What happens if I re-apply a stain? I stained a piece of wood for the first time today. What happens if I re-apply the stain? Does the stain darken, or does nothing happen? If it matters, it is a Sherwood BAC Wiping Chestnut stain.

Also, I noticed if I heaped a good amount of stain on the wood, the stain looked darker. After I immediately wiped it with a rag, the stain returned to a lighter color. What if I did not wipe it with a rag, and the stain dried like that (with a thick layer)? Would the stain turn out darker?

Stain never "dries" the way a lacquer or poly finish does.  It will cease to be "wet" after awhile, but it will still just come off on your hands and clothing etc.  Not a good idea to just leave it on there.

Ultimately it is only darker if more of it soaks in.  Reapplication after wiping will darken it only slightly, as most of the wood pores are already saturated.

The darkness achieved by staining wood is effected somewhat by how much you use, but more by the color of the stain and the absorption qualities of a particular wood.

If you want your project darker, I suggest you sand it down (to get fresh wood that can absorb new stain) and apply a darker stain.


How to remove this light globe? I have not been able to get the glass dish removed from this ceiling light fixture. There are no holes, visible clips or any other clues at how to free the glass.

I have tried to turn the dish but there is not budge. It also does not have any give when trying to pry with fingers.

Also no paint lock on either the glass dish or the metal upper piece.

So I'll go for the answer on this and list methods I would try expecting one would work...

That is (dare I say) 100% a glass dome that is essentially threaded.

There are two main approaches to removing it, each with their challenges.

Convince the glass to be displaced (or)
Manuever the fixture as a whole.

In reverse, but a mix of the two can be useful:

TWO:

This might be easy enough, but it runs the risk of damaginf the ceiling paint, the dome, or the fixture. But if you plan on replacing it, it might be a chosen method. Read through and decide if it is worth trying, if not, skip and go to ONE below.

Using a paint scraper (or two), or a flat blade screw driver (or two): Pry on adjacent sides, and work your way around.
Only pry no more than an inch or two of leverage (so no more than say just shy of 1/4") between the ceiling and the top of the metal meeting the ceiling. This is going to be a judgement call, but overdoing it will result in breaking the dome and even deforming the fixture.
Once some clearance is created one of two things can happen; moving the fixtures framing, has created an air gap that wasn't there previously and also changed the "stuck" friction points holding the dome in place. So try the basic removal of the dome again (you may choose to do some of #1 in this attempt). If no go, continue...
Make a mental note or a pencil mark of where the fixture was originally against the ceiling. Rotate the entire fixture counter clockwise. You should not need to turn it more than a few inches. It may drop off, so be sure to support it while trying this. If it doesn't seem to be moving free, give up and move on. Return it position to where you started.
When all is said and done you are going to want to loosen the fixture and make sure the mounting plate is not toqued too tight, but also not loose. This is likely one of the reasons you are in your current predicament.

ONE:

This is a better choice if you intend to re-use the fixture, but still presents its challenges and may end up in needing a new dome, which nearly certainly results in needing a new light since finding an original dome will be more challenging than it is worth.

The thing is, the dome is only held on by 3-4 dimples in the metal frame which fit into a slot on the glass. If the frame was over torqued, or the temperature of the enviroment has changed from when it was installed, the dome can really get "locked on" there. The problem is there is no real way to grab on to it and not damage it.

You have two options, one, lubricate it/heat it up, or create a handle to work with. I vote for the latter as I commented above. I googled and found this link this morning which is similar to what I was suggesting. Give it a quick watch and read below:

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

His approach is similar to what I was suggesting but:

Place a long piece of tape on one side (call it the top for now), with a long leader hanging off to the left.
Place a long piece on the "bottom" with a long leader to the right
It would look like this if you looked face down onto the dome:

{

               /````````\
  A||||||||||||||||||||  \
             (            )
            (              )
             (            )
              \  ||||||||||||||||||||B
               \,,,,,,,,/

}

Now, just like pulling pigtails in 2nd grade... ok, not quite, but you get the idea... Grab A and pull left, grab B and pull right, do this simultaneously. Its a good idea to have another person supporting the dome so it doesn't become a UFO.

Another note to be made here is to push up and pull down on the dome before, during, and after this attempt. In fact, gentle tapping with your bare hands can help. The whole idea is to get the two surfaces to break free and friction and months/years of dirt, moisture, grease, dust, has helped create a dry glue.

Lastly, try a humidifier for a few hours, the heat and moisture could help. But it can make a mess, and of course just secure power to stay safe. It's a crazyidea. but these should lend themselves to success.

Screw on glass domes are junk.

Good luck.


Is my water heater connected to GFCI and is it affected after short circuit? I am an absolute n00b when it comes to home electrical systems. Please do forgive me if this is a repeat question since I wouldn't know what to search for.

I am in France and I have 230V supply at 50Hz.
A couple of hours ago, I had a short circuit that "tripped" the electricity.

The short circuit occurred in a wall point:

The circuit breaker (I assume that is what it is) had tripped (the switch was at '0') and I reset it by turning the switch to '1' as shown:

Now after this, I noticed that none of the plug points in the room that the short circuit had occurred are working! None of them are functional. However, the lights are working in this room.

I also have a water heater in the room that the short circuit occurred. I know that I can wait for a while to find this out but is the heating element of the water heater also non-functional now? AKA: will I not have hot water tomorrow?

I read somewhere that such a problem is caused by a GFI thingy and I was not sure if my water heater was hooked to this GFI thing.

The water heater label is as shown:

I request and appreciate some patience with your answers or comments. Since I know nothing about these matters, it would be appreciated if you could explain it to me like you would to a three year old.

I have read online that major appliances like water heaters and refrigerators need to have a dedicated circuit. I don't know if this is a US rule or a Europe rule. Nevertheless, my microwave didn't have a dedicated circuit as I plugged it into a wall. Does my water heater have a it's own dedicated circuit? Why are the lights working in my house? They count as "major appliance"?

**

Edit:

**

Is it relevant that power points are not working but the lights are? Does something need to be "tested" or switched OFF and then ON again on this:

Find the Fault

Firstly, the problem is almost certainly not your GFCI or Circuit breaker.

What has happened is that a fault has developed in your water heater or in your power outlets or someone has hammered a nail into a wall and punctured and shorted a wire. The circuit-breaker has then done the right thing and isolated the circuit to prevent your house burning down in the night whilst you are asleep.

You need to find that fault.

Lights

Your lights are on a separate circuit, that's why they are not affected.

Fuses

Your main distribution board looks like it is fitted with fuse-carriers (not with more modern MCBs or RCBOs). You need to open up the relevant one and check the fuse inside for continuity.

It isn't clear to me how your subsidiary distribution board is connected to the main distribution board. In my part of the world, a subsidiary board is fed from one of the fuses (or MCBs or RCBOs) in  the main board - which are labelled to make this clear.

In your case it isn't clear but I'd turn off power to the building and then check fuse 6 since the symbol on that looks a bit like a water heater.

You should only replace this after you found and fixed the fault in your heater room.

It might be that the overload in the room with the heater blew the fuse in the main distribution board as well as tripping the MCB in the subsidiary board (the one with the 0/1 switch). That fuse probably supplies power to the subsidiary board which divides it between the heater and sockets and a couple of other circuits.

If so, the 20A fuse in the main board isn't rated for a full 64A load that your subsidiary board is fused for (20 + 32 + 16 + 16). That doesn't seem right to me.

Glossary

MCB - Mini Circuit  Breaker - has an on-off switch that detects overcurrent faults
RCBO - Residual Current Breaker with Overload protection - has a reset pushbutton
GFCI - What Americans call a RCBO (roughly equivalent anyway)
Fuse - Contains a wire that sacrificially melts to protect you when a fault occurs.


Proper gutter downspout location on sloped ground for shed I built a shed last year on sloped ground, using concrete piers. I didn't get around to adding gutters, and was contemplating not doing it. But, the water seems to be eroding some areas of the soil around the shed (which I recently added mulch over), and leaving a faded line on the top step, as well as a faded line on the fresh mulch.
In the picture below, I am looking to add some flowers/medium sized plants on the right side of the steps. Is there any harm in adding the downspout at the high end of the slope so the water will run out in this area and give more water to the plants? And also, let the water disperse through the soil more at the high end, rather than two spouts pouring out at the low end. I was thinking putting the rear spout at the left side, and the front at the right. Or is it better to direct the water entirely away from the shed and put the down spouts on the left side? Looking for advice and another perspective on this in case I am missing something, or if the water running down from the high end would cause any issue down the line.
I do have a french drain in the center of the yard as well, which helps dissipate any middle standing water.

I would have put downspouts on the low end of the grade.  If you have it on the high end will flow across the mulch and wash it away. You could also get a plastic water tank to drain into, possibly even add a hose so you can water your lawn and plants. Also, water may pool under shed if drained from the high end .


Is it OK not to ground a ceiling fan? I'd like to install a ceiling fan in a room where the ceiling electrical box has no grounding wire. Is that OK to do?  If not, why not?

If you're following the National Electrical Code, you have a few options.
Install an insulated fixture
410.44 exception 1 allows you to not connect a grounding conductor, where the fixture is insulated and there are no exposed conductive parts.
Install a ground
410.44 exception 2 allows you to install a grounding conductor in accordance with 250.130(c).  Which means you can connect a grounding conductor any of the following:

(1) Any accessible point on the grounding electrode system as described in 250.50
(2) Any accessible point on the grounding electrode conductor.
(3) The equipment grounding terminal bar within the enclosure where the branch circuit for the receptacle or branch circuit originates.
(4) An equipment grounding conductor that is part of another branch circuit that originates from the enclosure where the branch circuit for the receptacle or branch circuit originates.
(5) For grounded systems, the grounded service conductor within the service equipment enclosure.
(6) For ungrounded systems, the grounding terminal bar within the service equipment enclosure.

