New House, Horribly Patched Drywall We bought our first house and it needs some work, especially the walls. I’m wondering what’s the best way to take care of this horribly patched drywall? We have large sections of wall in various rooms that look similar to the one in the picture. We think it’s from the previous owners DIY remodeling, but they weren’t very picky about their results, it seems. Is this fixable? Or would we need to replace whole sheets of drywall?

Perhaps the previous owners wanted the feel of some personality, or perhaps they shared their personality with the walls.

Since the house is new (to you) and you imply it  is yours and you want it to look good - plan to remodel it.

What do I mean? I mean, at the very least, plan to do new sheets of drywall where damage like that exists. It is pretty bad for the one picture you show and the time it will take to "patch in 4 sides" of a new rectangle of size 1'x 2' (just making that number up) may not be much worse in the long run of doing a 4'x 8'.

Not to mention, if you have any incling to change anything, run new wires (AC, HDMI, CAT6??), plumbing, or inspect the insulation, this would be a good starting point.

Getting intimate with the new place and fixing an eye sore.


Can I avoid the slab and run the new PEX through walls and interstitial space? … and many other questions.

The following is the incoming water for my small 2-story townhouse. This picture was taken in my downstairs hall closet.

This is what I have figured out so far:

(1) is the hot water from the hot water heater in the attic split to (2 and 3) going to the downstairs 1/2 bath and kitchen.

(4-7) are cold water lines coming off of (8) the source from outside. I am thinking (4-7) are run through the slab to the kitchen and 1/2 bath and to the outside spigots front and back.

I want to replace this plumbing for the following reasons:

It’s Qest and I have already made a few replacements for leaks.
We are selling our house and I want the plumbing to be an asset not a setback.
Any home inspector worth his salt will see my multiple repairs and know this qest system is failing.
We are remodeling the upstairs bathroom and downstairs kitchen so I have access to pretty much all the plumbing (except the slab).
The source taps are very weak.

I plan on finding a plumber to pull the permits and replace the source line from the city's valve and to let me do the work inside the house with him checking behind me.

So if I get my way and I run the pex on the inside of the house is there any reason why I can't run the pipes through the walls and interstitial space to avoid the slab work and just abandon and cut the old qest lines off at the slab top?

Good for you for replacing this crappy old polybutylene pipe system. There's no reason at all why you can't do what you're thinking of. One thing to keep in mind is that since PEX is just plastic, it would easily be penetrated by nails or screws driven through the drywall in the future, so you want to make sure to run the new lines at least 2" away from any interior wall space that people might drive nails or screws into. For any places where you have to run it closer to the surface, you need to nail a steel shield plate into the part of the stud that the pipe goes through.


New home grading is only 6 inches below above grade basement windows, is that enough When a new home comes with only the grading (no dirt or grass) and above grade basement windows, how far below does the grading have to be from the window?

In other words, once I add the dirt and grass, how far below the window does the base of that grass have to be.  Or event easier than that, once I add my base and pavers, how far below does the top of the pavers have to be from the window?

Thank you.

The Code does not stipulate the distance from grade (soil) up to a window. However, it does REQUIRE (not recommend) that there be a minimum of 6" from grade to siding, sheathing and wood framing, or the wood needs to have a wood preservative (we call it pressure treatment and we often abbreviate it PT). (See Section R317)

However, we've all "cheated" on this and encroached on this 6" minimum to keep a good slope away from a building. In fact, the Code allows siding, sheathing and wood framing to be within 2" of concrete steps, porch slabs, patio slabs, etc.  The difference being one is measured to the dirt and one is measured to a "hard surface"...I guess they require extra protection where bugs can crawl out of the ground. (See Section R317, Item 5)

If you can keep 3"-4" from the dirt to the wood, I don't think you'd have a problem, unless you live in a termite prone area. If so, you may want to stay at 6" minimum. (Do you have a "termite shield"? It's a piece of metal flashing installed at the bottom of the siding.)


How do i hang shelving on drywall over concrete i do know that there is concrete behind the drywall because it is a fire wall. I cannot drill into it for obvious reasons not to mention, the owner wont allow it. Any ides? thanks. Lewis

I would get some prefinished 1 x 4's and glue them with construction adhesive (liquid nails) to the drywall vertically to provide a solid surface to fasten the shelving to. Place one every 16 to 24 inches and you will be fine.


How to fix exposed rafter with termite damage? I was putting up some outdoor hanging lights. I drilled a pilot hole into the underside of an exposed rafter. When I pulled out he drill bit, dark wood dust slowly streamed out of the hole for a few seconds. Looked like the sand dripping in an hourglass.
Is there any way to repair the rafter?
What can I do to diagnose the problem further? I tapped on the rafter and it sounded more hollow than the others.

No, the "by the book" way is to remove the beam all the way back to where there is no damage and replace it.  I doubt this is termite damage it is likely dry rot from a roof leak.  If your roof is NOT leaking then the dry rot will not continue to happen and in fact if the roof was ever redone it could have been leaking before and they just were lazy and decided 1 beam wouldn't be a problem if they even noticed it.
This is not uncommon in roofs.
In your case if the roof is not leaking you can safely ignore it until the roof wears out and needs to be replaced.  Then once they tear off all the shingles you can have them remove the boards from that section and then remove and replace the beam once the roof joists are exposed.  If it is just this one beam it's still safe since the roof isn't weight bearing (unless you live in an area where it snows heavily) but if you can get inside the attic and look at all the beams that would be good.


How to tell when a plumbing fitting is tightened correctly? I replaced the supply valve on my bathroom sink with this ¼-turn angle valve.

Both valves (hot and cold) are leaking about 1 drop every few seconds at the valve's input.  I got them hand tight, then added about 2 full turns with a wrench.  Should I tighten them more, or are they leaking because of over-tightening?

Before installing the valve, I shined the copper pipe with scotch brite, and I put 3 wraps of PTFE tape on the male threads.  I am reusing the nut and ferrule that was there.

Compression fittings do not use tape, so that's one mistake to fix. Tape seals a leak in threads, but a compression fitting is sealed at the ferrule, not at the threads. Leaks are frequently caused by over tightening, so this is certainly a possibility in your situation. Here are my suggestions:

Replace the nut and ferrule. The ferrule gets deformed when compressed, so a new ferrule won't have the deformations from the previous valve.
Hand tighten the assembly, though I typically use a wrench and guess where I could likely get it by hand without destroying my fingers. Add another half turn by wrench.
Test for leaks, and if found, add another quarter to half a turn until the leak stops. By doing this in iterations, you minimize the risk of over tightening. You can always tighten it more if you under tightened it, but once you over tighten, you have to get a new ferrule.


How do I estimate how much drywall I'll need? Is there a formula for estimating how much drywall is required for a job?

perimeter = 140'
area = 490sqft

I'm guessing around 45 12x4 sheets, but I would like to confirm my guess before ordering.

Add the area of the ceiling by the area of the walls and then factor in some extra for waste. So if you have 8' ceilings, those walls would be 1120 sqft themselves. Add the 490 sqft for the ceiling would give 1610 sqft. Then add in a factor for waste. The less experience you have, and the more angles and corners you have to cut, the more waste you'll have. I think 5% waste is on the low end for our projects, but we have lots of closets, halls, and inexperienced volunteers doing the cutting. That would give you 36-38 sheets of 12x4 (1610 / 48 = almost 34, with 5% waste you get 36, 10% waste gives you 38).

Before you order, since this is a basement, if there's any mold or mildew risk, get mold proof drywall. Also, if you don't have some experienced help, I'd go for the 4x8 sheets. With experience and a lift, it's possible to do 4x8 sheets by yourself, but a 4x12 sheet is often a 3 person job (2 to hold, one to screw). Just realize the 4x8 sheets will require more joints to mud.  If you go with 4x8 sheets, since they are 32 sqft each, you'd end up with 54-56 sheets.


Replacing older Leviton dimmer with new Lutron different wiring I'm trying to replace some older (late-1980s?) Leviton incandescent-only dimmers with new Lutron LED-compatible ones. There are three of them in a 4-gang box (the 4th switch seen in the pics is on a different circuit that controls a stairway light and was already replaced). Each dimmer switch controls a pair of recessed ceiling lights. The two switches on the outside (left and right--see pics) are single-pole and each control one pair of lights. The center is a 3-way that controls another pair of lights that are also controlled by a toggle switch on an opposite wall (also already replaced). The older Leviton single-poles have only two black wires while the 3-way has two black and one red wire (all hardwired--no screw mounts). I'm using new Lutron Skylark C-L 3-ways (with 1 black wire, 1 red, 1 red/white, 1 green) for all three (I can just cap the unneeded red/white wire provided for traveler on the new Lutrons per instructions in the packaging).
I've drawn a diagram to show the present wiring config. I'm guessing that the hot is coming from the black in Romex-2, which goes back to the lights (load) via black into Romex-1/3/4 (or, in the case of Switch 2 [Sw2], possibly via the Romex red in Romex-3?). All whites from Romex are gathered to one wire nut. For Sw-1/3 I'm thinking I can cap the unneeded red/white on the Lutrons and use either the black or red interchangeably to replace the older two-black config on the Levitons. I'm puzzled about how to wire Sw2 since it's a 3-way. Also, the bare grounds from the Romex are all pigtailed and screwed into the box. The old switches don't have ground wires, but the new switches do include a green ground. Do those have to be connected too, or can they be ignored (or gathered together and capped?) since, I assume, the circuit is presently already grounded.
I'm pretty much a noob with all of this and have tried to describe it as accurately as possible using what I hope is proper lingo from what I've garnered through research trying to understand all of this. Any and all help would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

The black wire from romex 2 is the hot wire that feeds your three switches and is the common. Remove the red wire from switch 2 from that bundle and hook up the black wire from your new switch to that bundle. Then take the two black wires from your old switch and hook them up to the red wire and the red/white wire from the new dimmer. All your new switches need to be hook up to the ground wire.


