texts: Possible to oil my Furnace Fan Motor myself and with 3-in-1 Motor Oil?

texts:
My Furnace Fan/Inducer Motor (not the Blower Motor) has been noisy all the time lately. I put some 3-in-1 motor oil by the Gasket. That really seemed to eliminate the noise. Some people have said (outside this forum) to oil it or not oil at all. I chose to oil-the sound was so loud. Was it ok to oil and with that type of oil?

I put it by the gasket. But what are the 2 orange rubber plugs that I can remove off the housing unit? Should oil go in there too?

Don't laugh. I'm a single homeowner and don't know much about furnaces. And I can't afford a HVAC guy right now.

Thanks for the replies.
(My main question was about whether the 3-in-1 was ok to use to oil the gasket)


texts: Ceiling Light Won't Turn Off After Replacement

texts:
So I wanted to replace a broken chandelier in my new house and after doing so with a simple flush mount light, it won't turn off despite what position the switch is in. I am sure I re-connected them the same way they were attached. But do note that there was this one extra white wire the was capped off and not being used. See the images as well.

And I don't think this would make any difference, but I'm also replacing the dimmer at the same time (from rotary knob to slider with toggle). I've read other threads such as this, but can't seem to figure it out. Thanks]1


texts: Apartment on the top floor gets very hot - cheap, eco friendly ways to keep the place cool?

texts: I have an apartment on the top floor of an apartment building (the community roof is right over us). In summer, the place gets very hot! I can't start a community garden upstairs and am dying with the air conditioning bills. Is there some quick cheap way in which I can cool my place?


texts: Solar panel installation on a old vintage roof

texts:
We are in a 106 year old home with an old vintage roof. My wife believes that the old roof with vintage wood is precious and that the holes that are to be drilled in to the wood (especially the sturdy old wood which is rare) is probably not a good idea.
But once the panels are installed, the holes will always be covered by panels, so I don't see any concerns. How difficult or problematic would it be to fix the holes if we were to remove the panels in the future? Is this a common concern among other homeowners with older roofs?


texts: Please advise how to lubricate stiff latch bolt of mortise lockset on metal exterior security door. (NOT the pins in the keyway!)

texts:
The latch bolt of the mortise lockset in a metal security door is stiff.  I worry about the long-term effect of slamming the door in order to drive the stiff latch bolt back and allow the door to close in its frame.

There is much discussion of lubricating the pins and the cylinder of the keyway, centering around the pros and cons of graphite and non-greasy lubricants.  But there is no discussion of how to lubricate the portions of locksets which are not along the keyway.

I plan to remove the mortise lockset and, hopefully, open the case to expose the latch bolt mechanism.  Can I assume that the latch bolt mechanism is simply a moving metal part in a metal housing and lubricating it is unrelated to the controversy over whether graphite or graphite-substitutes are appropriate to keyways?

What to you think of this plan?  Disassemble and clean the latch bolt parts.  Remove dust and dirt along the moving path of the latch bolt.  Lubricate the latch bolt mechanism either with oil, or possibly grease it?


texts: How to deal with upside-down insulation?

texts:
I'm considering buying a house, but in the crawl space, they installed the insulation like you would from the inside -- by stapling it in using the kraft paper.

Of course this means that there is exposed kraft paper (fire hazard?), and likely no vapor barrier.

Would it be worth flipping the insulation so it's installed correctly?  If the only issue is the vapor barrier being a fire hazard, should I just peel that off and install wires to hold it up?

And in case it's a factor, the area can get quite cold in the winter -- it's on a mountain at 1700 feet (~520m) above sea level.  It's in Virginia, if that would affect any codes regarding insulation.


texts: How to fix small holes in a wall caused by throwing darts?

texts:
I can think of a few ways of fixing these marks on the wall but I don't want to try anything without first getting some advice.

I have a dart board on a painted wall and as is inevitable with darts, there were quite a few misplaced darts which have left marks in the wall.

I'm wondering what's the best way of fixing these holes?


texts: Nest thermostat installation to furnace and heat pump

texts:
We have

T874G1196 thermostat by york (can only find honeywell documentation)
MB7BM-1200K-B air handler
H8HK015H-21 electric heater
Thermopump (heating and cooling)

We want to connect it to a nest thermostat E.
We have 7 wires to connect to the nest. This is a picture of our current thermostat wiring.

I spoke with a nest employee via chat on their website and she seemed to say that our system was compatible only we would need to get a pro to come and "join the O and B wires into the "*ob" terminal on the nest". She also mentioned something about possibly needing a relay but was reluctant to go into detail as I felt she was worried I might mess up my system.
Before we go and blow a whole wad of cash for some guy to come and twist 2 wires together, I just wanted to get your opinion on our setup.


texts: If I get a e14 to b22 converter, will this affect how bright the b22 bulb is? What about a gu10 to b22 converter?

texts: I was buying same, and I suddenly wondered why they even have different kinds of light fitting. Is a e14 or gu10 socket capable of delivering enough juice to a b22 bulb? The old bulb was 9 watts, new one will be 15 watts.


texts: Why do water heaters get up to 12 year tank warranties in consumer stores, but only 10 year in supply warehouses?

texts:
I'm looking at gas tank water heaters sold in home improvement stores (Rheem Platinum at HD, AO Smith ProMax series at Lowes) and they offer up to 12 year warranty for their top models.  Meanwhile local plumbers who get water heaters from professional supply warehouses say all options (Ruud  made by Rheem, AO Smith ProLine series, Bradford-White) only come with 10 year warranty tops.
What is the reason for that?
It sounds implausible that supply warehouses would sell cheaper models. Does it mean that consumer store labels "stretch" the warranty a bit?
Please advise.


texts: What is this electrical device in my basement?

texts: Is it something to do with the doorbell? House was built in 1947 if that helps.


texts: Installing Basement Subfloor over 30-year-old Vinyl

texts:
I'm going to install a basement subfloor. I have 2 rooms that had vinyl squares glued down - a bathroom and laundry room. Can I lay down rigid XPS insulation and plywood directly over the vinyl and not have to worry about the vinyl adding a little bit of slope in the doorway? It's really, really thin. I think not but I want to make sure.

mj


texts: Is it a good idea to have an Infrared scan and/or air quality test done during a home inspection?

texts:
I'm looking to purchase a home that is only 10 years old, but has a finished basement. There's various home inspection "packages" that are offered with the companies I've looked into. The mid-line features an "Infra-red scan" that can theoretically detect potential water problems behind the basement walls (this is about $200 extra), as well as an "air quality" test where they identify allergens in the home (which is, like, $400 extra).

Are either of these tests worth it, or, rather, are they actually able to find anything important? Would the infra-red scan really be able to find water behind finished basement walls? Would the allergen test be able to discover hidden mold or anything like that?

My family is moderately allergic to dust, and has some mild mold allergies... On a 10 year old home is there are real danger of having abnormal levels of mold/dust that would be found with the whole home air quality test?


texts: What kind of walls are these? What hardware should I use to hang up some canvas prints?

texts:
I'm looking to hang up some canvas art (already on stretcher bars). However, I don't know what kind of hardware I need to use, because I have no idea what kind of walls they are. They don't seem like drywall because they seem like they're solid walls. Here is a likely useless video of me tapping on the wall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufvZzCUg1Gc

Is this plaster? If I want to put a screw in, should I drill a hole first? Should I be looking for studs?


texts: Basement Flooding suddenly. It looks like I have a French drain. Why is it still flooding?

texts:
I recently bought a house and for the first month+, there was absolutely no water in the basement.  All of a sudden one day, I go downstairs and there are puddles!  I look and see that the water is coming from the seam between the floor and the foundation wall, but also through the floor in some places.
The funny thing is, I have a sump pump and the pit has THREE corrugated pipes going into it.  They are all spilling out water constantly and this water is being pumped out.  It seems like (if I reach my hand in through the pipes) they go along the walls.  This leads me to believe I have a french drain system installed in the basement.
The question is, even though there is water coming out of these pipes, why am I still getting a flooding basement?  And why in the world would it occur so suddenly like this?
Maybe the pipes clogged up?  Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
UPDATE: 7/6/2020
I found out that the french drain system I had was not done properly.  Namely, they did not drill holes in each and every void in the concrete block foundation (they actually didn't drill any holes at all!).  Furthermore, they raised the entire floor 8 or so inches. So in other words, the french drain is located on the original basement floor, then there is a whole new floor poured over top of that.  Thus, the water this system was draining was simply the seepage water going through the wall at the original basement floor level.  This amount of water drainage was not sufficient which led to the flooding (puddles).
It was completely impractical to remove the entire basement floor (what a crazy solution this was from the previous owner!).  Thus, I had the french drain job redone by a reputable water proofing company.  They jackhammered the edged of the basement, removed the old drainage pipe, drilled holes in every block void, put new pipe down and poured new concrete to cover the drains.  Cost about $8,000.  I have had zero problems since.  We have had some serious rains in these few years and it has remained dry as a bone down there ever since.  Thus, this story proves that not all french drains are created equal!!!


texts: How to remove thermocouple from this manifold door?

texts:
It has a black object that seems to be secured down by a U shaped clasp. I cannot see how the clasp can be removed. Everything is tight and doesn't appear that a tool can fit anywhere to loosen it up.

Front

Back


texts: Should I use cement board or green board behind the walls of a neo angle shower?

texts: I purchased a neo angle shower and I am installing it on the second floor of my house.  I have the pan down and I am ready to drywall.  which is safer to use, cement board or green board behind the shower panels?


texts: Want to build a trap door in the guest bedroom for easier furnace access

texts:
I own an 80 year old house. The furnace is located about 40 feet from the crawl space access through some very tight fits. Changing the filter is a very uncomfortable 30 minutes.