GFCI protection
The final exception to 410.44 allows you to not connect the grounding conductor, where the fixture is GFCI protected.


Do I need to trim the dishwasher drain line to prevent water build-up from the disposal? Also are elbows OK here? We replaced the sink recently, which required taking off the disposal and installing it on the new sink, and also re-doing the plumbing since the new sink's drain would be further back than the previous one.

For maybe two days we had everything hooked up except for the dishwasher drain line to the disposal, which required a part that was in an unexpected part of my local HD store...so I finally got it on my third trip there.

Anyway, I installed the Insinkerator drain coupler which is a rubber reducer going from the dishwasher outlet on the disposal, to the DW drain line. Two questions:

(1) My DW drain line is really long. Currently, it goes from a hole near the bottom of the sink cabinet, up to a clamp beneath the counter (high loop), but then there's enough excess for it to go all the way down to the sink cabinet floor, then back up to the disposal. When we temporarily had everything attached except this connection, we discovered that, past some level of water (collecting in the disposal before draining), water could back up out of the disposal and spill out at the DW connection. This makes me fear that water will come out of the disposal and could take up the long "low" loop that goes down to the floor and then back up to the clamp under the sink. Any down sides to this? Should I cut it shorter?

(2) We installed the sink in a corner cabinet, and the cabinet is designed so that instead of going all the way back into the corner, it's cut off, making a 90-45-45 triangle of wasted space. As a result, quarters are close, and the DW drain line connection to the disposal is cramped. Should I install some sort of elbow in between? Right now it's a rubber reducer connected to a rubber DW hose on one side, and the plastic disposal outlet on the other. I don't like clamping rubber to rubber, so maybe a plastic or metal elbow would be good...thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

You did the right thing running the dishwaser drain line as high as possible first. This will keep a sink full of water from filling the drain line.

Now you just need to cut the drain line to the appropriate length so that it's all downhill from the high point.


Lennox G23Q3/4-100-2 And Ecobee4 **Pictures attached to go along with my rambling explanation

I have my Lennox G23Q3/4-100-2 natural gas furnace and my central air system that has been working since 1995 on a basic programmable thermostat and before my purchase of a new Ecobee4 thermostat, I verified that I had a connection on the C terminal.  I have 4 wires running to my thermostat, I noticed that the C terminal is actually connected to the Red wire leading to my A/C Compressor and the White wire from the compressor connects to the Blue wire going to my thermostat and connected to the Y on my old thermostat, and my Y post at the furnace has nothing connected to it.  So I am a bit confused as to why the C post is connected to the Y on the thermostat, and how I now wire it to my ecobee4.

My picture show the wiring that allows the Ecobee4 to manage the heating, but no A/C, and I'm afraid to start swapping the C and Y wires around out of fear for burning out the board/compressor/thermostat or just not providing the necessary power.  Ecobee4 provides a Power Extender Kit (PEK), but with my current wiring, I am not sure how to use the PEK.

Can anyone offer any advice to get my Ecobee4 working with my Lennox furnace?

It has hard to see that mess of wires. I believe what they did was wire nut the C to the wire that goes out to the outdoor unit contractor. That works fine as long as the blue wire is hooked to Y on the thermostat. The blue was your Y wire for cooling. But then what do you use for common?You are going to need 5 wires from your thermostat to your furnace. Just hook up R to R, W to W etc.  then on the C and Y terminals at the furnace you will attach the red and white wires coming from the compressor so you will have 2 wires on each of those terminals.


Saddle valve leaks t turn on Some months after I turned this saddle valve off I turned it back on. It leaked with increasing flow until it was completely turned on. Then it stopped.  Is this ok? Is it normal?  Or would I be wise to replace/repair the valve.

Saddle valves are notorious for leaking and failing in just a few years. The best repair would be to install a T at the point the saddle valve is attached. This is something most DIY folks can do with plastic or copper pipe a bit more difficult if galvinised pipe. If you stay with a saddle valve get the best quality one you can find.


Help me understand this power strip installation I moved into a flat which has the following electrical setup in the kitchen:

Regular looking 4-socket power strip
Combi boiler plugged into power strip
Washing machine plugged into power strip

Front of power strip:

Back of power strip:

Power strip connection to mains:

As the third photo shows, the 4-socket strip does not have a typical UK 3-pin plug, instead it is wired straight into this grey fuse box on the kitchen wall behind a cupboard. This grey fuse box is controlled by the circuit breaker switch that controls all kitchen sockets.

A fishy smell from this corner of the kitchen makes me think something electrical may be over-heating.

My questions:

Is it typical to find power strips of this kind directly wired into the mains?
Is a boiler and washing machine too heavy a load for the power strip?
Is there a better/safer way to wire this whole setup?

Is it typical to find power strips of this kind directly wired into the mains?
Is a boiler and washing machine too heavy a load for the power strip?
Is there a better/safer way to wire this whole setup?

Somewhat unusual, but this has been done correctly, with a 13A fuse protecting the power strip and its cord, and the connections in/out of the fused connection unit (FCU) being glanded.
Not in terms of total load, but many power strips are of poor quality and shouldn't be used for high current appliances.
Yes, the FCU should be replaced with a switched FCU for the boiler and a good quality 13A socket for the washing machine.


AC not turning on until well over 4 degrees of set temp I live in an apartment and have called maintenance many time over this issue so I hope someone can help me.

My AC UNIT is set to 73 degrees. My AC will not switch on until the thermostat says 77 degrees, sometimes warmer. I feel like it is a sauna in here. When it finally kicks on, it cools for a couple of hours until it cool to 71 degrees (2 degrees under set temp). I am an ice cube at this point because it has been running so long.

I thought AC was supposed to stay a pretty consistent temp?

I am a 22 year old and if my body can not handle the ups and downs of the house, surely my 4 month old can not either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thermostat controls will always have some hysteresis between the ON detect temperature and the shut back off temperature. This is necessary so that the AC unit wouldn't be toggling on and off all the time at a rapid rate.

More exact control is possible with a more expensive temperature control but that normally requires that the AC unit have an ability to operate an a variable mode other than straight OFF and ON.

It is possible that the thermostat that you have is really cheap or out of adjustment and leads in part to the behavior that you are experiencing. The wide range behavior can also be caused by a situation where the thermostat and the temperature setting controls are mounted separately from each other or not in optimum placement. There is also the possibility that the scale of the thermostat setting and the temperature monitor are not in agreement.


What is the R value of Kapok Fiber I'm attempting to find a green and cheap insulation for the roof of a school bus conversion I am building. Kapok is easily sourced for me as it literally grows on trees.

The dimensions of the roof are approximately 40' by 8.5'.

But what is the R-value of Kapok?
Are there other cons I should be aware of?

Scientific paper on thermophysical properties of kapok

Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Kwikset deadbolt rust prevention I purchased several Kwikset deadbolts and they are rusting / corroding in the outer ring (not stainless steel), not the locking mechanism.  Items are installed on a Florida island.  Would rubbing a thin coat of oil or similar lubricant slow down the rusting of the outer ring?

Would a vegetable oil or olive be just as effective as motor oil / WD40?  An line of reason or lessons learned are appreciated.
Or would a spray on clear enamel be more effective?  The outer perimeter ring (workpiece that is rusting) can be separated from the locking mechanism, so as to avoid gumming up locking mechanism
Thank you

Had similar issues at my sister's Florida condo. Had to replace a ton of hardware due to corrosion. All hardware (exterior and interior) rusts or degrades there due to marine environs. I would contact Kwikset and request replacement trim rings or whatever has gone bad. Do NOT spray anything into/onto lockset. You'll just have a worse situation. No oils or corrosion sprays. Or replace the whole lockset. Stainless steel would be very expensive. Keikset would not be my first choice.... Bargain Schlage as sold in the stores didn't survive this moisture onslaught either.


Connect Network Expansion Board/Patch Panel to Router I am somewhat unfamiliar with home networking but trying to set up my home's ethernet pre-wiring which originates from a control panel box in my garage.

The control panel has a Leviton 1x6 Telephone/Ethernet expansion board (see first image; here is a link to the product https://www.leviton.com/en/products/47609-f6) with what I assume is a single feed connection at the top and an expansion jack at the bottom.

The feed wire into the expansion board did not have a RJ45 connector on it so I added one myself using 568A ordering (white/green, green, white/orange, blue, white/blue, orange, white/brown, brown).  I used a wire tester and successfully confirmed that the wiring ordering was correct and routed into remote rooms in the house via pre-wiring.

Currently, my internet router receives internet from coax cable in another room of house (coax passes through this control panel), but I want to connect the router directly at this control panel and then connect to the expansion board via the feed wire into one of the router's LAN ports.

See images below for current Base Scenario set-up, a Test Scenario which connects LAN but requires splitter, and my Preferred Scenario where there are no Coax splitters at all and everything routes into the house via the ethernet expansion board.

Issues:

When I connect Coax directly into the router (no splitter), WAN light is ON but LAN light is OFF.
When I connect Coax into router after the splitter, the LAN and WAN lights are BOTH ON, and I can connect devices to LAN port, BUT the connection through the Expansion Board to the other rooms in the house does not work.

Questions:

Can this expansion board even handle LAN ethernet internet or is it for old style telephone?
Do I need a device between the router and this expansion board to connect the internet signal?
Could the wire ordering I'm using be the problem? I tested multiple different orderings when adding the connector, and the 568A order is the only one that had a successful test on the wire tester.
Is there a reason the router LAN doesn't work when the Coax from the ISP is connected directly into router (no splitter).

