determine if the bulb is made for a magnetic ballast an
not electronic ballast?
Can I determine if the ballast is magnetic or electronic with
minimal effort (i.e. not opening the fixture and measuring from the
tombstone)?
Are there any other reasons that would cause a meltdown and how can
I test / confirm

UPDATES

Wiring configuration is dual-ended
T5 Bulbs


texts: How do I stop waterproof ceiling paint from peeling in the bathroom?

texts: We had the bathroom painted by tradesmen twice in the last two years. The ceiling was skimmed both times. The paint is a special coat bathroom paint.


texts: Can I slide out pieces of laminate and replace?

texts: The short edge of 10 planks is open from the family room to the kitchen.  No kitchen floor yet.  I want to change the curve to straight so that the kitchen tiles will have a straight edge. We Were not going to do tile when the laminate was laid. Can I pull out the 10 planks & push in 10 that are longer & then cut the edges straight across the opening instead of curved?  I cannot go to the long edge & remove planks until I get to the  ones I want changed.


texts: Why does the pilot light keep going out on my natural gas boiler?

texts: The boiler lit and ran the other day, but now the pilot light was out. I could hear a hum at the control. I lit the pilot light, but when I no longer pressed on the valve, the pilot light went out right away. Is it a dirty sensor? What can I do to find out what is wrong?


texts: My air conditioning system has a 2-layered (each 1") filter holder, definitely made for two filters. My idea, to improve the filter life and have the least air flow restriction, is to have the initial filter be a coarse particulate filter to catch the big stuff so that it doesn't clog the second filter which is a much more expensive allergen fine filter. Any objections?


texts: Need neutral out at my well house but only have 220 v

texts: I have 220v to my well house but need to install a 120v convenience receptacle for maintenance tools. The feed coming from my main panel is direct burial. What can I do ?


texts: Decking boards with grooves on both sides

texts:
I'm planning a deck build in the UK. The 3 biggest DIY retailers here all seem to sell decking boards which are grooved on both sides. There's a lot of mixed advice from the videos/instructions I've been checking out. Some say it's a matter of preference and others say you must absolutely put the grooved side down: http://www.build.com.au/should-decking-grooves-face-or-down

So, should I be looking elsewhere for boards or does it really matter?


texts: What is a good finish for a plywood benchtop?

texts:
I just completed a simple workbench using dimensional lumber. The top is 3/4" plywood. What is a good—preferably clear—finish that would harden it and protect it from dings and scratches?

I found an epoxy glaze on Lowes.com that looks interesting.


texts: I have removed the laminate flooring in my hallway and I have left the underlay in place for the time being. I am flowing the tiles from the kitchen into the hallway and the underlay nicely levels the tiles to match. I was wondering if it is possible to keep the underlay down and tile directly on top of it?


texts: Advice on wiring a pool panel from a subpanel

texts:
First things first, thank you to all who are willing to share their experience and knowledge here. I need some advice and or reassurance that I am planning this system correctly. I am going to be running a 60 amp pool panel (Intermatic PE25300F) from a subpanel in a detached garage. The subpanel in the garage is now good to go (70 amp, three wire with ground, two ground rods) thanks to the advice from this forum. Here is the link to my previous post getting that panel up to code. (subpanel wiring after upgrading feeder wire).

The only items that will be ran from the pool panel is a 1.5hp pump, pool light, and maybe some landscape lights down the road. Well below the 60amp rating. The garage subpanel only has one heavy load which is a 240v wall heater on a 30 amp breaker, other than that its just lights and plugs (the other 240v 30amp breaker in the picture was a water heater that no longer is there).

It is my understanding that any # of sub panels can be pulled off another subpanel as long as they step down and cant "overdraw" the previous (at least during the same season/use schedule). Also to run a pool panel from a subpanel it can not have NM cable anywhere on the line, so the insulated ground has to be carried all the way through. The garage panel is inside the garage and I would like to run the wire through the garage and directly out the wall into the pool panel. If this is the case and I understand correctly, to feed that panel, I would need to use THHN wire and that must be in continuous conduit from panel to panel even if ran indoors. Is this correct? Am I going about this all wrong or missing anything?

