texts: Concerns about hanging a hundred plus mugs on dry wall

texts:
Newbie here! Among other things, I collect Starbucks mugs from my travels. I have over a hundred mugs and they have spent most of their life in boxes in the garage - until now! I was thinking of displaying them and was thinking of using several rows of BYGEL rails from IKEA and "S" hooks.

I have two perpendicular walls I was thinking of hanging them on. I can hang only six mugs on each rail, which would mean I would need around 20 rails (scope for expansion). I was thinking of hanging two rows of rails on one wall, and one row on the other. To make it look even, that would mean 2 rows of 7 rails on one wall, and one row of 7 on another. My fear is whether the dry wall will be able to hold this kind of weight. Each mug weighs 1.1lb, and the rail 1lb. So one wall would have to hold around 107lbs of weight, while the other around 53lbs.

I will not be able to screw the rails into the studs as it will not be aligned aesthetically. So I will have to use dry wall anchors.

Do you see any concerns with my design? Will the dry wall be able to hold this kind distributed weight? I really appreciate your feedback.

Thanks so much.

JK


texts: How do I get acceptable water pressure when using two faucets on my 1/2" water main?

texts:
I have a 1/2" water main entry, and if I open water in 2-3 places in the house, the water pressure is very low.

How can I fix this?


texts: Where should I tap in to the existing duct work?

texts:
Bought a 1981 repo a year ago. The house measures around 900 SQFT. I enclosed the one car garage (10'x20') @ 200 SQFT to serve as an office. The front of the garage is insulated (10') along with the wall attached to the house (20'). I am planning on running 2 ducts off of the central air system into the room and insulating the ceiling of the garage. I do not have the cash right now to insulate the other 2 dry-walled walls with blown in insulation. One of the non-insulated walls (20') faces West and gets pretty hot in the late afternoon. The other 10' wall faces North and is shaded 24/7 by trees. I am located in Dallas so right now temps are running 95 to 105 degrees F.

I have a Goodman (Furnace: GMS80603AN/Outside Unit: VSX130361) central air 3.0 ton system (Cool is electric & Heat is natural gas) which, according to specs, does 60,000 BTU/h with a max CFM @ 0.5" ESP of 1200. The system is located in an interior closet and utilizes an up-flow method into the attic where the ducts attach. From my measurements, it appears that the ducts coming off of the supply duct measure between 8-10". One side of the supply duct is free for new ducts.

I have a few possible options that I have been kicking back and forth in my mind:

1) Take a new duct off of the supply duct to the office. A new duct run would be about 30-35' long.

I have 2 bags of 25' 12" duct that a friend gave me. Should I use this duct considering its size? Will this cause an airflow problem to the smaller ducts? I plan to divide the duct in the office into two air ducts into the room. If that size supply is safe, what size would I use for each of the two office vents?

2) I have two ducts from the supply duct that run to the kitchen and living room. They split off into two 8" ducts for each room. I could tap into one of these to run both office ducts or tap into each duct run for a single duct run into the office. The run would be about 5' long.

I hope I didn't leave any important info out. What is your opinion?

Additional Measurements:
The Supply Duct measures 15" x 20"
The diameter of the Kitchen and Living Room vents (2 each) measure 7". I believe but have not measured the duct before the split for each room to be either 8" or 10". I am guessing 8".


texts: Best way to clean balcony tiles in semi enclosed balcony that doesn't have drainage

texts: I have a first floor semi-enclosed balcony that is at the mercy of the elements.  The tiles (porous stone) really need a good scrub with a water blaster but there is no drainage and I couldn't get a hose up there anyway.  Any suggestions on the best way to clean it?


texts: Are 4 toggle bolts enough to hold up a 32in TV?

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My studs are 16 inches apart, but the stud is exactly centered on where I want my TV on the wall. The horizontal bars for my wall mount are 25 inches long (not long enough to reach the next studs to the left and right). So I am thinking I would need to use toggle bolts. Will toggle bolts be enough to hold the TV on the wall?

My TV is a Sony Bravia KDL32BX420
Weight: 20lbs

Mount: Cheetah Mounts APTMM2B


texts: Powering LED strip lights at two different brightness

texts:
The Plan
I am working on finishing my basement and planning on installing LED strip lights inside a lowered crown facing up.
Now where it gets complicated.  I'd like the lights to have a dim setting to be controlled by a timer, on at sundown and off at midnight (easy too), but I would like the lights to come on at full brightness when the overhead lights are flipped on for the specific room.  5 zones in total, bathroom, kitchen, family room, hall and gym.
No Software
I don't want any software solutions with smart switches / dimmers, etc. (Aside from the timer switch)  and no wireless anything.
Idea #1
I was originally thinking the easy way would be to have two strips, one at dim on the timer and the other controlled by the power for the light switch, but I don't like this idea because of the additional cost and I'd need 6 power supplies.
Better Idea (so I think)
I was thinking last night and thought about having two power supplies, one set to dim and one to full brightness.  Then have 5 double throw relays, that are switched to low when it's not energized and then switch to full power when it gets a 120v signal from the overhead switch for the specific room.  What I'm not sure about this idea is if the power supply will keep the LEDs in the different zones at constant brightness when the load increases/decreases.  I'm thinking I just need a constant output voltage power supply, but I've never tried this myself.
(Not thrilled with having to run 14/2 for each overhead back to the utility room, but I can live with it.  Easier than dropping the voltage and sending a 12v signal back)
Will this idea work or is there a better way to achieve my goal.
Additional info

No drywall in the basement yet (done with framing, plumbing and
running electrical now), I can run anything anywhere.
Total is about 200' of LEDs
Planning on having all LED controls in one spot, utility room
Power for LEDs will distributed with thermostat wire.
White LEDs, no color.
Each room will have additional lights, mainly 6" recessed
Locale, US
Mostly dealing with low voltage issue here, but I need to pass inspection NEC 2020 rules.


texts:
I'm renting, bedroom has some big old double glazed window. The steam showed in pictures below formed a few months ago. It's still there and apparently will never go! As a result the view is totally spoiled.

Is there anything I can do to remove this steam?


texts: Random tripping at house DB not at complex DB

texts:
We live in a community setup where a main feeder cable comes in from the street (city supply) and then is split up to each housing unit (blue on sketch). Between this point where the electricity is distributed and each housing unit there is a supply cable that then terminates into the house DB.

Now that you have some background - the cable indicated as yellow on the sketch was very slightly damaged during excavation. The earth leakage in the blue distribution tripped though. A repair was done on the yellow cable - resin join kit. However the distribution board in the housing unit trips randomly.

My question is two fold, if the cable still had damage where would the trip occur at the blue earth leakage or at the housing unit? Is there any way to test where the fault is causing the trip?

Thanks for your time.


texts: Can I share a 220v circuit between an AC compressor and baseboard heat?

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I will be adding a 220v baseboard heat as a supplement to an addition.  The addition also has a smaller AC compressor with 20amp 240v, the same spec as the heater.

I wonder if I should share this circuit between the compressor and the heating element considering they will never be run at the same time.   ...how do I find out if code requires a dedicated circuit to the compressor?

I do have room in my panel, it would just be very hard to add another "home run" for the new baseboard heating element.

~Todd


texts: Is there an alternative to buying a tamper to compact the ground?

texts: I plan to build a brick wall, so I need to compact the ground first. The hardware store sells a tool called a tamper, that sells for $60 and only weighs 15 lbs, so it seems inefficient. How is that sufficient weight to pack down the ground? If a worker weighs 200+ lbs, is that more efficient to have them cut on a small square of wood and jump on that? If not, is there some alternative method of stamping the ground down?


texts:
I've got some kitchen cabinets that were hung using 4", course threaded, dry wall screwed.  At every stud there is a screw at the top and bottom of the cabinet.  Additionally, each cabinet is joined to the one on either side 3-6 3", dry-wall screws.  I hope I'm explaining that correctly.

Anyway, after having/using the cabinets for years, without any problems, I read an article about how bad it is to use drywall screws for anything other than drywall.  I was told by the guy at the Home Depot that my family is seconds away from death because it's a miracle they held at all; and that I need to replace them ASAP, with these 4" 'Gold Screws' he sold me.

I've replaced all of the 4" drywall screws with the gold screws.  My question is about the drywall screws used to keep the face of the cabinets flush....they are only 3" drywall screws; but they've been covered with wood putty and sanded.  The color isn't a perfect match, so I know where they are.  Also, the 4" screws I bought are too long, so I'd have to head back to the store and buy more.  Is this necessary?  Do I risk life and limb by not removing those screws and replacing them with the gold ones?


texts: I replaced my door hinges and now the door is too tight at the door jam. Why?

texts:
The original is a 3.5" square hinge and is 1/8" thick and replaced it with the same. With the old hinges in, I noticed 1/16" gap at the door jam. But, when I put the new hinges on and hung it, there was no gap at the door jam and it was too tight to close.

Does that mean that for some reason the hinges may be slightly less thick and are recessed too much?

thanks,
mark


texts: prevent splitting w/ nailgun in small pieces of wood

texts:
I'm using a framing nail gun to re-build some stairs. This is my first time using a nail gun so I'm inexperienced. There are some small pieces of wood that are used in a corner to support the last stairs that are nailed together. There are two vertical pieces (2 and a quarter inches tall) and a horizontal piece on top (about a foot long). The pieces are standard 2x4s. I have to rebuild this piece because the original got beat up and I'm reusing an old stud. My problem is that I use a nail gun, it destroys the wood (splitting).

The air pressure is around 100 psi.

Is there something I can do to help remedy this? Any tips are appreciated,


texts:
I bled a rad that was cold at the top, and not much water escaped. This fixed the rad, but the pressure in the boiler dropped to just below 0.3(It may have been low to begin with, since I hadn't checked this in a good while). I checked with the manual, and a couple of youtube videos of similar boilers, and then happy that I knew exactly what to do, I opened two valves on the filling loop(which was already attached by whoever installed it), expecting the boiler to re-pressurise... but literally nothing happens. I was wondering if anyone might know of a reason for this? I am quite sure all valves that should be opened, are. I haven't had any problems with the boiler before this.