Here is a picture of control panel plus diagrams of the three scenarios to help explain. Any help is much appreciated.

Control panel w/ Expansion Board on left (blue RJ45 wire goes to Feed at top of Leviton expansion board)

Base Scenario diagram

Test Scenario - router LAN only works after Coax splitter

Preferred Scenario - Coax directly into router (but currently having issues with LAN)

I haven't reviewed all your options yet, but the "expansion board" is a non-starter. It's a TELEPHONE expansion board and will NOT work as you expect. You can't just connect computers in parallel like phones.   What need there is a LAN SWITCH and all the appropriate re-wiring in your LV panel.   Maybe I'll add to this later...just wanted to let you know now that what you have won't work.
EDIT:  I just added a pic of my LV panel showing 2 small patch panels on the right and an 8 port switch on the left.  It's a little sloppy,  but it works.
Given the few number of connections in your home, you may not even need a switch if your router has enough ports on it.  The benefits of a patch panel is flexibility.


Why isn't this water softener shutoff valve configuration preventing water from running in my house I recently was wondering how good my inherited water softener was performing so I bought some strips and tested the water in my house. The water was very hard, so I wanted to figure out what's up. The drain water from the softener is quite soft, so I'm now suspicious that I've somehow bypassed the softener.

The image in the link below shows the bypass valves configuration (red handles, bottom of image) for the softener on the right. My understanding is that this configuration should not only bypass the softener but also shut off water to my house. However, I've tried every faucet and shower head, all still work fine. I've also tried just hot water and that's also running fine.

Any ideas why I might still have water after these valves are closed?

In my experience, quarter-turn ball vales are extremely reliable. I've seen some incredibly rusted out plumbing, including where the valve handle has completely fallen off after rusting through, and you can still reliably shut the valve with a pair of pliers or replacement handle.

It's hard to check if it's faulty 100% (without cutting pipes, anyway), but as a first step:

Disconnect the softener.

It looks like you have the right head to be able to do this. Turn the valves off, then turn the handle on the front to drain (may want to do it a couple times until you hear no more water draining) -- if you skip this you will get quite wet, trust me. Unscrew the two metal clips on each side, then the softener should pull straight forward -- there are o-rings providing the seal.

Alternatively, turn the dial to Drain and listen to the water flowing in the next steps. This might be a bit less reliable but should still help.

Open the supply side valve a bit, you should get water coming out.
Open the service side valve a bit, you should not get any water out (other than maybe what drains out).

If you do, SOMETHING is wrong: the bypass valve is faulty OR there is a cross-connection. By operating the bypass valve, you might be able to tell if the pressure increases (indicating cross-connection) or does nothing (faulty valve) but this isn't 100%.
If nothing comes out, then with the service side open and supply side closed, open the bypass a bit just to verify that water comes out.

With service side open, and supply and bypass valves closed (there should be no water coming out of the softener connections), check the rest of the taps in the house. Report back here, I can't even really speculate what's happening in this case, other than perhaps your softener is not actually connected at all.


How should I install slab doors when the jamb has been drywalled over? All of my bedrooms have 36" cupboards with bi-fold doors that I want to replace with two 18" double-doors.  All of the door jambs are covered in 1/2" drywall.  I've made a few test holes and there seems to be solid wood behind it, but I don't know if this is just some 2x4's or if it is a solid piece more appropriate to be exposed as a jamb.

I will be installing trim around the door once complete. The depth of the current frame (drywall to drywall) is  5 7/8".

Buying two 18"x80" doors is preferred since they are cheap and available at my local home improvement store but I am willing to compromise.

I'm looking for what is the best way to prepare this frame in order to hang doors.  My first instinct is that I need to remove the drywall so that I can properly mount and mortise the hinges, but I'm not sure...  Things I have considered:

1) Removing the drywall, finding lumber that has a nominal thickness of 1/2" and having it ripped to 5 7/8" and installing it as a jamb on each side. I don't have a table saw (yet) so this this either means careful work with a circular saw or paying a store to do it..

2) Installing the same type of wood as above on top of the drywall and buying custom sized doors

3) Taking the really lazy way out - use non-mortise hinges right on the drywall. I know I'll regret this.

Am I missing something obvious or easier?

Before you get started carefully evaluate if you really really want to have a pair of doors that swing out 18" into the room. In many bedrooms this is likely to be a less than desirable thing to have. If you are having a hard time visualizing what this would be like then you should get some large cardboard boxes and make up a fake set of the doors and duct tape them in place for a few days. Then with normal usage of the room you can swing the fake doors open and shut to see if the 18" interference is a pain or not.

Do not try to install the door hardware right on the top of the drywall. You will indeed regret doing that sooner as opposed to later.

The really correct way to do this is to remove the banding drywall material. (This will likely be more work than first guess because there is highly likely to be metal corner pieces installed on each corner of the opening). You would also remove the banding drywall at the upper side of the opening along with any previous door track hardware. Then you would fit in new boards to make a proper jamb for the doors. These will want to 3/4" thickness and not the 0.5" thickness that you proposed. Proper door fitting will demand that there be a small gap between the jamb and the exposed stud faces. The gap is used to allow the adjustment of the jamb opening so that it is perfectly square and plumb. Tapered wood wedges in the opening help to wedge the frame one way or another.

After the jamb is in place the trim is installed across the gap to bridge over the space from the jamb out over the drywall.

You should also plan for installing door stop molding which gives an edge for the doors to close against.

Door Comparison

I've added a couple of pictures to my answer to show the advantage of bi-fold doors in terms of how they project out into the room less than full swing doors. First off you would want to use a pair of bi-fold doors per opening for optimum usage. The second point is that the pivot point for bi-fold doors can often be recesed into the opening which lessens the projection distance into the room. The latter comment would also apply to a single bi-fold door application as well.

I can appreciate the fact that bi-fold doors use up some of the opening width. For your most often used closets you may want to consider the possibility to widen the opening which of course is not a trivial project. But then what is the price of convenience.

Also closets with deep blind ends are indeed a pain to make use of. Often it can be advantageous to re-fit the closet pole in such closets so that they go across from the front to back of the space at the ends so it is easier to take hung garments in and out.


What is the industry term for house wiring diagrams? I am doing electrical work in my own home. Primarily replacing old sockets and fixtures. Through the course of this work I am finding odd, but not unsafe, wiring paths. I want to document these paths so that I can develop a plan to improve them. I also want to document my own work to help the next guy who does work in my house.

What is the diagramming style or name for the plan that an electrician would use in a residential home in the US?

I want to know what this is called so that I can then tell myself, "I need to make a $TERM diagram". I can then acquire the right rulers, templates, and graph paper to make those diagrams.

The correct term is an Electrical Plan. I used Smart Draw when I remodeled my home. It's a great tool and there are several templates you can choose from to begin editing. Its pretty cheap to use.


Intelligently Controlling 5 PTAC Units I recently purchased a new apartment which comes with GE zoneline PTAC units that control both heating and air conditioning electrically. There are a total of 5 in my apartment, 1 for each bedroom and 2 in our living room and kitchen (which for some reason are right next to each other, not sure if that is necessary but that's a different problem.)

Here's the manual:
https://products.geappliances.com/MarketingObjectRetrieval/Dispatcher?RequestType=PDF&Name=20-S0046.pdf

My question is how can I control them all at once with smartphone tech and is it even worth it to leave them on all at once all the time. I'm also unsuredon't if there is even a centralized way that can control all of them at once at all via any thermostat Nest or otherwise. GE has sent me the manual but it seems to allude that it can control only one unit (really made for hotel rooms).

I also have a google home hub that I think may be able to integrate everything I have for other smart home products (very new at all this smarthome tech) including this.

I found via reddit, a link to two products which may help, but am not sure if 5 of them can be used at once or if this is even compatible with google home hub or if it comes with its own app:

https://shop.thinkecoinc.com/products/wifi-smartac-kit#.XEkams9Khi9

https://store.idevicesinc.com/idevices-switch/

but the question remains, can I do 5 at once all centralized into my Google Home Hub?

Any help or leads would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jordan

Page 17 of the manual linked in the question has the information you need to wire up remote thermostats, that is, to connect wall thermostats rather than using the control panel on the unit.  You will have to run five, six, or seven conductor thermostat cable (depending on the unit) from each unit to its thermostat.

You could follow those instructions to install multiple smart thermostats to control multiple units with the smart thermostat app.  There are also instructions to control two units with a single thermostat (twinning) so you don't necessarily have to install five thermostats to control five units.


Connecting LED strips, Which plugs? I want to make a LEDstrip(RGB, 300 LED, 3528, 5 meter) At the back of my 40 inch television.
But I have some struggles finding out what I need for that.

I have found this strip:
LED Strip

And I Found these connectors: Ebay.com

I can't seem to find any: 3825/8mm RGB plugs or anything like that.... But is it Universal? Some Ebay sellers say that it is for both, but I've also seen posts which say it doesn't match.

I hope someone can tell me if I can use the: 5050/10mm RGB connectors also for the 3528/8mm strip!

No, you can't mix and match 3528 strips/connectors with 5050 strips/connectors.

Even within  5050, RGB vs RGBW use different connectors, and there are even W-only strips in the 5050 form factor, which use a different connector still.

Put more of an effort into shopping, and you should be able to find the right items more easily.  EBay/AliExpress are not necessarily the best places to shop.


Old wiring, new cooktop My home currently has wiring that consists of one Black, one White, and one Bare conductor. I am installing a new cooktop w/a downdraft. It has one Black, one Red, one White, and one Green conductor. The White and Green wire seems to be bonded on the end. How do I wire this?

Assuming you're in the US. If the new cooktop has three conductors, that means it has components that run at both voltages (120V and 240V). Most likely, the heating elements run at 240 and the downdraft fan runs at 120.