So quick version - How do I wire a detached garage subpanel, through the inside, and directly through the exterior wall into a pool panel flush mounted on the outside of the garage.

FYI - I will have an electrician come out to look over everything in the end. I cant afford to not do as much as I can myself, I can however afford to have a pro make sure everything is safe before use. I will do my best to keep up and respond to any follow up questions. Thanks again!


texts:
I am attempting to replace a switched standard electrical outlet with a usb one. The current outlet has one half controlled by a switch and I would like both halves to be always live with the new usb outlet. When I removed the plate and pulled out the outlet I discovered 3 black, 3 white, 1 red, and 1 ground wires. My new usb outlet can only accommodate 2 live, 2 neutral, and the ground.

How do I go about connecting this properly and converting to unswitched? Thanks in advance!

Edit: Adding pictures.

Picture 1: Current outlet with wires attached. Note that in one of the outlets I looked at, the red and black wires going into the back (not underneath the screws) were the opposite of this picture.

Picture 2: Current outlet without wires attached.

Picture 3: Back of the switch.

Picture 4: Back of one of the new USB outlets I have.

Picture 5: Back of the other new USB outlet.


texts: How to connect power inverter to standard lighting circuit

texts:
I'm interested in installing a solar power system in my garage and am wondering how to connect the three-prong receptacle output of the power inverter to a NM-B lighting circuit that was previously hooked into a switch in an electric box receiving power from the main panel.

Here's the inverter, in case it helps.

I'm comfortable with basic electric work like rewiring receptacles, installing GFCIs, etc., but I haven't done this before and want to be sure I'm not under- or over-thinking this.


texts: Outdoor camera housing angled parallel to wall

texts:
Am in need of an outdoor camera housing that would fit under an awning, against a house wall, but follow the curves of those two surfaces (as in a right angled back), which would also have the clear panel that the camera could see out of facing down the wall, perhaps a slightly angle out from it.

What have others done to provide an indoor camera protection from the elements in this way before?


texts: Covering an above ground pool indefinitely

texts:
We bought a house with an above ground pool 3 years ago and never opened the pool. We just opened it and the water is brown and about 1/3 full. There's dirt, leaves and just dirty/stained in general.

People say we have to replace our liner. However, we're renting the house out pretty soon. We obviously can't leave it open like that forever. So what we really want to do is close it indefinitely and not waste money on replacing the liner now then replace it again when we get the house back from the tenants.

What are our options?


texts: Brown water briefly coming from hot water pipe in bathroom sink

texts:
For a minute or two one afternoon, we had water with a brownish tint coming out of one of our bathroom sinks, and only when the hot water handle was on.  The cold water was normal, and our other taps seemed to be fine.  Is this a sign that some rust or silt build-up got knocked loose in the hot water pipe leading to that sink?

We weren't running hot water elsewhere at the time before the water turned clear again, so I can't rule out the water heater being the culprit.  Is this a sign that it needs maintenance?

And in case someone asks, we've had a lot of rain lately, but no extreme weather otherwise (meaning, no frozen pipes).


texts: Is the Back of Kerdi Board the same as the front?

texts:
I'm trying to save on my Kerdi board and I have mitered a few pieces. One fits exactly how I want it, though with the back facing out. Looks like the same stuff not he front and the back of the Kerdi Board. Is it the same?  Can I have the back of the board facing out?

Thanks!


texts: What should I do with misaligned sink pipes

texts:
I tried to fix a clogged sink and found the problem was much more complex: I have to replace the sink waste too. And after I installed the newly bought waste, the pipes failed to align.

I think it's because the new waste is a little bit too long, 'pushing' the pipe it's connecting down a little bit further.

I am thinking maybe I can get an extension to fit in between? Or I can cut off a part of the vertical pipe coming from the ground. Problem with the second option is I have to work out how much I need to cut, and what's the best tool for the job.