What do I have to worry about if I install a trap door in the floor of my guest bedroom for easier access? I assume there's some structural integrity issues I need to keep in mind? The floor is hardwood.


texts: The inspector failed the sub panel box location because it only had 6 feet clearance and not 6.5.  The electricians came and moved the sub panel box, but they did not run a new feed cable.  They put a junction box and added the rest of the run from the junction box to the new panel location. The box is in  a utility room so it is not hidden and is proper that way.  Is it proper as per code and good common sense to spit the feeder cable to the sub panel that way?


texts: Discovered 10/2 wired 3-prong receptacle for dryer. Is it ok to leave as is?

texts:
We removed a drop ceiling in our 2nd bathroom and discovered that some previous homeowner/DIYer had run wiring for a new dryer through the drywall ceiling into the wall, and hid it with the drop ceiling - rather than drill through the top plate of the wall.
We shut off the breaker, unhooked the receptacle, drilled, and ran it through the top plate.
The wire is 10/2. I am attaching a photo of how it was wired. Ground is screwed into the metal box, and then into the neutral prong. When we reconnected it, we re-wired it exactly as it had been.
Dryer came with the house when we moved in 2 years ago. We have never had any problems with it.
Dryer is on a 30A breaker all by itself.

Is it ok to leave it as is?


texts: Which wood turns grey, and which turns black with time?

texts:
There are types of wood that turn grey with time, and others that turn almost black. At least, unfinished wood changes color rather quickly.

The question is which turn grey, and which turn black?

It is to build a tiny house. Most Swiss chalets turn black with time and I wouldn't want that.


texts: Why might we have 3 twin wires in our doorbell chime?

texts:
We're currently looking to replace our wired doorbell, but before doing so I wanted to understand the existing wiring - unfortunately I don't!
We have a transformer next to our consumer unit supplying 12V AC to the circuit, and a single push button outside the front door (which only has a single pair coming to it).  Each of these accounts for 1 pair of twin wires arriving into the chime - why might there be a third pair?

Each of the pairs has one wire commoned together in the wire nut.  From what I can tell, it seems the transformer supply is connected to the T3 terminal, with the other two on 0F.
I'm intending to replace this like-for-like, just with a nicer looking chime, so I could just reconnect everything as-is on the new one, but I'd like to know what this other wire is for!  Does this imply that we might have another push button somewhere?
If I separate out the two non-transformer leads, and try one at a time to figure out which is the actual push button, am I probably better off leaving the other pair disconnected, since we have no idea where it might be going?


texts: Is it safe to drill small holes in load-bearing concrete beams for expansion bolts?

texts:
It seems to be very common to drill small holes in any kind of structural concrete for mounting fixtures without worrying too much about any kind of reduction in strength of the structure, but I prefer to be safe than sorry…

We have a concrete beam (roughly 285mm wide x 540mm high including plaster coat) supporting a roof and part of a mezzanine floor.

I know nothing about the composition of it; it may encase a steel I-beam (the rest of the building structure is steel I-beams) or it may simply be reinforced concrete. The building is circa 1960s so it is not likely to be unreinforced concrete.

I wish to attach a 2 m horizontal length of steel pipe along the beam to attach stage lighting to. The pipe itself will weigh about 9 kg, and I will hang at most about 10 kg of lighting equipment from it.

In order to fix the pipe to the beam I would need to drill eight 6 mm diameter, 20 mm deep holes in the beam (four at either end of the pipe for the mountings). I would put M6 Dynabolt expansion anchors in these holes, which are rated for 3.4 kN (346.7 kgf) shear capacity each, giving a very large safety margin above the expected load.

Is it safe to drill small holes like this into structural concrete and use expansion anchors in them or should I consult an engineer before proceeding?


texts:
I live in a older trailer and yesterday I had a breaker trip.  It trips after 15 seconds every time I reset it. What is funny is that the breaker works things on the back side of the trailer like the venthood, a light in the kitchen, an outlet in the living room, the ceiling fan in the living room, a outlet in the middle bedroom, and two outlets in the last bedroom.

I looked at the outlets, the wires look fine. Can an outlet go bad? Or could it be the venthood or ceiling fan?


texts: Ceiling lights powered, but not from main panel

texts: My contractor seems to be creating energy from thin air. He uncovered some old wiring while replacing the ceiling plaster in my living room. I had him use this wiring to install low voltage can lights and they look great. As I was installing a smart switch, I was unable to locate a circuit breaker in my main panel that was powering these lights. We had a new main panel installed 7 years ago, could the old wiring have simply been missed when wiring the panel? Could it somehow be directly connected to the main line coming in the house and be unfused?


texts: What (animal?) made a 0.75" diameter hole through my asphalt shingles?

texts:
Something made a tidy 3/4" diameter hole through my 8-year old 3-tab composite roof shingles. (~45 deg pitch, if it matters) I suspect it was a woodpecker (they used to go at the side of the house, till we wrapped it in hardi-plank.)  Another possibility is yellowjackets - this Seattle house has had its share.

The hole seems a little large to be yellowjacket-created, but I don't know, really.  I am surprised at anything taking the time to go through the asphalt like this.  Anyone know what it could be?  Can I just replace the affected shingles and call it good?

Details:

1908 construction, re-roofed in 2007
45 degree pitch roof
50-yr architectural 3-tab.  8 years old
Hole cleanly penetrates 3/4" plywood underlay.
25 feet above ground level (Any solvent would have to have come from a flying source)
Hole is nearly vertical (not perpendicular to plane of roof.  EDIT:  Looked more carefully-it is a little past vertical (Farther from perpendicular to plane of roof.)
Hole is above where ceiling meets roof (sloped ceiling.  Not accessible.)
There are no power cords running through the rafter bay at that spot.
I fished around with an olive grabber and recovered a couple of pine needles and insulation from about two inches down.
A red-shafted northern flicker has taken serious interest in this house in the past, and still frequents our lawn and pine trees.
Looking around the area, I found a half dozen beginnings of other holes, diameter of a pencil eraser, halfway through the outermost layer of shingles. Could be old. The large hole could be old too.

It is bizarre.  I give up.  Onto the repair.

I'll get more/better photographs tonight.


texts: Wiring question on replacing a 240 volt wall heater with a 120 volt heater

texts: My old wall heater is 240v.  See all the wires from the first photo.  The new heater is 120v.  See second photo.  The green ground wire is on the box.  How do I connect the new heater to all that wires coming out of the wall?


texts: Ok to add basement egress window underneath giant grade-level window?

texts:
Our one-story house has a very large window on the first floor -- appx. 72" high by 130" wide. I'd like to add a basement egress window to the room below. I'm worried that having more glass than wall on this side will somehow compromise the structure. Is that a realistic concern? E.g...

Does cutting the foundation for an egress window put more lateral stress on the foundation above/below the egress window?
Does having an egress window put more lateral stress on the above-grade wall?

In case it matters, the wall is a gable wall. This wall supports a beam in the ceiling of the 1st story and the foundation beneath this wall supports a beam in the floor of the 1st story, but in both cases the beams are a few feet away from the window opening and the proposed egress window. Floor joists and ceiling joists run parallel to the wall in question.

The house is 60+ years old and there is evidence of some small displacement (1/4") between the corners of the very large first floor window and the floor/ceiling.


texts:
I'm trying to remove several Raceway Wiremolds.

A few of the Wiremolds seems to be firmly stuck to the drywall. I'm worried if I pull too hard it will rip out chunks of paint/drywall. Any advice on removing them?

I was able to remove some of the Wiremolds - but they left a sticky residue behind. Any recommendations on how to remove it?


texts: Looking for a volume control valve for an under the sink water purifier

texts:
Since I am into plumbing these days I would like to fix one problem that has been pestering us for quite a while now. I installed an under the sing water purifier (This Guy,  RainFresh SST Mode). The water is coming out way too fast, some times splashing over the counter if you fully open the tap (it has its own tap)
Is there any way to control the volume  for this thing ?(I guess this is the problem)  Opening the tap more or less seems to do the thing but you need to pay attention and the pressure is just to much and you can't always get it right so the water splashes all over the place.
Here is the diagram, the only difference in my case is that I have a shutoff valve on the 1/2" pipe and then right on top of it I have a 5/8x3/8x5/8 compression tee that branches out the 3/8 line for the water purifier and also goes to the regular cold water tap using a hose
So I guess I need something that can be either attached inline to the 3/8 pipe that feeds the purifier or replace the T with one that has a turn off valve on the 3/8 line, I just can't find the part


texts:
I had a lawn tractor engine freeze up, and I pulled the head to fix the problem.  While I had it apart, I put several parts into my ultrasonic parts washer to try to remove the caked on dry grease.  It cleaned the parts really well, but apparently removed the surface coating of the metal that prevents rusting.  Totally exposed, the parts began surface rusting in less than a day -- not good.

What can I coat the metal parts with to prevent surface rust that can handle the heat of a small engine?  I've got clear electrical varnish, WD-40, petroleum, silicon lube, gun oil, etc.  What works best?  Any "don't use" protectants that would adversely impact the engine?

Bonus question: The ultra-sonic parts washer is a new acquisition.  Are there things I shouldn't clean with it?  It seems to remove essentially everything on the surface of metal, both the nasty stuff, and any protective coatings, paints, etc.


texts: I’m moving into a my new home and fixing things that I can. Does anyone know what kind of light bulb I need for this ceiling fan light ?  My best guess is a T4 based on googling but the slot has a meta connector in each side. It also reads 500w


texts:
I have a basic question that will surely be very easy for anybody less awful at this kind of thing than me: this is an electric hot water system, right? What are the various inlets/outlets/valves?
(If it's relevant, this is in Sydney, Australia.)


texts: Old wires in kitchen ceiling seem wrong. Any thoughts?

texts:
Just bought a new replacement ceiling fan/light for kitchen in house we just bought, which was built in 1912 and has obviously had a wiring update, but many years ago.

I switched the wall switch off and snipped the wires leading from the ceiling to the old fixture. The electrical box is brown plastic. The cable coming into the box has a white sheath and a black and a white wire, plus a bare ground, which is bent back into the box but not connected to anything -- just touching air. The black lead, assumedly the hot,  is connected to two additional black wires. They are properly wire-screwed, although no electrician's tape was used.

The white lead, presumedly the common, is properly wire-screwed to a black wire. (But, again, no tape.) This black wire has a little band (label) around it which reads "0".  The two black wires connected to the black lead have bands reading "2" and "3". What do these numbers mean?

I used a voltage detector and all three wires caused the detector's light to illuminate and the tone to sound. HOWEVER, However, the black wire connected to the white lead caused the voltage detector to react the strongest. The other two black wires, connected to the black lead, caused lesser reactions by the detector, one a little stronger than the other. The detector is a Sperry 50-1000 volts, $17 pen type from Ace Hardware, The black wire that is connected to the apparently common (white) lead activates the detector from 8". The other two, which come off the black lead, must be in contact with the detector to trigger it.

The new light/fan has a black, a white and a blue wire.

I've installed several ceiling fan/lights previously, but have never been faced with the slightly clouded wire-color issue, nor with the bent back but not connected ground.

Any suggestions? Thans for you help.


texts: How to clear pool filter pressure gauge that is stuck?

texts:
I've got an in-ground pool, and a DE filter from Jandy. The pressure gauge is in an assembly bolted to the top. The assembly looks like something like this (image from catalog, mine is pretty much identical):

Today, when I powered the system down, the pressure reading didn't change. I pulled the gauge assembly off and tried blowing it out, removing the relief valve, etc, etc, to no avail. I have to assume something has gotten stuck in the gauge inlet.

Is there any good way to fix this? At the moment I can't even figure out how to get the thing apart.

The ring on the front (where clean/dirty are written) does rotate, and if I have no other answer, I'm going to try prying that off and see where it leads me.

UPDATED: @mikes had the right answer - swap the thing out. I ended up swapping out the whole unit, as I had no idea how to (non-destructively) get it apart. Someone else might like to know how to disassemble the thing in order to get at the actual pressure gauge itself:

Remove the trim ring. I found a notch on the bottom and pried with a screwdriver

Unscrew the pressure gauge. It's normally threaded, however whatever they used as a sealant didn't want to let go for me. Excessive force may be required. Because I wasn't sure of what I was looking at, and thought perhaps it was formed in place somehow, I ended up cutting the thing in half to find out.

Thus, we can see that as long as you can manage to get enough force on it to unscrew the pressure gauge, it should be possible to replace JUST the gauge portion, instead of the entire unit as I have done.


texts: Do I need 10/2 or 10/3 wire for a 220V heater?

texts: I am wiring a receptacle for a 4800 watt (220) construction heater ( the standard type found in home stores). Do I need a neutral wire or not?  Do I use 10 awg wire 10/3 or 10/2.


texts: How to support 20 feet of 4 inch pvc drain pipe horizontally along a concrete wall?

texts: I need to run 20 feet of 4 inch drain pipe horizontally along a concrete wall. Someone suggested saddle clamps and anchors. I am not sure exactly what type to use, especially if the pipe is full of rain water.


texts: Fragile paperback on cellar ceiling batts

texts: Installed in 1968, these insulation batts now fall, or hang. The paperback has become so fragile the insulating weight pulls it apart. What suggestions for a remedy? Replace? Or?


texts: Morning ! Does anyone know what this is? It’s above the water heater in our garage  and I just noticed it has a black mark that looks like it was left by smoke. Thank you all!


texts: Corrosion due to dissimilar metals or bad ground?

texts: I'm a 1st time home owner but experienced DIYer here. Unfortunately I have little plumbing experience. I installed a hot water recirc. pump at my hot water heater about a month ago. I did not notice any leaks, but this morning noticed corrosion at the fittings and on the case (see pics). Could there be a bad ground where the pump plugs in or could it be due to dissimilar metals?


texts:
My brick fireplace is ugly and I want to make it inset contemporary

I know I could remove the hearth but can I remove the front area of the fireplace? Basically remove 1-2 bricks to make it flush with the drywall. Would that cause any structural issue?

Also what do I cover the brick? I assume there is some high heat drywall ? The new inset firewall will have a glass door


texts: water heater circuit requires a ground connection

texts:
Purchased a British Standard water heater with 3 supply connections -live, neutral and earth. The circuit design requires a ground. Tried to fix the water heater in Philippines which only has 2 pin supply connection. Although the water heater could work *tested with elcb switch etc) , it has a built in safety alarm system that require the water heater to be grounded. Tried connecting the ground wire from the equipment to a water pipe but it did not work.
How do you connect a ground to the water heater circuit  with a two-pin supply line ?


texts: Can you apply surface-bonding cement over stucco as an exterior finish?

texts: Let's say you have a wood-framed wall with cement-based stucco cladding and it's in pretty good condition, with a few typical stucco cracks. If you wanted to seal the cracks, add another layer, and change the color, could you apply surface-bonding cement instead of a (much more expensive) additional layer of stucco?


texts: Running multiple UF wires in a single trench

texts: I'm taking power from a 100 amp subpanel in an outbuilding and running three branch circuits: two to small outbuildings for lights, one to a horse waterer that draws 1.5 amps. Two questions: can I run the three UF wires in a single trench for the first 50 feet?  Do I bring all three UF wires into the power source building in a single LB or do I put in three LBs?


texts: Is there a proper name for this kind of toothed disk?

texts:
I'm building a piece of furniture with an adjustable part and would like to use a toothed disk similar in concept to the examples show below. Before having it custom made, I am searching for a manufacturer, maybe buy something off-the-shelf. Problem is, I'm not even sure what this would be called... Can you tell me a proper/generic name for this?

A web search for "toothed disk" turns up a lot of cogs and wheels, however only one of those hits is for something similar to what I am looking for (and is discontinued):

The concept is that 2 of these disks are fastened to the opposing pieces. Pulling the 2 pieces together with e.g. a bolt causes the teeth to engage, and so the 2 pieces are fastened to each other at a fixed angle, which can be adjusted to suit needs.

Other real life examples that I have seen this used in:

Height adjustable piano stand:
Adjustable press arm:


texts: Updating old Lennox thermostat - wiring confusion

texts: I am trying to update my old Lennox thermostat to a Sensi smart thermostat. I checked the compatibility on the Sensi website and it appears to be a match except for this cluster of wires on the left side of the photo. I do have a heat pump—is that what these are for? The Sensi installation instructions don’t cover how to install for these. I have no experience with any of this so any advice would be appreciated.!


texts: Can I use caulking to install a marble threshold?

texts:
I have a black marble threshold that I'd like to install in my bathroom doorway. Is it OK to use caulk to adhere it to the floor, or perhaps liquid nails? Or is this not recommended?

If not what is the easiest adhesive to use for this?


texts: Very low hot water pressure entire house

texts:
Setup: Electric 53 Gallon Heater, installed in 2014 by previous owners.
Location: Tampa bay, Florida, Home built in 1961, typical cinder block house.

WE purchase the home in December and all has been working great.

Issue: Very low hot water pressure in the entire house. Water begins when first turned on with an acceptable amount of pressure but quickly over a few minutes drops to very low pressure. Enough time for a 5 minute shower, if that!

We called a plumber out and they recommended to replace the water heater. They suggested there is probably a clogged line in the water heater itself?

What I have done: I have drained the hot water heater from the bottom of the tank for about 5 gallons, there was no sediment what so ever at the bottom.

Any ideas?


texts: How often should I repaint the inside of my house?

texts: How often should I repaint just to keep it looking fresh? Should I wait until the old paint start to peel and crack or should I repaint it every 2 to 3 years regardless if the old paint is still "quite fresh" or not?


texts: Can't remove screen from bottom of dishwasher

texts:
I'm trying to do something that should be really simple - clean the filter in my GE Triton dishwasher, which won't drain. It has this screen that covers most of the bottom of the dishwasher, and I need to remove this screen to get to the filter in the back. But the screen is attached to plastic posts with these metal objects - I don't know what to call them, but they look like they are designed to go on once and not come off.

The plastic posts appear to be part of the base of the dishwasher and they don't budge. I have pulled pretty hard straight up on the screen and these things don't come off naturally. I've gone at them with a pliers with no effect. Is there a trick to removing these or does it have to be destroyed?

I've found one youtube video where someone removes the same screen and it doesn't appear to be attached at all, so I assume this was installed in a non-standard way. I definitely have to remove it to get the screen out.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How can I temporarily soundproof my apartment ceiling?

I often hold parties with music at my house and would like to do a courtesy to the neighbors by soundproofing my walls. Their house is about 100' away.

Is there a way I could block or dampen the sound going out, preferably a non-permanent solution? I have thought of acoustic foam panels, sound absorption sheets, even a treeline between our houses, but as I have never done this sort of thing before, would like the community's input.

Thanks


texts: Does a sub-panel in an outbuilding require a ground wire or rod?

texts: My main elect panel in the house has a common neutral/ground bar and not separate bars.  If I run from this panel to a sub panel in a detached pole barn and attach the two hots for 240V and one neutral that is connected to the neutral/ground combination bar in the main panel, am I grounded properly?  Would I also need a ground rod in the pole barn and if so, does it get connected to the neutral bar or is it grounded to the sub panel itself?


texts: How can I remove automatic temperature adjustments in a house heating control panel?

texts:
In a White Rodgers 1F87-361 house heating temperature controller there are several programs for automatically adjusting temperatures for several timings in each weekday. I was wondering how to remove all or some of the settings.

Starting on page 6 of its manual, I don't find a way to disable or remove all or some setting.

Thanks.


texts:
I'm thinking about how to stain the railing on my deck.  What I have is the same design as the last three pictures on this page.

I'm going to take the glass out before I stain, so there is some disassembly already.

In an effort to stain less often, I was thinking I could place the pieces into an ABS Pipe (sealed on one end), fill the pipe until the wood is covered, and pressurize it with air.  It would look like this, but more vertical and without the steam coming into the bottom:

My question is, will it work to do a better job applying the stain, and how much pressure would be needed?

I couldn't find anything online as the searches kept bringing up how to handle pressure treated lumber, pressure washing and steam boxes.