How do I repair terrazzo floors? I just bought an older house and it has terrazzo floors the whole way through.  The previous owner installed carpet using tack strips that were nailed to the floor, instead of using contact cement, so when the carpet and the tack strips were removed it left divots in the floor along the baseboards of every room.  Is there any way to repair this?

It's possible, but probably something that you would call in a professional for.  Even assuming that you had epoxy resin based floors, you'd still have to match the existing colors and sizes of the terrazzo pieces, clean out the nail holes, refill them, and grind and polish so they're level with the rest of the floor.

EDIT: Found this article that suggests that repairing an epoxy based floor might be easier than I thought.  I'd still get some professional advice first though.


If I can smell my trash in my garage from the room above it, should I be concerned about other vapors? We just bought a new construction home. We have some trash in our garage bin that does have a potent smell, but I assumed it'd stay confined to the garage. This evening while putting my daughters to bed, I noticed I could smell the trash faintly throughout their room - I could smell it enough to know it was the trash from the garage though.

It seems if the vapors from a trash bin can reach through their floor (literally directly above the garage -- we can feel the garage door vibrate in their floor), other more harmful vapors (co2 from the car? vapors from hot water heater?) could seep in too.

Should I be concerned about this?

Perhaps, maybe if you have a gas boiler installed in that space,as some people might, or your cars are inefficient. Consider installing Carbon Monoxide detectors, as CO poisoning can be a concern. Its odourless, and can damage by binding to haemoglobin.


Why do we need bonding at the gas water heater? We recently upgraded our electric service...had to put in a new panel, etc.
The city inspector came by and said that everything looked good except that we still need to "Bond Hot-Cold-Gas with #6" @ the water heater.  My question is why do we need to do that?

Because your water heater has dielectric unions, so the hot and cold plumbing are isolated from each other.  Bonding the plumbing, attempts to keep the hot and cold plumbing at the same electrical potential.

If this bond is not in place, it's possible for the hot and cold plumbing to be at different voltage potentials.  Which means if you grab a hot and cold handle, you could complete a circuit.

It also allows the plumbing to act as an effective fault current path. So if wiring faults to the plumbing, a breaker will trip.

A jumper should be installed across any other break in the continuity as well, e.g. water meter, nonmetallic plumbing, etc.


What type of paint and preparations would be appropriate for painting a mural on a rooftop? My house has a modified bitumen membrane roof, at a very low pitch/nearly flat, which was repainted with aluminum asphalt paint a couple years ago. My friend is considering painting a mural on the roof itself (if you must know, one draft is: a giant medusa head over an ocean, with the roof ventilator as a third eye, the snake hair forming a walking meditation labyrinth, etc.) Ideally we'd like the resulting painted mural to:

be hard-wearing enough to support occasional foot traffic (we hang out on the roof sometimes)
be long lasting (This is in New York City, so we're dealing with a wide range of temperatures/weather conditions, from below freezing and mounds of snow to swelteringly hot 100% humidity torrential rain)
provide reasonably decent reflective insulation and protect the roof against UV damage as compared to the current aluminium coating (if possible - I know it won't be as good though)

I'm not sure where to begin in selecting paint for this. Acrylic paints are generally used for wall murals. I expect we might have to mix our own colors which is ok.

Also not sure what preparations would make sense apart from thoroughly cleaning the roof. Glossy aluminum paint maybe means a new coat wouldn't stick well, so we could dull it by using an abrasive cleaner.

What do you guys think?

As far as UV resistance, you're in luck. Multiple coatings stack, so the silver coating you'll be overtopping will still be 100% effective on whatever UV (if any) gets through your next layers.

As far as reflective insulation, you have one choice: White with a 90%+ albedo.  If your hope is to both have the roof reflect solar heat and also present multi-colored artwork to the eyes, light does not work that way. You are sacrificing one property to gain another.

There might be a paint formula that presents near 100% reflectivity in the UV and IR spectra, but desired reflectivity in the visible spectra.  I have never heard of it, and I would think it would be a top seller.

The closest you can do is put a platform above the roof surface high enough air can roll under it, thus effectively putting the roof in shade.  Shade is 100% albedo.  The air needs to roll under it so it can remove the heat of solar gain.

As far as paint durability, that cannot be better than your substrate.  Aluminum asphalt paint is not made to be walked on. Your best bet is an outdoor latex deck paint, which will at least flex with the aluminum asphalt (which epoxy won't do). Pigment durability is a question of pigment quality; old fashioned lead, chromium and cadmium mineral pigments are toxic and no longer allowed, which leaves a variety of organic pigments which do fade from UV.  Your friend shouldn't even think about squeezing pigments from artists' tubes, beacause many of them are still made with the nasty stuff.


240 V dryer outlet is reading 245 V My 30 A dryer outlet reads 122 and 123 V on my multimeter (a total of 245 V). Will this be a problem for a new modern dryer if it is higher than 240 V?
It is a three prong outlet.

That is well within ANSI C84.1 North American Utlity Standards.


How to repair chair pocket joints with limited tools I have broken chair that I'd like to fix. I have no wood working tools or experience. All I have lying around or currently have access to are ropes, hammer, nails, screws and wood glue.

The chair looks something like this, and one of the joint at the back near the corner block has come loose (just above the arrow where Stretchers is written).

Is there some hope to get this fixed and in usable condition?

'Til now I have joined the back and the front legs with ropes, to create tension, so that it will hold and it is doing a decent job, but I am sure there will be a better way to repair it. Thanks.

Spread the joint apart and scrape off any excess,loose glue. Spread your wood glue over all the surfaces of the joint, in any dowel rod holes and around dowels. Make sure there's a groove in the dowel rod so excess glue can escape. Press the joint together firmly, tapping it with the hammer. Take your rope and wrap it around the seat frame of the chair and tie a knot leaving enough slack so you can loop the hammer or other object in the rope and twist it to tighten the rope around the frame, clamping the joint tight,like tightening a tourniquet. Let the glue dry 24 hours and you should be good to go.


How to cut opening in 12" pilaster block-columns for electrical box (porch light install)? I have two 12"x12"pilaster block columns in my front porch with a poured lintel above and slab below. The pilasters are also poured solid with down-rods and rebar in footer. It is new construction. I would like to install a porch light on each column but have no idea how:

To cut an opening to fit the electrical box (1 gang circular) in solid concrete.
To pull cable through the block?

For #1 above:
Would i have to manually chisel out the squares? Or is there a square drill bit for sinking a box in solid concrete?

For #2 above:
I think it'll be difficult to drill through 12" of poured concrete and risk hitting rebar down-rods. Is it better to route some EMT conduit to the 1-gang box? If so, what type of 1-gang would i need and how far does it have to sink into the column?

Thanks in advance

Can you cut a groove in surface, and bury your conduit in that, then replaster/stucco the pillar.

Moving outside the box:

A:  Make it symmetrical:  that is, put a light on both sides. Now you have the same ugly everywhere.

B:  Hide the conduit in some kind of raceway.

c:  Be blatant and mount the conduit on the surface, then sheath the column with faux brick or stone.

D:  Trench in a line to a distance away, and use a floodlight


What are the key criteria to consider when purchasing new locks and deadbolts? On twitter, the cofounder of GDGT Ryan Block comments:

  Surprisingly difficult to find a list of expert-recommended consumer locks, padlocks, etc. Lots on defeating security, but few suggestions.

So I'm curious, what are the key criteria to consider when considering purchasing a new consumer grade lock or padlock, deadbolt and the like. Some examples of things that might be important are "look at the lock and see if it shows structure XYZ, which is a prime sign that the lock can be "bumped" ..." or perhaps "consumer padlocks should have ABC feature, because it signifies ...".

Here's a suggestion: Make sure your door and frame are properly installed and REINFORCED before even considering installing any lock that is above consumer grade. The frame on your h*me depot door will break in half with no where near as much force as you think it would take. your $200 mul-t-lock dead bolt will be rendered useless.


What can I use to fill a 5mm gap between a PVC window frame & a double-glazed window pane that it too thin? I have old double-glazed windows where the frame doesn't allow easy removal of the window from the outside. I had problems with finding anyone who would do the replacement as it isn't as straight-forward as the newer style of window frame - it is pretty difficult to remove the white plastic pieces that press up against the inside of the window pane to keep it tight in the frame.

I made the mistake or ordering a replacement double-glazed window pane that was 5mm thinner than the original window. The thickness had been measured by my experienced Plumber as 25mm but when I went to the shop to order window, the shop owner said it would either be 24 or 26mm, so I went home and measured the thickness (whilst the window was still in place, on the first floor of my house) and got it drastically wrong.

Anyway, I am looking for something I can place in the gap, either between the white plastic piece and the window pane or between the plastic piece and the frame, so that the window is securely in place. Currently, I am using the double-sided sticky foam pads that came with the new window but with winter here, I need to sort this out permanently. I've read about wood being an option but would prefer something that is waterproof/plastic or rubber but I am not sure of what to get or from where.

I know I could just get the frame remade but at a cost of £75, I'd rather come up with a cheaper but effective workaround.

Some photos of the setup are here to help with seeing exactly what I'm describing...

Can any one help?

There may be a possibility of finding thicker glazing strips to hold the glass in tighter. Window manufacturers sometimes use thinner glazed units in other windows they make, so if you can find the producer of the unit, you may find a glazing strip to cut to length that will hold it in. That is the better of the options I will suggest, although it may be really difficult to get it.

The other is to, I will write this with my head down and my eyes not meeting yours, metaphorically speaking, cause I think it is really a second rate way to fix it.
That is, use silicone caulk to back the glazing to hold it to the seal on the outside. The biggest problem is the silicone will not press the glass against the seal to do the job it needs to keep the rain out. It will be messy if you are not familiar with caulking, especially with silicone, and the window may still leak because the pressure is not being applied to seal the window at the outside face. Laying the window down flat so the weight of the window is pressing the seal, then apply the caulk, let it cure, then set the window sash back in place in its jamb.