Are there any other options? Thanks.


texts:
I'm looking to install a couple of vertical grounding rods for a friend's property in the middle of nowhere (very country - The earth is mostly clay, rocks and sandstone)

From the limited research I've done I believe the grounding rods should be about 2.5 metres deep and 5 metres laterally separated.

My questions are:

Have I got the depths and spacing correct?
How far from the building/foundation should the rods be?
If I'm to hire an auger that can exhume 2.5m depth, what diameter should the auger be? I intend to use a slurry of ground enhancement material <- still not quite sure what this stuff is but I guess it's a good conductor? How many KG's for a 2.5m deep hole of "x" diamater
How can I test the efficacy of the finished job? Looking at ground resistance testers (clamp style) they run in to the hundreds of dollars. Also, do you need two grounding rods driven and connected in order to use these clamp style testers? Do you clamp it on the connecting wire or individual rods? Can the connecting wire be buried or is a that a big no-no?
Is something like this a complete waste of money?
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/192390605919
It seems a lot cheaper than the AUD$500 alternatives, probably for a reason.
Any hot tips for what I assume will be an incredibly laborious task? I'm guessing an auger is a better choice than a jackhammer with a macgyver attachment to drive the rods, only because I'm using the ground enhancement material, otherwise a tighter drive from a jackhammer would yield better conductivity I guess.

I know if I'm asking these questions it means I'm probably ill-equipped to be doing the job but I'm making the best of a bad/dangerous situation. I'm installing CB's, RCD's and grounding on an installation that is effectively just hardwired, online and unprotected from ground faults. I figure it's a step in the right direction that simply won't happen if I don't step in. It's a case of a friend thinking his electrical "just works" but he doesn't understand the need for further protection. I hope you guys (and gals) understand where I'm coming from. Many thanks.


texts: How do we install drywall on a curved ceiling that is within 4 feet high from the loft floor?

texts: We are making the attic into a loft and the ceiling we need to add drywall to has a slight curve.  How do we install the drywall without breaking it?  The distance from the floor to the top is about 4 feet.


texts: Can tile glue for wall tiles contain asbestos?

texts:
I've got some ceramic tiles I removed for a bathroom remodel. Home was built in 1967 so asbestos was a concern, the floor tiles are vinyl 8x8" and possibly contain asbestos so I am leaving those there and laying over them, but the wall also had a different 4x4" ceramic tiles. I've read that black floor adhesive contains asbestos but what about non-black wall tile glue? Here is a picture:

I've not been able to find any info on if this kind of tile glue can contain asbestos, but just wanted to make sure for others more experienced than I. I'm trying to determine if I should scrap off the glue, or just cut off the drywall completely.

Then again, I also read some plasters and drywall muds could contain asbestos too, seems like so much can contain it. I just read this comment on a youtube video fro removing drywall: "Most people don't know this but drywall that was installed up to the early 1980s may contain asbestos especially at the joints in the joint compound so the dust can be very dangerous to breath."

Should I be concerned about this too?


texts: Is rerouting the waste line really necessary

texts:
In a big home improvement projet we are planning to move the bathroom.

The plumber want to run a new waste line to the basement which imply opening a wall, removing laminate flooring, breaking concrete and digging in the home theater room!  This new line would be, horizontally, 7 feet long with a 90 degrees bend and then 3 feet long before going down vertically to the old waste line in the basement.

Of course I would like to avoid all this work and would rather use the existing waste line.  I believe we could align the toilet to fit between the floor joist and run a straight 14 feet long waste line to the old waste line.  I have a dropped ceiling in the basement and there is a minimum of 8" of clearance and almost 12" near the old waste line.  IMHO running this new line would be much more easy and there should be enough clearance for a slope of 1/4" per feet.