Below are the instructions from the user manual.. my filling loop is basically in the state you see in the last picture(set up). Turning the valves as instructed does nothing.. Any help is much appreciated.


texts: What do you call the clips for attaching a dado rail?

texts:
The dado rail in our living room is attached with plastic clips that have kind of grove on them. Researching online, it seems that most people have stuck these rails on with glue.

Some of these are broken but I cannot find what they are called or where to buy them either online or in the UK.


texts: How can I intentionally make my toilet make this noise?

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For Halloween I want to haunt my toilets and have them make the noise heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S0zewtkqso

How can I do that?

I think I would just need to cut a slit in a rubber part of the fill valve.


texts: I have been renting a house for a week. The light/fan woke me up beeping every 30 seconds. It continues if the light/fan is switched off. Its the middle of the night, and I am not handy. What should I do? Is it dangerous?


texts: Garage door opener installation - hardwired vs. outlet power?

texts: I'm installing an opener for my garage door, and need to run some new wiring in order to get power to the unit. The unit can be hardwired or plugged into an outlet. I'm leaning toward the outlet option for now since it seems more versatile. Is this simply a matter of personal preference, or are there compelling reasons for choosing one option over the other?


texts: Can you splice wires in the middle of a wireless dog fence?

texts:
I am trying to build a 'barrier' wireless dog fence.  I could simply run the wire around my whole yard and be done, but much of it is already fenced in and I do not want to restrict access to that fenced in area (Dog likes to meet dogs on other side of the fence.. running the wire would prevent the dog from doing so).

with my yard, I have to cross a driveway and on the outer edge of the driveway, there isn't enough space to loop the wire back (if I need ~6ft space when looping.. I only have about 3-4 ft).

I want to start at the first port, loop down around the front yard, cross the driveway and up the side of the yard to where the Chain link fence begins.  What I want to do there is to splice the wire into two (2) pieces of wire (so 3 way splice). Those 2 wires would then be twisted back close the second port, where I would splice the two back into a single wire.  This is still a continuous loop isn't it?  Why won't this work?  (Will this diminish the wire signal?  Do the wires have to be opposite traveling when twisted to effectively cancel the wire signal?  See attached diagram for a visual.  Any suggestions to accomplish that cancelation across the back part of the house?


texts: I have no idea how to resolve this, the posts are all wobbly and move at the bases, one area in middle starting to cause a lean. I installed this fence, 6' H, roughly 7' post spacing, only 3 months ago...but it was wet, now that we've had no rain for 2 months, as you can see the dirt is pulling down from kick board and away from the posts...the ground just shrunk. All these posts are a minimum 28" deep, most are 30"-32" deep. If I add concrete/product right now...it seems when it rains it might heave it out.


texts: Optimum plywood configuration for home gym floor?

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I wish to protect the floating laminate flooring of the room I am building a home gym in. Therefore, I will lay down plywood sheeting to spread the load and prevent scratching.
I am having trouble deciding on the configuration. I would like to optimize for these factors: maximize load distribution, minimize thickness, minimize cost, minimize movement, and minimize effort - in that order.
I think I should have at least 15mm of thickness - however I'm having difficulty with quantifying that. The thickness should not exceed 25mm (as I won't have enough clearance from the ceiling).
I thought of having one of the following two configurations:
More Complex

Red is the squat rack
2x 12mm sheets at the bottom, vertically aligned
2x 9mm sheets at the top, horizontal aligned (so nothing to get push apart when squatting etc)
Blue circles: holes drilled through both layers of board. Will put threaded inserts in the holes so I can screw the layers together and dismantle easily if I need to.

Simpler

2x 18mm sheets, horizontally aligned
Blue: some kind of fastening.

Questions
Which of these do you think is better?
Can either be improved? (e.g. can I use 9mm for both layers on the complex option?)
What would be the best fastening solution for the second option?
Is there a better way?
N.B. Plywood in my area is mainly sold in 9mm, 12mm, 18mm and 25mm thicknesses. I will be using structural plywood.


texts:
I have a separate post regarding duct sizes but our new unit is using more electricity than older unit.  Both are 3.5 ton.  Prior unit was a 20 year old 10 seer, new one is 14 seer.  The two differences are airflow and cycles.  The prior unit would run and run, sometimes for 90 minutes or more at a time.  Long  run times even in early evenings.  The new unit runs between 11 and 14 minutes on 84 degree days.  On 92 degree days for maybe 23 minutes

So the new unit cycles a whole lot more.  Is that causing my higher electricity usage?

The airflow is much stronger even with a one inch merv 10 filer.  The humidity is usually between 45 and 55%.  The 55% is normally only in the morning hours until the unit comes on. It is a single stage unit. House is 1700 sq ft excluding sunroom.  House gets full sun all day.  Airflow is much stronger even if fan is on low.  They did turn the new air handler to eliminate an angle in the plenum.  The plenum now goes straight up

Thank you


texts: Is it ok to insulate external cantilever floor joists with foam board to fix cold floor?

texts:
We have very cold floors in the kitchen because the outside air is moving up through the external cantilevered floor.

I'd like to insulate it by cutting 2" foam (probably XPS or Polyurethane) and attaching it between the joists. Note: house is in San Francisco (lowest temp is about 38F) Three questions:

Is this a good approach? (better ideas welcomed)
Do I need to worry about moisture buildup?
What's the best foam for the job?

Photo of my joists:

Proposed solution:


texts: Replace MR16 Low Voltage Lights with Standard fixtures

texts:
I regret having MR16 low voltage lighting (recessed can fixtures) installed in our home remodel.  It covers more than half of my house.  I would like to convert to recessed fixtures that are 120V and standard size.  Unfortunately, for almost all of the lights, they cannot be accessed from above (an attic space, that is).  Does anyone know of any way to retrofit these cans to bypass the transformer and install a standard sized socket without having to remove the MR16 fixture, which would require tearing up the ceiling?

Additional Info:  MR16 fixtures include a transformer to step the voltage down from 120V to 12V.  I have attached some pictures of the fixtures before being covered up and what the ceiling looks like today.  One worry I had was that the Romex coming into the transformer would not reach the position of the light if it was pulled off of the transformer and attached to a standard fixture in the original position of the MR16 light, but in the photos I took during construction it appears there is enough slack to do this (if all were wired in the ways shown in the attached photos).

Reasons for getting rid of the MR16 lights:
1. They are essentially spotlights and the widest beams will not flood the light like standard fixtures will,
2. My dimmable SATCO LED replacements for original Halogens (which were too hot) do not dim reliably and consistently and I don’t think I can find a workable solution,
3. In two cases the fixture has failed, I don’t know exactly why, but I think it has to do with incompatible dimmer switches, and I must expect failures will continue.


texts: The hot water is working but the radiators will not heat up!

texts: We have a Utica Boiler model number SFH4150WT and we are receiving hot water but the radiators do not heat up!!. We tried bleeding the radiators, they only heated up a little bit but after about 5 min went back to being cold. The pipes by the furnace heat up but not the radiators upstairs. I read the pressure and it is below 5 psi. This all started after a radiator pipe broke in the garage but we fixed that too and still no luck! Any help would be great I have a 2 year old in the house and I don't want her to suffer any longer. Thank you


texts:
I want to put limestone blocks 2x2x5’ for seats in a 10x12, 4’ deep fireplace area, I rented a digger and dig a good amount and plan to put 6” of bass or minus then the blocks around the pit.. will it sink over time?
I need it to drain and stay put right?


texts: Filling a gap in double-active free-swing double-doors

texts:
I have a set of double doors into a water closet (within a larger bathroom) which we want to keep as free swinging with each door being able to swing past each other.

The upper hinge is mounted into the door frame, so it's not really possible to offset the doors from the jamb to reduce the center gap.

A (very large) astragal would close the gap, but then would let the doors get into an aesthetically unpleasing state depending on which one returned to center first.

Is the best I can achieve here something like 3/4" weather stripping adhered to each door? Or is there something like an astragal, but soft, so it occupies the space without providing a rigid barrier?

"move the doors" and "buy wider doors" are both considered out of scope.

The total gap is currently 1 7/8".  Getting it under 1/4" seems like it would be much more aesthetically pleasing.


texts:
Why would a repairman install a 1/3 HP fan motor into a 1/5 HP unit?  He had to cut the shaft to make it fit.  Two weeks later unit quit again and then he had to come and replace the capacitor MFD (whatever that is).  I found all this out from a different company's A/C tech when it quit again 2 months later (fan had also been put back in backwards and damaged).

Probably I should mention the original repairman tried to sell me a new A/C from the start, "when parts start to break it's time to replace the whole unit".  When I told him our house was only 4 years old he said that's as long as they last sometimes.


texts:
Thanks for all the input on my previous query.  I have added a photo of the breaker box diagram showing the 5/10 hot bar blades.
Questions:
1. can the tandem and single Murray breakers be rearranged so as to fit a double pull 30 amp breaker for powering my 240v EV charger?

What is the significance of the connection symbols on the wiring diagram that I noted in RED?


texts: Wiring 3-way switch (power at light and switches meeting in junction box)

texts: Always have trouble wrapping my head around 3-way switches. I have a good book that I usually turn to, but didn't see a diagram for this pattern when a junction box is in the middle. How can I wire the junction box and switches in this instance?


texts:
I am looking to wire a boat rocker switch panel to a 12 volt deep cycle battery for my canoe. I have three switched on the rocker switch panel. One will be for navigation lights, one will be for a small bilge pump and the third will be for a small light bar.
The rocker switch panel didn't come with instructions and I was looking for how to wire it. I been looking online but it seems like every picture and graph I see, the more confused I get.
I know the top wires, the red and black, go to my 12 volt battery power source but besides that I am lost. I have no idea what the yellow and blue wires are for. I found that the panel came with 3 red wires that I'm assuming connect to each of the bottom left poles on each of the three switches.
Each of my three appliances that I want to connect to this switch panel has a red and black wire.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


texts: Advice on estimating load and wiring a small cabin

texts:
I have some basic electrical knowledge but have never wired anything.
I plan on wiring a 288SF cabin; it be just one room and will have a separate small bathroom. I will need a mini split system to provide heating and cooling and I was thinking about using a tank less water heater to save space.
Here is my idea of how I would wire it :

20 AMP Bathroom Fan and lights
20 AMP Bathroom Outlets
40 AMP Mini Split Unit
20 AMP Outlets Outlets Cabin (8 outlets)
20 AMP Outlets Kitchen
75 AMP Tankless Water Heater
20 AMP Lights Main Cabin and outdoor light

That would come up to 215 AMP which seems like a lot ! I am guessing that I will need to get a sub panel at my house where I was planning on getting power from.
Do those numbers look about right ?
Thank you for your input, I do appreciate.


texts:
So, this is maybe a goofy thought. Here's the situation:

Putting the final finishing touches to our propane fireplace insert. The insert has an outlet built-in for a circulating fan if in the future that is desired. This is hardwired and should be connected to a junction box. I have no immediate need for this, so may just remove it, but I also thought that it'd be nice to future proof it for the next owner.