Edit: After asking this question of others, they seemed to think that there would be no gain in this.  That dry wood will soak up the stain and there would be no gain from pressurizing it.  Coupled with the amount of stain that would be wasted, they thought this would be highly impractical.  I'm hoping someone would have further experience with this.


texts: What is this cable popping out of my lawn?

texts:
There's a black cable cutting diagonally across one side of my front lawn (askew to my house, not going towards it, also not going towards the local electric transformer or my neighbor's house). The roots of a large tree seem to be pushing it out of the ground. I called Miss Utility last month and left a message but they never called back.
What is it, and what should I do about it?


texts: Building a house, door from house to garage

texts: We are building a house and they installed the garage door to open towards the garage with two steps down, I don't think is right and I asked them to flip it but now they say it was that way in the plans, and I should pay for it. I am not sure is fair, and definitely not safe. We are in Edmond Oklahoma and I cannot find the code. Could someone please help me with that? Thanks


texts: Trying to install a nest doorbell but need to change the transformer. I believe I found it here but it is attached to a switch next to the furnace. When I unhooked the wires the doorbell stopped working so I believe this is it. Would like a second opinion?


texts: How should I level my tiles on a concrete slab with 1/2in tilt

texts:
I am tiling on a concrete slab which is flat but tilted, and I have just less than 1/2in to fill, at the lowest point.
To compensate for the tilt, should I

apply adhesive cement on both tile & surface, with a 1/2in notched trowel, or
fill & level with cement first?

Tiles are 1' x 2'. The affected area is about 50 sqft (about 25 tiles)
The picture shows my levelling lumber along the top of the tile surface, a loose piece of tile, and the gap, with a 1/2 notched trowel for reference.


texts: Can a 40amp breaker be used safely and without issue with a 40amp device on 6AWG wire?

texts: We are installing a Cooktop that calls for a 40amp circuit. I was given 6AWG wire (instead of the 8AWG wire I asked for) by mistake. The electrician saw the 6AWG wire (that I had already run) and used a 50amp breaker. The Cooktop installer requires that the breaker be 40amp. My electrician was concerned that using the larger 6AWG wire would lower the resistance therefore affecting the amps; he cited Ohm's law. He has refused to change the breaker from 50amps to 40amps for fear of damaging something or affecting safety. I thought the amp requirement was dictated by the device (it asks for 40amps) and the 40amp breaker would ensure that 40amps is all that it would get. Does anyone know of any dangers/issues if using a smaller breaker with 6AWG wire?


texts: I had to remove a section of plaster and wooden lath from my living room ceiling the size of about 48x48 because of a leak.Would replacing it with drywall be the best option and what would be the best best joint compound to use.


texts: How do I properly jack up one side of my house?

texts:
As I write this, I have a slight lean as I walk on my floor in some parts of my house, and it's even worse on the upper floor. In some parts upstairs, it feels almost like you have to grab something. Visitors don't notice this, but I do. The lean was noticed by my dad as well when he stayed with us, got up, walked in the dark across the floor upstairs, and ended up in my bedroom when he was expecting it to be the bathroom. He said, "Yeah, you're right. The floor leans up here."

About ten years ago, I built my 4500sq ft house and the scammers who built my foundation flew the coop and are no longer found. All was fine for the first couple months, but then a long ridge appeared down the middle of the house floor, lifting that small section up about a little under a quarter inch. So, I called the builder out to remove the ridge. He brought his jacking equipment and was doing great in removing the ridge until we got to the kitchen, which was the remaining part. When we got there, it was pretty finicky and didn't want to go down. He called out his assistant and I heard a sledgehammering going on. Then, the whole house shook like an earthquake, an entire wall sunk down about 2 inches, and huge cracks appeared in several parts of the house. As well, the back of the house seemed to have gone down about 1.5 inches.

In this emergency, I fired the builder and told him never to come back. I then called out RamJack. They gave me an estimate on the entire thing for $17,000 USD and brought out stainless steel piers. They are stainless in that they rust on the outside patina -- so, the cheap stainless, they told me.

What they found when they inspected was that my foundation was done by fly-by-night scammers who basically only gave the impression of a foundation. It was pretty good in some parts, but in other parts they failed to use rebar, pour concrete, and only had the sunk-in part of the foundation going down about 2 feet, rather than 3 or more feet. A couple columns were only about 1.5 feet down into the earth!

Meanwhile, RamJack also discovered that my water table was high, and recommended that I get a drainage expert involved. They said they could dig down about 3 feet and hit water. (Later, a Charleston architect engineer visited my house and said that high water tables were common and that he had seen worse. He said that I should work towards improving drainage, but that for the most part the house will be okay because I had so many piers (about 36 of them) and several of the key ones were RamJack steel piers.)

Anyway, they managed to repair much of the house and I thought all was great. But then they got to the back of the house, and said they under-estimated and needed to request another $20,000 USD to finish! So, I fired them too. They only got $17,000 USD out of me.

So now all is well except that I need to bring up the entire back wall of my house, which is about 50ft long, up about 1.5 inches. I used a laser measure to figure this out from multiple locations, following the instructions on the box. More than 4 years has passed since the RamJack guys were here, and the house has stayed steady with no more sinking.

TL;DR: Therefore, what's the proper way that a contractor needs to raise the 50ft back wall of my 4500sq ft house about 1.5 inches, as affordable as possible? I mean, as I interview contractors, I want to see how close they will be to your assessment.


texts: Can I repair chips and holes in a wall with spackle and paint?

texts:
While using a pull-up bar, I damaged the wall adjacent to the door frame in my flat. On inspection, more than just paint came off.
To fix it, can I use spackle to fill in the missing layer, sand and then paint? I have no issue with the potential difference in texture and patchy paint.
Also, can the same method be used to fill a hole in my ceiling? (also pictured)


texts: Can I draw 240v out of this configuration?

texts:
This is how my subpanel looks like. I am looking to install a breaker for an AC unit. 20A. The only caveat is that this has to be 240V. This is a subpanel coming from the main one. There is a breaker of 60A of capacity so I think it should be alright from the load sense, assuming that it supports drawing 240V from it. Any information or pointers are appreciated.

Thanks


texts: How should we sand and treat our Victorian floorboards?

texts:
We have recently bought a new house, well a new old house. It dates from 1900, we have taken the carpet up ad are now looking to sand back the exposed original floorboards.

We plan on giving the floor a light sanding, as it smooth just somewhat dirty/cosmetic imperfections.  Is the correct process to use a fine sandpaper, and then possibly an intermediate if necessary ? We will be using a large commercial floor sander.

After sanding we envisage the wood being a lot lighter, and therefore we will need to stain it.  What stains are best oil/water/spirit based ?

How many coats of stain are required ?

After staining it is necessary to apply a varnish ? We intended to apply two coats of clear varnish. The first coat can be watered down, as it is used to seal the wood ?

Does our plan look like a good one ?

Edit

Just in case anyone is interested, the floor is all done.

We used 3 coats of ronseal diamond hard floor varnish.  Before the final coat of clear varnish we sandpapered with fine grain by hand, and wiped with wet cloth/let dry for couple of hours. This got rid of a number of cloudy marks that were present and caused, I think, by our slightly imperfect sanding.
So one thing I learn't - don't be afraid of the rough paper and really giving the floorboards a good going over.  We got them smooth, but there is substantial variation in colour where different amounts of wood were taken off by the sanding/levelling process,however we quite like this the distressed/aged look; They are over 100yrs old after all.


texts: Where does the C wire go in my A/C - Furnace?

texts:
I know there are similar questions asked but I can't make sense of the diagram in mine. The wire was already run, and you can see the small blue wire hanging disconnected in the picture. Diagram attached.
I'm not not sure where to connect it in the combo A/C - heat unit.
Thanks for any help.

Unfortunately I can only post one picture...so please try to explain as you would to a child...


texts: Is it considered safe to connect ground to neutral with GFCI outlets?

texts:
I am retired electrician. I have had contractors tell me to change ungrounded (2 prong) outlets to 3 prong and connect the ground to neutral (bootlegging). There was only 2 conductor/no ground cable going to the metal box. Grandfathered in was his answer.

Another contractor (similar...no ground to box) permitted GFCI replacement, but bootleg the ground...and no marking.

Both appear to be illegal. Is this unsafe?


texts: Where to connect C wire if no C terminal

texts: Hi wanting to connect Nest and want to install a C wire. HVAC only appears to have G,W,R so not sure where to connect C.


texts: 8'x8' platform 8' off the ground. If 4x4 steel columns, do I need bracing?

texts:
Remote off-grid land with lots of bears, coyotes and even turned wild domesticated dog packs.

I'd like to build a 8'x8'platform 8' off the ground for camping and use the bottom for storage.

If my corners are 4x4 .25 steel.

Do I need bracing if only going to have about 400lb on top at any give time?
2x6 okay for deck support?

It would have a custom ladder I can pull up. Trying to avoid bracing so it can't be climbed by animals (especially black bears). I've heard adult black bears can't reach things over 7.5' and can't really jump or do pullups.


texts: Repair tub liner with water trapped beneath

texts: The previous owners of my home installed a tub liner rather poorly.  The first time we used it, water was trapped between the liner an the tub.  The top portion is tile, the bottom is a tub with a liner.  How to get the water out without total destruction of the liner and replacing the tub? How can I seal the liner properly so more water does not get in?


texts:
I am a DIY newbie, and I need help with some damage that starts to appear in tiles along a convex edge.

The corner of my bathroom looks like this (walls, floors and that "cube" are all tiled):

The red areas mark where damage is starting to appear:

And I'm not quite sure what to do. I was told just applying some silicone works great for sealing edges, but

I'm not quite sure how to properly apply it on a convex edge.
I'm afraid applying material on the edge will create an annoying shallow accumulation of water on that "cube", whereas right now the water mostly drains to the floor over that edge.

That edge is hiding behind the cabinet so the issue is not aesthetic, I'm just afraid that the damage will continue to expand and that water might seep through the crack.


texts: Found Lath and Plaster wall under remodel drywall. Is it restorable?

texts:
I'm currently in the process of restoring my 1906 home's bathroom.

At some point in the last 10-15 years the bathroom was given a cheap remodel. New plumbing and outlets were run and drywall was hung over the existing walls. At this point (or in the previous tile makeover I've now uncovered) many of the historic details seen in other units (such as picture rail and chair rail) were removed.

Yesterday I removed the builder-grade medicine cabinet added in the remodel. One thing lead to another, and I started digging into the top layer of drywall.

As you can see, at one point (1970s?) tiles were affixed to the wall. The tiles were removed, leaving the adhesive on the wall. Then (10-15 years ago) new drywall was put up over this surface. The lath and plaster was completely removed from some of the lower sections to run the plumbing, which gives us a view of the plaster cross section.

Ideally, I'd like to restore the plaster walls if possible. This would better match the look of the rest of the house, which does not contain any drywall. But I want to be certain that the wall I've found will produce that result.

So, my questions are:

What type of material is this wall where the tile was formerly attached? Is this the same "lath and plaster wall" found in the rest of the house, or a different material that was put up at some point in the past to facilitate tile?
Is this plaster suitable for being the surface wall of a room?
Once I finish removing the drywall, what steps must be taken to turn this rough plaster wall with tile adhesive into a paintable surface that matches the lath and plaster walls found in the rest of the house?
Should any additional steps be taken, given that these walls are in a bathroom?


texts:
Did a search... Found a lot of helpful information, but nothing that looked quite like what I'm working with here. Trying to take out this plastic junction box to install a ceiling fan... I'm assuming I would need to install a brace to do that. Trying to get this plastic box out and I'm running into issues. It has one screw in the middle, which is free. Box doesn't appear to be nailed, I can spin it around, but can't pull it through the ceiling... Any tips for getting this thing out? Trying to avoid going in the attic since this box is a pretty far crawl from where the attic entrance is...

The plastic "tab" on the left side of the picture would fit through the drywall, so there must be something above that's bigger and won't pull through?


texts: Drywall mud differences for taping, or gaps?

texts:
Just wanting to hear a second opinion besides from friends.  Are there any preferred products to use for taping versus filling screws and holes or gaps between sheets because framing is not square?  I am familiar with the general purpose mud and then something like easy sand 90 that comes in a bag.

What's the preferred product for filling the horizontal seams before taping?  And is it best to fill the gaps first, let that set up, then apply another thin coat with the tape embedded?


texts:
It's black, with white in the middle, and copper around the white.  Any ideas?

I have a picture but not sure how to add it...


texts: Re-Wiring to add new main panel and make existing panel a sub

texts:
Our house is mid 1990's with 200 Amp service. The meter is on a garage wall (attached to the house) and the panel is in the laundry room about 20 meters / 60' distant. I'm not sure how the panel feed runs from the meter, but think it may be under the garage slab, entering the house via the crawl space. The panel is 100% used, although many circuits serve only one or at best a few outlets.
The issue I have is that the original owner only put 1 15 amp service to the garage.
I am a wood worker and plan to buy an electric vehicle in the next year or so, so want more circuits to the garage - 120 and 240V, but as the main is full and the garage is on slab, this is not a simple proposition.
What I would like to do is add a new panel in the garage, on the inside wall directly behind where the meter is located. My thinking is to make it the main panel, with the existing panel converted to being a sub panel.
In the new garage panel, there will be a need for 60-100 Amps to feed the new ccts for power tools and a vehicle charger. The rest of the power in the house will be unaffected.
The major power users currently on the main panel are a heat pump and electric hot water heater. The heat pump (60A) can be moved to the garage panel fairly easily, the hot water tank cannot.
My question, before bringing in electricians to quote on the job, is whether / how I can achieve my goal. Is it feasible to convert the existing main to a sub panel & bring all power from the meter to the new garage panel and then feed the existing panel from it or is there something else I need to consider?
Suggestions welcomed


texts: Insulating a vehicle ceiling, exterior vs interior application with cork

texts:
I have a truck with a large doka (9 seater crew) cabin. This is uninsulated at the moment. I am considering options for summer and winter insulation but do not want to sacrifice head space.

I insulated the cargo area with expanded cork sheets in the interior ceiling and it worked beautifully as a conductive insulator. I can't use the cork sheets in the ceiling of the cab however due to height constraints.

Since cork is weatherproof, could I achieve good summer and winter insulation if I glue the cork sheets to the roof of the cab? For the summer, the cork would not transmit much of the heat radiation from the sun to the interior. For the winter when running the diesel heater, I assume the heat would transfer through the steel roof but then not pass the cork sheets.

Another option is to put reflectix type radiant barrier in the ceiling of the cab for winter insulation in order to trap the heat produced by the diesel heater. Combined with cork on the outside it might be a good all season combination.

In any case, I would appreciate some thoughts on the exterior application of cork insulation in a vehicle as I haven't seen it done before. I would put a roof rack over the cork to catch any vegetation when offroading and also add a sheet of plywood on top of the cork to prevent damage since the material is a bit fragile.


texts: What is the most common home automation technology?

texts:
I will soon move in my new house and I am looking to create a custom home automation system using what already exists on the market.

The most important thing would be to interface well with existing products on the market, for example lamps, fridge, television, etc. Is there one mainstream radio technology that can communicate safely with most devices?

I don't want to build my own lamps, but I wouldn't mind putting together an "automation box" to meet my needs, do you have any advice?


texts: Electronics drawing lots more amps that it should

texts:
I recently powered up my 2 antminer S9 for mining bitcoin. Don't worry, this is all electricity questions.

So I have them running off a 240v single phase plug on a 30 amp breaker with wire gauge as follows: breaker to outlet 10awg;  outlet to junction box 12awg; and  junction box to individual plugs 12awg.

Now when I originally did the calculations for this I was going off the manufacture specs for power consumption which is 1330 watts each. meaning about 6.15 amps each. But after doing the install and everything,I stuck my clamp meter amp gauge on the wires. I'm getting 11.6A on one of the wires and 11.9A on the other. So if my math is correct this would mean that each one is drawing 2500 watts and that is WAYYYY outside of the amount of power this thins is rated to be able to produce. it is supposed to max out at 1600 watts.

The total length (from breaker to computer) is about 85ft total.  I know there is a voltage drop of like 3-4 volts but that's fine... it's just confusing the hell out of me why I'm getting such high amperage readings. I have one more machine in the mail still, and had originally planned to run it on the same circuit, but now I'm concerned that I have to now make a new run for the entire thing to have all 3 on one breaker.

Also this just hit me: a 30 amp breaker means 24 amps is about the 80% max line.  I'm drawing 11+- amps from each leg... so is that 22 amps on the entire circuit, or can I safely draw 24 amps on each leg of the circuit? Does anyone have any ideas how this is possible? Below is the spec sheet for the power supply from the manufacturer.


texts: Fixing a bathroom vent exhaust going only into attic

texts:
First, the facts:

We live in Western Oregon (lots of moisture)
Home was built in 1979
Bathroom exhaust fans are vented into attic
I like to do things once and do it right
I am planning on venting the exhaust outside

Questions:

If I vent the exhaust to an outside wall, should I place the vent high up on the wall so it is protected by the roof?  But will I get moisture buildup on bottom of the eave?
Should I place the exhaust vent lower on the outside wall?  It will not be as protected by the eave.
What type of vent should I use?  Is it different than a dryer vent?


texts: How do I test a 5V doorbell transformer?

texts: In this post, both the OP and responder discuss testing a transformer. I'd like to know exactly how the user tested the transformer. I have a 5V doorbell transformer which I would like to test. Is an ohmmeter all I need? If so, how do I do it?


texts: Is soil in an open rock spoon drain a blocker? Think we've got a cowboy job done

texts:
Being on a slope, our place has a lot of problems with surface water flooding. We've had a spoon drain installed along our upper boundary to redirect surface water away from the house.

Here's a pic of the spoon drain, it's supposed to be 300mm deep and 1.5m wide, with large rocks packed into the sides to give a U shape. Doesn't look like that description, theres so much soil in there I think it's probably blocked before we even get rain.

Is this an issue? Or will the rain wash it out?


texts: Vinyl plank flooring direction in connecting rooms

texts:
I installed vinyl plank in the dining room and now want to continue through landing kitchen and laundry room
The installer said that I need to change the direction of the flooring because it won’t be a straight line from laundry room > landing > kitchen
My question is if it would look weird having the same flooring meeting in the landing in different directions.
I’ve included a pic to show the “connecting” area.
I know it may be an aesthetic question but just curious about the pros and cons.


texts: How can I convert a single light/fan switch to separate switches?

texts: I have a single switch for ceiling fan and overhead light. I’m looking to wire to a two switch plate so I can run independently.


texts: How to insulate / finish a row house basement?

texts:
I am planning to insulate the basement of my row house. Given that I'm in Region 5, I will need proper insulation on the exterior-facing basement walls. But what about the walls facing the neighbors? As far as I know, we're either all in the same poured concrete foundation or their foundations are separate but directly adjacent - there is definitely no gap between the houses (see Figure below).
The basement is 100% below grade in the back and approx. 70% below grade in the front (where the door & windows are located).

I could not find any good guidance on my exact situation anywhere. Are there code requirements (I'm in Boston/MA) and/or best practices for these side walls? Specifically:

Do they need any kind of insulation? If not by code, would it still be recommended? How much R-value?
Should I frame along the wall with studs, or can I install furring directly on the wall?
What should the corner transition between exterior wall and neighbor-wall look like (insulation, sealing, etc.)

On one side, my neighbor's basement is unfinished, on the other side it is finished.

Drawing for reference (the light grey areas to the left and right side of the walls represent the neighbors' basements, which have identical geometry):


texts: Is this a normal fault mode for an arc fault or what is happening in my wiring to cause my AFCI to trip

texts:
Sorry for the long preamble.
I'm doing a remodel which involves adding a new guest room which shares a wall with the kitchen.   I remodeled the kitchen a few years ago, so I have a good handle on the wiring there (like seven circuits -- two for small appliances, lighting, dishwasher, disposal, microwave, and one more circuit for miscellany like the fridge, range hood, gas range outlet,  the light in the adjacent laundry).    I ran all new wires for everything, except for the miscellaneous circuit, I used a 12/2 cable from the 80s which looked perfectly good.   Everything has been fine for 5 years.

Now I decide to use the circuit also for the outlets and lights in my new guest room.  Everything is wired up, and everything works great.   But then in preparing for the inspection I went and bought an AFCI since they will require it for that circuit.
AFCI trips.   Crap.

Start debugging.   Disconnect all the new wiring  -- still trips.
Unplug fridge -- still trips.   Unplug range -- still trips.
Disconnect range hood -- still trips.
Disconnect all the wires at the first outlet.   As far as I know, it is a straight shot for the panel to this outlet.   So maybe there really is arcing in the main line from the panel.   But it does not trip.   OK, I'm feeling pretty good at this point because I can add the downstream wiring one at a time.
Reconnect the range hood (without the hood on) -- doesn't trip.
Reconnect the laundry lights and new wirings -- doesn't trip!   That is all the downstream wiring!

Then I switched on the laundry lights -- trips -- just the lights, maybe 50W.
Turn lights off, plug in fridge -- trips.

Basically, I'm forced to conclude that something about the wiring is causing the AFCI to trip -- BUT ONLY when any current is being drawn -- but it doesn't matter by what!

So now the question:
Is this really how an AFCI will trip or how an arc will happen?   Only when there is any current being drawn?    I was assuming that if the wiring is really susceptible to arcing, it would happen just from hot being poorly insulated from ground or neutral.   Why does current need to be drawn??   Is this just about how AFCIs work?

What is the explanation of what is wrong with my wiring and/or how to debug it now?


texts: Does Age of Home need to be considered when encapsulating crawl space?

texts: I have had my crawl space encapsulated.  It has made a big difference in the air quality inside the home (80 years old).  However, I am now seeing cracks throughout my home in the walls closer to the top half of the walls and also on my fireplace brick.  It has been approximately two - three months since having the encapsulation done.  My concern is the cracks seen in my fireplace - the walls I can fix but the fireplace is pretty much a 'fixture'.  Is the age of my home so old that the encapsulation is doing more damage then good? Do I need to be concerned, especially with the fireplace now having a 'Z' crack going on?  Also, when will the 'cracking' stop...lol.  I appreciate all those who can help me with these questions.  Asking someone in the 'foundation' business around where I live brings all kinds of 'issues' that may or may not be true issues.  Thanks!


texts: How can I hang a skateboard deck on the wall?

texts:
I have a Skateboard deck and I'd like to hang it on the wall. Analog to hanging a frame on the wall.

I've thinking about it but I have no idea on how to do it. Firstly I was thinking to suspend it, but I think it's not elegant enough.
If you have any ideas, please let me know.


texts: I have someone replacing my breaker panel in a couple weeks. Its old and the breakers are failing and hard to find. I have one dead circuit that I need to power up. I disconnected the circuit from the breaker, can I power that circuit by an extension cord from a live receptacle to one in the dead circuit?


texts: What width of wire for 24V DC LED driver?

texts:
I bought a 24V/25W LED driver from a local shop and the sales assistant sold me a short length of 20AWG control wire to go with it.

In order to buy more wire (elsewhere) I looked up the UK (mm2) equivalent and found it to be 0.5mm2, however I notice that the driver's output terminals have written on them Sec:24VDC 0.75. Is "0.75" a wire gauge recommendation? Should I be using 0.75 wire rather than 0.5?


texts: How are Clopay Intellicore garage door R-values so high?

texts:
Clopay's garage doors with their proprietary "Intellicore" polyurethane foam insulation claim R-values as high as 20.4 in a 2" thick door, or R-10.2 per inch.

State-of-the-art spray polyurethane insulation has an initial R-value up to 6.7 per inch, or about 65% of what Clopay claims (in a best-case scenario).

Clopay's technology is proprietary, but how is such a high R-value even technically possible for a polyurethane foam?

EDIT 1:

I realize that there are other elements besides foam in the door, but their cross section illustration (top of page) depicts polyurethane foam injected into a steel shell. The steel certainly does not increase the R-value, so the R-value apparently comes solely from the foam.

EDIT 2:

Some context for posterity: I'm considering building my own insulated garage door, and through some research I found that Clopay appears to lead the market in garage door R-values. Trying to see if (and how) I can get anywhere close to their R-values.


texts: What to put down under new carpet or "luxury vinyl tile" to prevent cold floors?

texts:
We have a hardwood living-dining room floor that was improperly installed (before we arrived), and squeaks and creaks something awful.  We plan to rip out the old flooring and put in LVT (luxury vinyl tile) that locks together and looks similar to hardwood.  (Example.)  We used something like this in our previous house and were very happy with the results.

The subfloor has a bulge in the middle.  We think that there is a structural beam there that used to have a dividing wall over it.  We suppose the house (built in the 1940's, upstate New York) settled around the edges, leaving the silly bulge in the middle of the floor where there wasn't any sinking.

My first question is, do we need to level the subflooring before laying the new flooring?  (I want to make sure we don't end up with a creaky floor again when we're all done.)  If so, with what method?  I have read about using roof shingles, and I've also heard about putting down little strips of different thicknesses and then putting down a new subflooring on top of that.

Second: the floor here is cold and frankly in some places feels rather drafty.  Would an underlayment (such as TrafficMASTER
Premium 3-in-1 Underlayment) help?  The friend who is going to help us install the flooring says he has always used a single thickness of newspaper instead of a commercial underlayment, and that has worked great for him (!).

Note that we have a semi-finished basement under the main floor of the house.  In principle we could put in some insulation batting in the "ceiling" of the basement, instead, if that's a better approach.

Alternatively, should we paint the subflooring with some sort of waterproofing?  Not that there's a water or moisture problem, but I wonder if that would be a good approach.  And/or caulk around the edges of the subflooring?

Lastly, how smooth does the subflooring need to be?  Obviously I don't know what it looks like yet -- but once it's exposed, what should we be checking for, e.g. nails sticking out, rough surfaces, dust and bigger particles, etc.?  Should we shop vac the whole thing?

Most of these same questions regarding the prep for the bedrooms, where we are going to put carpet (after pulling out the creaky hardwood flooring).  The floors in the bedrooms feel particularly cold and drafty.


texts: Caulk/paint between wall and ceiling falling off, how to paint over?

texts:
We just removed wallpaper from one wall in our new house. Most of the wall underneath just looks like plastered concrete wall, however, close to the ceiling, it looks like there is instead white paint

since it is much whiter than the rest of the wall, although there is not a clear transition between the whiter part and the rest which is a bit strange. This paint is coming off close to the ceiling. Moreover, between the wall and the ceiling there seems to be a layer of caulk (or something similar), which is falling off in some places

We are very puzzled why close to the ceiling, the wall is white, but the rest of the wall looks like just plastered concrete, and not sure how to deal with this. Should we try to scrape off all the white paint? Or should we just prime and paint over it? Should we also remove all the caulk(?) between the ceiling and wall and then recaulk? Or just recaulk the parts that have fallen off? Or can we just use a joint filler? Or ignore it completely? We don't plan to paint the wall white, so maybe that is also a relevant factor.
EDIT: After further inspection, it actually looks like it is not painted, it is just the caulk that has been smeared out on a very large surface close to the ceiling...


texts:
I had a led pool light that switches colors when you press the light switch in the house on/off. On the back of the switch I only have a black, white, and ground wire with no load wire. Can I use a "smart switch" with this?

The system I'm using is a Wink hub.


texts:
I am about to install a water heater in our condo. This is inside the house so I want to be careful about possible leaks. I am putting a drain pan underneath it and need to connect it to a drain somewhere.
I noticed this pipe in the back wall of the water heater closet and am wondering if this is a drain pipe that I can connect the drip pan to. Any idea if it is or what is a good way to test?
We just bought the condo and the previous water heater did not have a drain pan (causing it to leak - long story). I have reached out to the HOA but not sure if they'd know either.
PS: adding a couple more pictures. We had to remove the dry-wall due to leaks from the old heater. You can see the pipe on the bottom of the platform on which there is the AC unit.


texts: How to remove "metal" tile adhesive from backsplash area?

texts:
Is there no way? There is a similar question here from 2015 with no answer.

Our kitchen was tiled with thin, copper-colored aluminum tiles (probably in the '80s), which look like this:

The adhesive is brown, brittle, somewhat flexible, and could be acrylic or latex but I am unsure. It has a rather acrid "organic chemical" smell similar to plumbing putty:

I haven't tried a heat-gun yet but am thinking this may be the way to go. But before I do, are there any concerns? Any chance asbestos could be involved?


texts: Old kitchen light fixture was wired backwards, should I reverse it with the new one?

texts:
After looking through some other posts here about switch loops, I don't think that's the situation I have here. When I pulled off the old light fixture for the kitchen (dual bulb), it had the white wires from the fixture connected to a single black wire, and the black wires of the fixture were connected to three white wires that were wrapped together.
Should I wire up my new led fixture the same way, or was this wrong to begin with and I should reverse it?
In the picture you can see a red cap that has a few black wires from elsewhere in the room, and a single white wire that mates up with the black one that was connected to the fixture.


texts: How to Remove Cpvc from copper shower valve?

texts:
I discovered a slow leak in the house I purchased which was causing all sorts of moisture related issues. (pretty sure the previous owners knew about it cause they had just installed new carpet and just happened to leave a water key, but that's another story...)

After cutting open some access to the shower valve, I quickly discovered the source of the leak was where the male Cpvc adapter fit into what appears to be a female copper adapter that has been sweated to the shower valve.

Upon trying to remove the existing cpvc adapter, it snapped and began deteriorating on me, now I am stuck with a valve that has the threading of the pvc adapter still in the copper adapter with no obvious way to remove it to replace it with another.

(it was difficult to capture a picture of the plastic inside the copper adapter as there is a wall stud the runs parallel to the piping, but it is the right hand side of the valve above with nothing attached to it.)

What is the best course of action to resolve this? Is it possible to find a way to destroy/remove the remaining plastic without messing up the copper threads? Or will it be necessary to remove the entire shower assembly and go from there by replacing the metal adapter or possibly the whole assembly if it is unfeasible to "unsweat" and replace the copper adapter?


texts: MWBC (Multi-Wire-Branched-Circuit) w/out joined breakers, how best to fix?

texts:
I was trying to replace a fan/light in my living room with a new led light, and have found that the living room branch circuit (lights and outlets) is actually fed by a Multi Wire Branch Circuit (14-3) that powers both the living room and a second branch circuit that only powers two kitchen lights. As an MWBC, The two circuits share one neutral and one ground.

I had suspected something might be funky, because a tester in a living room outlet had indicated a bad ground, which I understand would happen in this case, though it is also my understanding that both circuits would actually have a working ground.

At the panel, the MWBC is properly attached to two adjacent slots but the two breakers are not linked together, as code says they should be. After turning off the living room circuit, I was fortunate to check for hot wires before touching anything, so I was able to figure this out and turn off the kitchen lights branch circuit before I touched a hot wire.

Anyway, my question is, how can I fix this? Two options I was thinking about were: replacing the two breakers with a dual pole breaker  so that they trip together and no one risks touching a hot wire like I almost did. I have been slowly adding GFCI/AFCI protection to other circuits; would I be able to find a dual function, dual pole 15A breaker like that? (Square D Homeline panel). Would the shared ground and neutral being shared cause problems with this? Secondly, I was thinking about just eliminating the branch circuit that powered the kitchen lights (disconnecting and wire nutting the hot wire at the panel and the junction box, and labeling them as such), and combining the kitchen lights and living room lights and outlet onto one circuit. I will be replacing the two kitchen lights with leds totalling only about 35 watts, so am I correct in thinking that the extra power draw from adding the kitchen lights to the living room circuit would be negligible and OK to do?


texts: What standard is this very coarse screw?

texts:
I was repairing Sony headphones when I saw some screws were missing. As all screws were the same, I took off a non missing screw to see what size and thread it was.

I measured the outer diameter and it was 2mm. I measured the pitch and it was around 0.6mm. What standard is that? M2 would have 3 times smaller of a pitch. What standard is typically used in electronic devices? Where can I find this type of screw?


texts: Kitchen fixture pulled lose from ceiling

texts:
My kitchen fluorescent fixture has pulled lost from the ceiling and is dangling just by the electrical wires. It is an older home(25years) and the anchor bolts have pulled thru the drywall. I have tried to drill new holes but the drywall just keeps pulling out from the weight of the fixture.
What type of repair person should I call because the drywall may need to be repaired also.
Electrician, handyman, kitchen remodel shop??????


texts:
I'm looking to put up some drywall in front of a concrete wall in my basement. Just for hanging things on, and to make the space nicer.

There are some pipes that run horizontal along the top of the concrete wall, about 2" away from it. Can I just turn my 2x4's 90 degrees and attach them to the wall that way? That's the only way they'd fit between the pipes and the concrete wall. I don't need the drywall to go all the way up to the ceiling, I'm fine with leaving it short to allow for the pipes.

Thanks for any help.

Jason


texts: Repair holes concrete ceiling (not just masking them)

texts:
An old apartment, where dry wall was a thing yet. The ceiling is concrete, plastered and painted.
There are many holes, from current and previous owners (different light spots installed in different locations).
There is a concern now about just masking these holes with compound and painting. When another person decides to drill new holes to install new lights (or even a projector), it might be too close to an old hole that was masked with compound, and that could cause it to fall. Drilling right by a compound would not give the same grip, and things would fall.
Maybe I wrote too much, but the question is: if masking with compound and paint is not acceptable enough, what would be the way(s) to repair this ceiling so it is like the original, allowing new holes that would be safe as an original ceiling (without the fear of being too close to a masked hole)?
This should be valid for a wall of the same material (not dry wall, that is, a concrete+plaster+paint). Drilling right be a repaired hole with compound might be unsafe if hanging heavy items like a TV.
I know the odds are low, but it can happen if there are many holes.
Thanks!


texts: How difficult would it be to replace these fuses with circuit breakers?

texts:
I had a fuse blow last night. While the short-term plan is just to replace the fuse wire, in the longer term I'd like to switch them out for circuit breakers for the added safety but mostly for the convenience.

Click for larger view

Is this going to be a simple case of swapping the fuses for circuit breaker units or will I need a new consumer unit? If it is a simple swap, is there anything I need to bear in mind when buying the breakers (beyond the obvious matching of current ratings)?

I'm not sure if it's relevant, and the voltage might have already given it away, but I'm in the UK.


texts: Switch Loop / End Line Switch - Adding a Ceiling Fan

texts:
Adding a ceiling fan in a room where nothing existed before.  I have a single pole switch on the wall that controls an outlet.  When I opened the switch, it looked like it was an end-line or switch loop switch (are they the same thing?).  Only a single 14/2 wire coming in with both black and white connected to switch.
Would it be possible to tap into this as a power source for the ceiling fan addition?  I don't care if the ceiling fan is always live and controlled from the pull chains.  Or controlled from the single pole switch along with the outlet it already controls.


texts: How should a new brick wall tie into an existing wall?

texts: When building a new brick outside, block inside extension, where it joins an existing brick wall. How should the new wall be tied into the old. ie should the outside brick AND the inside block be tied to existing or is brick only with block tied to new brick via cavity fixings.?


texts: Is this seam normal for Quartz counter top

texts: I was wondering if this installation looks normal (see pictures). One of the reasons that we have asked for the quartz countertop was that we thought that the seam wouldn't be that obvious. But the thing that we have got looks very obvious to us. So I was wondering if my expectations was unrealistically high or this is actually an unprofessional work. Also, it seems that the part underneath is not sealed properly (please see the last pic). I was wondering if this is normal practice. The first picture is the seam, the second is the view from the side, and the last one is the view from under.


texts: Can I replace a fan timer with one having duration options beyond one hour?

texts: We have a dial that only goes up to an hour to control our fan so we are continuously getting up and turning it for another hour. Can this be replaced with a longer timer dial, like 12 hours?


texts: How do I wire a light switch and outlet in the same box?

texts:
I have a single gang box in a bathroom with a GFCI outlet. I'd like to replace it with a 2-gang box containing a GFCI outlet and a light switch for the vanity light. The outlet will have both receptacles live (not switched).

The vanity light currently is not switched; it is controlled by a pull-chain on the light itself. We're going to replace it with a non-pull-chain type of light and we want a switch where the kids can reach. It'll be nice not to have to explain to our guests how to use our bathroom, too.

I did some poking around and it looks like the vanity light is fed from a different branch from the receptacle.

One plan is to pigtail the switch and gfci outlet onto the supply line, and then take the output of the switch out of the box up to the vanity light.

Another way to do it would be to run a switch loop from the lighting fixture down into the 2-gang. The gfci receptacle would be wired the same as it is now, and the switch would be on the switch loop.

Is one of these the correct way to do it? If not, how should I wire this?


texts: Why are steam radiators used in the USA?

texts:
In the UK, we use water radiator systems when the boiler heats the water to about 70°C, this allows the boiler to get most of the energy out of the gas (or oil) by condensing the steam you get from burning gas.

I can’t understand why anyone would design a system that could not operate with a condensing boiler – what am I missing?


texts:
I'm trying to replace a two prong outlet in my garage with a GFCI.

The receptacle line is fed from a light switch on the wall, and the load runs to an outdoor(one bulb) lamp post.  The general procedure is described here except I'm replacing a two prong outlet and there is only one outgoing wire(to the lamp post).  Replacing receptacle with GFCI outlet which will be tapped for outdoor pole lantern

The incoming and outgoing wires are both three wires(black, white, uninsulated(bare copper) ground).

I'm feeding the load through the gfci rather than pigtailing.  However, when I connect the incoming and outgoing ground to the gfci and flip the breaker the gfci trips.  When I disconnect the ground the gfci lights up properly.  If I connect the incoming ground only it also lights up.

Any ideas on this?  Keep in mind the old outlet was not a three prong(I can't recall the exact way the ground were wired previously) so it had no grounding for anything that was connected.  I read through all related topics and no one describes the exact scenario.


texts: Spilled paint thinner on fiberglass bathtub and took finish and color off

texts:
Dripped paint thinner on fiberglass / acrylic bathtub in several locations and left several “spots” ranging in size from 1” diameter to 4” diameter.

Surface is smooth and appears to have only removed the top finish surface.

Who do you call to repair?


texts:
I'm remodeling the washer room and have a question bout my drain and vent pipe. I'm buying new units and I want to extend the drain pipe to the back of the washer. Currently it's on the side close to the front of the washer.  The picture shows on the left what it use to be.  Once in a while it would back up and spill out. So with the new units coming and wanting to go 2", I was thinking of breaking the cast iron vent, put in a rubber tee and capping the old 1.5 drain pipe. I'm not going to try and fit it in the wall so it'll exposed. Vent pipe will then go 1.5 up out the roof.
What do you guys think?


texts: How should I connect the ground wire for my light fixture?

texts:
I am replacing a light fixture in my bathroom and have the following setup:

The electrical box is plastic
The wire coming from supply has black (hot), white (neutral) and copper (ground).
The light fixture comes with a metal bracket for attaching to the electrical box that has a green screw
The light fixture has black, white and copper wires.

The instructions supplied with the fixture dont give me an example of how to wire it up if there is an existing ground wire coming from supply.  It only tells me to attach the copper wire of the light fixture to the green screw.  So I'm curious what I should do with the ground from the supply.  Looking online, my options appear to be this:

So I think since the electrical box is plastic, I should just connect the ground of the supply with the ground of the light fixture with the wire nut.  Do I need to connect both of them together with the green grounding screw on the light fixture as well, or would that only be if the electrical box was metal?


texts: Electric baseboards draw electricity, but produce no heat

texts:
I recently purchased a house that has been vacant for about 6 months.  I have 4 electric baseboards. When I turn on the circuit breakers for the baseboards, they draw a lot of power (roughly 6kw from checking the meter) but produce no heat.  They don't even get slightly warm to the touch.

How would I go about diagnosing this?


texts: Repairing a textured ceiling. However the new drywall mud stayed gray rather than turning white.  I've never had this happen before, why is it gray? it isn't old or moldy.  it was mixed just for this job. It basically looks like it didn't dry at all though it is. What do I do to make it match the rest of the ceiling?


texts: Is it safe to use two single-pole breakers for a 240 V circuit?

texts:
I recently had an electrician come out and replace my electric panel.

He seemed very knowledgeable and overall appears to have done a good job, even went through and labelled most of the panel... Except for three breakers at the bottom of the panel.

One of these breakers is for the pool lights and an outlet near the pool, so he put a GFCI on it and it works fine, but it wasn't labelled...

The other two breakers above it, I found out, are actually two single pole breakers that I believe are both used for a pool pump that uses 240 V, and it should have a double pole breaker installed.

I think one of these single pole breakers is providing one leg of the circuit and the other breaker is providing the other leg...

This seems unsafe to me. If someone were to mistakenly leave one of these two breakers off, but the other on, the pool pump definitely doesn't run, but it seems there could be some kind of danger here.

Could it cause an electric shock somewhere (in general), or is it just dangerous in the sense that someone might think the circuit is off and go play with wires that might actually be live?


texts: How can I learn the basics of Home Improvement projects?

texts: I am a new homeowner and know literally almost nothing about home improvement. I would like to learn basic concepts by doing things one at a time...but I can't just jump in and do most things. Are there any good resources (websites/books) that provide project ideas or tutorials that are organized from extremely basic to very advanced? I could use this to start with things extremely basic and learn skills and get ideas as I go.


texts: How do I replace the toilet shutoff valve?

texts: Since the shutoff valve is leaking (the packing inside is worn), I'd like to replace it.  Is the valve soldered onto the supply pipe, or is it a threaded connection?


texts:
Hello and thanks to whomever answers my questions.

I have undertaken a task of increasing the opening of an archway.  I need an extra 1/2 inch in order to receive a new refrigerator.  I removed a 4" piece of 3/4" drywall (about 5 feet up) and about 1" around the corners of this 4" wide archway.

Q1.  To fill in the sides around the corners, do you recommend just using mud with corner tape or should I screw in a 1" x 60" replacement piece of sheetrock?

Q2.  OR, should I take away another inch so that my replacement piece is 2" wide and more stable?

Q3.  For the 4" face of the archway, I am planning in priming the wood stud and then using compound to shape it.  OR, do you recommend using 1/4 sheetrock for the face?

Thank You.


texts: Rewiring a flat (apartment) with concrete walls

texts:
I've just had an electrical check done on my flat, and it's failed. The consumer unit is ancient, with actual fuses, and no RCDs, and the mains sockets don't have earths. Apparently the pipework that holds the cables would have been the earth when originally installed, but owners before me have replaced single sockets with doubles and not properly connected to the piping. So no earths.
The electrician says that it's impractical to chase along/into the walls to do the rewiring, as they are concrete, and this would be about three times more expensive than doing a "surface" job with conduit (which can be made to look "industrial"). The estimate for even the conduit is looking at a few thousand £. (I'm in the UK)
Obviously opinions from strangers on the internet who can't see the property are going to be varied, but I have no practical skills myself.
Does what the electrician is saying at least seem consistent? (It is a small one-bedroom flat in a block that was purpose built in the 1950s or so.)


texts: Can I run electrical along a furring strip in EMT?

texts:
I know that I am required to run electrical spaced away from furring strips when running parallel.

Does this code still apply if I run the wire in EMT?

What about flex metal?
What about PVC?


texts: Would a drain 28 inches high be too tall for a sink?

texts:
I'm thinking about putting a sink in my basement, problem is to get a downward slope to the drain pipe I have to go up ~28 inches from the floor.  When you add the P-trap distance up, would that make the sink too tall?

I plan to use it as a wet bar. So just a small sink for washing out glasses and washing hands, dumping out drinks I guess.


texts: What options do I have for replacing this sillcock?

texts:
The handle on my outside faucet falls off almost every time I use the faucet, which is mildly annoying. As far as I know, there are no leaks or any problems with the sillcock itself.

My basement has an unfinished part and a finished part. I found the water line that goes to from the main to the sillcock in the unfinished part and followed it to where it goes above the ceiling of the finished part of the basement, shown on the left side of the diagram. I know nothing about the plumbing in the orange highlighted part of the diagram.

About two feet before the water line goes above the duct work and ceiling, there is a small water line that goes up to the water unit on my fridge, highlighted in yellow in the diagram.

Freezing in the winter is my number one concern. There is another faucet on the backside of the house, which has a shutoff valve a couple feet in from where the water line exits the house.  That is all in the unfinished part of the basement so I close the valve and drain the line in the winter.  However, for the faucet shown in the diagram, even if there is a shutoff valve, it must be above the ceiling as there aren't any in the unfinished part of the basement.

If I wanted to add a shutoff valve, could it be added in the yellow highlighted area of the diagram?

If I wanted to replace the sillcock with a new frost-proof sillcock (that would take care of the handle falling off annoyance too), what options do I have?

I'm not a plumber, nor a very handy guy so I assume there is other information I am not considering. Please let me know if I've left out some crucial information or there are options I need to consider.

Thanks!

EDIT: For what it's worth the handle on faucet is not at a 45-degree angle, so it gives me some hope that it may be frost-free already, but I do not know.


texts: I have a fairly wide horizontally sliding window.  The AC units made for horizontal sliders are expensive.  So, is there any problem with putting two normal window AC units side by side in the same window slot?


texts: Easy and effective way to clean a very dirty plastic broom

texts:
What is the easiest way to clean a plastic broom (I mean such as the one in the photo) that has collected a lot of floor dust etc?

Just hitting it against a wall to throw out all left overs is not good enough as it is too dirty


texts: Should I bind the edge of an unbound remnant rug? If so, how do I do so?

texts:
I was looking at possible area rugs for my apartment and found that the cheapest one was something called an "unbound remnant." However, a little googling revealed that unbound remnants shed their edges like crazy! I don't want that to happen, but I don't know if I can afford to bind it.

Should I bind the edge of an unbound remnant? If so, could I do so myself? What is the process for binding a carpet remnant, and what would I need if I did it myself?


texts: reverse osmosis (RO) unit shutting off too soon

texts:
It has only been about a month since the filters were changed in the RO unit and after completely draining the tank trying to fill a large container I noticed that after full recharging the pressure was lower than before.  I checked full pressure and found that it was only about 1/2 the water pressure of the system (as measured with a pressure gauge) instead of the 2/3 that it is supposed to be when it shuts off filling the tank.

I tried increasing the pressure a bit when full but it still shuts off at around 1/2 the system pressure.  Then I tried decreasing and I got it to shut off a little higher, so I kept decreasing but it eventually went back down without ever reaching close to 2/3.  The literature says to pressurize it to 5-7psi empty, but none of my gauges will read that low, they don't register until at least 10psi.  In the interim of waiting for a new gauge to arrive is there some other way to get the pressure right?  Or is there something else I should try?


texts:
I have typical replacement windows that are about ten years old in my house. My boys managed to break one of the piece pictured below. (Actually, I've pictured the one that isn't broken).

This piece screws in at the bottom of the window, and allows the window to pivot so that you can easily clean the outside. It also is essential for the window to stay up.

I'm sorry that I don't have much vocabulary to talk about these things.

My question is: what is this piece, and how do I find a replacement?


texts: I have installed 3 AFCI breakers, and every one trips under instantaneous load. I cleaned up all the wiring in all the boxes as best I could, and checked for cut/bare wires. I replaced all the breakers with standard breakers, and everything works perfectly. What gives?


texts:
I am in the process of finishing my basement. My house has a wood foundation and I am about to start wiring the lights and recepticals.

I am wondering, since the studs are the foundation of the house, am I allowed to drill thru the studs for electrical wiring? Or do I have to drill thru the top plates?


texts: Outdoor led wall panel - reacting when hit by a ball

texts:
I want to build a 10-15'' square or round wall panel and hang it on a wall. This I call the target. My son is supposed to hit it with a soccer ball. When he hits it the panel should change its color e.g. to green.

I've seen it already in some amusement parks, it's like a 7x7 wall panel each 10-15'' and you are supposed to hit it with a ball. I do not need this complexity, I just need it one of this wall panels roughly around 10-15''. I'm just saying it because I know it exists.
So it needs to withstand rain, and I need to be able to fix it on the wall.
It needs to resist some hits of the ball.
Preferably to work with batteries.

Can you please help me find whether this is feasible, and especially which type of panel I need to buy.

Many thanks for your advise!
P.S. I searched on google quite a lot, but couldn't find the right keywords.


texts: How to use two UPS one online and the other as backup?

texts: I have two UPS 10kva 220 volt used for controlling system. I need one ups online and the other one as backup. If the Grid supply out the main ups pick up the load and if the main ups fail to do that the backup ups will. So how do I setup this configuration electronically instead of electro-mechanically? Note: for now I am using two electromagnetic relays connected as interlock.


texts: How to fit two full baths in this space?

texts: I’m looking for any layout ideas about how to fit two full bathrooms in the space in this picture. One entering from the bedroom and one from the hallway. A few design things. We want the hallway bathroom to be as large as possible and incorporate the window and a double vanity if possible. The bathroom for the bedroom can be tiny but still needs at least a shower, sink and toilet. The doors can be located anywhere on the walls. Is there a way to pull that off? All the plans we can come up with incorporating the window and the double vanity don’t leave enough space for the full bathroom off the bedroom. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!


texts: Should I leave NiCad rechargeable batteries charging when not in use for long periods?

texts:
I've got an Black & Decker electric trimmer that gets used about 2 months out of the year. It uses a NiCd battery pack.

For optimum battery life, should I leave it plugged in all year when not in use? I hate to waste that power (minimal though it is).

I'm Ok with needing to charge the battery overnight before first use.


texts: How to repair botched, colored concrete?

texts:
We have a back patio with colored concrete that was poured last year. When the concrete was poured, it looked like the color was only picked up by the first half of the pour. The contractor poured the concrete mid-day when it was at least 110 and ended up not doing a proper finish because it was too hot for them to keep working. The result was the concrete ended up with slurry and trowel marks everywhere.

The contractor attempted to fix the concrete by putting some type of sealer over the top which ended up looking even worse.

What can we do (besides pulling everything up and re-pouring the concrete) to seal the concrete properly and get rid of the blemishes (see photos)?

From the photos, you can see the sealer splashes, improper broom marks, chipping everywhere, etc...

Click an image to see it full-sized.