Here is some ASCII art (side view) :

                Actually              Plumber new waste line        My suggestion
                                 T           T                          T
1st floor  ======================|    =======|==============|    =======|==============|
                                 |    ,------'              |           `--------------+
                                 |    | (+3' on other axis) |                          |
                                 |    |                     |                          |
Basement   ======================|    |=====================|    ======================|
          <----------------------'  <-+---------------------'   <----------------------'

Plumber said this is "patchwork" and he refused the idea.  Do you believe he is right about that?

Note :

Venting shouldn't be a problem : there is only one floor so running the vent in the attic and inside the new bathroom walls should be easy I guess.
The old waste line will still be used by the kitchen sink but there won't by any additional fixtures.


texts: Can you tell if a breaker can be double tapped by looking at the terminal?

texts:
This is meant to be a general question - I'm not asking about any specific breaker. More of a practical methodology question.

Some breakers are clearly labelled as to whether or not they accept a double tap (two wires under one screw / clamp).

But if there are no markings or they are illegible, which seems to be common with older breakers I have seen, is it likely to be acceptable to assume a double tap is or is not okay based on the shape of the terminal clamp?

In this example there are clearly two 'slots' where the wires are meant to go:

Would seeing such a clamp (or similar) guarantee that this is OK to do?


texts: Use 60Amp disconnect as a pass-through to another disconnect

texts:
We would like to add a second air-conditioning unit.  The original 60 Amp disconnect is grounded via EMT to the panel.  The existing EMT will meet code requirements for both conduit fill and derating requirements (this was asked in a separate question).  I would like to use the existing EMT to run additional wiring through the existing disconnect to a new disconnect for the new unit.  Is this code compliant?  Thank you.
Elmo


texts: HVAC System Just Installed Yesterday and AC condenser outside is blowing cold ir

texts: HI my just installed ac condenser is blowing cold air out side .  when I put my hand over it and move it around most of the air is hot but a portion of it is cold. Is this right ?


texts: Can I use a single wire and run two jumpers to two gcfi outlets and on the other side run two wires off the single wire to two gcfi circuit breakers?

texts: Situation: Have a jetted bathtub that requires 2 15A gfci outlets each to its own breaker. Problem only have one wire running into tub area (would have to tear up.newly installed floor to run another. Is it possible to use that single wire and connect two wires and run to the outlets and connect two wires to the other end of the wire (wire is approx 8 ft) and run those to the breaker box and attach to two gcfi breakers


texts: Gas combi boiler - left running constantly in cold weather

texts:
I've a gas combi-boiler that is generally working fine, but we're getting some seriously cold weather here at the minute (for us anyway) and I've had the odd problem with the boiler starting up when it has got very cold.

We're going to be away for a few days over Christmas, and I'm thinking about just leaving the boiler running constantly while we're away (don't want a start up to fail and my house to freeze).  Does anybody think that it's a problem to run the boiler constantly like this?


texts: Why mix cooking oil with epoxy to repair a toilet drain pipe?

texts:
Today we called a plumber to repair a leak in the seal of a toilet drain pipe. He used metal-filled epoxy putty to seal up the area around the leaking joint, as actually disassembling the joint looks to be a major project due to where it is located. This was his second repair in the same spot in three months.

The plumber asked for regular (Canola) cooking oil, which he kneaded into the epoxy. This looks suspect to me, as I've always believed that one should remove all oil, dirt, grease, etc. from areas to be epoxied.

Why add oil to the epoxy?


texts: How do I stop grout in the corner of a shower from cracking?

texts:
I moved into a newly remodeled home. The walk-in shower walls are grouted. Now the corners have started to crack.

How do I slow down the cracking? Should it be caulked, or would that be a bad idea?


texts: Paint-stripping purgatory - stuck in the middle - what should we do?

texts:
My wife was prepping our kitchen to be painted this weekend in our 1920's era condominium. Presumably lead paint is present but we do wear masks when working.

There's an old door and door frame, and an old wooden window frame in one corner of the kitchen. Both of them had paint that was thick, bubbling and cracking in places and looked like it had many layers of paint. We were concerned that it wasn't a good enough surface for painting. My wife decided to apply chemical stripper to strip the surfaces before we move ahead with painting.