Your existing circuit, because it has only black and white conductors, is wired for either 240V or 120V. You cannot power your new cooktop from this existing circuit, so you will need to install a new circuit breaker and run a new cable.

You should also identify what the cooktop requires in terms of current. It will need to be served from an appropriately sized double-pole circuit breaker using appropriately sized wire. Building code may also impose minimum requirements for service to an electric cooktop in excess of the manufacturer's requirements, so check with your local building authority if you're uncertain.

Finally, the bonding of white and green wires in the cooktop is not advisable (edit: and per comments below is not allowed edit 2: may be allowed for replacement appliances installed on previously compliant circuits). This may be an option the manufacturer recommends when a proper ground is not available, but shouldn't be applicable in your situation as your new circuit will carry a ground (bare) wire.


How can I treat brick efflorescence? I have a new brick wall but large areas are becoming covered in white salty deposits; I want these removed - how can I do it?

Update

Thanks Niall. Just out of interest, can acid do damage to bricks? These are rustic, textured and quite expensive bricks.

Dilute white malt vinegar (a 50/50 solution) will remove it; apply it with a nylon brush dipped in the solution and scrub gently.  If you're outdoors, you could rinse the wall down afterwards with water.  If not, scrub it again using plain water.

The vinegar reacts with the lime leaching out of the bricks (which is causing the efflorescence) to form a different salt of calcium which (a) isn't visible and (b) is water soluble, so rinsing or scrubbing the second time should get rid of it.


Hallway light switch makes bedroom light brighter When I turn my bedroom light switch on, the ceiling light turns on and seems fine. (Older North American home.)
When I then turn the switch for the hallway light on, the bedroom light becomes brighter.
Is the bedroom light somehow now getting 240v instead of 120v? And what would cause this?

I'm willing to bet that there's a split circuit (Multi wire branch circuit) improperly wired here.
So when both switches are on, you're getting 240v between the two phases rather than the expected 120v between a single phase and neutral.


Imperial to Metric Tap Thread Adapter We had been using this basin shower head attachment happily for a while, until a plumber came to replace the taps due to a leakage. The new taps (like the old ones) happen to be a pair of hot and cold non-mixer British/Irish taps but (unlike the old ones) with a smaller diameter, and here's the problem! The shower head attachment does not fit the tap anymore.

I've been to almost all local DIY stores, asking for an adapter, but they have no clue where I can find such a thing!

The diameter of the new tap is 1/2", and the shower head attachment has the two M22 internal, and M24 external threads.

We previously had fit M24 thread by just pushing and squeezing the tap head into it (which is possibly unlike the intended use), but that was fitting the tap perfectly well and it was functioning as expected.

Could you advise me what/where to look for to find an adapter/solution to this problem?

P.S. We cannot replace the taps again, because we've rented this place and the landlord doesn't care about our shower head attachment.

As you can see in images below (A1 & A2), when you turn on the tap, the water comes down as expected normally; now if you press the button on the shower head, it'll disconnect the water running down to the basin through the tap, and will direct it to the hose and the shower head.

What he had previously done was to squeeze the tap into the M24 head on picture D and that was working; but now I need some adapter that will allow attaching either of these to a 1/2" thread.

In case you need to learn more about the details of this product, you can see the manual here.

Can you make this adapter work?

This one converts a male 1/2 inch thread to an M22 size. You can see it for sale at this web site.


Exhaust venting into air return? In the condo (2 story semi-detached townhouse built in 2004) I rent, the main bathroom has an interesting vent system.

When turned on, 2 fans are activated.  One is a booster of some type and increases the air flow from the floor HVAC register.  The second one acts as exhaust, pulling air out through a similar register mounted up on the wall.  This second register is connected to a rectangular sheet metal duct that goes straight down from the register and appears to actually be an air return.

Is this sort of arrangement actually allowed by code (specifically, NBC Canada 1995 would have been current when the place was built.)?  What are the potential problems (mold?) with such an arrangement beyond code compliance?

This is an acceptable solution for multi-tenant buildings where the exhaust fans from multiple units vent in to a common duct. The booster fan in the floor vent makes sure that the air pressure in the room being vented is higher than the common duct. The booster fan can pull air through the central AC/hear air handler even if it's not running. This lightens the load on the exhaust fan.


Is PVC conduit OK above ground to hook up a Jacuzzi? We are hooking up a Jacuzzi and need to run # 8 wire above ground What PVC should we use to run under our house to get to the back yard? I have read Schedule 80 PVC will work.

Schedule 80 will be required if exposed (above ground). Annex C of the NEC shows #8 THHN,THWN,THWN2; 3 wires in 1/2" and 5 wires in 3/4". You should be feeding the tub with a GFCI breaker.


How to frame steel studs parallel to concrete ceiling "joists" One of the drywall I need to hang runs parallel to the joists (concrete joists and slab above it), and I'm at lost on how to affix the upper tracks which would be between two joists.

I've seen this problem address with wooden joists and studs, but it is kind of different problem when using steel studs and concrete joists.

Without a picture, I am guessing you want to frame a wall out of steel studs and you are asking how to fasten the track between the concrete beams. The only way to do this is to either run your wall all the way up to the slab, or to span the concrete beams perpendicular with a piece of track or stud. Just cut tongues on either side of the track and install it legs up with a shutgun or rotohammer every four feet. Once you have these up you can secure your top track to this. You won't need to do this at either end of the track since the end stud, which should be attached to the wall will hold the track.


Please help with 3 way dimmer hookup with existing 2 way switches I am replacing an old dimmer and the wire colors are different that the new ones so very confused about which wire goes where.

In the diagram shown below all whites are together. I have 3 existing loose wires 1,2 and 6 on the diagram.
Where do I connect 4,5 and 6 from the dimmer.

Wire 6 puzzles me a bit since its hooked up with a red and a black on the switch already.
My new gradator has 2 red, 1 black and ground

Thanks in advanced to all electrical savvy people willing to help :)

This isn't so hard once you figure out what's what

From the instructions you posted, we know that the black wire on your new dimmer is  the common, and the two red wires on the dimmer are the two travelers.  Coming from the wall, we can tell that the black wire that is spliced to the wire going off to the single pole switch is the always-hot feed coming in from the fact it's connected to that single pole switch, as well as another incoming wire.  This means that we can safely hook that up to the black wire on the dimmer, and also connect the green wire on the dimmer to the grounding bundle in the box if present or land it on a ground screw in the back of the box if there's no grounds present, then connect the remaining open wires from the wall to the red wires from the dimmer since we know they're the travelers by process of elimination.


How to rewire house electrical? I just had an electrician replace the old 100A fuse box of my 1954 house, with a 200A breaker box.  The breaker on my meter base and wires between breaker and breaker box were also replaced with 2/0, 2/0, 2/0,

I plan on rewiring the house in the coming months for two reasons:
1) aside from the kitchen, everything else (living, dining, bath, 3 beds) is on two circuits, and
2) the old cloth wrapped wire looks rather deteriorated in places.  The breaker box is in the basement (unfinished), under the kitchen.

1) I have read conflicting opinions on forums about house rewires (i.e should I go through the basement or through the attic).  I gather this is more of a convenience/cost issue for contractors, but what would you all recommend?  It may be worth noting that I plan on finishing the attic.

2) I plan to put each individual room on its own breaker.  Are there any best practices for running the new wire (either in the basement or attic) to each room (i.e. shortest path? organized to one side/center of house?).  Currently each socket/switch are connected with a daisy chain of wires across the bottom of the floor joists in the basement.

3) If I go through the basement, can I come up through an existing hole and go around the room behind the base board (to eliminate the daisy chain in the basement)?  The sheetrock does not go all the way to the floor, and there is a gap below the wall studs, behind the baseboard.

4) I have seen older (100+ year old) houses in town with outlets in the baseboard.  If I plan on adding outlets, is this practice still acceptable?

I apologize for all the questions in one, but they are somewhat related.

If your basement is even somewhat functional then I would try to wire to the attic.  I think a good rule of thumb would be would you let your out of work cousin stay in your basement a few days?  If it is even that nice I would go for the attic, given that you can reasonably get to almost all areas of your attic.  Remember for bedrooms with outer walls that you will have to drill your holes probably from the bedroom and be in a very very tight space in the attic pushing them down.  Also know that if you choose basement because the attic sounds like less fun that basically you can't go back to a better solution without starting over.

I have rewired 20+ houses in my life.  I think I am pretty good with electricity (passed local NEC tests on multiple occasions).  I wouldn't even think about doing a whole house myself.  At the very least I would work with a local electrician.  It is very well that you could do all of the labor and have the electrician OK the planning and make final connections.  I have paid less than 1K after substantial prepping for a small 3 bedroom.

How do you normally wire?  Well if it is attic or basement I normally do a runway for each side of the house and try to keep all of my runs on two lines.  So in the attic, I go up and choose right or left based on first room location.  Then I go down that side's runway (next run will be about 2 inches away) and down as fast as I can - if I need to go out then I like to do so at 90 degrees.  This isn't rocket science but inspect and think about it before you get in your attic.  Good planning will put runways on inside walls of rooms going down that path.

The baseboard thing... I don't even know what to tell you about that.  It's not safe.  Electrical outlets are fine in baseboards - not the wiring running behind them.  Why would you possibly think about doing this when you have to redo your house?  Why redo your house if you are going to do this bad of a job?  If I bought your house with baseboard wiring I would be buying it knowing it is a rewire plus major drywall work. If your local inspectors aren't setting you straight on this please get some advice from a local electrician or even real estate agent.