How can I fix a loose door frame? Every time I shut my door to go in or out of the house the door frame moves. Also where the door locks it wont completely shut all the way. Which is hard to go out places, without worrying someone will get in. So I guess my questions here are:
1.) How to fix the loose door frame where it is loose? Would I be able to use long nails and hammer it in more?
2.)How would I fix the locking part of the door?(I have bought a new door handle thing.)
I am on a tight budget so what would I be able to use around the house you is very cheep to get.

The first thing I'd do is one-by-one, remove the screws in the hinges and replace them with 3" #8 screws.  This should definitely secure the frame to the stud, and the door to the frame.  It might also fix your lock alignment problem, but if not, usually all that is needed is to move the strike up/down or in/out a bit.  Take the strike off completely - does the door latch correctly now? If so, you just need to position the strike correctly.  If it does not, that means the original hole is not aligned correctly and you will need to either enlarge it, or if it is way off, drill another hole and re-install the strike.


Is my electric stove receptacle wired correctly? When I test the four prong electric stove outlet by touching one of the prongs and the ground, one prong reads 120V and the other 220V.

Is this normal or is it wired wrong?

On a NEMA 14 that is correctly wired:

H1-H2 should be 240VAC

H1-N, H2-N, H1-G, H2-G should all be 120VAC

N-G should be close to zero, but not exactly zero.


How do change the wall switch for my ceiling fan from a variable fan/light combination to a single on/off switch? I used to have a ceiling fan/light combination that was controlled by a wall switch the controlled both the fan speed and dimmed the light.

I bought a new fan/light that is controlled by a remote control device. Therefore, the wall switch must be converted to an on off switch only.  I am having a tough time determining which wires to use.

In the box behind the wall switch I have the following wires:

One set of wires has a black wire, white wire, and ground.
The second set of wires has a black wire, white wire, red wire and ground.
currently, the two white wires are connected and capped together. In addition, the two ground wires are connected and turned into one ground wire.
up at the ceiling, I have a set of four wires coming out… Red, black, white and green.   The remote transmitter can only except two wires, because it has the hole type connector, not the screw type connector.

Is anyone able to help me determine which wires to use at the wall switch, and which wires to use in the ceiling?  Do I cap off the unused wire at each end, or do I connect it to another wire somehow?

Thanks.

Easy.

Cap off the red at both locations.
The remaining black wires at the wall will connect to a standard single pole switch, and the remaining wires in the ceiling will connect to the receiver as directed by the manufactures instructions.


How to install this double switch After totally re-shape my stairwell i got some issue to re-cable my double switch.

I tried a lot of combinaisons, read some docs but nothing works...

Here is the settings:

That switch is a double one, it's located on the first floor landing.

The first switch command a lamp located between the ground floor and the first floor. Only 2 switch can light the lamp up, this switch and one located in the dinning room.

The second part of the switch command a lamp located btw the 1st and the 2nd floor, this lamp can be light up with 3 switch, the one i can't setup and two others on the 2nd floor.

Where i want to setup the switch

  i got 2 wire which comes from the downstairs: one brown and one
  orange.

  I got 3 wire come from upstairs: one red and 2 orange

  I also got a brown wire which wich come throught the wall, from a lamp
  in the bedroom

.

Do you have any tips to make it works ?
It used to works properly but i can't figure out what was the correct setup

J'ai deux fils qui viennent du bas : un orange et un marron
J'ai trois fils qui viennent du haut: un rouge, deux oranges
et bizarrement, j'ai un fil marron qui fait juste la jointure entre cet intérrupteur et celui de la chambre - interrupteur simple juste de l'autre coté du mur.

Sorry about using this as an extension of the comment, there is no place in the comments for sketches to depict what is needed.

This is an  illustration to add to the comment I made about a wiring diagram, to help show my referral to a small sketch. It can be a simple line drawing. scanned and posted or drawn with a program on your computer, like Paint for Windows or a Mac equivalent.

It would need to be made a little more extensive to cover all floors.

It really should take an electrician with a tone box to diagnose where the wires go to and from.... But there is hope as long as the conditions are described accurately


Do I attach kitchen cabinets when installed overtop of a hardwood floor? I have heard about installing cabinets directly on top of a hardwood floor.

How do you secure the cabinets? How do you secure an island? Do you screw directly into the hardwood?

Yes, there are many good reasons to finish laying the hardwood floor, and then screw cabinets into the floor and subfloor.  There are also some reasons not to do so.

This is an area of ongoing disagreement about the topic:

Hardwood Installer
Patch.com forums
Hardwood Flooring forums

My neighbor was a professional cabinet installer for decades and specialized in high end luxury houses.  His way of telling if the general contractor was a cheap b*stard or a quality contractor was by whether the hardwood was laid wall-to-wall in the kitchen or stopped for the cabinets.

My neighbor is a proponent of laying the hardwood wall-to-wall and placing the cabinets on top of it, screwing where necessary through the hardwood into the subfloor.


I am re- pointing between patio slabs using soft sand and a standard cement.The cement recommends 1 : 5 but should it be 1:3 for these slabs? I I am re- pointing between patio slabs using soft sand and a standard cement.The cement recommends ratio of 1:5,but should this be 1:3 for patio slabs?

To give a quick answer, if you have masonry cement yes, 1 to 3 for the mix. If you have portland cement, it needs to stay at 1 to 5.
Portland is much stronger than masonry cement which has lime in it I believe. If you use too much portland with the sand, the mix will readily crack due to shrinkage.


Why is my 3-prong dryer outlet showing 240V between hot and neutral/ground 'L' prong? I'm trying to tell what might be wired wrong with our dryer outlet. Using a Fluke 75 set to AC, I read 238V between the hot leads, 118V from one lead to ground, and 238V between the other lead to ground. Is this a simple breaker box problem or might I have bigger issues? FYI, the house was built in 1977 but I've been told the wiring is copper not aluminum.

I am comfortable doing the fix if I have good debugging tips...

Corrections now that I'm home: It's 120v between h1-h2, 120v between h2-neutral, and 240 between h1-neutral. Major user error in data collection but I feel better knowing it's just wired wrong. Please delete or edit at your whim. Also please ding the upvotes because it's a flawed question with bad data.

This answer was based on a prior version of the question

The picture that Jeremy posted in his answer you is perfect. I do however disagree with the idea that there may be a short between ground and neutral. Ground and neutral should be at the same potential and intentionally connected/ bonded in the breaker box.

As far as the readings you are getting L1 to Ground/neutral = 120vac and L2 to ground/neutral = 240vac, this leads me to believe there may be an interconnection of the two power leads. It would seem to me however, if they were somehow interconnected, you would see 240vac on either leg to ground.

I would suggest taking the cover off the plug and testing the hot leads to the neural lug and case ground again. Obviously be careful and skilled with working with open wiring! The next step would be to take the same measurements at the breaker. It should be a double pole 30 amp breaker. Look for any double taps off one leg of the breaker. The readings should be 120 to ground/neutral from each side of the breaker and 240 across the hot lugs of the breakers.  If the same error exists, you may need to turn off the breaker, remove it and disconnect the wires and ohm out the individual paths looking for any shorts in the cable itself. This must be done with the wires disconnected from all power sources. Be sure to check for any voltage, even with wires off the breaker, before proceeding, just in case there is some other interconnection to a hot line.

This trouble shooting is dangerous and should only be attempted by someone qualified. If you are not sure of your abilities, call a pro.

I gotta think about this one a bit more. This situation and readings sound strange and improbable. Maybe one of my electrical guru buds on here can lend some better ideas.


How to dislodge bluestones sitting in cement? (Pictures) I need to move this wall, but I want to reuse the bluestone for the new wall. So they need to stay whole. Luckily, there isn't any cement between the bluestones-
 they're just sitting in it.
Has anyone tried to do this before? What tools did you use? Would love some guidance. Thank you!

They don't seem to be laid too deep into the ground: excavate the soil behind one of them and try to crank it up from behind with a bar. If it is feeling pretty solid you may have to break that few inches of concrete sitting in front of them with a sledge to loosen them.

Start from a corner or an end stone if you don't want to dig whole lot of soil.

If you can't move them this way you may have to use a jackhammer to open some space around them but I doubt it would come to that.


Refrigerator door seal is developing a gap towards the bottom. Not sure it is letting air through Nobody has been leaning on the door but there is now a 1/4 inch gap towards the bottom (beginning about halfway down) unless it is pushed closed tightly.

I think this is just the outer part of the seal - it is about an inch wide - and maybe it is not allowing air exchange with the room.

I have no idea how they are attached nor where I would buy a new one.

Is there a home remedy for this minor annoyance?

The answer is found here:

How can I eliminate a gap in a refrigerator door gasket?

which points also to

How do I fix a gap in my refrigerator door gasket seal?

It is a door alignment issue.

Simply loosening the screws at the bottom on the hinge side and raising it a bit down there fixed it.


What could cause my outlets to not have enough power? Four outlets won't work right unless a lamp is plugged in then everything works fine. Unplug lamp it's like not enough power. Plug lamp back in outlets work fine. Why is this happening?

I am going to guess that the outlet that the lamp is plugged into is the same one each time you have tried this.

You may want to try plugging the lamp into one of the other four outlets. If the lamp does not come on then read on here.

It is clear that the lamp outlet is wired in a daisy chain manner such that power feed comes first to the lamp outlet and then continues on to the other four outlets. The most probable cause of the problem is that there has been a failure at the lamp socket. When you plug in the lamp the tines on the plug cause the metal material in the socket to move around such that the downwind sockets receive power. Remove the plug and the metal moves and opens up the circuit.

This strange behavior almost always happens when the electrical wiring is attached to the outlet using the back stab holes on the outlet. The fix is to replace the outlet with a new one. Attach the electrical wires using the screws on the side of the outlet. There are two good types. One where the wires wrap around the side screw. The other type is where the wire enters from behind and then tightening the screw clamps the wire into place. Both these used with copper wire can provide years or reliable service.