It appears at this point to have been a huge mistake. So far we've done one round on the door and two rounds on the window frame. The first layer of paint is coming up (sort of) but there appear to be at least 3-5 more layers of paint underneath that and they're all super stubborn and seem resistant to the chemical stripper. Each round has been followed by hours and hours of elbow grease with little benefit. At this point it seems as though the chemical stripping approach will never work and the surface seems further away then ever from being ready for new paint.

I'd love to just paint over this but now the surface is completely wrecked and I have no idea how we'll ever get a surface smooth enough for painting. What should we do next? Should we keep going with rounds and rounds of chemical stripping which might never work? Is there some way to cut our losses and make this surface paintable? We are also considering giving up and calling in the pros but would really prefer not to as I don't want to let a stranger into our home during the pandemic and we've taken a few pandemic-related financial blows lately as well. I'm not even sure a pro would consider this job in its current state anyway.

Edit / Update:

Ok I'm back! I'm happy to report that this was fairly well resolved. Here are the final, painted photos: https://imgur.com/SlkIEvQ https://imgur.com/H16z2OT What we ended up doing was:
1.one more round of chemical based stripping with a ton of elbow grease, wiping down the surface with water to clean it up
2. using a primer specifically for containing lead based paint (Eco Bond)
3. filling with "MH Ready Patch" (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BQURN8/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_G5ASEbZG89JFM ) in order to smooth out some of the imperfections, followed by hand sanding. We had to do two rounds of this.
4. primed again with Eco Bond
5. primed with a normal paint primer
6. painted with our chosen paint for the door and window.

It looks pretty good, if you look closely you can still see some of the scars but it looks better than before where there were so many layers of thick paint that were cracking and the features of the door were starting to get soft. It looks much sharper than when we started now. Thanks to this community for so many helpful thoughts!


texts: Can a class A fire be extinguished with a class BC fire extinguisher?

texts:
I recently purchased a fire extinguisher for the kitchen/general emergency purposes. It's a dry chemical, B & C fire extinguisher. Now, I know that there also dry extinguishers that cover all of class A, B and C fires.

Every resource I've looked up warns not to use the wrong kind of extinguisher on the wrong type of fire, but it aside from explaining obvious things like "water makes grease fires worse" it doesn't go into detail on class A fires.

Is it ever acceptable to use a class B & C extinguisher on a class A fire? And if not, what's the difference? Is it effective at all? Or will it make things worse?


texts: How to clean my jetted tub when commercial cleaners fail?

texts:
The previous owners of our house badly negelegted the jetted tub. We recently corrected a large number of pluming issues with the tub, and are in the process of trying to get the lines to run clean.

I've tried the traditional dish detergent as is suggested, and then I went to harsher chemicals. I've tried multiple bottles of "Oh Yuk" cleaner and some amount of grime comes out, but then, after its drained, black flecks still come out.

I tried "Oh Yuks" harsher treatment, with more chemicals and letting it soak for 24 hours. I even ran the jet on and off for probably a total run time of 2 hours during this time. Still, when I was done and ran the jets, black flecks came out.

Is there a product I can use that will clean this out?


texts: Should I set wooden porch pillars into, or on to concrete footings?

texts:
I'm building a wooden porch on the front of my house.  I have six 4" wooden pillars supporting the structure.  It's light, doesn't contain concrete, roof tiles, etc, and is made entirely of wood.  I'm digging footings and am about to install the pillars. I'm wondering whether to set the wooden pillars into the concrete or simply sit them on top.

I realise setting them into the concrete will mean they might move less laterally but I'm concerned that with the wood in the concrete there is more chance that moisture will slowly get in between the concrete and timber and rot the wood.  It is not hardwood by the way.  So should rotting occur in future, it will be easier to replace a pillar if they are not set in concrete - and I figure they are less likely to rot anyway if they are not set in the concrete in the first place.

So what's best - to set the pillars into concrete, or to just sit them on top?