The catch is that there is no easy way to get the electrical to a junction box short of drilling through thick brick. However, I am running a switch from the fireplace to the side of the fireplace surround (which is wood) so I got to thinking...

Is there such thing as an 'electrical input' connector. The idea being one could run a cord from the outlet on the wall next to the fireplace to this 'input connector' on the side of the fireplace which in turn would power the outlet built in.

My guess is: of course not, this is a crazy product idea that would likely lead to deaths. But it never hurts to ask, right?

(PS, the back up idea is to just run it to a junction box on the side of the fireplace, and put a cover on it. If in the future anyone really wants to use it, they can take it from there and figure out how to get that to a powered junction box elsewhere.
)


texts:
Update Learned a ton about heat pumps, and wondering about Solar. Does anyone in the northeast have solar roofs? (solar shingles)

I live in an all electric home (single family detached house) in New York City, and my electric bill give me nightmares, and daymares. It comes out to about $900 or $1000 in cold winter months, and $400 or $500 in the summer. Less in between.

All the appliances, hot water tank, room heaters are all electric.

How can I reduce these costs?

Ideally, I'd like to remain all electric, and perhaps even opt-into sustainable sources of power.

All ideas are welcome : )


texts:
I have a Maytag stackable washer which leaks a little water after each load. The leak is coming from the bottom of that plastic reservoir in the lower right hand of the picture. That is connected to the belt. It only starts leaking a couple of minutes after the load ended.
Any suggestions?


texts: How to modernise this raised concrete drain in the middle of patio?

texts:
I'm planning to take up an old garden patio and lay a new one. However there is an ugly raised drain cover in the middle. This is for inspection of the property's drain at the point where it connects to a communal drain.

The drain sits 4" above the current level of the patio, so I would like to a) modernise the look of this drain, and b) lower it so that it's flush with the new patio. Raising the patio is not an option as the current level is ~17cm below the damp proof coursing and I've read that it shouldn't be any less than 15cm below.

The drain cover measures 20"-26" (imperial because it was built in 1969). The frame (which I believe is called the crown?) measures 24"-32". The top of the crown is 4" above the patio level.

Now I seem to have two options:

Remove the crown and replace with a flat manhole cover. Raise the patio level fractionally to get it flush.
Remove the crown and replace with a recessed manhole cover, which will look nicer because it can be filled with slabs to match the patio. However I would need to drop the height of the drain to do this, as being recessed it would need to be based lower than the patio level.

So my question regards the process of doing this:

I have read that the crown should just lift off (2 man effort). Is this likely to be correct? I'm going to assume worse case and it's secured somehow - how can I safely remove it without damaging the drain (and making me unpopular with the neighbours!).
Presumably I can lower it by removing one of those concrete "rings" in the picture and then building it up again to a lesser height? How would I go about this? It feels a bit beyond my capability (no building experience).
What size manhole cover should I be looking for? Most places only seem to stock ones like these that state 18"-24" which seems too small, but that is perhaps the cover size? And then they don't state the frame size. I did find this recessed one which states size including frame and would fit, but would require lowering the drain.

My preference would be to have a nice recessed cover but I think this may be beyond my capability. I have somewhat basic DIY experience (fixing things to walls, painting and decorating, replacing toilet flushes etc - no actual building work).


texts: Mounting Computer Under Particle Board Desk

texts:
I would like to mount a computer under a desktop made from particle board, the desktop is 1/2 inch thick, the computer plus mount weighs about 25lbs. Would the particle board hold?

How could I mount the computer to the underside of the desk and ensure it doesn't fall and break?


texts: How to make sure a tile does not bust on a high point in the floor

texts:
I am tiling a bathroom for the first time. It is an upstairs bathroom so I pulled out the vinyl and luan. The subfloor met the standards that I found else where on this site. I laid hardibacker board with total flex thinset and then screwed it all down. I then taped and used thinset on the joints. I started laying my tiles yesterday and everything was going fine until I reached an uneven spot. It is at the sink area on one of the joints. I have sanded that area down as much as possible, but the tile is still able to make a rocking motion when I lay it down without any thinset. I already cracked one with thinset on it when I tapped the block with my rubber mallet. So here is my question, how do I make sure the tile does not crack? Do I build up the thinset in the low areas? Wouldn't that make the tiles higher than the surrounding tiles?

Edit- this is the case for 1 tile only

Thanks,
Tiffany


texts:
I am building a pizza oven for the backyard and part of the build instructions said to build three concrete slabs (2 that are 47" x 20" x 5.5" and another that is 47" x 29.5" x 5.5"). It asks you to pour the slabs on a flat surface like a garage floor.

I poured them on my garage floors without thinking how the heck I was going to get them to the back yard and up on top of the CMU base that is 5 courses high (so a little over 42 inches high). I have to get them through a fence gate (when removed it leaves a 33" wide clearance side to side.

I was thinking an engine hoist would be great but the orientation of the legs I think would be too wide to get through the gate fence. My next idea was to construct an A frame to lift it onto a sled to transport it to the back and then use the  A frame equipped with a chain fall to bring it higher.

What do you guys think about that approach or do you have another?

I believe the two smaller slabs to be about 450lbs each and the bigger slab to be close to 800lbs.


texts:
I am replacing one 3 way switch with a dimmer and an older dial dimmer with a new one way pole dimmer.

After powering down and removing the old switch and dial dimmer I found a red wire and two black wires coming from the house to the left and only two black wires coming from the house on the right side where the dial dimmer was. Between the two there was a piece of white wire acting as a bridge between the two sides. It came from one of the right side black wires and connected to the old switch at the top brass screw.

I installed the left side 3-way dimmer according to instructions with no problem...black to the black common wire, then red to red and red/white to the second black wire from the house. Then I installed the single pole dimmer using the two black wires on the right side...Black from the dimmer to the black from the house and the red from the dimmer to the other black wire from the house. The red/white wire from the new dimmer was capped off since it would act as a single pole.

I then connected the small piece of white wire between the black wire on the single side to the hot wire on the 3-way side. End result...everything worked...well, sort of.

The dimmers both worked but, would take turns as to when they would activate. I would slide the kitchen 3-way and the kitchen would dim. Then when I did the single pole for the dinning area it wouldn't work. Then I would try the dining area and it would work but, the kitchen wouldn't. What would be the proper way to have these side by side dimmers work properly?

Thanks for the quick reply's.  Here is a picture of the box from the house. The right side is the 3 way to dim the kitchen and share a switch and the left is the one way that only controls the dimming for the immediate dining area. The larger tag has been identified as the hot wire and the other with tape around it is the common wire.


texts: How to finish tiling an outside edge for a shower?

texts:
I am installing stone tile (travertine) in a shower. I do not have bullnose tile so I was planning on simply finishing the edge by slightly filing the corners of the tile so they're not sharp and then caulking the edges so the thinset is hidden. Unfortunately I think I'll have to go entirely to the outside corner of the wall because the shower curb goes that far and I want to make sure the shower door will have ample room to be installed without having to deal with the outer edge of the tile being right in the middle of the door installation.

Here is a picture of the wall and curb. When I put on the 1/2" drywall, it should align with how far the curb sticks out.

Should I use some kind of corner bead? Are there any special instructions for that since it's near the wet area? Maybe I can treat it as a dry area since it will be on the opposite side of the shower door?
Should I skip the corner bead and instead take the tile all the way to the corner?
Can I have a corner bead and take my tile almost to the corner (about 1/2" away)?
Does anyone have tips for ending the tile in the 'open' like I am? People have previously suggested using the Schluter edging but I haven't see any that would look good with my tile so I've sort of ruled that out as an option.

(Yes I now realize I should have done the floor before setting the bottom row of tile)


texts: Have a 70s build house with covered borrowed light above the doorframe. How would one go about fitting coving in this case to achieve a quality finish? I can either (1) attempt to route the coving to the frame shape, (2) terminate the coving at the doorframe, or (3) attempt to somehow remove the borrowed light gap and skim. Option 3 might achieve best finish, but I am unsure how to go about the task. Am I missing any options?


texts: Is it OK to have 10ga wire running from breaker to switch then 8ga from switch to pump?

texts:
I'm running an 8 gauge wire from the breaker box to my pump (which is 200 feet away from the house).

I want to install a switch near the breaker box and want to  know if I can use 10 gauge wire from the breaker to the switch and still maintain the proper amperage for the pump (i.e. so it won't overheat).

The hypothetical diagram is:

220V breaker
  |
  | 10 gauge wire (under 10 feet long)
  |
switch
  ||
  ||
  || 8 gauge wire (approximately 200 feet long)
  ||
  ||
 pump

The question is: Will the 10 gauge wire mess up the run or will the pump still work right?


texts:
I am searching for long (10m) pvc mat for the dressing room before big shower room and sauna.
The mat is two layered. The lower layer maximises air while the top layer is for endurance.
I saw such a mat in one hotel yesterday and want similar for my summer house.

I searched unsuccessfully in AliExpress.

How can you call such a mat?


texts: why is CFL more sensitive to low temperature than the LEDs?

texts: we know that CFL are more sensetive to low tempweratures but what is the reason behind it?And how is it not so in the use of LEDs?


texts:
I have two outdoor wall sconces, which are rusting and falling apart. I replaced ONE of them so far, and left the other as-is.

The old one I replaced, there were two sets of wires coming out of the side of the garage powering two independently powered bulbs in the wall sconce (two sets of white, two sets of black, two grounds), while the new ones just use one set of wiring to power both bulbs.

Since I only needed one set of wires, I put caps on the individual wires for the set I wasn't using, and tucked them back into the junction box, and wired up the new set.

Now NEITHER wall sconce will turn on (not the old one, not the new one).

I made sure to change the bulbs just in case
I made sure the breaker was back on
I made sure the light switch was on
All of the other lights on the same circuit (garage light) are working

I suspect that I cannot have one set of wires disconnected like I have, and that both sets need to complete the circuit.

My question is, is it safe to wire the unused black and white wires together to complete the circuit? If so, do I need to include the ground wire?


texts: Shut off valve still leaking after being replaced

texts: I just replaced the entire shut off valve for my toilet and its still leaking.  I used all new parts.  Would could be the issue?


texts: What could cause water to come up from the bottom (upwards) through the tundish?

texts:
I have an oil-powered boiler along with a water cylinder which has been installed in our home for a number of years by some previous owner. We've been here a couple of years without a hitch.

Just the other week the tundish started overflowing with water every time the boiler fired up. I called the plumber out as I know nothing about boilers or water heating whatsoever, and after having two plumbers out over two days, they eventually told me I need to call someone who clears out drainage.

I'm only just figuring out how the whole system works but I'm hoping someone can explain it a bit more for me.

From the top of the cylinder down to the tundish there's a pipe. The overflow isn't coming from the cylinder. That took me a while to figure out, and was the first thing I thought was happening. The water is actually coming from the bottom upwards. You can see in the following picture that the pipe goes in two directions. Going downwards is from the boiler, and going upwards is.... I haven't got a clue! I can't actually see where it goes unfortunately.

In the following picture you can see the whole setup, the tundish and cylinder on the left, and boiler on the right.

The final picture shows the pipe that goes up to the tundish from the boiler. As you can see, the pipe comes out the very top of the boiler.

My question is, what could cause water to come up from the bottom upwards through the tundish? Is it really a case of blocked drainage and all I need to do is get someone who specialises in drainage out?


texts: Adding house wrap behind existing board and batten siding

texts:
I live in south-central Illinois, and the house is on top of a hill, so we get a lot of wind. The house is cold in the winter - partly because it is on slab and partly because it is pretty drafty. Most of the windows are in decent shape (Anderson dual pane) and don't leak much air. The house was built in 1965. Exterior is mostly board and batten wood siding (both boards and battens are a full 1" thick, boards are 12" wide). The house is quite drafty, and I'm considering 3 options. Labor cost is not a huge issue - I have two kids in their late teens.

1) Carefully remove siding boards, install housewrap, and reinstall the siding. May need to find longer nails, or add some construction adhesive to the nail holes to make the nails hold.

2) Remove the battens and use caulk or sealing foam to seal between the boards before reinstalling battens. This won't reduce air infiltration around the bottom of the siding.

3) Just use foam sealer around all the outlets and accept some draftiness.

Anyone have advice about options 1 and 2?


texts: Putting plywood between layers of attic insulation

texts:
Sorry if this is a silly question, but I've searched an haven't been able to come up with anything helpful.

I'm planning on wiring my house for Ethernet, and I'm going up to the attic to do some cable drops.  My attic has blown fibreglass insulation which rises well above the top of the joists.  All the advice I've read says I should carefully rake the insulation away from where I plan to walk, and lay down some plywood planks to make sure I don't accidentally step through the ceiling, and to rake the insulation back when I'm done.  That's all well and good, but, I expect I'm going to complete this project over a couple of weekends, which makes me wonder, if I leave the plywood in place and rake the insulation back on top of it, effectively giving me a layer of insulation above and below my walkway, will the effectiveness of the insulation decrease?

Thanks in advance for any help.


texts: Is it ok to wire load on the line side of GFCI?

texts: I am installing a GFCI that will be feeding additional outlets in another room. There are at least 5 more outlets and I suspect this new outlet is the very first in the run. Some of these load outlets do not need to be protected, while others are already protected by another GFCI. In order to avoid the hassle of potential problems with daisy chaining multiple GFCIs, is it ok to simply wire the load onto the same terminals as the line on this new GFCI?


texts: Weak Toilet Flush after not being used for Two months

texts:
After not being used for two months, one of the toilets in my home does not flush properly.

The water level in the toilet bowl is very low, just barely up to the opening. However, in the tank, the water is an inch below the fill line, where it should be. Upon flushing, the bowl fills up nearly to the top and then quickly drains to almost no water in a few seconds.

I have tried pouring a few gallons of water down the bowl and flushing and the same issue occurs. I've also tried plunging the toilet with a toilet plunger after I fill up the bowl and that doesn't fill up the bowl either.

It might be worth mentioning that I live in a new house (about one and a half years old) and probably have one of those water saving toilets. The brand of the toilet is "Contrac".

Is there anything else I can do sort of calling a professional?


texts: How do I stretch carpet during reinstallation after replacing padding?

texts:
I pulled up some carpet that is in front of a door way in order to replace the padding underneath, but when I laid it back down there was a slight gap and now if you step right on it you can feel the spike strip underneath (ouch!).

How can I get the fit snug so that I don't hit the spike strip anymore?


texts: The (Zinsco?) bus bars have arc marks. Can you file these down to bare metal?

texts:
I have an old electrical panel.  Some of the circuits were flickering. When I checked the breaker to the associated circuit I found that the bus bar had "porous" looking buildup of metal at the location. See photo showing two arced bus bar sections. I can also still hear some occasional tiny sizzling/arcing noises coming from the breakers but don't know which ones are making the noise.

Can the metal buildup be filed down to the bare metal making the slot reusable?

I saw a bus bar replacement at home depot for $60.  Is it worth time and money to replace this or should I be looking for someone to replace/upgrade the entire panel?

The subpanel has the copper ground connecting to the ground bar in the main panel.  Is this OK?

Any comments on the rest of the panel? It looks like someone added a transformer in there with wire nuts

Looking at the comments now I'm worried.  How much should it cost to upgrade my old 100 AMP to a new 200 AMP main?

If I put a new box in, how do you extend any short wires? wire nuts? a junction box under the house in the crawl space?

Thanks


texts:
I have a settling foundation.

I see a couple of ways to repair the foundation; one with hand dug concrete piers about 3 feet deep,  one with steel piers driven to bedrock.

Will concrete be sufficient?


texts: How does MDF fare as cabinet front insets?

texts: My cabinet maker is using MDF for the inset panel on the shaker style doors. How will this fare in durability and longevity. Should I have him change it to wood insets instead?


texts:
Please help identify the oven; it's pretty old, I guess middle 90s. I checked the model name/number placed on a tag inside the oven (as you open the door, it's in there), but I failed to find mode information on www.hotpointservice.co.uk/manual/

Perhaps someone could figure the model by picture?

UPDATE
And this is a metal tag at the bottom of the oven with information about the oven; I hope somebody could recognize it:


texts: How can I pour a concrete floor over a particle board subfloor?

texts: I want to pour concrete over the particle board subfloor in my living room. I like the look of stained concrete. We have a crawl space underneath. What product do I use? How thick so it won't crack? Rebar, framing (or whatever that mesh is called) or no? Any info you got would be appreciated.


texts: What type of drywall tape should I use for a drywall to plaster patch?

texts:
What would be the best drywall tape for drywall to plaster patch?
The patch is on a non-insulated garage ceiling, so there will be temperature swings from 0 to 100 probably through the year.

I had to patch because of some water damage, the old material is plaster over rocklathe (3/4" total), and new is just a dual layer of 3/8" drywall.

I have setting type compound, but I'm not sure of which tape would hold up better for these circumstances.


texts: Garage roof eaves missing closure strips

texts:
So my garage roof is missing closer strips under the eaves, which I believe is letting some amount of moisture into the garage, as well as allowing tons of bugs and spiders to get in.

I would like to put some closure strips in under the eaves, but am unsure of how to go about this for an existing garage roof. I have read one recommendation that says to take the screws off the eaves of the garage roof, if possible, to fit closure strips under; which sounds like would be the best way to do it.

Hoping someone can give some advice on this. Attached are some pictures of the garage roof from the inside and outside.


texts: Need replacement part for Baldwin Reserve "Columbus" handleset model COLXELL.TRR.OO3

texts:
The mechanism that opens the latch on our front door has broken. This is not as serious as it sounds because the main lock is a deadbolt (which is working fine). After some disassembly (OK, a lot of disassembly) my best guess is that there is a spring broken in the main latching mechanism.  Photo is below, but the brass plate does not appear to be easily removable.  It's connected by what appear to be crimped metal tabs from the rest of the unit. I need that unit.

The operational problem is that the peg the handle is supposed to push up to rotate the spindle is locked in the "open" position (completely clear of the slot where the thumb piece fits).

I am not a locksmith.  I will be very grateful for any suggestions. And I'll apologize in advance for any vagueness or bad terminology.  I'm fairly good with tools, but don't know much about locks.


texts: Adding a new dimmer switch to old wiring?

texts: How do I wire a dimmer switch to replace my existing old switch? Dimmer has with 1 green wire and 2 black wires . My existing light switch has 1 black and 1 white.


texts: What is the best product for repairing expanding gaps in a brick wall?

texts:
I am trying to do a structural repair to a brick wall that has some large gaps - 1-3" between some of the bricks due to some foundation movement over the last 300 years. The gaps are essentially vertical cracks where the mortar has broken loose and the bricks are separating.  I know that any foundation movement will cause more cracks but I want to at least stabilize the cracks so that the wall does not collapse.  I am thinking that a mixture of something like sand or pea gravel and a strong adhesive will provide the support I need.  I have tried Gorilla glue in matrix material but the foaming and expansion just doesn't work well.  I think a tube adhesive with a high tensile strength will work, I just have little experience with the new ones out there.

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.  I always do a "proof of concept" before going full scale so I can try several ideas.


texts: What should I replace on a double-flush toilet to stop internal leaking?

texts: My double-flush toilet will add water at random times, so I guess it's leaking down the water level causing this.  Not familiar with the dual flush unit. What should I replace?


texts: How to remove strange looking strike plate

texts: I'm replacing my locks in my house and I can't get this strike plate removed. It had two pieces. I was able to remove the latch assist (curved piece to help slide in).  Now I'm just stuck tugging at this thing. It curves into the trim on the door frame. What kind of strike plate is this, and how can I remove it?


texts: Should I worry about these white marks on my exterior wall?

texts:
Below is a picture of one of the corners of my house
You can notice the white mineral efflorescence that formed on the wall
The patio starts just off that wall, quite a large one, rectangular shape parallel with the house

Here is another example near the same area (~ 2 feet distance) This one is vertical.
There are a couple other areas like this but a lot smaller, you can guess them in the second picture. They seem to be crack but under the surface of that stucco or whatever is the name of that cement cover

The patio looks wet because it rained heavily today.
I am just wondering if this is bad. We recently bought this house. The house has gutters but I think that ocassionally that wall is washed by the rain


texts: Should the gaps around the door casing be filled?

texts: I've been removing the architraves and have discovered these gaps as shown in the picture. I'm just wondering if the gaps should be filled, if so with what?


texts: What do I do with a lighter that doesn't light?

texts: This is a fairly "traditional" lighter that's about a foot long and has a guarded trigger with a thumb switch one must push forward in order to light. Even with the adjustment set all the way to "+" and pushing the thumb switch forward and repeatedly clicking the trigger, it doesn't light.  There is a small clear window showing that there's plenty of fluid still left (probably >3/4 full).  What's the appropriate thing to do with this?


texts: Options for lighting a finished room with exposed joists

texts:
We're finishing a basement room, but want to leave the old ceiling joists exposed (we like the look). I like how mr16 bulbs light up the room, but I'm having trouble figuring out a safe way to install them on a budget and in an unobtrusive way (not a lot of big conduits/junction boxes in view).  I'm also on the fence about 120V or 12V.  The transformers and voltage drop over distance of 12V seem like a hassle.
I was thinking of black NM stapled right up to the fixtures, maybe with those NM cable splices to join right to a gu10 socket, with the bottom of the bulbs right at the bottom of the joists.  However, I imagine the two wire pigtail coming out of a socket is not code exposed in a joist well.  I'm also not sure how sturdy a gu10 bulb in a ceramic socket screwed right to the joist is likely to be.
I'm struggling to come up with any real slim or cheap gu10 or mr16 fixture that I could run NM right into.  They all tend to be bulky and expensive unless it's those little metal recessed fixtures (and again I'm sure sure of the wiring would be code if exposed).  Could I fab up some little metal or wood enclosures for the socket and pigtail to live in so they aren't "exposed" until it turns to NM?  Or, I see there are regular E26 screw type mr16 bulbs, or I could just go with regular floods.  Maybe that would give me more fixture/socket options that would work here?
Would low voltage get around some of the form factor problems?  I see lots of people using LED strip lighting, where the little 12V wires can apparently be run without any worry about code until you get to where the transformer is wired to 120V.  Would sticking with 12V mr16 allow me to run wires in my joist wells without worrying about NM shielding and junction boxen?
Open to any suggestions!  Thanks!


texts: Low amp power breaker strip or reciptical adapter for knob and tube homes during rennovation

texts:
we are renovating our home room by room. We have been working on electrical, but the top and 3rd floor been delayed due to, well, pure time vs time with then new baby. So the thing about this home is its classic late 1800's and the knob and tube that is there is tied into junctions before new branches hit new box. There are 2 junctions in, one being 2nd floor + hall, one being attic, the bedrooms one outlet, woulda been awesome in the old times.

So this is a low amp situation in a modern world until i can get to new circuits. I have ran over the remaining knob, and, albeit no visible damage or total DIY wreck job from the past, i would like to keep those branch circuits running under 12 amp "full load" peak. The first thought besides low watt bulbs, + modern stuff, was a limiter at a power strip or at-receptacle breaker for each room.

Does such a device exist to ensure no tentacles of these old school receptacles come under too much load? Say, 3 amp at outlet max, or more wishfully, variable up to 15A per receptacle for future new wiring use?


texts: Venting the attic space during summer to cool the house

texts:
The air in my attic gets superheated during summer, from the sun baking the (clay? terracotta?) roof tiles (I live in Sydney, Australia).

I have good ceiling insulation, and even put in some sarking (foil insulation just under the tiles) but some of the heat still penetrates into the house.

Also, we now have a ducted (central) AC unit in the attic which absorbs a bit of the heat and so cools a bit less effectively.

So I need to cool the attic (area about 100m2). I have 2 vents under the eaves (opposite sides of the house) and one small whirlybird (wind/convection powered thermal chimney).

Should I get more whirlybirds? They are about $100 each and I'm concerned they might not move enough air.

Has anyone used a solar or mains powered roof extracter fan? Can I get one for less than $300 or so?

How about heat-reflective roof paints, are they effective and cheap? (My roof is black and the house will lose a lot of resale value with a light colour)

Any other good solutions?


texts: Are there websites to manage home improvement projects?

texts:
Are there any websites where you can create an account to manage your home with things such as:

Layout or floor planning
Budgets, project logging
Wiring plans

I'm aware of FloorPlanner.com and Google Sketchup, but those are rather specific and I'm hoping for a more complete site to consolidate my home information/plans.


texts: How do I interpret my furnace clearance diagram?

texts:
My brother-in-law and I are going to be finishing my basement.  We just got the permit from the building inspector.  When they returned my plans there was a note that told me to make sure furnace and hot water heater clearances were to manufacturer spec or 30".   30" seems like a lot so I headed to the manufacturer spec located on the furnace itself.

Does this mean 0" clearance is required on all sides and 24" in the front if the furnace is going to be enclosed in a closet? Am I interpreting this right?


texts: Is my foundation design for this garbage can hutch overcomplicated?

texts:
I am looking for feedback on the plan for a hutch I want to build for my garbage cans and table saw. I plan to have it sit on a slope next to my driveway. I’ve used a deck planning tool to guess at what size all of the lumber should be but expect I am making a bunch of amateur mistakes.
Here’s some photos of the site:

The fence is where I’d like the hutch to sit flush to. I'll be tearing it out.
Here’s a mockup of kind of roughly the idea:

(I ran into some surprises with how I’ll have to deal with the roof so I left the wall outline unfinished, but you get the idea).
Here’s a few pics of what I think the foundation will look like:

I didn’t draw it in but I plan to have all the posts in concrete. Dims are approx 6 ft wide at the widest point, 4.5 ft tall (once framed) and approx 9 ft long.
(Album with all pics)
The beams are 2x10, and I think it’s OK to use 2x4 for the joists since they’re spanning less than 5 ft 8”. I was planning on using strong ties for all the connections (post to beam, joist to beam).
Is there an easier way to do the end that sits flush with the ground? Right now the plan would mean I have to dig down quite a bit to make room both for the beam and the posts. Is there another way I should be doing this that requires less digging?


texts: When installing a garbage disposal what kind of PVC pipe connects directly to the disposal?

texts: The PVC pipe connection from the garbage disposal is leaking. I have hand tightened the washer on the PVC and then did a 1/4 turn wrench tighten. Still leaking.  It looks like the PVC has a little lip on the end and butts up to the disposal outlet instead of fitting inside the opening.  What kind of connection should it have?


texts: What are effective ways to frame a return air duct?

texts:
Consider an in-floor return air duct that is 32" x 22".
A standard air filter that closest fits the register is 30" x 20".
What materials should I use to frame the duct so it will snugly hold the filter? Would non-treated lumber cut to size suffice?


texts: Hard wiring a 4-wire oven to 3-wire outlet?

texts:
I am replacing an old 4-wire oven with a new Kitchen Aid 4-wire oven. I have 3 wires in the outlet box (black, white, bare (ground)).  The old oven was connected the following way: From the oven the white wire and the bare (ground) together were connected to the bare (ground) in the box. The black wire from the oven was connected to the white wire in the box and the red wire from the oven was connected to the black wire. There was a lot of black electrical tape wrapped around the white wire in box about 3 inches from the connection point. Not sure what that means?
I was planning to connect the same way, but see some instruction on the internet to connect the same way, except black goes to black and white goes to red. Confusing and  conflicting information and not sure which is correct way. Or does it not matter since each wire, black and the white are hot each supplying 110V for a total 220V?


texts: What kind of bulbs should I get? My bulbs does not look normal

texts:
I am in a situation where I need to change bulbs in my bathroom, but my bulbs look weird, and can't find right bulbs for our light.

The bulbs that I took out look like this. There are wires coming out. I had to cut them when I remove the bulbs from a socket.

We showed the bulbs to Home depo guy. He thinks that I should have removed the base, but I don't see any base.. This is how the socket looks like after I removed the bulbs.

Will I ever be able to find right bulbs? Can someone please help?


texts: Can I legally run wiring through a window or its frame?

texts:
I am planning on hooking up a hot tub in our in backyard and we need to run a wire from the breaker panel to the tub. Although we could run the wire through the concrete, there is an unused basement window and it would be easier to run the wire through the window or its frame.

I imagine other people wanting a hot tub may also have a similar situation. I've attached a picture of both sides of the window for reference. I've also attached a picture of another location in the house where someone has done exactly as described.

Is it okay, as for as the ESA (Electrical Safety Authority) in Ontario (Canada) goes, to run the electrical wire for the hot tub through this window?

Thanks so much.


texts: Why is my electric wall oven suddenly causing strong hot chemical odor?

texts: Friday solar panel company was in attic crawl space doing wiring for panels.  Solar not yet energized. Sunday used electric wall oven, had very strong hot wire/chemical odor, never had this before. Could the Solar work somehow have disturbed or loosened the wall oven wiring in the attic?


texts: Heater does not start without a power reset

texts:
I have a Bonaire MB3-20I and it won't turn on unless I go in the roof and turn the socket off and then on again. When this is done, it stays on for as long as needed, but when we turn the heating off again from the thermostat, the process has to be repeated the next time we want it on.
The thermostat is not showing any code or anything else and can be navigated normally, even when it does not turn on the unit.
Any idea of what I could do before booking a pretty expensive service check?


texts: Is a conservatory considered living space?

texts:
For the purposes of zoning, building and assessment, do towns typically consider conservatories to be living space?

(A conservatory is a glass walled enclosure attached to one side of a house with a patio-like floor. It is used for growing plants.)


texts: Trying to identify the names of and how to replace Ikea parts

texts: I'm trying to put together an old Ikea table as an extra desk on which to work due to Covid related work from home. It is missing one of the four sets of threaded rods, washer and bolts that it needs. Plus it is missing the piece that sits inside the table leg in which the threaded rod secures itself. I'm looking for the name of this piece, and if possible, how to get a replacement for the whole set. I got a washer, nut and threaded rod at the hardware store, but don't really know how to go about getting the other piece as I can't even search for it without a name. See attached pics.


texts:
I have a top hung window (it opens by swinging outwards) in a unit on a high floor of a resident building, that experiences significant wind gusts.

What's the best way to prop the window open?

I've tried a simple rod, but because the wind sometimes pulls the window outwards the rod will eventually fall loose.


texts:
Here’s a picture of the door. Notice that you can see light on the handle side...right-bottom side.

This is because the top hinge on the left is attached to a piece of wood and that wood is separating a bit from the door frame.
Top hinge (notice the vertical crack in the wood close to left side of the hinge)

Middle hinge

Bottom hinge - Notice the black gap gets narrower as you go down from the top hinge to the bottom hinge.

If I hold the handle and lift vertically, the door is easier to close and it doesn’t rub as much against the frame.
Can I just take the screws off and put in a really long screws?
I can potentially bend the top hinge, but I feel like that will only be temporary because of the hinge is separating from the wood (the crack next to the top hinge)
UPDATE
I took out a screw from the hinge and it was only 1" long. So, I took a few 3" screws, drove two of them into the top hinge and one in the middle hinge and the door now closes without any binding at all.


texts:
I just found out that our bathroom exhaust fan has no duct attached to it. Our current fan is Panasonic FV-08VQ2 (90 CFM, 4" duct diameter). The fan just blows the air to the inaccessible attic. There is what looks like an attic exhaust close to the location of the fan but no duct (see white circle in the picture). The bathroom exhaust fan is about 5' from the window on the top floor. Here are my questions:

Is this a big problem? I assume the fan has been like this for 15+ years. If it is, I will look into getting a duct there, which is complicated by the inaccessible attic space.
Should we stop using the fan until this gets fixed?
Should we be concerned about any mold etc in the attic as a consequence of this?

Thanks!


texts: Bathroom GFCI outlet tripped after turning on my razor!

texts:
Yesterday, I opened up my old "Racine" brand razor and cleaned out the whiskers that were in it. Afterwards, I turned it on and I noticed it was quieter. But a minute later I noticed that the familiar "buzz" came back, so I applied some machine oil on the blades. Then I turned it on and my bathroom GFCI tripped.

1...Did that old 1960's razor finally receive a ground fault?

2...Had it not been plugged into a GFCI outlet, would I have been electrocuted instead?

3...Did my opening it up to clean it out have anything to do with it?

I did not spill any water on it. And
I don't think my applying oil on the blades had anything to do with it, as I have done that many times before. But this was the first time I have ever opened it up to clean it out. I also noticed something was rattling loose inside it shortly before the GFCI was tripped.

In any case, it looks like it's time for me to buy a new razor! And when I throw out the old razor, I'll be sure to cut the cord off first, lest some dumpster diver (like me) pick it out of the dumpster.


texts:
I'm attempting to remove this door handle with no success. I cannot figure out how to remove the plate on the front. It seems impossible to just pry it off.

How can I remove this door handle? Also, is anyone able to identify this door knob such that I can find its manual?

EDIT: I was able to remove the rose by turning it with channel locks. I was also able to determine that this is a Karcher door level/knob. However, I cannot remove the spindle and thus cannot remove the latch. How can I remove this spindle?


texts: Could my wall have been damaged while the painters were painting?

texts:
I recently had my bathroom renovated. Before the renovation I had noticed some minor cracks in the ceiling. The building is 1962 and the walls are plaster. I had semi gloss paint used which I know can highlight imperfections a bit more.

However I did notice an area which I had never noticed before and I have included it in the photo. My questions:

Is it possible that I didn't notice it because of the change from eggshell to semi-gloss?
Is it more likely that something went awry while painting and this caused the problem (improper priming or something like that).
Maybe a better question- how to fix it?


texts: What's a doorway that doesn't have a door called?

texts:
A doorway? passageway? archway? lintel? soffit?

I have to label one on an architectural drawing, and it occurred to me that there may be a more technically accurate term for it than "passageway" or "archway."

Don't know if this question is more appropriate for Home Improvement or the English Language and Usage site.  /shrug


texts: When opening my garage door from my car, I note that, only recently, the door opens and then closes a few inches, and then opens a few inches, and so on. How do I fix this?


texts: Mixing 18awg wire and 16awg wire on a ceiling fan installation

texts: I am moving a minkaire ceiling fan from a flat kithen ceiling to a sloped family room ceiling.  The slope of the fm rm ceiling requires that a 1 foot extension be added to the fan to avoid having the blades touch the ceiling.  The fan has a receiving unit on it that receives signals from the wall switch unit, which controls various aspects of the fan and it's lights.  The extension will require me to add extensions to the wires from the ceiling down to the fan unit.  All of the wires on the receiving unit and wall switch are 18 awg stranded wires.  I can not find 18 awg at either HD or Lowes.  The closest they have is 16 awg.  Is it safe to make my 1 foot extensions out of 16 awg wire?


texts: How can I prevent water from running behind my gutters and under shingles near a wall?

texts:
I've been troubleshooting some issues have been having with water getting into my basement.  Today I took a hose out to try and find out how water is getting behind my gutters and believe I found some potential culprits.

A) In the first 2 pictures you can see there is some space between the drip edge and gutter.  I think water is sneaking in there.  Are there any DIY options to fix this?  Could something like a gutter apron be slide under the shingles to help get it into gutters?

B) In the last 2 pictures you can see the siding and brick meet up with roof on this part of the house.  I think the water is getting between them, running down, and then pouring out under the gutters.  What options do I have to prevent water from getting in there?  Just getting flashing installed?  Is flashing a DIY project?  It seems like something that may need professional installation.

Thank you!


texts: How to remove protective film from shower after being left in the sun

texts: How to remove protective film from shower after being baked in the sun


texts: Is glue needed to hang a cabinet with a french cleat?

texts:
I have an overjohn that comes with a french cleat. Someone told me that all I needed to do was  secure the french cleat to the wall and just hang the overjohn on it, no glue or anything else.

Is this true, can the cabinet just be hung on a piece of wood that's attached to the wall without any glue or screws attaching the cabinet to the cleat?


texts:
A few days ago our dryer started complaining about a blocked airway, so I went up on the roof to check out the vent and sure enough the screen was completely clogged with lint.

It's a new vent that was installed along with a new roof in November, so I imagine I'll have to go up there and clean it out every 3-4 months.

Is this really part of regular home maintenance?  Neither my wife nor I recall our parents ever doing this sort of thing.


texts: Is inlet pipe required for a 95v furnace

texts:
In mid 2015 we got a 95v American Standard furnace. After a year, we got inspection done which was required for warranty. The inspection guy said No intake pipe is ran at all. Unit must have an intake pipe bringing in air from outside. This is city code.

I called Integrity, the company that sold/installed this unit, and mentioned this. He said This particular unit does not require an intake pipe. We can do it, it will cost $500. I'm finding that shady.

I paid over $7,000 total (with monthly installments) for A/C and furnace and don't think it is fair that they charge me more to make another hole in the basement wall which they could have done when they installed it. They made one hole anyway for vent/outlet.

So, is the inspection guy right or the integrity guy? I tried to find instruction manual for this unit to see if it says anything about inlet pipe being optional but couldn't find it.

I'm a first time home owner - how do I deal with this company, Integrity? Or is he right and I should pay and get it done. Or should I ask them to come fix it and then refuse to pay - will I get in trouble?


texts: Can someone explain how this makes sense electrically?

texts:
The wiring in my house is... odd. Nearly every pair of outlets has one of the outlets connected to a light switch. Sometimes that switch is quite far from the outlet even when there are other closer switches that seem to control nothing at all. Sometimes that switch also controls overhead lighting, which makes no sense to me from a design standpoint. Sometimes that switch is a dimmer switch, which is a really horrible idea as if you plug anything other than a light bulb into it, like some electronics, the dimmer switch could do them a lot of damage. One such dimmer switch is also connected to a ceiling fan, and setting the switch to anything less than full does not change the speed of the fan, it just makes it a lot noisier (AC induction motor, obviously).

There are light fixtures that don't seem to have any power to them and aren't controlled by any switch, though I could believe the switch might just be hiding somewhere. There are also switches that seem to control absolutely nothing, though I could believe I just haven't found what they're connected to.

The oddest thing I have found though has to do with the circuit breakers around overhead lighting. I have a chandelier in my dining room that is connected to a dimmer switch. When I moved in, all of the bulbs were incandescents, and I wanted to be more energy efficient, so I replaced them all with dimmable LED bulbs. Now however, I could not turn the chandelier fully off, with the dimmer switch all the way down, the lights still dimly shone. This had never been an issue before, but I thought it probably meant the dimmer switch was faulty, and it was just the different voltage response curves of the incandescents versus the LEDs that meant it had never been noticed before, so I set out to replace the switch.

Now there are two circuit breakers that are relevant to this chandelier. One is labeled "dining room," the other is labeled "lights." As far as I can tell, the dining room breaker controls all of the outlets in the dining room area, while the lights breaker controls all of the overhead lighting in the house.

Here's where the odd part comes in. If I turn off the dining room breaker, the lights stay lit. I have turn off the lights breaker to switch off the lights. However, if I only turn off the lights breaker, and go into the switch panel with my voltmeter, I am still detecting 100V AC across the switch (with it off), even though the lights stay off when I turn the switch on. In order to remove the power I was detecting, I have to also turn off the dining room breaker, even though the lights were staying on when I switched that off.

This conforms to no type of electrical theory with which I am familiar, though there might be some peculiarity of household wiring I don't know about that explains this. Can anyone tell me what might be going on?

Update 3/24/19: After replacing the dining room dimmer switch with one specifically designed for LEDs, those lights are now working quite well. Based on several people's advice in this question, I have now set out to replace the bedroom dimmer switches that are connected to outlets with toggle switches. Have run into additional issues detailed here.


texts: Are fairy lights safe if you cut or break the wire?

texts: My string of fairy lights I have got old and somehow the wire at the end broke and fell off. The lights still work, but is it safe to use with that broken wire?


texts: Bridging Neutral and ground in a Light Switch

texts: I changed my bathroom light switch for a Occupancy Sensor Switch but it would not turn off. Since the package said Ground Wire Required I figured it was a ground issue. The location has wiring from 1962 so I tested the switch in a newer location and it worked fine. Instead of connecting the Green Ground screw to the ground wires in the box I tied it in with the neutral wires and it works fine now. Its the only switch in the box and no other wires in there. Can I leave it like this or is it a hazard?


texts: What is causing the high limit switch to pop on my electric water heater?

texts:
The high limit switch has popped twice on my electric water heater, both times at night.  I reset the switch and the water heats and it's ok throughout the day.  Wake up in the morning and it's popped.  I tested the switch, thermostats, and heating elements with a multimeter and everything seems ok.  I'm getting 243v through everything and continuity through both upper and lower elements from what I can tell.

Any other ideas or should I just replace parts until it stops?


texts: Does weathered wood benefit from paint or sealer?

texts:
2-3 years ago my father-in-law created new gates for us.  He was visiting from out of town, and his visited ended before he could paint them.  At that time, I didn't understand anything about wood & thought the paint was strictly for aesthetics.  Now I know it's to protect the wood from the elements.
We live in Los Angeles, where the weather has been more gentle than other parts of the country, but we still get seasonal rain... and they've been through 2-3 seasons of it.
At this point would it make sense to paint them?
If so, I imagine I should sand them.  That's easy enough for the 2x4s, but I worry about sanding the plywood.
Picture attached.  We have small kids, who sometimes draw on them with chalk.


texts: Rail bookshelves on a wall with steel studs

texts:
I want to mount bookshelves on rails in my office. My office manager says that the walls are "drywall on steel studs" on one side; plaster and lathe over "thin steel studs" on the other.

What are my options for mounting? I assume I want to screw directly into the studs - but with what? Just a standard screw? Togglebolt?   Note: I am in earthquake country (California).

This is sort of what I want to do:


texts: How can I fill a large container in a shallow sink?

texts: I'm moving into a dormitory building and the bathroom sinks are very shallow. I want to be able to pour water into my Brita water filter but it doesn't fit beneath the tap. I was thinking of getting some surgical tubing and slipping it over the nozzle and putting the other end in the water filter. Can anyone think of a better idea? I also thought of cutting a gardening hose and using it in the same way. Obviously I don't own the building so I can't do anything permanent. This doesn't have to work super well, if some water leaks into the sink that's ok.


texts: No power to outlet, single line, circuit breaker ok

texts: I have a direct line from circuit box to outlet for garbage disposal, no daisy chain, nothing else on line. Disposal stopped working, thought GFCI was bad, couldn't reset it, so replaced it. Still not working. Checked circuit breaker with multimeter, it is fine.  Removed outlet checked bare wires with multimeter,  no power.  Did continuity test, no continuity.  The wiring is only 5 years old, I cant believe there is a break in this line anywhere.  Before ripping down drywall and attempting to run a new line, any other suggestions on what could be wrong?


texts: Kilz over old oil based finished exterior ceiling yes or no

texts: Can you put water based kilz over an old exterior ceiling that was finished with oil paint 20 yrs ago ? I want to put a latex finish on it and I want to seal it with kilz 2, is it ok to do this ?


texts: Can turnbuckles hold a frame in tension?

texts:
I'm building a king-sized bunk bed using a loft/joist design. Basically, I've got (see below):

slats nailed into joists
joists joined to headers with blind tenons
headers joined to posts with blind tenons

My current goal is to build it without glue, so I need some way to keep the frame in tension. I was originally thinking dovetail joints or tusk tenons, but I just had the idea of using turnbuckles, instead.*

I'd run cables between turnbuckles and eyehooks, one head to foot and the other side to side. The head-to-foot cable would thread through 1/2" holes drilled into the centers of each joist. So:

Is this done, or am I making up something problematic?
Will the eyehooks pull out of the joists?
Will the holes in the joists weaken them substantially?
Am I overly concerned about my ability to make long-lasting dovetails or the difficulty of making tusk tenons? Those are aesthetically more pleasing anyway, so should I just bite the bullet and use one of them?

* I really the idea of a dovetail, but I'm concerned that between my novice craftsmanship and the wood shrinking, they'll eventually pull out. I was thinking of using a tusk tenon when I realized that that joist would only really be good for tension, and if tension is the goal... cables can do tension...


texts: How do I stop the rubber sweep on my front door from squeaking as it moves against the floor?

texts: The main door into my house has rubber at the base of it and it has started to squeak  against the wooden floor when opened.  How do I fix  this problem?


texts: My dining room has a box on each wall with a single pole switch (for exterior light) next to a three way switch (for dining room interior light) that I attempted to replace with new switches. After changing all four switches out, all of the lights (two exterior lamps, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and bathroom) go out when I flip the first single pole exterior light switch off. This switch has 3 black wires connected to it which I’ve identified as the exterior switch, exterior hot, and the third is carrying power to the other light sources. I’ve tried wiring it multiple ways but it’s gotten me nowhere. Does anyone have an idea as to why this one single pole switch is controlling basically all of the general lighting in my house? Not sure what I did wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


texts:
My first post here. I came across these new type of grab rails at Bunnings (Australia) which come fitted with a sound-activated LED light.
This will be for my in-laws who are old and I think it makes a lot of sense to have these LEDs fitted into the bar. But never heard of this company before and cannot see any online reviews either.
They seem to be the only company offering this product in the market.
Here is the link to the LED grab rails - LED Grab Rails


texts:
I just switched my upstairs and downstair thermostats for smart thermostats.  The C wire was not connected so I opened the furnace and connected it.  Both units deliver 27v to the thermostat.  I read where 20-30v is ok.  The upstairs thermostat functions just fine with both A/C and Heat.  The downstairs thermostat is fine with A/C, but when on heat the unit repeatedly blanks out losing power and the clock time.  I swapped the upstairs and downstairs thermostats to see if I had a bad thermostat, but the problem stays with the downstairs unit.

I suspect that when the Bryant gas furnace kicks on that the power must be unstable therefore the thermostat doesn't have sufficient power.  The Heat stays on and runs and the unit will get power again while its running, but the clock gets reset every time.  Therefore its only able to work in hold mode and not with a schedule.

I did verify the cables all have secure connections.

[Update 1]

Voltages measured at the furnace.

28.5v idle

28.1v when it first kicks on

24v blip when the blower kicked on

25v for a bit

14v

I don't know all the stages it goes through (stages is probably not the right word, it's not a multi-stage unit), but something kicks in a few moments after everything is running to drop the voltage.

[Update 2]

Replaced transformer, but no change.

[Update 3]

Discovered that when the voltage drops to 14v and the thermostat goes out, that the control board is also blinking error code 33.  Tested the blower capacitor and it was below the 6% threshold.  Replaced capacitor, but no change.


texts: Recommendation for a light duty screwdriver with a precise clutch

texts: I've scoured the web looking for info on a good light duty screwdriver with a precise clutch but I cant sift through all the bs.  I have a Milwaukee fuel m12 drill/driver which is great for the heavier duty tasks but I need something for smaller tasks. The main characteristic I'm looking for is a good clutch with many positions which can go low enough for working on small sensitive applications like electronics.  Real assembly tools seem to be mostly pnuematic and very expensive, but I don't need that level of precision(at those prices at least) Suggestions would be much appreciated.


texts: How can I attach normal framed walls in between concrete columns?

texts: I'd like to add partitions to this grid of columns. I want to make "normal" walls, framed with 2x4 and faced with plywood or drywall. My concern is how to attach the walls to the columns. Naively, I would build the wall frames, put them in place between two columns, then put concrete anchors through the sides of the frame into the column. That strikes me as possibly not the best solution.


texts: How to fix spacing with a California corner

texts: Ugh.  So I just framed two walls that form an interior corner.  When I layed out the walls, I did the typical mark the centers on the 16's.  What I did not account for, however, was the corner. I did a California corner, which means that the drywall is not actually starting from the end of the baseplate (for one of the walls), but rather 3.5" from the end.  So how do I fix this?  It's a ~15' wall, so can I just add a stud 3.5" past the 8' mark and then have the drywallers cuss at me for having to do the adjustment to the normal spacing?


texts: Running conduit for future electrical work

texts:
We had to pull a section of drywall in our garage due to water damage, and since everything is exposed at the moment I'm wondering if we can do some work for the future.  I'd like to add an electrical box with conduit running up to the attic, as we are planning for our next car in a few years to be electric.  I wouldn't put any wiring in now, but have an electrician wire up whatever charging equipment we needed when the time came.
My question is, can we add said box and conduit now and close up the drywall?  Or when it comes time to have an electrician add the wiring will the inspector need to see the conduit?


texts: Removing the smell of cannabis (not my cannabis!)

texts: Having recently purchased a house which was previously used to grow a "commercial" amount of cannabis I'm struggling to remove the smell. It seems to be engrained in to every surface, hard or soft. How would you approach the task of deodorising the property?


texts: Can oil from a pine tree stain my exterior paint?

texts:
I have a very large pine tree in my back yard, and I believe that the oil somehow discolors the cream paint on my painted wooden siding. The discoloration is a grey blue color.

If I'm correct, then I would welcome a solution.

Thanks. I am located near Toronto in Canada. The tree is about twice the height of the house, and its lower limbs extend very close to the house. The tree is more or less south of the house. The side of the house in question sees the sun in the morning.
Last year I tried to climb the lower portion of the tree, and failed for it was covered in sticky sap.Follows is a picture of the contamination.


texts: Should I remove a broken piece of the pivot rod from the trap in my bathroom pedestal sink?

texts:
I have a pedestal sink in my bathroom and my horizontal pivot rod for the pop-up stopper broke. I was going to simply swap out the pivot rod, however, the short end that broke off fell down the drain into the trap. From the sink down to the bottom of the trap is about 14 inches.

Is it OK for me to leave it there or do I need to disassemble the entire sink to get the small piece of broken metal out? Ideally, I'd fish it out with some long tweezers, but I'm not sure they even exist.


texts: Furnace Draft Inducer Repair: is previously installed back plate necessary?

texts:
I'm replacing a non-functioning draft inducer on the Goodman furnace in my house (GMP075-3).  The previous inducer was mounted with a sheet metal back plate between it and the wall of the furnace.  This back plate happens to cover the 3.5" draft hole on the wall of the furnace with a smaller 1 5/8" hole of its own (see pictures) which I happen to find odd. Wouldn't that restrict air flow?

Since the new inducer assembly didn't come with a back plate, I'm wondering if the back plate is actually necessary.  The inducer being replaced was new as of 2009 so I'm suspicious that perhaps this smaller hole somehow restricts airflow thus causing strain on the inducer motor which led to a failure after just 3 years.  On the flip side, perhaps the smaller hole is necessary because it plays some role in protecting the fan blades from being overexposed to high temperatures via the larger 3.5" draft hole.

Any help from an expert would be much appreciated.  I assume the plate is necessary but want to be sure I'm not going to need a new inducer again in 3 years.

The Inducer Assembly

!

The back plate and/or mounting bracket with 1 5/8" hole.

!

The inducer assembly with back plate in position (covering most of the open fan space)

!


texts: Will high efficiency furnace plumbing lead to cold air entering the house?

texts: At the outside wall of my house I can see two white PVC round tubes/pipes, I understand one is for sucking air from outside, and one is for furnace blowing warm air to outside - correct?  We are worried that the one that blows air out, will also bring in cold air in winter?


texts: Does a contract to build a deck need an occupancy clause?

texts:
I am replacing an exterior deck. I've had several contractors out to give quotes, accepted an estimate from one, and am now in the position of signing (or not) a contract for the work. It's a lump sum contract (the job is small, 1-2 days of work) and contains the following language in a section titled Acceptance and Occupancy:

  Upon completion, the project shall be inspected by the Owner and the Contractor, and any repairs necessary to comply with the contract
  documents shall be made by the Contractor.
  The Owner shall not occupy the property until final payment has been received by the Contractor and a Certificate of Occupancy has
  been obtained.
  Occupancy of the project by the Owner in violation of (2) shall constitute unconditional acceptance of the project and a waiver of any
  defects or uncompleted work.

I have several misgivings about this section:

"The property" is currently occupied and we will continue to occupy it for the duration of the work, which is entirely exterior.
The Contractor is not explicitly obligated by the contract to provide the Certificate of Occupancy to the Owner (it must only "be obtained").
The city website under Inspections and Certificates states that "Certificates of Occupancy or Compliance are not issued for Residential structures."

Based on a few other errors in the contract (which I have marked and will send back to the contractor before signing), I suspect this clause is boilerplate from a standard contract they use for larger jobs.

Is this clause typical for small exterior construction like a deck/staircase?

Should I be concerned if the contractor refuses to amend it before signing?


texts: Why does US Code not allow a 15A single receptacle on a 20A circuit?

texts:
Living in the UK, where we have a different system of mains wiring, my curiosity was piqued by Is it okay to install a 15A outlet on a 20A dedicated circuit for a dishwasher? and its answers. Although there is some debate in comments as to whether a "duplex receptacle" counts one or two receptacles/outlets, the gist seems to be (from NoSparksPlease's comment):

NEC 210.21(B)(1) requires a single receptacle on a 20A be rated for 20A, 210.21(B)(3) says two or more receptacles says to refer to table 210.21(B)(3), which allows 15 and 20's

Can someone explain why a 15A single receptacle is not allowed on a 20A circuit?
(I recognise that "why" questions are often not suitable on StackExchange sites because – without documented reasons from the decision maker(s) – it can be a matter of speculation and opinion, but I feel such a question about electrical safety regulations should have an objective answer).
Under "normal operating conditions", I cannot see any problem with an appliance that can draw up to 15A, plugged into a 15A single receptacle fed by a 20A circuit. You may not be using the full capacity of the circuit, but that seems no different than if a 20A receptacle was fitted and an appliance that draws a maximum of 15A was plugged-in.
Obviously, though, electrical regulations are as much (if not more) about ensuring safety when not under "normal operating conditions". Here I can see how a 15A receptacle on a 20A circuit could be unsafe: if the appliance "goes wrong a bit" and ends up drawing 18A, you will probably be overloading the appliance's cable and definitely overloading the receptacle. But because the circuit and its breaker is 20A, it will not trip.
However, I cannot see how this danger would be ameliorated just by having a second 15A receptacle on that circuit. Assuming code doesn't require you to keep an appliance drawing 5A permanently connected to that second receptacle, simply having a second receptacle isn't going to make the 20A breaker trip any sooner, nor is it going to relieve the overloading of the receptacle that is connected to the faulty appliance drawing 18A.
What am I missing about why a 15A single receptacle cannot be the only connection to a 20A circuit?
(This answer quotes more of Code 210.21, and goes into more details about why multiple 15A receptacles on a 20A circuit are allowed and useful, but does not seem to address why a single receptacle is not allowed).


texts: Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter vs AFCI

texts:
What is the key difference between a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter and an Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter?

The Acronyms AFCI/GFCI kind of tell us that they do, detect ground faults and arc faults, But I only have GFCI's on 5 different outlets throughout my house and in the past couple of weeks I've had a few problems that made me think about this question, A projector had an arc that blew the GFCI, an old outdoor receptacle so old that it was falling apart ( not rated for outdoor use ) and the wires were also loose so when my wife went to use the hairdryer it blew the GFCI that was in series with it, then there was an outlet where the hot wire broke off at the receptacle in one of the bedrooms and It blew the GFCI

wouldn't that mean that a GFCI is basically a AFCI ?


texts: Can I replace a recessed lighting track without replacing the fixture housing?

texts:
I have 20 year old track lights that I would like to replace.   They are Lightolier brand which is now owned by Philips.  The track heads have transformers in them that buzz loudly.  New track heads are hard to come by and are about $100 each.

When they were installed, they were recessed to be flush with the ceiling.  Can I replace the track without replacing the recessed fixture?   I can't tell if the track and fixture are one piece, or if the track is a separated piece that fits inside the fixture.

The track part is 48 inches (4 feet) long and 1.25 inches wide.  The recessed part is about 6 inches longer and wide enough that the track part appears to fit perfectly inside.

Here is one of the track heads that I took apart.   It has a surprising amount of circuitry in it.   I would have expected the wires to connect directly to the bulb without anything intervening.


texts:
Slight sway in kitchen floor, I Removed a divider wall in a basement and discovered  the previous homeowner had removed a staircase and filled in the entryway by adding 2"x 12' joists that are only supported by hangers.

This has Resulted in a distinct dip and sway along the effected area.
I have a 9 ft span that needs support in order to level.

Looking for advise on support beam size and if I can support the beam with two steel basement style columns.


texts: I have a 1000 gal plastic septic tank about 25 ys old that drains into a seepage pit. When I am away for 3 weeks the water level drops about 6 inches below the output drain pipe. I fill it back up and it seems to hold the proper level. Is this normal because of evaporation and solids breaking down or do I have a leak? The kitchen sink and toilet with a two gallon flush are the only connections to the tank.


texts: I have a light switch feeding two lights in my swimming pool. The lights won't come work when the light switch is closed. When in the closed position I get 110v across the line and load terminals. What does this indicate?


texts: Can I safely install outlets in my basement?

texts: My house has an unfinished basement, and I want to set up a workbench in one area. Unfortunately, there is only one usable outlet in the whole basement, and it's not conveniently located, so I want to put in others. I have no electrical DIY experience. Can I safely do this as a DIY project, or do I need to bring in an electrician?


texts: Tile Around bathtub. Over drywall vs. vapor shield & backerboard

texts:
I am remodeling my bathroom, and the last step is the tub. The Place for the tub was about 3 inches longer than the tub, so we built the wall out by putting drywall over the studs.

I keep reading about cement backer board and a vapor shield. What are my options as i already have drywall behind the tub (stopping at the tub) but behind it.  Can I put roofing tarpaper over the drywall and then secure cement backing, or what?

I'm not sure what to do, this bathroom seems to be build a bit oddly.

See pictures below:


texts: Is there a problem installing a floodlight upsidedown?

texts:
I need to mount a few floodlights in my backyard, but due to the downward angle and how it will be mounted, I must do it upside down. Is there a problem with that?

Some of the other floodlights will be installed facing directly down.

Those are cheap chinese 50W LED floodlights. They have a rubber gasket all around it, and seems to me water resistant at least. I'm more worried about water entering where the cable exit the case.


texts: How to connect plumbing to a trap adapter which is already installed?

texts: I'm replacing the drain plumbing from my bathroom sink, and there is currently a 1-1/4" male threaded PVC fitting coming from the wall, which I assume is a trap adapter that was installed at some point in the past.  I have the nut from it and understand it should tightly clamp around a new piece of pipe, but I can't seem to make it work.  There was no gasket there - should there be one?  How do I go about attaching the plumbing to this threaded fitting?  Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!!


texts: Normal Hardwood floor installation on a wood structured deck

texts: We need help on installing hardwood floors made of larch (a type of cedar).  They are 3/4 wide and we want to install them just as we would inside a house.  We will oil them with an exterior oil/varnish.  Should we install them differently,with more spacing perhaps? What do we use to avoid water build-up or to waterproof the deck? Is it the sun or water we should be more afraid of?  What about freezing?