On the other hand the back stab type connections where the wire is poked into a hole to simply be retained by a spring clip are noted for failure and should not be used.


How can I repair the foundation and plaster coating in my old home's foundation? I have a house which was built in 1890 in western michigan. The house is a fieldstone foundation. It appears at some point it was plastered or covered.

On the west side of my basement there also seems to be a bump out that appears to reinforce the interior of the foundation. This bump out seems to be full of sand and then plastered over the sand. Some of the plaster is cracking and falling off and I would like to repair/replace the damaged sections. I cannot find any information on what it might actually be or even if it is plaster. Does anyone have any insight on this?

The material underneath the plaster looks remarkably like the clay lump that my farmhouse in Suffolk, England was made from.  Clay lump is sandy-gravelly-clay+straw+lime, formed into blocks which are dried, and then built into walls with clay+lime mortar.

My guess is that your bump is not actually clay lump, but it is very likely to be an earth-based construction material (cob for example).

With luck, the plaster is lime plaster rather than a gypsum plaster (lime plaster is much more flexible).  Mixing lime plaster from lime putty (hydrated calcium hydroxide) is quite easy (particularly if you have a cement mixer).  Use a ratio of 2 parts sharp sand to one part lime putty, reinforce with finely teased hair, and you should be good to go.

You may well find that the aggregate in the plaster is your local subsoil (quite possibly from the basement you are standing in!)  If you have some subsoil exposed, it would be entirely reasonable to use it.


Will batt insulation ignite if it is laying against my steam pipes? I have steam pipes behind a wall that I loosely packed R30 batt insulation against.  Is there a possibility that the insulation will ignite?

Maximum temperature of a household steam system is all of 250F, so not even paper will ignite from contact with steam pipes in a house (15PSI) boiler system. High pressure steam is not found in houses (in modern times - early systems were very dangerous) unless they are in major violation of a lot of codes and safety standards that would be of far more concern than the insulation used.

"Batt" insulation is typically either fiberglass or mineral wool and thus not flammable anyway. Even cellulose (paper fibers) insulation is treated to reduce the threat of fire, and again, 250F will not ignite it anyway.


Unused red for ground in existing armored cable? My house has a lot of older armored cable using the armor for ground.
If I'm working in a box and find a three-conductor wire with only black/white in use, and I know where the other end is, should I use the red conductor to improve the ground path of that run and its two boxes (also marking both ends with green tape) or should I leave it alone with the red unused and the armor for ground?

That would be a code violation. You may not re-mark green, green-yellow, or bare to any other color, and you may not re-mark non-ground colors to ground colors.


Best way to wire 50amp in breaker box I'm trying to install a 50amp breaker for a NEMA 14-50R outlet. After taking off the cover and investigating how the existing wires are installed, I'm unsure of the best way to install the new breaker.
I already have an existing hole in the drywall towards the bottom right, so I believe I wire to come in from that end. In addition, it seems like the top is quite congested already and I feel like if I were to try to cut a hole up there, I'd nick a wire.
My question is if I come in from the bottom right, can I use the right neutral bar for the white and ground wire and then take the black and red to cross over (staying towards the bottom and left side of the breaker box) to cross over to the left side, where I would install the 50amp breaker?
Or, since I'm coming in from the bottom right, I should keep everything on the right side and go straight up to install the 50amp breaker? If I do this, how should I route the red/black wires?

Unrelated question... for the main power coming into the house, it seems like the black wire isn't 100% all the way into the clamp. If I flip the main power switch off, can I loosen the holder, push up the wire, re-tighten the holder? I assume the lines are still hot regardless if I flip that main breaker switch or not.

Coming in the bottom is fine.
You can use either neutral bar, you can see a black insulated bar going behind the main breaker that bonds the two. There is no actual restriction saying which side to use, or actually to use the same side as you mount the breaker. The right side of the panel is so congested that to me there seems no good reason to use the bar on the right.
Generally you can mount the size and type of breaker specified on the panel cover any place not prohibited by the instructions on the panel cover. In this panel there are likely no restrictions for the available spaces.
Do as @Harper instructed and make use of the bottom space to loop extra wire long enough to reach anywhere in the panel.
The length of the stripped conductor is not conclusive evidence that the wire is or isn't fully inserted into the lug, but without looking directly at I can't say you shouldn't be concerned. Unless you have what is sometimes called a Fireman's Disconnect Don't attempt to service this yourself. Call a local electrician. He will know the procedure to work with the utility to temporarily disconnect power.
Also note the 2020 NEC requires 240v receptacles to be GFCI protected in locations that only 120v receptacles previously required protection.

210.8(A) Dwelling Units. All 125-volt through 250-volt receptacles installed in the locations specified in 210.8(A)(1) through (A)(11)
and supplied by single-phase branch circuits rated 150 volts or less
to ground shall have ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection for
personnel.


Can I remove the circuit breaker handle ties and treat them as individual circuits? o.k., I get what handle ties will do, just not sure why you would use them?

in the panel of my new home, there are quite a few (7-8) and I would just as soon remove the ties and treat all individual 120v/15a circuits as just that - - individual 120v/15a circuits

But they're not individual 120V circuits!

They are combined into pairs, as something called a multi-wire branch circuit.  These share a neutral, so they're not separate at all.

The handle-ties exist for a bunch of reasons.

They must be on different poles/phases

Top of the hitlist is to force them into different poles or phases, i.e. To keep someone from obliviously moving them onto a double-stuff breaker so they're on the same pole.  That would set the neutral wire on fire, because the neutral wire would be handling all the current for both hots.

Whereas, if they are on different poles/phases, neutral only handles differential current: there's some math, but on a split-phase or 2-of-3-phase system, neutral will never have more current than any one hot.  This is the slick trick of the multi-wire branch circuit.  Take a look at a big box store's lighting sometime; they make full use of 3-phase MWBCs at 277V, and it lets them put over 20,000 watts of lighting on twelve #12 wires in a 3/4" conduit.

Anyway, as a practical matter, in modern service panels, the presence of a mandatory handle-tie forces you to position the MWBC on opposite phases/poles.

That is its most important function  where someone has an itch to rearrange the panel.  We'll come back to that.

Common maintenance shutoff

Typically, an electrician plugs a radio into a circuit, and shuts off breakers until the radio falls silent. This ought to work on a MWBC.  Otherwise, the electrician could shut off half the MWBC, and promptly get nailed by the other half.  "But how can that be? He'd only be messing with neutral, and that's harmless!"   If that were true, we wouldn't insulate it... Actually neutral is hot, it's just near ground if everything is working right and properly connected.

The handle ties ensure that when he silences  the radio, he has shut off the entire circuit.

This is the part of the handle-tie that is actually Code mandated.  Forcing opposite poles is just a nice side effect.

But my half is tripping because of overuse of the other half!

My home is fantastically underserved.  It is on half an MWBC; the other half is shared by 2 apartments.  (Really.) Even so, having to reset a breaker from overload is a very rare occurrence, (maybe once every 5 years in my lifetime).  It should be rare.   If it's not rare, someone is doing something wrong and not taking a hint.

The cure for this is to learn about wattage of devices. Most people have no idea a hair dryer takes more power than a 54" TV.  They're plainly labeled: learn what that means, learn what is on which circuits, and don't overload the circuits.   My partner figured it out with only 3 explainings, and knows exactly how to sequence microwave, toaster, hair dryer and various heaters on high vs low.

But I want to overstuff my panel!

A constant refrain here is "buy a huge panel".  Because it only costs a few dollars more, and it saves you from having panel-cram problems later.  I gather your builder didn't get the memo.

Our quickest cure for that is "add a subpanel".  I like to see a total number of full breaker spaces  for a house to be in the forties.  So if you have a 24 space, get another one. 16, get a 30. Etc.   There are other strategies for underserved or obsolete/dangerous panels, that involve preparing the subpanel to become the new main panel when resources permit a changeover.  This isn't spendthrift, this is a very economical way of being smart.

However, if you are double-stuffing this panel, here is the takeaway:  they have quadplex breakers with a 2-pole breaker in the center and two individual breakers or another 2-pole on the outside. MWBCs can only go on the inside 2-pole, never the outside pair. Even if the outer ones have handle ties, which some do, those handle ties are merely decoration and do not provide common maintenance shutoff, which MWBCs require. They are labeled as such.

If you have a GE Qline panel with the cruciform bus bars which allow half width breakers, then you may use the GE half-width 2-pole breakers for an MWBC.  These look like a "duplex/twin/double-stuff" breaker, but are factory handle-tied and also have common trip.  You must never, never use an untied double-stuff.


Any problem to build a house that covers a same-sized hole in the ground? I have recently bought a piece of land to build a country cottage and perhaps eventually move there permanently. The terrain is sloped with only a few flat spots. The former owners dug a large rectangular hole in one of these flat spots, with about 1,5m deep, with the intention to have a pond, but never completed it. The hole has almost the same size I would plan to build a wood house, and at the right spot.
Since I plan to keep the available flat spots as they are, to have yard, and since I don't have any clever plan for the hole, I was wondering:
Would there be any problem to build the wood house over the hole, so as to cover it? It does not appear to accumulate water inside (at least not for long), and the vegetation at the bottom is suggestive of a well drained soil. (I can only tell so far, because I haven't visited the place so many times yet).
And if perhaps I can take advantage of the hole-house interaction, I would love to hear about any tips.

Look at it as a start on a foundation hole - but don't get hung up on "making the house the same size/shape as the existing hole" because you can alter the size/shape of the hole when building the foundation, on which you will put your house, of whatever size & shape matches your ideas and budget.
You might feel more of an advantage to sticking with the hole size/shape if it was, say, quarried in solid rock and digging would be difficult/expensive, but since you mention the hole being dug, I assume lacking further info that it's in something approximating normal dirt, and normal dirt can be moved by the appropriate machines to build an appropriate foundation to set your house on.


Can I use screws for attaching a ladder to a bunk bed? My wife and I have built bunk beds and the final step is attaching the ladder. The ladder is constructed out of 2x4s will be attached to the 2x6 rails of the bed. (The ladder rails are oriented "perpendicular" to the rail, i.e., the shorter dimension of the 2x4 is contacting the rail like so).

I was researching what size lag bolts to purchase when I came across this article suggesting that structural/construction screws could be used instead. Obviously this is appealing to me as I can avoid having to countersink the lag bolt.

Can I safely use "structural screws" instead of lag bolts, and if so, what size is best?

Yes. 8 high-quality gold or stainless (not black oxide) construction screws (two at each connection point) with at least 1-1/2" penetration will hold with more than enough strength for even a typical adult.

In this case, use 3" or 3-1/2". Torx are much nicer to work with than Phillips. Pre-drill 3/4 of the screw's length and the diameter of the screw shank.


What is this electrical junction box? (re: adding 3-way switch) I'm trying to replace an existing switch (at the top of the basement stairs) with a 3-way switch by adding an additional switch at the bottom of the basement stairs.

The existing switch box has 4 romex wires coming into it.  Three of them are 12-2 and one is 12-3.  The 12-3 is already connected to the switch like shown in this picture:  (maybe they pre-wired it for a 3-way switch install at a later date?)

I'm trying to trace the wires and it appears to go into a strange junction box in my basement that looks like this:

Does anybody have any idea what is going on here?  The incoming wire looks huge like an 8-3 or 10-3 wire (?).  What is this junction box and what are the tiny telephone (?) wires coming off of it?  The smaller side has 12-2 wires going to the switch, and the larger wire appears to come from somewhere (upstairs electrical box?).  The tiny telephone wire appears to go back upstairs through the floor boards to somewhere I don't know.

That looks like a doorbell transformer. Those smaller wires should lead to your doorbell chime unit (assuming you have a doorbell). The junction box is there simply to provide power to the doorbell transformer.

From the picture it looks like you have 12/3 and 14/2 in that box, but it is difficult to tell. How confident are you the larger wires are larger than #12?

Figure out what breaker is supplying power to that circuit. As long as it is sized appropriately for the smallest conductors on the circuit, it will be fine. For example, if that is indeed a mix of #12 and #10 copper, your breaker must be 20A or smaller.

Also as a side note, NM cables entering that metal junction box need to be secured with a cable clamp. Any unused knockout holes need to be plugged. It looks like you've got a couple of code violations there at the top of your picture.


How can I install a waste disposer if I have a high drain fitting? I want to install a waster disposer under my kitchen sink. My problem is that the drain fitting coming into the kitchen under the sink comes out quite high, and the food disposer will effectively have to drain upwards, before it can drain down.

I can put in a trap, but, I'm not sure the how well the disposer will take being that full of water.

Any ideas on how to plumb it in?

Interesting problem.  I'm afraid that having a high drain will cause you a lot of problems. My greatest concern is that the disposer will not drain fully and the standing water and waste will cause bacteria growth and foul odors.  This could be very unhealthy in a kitchen area, not to mention unpleasant. I'd look at a way to lower the drain if possible to assure proper drainage.


Can I tap into an exterior light in order to power a security camera? I have an exterior light (shown below) that I was wondering if I could tap into, in order to power an outdoor IP cam.  I understand I would have to pull appart some cables and potentially purchase connectors, etc. but I am up for the challenge if it is possible.

Note:  The exterior light is on a switch controller from inside my house.  I would, of course, want the camera on at all times and NOT be controlled by this switch.

My camera:
http://www.amazon.com/Foscam-FI8904W-Outdoor-Wireless-Viewing/dp/B004KVKATQ

My house:

Chances are good that there is only one cable coming into that light, and it is switched by the interior switch.  If this is the case, as I suspect, you cannot draw power for your cam without the light being on. you will need to find a continuously powered set of wires or run a new set to your cam.


are tamper resistant receptacles required when rewiring an old house rewiring an old house due to having knob and tube wiring.  it it code to have all receptacles tamper resistant?  Does the NEC require hard wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors?  Are "in-use" cover plates required on outside gfci outlets?

I'd use TR receptacles in any case. Here in Tennessee, if I were to pull a permit to do this, yes my jurisdiction wants permits for anything and everything electrical, I would most definitely have to use TR outlets. They aren't much more in expense compared to a standard receptacle.

It's not overkill and I personally would prefer to err towards safety and/or over protection. This will also prevent any issues down the road as far as codes are concerned.

Edit: (Brain fart)

Not sure about carbon monoxide detectors, but hardwired smokes are required.

As for your outdoor receptacles, they do need weatherproof covers but the type of cover will depend on location. Weatherproof ( bubble ) covers should be used if a receptacle is located where there's no overhead protection or if a receptacle is installed, say on a covered porch, but the receptacle is 3' or less away from the edge of the covering roof.


Toilet weak flush. The water in the bowl swirls, but it didn't flush stuff into the pipe Updated on 07/Dec

More pictures and I kind of knowing why. The last picture is when it's flushing. I found the water only comes out from the top of the rim, and there's no water comes out from the bottom of the rim. This makes the direction of the flushing water can't really PUSH the stuff into the pipe. I also have a look at other toilets, they behave the same. Maybe I worry in the wrong direction.

Updated on 06/Dec

I tried to unclog it by toilet auger. It worked a bit since I pulled out something dirty stuck in the pipe. I did it three times and also lubricate it with dishwasher and hot water. However, the flush is still weak. What I can reckon is, the water in the bowel will be replaced by the flush water. It's the stuff in the bowel didn't get flush down into the pipe. Might be an issue with the toilet itself? Maybe all I need to do is to change a new toilet?

EDIT:

Attached more pictures of my toilet bowl.

Here is the video.

I put some toilet papers in the bowl and flush it. From the video, it shows the toilet papers just kept swirling in the bowl and there's no absorption happened to pull things into the pipe.

First, I'm sure the water level in the tanks has been set to maximum.

I also have tested this toilet by quickly pouring a big bucket of water to see whether the flush happens. Unfortunately, no matter how much water I pour, no flush happens. What I saw is a lot of water in the bowl and the water level quickly comes back to its origin. No absorption happened. Unlike the bucket test video I saw.

I  then doubted might be a blocker in the pipe causing the flush is weak. I pour drain unblocker liquid into the bowl and flush it after waiting for a while. However, the flush is still very weak.

Actually, the plumbers came to here two weeks before and told me it's the tank cause the problem. They replaced the tank, but the problem still exists and they just disappeared and not answer my call. (It's another sad story)

£400 for the plumber and they didn't fix it. I don't want to be scammed again. I googled and studied in order to let myself understand the situation a bit more. But after trying all the possible solutions, nothing really works.

I came here for seeking advice and help. Any thought is very much welcome and appreciated. Thank you very much.

There are 2 things that could be causing your problem. A partially plugged drain slowing the water. Or a plugged vent that is not allowing the water because a vacuum is being created.

For me, when I have a slow drain like this I will use a toilet auger to make sure the toilet it self is clear (had a kid flush a dead light bulb and did not find it until using the auger, which broke the bulb).

If the auger makes no difference, I pull the toilet. It's not that hard, just a bit messy. Turn the water off, disconnect & flush the toilet. A shop vac is handy here to remove reaming water. Remove 2 bolts anchoring the toilet to the floor. Lift the toilet, and now you can see the drain and possibly the wax seal on the flange (or on the toilet).  I use rubber gloves and a small putty knife to scrape off the old seal. Was it centered?  It could be the problem if not centered.

At this point I run a snake down the line, and I also examine what I can see. Has somebody poured grease down the toilet? Found that quite a few times, but usually the snake fixes the problem. In rare cases, I have found a dead squirrel in the vent line and a bird's nest but a plugged vent can cause problems also, but usually other drains in the bath also have problems if this is the case.

Once the line is snaked clean, I press a new seal on the toilet (I like the ones with the urethane core but a solid wax ring is cheaper, just a few bucks). Place the toilet back on the flange and put the 2 anchor bolts in. Connect the water and give it a try.

Chemical drain cleaners usually don't work well on toilets because of the large volume of water and if the water is slowly draining it won't be in contact long enough to do any good. After my troubles with a flushed light bulb I now auger the toilet because that one cost me hours to figure out. The bulb was stuck in the toilet trap. And water would run slowly but not flush.


Is it appropriate to sand a hardwood floor with a 20, 60, 100 grit sequence? I went to Home Depot to rent a  Square Buff Floor Sander to refinish my Kitchen floor. They said I could use 20, 60, 100 grit sandpapers to do the job. Please note that they do not have any sandpapers of grits of 30, 36, or 40.
The floor is 35 years old and has never been sanded. It has several layers of clear coatings on it.
I wonder if it is too aggressive to  start with grit 20 and then go to grit 60.

I've only refinished two hardwood floors myself but I do know a bit about woodworking given my dozen years of experience as a cabinet maker. The first floor was done with a rental rotary sander. This violates one of the cardinal rules of wood sanding: always sand with the grain. A rotary sander will leave swirl marks and you'll have to spend a lot of time with increasingly finer grits to remove all of the swirl marks. I started with 36 grit which was necessary due to some staining of the oak and progressed through 120 grit in roughly 20 grit increments. This gets expensive fast! The second floor was done with a belt sander like the pros use. You sand with the grain so overall you have less sanding to do since you don't have to remove swirl marks. There are two major caveats with a drum/belt sander. First, the ones from rental places are usually way out of adjustment. Which leads to the second caveat, it really helps to know what you are doing, both for the adjusting and the sanding. Otherwise you end up with lap marks where there are seams between the adjacent passes. Another issue is ending up with a washboard effect. Tread cautiously! There might be some YouTube vids on how to use a drum/belt sander.
To answer your question directly, don't use anything courser that 36 grit and in fact given how good this floor looks you could probably start with 50 or 60 grit. Good luck!


Removing rigid copper pipe to install dishwasher I'm trying to install a new dishwasher, replacing the 20 year old one I currently have. I have a compression shutoff valve underneath the sink for the hot water water. It has two outputs, one going up to the faucet and the other going to the dishwasher. It's connected using rigid copper pipe. It seems I'm supposed to remove the copper pipe going to the dishwasher and install a stainless steel sheathed flexible tube instead. The problem is that I cannot seem to loosen the actual nut holding the rigid copper pipe to the dual outlet compression valve. It's green with oxidation, i'm assuming from the copper, and it seems to have some rigid white paste beneath the nut. I'm assuming this is pipe dope? I feel like if I were to turn any harder I could damage the thing. Any tips on a better way to get this loose. Am I missing something obvious?

You should be able to turn the body of the angle-stop if the nut is held firm with another wrench.  if you turn the body and not the nut - It is less likely to damage the copper tube.  Depending upon how tight the nut was set - will determine how deformed the copper pipe is.  sometimes it is difficult to remove the ferrel.

You have so much oxidation on this valve - I would replace it.
Personally, I never install an appliance onto an old valve.

It looks like you have enough room to cut off the entire angle stop.  Use a fine toothed metal blade and cut square - then deburr.  A new multi angle stop can then be used with the matching outlets you need.
The braided dish washer supply lines come in different configurations.  I have found that many of the new dishwashers have a large threaded connector instead of the older 1/4" compression.  check yours.

P.S. check inside your pipes for pitting.  Often this oxidation can be a result of iron in water which destroys copper pipe.


Can I add more insulation to my attic? I currently have pink fiberglass bats in the attic.  I wanted to add blown in insulation.

My attic space is a bit unique.  I'm used to a moderate sized attic that you can access.  This attic has no access. There might be 1 - 2 feet of space between the ceiling and roof decking.

The one space I have to access any part of the attic is around the chimney.  It isn't boarded up and I can shimmy straight up the side of the chimney to the attic.  That's how I know it's only about 1 - 2ft of attic space.

I've read about standard insulation installation techniques such as: Not to push the insulation up against the decking or moisture will develop.  Proper roof ventilation to avoid moisture build up.

There are no attic vents on the side.  No soffit, no soffit vents.  The decking just comes straight off the house.  The only ventilation is a ridge vent.

I was going to cut into the ceiling and blow insulation in until the entire space was filled.

I'm afraid of trapping moisture, rotting the decking and creating a breeding ground for mold.

With a roof/attic system like mine, is it OK to just fill the attic with insulation or am I stuck at certain level of insulation?  How much space must be between the decking and insulation?

Based on your picture and your description, you have what is known as a cathedral ceiling. The "1-2 feet of space" you mention leads me to believe that it's built with parallel chord trusses rather than solid rafters. Can you post a picture? Regardless, like most cathedral ceilings, yours seems to be insulated insufficiently and built incorrectly (ridge vents but no soffits vents? WTF?).

Right now your cathedral ceiling is semi-ventilated. If there is a way to add soffit vents, they should be added so that the ridge vent can actually do its job. This will increase the durability of the assembly substantially if you live in a non-desert climate. If you take this approach and build a fully-vented cathedral ceiling, you cannot fill up the extra space that you see with more insulation; the ventilation gap is critically important. How high the gap must be depends on the steepness of the roof. A very steep roof might be able to get away with a gap of only a few inches under the roof sheathing. It sounds like your roof has a shallower pitch, so 1-2 feet may be necessary.

The only safe and practical way to increase the insulation of your ceiling is to transform it into an un-ventilated ceiling. Step one is to remove the ridge vent. Step two is to either apply spray foam (open or closed cell; minimum 3" for closed cell or 6" for open cell) under the roof sheathing, or else remove the roofing material and then apply rigid foam insulation boards over the sheathing, usually 4"+ of polyiso. Step three is to fill the entire cavity under the foam or sheathing with as much as you want of whatever you want. Go wild stuffing as much insulation in there as you want. Step four is to make your ceiling as airtight as possible. Remove all can lights or replace them with LED models that have an airtight fixture, and caulk everything. You don't want inside air getting into your now-unvented roof.

The spray foam approach is likely to be more expensive, especially considering the access problems you mentioned, but does not require a re-roof; the rigid foam approach is better for the environment, will give you an ultimately higher level of insulation, and may be cheaper, but doesn't make sense if your roofing material is in perfect shape.


Will removing subtreads and risers that are attached with construction adhesive and nails damage the stringer? I am extending the width of my stairs, and need to remove the existing sub treads and risers.  They appear to be glued (construction adhesive I'm guessing because it is brown) and nailed.  Is this going to destroy the stair stringer when I remove them?

In case it is helpful, the reason why I am removing them is that I want to install new, wider subtreads and risers so that the wood flooring that is attached to them has a continuous surface.  The new wider subtreads and risers would be attached to two new trus joist stringers that will be installed where the previous pony/cheek wall was (where you see the exposed 2x4s in the images below).

An alternative would be to just add new subtreads/risers for the additional width of the stairs, and make sure that they are level.  But I think that is risky because there would be effectively 2 separate surfaces/platforms that the finished treads and risers would be attached to, which could lead to problems in terms of wood movement, etc.  I'm trying to decide which is the less risky path.

Images

I think the least invasive way to handle this is to add two more stingers, one right against the existing stairs(essentially just a nailer) and one out at the ultimate width of the new treads. This way you don't have to remove the old sub-treads/risers or change the height of your treads, which would cause you grief when you get to the top of your staircase. Once you've got your new stringers in just apply sub-treads and riser to match the existing construction and you're good to go. The bigger problem is that no matter how you construct it, the landing or the the lower staircase will have to be modified to make the intersection work properly.  This illustration shows how the problem could be fixed by lengthening the landing and pushing the lower stairs out (assuming you can do this). You could accomplish the same effect by pushing the landing to the right but it looks like your landing is captured on that side in the pictures. Although this fixes the stairs the railing system will still have an unusual transition but it's not too bad depending on how far you need to extend your treads.


Toilet overflowing without flushing My toilet starting overflowing, but no one had used it for at least 30 minutes.  The water overflowing was clear, so I don't think it's a sewer back up  issue (this is not on a septic  tank).  What could be the cause?

Edit:  I found out that the washing in an adjacent unit was running at the same time this happened.  I'm not sure if it's related, but more details might help.

It's definitely a backup from a source higher up than the toilet.  It could still be on the same floor of the house/building. i.e. The washing machine drainpipe is likely higher than the toilet.

The backup can be clear if the source is something like a shower, dishwasher, washing machine.

Since you are in an apartment, you should first contact your landlord before trying to clear the blockage yourself.


When to turn on the water for my washing machine? I recently moved into an apartment which has, separate from the sink, a faucet that looks like this: .
(The water flow begins when the handle is turned counter clockwise)

I'm a beginner in home repairs, but that looked like a washing machine hook-up to me (local washing machines use only cold water), so I bought a used machine and the necessary connection tubing from the hardware store to allow for water flow in to clean the clothes and for drainage out.

(Everything connected great, and the washing machine is running an empty cycle now with a little vinegar to clean out the smell of unused washer, and so far, everything seems to be working....)

BUT:
I tried searching online for instructions on when to open the water valve and when to shut it, but I think I'm using the wrong keywords. The faucet is only used for the washing machine and has no impact on the sink's water.
I'm using a top-loading European machine (Crystal, Super Lord A class). How do I know when the machine's full of water enough to do its job so that I can turn the water off to avoid waste and flooding? Do I leave it on in a drizzle? Shut it off after a few minutes to fill? Turn it on and off as the cycle goes?

Thanks for any suggestions and tips that you may have!

Most modern machines will self regulate the amount of water allowed to enter the washer. The typical washing machine is connected to the water supply by a hose. The hoses can fail with age. The most common use of a shut off valve like yours is to stop the flow of water when the machine is not in use. So you would open the valve allow the washing machine to run it's complete cycle. You would then close the valve to prevent flooding the apartment in the event the hose leaked while unattended.


Can I stack headers in a load bearing wall? I am working on a home addition and I plan to change an existing window into a doorway. The window currently has a 2x8 header and a small cripple wall below the header to frame the window.

I need to add a new header to support the load of a new beam that's been installed, so my question is rather than remove the old 2x8 header, can I just place my new LVL header below the existing header? I have plenty of room in both height and width so it's not a problem, I'm just not sure if I can edge stack headers or not.

My guess is it will be ok as long as I toenail the old and new headers together and perhaps place some straps or CDX over the face of both headers to prevent twisting. The house is 20+ years old so I'm not worried about the dimensional lumber of the header shrinking vs. the LVL.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks!

-rob

Yes, you can stack headers like that when you're not attempting to combine them to meet loading requirements. Here we assume that the new LVL is adequate by itself.

Crush probably isn't a concern unless there are more than two stories above the beam, and strapping probably isn't necessary if there are other means of laterally fixing the components (end nailing or toenailing).

All that said, there may be factors I can't see from my house. What you've shown us looks fine.

By the way, the new king studs aren't necessary. Eliminate them if you'd like to maximize rough opening width under the new beam.


Why is one bedroom colder than the rest of the house? I had a home built last year and we have one bedroom that is 6-10 degrees colder than the rest of the rooms in the house when its cold outside.

The heat is radiant and the system has temperature gauges on the manifolds which tell me what the temperature of the water is going out and coming back.  I have reflective bubble insulation between the floor joists and the water is coming back only 2-3 degrees colder than when it leaves.  I have three zones and this zone is our main living area, two spare bedrooms and the bathroom.  The bath is between the two spare bedrooms and the same radiant tubes heat all three.  The bath is warm, one of the bedrooms is warm, but the other is cold.  I have had additional insulation put in over the bedroom and have installed aluminum plates around the perimeter to increase the heat output into the floor.  This room is on a corner, as is the other spare bedroom, however this room had an additional 8 feet of exterior wall over the other spare room.  I have been told that is why it is cold.  It also has northwesterly exposure which I am also told is adding to the problem.

So my question is, will an additional exterior wall, even if it is only 8' long, as well as northwesterly exposure, make a bedroom 6 - 10 degrees colder?  The heat is getting there, it just isn't keeping that room as warm as it should be.

In my experience as a Home performance contractor, situations like you describe are almost always a problem of air sealing. There is likely something about the way the room was constructed that allows more air infiltration. Possible causes would be an attic stairs located in the room, one of the exterior walls having an overhang, the room is connected to a cantilevered porch or maybe it's over a garage. It's highly unlikely that 8 feet of properly insulated wall would cause the temperature differences you're describing.


I can see the concrete blocks inside the house through the paintwork in the lounge, I can see the outline of the concrete blocks behind the paintwork. Is this normal?

There's nothing wrong with simply leaving the cinder block surface and painting it.   It will look like painted cinder blocks.

It has a few advantages, it's tough, easier to clean, and much, much, much, much easier to clean up after a flood.

Covering that up with plaster or drywall is just a matter of aesthetics.  It's not like it's bad architecture, it's just a different design choice (of course the hooty-tooty crowd consider it more lowbrow, but whatever.)

If someone aimed to do that, and missed, then yeah, that's bad work.


Exterior lighting: Is a round waterproof lampholder ACTUALLY compatible with a rectangular housing? I happened to be at Home Depot for something else, so I didn't get a good look at our exterior floodlights that need to be replaced (they're about 13 years old and don't work anymore). So I picked up two of these, just to have 'em in case they were a good fit:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002N5FF/ref=asc_df_B00002N5FF1260862?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-894-10-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B00002N5FF

But when I came home I saw that the boxes on my house are rectangular and not round like the lights I bought. I was planning to just exchange them for the right kind, but then I noticed that in the description on that Amazon listing, it says they work for round OR rectangular waterproof housings! So... what gives? Can I actually expect to mount the round lights on the rectangular hole and have 'em work? Seems too good to be true.

The product description on Amazon is pulled directly from the manufacturer's data sheet (the link is an excerpt from a catalog, scroll down two pages for the light fixtures you bought), so I think you can trust it.

Another assurance that you'll be OK: I see from that catalog that the base of the light fixture is 4 1/8" in diameter, which is the same as the outside dimension of the diagonal of a single gang box (at least the one I picked out of my big box of electrical goodies :).  When you open the packaging, you should see a rectangular pattern in the molding on the back where the electrical box will be mounted.


Replacement draft inducer motor stopped working after 3 months My Goodman GMNT060-3 furnace stopped turning on in October. The tech diagnosed a bad draft inducer motor, because the fan wouldn't spin freely and made a grinding noise when turned by hand. I replaced the motor myself with a new one from eBay - a FASCO Inducer Motor 77-161-000. It worked well for a couple of months, but recently it started making rattling noises while the fan was spinning.

Today, the furnace stopped turning on altogether. I pulled out the 3-month-old draft inducer motor and turned the fan by hand. It feels just like the old motor's fan did - not spinning freely at all. I replaced the motor and got the furnace started again by manually turning the fan, but obviously that's a short-term fix.

What could cause a draft motor to go from like-new operation to dead within a few months? Could the eBay motor have been a dud? Or is something else wrong?

Could be a dud. Make sure you get a replacement with warranty. Check your voltage at the motor. Also if your furnace is oversized repeated starts and stops are very hard on ventor motors.


How to repair the voids in this stone wall I have a stone wall and steps in my yard that have voids that need patching
What is the best way to fill these holes
Is there some type of cement that can be used or some other material to fill the cracks and voids that may have once had stones in them
Thanks for your help

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Standard mortar mix will work well for this. Be aware that it will become quite a bit brighter or lighter in color when dry than the old mortar .


Thermostat wiring orange and blue wires I am changing thermostat but I see that I have both an orange and a blue wire in use coming from the zone board. I found the c wire hooked up at the zone board but not on the old t-stat. I assume I will use that wire now but I don’t have single posts for the orange and blue wires on the new thermostat but I do have one that is labeled O/B. Any thoughts or advice? The new thermostat is a Honeywell T5 and the zone board is an EWC ST 2B

This is going to require a bit of...help.

Your problem is that your zone board uses its O and B inputs to determine how to run the underlying HVAC system, while the Y and W inputs are used to control the damper for the zone.  (Residential zone boards are basically very crude versions of what is called a Variable Air Volume, or VAV, zoning system in the commercial HVAC world.)

Your old (electromechanical) thermostat was able to provide these outputs independently of Y and W as it was...rather dumb, simply providing them through extra contacts on the thermostat's changeover switch.  However, while the T5 is a much more sophisticated thermostat overall, it makes some assumptions about the way HVAC systems work that aren't true for you.  In particular, it assumes that any O or B signal present is used to control a heat pump's reversing valve (some systems use O, others B, the difference being whether you need to energize the signal to get the thing to heat, or energize the signal to get the thing to cool), and thus you only need one or the other, not both at the same time, such as in your case.

So, we'll need to add some parts to adapt your new thermostat to work with your zone board.  In particular, we'll need:

4 DPDT HVAC (fan) relays (24VAC coils, quick-connect terminals, flange mount)
Some 18/8 thermostat cable you can shuck for 18AWG solid jumpers
Some wirenuts suitable for 18AWG wire, and some red (22-16AWG) female quick connects
Self-drilling sheet metal screws suitable for mounting the relays into the zone board's housing
A crimper (preferably of the ratcheting type) for attaching the quick connects to the wires, and a screwdriver and wire cutter/stripper (of course)

All these relays get wired as in the diagram below, where W, Y, R, C, R1, O, and B designate terminals on the zone board and corresponding relays in the circuit, and the wires are color-coded largely according to standard HVAC color codes, with green and black being used for internal functions.  What you are doing here is using a pair of stick circuits to create a memory of sorts that stores the last function (heating or cooling) the system was using until a call for the opposite function is made, which causes the system to change over between heating and cooling at that time.  Of course, if you aren't comfortable wiring this, this job is well within the domain of a skilled HVAC technician or controls electrician.


Is there a type of pump or device that will sit on a flooded floor and quietly suck up a puddle of water? There is a slow leak in our finished basement - it should be fixed eventually but we are looking for an interim solution to a constant puddle of water in the middle of the floor.

Floor is ceramic tile
Puddle is near or sometimes in an en suite full bathroom, so with some sort of pump the water could be diverted into a bathtub about 4' away
The room is being used as an office, so the solution cannot be super loud
The person using the office has mobility issues, so I am looking for something that can just sit in the puddle and work, as she would not be able to operate e.g. a shop-vac, and we have no way to clean or try towels or anything else used to sop up the water

Does such an appliance exist and what would it be called?

Here is a sump pump that is quiet, has automatic on/off with the presence of water down to 1/4" and has thermal protection for less than $100. You have the option of purchasing a discharge kit that will work up to 24' and a little check valve as well. All items together are just over $110.


What should I do if one of the screws for a TV mount breaks? My wife & I spent a fair amount of time setting up a VideoSecu heavy articulating wall mount in a position & height that we liked.

Problem is, the top-left lag screw (5/16" thick, 3" long) broke in half once it got all the way in the stud (1.5" wide).

The rest of the screws were already tightened. What is the best way to proceed?

As far as I can tell, my options are:

Screw extraction, then use a larger lag screw. This seems iffy since 1.5" of the screw is lodged deep in the wall (drywall around 1" thick, it broke off beyond that depth).
Leave old screw, drill new lag screw in a different direction (in this case unfortunately it would have to be UP at an angle, but the rest of the mount looks pretty damn sturdy so mostly worried about stud integrity).
Move everything - take out the 3 existing other lag screws, move entire TV mount installation up/down. In this case I'm worried about the stud also losing integrity by removing the 3 very large lags nearby (& since we'd be screwing the new installation in nearby, ~3" up/down).
Move mount to entirely new stud location. This is likely not possible as there aren't any other studs in the house that will fit the TV near our living room.
Abandon project after removing installation.

Obviously #5 is the worst solution. My current thinking is #2 since it's the path of least resistance but I don't know how worried I should be about it vs. the other options. Or perhaps there is another idea I haven't thought of?

Wall mount weight: ~50lbs. TV weight: 60lbs.

All help veryyy appreciated!! We are totally stuck!

Results

At Grant's suggestion, we screwed in a new 5/16", 3" long lag screw next to the existing broken off one. So far so good, can hold the very large TV.

One interesting thing to note - regardless of how much I piloted, the screw was still very hard to get in. Perhaps the stud was tough, but I still needed to use an open socket wrench with a fair amount of torque to get the last 1" in. Drywall surrounding this is a mess, but intact so is still providing adequate support to the stud & mount.

I will update this thread in a month or so, or if there are any problems in the meantime.

Update, Oct. 2015: No issues to report.

Luckily your mount has slots for the bolts so you have a bit of room to work.  Get another (stronger, higher quality) lag bolt and put it in right beside the broken one.

Leave a tiny bit of room between them if you can, but make sure it still solidly hits the stud.

Predrill the hole.  To find the right size, hold the bolt up behind your drill bit.  The drill bit should cover the entire shaft, but not the threads.  Make sure you drill to the same depth the bolt will go to.

Rub the bolt threads on a candle or bar of soap to lube it up a little if you think it is going to be hard to drive in again.

Drive the bolt in slowly.  Don't use a drill unless it has a low torque screwdriver setting.  You might want to tighten it with hand tools anyways so you don't risk snapping this one too.  There probably isn't room for a third try!


Tile before or after fitting bathtub I am part way through completely refitting my bathroom and keep debating what the best approach is regarding tiling around the bathtub.
Most videos online suggest that you either fit the bath or at least mark on the wall and fit some wood to tile up from. I appreciate that this will save on cost but are there any other benefits to doing it this way over tiling the full wall? Could the tile sitting further out above the bath help to prevent water from sitting on the edge of the tub (see below)?
Tile above bath.       Tile full wall

..|                    ..|
..|                    ..|
---                    ..|---
   |                   ..|   |
   |                   ..|   |

I don't mind spending more money on tiles if it saves on cutting, etc. So long as it is either the better option or is not the worst option :).