My concrete footings are about 2.5 ft deep, 12 inches round for each pillar.  I'm putting a metal mesh into each one to assist in concrete strength.


texts: How can I convert this hard wired fixture to a plug in?

texts:
I want to covert my hard-wired pendant light fixture to something that can be plugged into the wall as our new apartment isn't wired to direct-wire ceiling fixtures. I already wired another (vintage) fixture that only had black and white wires. But with this fixture I've got a 3rd green wire coming out of the wiring bundle (in addition to the exposed copper grounding wire).

So my questions are:

1.) What is the green wire?
2.) Can I just cap the green wire and use only black and white wires for new cable run?

see image.


texts: Does pooling rainwater pose a threat to my roof?

texts:
I have a condo with a rooftop. The rooftop is designed such that all water flows towards one corner of the roof, and out to a drainage system. Unfortunately, the home builder built the home so that the final part of this equation (water moving from the corner to the drainage system) doesn't work correctly since the drainage system is slighty higher than the final collection corner. This causes the water (& dirt etc... carried by the water) to pool in this area.  I do not personally know the specific material the roof is made out of (sorry... I realize this important for this question), but you can see in the picture what it looks like, and, if it helps, I can easily drill into this material and it seems to be a thin layer of the surface material and then some foam?
Anyway, my question is: Is this pooling of water potentially detrimental to the structure/integrity of the roof? I have a spigot on the roof and use this to flood this area with clean water and sweep the water/dirt through the higher opening every so often, but do I need to do this? Will leaving this pooled water (which eventually evaporates) + dirt there potentially damage my roof?


texts: Drywall thickness for placing over ceiling drywall

texts:
The ceiling in a family room I'm getting ready to work on is rather beat up with cutouts and nail holes but not to the point of needing to replace it. The joists are on 16" centers.
I want to go over it with new drywall and thought I would just put quarter-inch up. However, I read two places where someone said they were using 3/8-inch drywall to go over it.
So should I use 3/8-inch or is 1/4-inch OK?


texts: Pumping water using a small electric pump, does it need to be potable?

texts:
I am doing a little DIY project where I need to pump 4-5 gallons of water that is less than 100'.  I need the pump to be able to run dry as it starts to pull the water, then it would pump the water.

Does this need to be a potable pump?  Non-potable pumps are much cheaper and I will only be running the pump like twice a month for 20 minutes at a time.

Potable example: http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/Potable-Water-Pump

non-potable example, a little pond pump from Home Depot.

With it being hard plastic, I just can't see how it could have an issue.  The water does need to be drinkable..


texts: How can I repair a worn and rusting dishwasher rack?

texts: I have a GE dish washer, the bottom rack coating has come off, some of the tines, and now my dishes have rust spots on most of them. I tried to replace the rack at GE, but the part has been discontinued and the replacement rack is too big. I wonder if I can tape rusted parts with water proof tape.


texts:
I have a pair of scissors which I happen to like a lot. Unfortunately, one of the blades is bent towards the other blade, so that a gap forms when the scissors are closed. Bending the blade back with tongs seems quite difficult since the blade is relatively thick and made out of springy steel which retains its shape.

How can I fix these scissors? I have access to an anvil. My idea is to first hammer it flat while its cold, and if that doesnt work, I might heat it below 500°C to soften the steel and hammer it back into shape.

Update

As it turned out, the curvature of the blade and back were not an issue. After I removed the rust and grease residue, the scissors worked flawlessly. Nevertheless I learned a lot from the answers below.


texts: Why won't any light in my house turn on after a range hood was installed?

texts:
My contractor installed a range hood and after that no light in the house will come on.  We have a breaker system, not sure of the load.

What could be the possible problem?


texts: How do I fix a shower mixer so I get hot water without turning the knob all the way?

texts:
I have a single knob shower, Valley brand. Almost the entire range of the turn from off to completely hot, it is just cold water. Only in the last half inch of the turn does any hot water start mixing in.

Unfortunately, this leaves little room for adjustment. Is there any way to change the mix so hot water is introduced sooner?

This is the mixer in question: