Wiring ceiling fan/light properly on 2 different floors I have a room with a cathedral ceiling and a mezzanine.  On the ceiling I installed a ceiling fan with a light.  I want to be able to control "three-way style" the fan and the light from the 2 floors (ground floor and mezzanine).

Here is my setup so far:

I have normal 14x2 (+ground) wire coming in and my fan is connected with a 14x3 (+ground) wire.  I already have normal light switch and my fan controller:

I need to connect all of that so I can turn on and off the light from both floors and control the fan speed from the ground floor while being able to turn the fan on and off from the mezzanine.

How do I wire my project?

Ideally, I would want to use the fan controler I already own to save some money, however I don't know if it's three-way.  I would also prefer using only 14x2 wire as I have a big role and no 14x3 wire left (again to save a few bucks).  If those constrains are problematic, it's no big deal, I'll buy the require material.

Thanks

NEW PRECISION:  My building is a wood cabin in the middle of the forest that would use solar power, battery and inverter. All the walls are open so it's very easy to get any kind of wire through.  The building code matters but not that much, I don't want my camp to burn, but nobody will come and inspect it.  I'm looking for simple connections, which wire where, between all the switches, fan controller, fan and power source.

You'll need a different fan control

First off, you'll need to get a different fan control that supports 3-way (with a regular switch) or remote (with a "master" dimmer and a special, manufacture-specific wallbox remote) functionality, as your existing fan control only supports single pole operation.  Lutron, Cooper/Eaton, Leviton, and Legrand all make fan controls that can do this, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

Smurf (tube) to the rescue!

Trying to wire a three-way control setup for both fan and light using NM cable between the switch boxes faces two problems, both due to the fact you need 2 travelers for each of the fan and the light, as well as a neutral and a ground:

NM cable stops at 14/4 W/G -- you can't get a cable with more wires than that in it.
The fan and light on a ceiling fan share a neutral, so you can't use 2 14/3 W/G cables in parallel as to do so would violate NEC 300.3(B)/310.10(H) due to the paralleled/looped neutral that would result (simply not using the neutral wire in one cable won't work either for the same reason)

As a result of this, the far more economical option than trying to find a workable cable here is to use conduit.  "But wait", you ask, "isn't conduit horribly expensive and labor-intensive to work with, requiring special tools and trade knowledge?"  You are somewhat right -- bending rigid conduits is a bit of an art form, and metal flexible conduits are typically only used in short lengths.

However, what most people don't know is that ENT, aka the "smurf tube" that is most commonly associated with telecom and low voltage work, is also Code-legal for mains electricity as well.  Since you can fit 11 14AWG THHN wires down a 1/2" ENT and still be under the NEC fill limits, this is quite a viable option for situations where high wire counts are needed, and ENT is far easier to run than most conduits, as it is flexible enough to be bent by hand.  You still have to obey the 360° rule with regard to the cumulative amount of bending between access points, but this isn't that big a deal in an exposed installation.

As a result, I would do just that to connect the two switch boxes -- a 1/2" ENT will suffice for all the wires you'll ever need here, and you'll need 6 14AWG THHNs in 4 colors for this -- a green ground, a white neutral, and two lengths each of any color other than white, grey, or green (I'd use yellow and blue or purple, myself, to avoid confusion with always-hots or switched-hots) for travelers.  Most metal boxes can accept ENT with an adapter fitting into a knockout, while plastic boxes are sometimes made with knockouts for ENT service -- those that don't can have a knockout hole of the correct size (7/8" for a 1/2" conduit) drilled in them, if worse comes to worse.

Also, pulling shouldn't be an issue, given that you're only going to be pulling 6 wires through the conduit -- you should just be able to use a shop-vac to suck a foam "mouse"/plastic baggie on the end of a pulling string through the conduit, then tie the string to your wires and pull them that way.


Convert gas wall heater to inset fireplace This wall heater is running on gas and has an electrical control. It is actually in front of the brick vent behind

This is in the attic as the vent connecting on top

Obviously this wall heater is very ugly so I want to change it to something more modern looking.

What are my options?

I am thinking:

Create a hole in wall and buy some gas in-wall fireplace. But I don't if this product exists and how the venting works.
Make this a regular gas fireplace without electrical control. But then the fire has to be turned on manually via some handle to turn on the gas. This is a big hassle.
Put in a furnace in the middle of the house and cover with a box and access door. Then run duct all around the house. This is the most expensive option and also take space right in the middle of the living room.

This is not a recommendation since I never bought or installed one of these. Try searching for Woodland Direct or phone at 844-312-5159. I searched on-line and found this site. They seem to have just about everything you could possibly want. They have for example, a Kingsman ZV3600 zero clearance B-Vent gas fireplace Item #3580119 that may work for you. They have a long list of other possibilities, Or you can look up "wall mounted gas heaters or fireplaces".


Latch bolt not aligned on double doors We bought our house new and since the house has settled a bit, the doors to our bathroom have become misaligned.  Unfortunately, we're beyond our builder walk throughs so we need to fix it ourselves

I've tried tightening up all of the hinges but nothing changed.  I thought about moving the strike plate up, but then the bottom screw hole would be over the latch cut out.

What else can I do to re-align these doors?

Add a shim to the bottom hinge on the left side, and to the top hinge on the right side. If not sufficient, add a smaller shim to the middle hinge on each side and a larger shim bottom left and top right.

If that shimming makes the doors not close due to too much contact in the center, deepen the mortise on the top left and bottom right. Shimming is obviously easier so you try that first.

You are seeking to very slightly rotate the doors so that they align.

If the fit to the frame looks dubious for rotating the doors as above, remove the strike, drill out the screw holes, glue in dowels to fill the screw holes and strike hole, wait for the glue to dry, relocate the strike and drill new holes.


What is a "Delta HDF Faucet?" Purchased and installed a Delta T17T238 shower trim set in 2011.
Perusing the included "Installation Instructions" manual, I encountered the following warranty verbiage:

Well, Goggle was not my friend, and Delta's Customer Service email interface seems to be down at the moment.
Any insight as to what "HDF" stands for?

Looks like they might be commercial quality, hence the 5 year limited warranty.   More specifically, according to Delta Customer Service, HDF stands for "Heavy Duty Faucet."


How do I change out the light bulb in this fixture? My wife picked up this light fixture at a sample sale. We had some electricians install it a while ago while we were having other work done on the apartment. The electricians threw out the box and paperwork, so I don't know the brand or model number. The glass "bowl" spins freely in the two metal side supports. You can also slide the bowl "back and forth" in the supports, but you can't slide it far enough to slide out of the supports. I can't move the supports at all. They don't just move out of the way to let the bowl fall out. I have tried turning the entire fixture, and I have also tried just pulling the fixture down. There is about one and one half inches of space between the ceiling and light fixture. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Take the photo to several lighting fixture stores and ask. The staff will often have wide knowledge of back catalog.


Can Sump pump basin depth cause damage I have a dirt basement and replaced a bug-box sump in 5 gallon bucket setup, with a 1/3 HP submersible iron pump.  The new basin is about three feet deep - I drilled some holes in it, and added garden fabric around the outside and drainage stone around the unit.
My house is located on a river and the street has water problems in the basements.  Yesterday I monitored the system and the pump would kick on every 60-90 minutes...  I don't care about the pump running, I bought it to.
I question whether the depth of the basin is drawing too much water out of the ground.  Can that be problematic to my home e.g. the foundation?

You done good.
It's doing its job and no risk of damage; sounds like you set it up perfect. The reason for more frequent kicks is for every increment you go deeper, you add that much more water spilling into the bucket but a sump float has a fixed height it kicks on. Your flow rate went up; the good news us you're draining more water from your basement than before which can add a nice bit of buffer relieving water further back from your sump pit than before.


Which bathtubs do not require installation? I need a "no install" bathtub for an otherwise great apartment that only has a shower. The bathtub would be used nightly by an American adult of average height (not short but not "tall" either) and shouldn't be much heavier than an average woman can move by herself. What are appropriate bathtub options for this situation?

I've never heard of such a thing, and I can think of a number of reasons why:

Bathtubs are heavy. Even worse, water is heavy. A standard bathtub holds about 40 gallons of water, which is over 300 pounds. Add the weight of the bathtub itself, and you may cause damage to whatever it's sitting on.
Showers these days are designed to not use a lot of water (about 2 gallons a minute). Take off the shower head and you'll get more, but it's still going to take a while to fill that bathtub. And, when you're done filling, the water is likely to have cooled off.
How big a water heater does your apartment have? Big enough for a 10 minute shower isn't big enough for a bathtub.
Where would you put the bathtub, both during and after use? Unless your shower is enormous, or you have a really big bathroom, it's tough to imagine how it would fit.

Add all these together, and the many ways a customer could damage his home and then blame the manufacturer, and it would be tough to make money selling standardized portable bathtubs.


is the 24v transformer output ~27v normal? i found my carrier 58pha090-016 furnace had no flame with the igniter on, and exhaust fan running, etc. it kept trying 3 times then stop. i reset the power switch of the whole system, the same cycle repeated. of course, i confirmed the main gas valve to the furnace from house was open, and the heater near by working fine. i testeded the power cable to the gas valve (White Rodgers modle 36j24-618, 1 stage, 24V) had 27V after the igniter on, and no voltage when the system off, that meant the control board and limit switches etc were all functional. More likely the bad gas valve.  I could replace the gas valve. however, i am not sure if the 27V output from the control board was the root causing the damage to the gas valve from the first place, or it's still a acceptable range? Ichecked the gas valve manual there's no range in its specifications.  i checked the output from the transformer (with label of 24V output) the reading was 27V.   some people online said the transformer range could be from from 24V to 28V.  if anyone has any experience about this, pleait's greatly appreciated for your advises.  thanks in advance!

It does sound like the valve and/or solenoid is bad. You measured 27 volts, but that's only about 10% above the specified value, which is pretty close for a random transformer. The voltage will likely sag as you approach the rated current draw from the transformer, but even if it doesn't that's pretty close.


My goodman furnace is not igniting my burners I have a goodman furnace and when it is calling for heat the ignitor comes on and goes off and comes on again and the burners never comes on what could be the problem

No fuel.

Verify that you have gas supplied to the unit.

Also, an automatic gas valve sometimes malfunctions by sticking.  After you have verified that gas is supplied to the unit, give the automatic valve a solid tap with a hammer or a wrench during the start-up cycle to see if it opens.  If so, then you need a new gas valve.  (Do not tap the valve hard enough to damage it.)


How to fix a creaky carpeted floor? I recently moved to a 30ish year old building.

The master bedroom's carpeted floor creaks horribly when anyone walks across it - loud enough to wake my wife and daughter in the next room at night!

Not all of it creaks.  Just a roughly 5ft x 10ft area.  Of course, that area is the path between the bed and the door.

What is the easiest way to eliminate or at least reduce the creaking?  Preferably without pulling out or damaging the carpet.

They make special screws just for your problem. After you screw it down they break off, leaving the screwed portion below the level of the carpet pad. Do an internet search.


Is it unsafe to hide a power strip in a cardboard box? In a attempt to find a solution to the multiple cables running wild in my room, I thought of hiding them into a box, but I am concerned about a possible fire hazard.

The power strip has five sockets, with the following use cases:

Most of the time: just the wifi router
Around two consecutive hours a day: wifi router, PC and screen
Sometimes or at night: wifi router and phone charger.

The dimensions of the box (as shown on the picture above) are 50×30×20 cm.
If that is of any relevance, I live in France.

Is there a chance this could catch fire if I stick to these use cases? Can I also safely close the lid, which is cardboard too?

Its not particularly risky, but its not a fantastic idea either.

The amounts of current you are talking about pulling is not great, so heat dissipation should nor be an issue.

No one will give you a guarantee that it wont catch fire, but it us highly unlikely provided none of the cables have exposed wiring (which might short and spark).

Why not use a plastic container instead? (Assuming a cable management solution as @HazardousGlitch mentioned does not do it for you.)


Why is my ceramic tile popping out of the floor? I have old wood floor. My contractor installs a wire to the floor and then install the ceramic tile over the top. When they dry, the tiles do not stick with the floor. What should I do with these? What steps my contractor did wrong?

This is a really really poor installation.  Everything will have to be pulled up.  Tiles will need to be cleaned or thrown away and reinstall.

Issues:

The mortar/cement isn't even covering under the mesh in some pictures.  To do this type of install you need to cement/mortar the mesh to the floor and a skim coat on top.  Once this dries you can continue the tile installation with thinset.
Either the mix wasn't right or the contractor used the mortar after it started drying.  I can tell by the pictures that this wasn't a good wet install.
The tiles were just thrown on top of the mortar after he added it to the mesh.  In some areas there was not enough mortar so the mortar seeped under the mesh and the tile had nothing left.  (and I am 80% positive that the mortar used for the mesh is probably not good for tile install but let's just assume it is)
There is no sign of a trowel being used (properly).
And then the biggest reason... It is completely obvious that the tiles were added way too late.  The tiles look like they were laid on mortar that was 70% dried out.  You are lucky about this because this floor was going to fail miserably eventually and you would be out more time and tiles.  But this screw up will actually make demoing and reusing the tiles easier.

This is just a guess.  But it looks like this guy laid out the mesh, nailed it down, mixed up a couple of big buckets of mortar and just threw it on the floor.  Once he "smoothed" out the floor he started adding the tiles.  That is why you are seeing so much inconsistency - some mortar sticking to tiles, some to floor and some in between.

My advice is to demo everything that is left and hire someone that knows what they are doing - I am happy to give you step by step advice as this is much simpler than this guy made it.    You cannot let this guy touch your house again though.


How do I dismantle a faucet assembly to replace a leaky valve? A bit embarrassed asking this, but...
I'm trying to replace a leaking valve off my faucet assembly, but am unable to unscrew the faucet cap. Here is the faucet assembly -
Taboret® widespread lavatory faucet - K-8211-4

When you go to product site check out the "for owners" tab and open the second installation and care guide.  On page 2, it shows the handle itself unscrewing so you can replace the red or blue color rings.  Start opening it up there and see if you can work your way down to screw 55431 which is holding down the rest of the faucet to the valve.

Upper handle assembly

Lower handle assembly


Correctly wiring GFCI with two hot lines I recently bought a house built in 1958, with the original wiring. The outlets are not grounded (only two pins) and so I want to put some GFCI outlets as a hold-over until I can afford to have the house rewired with grounding.

One outlet I am working on is fed with two pairs of hot wires. They are on the same circuit, although when I turn the breaker off I still have 16V going through them, until I turn off the other breakers.

Would both pairs connect to the line side of the GFCI outlet? In that case I suppose I would not be able to chain other outlets off the load side. My main concern is that in this answer, the poster says

  In this procedure, only one wire should make the meter light up. If more than one wire caused the meter to light, contact a local licensed Electrician.

I would like to learn more about home wiring, without putting myself at risk -- if I need to get someone who knows what they're doing to come work with it that's fine, but I'd still like to know what I'm dealing with.

Update:

Took another look today. With the multimeter I was able to determine one pair that never had any voltage (I've separated all the wires from the outlet) so that must be a load pair.

The other pair of wires is another story. When the breaker is on it measures 120V as expected. When I turn the breaker off, it still has 16-18V going to it. There is a lightswitch near the outlet and when I turn it on, it goes right back to 120V, so it looks like that outlet is fed by two circuits, one of which goes through that switch.

As a note, when I initially wired the GFCI outlet, it tripped as soon as the breaker was turned on -- would that other circuit be coming into play to cause that? I did try wiring the outlet both possible ways, swapping the two wire pairs between load and line inputs, and it still tripped.

Onto the outlet, here is a picture, apologies for the less than great quality. Bottom line though, there are no tabs on the outlet and nowhere that looks like tabs would have been broken from.

Pick a circuit and stick with it

It appears that the existing wiring is confused, as it so often is in buildings of such vintage, and as a result you have one receptacle device that somehow got fed two circuits (one always hot and one switched hot) in a way that probably simply rendered the switch useless (as it was backfed power from the always-hot circuit to its load side).

Your well-intentioned-but-naive GFCI hookup attempt failed because the GFCI was seeing at least some voltage on its LOAD side and tripping/refusing to reset as a way of signaling "hey, dude, I've been wired wrong and can't help you because of it!"  This is a very important safety feature in the current generation of GFCI receptacles -- instead of silently offering an illusion of protection, they will do everything but scream to tell you about outside power appearing at their LOAD terminals, as that backfeeding both can render the GFCI unable to provide protection and can damage the GFCI's internals.

So, you need to decide whether you want the GFCI on the always-hot circuit or the switched circuit, and cap off the wires in the box for the other circuit with wire nuts, then connect the wires on the circuit you want to use to the GFCI.  Just make sure to keep which hot goes with which neutral straight to avoid a giant loop in your wiring.


How to replace a receptacle with four hot and four neutral wires? I am replacing some receptacles in my Master Bedroom. I have replaced 7 so far and they all have the same setup: 4 wires and 1 ground. They are straight forward to replace.

When I opened the last receptacle, I found out that it had 9 wires: 8 wires and 1 ground (see attached picture)I couldn't understand how this work and how I could replace it and closed it back. That receptacle is not connected to any switch.

Why do I have 9 wires for that receptacle? How can I replace it?

Assuming that they aren't a split circuit, just bundle them all by color and add a pigtail to each bundle for the outlet. You'll need red wire nuts to handle that many wires, assuming #14. Some brands will accept five #12. Make sure you do a clean job of combining and twisting the bundle to ensure good contact.


Is it okay to put house wrap over the top of pre-existing foam insulation? We are removing vinyl siding from our house and replacing it with a cement-type product. Is it necessary to remove the vinyl siding's foam insulation  before applying the house wrap?

Cement lap siding is extremely durable compared to vinyl. Good move!

By "foam", I assume you mean polystyrene foam board. I would not remove the foam, since it increases the insulation in your house, and reduces both heating and cooling bills. But a "water resistive barrier" (house wrap) is required under cement boards. So if your house doesn't already have one under the foam board, you must install one.

Cement board is OK to install directly over foam board up to 1" thick. If yours is thicker, you need to install furring strips over the foam board, or remove/replace it.

More installation requirements for one brand of cement board (don't know if you're using this brand, but other brands surely have installation requirements available either online or in print) are available here:
http://www.jameshardie.com/d2w/installation/hardieplank-hz5-ca-en.pdf


Why is water sitting under the basket of my GE topload washer? I have noticed that when my washer cycle is finished and I open the lid while its finishing the spin cycle I can hear water under the steel drum as if it is not drained all the way.  This is driving me nuts and even though I leave the door open when not in use it still gets a mildewy smell. I have physically drained the hose out once before and the smell was gross.  I don't know if this is a pump issue or something else.

What can cause it and how do I fix it?

Put the machine on the hottest wash that it can handle.  Throw in your white cotton towels and a 1/4 cup of bleach.  Do this 3 to 4 times a year.


Can I lay down solid wood planks on top of my basement concrete floor? I live in Oakville, Ontario and have a detached home with an unfinished basement with concrete floor. I would like to put hardwood flooring in part of the basement. Instead of tongue and groove floors, can I lay down mortar and then solid wood planks (1 in. thickness, 8 ft. length) on top of the concrete to get the hardwood flooring?

What do I need to be aware of / careful about? Any tips / suggestions (moisture control, securing, home resale value) would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, but.

There are so many issues with putting wood flooring at or below grade that I never like to see it done. The main issues are that wood swells with humidity, and humidity varies with seasons and other situations like rainfall. Most people think that their foundations are moisture-proof, but that is absolutely untrue with any masonry product, especially concrete. So the first thing you're going to need to do is a moisture content test on your concrete. These can be purchased at a hardware or flooring supply store, and you can send the test off for $10 US or so to a lab.

The next thing you have to determine is how to affix it. Around here in Texas, with slab-on-grade construction being most common and cellars being relatively uncommon, it's most likely to be affixed with construction or flooring adhesive. The main problem with affixing it this way is that it does not allow the wood to flex, expand, or contract without breaking loose from the adhesive or potentially cracking boards. I have seen some flooring installers in the Great White North (as we refer to the land you come from) who put down several inches of rigid foam insulation covered with a tongue and groove plywood product and affix the wood flooring to that. I would research that option -- I have no idea what it takes and if it's practical for your home, but I know that it would remove some of the height from your basement. With a father who's 6'4", and a best friend who's 6'7", that would be of concern to me.

The last and final thing you need to consider is what you're going to do if your basement ever floods. Wood floors are ruined by flooding. Rooms that are below grade are prone to flooding either due to rising water tables or infiltration from above, including from inside the home.

Instead of hardwood, I would strongly recommend that you look at ceramic tile that is designed to emulate hardwood flooring. It will provide the look that you're seeking without all of the problems. With an in-floor heating system, it could also provide the feel that you're going for at a lower end-cost than wood flooring.


How can I protect my slate floor from essential oils? I set slate tiles in my bathroom floor and counter top.  I notice that where essential oils (aroma therapy types) have dropped on the surface, the shine is gone and the sealer appears to have been eroded.

I sealed the surfaces with several coats of run of the mill sealer from the home improvement store.

Is there something better to apply over the existing sealer?

If the cheap sealant was water based then you can top that with another water based sealant, but I don't think that would solve the problem. The essential oils are eating away the water based coating. You will need to chemically strip the old coating then coat with a penetrating sealant that says it protects against oils.

In general, putting a solvent-based sealer on top of a water-based sealer is a bad idea. The solvents can eat or soften the existing water-based sealer, destroying both coatings. Think of it along the lines of oil and water; they do not mix.
If you do want to switch to a solvent-based sealer, you will need to chemically strip off the existing water-based sealer before applying the solvent-based product.
Source


Repair range element switches? The switches on a couple of range elements don't work well anymore. Sometimes the burner will suddenly go on full heat while the switch is set to low or intermediate heat.
Is it possible to safely repair the switches, eg. with some alcohol or contact cleaner, or must they be replaced?
Switch model numbers: 3148954, 3148952
Range: Whirlpool YRF263LXTQ0

In my humble opinion, it isn't a good or safe idea to try and fix them. The bi-metal that controls the heat range of the burner is more than likely fatigued and can't be replaced. The switches are bracketed together in such a way that they are not meant to be taken apart and if you do, it's hard to get them securely put back together. Even if you could repair it, it would only be a temporary fix and could go out at any time or really over cook your food. Just get some new switches and do the job right.


What is the proper wire type/size and conduit size for an a/c circuit? I plan to run a dedicated circuit on the outside of a house.  It would be in conduit.  The unit draws 11 amps.  The run is about 30 feet.  I want to be sure the conduit, wire size and wire type are correct.

1/2 inch conduit would be fine with THWN wire. If the conduit is exposed it will need to be schedule 80 pvc. If the conduit is under the house it could be schedule 40 pvc. With a 11 amp load 14awg wire size is more than enough with a 15 amp breaker. If you want to put in a 20 amp line 12 awg wire. if you do install a 20 amp with a single outlet code requires that outlet to be a 20 amp outlet. If you use a duplex outlet a 15 amp outlet would be code compliant.


Screwing into the underside of countertop - can it support a little weight? We have a space with a wide countertop set up in a space that functions as a workbench. There are no cabinets underneath. Instead, you can pull up chairs to it. There are computers there and it functions as a workbench/desk.

We're replacing the computers, and the new model is a smaller form factor that I would like to hang from the bottom of the countertop. I'm concerned, though, about screwing into the underside of the countertop. The material looks like simple partical board underneath, and I'm worried that it may decide to crumble rather than anchor the screws well, which in turn would allow the computers to fall to the floor.

Am I worried over nothing, is there a specific product I should use to do this safely, or should I do something else?

You could glue another board onto the bottom of the counter top with a wood glue, clamp it, and when dry it will give additional wood to screw into.


How do I widen a hole in my porcelain kitchen sink? My faucet recently broke, so I replaced it with a new faucet and sprayer. To put in the sprayer, we removed the dishwasher air gap - with predictable results. I've replaced the air gap in its hole. I'd still like to use the sprayer; however, I don't have any other holes of the right size.

I do have a 1/2" hole on the other side of the porcelain sink that was previously used for a filtered water faucet. How can I widen this hole to the 1-3/8" that I'll need for the sprayer?

I would recommend installing a faucet with an integral sprayer as a less complex alternative to modifying a porcelain fixture.


Do I really need an expansion gap around the entire hardwood floor? I'm preparing to install Bruce 3/4" pre-finished nail down Hickory hardwood flooring in my dining, and living rooms.  Currently there is a wood transition piece between the dining room and kitchen, and another similar transition between the living room and the hall. I'd really like to keep these transitions, but to do so I'd have to not have an expansion gap where the flooring meets the transition.

Click for larger view
Once the flooring is installed, the transition will be about level with the flooring. I can't raise the transition up, because it would be a tripping hazard going from the kitchen into the dining room.
Is there a way to do this, or am I out of luck?
Extra Info:

The transition pictured is a solid piece of wood 37 1/4" x 4 1/4" x 3/4"
The tile butts up against this piece of wood, there is a grout line between the last tile and the transition piece.
The top of the transition is ~3/8" above the top of the tile floor.

Click for larger view

Yes you need to keep expansion room at the walls for the flooring to move. Particularly at the walls that meet the long sides of the flooring, this is where the movement really occurs. In your picture you have the end grain of a piece meeting your transition strip. That will be no concern for movement there, although I would still get a small gap, minimally an 1/8", most certainly not tight, since the wood does move albeit slightly, in its length. That mainly depends on how much "grain runoff" is in any one piece of flooring, an 1/8" should cover it though. This gap at the wood floor/tile junction is caulked with a flexible caulk, something like, but I am not stuck on the Dap 230 in a compatible color of the grout in the tile floor. You are not done yet. Before ANY caulk is done, the joint area is carefully taped off so nothing gets on the adjacent finished surfaces. The caulk is set in place and wiped down to a clean WET joint. while it is wet have the grout on hand that was used to grout the joints in your tile floor and lightly dust the wet caulk so it dries into the caulk. This will give the caulk that varied natural look of grout, instead of the monocolor that caulk alone can't do. Peel the tape immediately after dusting and let dry, then vacuum the excess dust, the rest will remain.

You may decide to use a ready made color matched sanded caulk, that may work, but I have removed this type of caulk before and it is not as flexible as the "230" I mentioned before. No I am not an affiliate of DAP, I just know what works....


Wood Stove Chiminey Clearance How much clearance do I need between a wood stove chiminey and the living room wall?

I want to install an antique pot belly stove in the corner of my living room. I'm thinking of attaching concrete backer board to the existing sheet rock and covering that with a brick veneer. If I use a single wall pipe (don't want to loose the heat ), how far away from the veneer does the chimney need to be? What if I use a double walled chimney?

According to NFPA 211 Standard for Chimneys, Fireplaces, Vents, and Solid Fuel-Burning Appliances, you'll start with 36" clearance all the way around.

Then you can use one of the methods described, to reduce the required clearance.

Or you can follow the manufacturers installation instructions, which for a listed and labeled device supersede the code requirements.

As for the connector, you'll start with 18".

Then apply any reductions.


From a safey perspective, is it necessary to seal mortar joints between clay liners in the flue of a fireplace? I just got my chimney inspected with a video inspection.  The house was built in 1940 and the inspection showed that the flue has clay liners that are in perfect shape (no cracks, no creosote, still orange in most places).

The only issue that the inspection showed was that the mortar joint between the clay liners had gaps, possibly from water eroding the cement (the chimney is not capped, so we will definitely be doing that).

I plan on having no more than 10 very tame aesthetic fires a year (2-logs) with very good seasoned wood (which I believe produces less creosote).

From a safety perspective, is it necessary to pay the $1500-3000 to have those cracks sealed?

Thanks for any input!

A single fire could cause health and safety issues if enough of the exhaust gases find a path into the home or heat finds its way to built-up creosote between the chimney proper and its liner.

I would question their method and service-life performance of "sealing" clay liner mortar cracks and compare that, as well as cost, to re-lining the chimney with a flexible, stainless steel flue liner (for its expansion/contraction properties --which tend to break up & drop adhering creosote-- over the rigid format).  Flex liners tend to be about US $100+/ft.


How to remove bathtub faucet I bought a house and the home inspector missed this about the spare bathtub:  when you turn on the cold water, water leaks out of the stem of the hot water faucet (and vice versa).  I figure the o rings need replacement (or maybe packing).  I finally got the faucet handles removed (screws were seized) and I see this odd shaped nut.  It seems to be attached to the valve--if I try to unscrew it, the water comes on.  The plastic chromed shroud prevents me from seeing anything.  So, do I simply turn off the water supply, and unscrew this all the way?  In other words, will it remove the valve stem?  Or will the valve "bottom out" and then I can remove this nut?

It's a three handle tub fixture from Kohler, maybe the original one (house built around 1965).  I'm skittish because both bathrooms share the same pipe so if something goes wrong, I lose the ability to shower.

UPDATE:  I found the part number of that piece:  it's a Kohler 41240-CP Insert Sub-Assembly.  Amazon has it (with picture):  Kohler 41240.  The only difference is that has a washer under the nut (mine lacks it).  Someone on Amazon actually asked how to remove it and the answer was to use a faucet puller.  Is this true?  The hole is a 1/2 inch deeper than the rod on my faucet puller and that flimsy chromed plastic couldn't take much stress.  I did manage to find installation instructions for a Kohler Flair 3 handle faucet and the diagrams look like my faucet.  I will need to pull that insert off.  I'll try to extend my faucet puller with a nail and duct tape.  I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

Thanks for looking.

I called Kohler support.  They told me "it just pulls off".  I was disappointed with that--nothing after 5 years "just pulls off".

I ended up tapping the hole. It's just the right size for a 1/4-20 tap.  I then used a bolt to pull the inserts off--just screw the bolt in until it hits the valve stem and it pulls it off.  I'm enclosing a picture of the inside of that insert so others can see what this is.


How to tell if 2x4 is untreated and safe for indoor project? I bought some 2x4s from homedepot. Took a picture of the stamp. How can you tell if it's treated or not?  Is it safe for indoor furniture project?

Easy way: did you buy it INSIDE the store? - then it's not PT - they store that out where it can stay nice and wet.

That's a KD (kiln dried) stud - it's not PT. It's not greenish, as well, which is a somewhat blatant clue.


Is there any way to stop the air leak through my furnace without compromising its operation? My house has an 80% efficiency gas furnace in an interior mechanical closet with the return air path below the furnace and through a grille under the closet. However, since the furnace is not a sealed combustion model, the whole mechanical closet itself requires combustion air for the furnace to use, which is provided via a huge duct connecting the closet to the attic above it. Last winter, I found that this was a major source of cold air infiltration when the furnace is off, and I weatherstripped the door and sealed the furnace to its platform to prevent the cold air entering the mechanical closet from leaking into the house.

However, while those measures prevented cold exterior air from entering the house through those channels, I've found that it's still entering the house through the unit itself: apparently down through the filter and out the return air grille. I can feel the cool breeze coming through the return air grille when the unit is off.

Is there any way for me to solve this problem without interfering with the furnace's operation or replacing it with a sealed combustion unit? That's eventually in the cards anyway, but I'd prefer to solve the problem now, if possible.

Judging from the previous picture, I thought it returned from the lower floor through the bottom of the furnace. If it looks just like that new pic; a side tap with plenty of room, you could put a low-leak damper there that the blower will pull open all by itself when it runs (I'm having trouble finding the kind with a small weight attached...). This will block most of the flow in the ductwork, which is exchanging heat and causing a draft (half of the problem) where it's run in unconditioned space.

How is the ductwork insulated that I assume runs through the attic?  Your plenum chamber should have self-stick insulation on it, if it's in an unconditioned space as should any ductwork.
There is also a noticeable lack of sealant on the system allowing unconditioned air into it (the other half of the problem). My new best friend is duct sealant mastic in a bucket; tape needs the proper surface prep and can does eventually fail.
Steps one and two for addressing rigid ductwork in unconditioned space:

Another possible problem is that you have not truly sealed the mechanical room from the rest of the house including, however small, the return area.

Things to consider:

Installing a new system may require a completely different plenum; you should seal it for now but maybe wait on insulating it.

Jacket loss on equipment is horrendous, even on a well sealed and buttoned-up install; I prefer it in conditioned space. It's more efficient and less considerations need be taken: freezing temperatures; insulation is necessary.

You've used the word pascals, which means you know more about it than I do, however I'd of been quite satisfied blocking the air intake and installing a louvered door to include the room into the 'house'. If it is completely spray foamed (hermetically sealed) I'd be concerned, otherwise...meh. (Provided return air is not taken from the mechanical room.)

702.1 All air from indoors.
Combustion and dilution air shall be permitted to be obtained entirely from the indoors in buildings that are not of unusually tight construction. In buildings of unusually tight construction, combustion air shall be obtained from the outdoors in accordance with Section 703, 705, 706 or 707. -iccsafe.org

This intake will disappear (along with most of the problem) once you put in a HE system. Decide when and what you're going to spend money on. Recommended order: 1. duct sealant 2. HE furnace 3. spray foam insulation.

Having to install a damper is not a common solution. Attack the root of the problem; air infiltration and heat exchange.


Are existing non-tamper-resistant outlets grandfathered in NEC? My residence is a town home built in the late '90s, thus having non-tamper-resistant outlets.  I assume that they are grandfathered in NEC?  Am I required, by NEC, to install tamper-resistant when replacing an outlet?

Yes. If you're not making changes, there's no requirement to swap them out. If you are changing out the receptacles for any reason, you'll have to install tamper resistant receptacles.  You cannot replace the receptacles with non-tamper resistant receptacles (technically).


How to reduce maximum power rating of dishwasher for use with photovoltaics inverter? I have a photovoltaic power system and an inverter with an overall power rating of 1500 Watts. I want to connect a dishwasher which consumes 2200 Watts when heating the water.

Question: What is the best way to reduce this maximum power rating of the dishwasher? Is it possible to somehow (how?) use a voltage divider or a simple resistor in series with the heating coil?

I assume the only drawback of this idea would be that the washing takes longer, as the water needs more time to heat up.

From an efficiency standpoint you would be way better off to use the sun to heat the water up instead of converting to electricity in the middle of the process. Modify the dishwasher to accept the solar heated water instead of dumping any electricity into the heater coil.

To get even more efficient adopt a washing strategy with cold water cleaning in a basin followed by drying in the sun.


When is the best time of year to install a fence? Is there any right time to put the fence up in the backyard considering you have saved enough $$$s? Looking at the winter season we have and snow in coming months, is this the right time or should i wait until spring?

P.S.: I am not gonna do it by myself. I am gonna hire some professional fence company.

Depends on where you live. The best results are when the ground is dry. Frozen ground, spring mud season etc are bad times as you cannot set the posts soundly and you may see some settling later on.  Summer and early fall are great times to build a fence. See my earlier "beer" comment.


Filling gaps in hardwood floor - what's the easiest way? I've got an old, beat-to-hell, hardwood floor in my apartment in the kitchen where quite a bit of water ends up on the floor on a daily basis as there's obvious things like a stove and sink, but also a bathtub/shower in the room. As a result of all the water the hardwood floors have developed quite a few gaps between the floor boards. I'd like to fill these gaps and seal them off as easily as possible. How it will look when it's finished is unimportant to me - I just want to know what the easiest way to do it is. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Since you are looking for fast, cheap, easy -- lay a single solid piece of linoleum over the hardwood.  Best to leave the hardwood alone in case someone wants to repair it properly in the future!


Gas Dryer suddenly trips any GFCI Outlet immediately upon being plugged in, but works fine in non GFCI I have a Maytag Centennial gas clothes dryer in my laundry room. It is connected to a non-gfci outlet which is downstream of another outlet with built in gfci. It has been connected like this and working fine since I bought the house two months ago, and presumably has always been connected to this outlet for the 15 years that house has existed.

Tonight we discovered the GFCI outlet tripped and wouldn't stay reset and upon further investigation determined that without the dryer plugged in, everything worked ok but as soon as the dryer was plugged in (even though not turned on), the gfci immediately tripped. If I connect the dryer (via an extension cord), to a GFCI outlet in my kitchen (different circuit), it also trips that one, but if I connect it to a non-GFCI outlet it doesn't trip the breaker and runs fine.

My research on line has brought up posts saying the gas dryers should not be plugged into GFCI outlets at all as they may spuriously trip them, but this dryer has been working in this configuration for 15 years, so I'm guessing something has recently gone wrong with it in the past two days since we used it last.

My question is whether I should be looking into getting a non-gfci outlet installed for the dryer or if I should be looking to get the dryer repaired, and if so is there anything I should look for in the dryer myself rather than call service.

Same problem here: plugging in gas dryer, with dryer off, immediately trips GFCI.  GFCI is new;  dryer is old. I doubt the "fluctuating current" argument:  a washer, with its different cycle starts/stops, is going to generate more "fluctuating current" events than a gas dryer. (Also the dryer is off when I plug it in.)  I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the dryer, removing all lint, and brushing dust off of all components.  Still trips when plugged in.  So I disconnected/isolated hot in the dryer's control panel:  still tripped when plugged in. Then I also disconnected/isolated neutral in the dryer control panel: still tripped! New test:  without the dryer, ran a test lead from ground in the outlet to the gas pipe connection: trip!  Measured a small AC voltage (30mV) between outlet ground and gas pipe. Next step (in this case) is to talk to some people about grounding requirements for gas supply pipes.


Replace ceiling fan with fan + light I have an old noisy ceiling fan that I plan to replace. Can I install a ceiling fan with a light fixture regardless of the wiring, or do I need to open it up to see what I'm working with before buying the new fan?

There's only one switch that controls the ceiling fan, I'm not sure if there's wiring for a second switch in the box or not. Regardless, I don't particularly mind if there's only a single switch for the fan/light - I can always use the pull cord to turn the fan on/off.

I would open it up at the switch-box end if I were you

What I would do if I were in your shoes is open up the switch box for the switch controlling this fan to see if an extra conductor is present in the cable from the fan to the switch.  If so, then you can use a double switch to have separate wall switches for the light and fan.  If not, then you're stuck using the pull chains, a fan remote, or a specialized controller that lets you control the light and fan from a single wall device.


How do you remove paint and rust from outdoor chairs? I have some outdoor metal chairs that have a few rust spots and the paint is chipping in a number of places. I'm looking for the best way to clean off the rust and paint so I can repaint them.

I would try a wire brush first. Either a hand model or a rotary one that would fit into your power drill may do the trick.  You can also get small toothbrush size wire brushes to get into the small spots.  Good Luck


Cesspool vs Septic system, what's the difference? I own a home on Long Island, NY, which has an original block construction cesspool. These are known to collapse, and I'd like to replace it in the near future. I was given two options for replacement:

A septic tank system
A replacement cesspool - this is made of 3 stacked concrete rings, with a dome top. Works the same way as the current cesspool, but is not supposed to have the same danger of collapse.

The septic tank system is about $2000 more than the cesspool system.

Has anyone had to go through this and can tell me the pros and cons of each? I'm not sure if spending the extra money is worth it. The terms "cesspool" and "septic" seem to be used interchangeably or maybe incorrectly, I'm having a hard time finding info.

The septic system is supposed to be pumped every 3 years, the cesspool system has no pumping schedule, I assume you just let it go until it backs up...?

Thanks

A septic tank has a leach field , a cesspool or the one my grandfather had was a tank that drained into the soil. Garbage disposals and high soap / cleaners flushed or in the wash water are things that plug up both systems, if the bacteria can't digest the waste or is killed off from high concentrations of chemicals etc both will fill and fail. My grandfather's was always a place you did not want to be when the wind was going the wrong way, never have that problem with a septic tank. But modern ones may discharge differently, I know cesspools are not allowed in that area unless you have 20 acre lot or larger.


AC Disconnect Ampacity - can fuse size be something other than 30 or 60 Amp? I am currently hunting for an AC disconnect to sit between my main service panel and the AC power that will be supplied by my solar panel microinverters.

Nearly every AC Disconnect I find online is rated at either 30 A or 60 A. It is unclear to me if that rating is the MAX breaker ampacity allowed, or if it is specific to that breaker size.

The max current used for sizing the wires from the microinverters is 33 A, so I am using #8 size THWN wire, which is rated for 50 A.  This puts my current load and my protection requirement right between 30 A and 60A.  Ideally, I'd like to use a 40 A breaker.

Does the AC disconnect ampacity rating refer to the max breaker ampacity?  i.e., can I buy a 60-Amp disconnect and put a 40 Amp breaker in it?

Note:  "AC" here means "Alternating Current", not "Air Conditioning", in case anyone was confused.

Good news: you can go ahead with your plan

Unlike some utilities, FirstEnergy does not require solar/DER utility disconnects for single phase, self-contained-metering customers to be of a visible blade type, which means that your idea of using an AC disconnect box for this application is workable.  This is laid out in section 6.5 of the FirstEnergy Customer Interconnection Guide:

  6.5 DER installed at a single phase electric service location utilizing a self-contained company meter (usually 400A service size, or less), shall have a disconnect switch meeting the requirements of the NEC between the Company meter and the DER PoC. The switch shall be clearly marked, "Generator Disconnect Switch”, with permanent 3/8 inch or larger letters. The preferred location of the switch is outside the building in the immediate vicinity of the electric meter to facilitate access by Company personnel.

As to the headline question: yes, that's true as well

Given that you are getting a fusible disconnect, as non-fusible disconnects are also a thing, you can put smaller fuses in then the disconnect's amp rating, up to a limit (if you want to put a 1A fuse in a 60A disconnect, you'd need a set of fuse reducers for that).  Note that if you don't need to have overcurrent protection at that point, there's no reason not to get a non-fusible disconnect box vs. a fusible disconnect box as the non-fusible variety are somewhat cheaper and you don't have to worry about changing blown fuses in that case either.

Give me a sign, friend!

There is one thing you will have to do no matter what you buy, and that's go to your local trophy engraving shop and get them to engrave a plastic plate with the words "Generator Disconnect Switch" in letters 3/8" high or taller.  You'll then need to get a small hand-riveter and a couple of pop rivets and rivet the plate to the front cover of your disconnect box; this'll satisfy the permanent marking requirement imposed by FirstEnergy.


Screw is turning within wall plug and not tightening In attempting to fix a toilet roll holder to a wall in my bathroom, the screw within the wall plug fails to tighten and grip the bracket. It does screw in but doesn't tighten against the wall. There are 2 holes and it's the same for both. I don't believe I over tightened when screwing in.

Both the wall plugs and screws were provided in a kit with the toilet roll holder so I know I haven't picked the wrong size. I also installed this same toilet roll holder in a different bathroom and had no problems.

What is the problem if the screw spins but the wall plug doesn't? Is there a way to resolve this problem without repairing the holes?

The screws are 35mm, the wall plug 25mm and I used a size 6 drill bit.

And yes, I am a complete newbie when it comes to DIY :). Many thanks,

You may have to pull out the anchor, fill the hole, redrill it and install a new anchor if the first one has become too misfigured. Be careful not to overtighten.  You could also get some other kind of anchors like these screw in kind that hold beter.


How do I repair my porcelain floor? How can I repair chips in a white porcelain floor?  The chips came from dropping heavy cans, and they are small, less than pencil eraser size.

The general recommendation for repairing a chip in a porcelain tile is to fill the chip with an epoxy that has as close as color match to the original tile surface as possible. When you go to purchase the epoxy make sure to select a type that indicates that it is suitable for use with porcelain.

Prepare the chip area for patching by wiping the chipped area and surrounding surface with a microfiber cloth to remove all dust and dirt. Then thoroughly clean the are area with rubbing alcohol to make sure that all oils, remaining dirt and other deposits are completely removed. It is important to let the area full dry after the alcohol wash.

Mix the epoxy according to manufacturer directions on the package. You can use a small discardable container or old clean bottle cap to hold the epoxy while mixing. (Note that if you are working in multiple areas that will take an extended amount of time you may want to prepare the epoxy for only part of the project at a time).

Use a matchstick or toothpick to apply the epoxy into the chip area a small amount at a time. Work to fill the chipped area level with the surrounding tile surface without overfilling the damaged area.

Protect the area from traffic or use until the epoxy has completely set up. Some epoxy materials could take till over night to fully harden.


Where to start laying hardwood floor in "T" shaped room I'm getting ready to put down hardwood in a newly constructed room. The room is "T" shaped as such:

I understand that I should start on the longest continuous wall and work across.  However, in this case, if I start on "A" for example, and then fill-in between D and A, it seems likely I'll end up with a partial piece in the middle of the floor.

Should I start at D instead, and have the possibility of a partial piece all the way down the A wall? Is there some other way that I should approach this?

Thank you for your help.

Edit:  Some additional info:

The room is about 22' the long dimension and 14' on the short.  Planks are 3" wide.  D is the top of a stairwell, and C is a closet.

Say you start with your piece running parallel to A.  You take it from the bottom left corner all the way up to the F wall.  Solid piece, all the way up.

Now you backfill to the left of the piece, working towards D.  When you reach D, you will probably need to do a rip cut for the last piece to go in D.

You'll cross the room from A to B also putting in full pieces until you hit B at which point you'll probably need to do some kind of rip there as well.

Here's the only really tricky bit - where B meets the wall that links to C you'll have to do a partial rip cut.  Your rip should let you fit the piece in at B but where the space to C is, you want the full piece.


Connecting Earth Wire to LED Ceiling Down lights The old lights in the ceiling had an earth connected to the metal ceiling light housing. My new LED down lights are metal but don't have the earth connection, I think they are double insulated so don't need one. Anyhow can I simply connect the earth wire to the metal housing support for extra reassurance?

I'm pretty sure that would be against the code. Most likely neutral comes together with ground anyway but that happens in the breaker panel and there may be a GFCI breaker first to check for imbalance, then after it neutral connects with ground. I hope you have 3 wires coming out of the ceiling, Hot, Neutral, and Ground. Also the new lights should have those 3 wires as well. Ground would only be used for the housing and possibly as a fail-safe in the power supply. The "return current" should only go through Neutral. The power supply of the lights may only use Hot and Neutral. If you do not have the 3 wires coming out of your ceiling and out of the light fixture, then ignore my answer because then I don't know.


How many recessed lights should I install in my living room? I've got a 18" x 12" living room that I want to install recessed lights into but I am stuck as to if I should install 6 or 8 lights (6 inch each). 6 already "looks" like there are a bunch of holes in the ceiling and I Just feel like 8 may be too crowed. but then again, what if 6 doesn't provide enough light? What do you guys think?

The questions you are asking are two fold.

1: How much light do I need to provide good visibility in this room - Lumens / Coverage.

2: Aesthetically what will this look like - good or awful ? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

What is the layout of the six lights ? You did not mention - 3 and 3  along the long length or otherwise.

See the example below I think it will help you to decide. get a lamp of at least 800 lumens - you can get 75 watt equivalent for your recess assemblies which would be about 1000 lumens and that would make the area really bright. LEDs are pretty cheap and I would suggest you use them as well.


Gravel under vinyl fence post in clay soil? I'm putting up a 6ft vinyl privacy fence. The holes reach 42 inches (city mandates 36 inches). I was planning to put a couple inches of gravel in the bottom of the hole before filling with cement (per fence kit instructions), but I'm getting a bit confused now I'm thinking about it. The thing is, I've seen my holes in the clay soil hold water for days, so gravel at the bottom of the hole would just trap water with nowhere for it to go. Now, it's below the frost line so it shouldn't heave the post up, and it's a vinyl post so it shouldn't rot, but it's not doing any good either, so what's the point?

The clay, as you state, will trap water with nowhere to go as well.  By digging the whole deeper and lining the bottom with gravel, what you do is provide a place for extra water to drain to until it can dissipate/drain.

Without that extra space for water to drain, it can fill up the hole above the frost line and cause lateral displacement.


Can I use toothpicks in power outlet for better grip? I have a UPS and the problem is that my monitor's plug no longer fits in perfectly. It kind of slips and my monitor turns off and when I try to adjust it, it turns on but with little sparks from the UPS outlet. My question is can I insert toothpicks in the outlet along with the plug for better grip? Would that be safe because I don't want to replace the UPS.

No.

That would not be safe. Absolutely DO NOT DO IT.

In fact, do not even try to stick anything else in the outlet besides the plug.

Now that said, how old is the UPS? Indeed... how old are the batteries in the UPS? Do you need the monitor on a UPS? I suspect if the outlet is frail, then the ups is YEARS old. I'd hypothesize it doesn't even work anymore.

So, go replace the UPS. If the unit has been serviced by you, and you have been replacing batteries, and you absolutely must use the outlet on it in question, replace the outlet. There is a chance you can service the outlet and expand the spring/blades but sincerely, I wouldn't bother.


Is there a trick to applying caulk using a caulk-gun? Perhaps it is just me, but no matter how careful I try to be, any attempt to apply caulk or cement or anything with a caulking gun into a crack results in total mess.

The main problems that seem to be causing this are:

1: The caulk doesn't "stick down" so as I pull the gun over the crack it drags the tendril of caulk along with it.

2: As demonstrated on every home improvement show, I run my finger along the caulk line to press it down into the crack, but it inevitably squishes out on the tile or sticks to my finger and makes a big mess.

Is there some trick that I just don't know that makes a good clean caulk line?

I've found that if you push the tip of the caulk gun forward along the line rather than drag it behind you can often make a very neat bead of caulk that needs little or no smoothing afterwards.


Light fixture starts tripping breaker. A light fixture in my foyer was working fine for years.  One day, I turn it on, hear a buzzing noise in the wall, and the breaker trips. I tried a bunch of things, finally discovering the problem doesn't repeat when I replace the fixture (9 60-watt candelabra base bulbs) with a 1 bulb fixture. It wouldn't seem that the 9 bulbs were suddenly too much for the circuit.  So do I likely have a problem with my fixture?

take the bulbs out of the fixture, if the fixture shows a short it is bad, there is a possibility that one of the lamps is arcing and causing the short, if the fisture wiring shows open with the lamps put them in one at a time untill you find the problem, Yes I know lamps usually burn open but on occasion the filliment post short and can cause this issue,,,


How can I restore the shine to a quartz countertop? My kitchen counter top is made of QUARTZ, and I have a small area that the shine is dull. Can the surface be restored to make the shine uniform as it was?

Do not use sealer on engineered stone, it has to be mechanically re-polished if it's lost its luster due to abrasion. If you're lucky it's just dirty.

Of course, you cannot apply a sealer to Silestone quartz countertops, so it's just a matter of cleaning it. –countertopspecialty.com

Do not use oil-based soaps for this. Dulling of the shine occurs because of residue left behind on the countertop. Oil-based soaps are often used on porous surfaces because they are designed to soak in, not to be completely removed. Standard dish soap is best. [...]
To remove cooking film from the quartz, spray the space with window cleaner. [...]
Avoid Using More Polish. Quartz countertops are polished within the manufacturing company, using a sealing surface polish. Further polish added to the top will only create excess buildup which will further the dull look.
–How to Polish a Quartz Countertop to Make it Shine, doityourself.com


Wiring Leviton Smart 3-way Switch when Load Line Goes to the Fixture I'm converting my home to use all Leviton smart dimmers (DH6HD-1BZ) and LED lights. All has gone well so far with neutral being accessible from most switches.
However I've come across an old-school 3-way with load going to the fixture not the switch box, please see the following diagram:

Switch box A looks exactly as is shown in the diagram. Switch box B however is a larger box with other switches where neutral is present.
I know I need neutral in switch box A as well, but I've heard there is some possible trickery where I can bring neutral over to box A from box B.
So my questions are two fold:

Is it possible to bring neutral over to box A from box B, perhaps utilizing one of the travellers? Can I just use ground as the neutral for switch A (I know this is faux pas, but should be possible right?)?
If it's possible to get neutral to box A, I don't entirely grok how the dimmer and it's remote switch should be wired in the first place. The wiring diagram provided with the switch (see below) isn't this type of 3-way configuration so I'm kind of stumped here as well.

Thanks for your time!

(where: 1=line/load, 2=neutral, 3=ground, 4=first traveller, 5=second traveller)

No.  You cannot poach a neutral from the other switches in Box B.  This is a Code violation, potential firestarter, and will trip any AFCI or GFCI breakers in use.
There must be separation between the 3 wires coming into that 3-way and all other wires in the box.  Nothing can cross that gap except for safety ground.
Since your circuits apparently do have ground wires, you need to search the market for smart switches which do not require a neutral wire.
Since your 3-way setup is a double "switch loop" (i.e. both 3-ways are on a switch loop with power in the light), then you simply have no option to use a neutral-using smart switch.  It cannot be done.
The only possibility is to use a "module" up in the lamp proper, which talks to smart switch(es) in the switch sites.  At that point the black & white from lamp to switch could be re-tasked to be always-hot and neutral.


I had a circuit fail and trip breakers with no load, what could cause that? This is going to be a question and answer it myself, just to share. What would cause a freezer in my garage to suddenly start tripping it's breaker?  It's a regular breaker not AFCI or GFCI. House built about 1970.

The issue turned out to be rodent damage.  To diagnose, I plugged the freezer into a different circuit and it worked fine. The breaker tripped again, no load on the circuit.  Also, other electrical problems. Another circuit was failing.   As we all know, failures of cables inside walls is extremely rare. Usually somebody has drilled through one or nailed it.    I traced it down by pulling switches and outlets and testing for continuity and shorts between them. I pulled off some sheetrock and found a dead mouse in the wall and the cable chewed through.
A couple of times here I've mentioned potential rodent damage for electrical problems. It's real and have personally experienced it. It's hard to find and sometimes, even harder to fix in inaccessible areas like vaulted ceilings.


Can 12-2 Romex run close to the floor and the back up to the box? I'm wiring up my new house/garage for work bench.
I've come across an area that I can not use the normal route to run romex as it's blocking my route to the gang  box
I was wondering if I could just run the romex towards the floor and over then up to my box.

Two concerns that I know of:

Water

If the wire is at least a few inches off the floor then this is a non-issue. But if it is literally on the floor then water - whether deliberate from washing the floor or accidental from an overflow - could get into the cable and cause problems because standard NM cable is not rated for wet areas.

Physical Protection

As with any other cable up to (I think) 8 feet above the floor, cable needs to be protected from damage. This can be conduit or raceway (wiremold) or it can be wood screwed into place around the cable to protect it from accidental damage.
As noted in a comment, conduit + THWN wire would take care of both potential problems.


How can I convert Cat5e wired sockets to Ethernet? I recently moved to a new home and I noticed that the phone jacks (RJ-11) were connected using Cat5e cable. I'm thinking I can replace the RJ-11 plugs with RJ-45 and use Ethernet over the existing Cat5e cable in one particular room to avoid having to run a cable under the carpet. The cable guy who came out to install my home internet and land line said that I could simply unplug the Cat5e cable from the telephone tap box and terminate it using a female or male RJ-45 and then treat it as if it were a normal cable. I am afraid that somehow the cable might be "daisy-chained" somewhere in the walls and therefore by hooking up and sending data over the new Ethernet connection, it might screw up my home phone. I also read somewhere that the ringing over a phone line generates something like 70-90 volts and "could fry my Ethernet card".

I did some research (here & here) and apparently the Cat5e cable only uses 1-6 of the wires leaving the last twisted pair unused. Does this mean when Cat5e cable is used for phone connection, only wires 7&8 or the last twisted pair are used for the phone line connection leaving 1-6 or pairs 1-3 available for Ethernet? If so, that would mean I could run the Ethernet connection safely because no data would ever be sent over the last pair which is the phone connection and therefore no data would be interrupted? If its any help to this theory, I noticed the brown wires (last twisted pair) were crimped or connected together in the wall jacks.

Yes, with it being cat-5e cable, you could repurpose it as network cable by installing rj-45 jacks. Early Ethernet (10mBit & 100mBit) used two pairs (4 wires) and Gigabit typically uses all 4 pairs (all 8). Your Cat-5 link is referring to 10/100 Ethernet, so only two pairs are used. The other two pairs could carry a phone line each or another Ethernet connection (we used this on IP phones, the computer was on one half and the VOIP on the other half, figure out the color diagrams yourself for your RJ-45s on the second half). My preference is to not muck around with this as the first time you plug in a Gigabit equipped computer, you face getting full ring voltage into its RX/TX for the second set of pairs. Wire it for Gigabit using all pairs and be done with it.

In the good old days of 25 wire straight cable, daisy chain was common installation technique, with the advent of CAT-4 and above phone installations I have worked with have all been star to a central patch panel.


How does one find studs in double drywall I have a lot of kitchens to install on walls with double drywall over metal studs. My Franklin Sensors stud finder is great for single drywall but is failing on double, I have been having to search for them with a screw and things aren’t really OC. What strategies are recommended for finding studs in such a situation?

The same way we find studs for single drywall.
Magnetic stud finder

Your drywall has to be screwed in properly.   You will have vertical columns of screws.   When the magnet hits something, go up or down a little, if it hits a vertical column - there is your stud.   Since it is double drywall there would definitely not be skipping of studs so you should be able to mark everything in kitchen in a few minutes.


What are some tips/techniques for applying knockdown texture to drywall? I'd like to get advice on applying knockdown texture and fixing my own mistakes in the process.  The consistency I'm looking for is something similar to this:

As per an eHow article, I think the basic steps are:

Fill a clean bucket with compound appr. 4 inches from bottom, add water (Let's start with 4 cups), mix and add water until your mixture is that of a pancake batter, pour into hopper. The compressor should be set to 25 to 30 p.s.i. Hold the sprayer 2 feet from wall and spray -- starting from the top and working your way down, once at the bottom of the wall, shift over and work your way up, and move to the next wall. Make sure as you spray the other walls, that you keep an eye on the texture you have already applied. Once the top of the texture turns dull (no more shine to it) it is ready to Knockdown.
Once the top of the texture has a dull finish, take a 12 inch drywall knife and LIGHTLY drag it across the Texture, do not apply alot of pressure, just a very easy drag will give you the look you are trying to achieve. You will notice that you have thinned out the texture and given it somewhat of a Stucco appearance. A lot of the books written on this suggest knocking the texture down from top to bottom. However considering that walls are far from being flat, going side to side seems to yield better results.
Clean up is easy---water, even if you got the texture on trim, a simple sponge and warm water will do the trick.

(I paraphrased some parts of the article).

My questions are:

What kind of preparation is needed before beginning? I assume I should put down a drop cloth?
As I'm new to this, I'm sure I'll make mistakes. What can be done to "re-do" various sections?
The article references using a standard drywall knife instead of knockdown knife.  Do knockdown knifes make things easier?
Are there any other tips you would suggest for a beginner?

Preparation: definitely use a drop cloth.  Because it's a wet job, I'd also recommend a putting down a layer of painter's plastic on top of the drop cloth.  This will catch most of the splatter and makes clean-up a lot easier -- simply roll up the plastic.  I believe the texture compound has some adhesive properties, so as long as the walls are clean, it'll stick just fine.
Fixing mistakes: you'll have several minutes to decide if you like how the job looks.  If it doesn't, just scrape off the texture and start over.
Tools: a knockdown knife is much bigger than most taping knives, so you have to do fewer passes with it for a given area, so fewer places where you could have lines.  My texture guy actually uses a hawk instead of a knife (he puts globs of texture on the hawk, then presses it onto the wall), so the tool doesn't really matter.
Tips: don't use too much texture compound; each droplet will get spread out quite a bit when you knock it down.  Don't press too hard with the tool: you're spreading it out, not scraping it off.  After it dries, you'll likely have little pointy bits sticking out where the tool pulls away from the wall; go back over the surface with your taping knife to knock them off (otherwise they'll break off when you roll primer or paint over them and you'll have little bits of texture in your paint!)


Open neutral bedroom outlets My daughter’s bedroom has 4 outlets. 1 of the outlets is connected to a wall switch. All 4 outlets are currently out and each is an open neutral (ground-hot=120V; neutral-hot=0V). I checked the breaker and it appears to be fine (ground-hot=120V; neutral-hot=120V). The switch is also functioning properly I think (I get the same voltage readings in the on/off positions as I do for a different bedroom with an identical 4 outlet + switch setup).

What could be the issue that’s causing all four outlets to fail and be open neutral, and also how did this even occur given that 1 is on a switch? I’m basically going to replace all four outlets and the switch and hope for the best.

I’d love to hear any ideas you have on how to identify the culprit.

Most likely the outlets are all wired together in a "daisy-chain" fashion, so an open neutral from one would affect all others farther downstream.  I'd recommend opening up the first outlet (or all of them, if you don't know which is which) and check if the neutral has come loose.  In particular, if these outlets are wired with so-called backstabs where the wire is only held in by a spring clip, that's a likely culprit.  When you re-wire, it's highly recommended to use the screws since they're much more reliable.


Why is my bath tub plug hole bubbling? Recently (in the last few days) the drain of my bath has started to 'bubble' occasionally.  This mainly seems to happen at night when we are in bed and no one or nothing is moving in the house.  The bubbling is a single bubble every 5 - 10 secs for about a minute.  Then it stops.  Its not happened that we've noticed during the day, though did once happen when I flushed the toilet.

I have 2 bathrooms that share a wall and both baths and both sinks in the bathrooms all have drain pipes that lead to a common 'junction box' drain thing in the corner of one bathroom.  I live in a basement flat (if that matters).

I suspected that it might be due to a blocked pipe, and poured drain cleaner down the plug holes of both baths.  This, strangely, resulted in a definite blockage in the other bathroom.  A go with the snake and some more powerful drain cleaner later and the blockages seem to have been cleared and this bath now drains much more quickly than it did before.  However the 'bubbling' was still present.

What else might be the cause of the bubbling?

Is it something I should worry about? (I'm about to rent out my flat for 6 months and don't want my tenants to have a problem whilst I'm away.)

What else can I try?  I thought it might be to do with vents, but I can't see anything that looks like a vent...

EDIT
Turns out it was the main drain from the house, which had become blocked and was backing up.  Managed to catch it just in time, the 5 foot deep drain hole was only a couple of inches from the top and both the drain at the front and the back of the house were close to overflowing.  The water had risen so high that it had covered the entrance hole for the vent pipe into the system.  So the bubbling was indeed caused by the lack of vent, it was just 'blocked' by the high water level due to the other blockages.

My first guess would be that the vent is blocked preventing air from entering the drain pipes and causing a sort of siphoning action.  Usually the vent is a PVC pipe that comes out of the roof.  Any chance that might be blocked (by snow possibly?)


Is it safe for a CFL bulb in a ceiling fixture to touch the glass of the fixture itself? My fixture is an old style one with a 2 1/2" clearance from the top edge of the fixture to the ceiling.

Any advice?

Concerned homeowner 47

Yes, it's safe. The CFL touching the glass probably heats it less than the incandescent did an inch or two away.


How can I combine nine holiday light cords into one? I have a Christmas village that had 9 different electrical cords to each building, is there a way to join each cord together to make one continual cord with nine lights

My wife has a large holiday village also, these are fairly low wattage so combining them on a power strip is ok.
The advantage that she likes is everything can be turned off with 1 switch she actually has 3 power strips connected to power all the buildings and street lights, I measured the current and with everything running it was drawing almost 8 amps. This is well below what the circuit and power strips are rated for, I am glad she finally ran out of room to set up any more.


Should one apply salt/antifreeze on the road right before it snows? Or should one apply the salt/antifreeze after shoveling up the snow?

Well if you apply it before you will just be shoveling it away.

If you apply it after it will only help for the next batch of snow.  But it will also tear up your road.

I opt for nothing and dealing with the snow.


Random light switch behavior I have a light switch on my bedroom closet that exhibits erratic behavior: about half the time when the switch is flipped from off to on, the light remains off. Flipping the switch back off and on eventually gets the light to turn on.

switch:        off  -> on -> off -> on -> off -> on
light:         .off..................on...off.....on

How can I diagnose what's going on here?

It's probably just a broken switch. My guess would be that the switch contact is worn out to the point that it does not make contact, but jiggling it a bit (by turning off and on again) may solve the problem, at least for a little while.

Replacing a light switch is a pretty simple matter for a DIYer. I recommend swapping it out and seeing if that solves the problem.


Securing wires while replacing European electric plug I have bought a new plug to replace my old one but it has a design I did not see before, so I thought I would better ask what is the correct way of doing it.

So, I have a cord with insulation stripped from the wires. I expected to just loop these wires around the screws (how it is done in all other cases I have seen) and be done with it but the screws in my plug seem too tiny (wires stick out of it) and wires can come off after a stronger pull. Also, there are some holes on the inner part of prongs which might be used to secure the wires. Here is a pic:

So, my question is, how should I fasten the wires so that they would securely stay in place? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Simple. You strip the wires, turn the strands a bit, stick them in the holes and screw it tight.
Ferrules are better, but not essential*.

Then clamp the outside shroud of the cable with the cable clamp.

Like this:

I've actually glued the stress relief here.

*Notice the European C plug is limited to 2.5 Amps.


How should I insulate a cantilevered bay with plumbing, ducting, and electrical? If you were faced with the following cantilevered bay, how would you go about insulating it?  I can seal most of the wood air dams between joists with Great Stuff, but as you can see, there are two joists with no air dams - the gap continues all the way back between the first and second story.

Given the existing ducting and plumbing in these areas, is there any way to get an effective seal?
Once the joist gaps are sealed as much as possible, anything else?  Should I put batting between the joists against the cover?  The cover in this case will be caulked plywood.

I'd first be concerned with freezing pipes. If that's not an issue in your climate I'd pay to have the whole thing spray foamed. That's pricy but a good R value and prevents air leakage. Otherwise I'd use rigid foam and try to fill all the spaces and voids, with Great Stuff to "glue" it in place. That would be cheaper than spray foam but a lot more work as well.


Looking for triple 3-way switch Where can I find a triple, 3-way switch (toggle style) were all of the switches are 3-way. All triple switches I find only have one 3-way, the other two switches are single pole.

Here’s why I need a triple 3-way switch... or a creative solution../
I need to reduce a double gang box to a single gang box that holds three, 3-way switches.  Currently, the double gang box contains one double 3-way switch and one single 3-way switch. The double 3-way switch is the last switch for two 4-way circuits. The single 3-way switch controls a 3-way circuit.

If a triple 3-way switch doesn’t exist, I will have to abandon one of the 4-way circuits. And if that’s the case, can I leave the existing 4-way switch in the second to the last position in the 4-way series and terminate (re-connect) the wiring in the last position (the abandoned 3-way) to complete the circuit allowing all other switches in the 4-way circuit to work properly?... how?

Or, do I have to use a 3-way switch in the last position as in a standard 4-way wiring circuit?

You won't find one, because of box fill limits. By code, you are only allowed to stuff so many wires and devices (switches) in a box. Otherwise you risk overheating and a fire.

The largest available single gang box you can get is 22 cubic inches.
A one gang double 3-way switch plus the required wiring is 22 cubic inches.
A one gang 3-way plus 2 singles switch, plus the required wiring, is also 22 cubic inches.
The switch you are seeking (a one gang triple 3-way) plus the required wiring equates to a wire fill of at least 28 cubic inches. Too big for the largest single gang box.

An alternative would be a two-gang box with a mud ring that brings the opening down to a single gang opening. But if you have room to do that, then you have room to put in two switches in a double-gang opening.

Therefore, the almost non-existent code-compliant use case of a one gang triple 3-way switch doesn't justify the existence of the product.

Sorry!

Additional bad news:

Depending on whether the 4-way circuit originates in this box or passes through, I don't think you can fit all the required wires in a single gang box anyway.


What is the best way to solve my unusual lighting and wiring challenge? I moved into a home where the wiring is fairly modern (from the 1980s) but some unusual choices were made in the wiring. At some point, someone put in a lot of single pole switches that didn't work right because the boxes were wired for 3-way lighting.

In the bedroom, I noticed pigtailed hot wires and neutral wires in a 2-gang box. Both switches were wired for 3 way lighting. Thinking the pigtail was a mistake, I decoupled the sets and attempted to wire two switches in separately.  Once I did this, I noticed there was no longer power to the entire bedroom. So I repigtailed everything and closed up the circuit and switch. I confirmed that the 2nd hot was not hot so it needed to be pigtailed to the first one.  That pigtail also provided power to the entire bedroom.

Separately, there is a single gang switch that powers light to the room but is less conveniently located.

Should I try to fix the strange wiring situation? Is it dangerous? How hard is it to run an extra wire to set up the overhead lighting in a 3-way? Is it better to do a wireless solution?

You mean single throw switches? 3 way and conventional switches are both single pole, 3 way switches are double throw. As long as the work was done correctly, there is nothing unsafe with using single throw switches even if there are wires for a 3 way setup.

If correctly wired for 3 way, there should be no problem converting to proper 3 way by simply installing 3 way switches. If you want to install lights where none currently exist, you will need to run some wiring, a wireless solution alone will not help since the light fixture has no power at all. You can mount switches where ever and they can communicate wirelessly with the light, but lights need power.

How difficult this would be depends on the specifics of your situation. If you have an accessible attic and the top plate of the wall where the switches are located is accessible as well in the attic, it will not get much easier. Less access means needing to remove finish material for access. Anything in the voids where you fish wires such as insulation or blocking also complicate things.


Why does my fireplace pilot light go out when I turn on the flame? I just replaced my gas log fireplace set. I am on natural gas. I can light the pilot and it will stay lit just fine, When i turn the knob on the unit to turn on the flame, the pilot flame shrinks and the flame goes out.

Is the new log set the same btu? If your new assembly is using the original gas valve with a larger btu burner there may not be enough back pressure to maintain the pressure needed for the pilot. I have seen the supply line being two small for the size burner have this same problem.
That case a 1/2” supply line to a burner that was 10000 btu larger.  the owner wanted the larger burner for heat when power was lost ,  To solve the problem we tried a new regulator before he told me he had increased the burner size. Upsizing the supply line to 3/4 and it worked fine. The original gas valve was large enough but the smaller supply line caused the problem.
If your new log set is larger you may have the same issue, reducing the jets size or increasing the supply size may solve your issue.


Toilet - Fill Valve water level too high and really can't be adjusted I have a float-cup fill valve, Fluidmaster 400 model series.  The classic solution to adjusting the water level is to turn the screw in a clockwise manner to make it go lower and counterclockwise to go higher (unless if I have reversed that).
Well, turning this screw in either direction seems to have little impact on the final water level which is above the water line.  Actually if I go all the way high there is a possibility that the toilet won't stop running but I can't get the water to be anywhere near the water line on the lower end, it is always going to be above it by a bit.
So if I manually hold the, and I hope I have this term right, cylindrical plastic float in the up position the water will cut off and that is a way I can get the water to stop before it hits the water line.  However, if I do not touch this cylindrical plastic float, it has trouble raising to the proper level and that is why it is late to shut off the water because the cylindrical plastic float on its own can not reach the proper height.  On top of that, it looks like the cylindrical plastic float might even slip down a little bit so it has trouble maintaining its current height.
What could be causing issues with the ascension of the cylindrical plastic float and making the screw of little use to adjust the final water level?

Your toilet tank fill valve may need replacement if it is not adjustable in the way that I will describe. On valves that are adjustable the overall height of the valve / float assembly may need to be adjusted downward to lower the whole top of the unit. This will lower the overall range that the float works within.
If you need a replacement get something like shown here:

Picture Source
These units are available at home centers and hardware stores and are not that expensive. (Probably about the cost of two lattes at the coffee shop).
Note the portion of the base that is dark gray in color and the upper part that is the much lighter color. That lower part adjusts by screwing in or out of the upper part. This sets the position of the valve / float in the tank. The screw assembly is really just allowing a fine tuning of the water level. Generally the height adjustment is made when installing the unit.


What do you call a cover for outdoor main sewage cleanout and where can I find one? I am looking for something like this:

It is for my home after adding a new clean out. Here is what it looks like:

I searched the web high and low but I can't seem to find where to buy it. Maybe because I don't even know what it is called. Can someone help?

They're called valve boxes, but may also be called cleanout boxes or monument boxes though that seems rare for the residential application, and should be available at most any home center or home-improvement-related store.

Image taken from Home Depot, and is used as an example only


How can I mount speakers that don't have mount adapters? How can I mount a pair of speakers to my apartment walls?  Specifically, how do I mount speakers that have no mounting points?  They are from a turntable set from the 80's most likely before the standard was to include a screw hole or wall mount.  What's the best way to go about this with the least amount of damage done to the speakers and the apartment wall?

For those of you that were wondering

Speaker Dimensions: 7.5 inches deep x 12 inches wide x 23 inches tall

If the speakers are reasonably small, there are small mountings used to hang mirrors and paintings, that you could screw onto the back of the speakers. Something like these:


Dimmer switch remains powered with switch off! I replaced a single pole switch with a Lutron Maestro dimmer.  However, the line remains "hot" when dimmer turned off.  Have verified that the hot wire in box is wired to bottom lug of dimmer.  I thought the dimmer was defective so I purchased another but having the same issue! I rewired the original single pole switch and verified that power turned off when flipping switch.  I might add that I don't have the light fixture connected to the wires at the ceiling fixture yet, but don't think that this should matter since the original single pole shuts off power here.

Dimmers work differently

To start with, a dimmer is a smart device, and all smart devices need power themselves for their own internal functioning.

How do they get power?  That's kind of a problem.  A plain switch loop doesn't need neutral - it gets always-hot and delivers switched-hot.  So many older switch loops are wired with no neutral.   However, old style incandescent bulbs have a unique property: when they are not lit, their resistance is near zero.  So many smart devices (and almost all older ones) power themselves by leaking power through the incandescent bulb.  CFL and LED bulbs don't play well with this, unless they're designed to.

How do newer smart devices power themselves?

Some newer still do it this way, because they're afraid of having a lot of returns from consumers who find out they don't have a neutral.
Some simply require a neutral.
Some misuse the ground wire as a neutral, and they don't blow GFCIs because they flow very little power.  (How they make it through UL listing is a mystery to me.)

Dimmers which require or steal a neutral should not put any power on the line when "off", but you should not count on that for safety!

A dimmer without a neutral should, and must, energize the switched-hot at all times.

Some dimmers have a hard-switched "off" (and sometimes a hard-switched "on")... but it's past a stiff "detent" and people never push the switch hard enough to realize the detent is there.


IC housing and non-IC trim compatibility I have installed two IC-rated, airtight housings in a soffit in my basement. There is no insulation in this space, I just chose the IC-rated housings because they were available at the time.

I will be boiling liquid below these lights, so I planned to put a wet-rated trim on them even though they will not have any direct contact with liquid. I found a wet-rated trim I like, but it says it's non-IC.

I guess I'm not understanding why I can't or shouldn't use this non-IC trim the IC housing? What makes a trim IC or non-IC?

Because IC housing are designed to be in direct contact with insulation they run hotter because the heat from the bulb cannot dissipate as quickly as a non-IC housing which will dissipate heat into the space above the fixture. Installing are vapor proof trim not approved for an IC housing, in an IC housing normally results in the plastic around the glass melting and dripping down.

With newer, cooler LED's and compact fluorescent bulbs this isn't a problem that much anymore but its still always better to match housing and trims per the manufacturer.


is there a way to use a gas stove to supply hot water needs? We've  a 8kw gas stove which heats huge hallway very well. Wondering is there a way to use it to also heat our water needs (hot water tank very nearby). I'm not a diy type but jus trying to avoid buying a gas boiler just for water? Thanks

In the US, hot water is often generated by the furnace. These specially designed units have a dedicated coil in the firebox that allows cold water in one end, circulates it through the coil and expels hot water from the other. The benefit (as you suggest) is the use of just one device for both room and water heating. The disadvantage is the main furnace is kept active, even in warm weather, to ensure ongoing access to hot water, a slightly less efficient system.

In theory, you could create a copper coil to run water through a heated area of your stove.  However, this presents numerous complex problems of temperature, routing, sealing, all of which are beyond the skill of most dedicated DIYers. The risks are gas leaks, fire, explosion, water leaks, flood, and a plague of locusts.

Don't try it!


Trouble Opening a Fluorescent Light Fixture My house has an old fluorescent ceiling fixture in the kitchen that probably dates back to a remodel done in the 1980s.  The bulbs have gone out and I am having trouble figuring out how to open the fixture to replace the bulbs.
The frame is metal and the three individual light panels are plastic
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It is bit difficult to tell from the picture.
Often on those older florescent fixtures the plastic panels have a integral plastic flange on their top edge that supports them- they basically hang inside the metal frame. So they drop in from the top- inside the fixture. To remove them lift up on the plastic and carefully flex and rotate them to get them out. If your fixture is real old then the plastic may have become more brittle and care should be taken not to damage them.


Turning Euro wooden pallets into garage shelving with minimum tools I have access to Euro pallets : 1100mm * 1100mm * 69mm

I want to create exactly this with top shelf 2m high:

I am extremely illiterate when it comes to DIY but I have a drill and know how to drill pilot holes and screws.

My questions:

Which wood (for the connecting bars) and screws should I buy? I need the measurements of the wood please - 2000mm * x * y. Cost is a factor and need it as cheap as possible please.
Would it be possible to do this without me using a saw?
I want to buy the connecting bars from a place who will saw it for me.
Would Pine wood work for horizontal connecting bars?
Would 2 bars on each side work as in picture?
How many screws should I drill in each connecting point with the pallets?
E.g. 4 screws per connecting point * 4 places for each bar * 4 bars = 64 screws?

Those racks appear to have been constructed by simply attaching legs to halved pallets. You'll need a way to cut the pallet rails, which appear to be fairly heavy hardwood.

Once that's done, it's a matter of running 3" (75mm) gold construction screws through 2x4" (35mm by 70mm or 40mm by 90mm, maybe--whatever standard metric size is available in that range) lumber.

Standard construction-grade lumber is fine. See above for lumber and screw sizing. Do not use drywall (black oxide) screws. They're much more brittle and have less bend tolerance.
Probably not. You need to split the pallets. However, a simple high-quality handsaw will do that job.
Yes. Construction lumber is typically spruce, pine, or fir (SPF).
Yes, two vertical posts per end will work well.
I'd use three or four per joint, spaced as widely as practical (within 15mm of the edge of the lumber is fine) to create maximum diagonal rigidity. I'd probably pilot the holes through the posts and maybe partway into the pallet lumber.