Either way sealing is the issue.
Then in the future when you get rid of the bath for an open shower you have to get more tiles... unless you purchase sufficient now... which means you may as well fit them... but will they look “cleaner” since they were hidden?


Bathroom fan too loud I recently installed a new bathroom fan in our master bath in hopes for a much quieter environment. I installed a NuTone Model # AERN110 (110 CFM, 1.0 sone).

I've never had an ultra quiet exhaust fan before so I wasn't sure what to expect but I wasn't impressed, it was still pretty loud. I just figured that was normal until I visited a friend and noticed how quiet his bathroom fan was. His fan was  6 years old and almost double the sone rating of mine.

I decided to reach out to NuTone technical support and after asking me a few questions decided to send out a replacement motor. I just replaced the motor and it sounds exactly the same. I'm assuming this means the problem in on my end but I don't know what to look for.

The fan is installed in the ceiling between the first and second floor (No attic access). It's connected using 4 inch flexible duct pipe directly to the fan (No reducers or elbows). I don't know the length of the duct but I do believe it vents to the outside but I'm not positive. One other detail that may or may not be important is when the fan is running I can hear it (very quietly) in the other bathroom located on the same floor.

Hopefully I've provided enough detail for someone to point me in the right direction but please feel free to ask questions and I'll answer to the best I can. Thanks for reading!

Unfortunately the quietness is often determined by the air restriction. Yes a poorly made fan can rattle or the motor can hum or buzz but even the best fans with no hum no rattle no buzz can still make noise if the diameter of the outlet pipe is too small.

This is the problem with installers

https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/57709/How-to-Install-Flex-Duct-Properly

Flex duct for all its Glory is installed incorrectly 90% of the time if you're going to run a flex duct and leave it all floppy you better run a much bigger duct or just run rigid or install the


When doing a line side tap, Can ground and neutral be tap before the main panel? The picture shows what I’m asking.

I gather the service panel is full, otherwise you'd just backfeed a 2-pole breaker there.
The junction box would have to be absolutely enormous because of the wire bending rules for such large feeder.
So how about killing 2 birds with 1 stone?  You might as well use a load center there instead of the junction box; not least, it comes with all the lugs you need and will provide the ground as well as breaker spaces for the solar and more.  Eliminating the need for all that stuff.  May even be cost-neutral or even cheaper.
For instance, I see plenty of 8-space panels with thru-lugs in the $140 neighborhood. At that point you install the solar breaker normally off a $10 breaker... and feed the old main panel off the thru-lugs.  You have also added 6 empty breaker spaces to the house for future needs, and taken care of picking up ground for the solar since this is now the main panel.


Electrical Outlets not working after pressure washing my house I just had my house pressure washed and painted and after the power washing the power to half of my garage isn't working. We had an electrician come look and everything looked fine. He told us to "wait a few days" for things to dry out. It's been a week and still nothing. Help.

Probably one GFCI protected receptacle outside got water in it. This could trip a GFCI. If it is a GFCI that has tripped, then some GFCI receptacle or GFCI breaker should be in the tripped state. The GFCI receptacle itself may be inside and not gotten wet, but if some outside receptacle on the load side of a GFCI gets wet it can trip the dry GFCI.
You can dry these out by removing just the cover plate of any outside receptacles that could have gotten wetted and blowing dry air such as a hair dryer on low heat high fan. Better might be a leaf blower or shop vac exhaust. Even any vac on suction might work.


Laminate flooring: Do I need to leave a space between the floor and the wall? I live in a temperate climate and from what I'm reading elsewhere, leaving a space for expansion between the wall and floor might result in the laminate flooring unhinging from itself over time.

If I don't expect any warm temperatures, do I really need a space between the wall and the floor I'm installing?

Thanks

Yes.  Temperature might not change but the humidity will. Leave a space for best results.  The baseboard trim will cover it up!


Can the back side of a window type aircon exhaust in an empty ceiling area? I'm planning use a window type A/C on my little attic room. My A/C unit is just .5 HP, just enough for the small room. The problem is there's no proper exhaust area like the standard Window type. There's an empty space on the side that  can be used as space for its backside/exhaust. The empty space is a above the ceiling of the house (not the attic) (the attic is on the 2nd floor used for some storage). The empty space is enclosed within the roof, so no constant "fresh air" coming in. It's used for maintenance way to the roof.

Split type AC are not an option.

I just wanted to use this spare A/C unit. The downside is the exhaust is above the ceiling of the house, but the space is the ceiling is so huge. Even 10+ times bigger than the room. Is this possible? or any downside?  I mean the best option was to have a split type Aircon, but for now I want to use the extra A/C for the attic.

I think you'd find that the heat built up and leaked right back into the living area, unless the attic area was actively ventilated. That's where a lot of the heat in your unit is coming from in the first place, after all. And pumping heat with an A/C is less efficient if you're pumping it into an even hotter space.


Why do some table saws have a direct and a reverse ruler on the fence? For example, in the ruler, the bottom row goes from 0 to 31 cm from left to right and the upper row goes from 32 upwards from right to left?

EDIT: Here is the manual for the tablesaw pictured above. There is no mention of that scale, and it the drawings it looks like it should be a cm/inches scale.

EDIT2: I had e-mailed the manufacturer about it (Bosch), and they told me to contact an authorized repair store about the matter!? So even the manufacturer have no idea what it is supposed to be.

You have a "reversible" fence.  One set of measurements are for when the fence is on the right side of the blade, and the other set of measurements are for when the fence is on the left side of the blade.

Remove those 2 red knobs on the right side of the fence and remove the bolts/fence.  Now put the bolts through the other side (where the red knobs are) and put the fence on and the knobs.  Remove the fence assembly from the track, move to the other side of the blade, put fence back onto track, now you can measure/cut from the other side of the blade.


Can hurricane shutters be installed horizontally? Looking at the photos at this site, it appears that they are able to be installed horizontally.

Do you have to use a track or can you drill into the shutters and then Tapcon them to the masonry? I am thinking of using 2 inch L x 1/4 wide Tapcon for this application.

For my application, there is a sill that protrudes out underneath my windows, which prevents me from placing the shutters vertical in a track. The protrusion looks something like this (see brick under window):

I think I have figured it out. I have to measure the width of my sill, but I think I will need a H and F track with build-out. A description of tracks was located here.


US-Michigan Can I use two ground terminal bars in a sub panel? I'm finishing the electrical rough-in on a 100 amp subpanel for a new workshop.  I have unbonded the neutral, and run two ground rods on 6AWG bare copper and also have a ground conductor coming from the main panel.  I'm wondering, is it OK to use two ground terminal bars in the sub panel for the sake of making wiring easier / neater? (One on either side.)  If so, should I run a conductor between the bars?

The reasoning is, this particular cabinet has plug on neutrals which go the vertical height of the panel.  It makes it very convenient to run all of a drop to near the same place, but if there's only one ground bar and it's on the other side of the panel, I end up having to run the ground all around the panel to the other side, making it tougher to keep it neat.

Thanks for your help!

Sure, that's no problem.  Just make sure the ground bar is actually grounded.


What can I do about a shower valve stem that is too far recessed after tiling? I am putting a shower back together after tiling it and putting fixtures back in. I bought a Moen universal shower handle trim kit because it was really the only thing I saw in a metal finish with that worked with a push/pull shower valve.

I no longer have access to the valve itself since dry wall, thinset, kerdi, and more thinset is surrounding the valve stem coming out of the wall. Anyway, it is now too far recessed and the handle has a piece (which I forgot to take a picture) that fits over the stem. It is flat on two sides and fits over it and then screwed into it.

Is there an extension piece that one can buy that will connect the two? Any suggestions would be great that doesn't require opening the wall back up. Just something I didn't think of while I was tiling.

The sleeve coming out of the wall can be pushed in further but it won't do any good. The "arms" on the piece that goes in the handle that prevents the handle from being turned passed the top part of the sleeve will just hit the face plate.

There are Moen knob/stem extensions available. Go to a reputable plumbing shop with your knob and some pictures.


What should I do about partially tacky urethane finish? so I've been refinishing an interior bench. The bench had a very old polyurethane/resin finish which I sanded completely off, there was nothing other than bare wood when I stained it. I stained the wood with a maroonish oil-based stain and let dry for 24 hours. I used a tack cloth to remove any residue that might have fallen on it and it felt good and clean, ready for the urethane finish.

I mixed 50/50 urethane with the safer mineral spirits they have out now (the more environmentally friendly stuff) for the first coat and I brush applied it lightly last night. I wanted to do a light sanding and apply another coat of 100% urethane this morning but parts of the finish from last night were still tacky while the majority of the bench was perfectly hard like I expected it to be.

Granted it's cooler (winter time) now but it's inside the house and parts of the finish dried just fine. Should I give it more time or should I use the mineral spirits to remove the tacky finish and reapply? Could the tack cloth have left some of its waxy residue on the wood which would cause the finish not to soak into the wood? I didn't rub the tack cloth into the wood by any means, just a light touch to pick up the crap.

It's possible it's just the cool temperature and it will dry in a few days.  It won't hurt to let it sit several more days and see if the tacky areas harden up on their own.

However my suspicion would be a compatibility problem between the urethane finish and the "green" mineral spirits.  Although they probably say then can be substituted for real mineral spirits, I've heard of mixed results when using them for thinning oil based finishes.  For a future project you could select all water-based finishing products which would have lower VOCs and would not require thinning with any solvents.  Or use standard mineral spirits for thinning and save the "green" ones for cleanup.

If the finish doesn't harden on its own I would try to remove most of the finish from the tacky areas as you described.  I would do it in stages with some drying time inbetween because if you remove too much you will likely also remove some of the stain resulting in inconsistent shading.  In that case you may need to strip and refinish a larger area (or live with the spots).