And that bring me to the next point... The rewiring of a house is about half the work (the thinking half).  The other half is fixing all the walls you had to tear apart.  I will tell you if you have stud framing and drywall you will need to rip out a vertical section of each room to get to outlet level and possibly a couple squares for light switch.  For the rest of the room my team cuts two feet off the bottom all the way around the room, about 6 inches above trim.  Hopefully we don't have to pull the trim.  This allows us to cut our sheets in half and install.  Gives enough room to work and drill holes.  Also the 6 inches is enough to smooth out the mud.

If you aren't planning on doing that in each room... don't rewire your house.  Also make sure that each room has a light switch on it by the door connected to something on the ceiling... and that light should not be on the same circuit as rest of room if you can help it.

Not trying to rant but this is a big job and if you are living in the house almost impossible.  At the very least have the others spend a long weekend somewhere and get the bedrooms wired/drywalled/first coat of mud.


Is wall preparation needed for a border of glass tiles? Can I tile a 3" wide band of 1" x 2" glass tiles on a plaster bathroom wall (not in the shower area)  with no modifications to the wall?

Glass tile on wallboard presents no special challenge.
Glass tile on plaster is ok also, as long as it is not too uneven.
You'll need trim on the top and bottom to make the transition look good.

Also as @HerrBag alludes in the comments, glass tile is harder to get right compared to opaque tile.


How do I convert a service panel to a junction box? I'd like to convert my existing 100-A panelboard to a junction box (a new 200-A panelboard is being installed about 15' from the existing panel).  My naive question: are there any particular rules to follow for making the specific junctions within the new panel?  Do I simply use wire nuts to join each individual circuit together, and put a cover on the front like one would do for a simple junction box (like, say, extending a branch circuit)?

I guess my thought was: converting a panelboard to a junction box must make for a bowl-of-spaghetti-looking panel, no?

Can I use the existing panelboard cover as my junction box cover (with the now blank circuit breaker knockouts filled in)?

I'm located in Seattle, USA.

Assuming it's not prohibited by your local codes and the existing panel is not violating any current codes like overfill, working space clearance, there's nothing code-wise that says "No this is prohibited".

However, a better solution if possible, since you have to run new wires anyway, is to install a 12x12 or larger junction box in the attic and crawl space and be done with it.

Now it would be wise to consult you Building and Planning Department first as most of the time the Power Co. will not reinstate power unless the work is permitted.  Also, not sure about your local jurisdiction but around here they make us install hard-wired smoke alarms in every bedroom and in every hall near a bedroom if a panel is upgraded.


PVC electrical conduit connection to service panel I am installing an outdoor conduit that consists of four #8 AWG THHN wires inside gray 1" PVC. I need to hook it up to the main service panel and I am not sure what's the best way to do it.

I understand I can install an adapter that hooks the PVC pipe, or some other conduit, directly into a knockout in the panel. The problem is that the panel is not easily accessible without tearing down chunks of the wall on which it hangs (it's solid drywall behind the panel and stucco all around).

Or I could terminate the pipe at a conduit body near the panel, drill a 1" hole in the stucco, route the wires into the wall through the hole and somehow fish them out into the service panel through an available knockout. But then some section of the wire (maybe 6-12" long) would hang inside the wall without any conduit around it.

Is that acceptable by the code or do I need a continuous conduit all the way to the panel?

Short answer: no it is not acceptable it needs to be continuous.

The pertinent article of the National Electrical Code follows:

  300.12 Mechanical Continuity — Raceways and Cables
  Metal or nonmetallic raceways, cable armors, and cable sheaths shall be continuous between cabinets, boxes, fit- tings, or other enclosures or outlets.

You could terminate the conduit into a junction box and then take a cable that is approved to be fished into walls (NM or MC) from there. Then make joints in the j-box. However, the j-box has to be accessible after it is installed.

Good luck with your project!


Skim-coated textured ceiling - do I really need to sand before priming and painting? My kitchen had textured walls and ceilings. I've skim-coated, sanded, primed, and painted the walls and they look great. For the ceiling, I'd like to avoid the mess (and health risks) of sanding before I prime and paint. Since this is a ceiling, and not a wall I'm going to be seeing all the time, do I really need to sand it? Or will it be good enough if it's skimmed really well? It's already a world of difference just having a non-textured, skimmed ceiling!

It depends on what you are willing to accept. Kitchens are often painted with a sheen, which will highlight any imperfections. The visibility of imperfections also depends on the lighting.
Even the most skilled plasterer is bound to have left a bump, wrinkle, holiday, or ripple somewhere. If you can live with being occasionally reminded that you skipped sanding, go ahead and prime and paint.


Is this how I add GFCI and Regular Outlet to existing Multi Wire Branch Circuit, 20amp? 12/3 to 12/2 wiring with GFCI I have a multi wire branch circuit using two 20amp breakers and a single run of 12/3 wire to a single split outlet in our laundry room.   The top outlet (black) powers the gas dryer, the bottom outlet (red) powers the washer.  We are adding a wet bar to the opposite side of the laundry room wall.  I would like to run power from that laundry outlet to a new GFCI breaker outlet (because it will be within 3 feet of a sink), and then on to another outlet that will power beverage fridges.  Can I pigtail connections to one of the outlets in the laundry room receptacle in order to provide this new power?  Will the GFCI work correctly for itself and the new outlet downstream of it?  Or will the shared neutral and ground screw up my plan?

The fact that it is a multiwire branch circuit may have been allowed in the past I don’t remember but think it may have been ok.
Today the laundry branch circuit is a required circuit and it is a dedicated circuit and can have no other receptacles so it would not be code compliant by today’s code or many code revisions back to add the GFCI receptacle even if properly wired.


how much 3 inch B-vent (double wall) for water heater can be above the roof? The natural gas venting tables talk about lateral versus vertical rise and pipe diameter, plus the 2 and 10 ft rule for height above the roofline and outdoor vertical walls but they never mention how much of the B-vent can be above the roof versus inside the attic or conditioned space.
In my case Im moving a 40 gallon natural venting gas water heater into the unconditioned attic with only 3-4 feet of headroom before I need to penetrate the roof at which point I must be 2 to 2.5 ft above the roof for a 9/12 pitch roof. That means I will have maybe 7 feet of total vent (straight up).
The attic isnt conditioned but its not freezing cold in winter either. Will 2 feet of b-vent exposed to ice cold winter air cause issues on a short run of 3 inch B vent?
Maybe its irrelevant since its an unconditioned attic to start with....

Let me answer my own question as this might help someone else.
After much research and back and forth with Amerivent (thanks Karen O.)tech support I've learned that they feel the SELKIRK guide is the definitive guide on venting  and as per that guide, 5 feet is the minimum vertical (only) height for B-vent with 6 feet recommended and that it doesn't matter if its conditioned or unconditioned space. And of course how high you have to stick up out of the roof penetration is of course dependent on slope and proximity to vertical surfaces and the roof itself, not including other combustion vents.
http://www.selkirkcorp.com/~/media/selkirk/reference-documents/common/file/product-literature/venting/selkirk-rv-type-b-vent/selkirk-sizing-handbook--application-guide.pdf
This gentleman also has some nice pictures and explanations. He doesn't advocate for no-caulk vent flashing boots but according to Oatey they are B-vent rated. (I'm gonna use an Amerivent storm collar with high temp silicone sealant above that Oatey no-caulk vent pipe boot as well) as a precaution.
http://www.summerville-home-inspector.com/comment/reply/129?device=desktop
Also, don't use the generic vent cap Home Depot sells from Amerivent. Use the lock on kind you can get from Amerivent online.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also I've read on Inspectopedia that 16 inches apart for adjacent chimneys is the minimum and obviously you need to leave enough room for the new flashing not to interfere with the adjacent chimney's old flashing.


Is grout in the toilet a plumbing clog concern? I recently had a bathroom tiling job gone bad. There were a number of issues. One thing I noticed this morning was that the bottom of the toilet has what appears to be dried up grout mixture. Fortunately it doesn't appear to be hard/stuck (I poked it with a pencil and found that its like silt/sand).

Could this still be a plumbing problem, if not now then possibly later?

Below: This is what I noticed at the bottom this morning.

Below: After I poked it around with a pencil.

It's not likely to be a problem. The cement in the mortar is diluted enough that it won't create a plug downstream. You're mostly looking at clean silica sand. However, I'd play it safe and vacuum it out before flushing.

I'd then disallow that contractor from entering my home ever again.


wiring issues in ceiling light I have a ceiling light that was knocked off the ceiling blowing the circuit. It did not blow the breaker, but everything on that breaker is not working. I replaced the breaker with no change. Any suggestions on what is going on?

Check to see what is in the ceiling fan box. Sounds like when the ceiling fan got ripped out, it ripped out the wire nuts that connected it.

If this was the first light on the circuit, then there were probably 3 wires in each wire nut -- source, lamp, and next light on circuit.  If you disconnected the source->next wires, it would explain your problem.


How do I replace ceiling drywall over cabinets? I recently had some water damage to my ceiling after a storm. For the most part, it's a simple cut out and replace procedure, but I'm stuck wondering what to do in the kitchen. There's about 1'x2' area that's above the cabinets that I won't be able to get to when I'm installing the new drywall. Do I need to remove the cabinets to fasten the drywall to the joists? Or can I just put an extra few screws in around the edges and add some 2x4 crosspieces between joists for extra support at the edge of the cabinets? From the attic I can see that the walls were originally drywalled after the ceiling, which will give some support on the edge. Can I leave it floating like this, or will it cause problems later?

Personally I would pull them down and drywall the entire thing. The edge of cabinets is going to not look very well when your done if you don't and will stick out like a sore thumb. It's easy enough to pull down the cabinets too.

Also I would remove the drywall from the edge by the wall too and mud the corner. It's going to make it cleaner looking in the end.


How can I reproduce this painting effect? I really like this photowallpaper, but it's quite impossible to import it:

I think - based on my basic but quite good paining skills - I can reproduce it with painting. But..

which type of paint is good for this? I think it should be dense and a little bit "rough"
how can I reproduce the pattern? with brush and sponge?
any general idea?

I know (think) there is an additive you can put in paint or a glaze to give it the crack effect.  Or I believe it is hand painted sometimes.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-apply-a-crackle-finish/index.html
http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2010/05/crackle-finish-with-elmers-glue.html


How can/should I mount this porch light? I want to mount a porch light on my outdoor shed/office.  I recently had an electrician place interior wiring however I elected to do the fixtures myself.

Uh oh.

Here's what the back of the porch light area looks like (on the inside of the shed):

Here's what the front looks like:

Here's a picture of the light I want to put on the outside:

The wall is a solid piece of wood about 1.5 inches thick so I don't think there's room to add a fixture bracket.

So... I'm stumped. How should I attach the light?

A pretty common approach is to build a small platform for the lamp to sit on, something like this

This has the advantage of giving you more depth to mount a receptacle box. You can use 3/4 inch material (nominally 1x ) or larger, such as 5/4 stock. You can then cut a hole, using a hole saw through the new block and the siding underneath giving you enough depth for a much deeper box, like this one

It also has the advantage of making it easier to get the base of the lamp vertical.

After the box is set, I would caulk the entry point of the wire and around the box itself. After the lamp is mounted, unless the fixture has its own gasket, caulk around the top, sides and all but a small section of the bottom (a weep hole just incase any moisture gets in.)


Why aren't GFCI and AFCI breakers combined or used together? In household circuit breaker panels, you'll find two different types of breakers: Arc Fault and Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters.

Ground Fault (GFCI) breakers are typically used in places where water might come in contact with an outlet/wire, such as bathrooms and garages. They have circuitry to sense when the current out is different from the current in, which usually means the circuit is shorted to ground. This is to prevent electrical shock to humans.

Arc Fault (AFCI) breakers sensors to check for arcing, in order to prevent electrical fires.

(And then there's just regular circuit breakers, which trip if the current drawn through them is over their limit, such as 20 amps.)

Why are these two not combined into a single breaker which trips if it detects either condition? Or, alternately, why not have one of each breaker in series for each circuit, for the same result?

EDIT - Looks like AFCI and GFCI are sometimes combined by using an AFCI breaker combined with a GFCI outlet (the kind with the Test and Reset buttons, often seen in bathrooms). But that still leaves most outlets with only current-limiting protection, why?

There's more going on here than you think.

In the bad old days, all we had was the plain old thermal-magnetic circuit breaker (or worse yet, thermal-only fuses for folks with old stuff).  Folks got  zapped by hairdryers dropped into bathtubs and watched as poor connections and damaged cords turned their house into a bonfire for the local FD.

In the 70s, as microcircuit technology developed, the Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter was introduced.  These devices use electronics along with a current transformer to measure the difference between hot and neutral, and open the circuit if it is excessive -- in the power distribution world, the equivalent function is called a "differential trip".  UL set two trip thresholds for these devices -- 6mA for protection of personnel (the GFCI we find in our bathrooms), and 30 or 100mA for protection of equipment (a so-called Ground Fault Protector for Equipment, or GFPE, device).  The GFCI was made available in both a receptacle form factor, originally intended for "quick fix" retrofits, and a circuit breaker form factor, originally intended for new construction or GFCI applications outside the scope of 15 and 20A receptacles.  GFPEs, however, were only made available in breaker form as they are used in a limited set of applications, mainly to protect long heating cable/tape runs or high-powered feeders where ground faults can cause serious fires.

Fast-forward 20-odd years now, into the late 90s.  Microcircuit and microcomputer technology has advanced significantly, and GFCIs have become a well-known part of house wiring, deployed in a variety of wet and damp location applications.  Dropping a toaster into the bathtub becomes futile as an assassination method.  However, houses are still burning down from electrical faults, aggravated by postwar copper shortages causing AA-1000 wiring and steel screws to be pressed into dwelling unit service for a time in the 60s (aka the aluminum wiring debacle).  However, the use of GFPEs on high powered feeders has proven to be a successful fire protection measure in that arena, and some testing performed by CPSC and UL revealed that damaged cords and wires were a major problem for house fires.

Enter the first generation Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI).  These devices were based on a mixture of analog and digital technologies, and proved highly effective at detecting house-burning parallel arcs, but in order to detect other fire-starting conditions, such as glowing connections, they also had to add the equivalent of GFPE protection into the device.  While not enshrined in the UL standards for AFCIs (a rather...debatable requirement for "series arc detection" was substituted for it, at least for the combination type AFCIs commonly deployed), most AFCI makers incorporated this functionality into their devices.  (Branch/feeder AFCIs lack series arc functions, relying solely on the GFPE trip to provide protection against glowing connections and other leakage inducing faults.)

However, the AFCI/GFPE combination had a drawback -- people were expecting it to behave like a regular single pole breaker, not a GFPE, and were perplexed by mystery trips when they started installing it.  While some of these mystery trips were due to arc-generating devices not being distinguished from real arcs, or EMI, some of them were a function of shared and looped neutrals in house wiring as a result of wiring errors.  This, of course, was all blamed on the AFCIs, rightly or wrongly, and also led to GE eventually redesigning their AFCI products to remove the GFPE functionality, replacing it entirely with microcomputer-based series arc detection.

Fast forward another 10 years.  The AFCI requirement, while still debated at the local level, has become permanently enshrined in the NEC, and is being expanded much like the GFCI requirement was back in the 80s.  One spot AFCI protection was expanded to during this was the kitchen -- with high power appliances, extensive usage, and all sorts of cord damage possibilities, the possibilities for electrical fires abounded here.  This, however, collided with the existing requirement for GFCI protection -- you either had to put one of the protection devices in a receptacle form factor (usually the GFCI), or use a subpanel to house a second, series-connected breaker with its attendant hassles.  Hence, in the early 2010's, manufacturers started to introduce Dual Function Circuit Interrupter (DFCI) devices that combined combination-type AFCI protection with GFCI protection for personnel.  While only available for single phase, 15 and 20A branch circuits at this time, they represent the ultimate in protection.

Furthermore, receptacle (called "outlet branch circuit") AFCIs were developed for retrofit and other limited (such as part of what is called a "system combination AFCI" using a specially listed circuit breaker, supplemental arc fault circuit breaker, or branch/feeder AFCI) applications.  There is even a receptacle DFCI on the market, but its application scope is unclear.

Can you have more protection than the bare minimum?

The answer to this question is almost a resounding yes.  The main caveats with installing AF/personnel GF protection throughout a building are leakage currents, EMI, and shared neutrals/MWBCs.  Once these are licked, then full ground and arc fault + overcurrent and short circuit protection throughout a building can be a reality.

First, some appliances have poor AF/GF compatibility.  They generate arcs internally that are mistaken for arc faults, spit EMI onto the power line that confuses sophisticated trip sensors, or simply leak too much current to ground.  Once again, though, instead of taking, say, the vacuum back because it's tripping the arc fault breaker for their bedroom, people blame the breaker for the problem -- this has been a cause of serious pushback against AFCI mandates, and is even a problem with plain GFCIs in corner cases.

The other problem is shared neutrals and MWBCs.  Shared or looped neutrals are the result of common wiring errors, usually "nut all the whites together" in boxes which are fed by more than one circuit.  A simple solution is to keep separate circuits completely separate, but this isn't always practical (say for kitchen small appliance branch circuits).  Fortunately, another option is available -- nowadays, you can buy two circuit (/2/2) NM cable that has two distinctly identified neutral wires in it, which can help with this, and also provides a suitable substitute for the use of MWBCs, as two-pole DFCIs are not available despite two-pole AFCIs and GFCIs being stock items.


What is the function of this controller and what does different settings do? I moved into a new house last week and I cant seem to understand what the function of this controller in my fuse box is, it says heating controller on the box but there is no details.
Also note that the heating is under floor and each room has its own thermostat to control heating.

Can you please explain what are the different settings on it and how to set it up?

Heating controller 750 E1 E6

Doing random searches, I searched for 750 E1 E6 and found this datasheet.

http://www.winterspm.com/wp-content/uploads/Operating-Instructions-for-Cuirt-Seoige-Underfloor-Heating.pdf


Hardwood flooring installation, first row question I am about to install engineering flooring for my living room. At first, I plan to start based on wall A (the longest wall, please see image below). However, there is a projection (or indentation, depending on your view). If I continue to start based on wall A (which means planks will parallel to wall A), shall my first row start from Wall A & Wall C (where wall A meets wall C) , or shall it start from the the corner of the window projection/indentation (where wall A meets window).

Or alternatively, shall I star based on wall B or wall C?

Thank you!

Obviously starting and ending with a full plank is ideal, however, it almost never works out that way.  You'll want to avoid installing skinny little pieces of a plank (less than half a plank), so you'll have to make some calculations up front.

Measure the distance from wall A to wall D, then based on the width of your planks determine how many rows you'll need. You'll not want to end at wall D with a little sliver of a plank, so you may find that you have to start at wall A with a half plank to avoid that.

You'll also want to measure from the projection in wall A, to wall A and wall D. Then determine if you started with a full plank in the projection, that you won't have a sliver along wall A or D.

Once you have that all figured out, then you can determine the right place to start. And whether you should start with a full plank or not.

Don't forget to include expansion gaps in all your calculations.


Installing a Bath Fan Without Attic Access? I'm looking to install a bath fan (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Delta-Breez-GreenBuilder-Series-100-CFM-Wall-or-Ceiling-Bathroom-Exhaust-Fan-ENERGY-STAR-GBR100/204347760) in a bathroom on the second story.

The bathroom doesn't have the attic over it though, and there is about 1' to the roof.

My question pertains as to how to mount the fan though. The manual (https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/pdfImages/af/af6d5071-25ee-4203-8969-8983c5237ae3.pdf) assumes that this is "new work" or that the attic is accessible.

Brackets were included in my box, but I don't think I'll be able to use them since the rectangle I'll be cutting is the length of the fan (about 8").

I noticed that there are holes in the side of the box (Marked in the picture) in the picture below. If the fan was placed against one of the joists and then screwed into place from below using the screws provided through these holes, would this be an acceptable technique?

Are you going to install a roof vent? If so and the ceiling is only 1' away, you can probably reach in through your 4" roof vent hole and screw into a ceiling joist or rafter tie to mount.

If you are going to vent directly into the attic and avoid cutting the roof open, you may run into problematic mold issues. If you're determined to go this route, your technique of screwing through the enclosure or drilling new holes should hold the fan adequately. The enclosure, aside from the electrical junction box, can take the screws. Remember you can and likely need to pop out the fan to get good access.


How do I stop my island from sliding across the floor? I've recently moved into a new apartment and bought an Ikea Stenstorp island for my kitchen, and it's been solid so far except for one key issue: it slides across my basic condo laminate flooring like it's on ice. It looks like there's some plastic nubs on the feet, but they don't do much to stop the island's movement.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this in a way that won't damage the floor?

There are a few options...  You can remove the non-marring plastic feet provided by Ikea, and replace them with some rubber nail or screw on feet, or you can get rubber "caster cups" that the existing feet can set on.  Rubber will provide protection between the floor and the table, but will stop if from sliding.

You should be able to find both and any home improvement store.

Screw on rubber feet (found on Amazon):

Rubber caster cups (image from lowes.com)


Ceiling heat not working right The ceiling heat in one of my rooms will not come on unless i turn the thermostat up. Once i do that, the heat will not shut off unless i manually turn the thermostat way down.
The thermostat clicks at the higher heat when i turn it, it just won't shut off on its own. I've replaced the thermostat several times with new ones. I've also swapped it with one from one of the other rooms that works fine there.
It gets super hot if i don't keep am eye on it. It also gets really cold if i don't turn it up.

Ceiling heat or cable heat is or used to be quite common in the Pacific Northwest.
It is a resistive wire that gets warm when power is applied.
If the heat works with the thermostat turned up the resistance wire is good (it works or it doesn't).
I would  consider having an electrician connect the thermostat if you have tried and failed but the original thermostats were Bi metallic springs connected to contacts (a simple open closed switch). More recent thermostats are digital and they have to be connected properly to function.
Ceiling heat is not something that works well unless being used all the time. It takes time for the heat to penetrate the ceiling and warm the space.
Changes in temperature can take several hours to equalize in a room.
I have been called when folks new to cable heat or ceiling heat thought it was not working and tried to replace the thermostat with one not rated for line voltage (lucky they could not hook the #12 wires in that case to the 18 awg connections).
But depending on the spacing it may take 3 hours for the room to come to heat. The other rooms may have more cables thus heat faster.


No pilot light on gas oven? I have a Magic Chef in-wall oven, stove is separate by the way. The oven is gas. I was told it has no pilot light by some "help" person on another site.  Is there a pilot light on all gas ovens?  If so, where is it? Afraid to turn on knob to light along with a match.  lol

According to online documentation, this model uses a glow bar.  For an oven (not a stove top) one should NOT have to press any button to get anything to ignite - the thermostat and circuitry will take care of that for you, provided everything is intact and working.

If it were my oven, I'd open the door, remove the lower metal cover from within the oven (removing the grates first if necessary) and watch what happens when you turn the oven on.  With glow bar designs, for safety reasons, the gas valve may not even open if the glow bar has failed (when it generally becomes an open circuit).

In my experience, glow bars are not very reliable and yours may have failed "open".


Basement remodeling cost I am currently hiring for a ~550 sqft basement (semi-finished) remodeling job. We are planning on adding drywall, insulation, redoing our suspended ceiling, adding a bathroom and a designated laundry area. We are also adding windows. We are going with an Owens Corning system. Our current estimate that one of the contractors has given us is ~$55000(all materials included). Is this the going rate?

It is very hard to answer this question as it's like asking what is the going rate for a car? But to give you an idea of a semi-DIY job I did about 4 years ago for the exact size basement remodel but with all 6 walls concrete (below garage), it cost me about $3,000 in labor (framing + drywall + tile), including lumber and sheetrock. The framer was an acquaintance so probably gave me a little break, maybe 20% off the usual rate.
I did the rest by myself, including the insulation (foamboards+roxul), electric/lights (researched code extensively while doing and had it checked for code), painting, engineered wood floors, etc. All these cost me probably 10-12k in materials. The flooring (~2k), insulation, electrical components, door and a couple of windows (~2k) as this space originally had a garage door, were the most expensive parts. Also, this is my office/gameroom so I went with a bit of an industrial look. There was no ductwork in this space so I added a split air AC. If you need to finish the ductwork/ceiling, this will undoubtedly add to your cost of labor and materials.
So I want to estimate the entire project at around $15k. It took me about 3-4 months (while also having a day job and working on other parts of the house) and it was quite an enjoyable process (if it is your thing). The construction industry is VERY busy right now. You'd be lucky to get a callback, and the prices quoted are in general very high because most professionals who do improvement have work lined up for the entire year! In that climate, you will get quoted a high price. If you are able to at all DIY at least some parts of it, you will save a LOT of money.
Since you are posting in DIY, I assume you are at least open to it. Prepare for long hours of youTube watching, code reading, and learning by asking specific questions about narrow issues (unlike this very question). YouTube can be tricky, so ALWAYS read comments on those, even if a video is seemingly by a pro, because you will find many of those "pros" make serious mistakes and some downright dangerous. So make sure YouTube, forums, and Q/As are not your only source of information. Many of the codes are actually published so I'd start there.
Sorry, I cannot help you anymore since your question is very broad but if you want to ask me specifics on certain parts of the project I did, I'd be happy to answer if I can.
Here are some photos of the finishing stages for inspiration.
David


Is 40-amp breaker enough for my new range? My new range says it needs a 40-amp circuit breaker minimum. But it also says maximum draw is 13,200 watts on 120/240, so doesn't that mean a 40-amp breaker would be inadequate? By my math, max wattage on a 40-amp circuit is 9,600, de-rated to 7,680. I'm unlikely to have the oven and all five stove segments going full burn at once, but sheesh, don't I need at least 55 or 60 amps? (And 6-gauge wire?)

According to the NEC, any household cooking appliance rated at 12kW or less can be served by a 40A circuit. Yours is over this so bumping up to a 50A would be required.
The code on this can be confusing, but trust me, it's there.

I am interested in where it says a 40A circuit is acceptable.


How should I insulate my garage roof if I want to use the garage as a workshop? I have read a lot about proper insulation and ventilation, including some posts on this site, but none adequately answer my questions.

My goal is to operate an electric heat source in the winter and have ~60 °F temperature maintained when working in the garage.  In the summer, I think we will typically leave the garage door open, however it would be nice to one day have it stay cool in there if it's 90-100 °F outside.

This is in Ohio, where we typically have temps of 0-95 °F throughout the year, it can also get pretty humid.

I do not have soffit vents, but there is a ridge vent on the roof already installed.  I do not want to drywall nor do I want to build a ceiling.

As you see in the photos I have already insulated the walls with R15 Batt installation.  Now I'm unsure where to go from here for roof 2x6's.  I bought some radiant barrier R11-equivelent insulation (seen in photos as well), which I was planning to attach to the end of the 2x6's above, which leaves plenty of ventilation behind them, should be "ok" in the winter and pretty decent in the summer.  However, not having soffit vents, I'm unsure if that is the proper use-case.

You'll see from the wall install that I have no concerns about a vapor barrier, and do not care to seal my garage 100% (I only got faced insulation because it was cheaper =)  ).  However, I am concerned about mold/moisture problems in the space.

I would love some feedback as to the proper way to proceed here.  Ideally I can make use of my radiant barriers, and ideally I won't have to cut in soffit vents.

Full resolution images here for reference: http://imgur.com/a/4Wd9Q and http://imgur.com/a/ud8os

Well, it's a good idea but why not care about re-sale & do it right by drywalling everything & install some outlets & add more lighting? The R-11 is okay, but I'd even go with at least foam boards on top of the rafter ties. Hot air does go up & in the summer without vents it will radiate down.

Absolutely put in gable vents or at the very least drill 200 small holes in a rectangular pattern in each gable...angled down if drilling from the inside or angled up if drilling from the outside, to keep water out.

Finally, you'll want to insulate the garage door with foam board & make sure the entire door's perimeter is sealed. What I'm saying is that 1 major weak point will ruin the idea of ever being comfortable.


How deep should I bury a 4x4 steel post? I live in West Texas. I need to put up a 4x4 steel post to mount a camera. How deep do I need to bury it? There will be 15 feet above ground.

You will want to bury about 1/4th of the pole under ground (So dig a 6 foot hole). At the bottom of the hole, pour 1 foot of gravel, and then put in the pole. Now pour a bunch of cement (4+ bags), and make sure your pole is placed strait in the hole. Now shovel your dirt on top and you're good to go!


Ethernet Cables and Coax Cables running outside house? How to Modify to Home Distribution Panel I want to build a Home Media Network for my new house that will have mass storage (probably about 16TB for movies and all that), that I can hardwire throughout the house using Ethernet ports, and then have separate Ethernet ports for my internet (wireless signal is not strong in our house as we have to use data from our cell phones thanks to a lack of other options).

I've basically went and mapped where I want things to go and how to get to those spots, but this is a new house build and unfortunately, my builder put the drywall up before structured cabling was able to go in, so here I am. Therein lies the issue because their electrician did the basic structured cabling of phone and TV, but I have no idea what goes where and how. See the attached picture of the various cables coming out the side of the house.

I figured this should've gone to a distribution panel and only had a single set of wires from each going outside, so

is what I have legitimate (for US Code),
if not, what can I do to correct it?
Can anyone tell me what it is thats coming out of the wall here? I figure that black is for TV, Blue is for Internet and White is phone, but I really have no idea.

Thanks for the input!

If this were my house, I'd figure out where those cables are on the other side of that wall, and pull them back into the house, patch the holes, and arrange connections inside.

Your telephone runs are going to be terminated together, for whatever landline service you get. The telephone provider should provide a Network connection jack.
Your TV lines will get connected to your service provider's equipment (when you get one) or antenna/amplifier/splitter.
Your Ethernet drops will get connected to a switch or router connected to your Internet providers equipment. (perhaps that cell box you mention)

The only outside gear should be that provided by the service providers, and they will bring wires inside the house to your connections.

The electrical codes really don't say much about low voltage wiring, which this all is.  You can run wires in walls, provide connection plates, etc.  Do it safely and sensibly.

To figure out what goes where, look into signal tracers as mentioned in other comments.


How can I connect the wire that goes to the grounding rod to the grounding electrode system? I'm trying to install an outdoor antenna at my parent's house and was wondering how to connect the wire that goes to the grounding rod to the grounding electrode system through the service panel when there doesn't appear to be a grounding bus bar in the service panel.

Here's the inside:

There is no separate ground bar in that panel because it is the main panel. Both grounds and neutrals share the same bar. Just know that if you add a ground bar only grounds can terminate on that bar.

For reference: YES, that is a main panel. It is a split-buss panel. The top twelve spaces are "main" breaker spaces, and technically should only have two-pole breakers. Breaker 9/11 is a "lighting main" and controls the bottom 8 breakers.


Wireless Networked Sensor Light? I would like to install a group of outdoor sensor lights that will turn on all sensor lights when one of them is triggered, like NetBright, but I do not want battery-operated ones.  Are there products out there that can do this?

Yes, there are. Some speak the X10 carrier-current signalling protocol, some use more modern  communications. Obviously you would need to buy compatible components.

A good home-automation catalog or a website on that topic could give you product suggestions; we don't generally do that here.


Does a water softener only need to be plugged in to recharge? I gutted my house and have yet to get an outlet wired in by my water softener.  I still use hot water on occasion while I'm at the house so I want to make sure the water is still softened to avoid deposits in my water heater, pipes, and faucets.  Based on my understanding of how water softeners work, I should be able to run an extension cord to it once a week or so to recharge it, and then can leave it unplugged otherwise, correct?  There is no other reason it would need to be plugged in when it's not recharging?

Correct, no "real" problem at all. But, of course, a timer activated recharge won't work, you'll have to start the recharge manually by advancing the timer.


Electrical hum noise from shower fan electrics box I had a shower fan installed about 8 months ago, a vent axia low carbon with timer on light switch. The separate small plastic box that contains all the wiring separate to the fan makes an electrical humming / buzzing sound, my electrician has said he can't hear it and didn't seem very concerned, he's very good and reliable normally.

But it's very audible in the silence of the bathroom when nothing else is on, it doesn't to buzz when the plastic front casing of the box wasn't fixed on and the wires were loose, it was like this for several weeks whilst wiring and partition ceiling was being finished. Surely the wires simply being pushed a little tighter into the box to fix on the front and close it shouldn't make it hum and buzz? What could this mean? Is it dangerous?

Electrical hum like that can be a symptom of a loose connection in the wiring.  It's possible that something came loose when the wires were pushed up into the junction box.  If so, the worst case would be an electrical fire, so it's definitely something to have looked at.  Less terribly, you could lose power to the fan, where you'd probably have the electrician out again anyway.

If you're comfortable looking into it yourself, turn off power to that circuit at the service panel, open the cover and look at each of the connections.  Your profile doesn't say where you are, but in the US, wires are usually connected using electrical nuts.  Tug gently on each wire going into the nut -- there shouldn't be any give.  If there is, remove the nut, arrange the wires so that they're parallel, use a pliers to twist them together, then screw the nut back on.  People often wrap electrical tape around the open end of the nut, but it isn't required.


Mismatched baseboards tie in My daughter and son-in-law did a kitchen renovation, but there is some finish work still to do. The pic says it all:

As you can see the kitchen base board is thicker and has a different profile from the thinner base board in the living room. Also, there is a step down from the kitchen to the living room and I don't think both base boards are at the same height. (not my pic)

Other then replacing the living room baseboard, what other options are there to make it look nice?

The only thing I can think of is return the ends and leave it at that.

It is called a miter drop. Check Instagram or the web or a good trim carpentry book. It's not as complex as it looks and it is the right way to do it.

The person whose image this is has many versions shown on his page  including wrapping around a corner and is an amazing carpenter.


Problem Replacing Jack and King Stud on Window I'm replacing the right jack and king stud due to termite damage. I lined up the jack stud on the window header. But, now I've noticed that the right hand side of the window is proud only about 1/4 in. (The left hand side is proud about 1/2 in., so there is room for drywall). How do I fix this? It was a pain getting the jack in as there is a joist running in front of it.

If you fastened everything up already, be prepared to undo it. At least there is a presumption I am making that the old framing gave you the room you needed.

You may not need to undo everything, but I do see the common (outside) stud gone. The first thing is and this is a guess (that is, after you removed the damaged framing, you set the jack stud first, then the common stud last) on how you replaced the framing. The jack stud beside the window needs to be toe nailed into the bottom plate on the old marks left by the original jack. Making sure all the splinters, trash, old insulation is out of the way or will not move back behind the jack stud before it is set in place and secured. A lot of shaking goes on and things that are loose can go in places and keep things from going back in like they should. Nails from the old sheathing into the studs you removed are a good one for this. After all that is assured, finish nailing the jack to the header, insuring the face of the stud is flush with the original header. A little behind it is not a problem either, more room for drywall. Besides, the old framing you have may be 1 5/8" thick, instead of the 1 1/2" thick you have now.

As a footnote, check the wall with a straight edge to see which framing is out of line, creating the problem. Just a mention... it may help you understand a bit more of what is going on. If you used straight studs, good. If you used new framing that is bowed from the start, not good. Again, these things are to help you understand what you have, I can't do anything from here but make suggestions.

Once you have all the things done I mentioned above, and the jack stud is in place and the straight edge has confirmed everything to be flat and the jack stud should be showing hopefully the 1/2" you need for drywall, if so move on with adding the last stud and drywall.

If you are willing to undo even more nailing before you try the above fix, I see the header is slightly proud of the face of the stud beside it. If this means there is room behind the header this will help move the jack stud back when the header moves back also. I see perhaps an 1/8" of the 1/4" gone that you need. After thatr has worked hopefully, toenail the jack stud so it draws the jackstud back to expose the remaining window jamb you need and tighter still to the common stud.

This is also another presumption that the window, since so much has gone on around it that the window has not simply popped out of the rough opening a bit since the fastening has been violated by the replacing of the jack stud, meaning it only needs to be driven back in from the outside using a block of wood to protect the window from the direct hammer blows and refasten it in place so it doesn't pop out again.


How can I slope outdoor rounded steps? I'm having a debate with my contractor about sloping our outdoor stairs. I hope to have 1% slope because we get a lot of rain. But because the steps are rounded, my contractor says the difficulties may result in rather dangerous rise discrepancies. Any advice how we can solve the sloping or should I just make them flat?

Since they are concrete steps, slope them from the radius point. All the risers will be the same and the only difference will be at grade, which would be the same problem without sloping the treads. For that matter, the whole assembly can or could be pitched a little or all of the 5% slope to minimize the difference at the first riser.

I have not checked to confirm if it still holds true, but in the U.S., outside steps are required to have slope, but not to exceed 1/4" over 12".

To help picture this in words, if to make every tread level, the riser needs to be
20 cm tall. To make each one slope, reduce the height of the bending form to make the riser 5-8 mm shorter and raising the concrete form so the top of the forms are at finished height. This will automatically pitch the treads.


1~60 Hz can be used as 50~60 Hz? I purchased a pressure machine of KARCHER for car wash purpose from Saudi Arabia. In the catalogue it is written  1~60Hz whilst in Pakistan 50Hz cycle is used. The question is if the 1~60Hz unit can can be used as 50~60Hz?

If I talk about the machine there is a sticker upon which is written "60Hz". So I am puzzled now if it would be a loss if I take it to Pakistan. It is still new and has not been used.

1~60Hz means 1 (single) phase, 60Hz frequency. Unfortunately, it does not mean 1 to 60 Hz.

Varying frequency is usually written as 50/60Hz, and is less common for electric motors.

It's possible it will work, but it will likely run at a slower rate and may fail early.


Lift existing roof frame to replace top logs in log home We have a log house with a 12/12 pitch roof. This summer we're planning to take off all the old asbestos tiles and leave the existing roundwood framing and put in new tiles of some kind, or metal roofing.

The top logs the roof frame attaches to has severe rot so we want to put in completely new logs. What I want to know is how do we go about lifting the roof safely? Build some sort of scaffolding perhaps and then use multiple jacks? Is this sort of thing really dangerous to do without professional help?

I've made a basic to scale 3d model of the house to show the basic structure of it all.

The orange piece running horizontal along the gutter of the roof is not there currently. I was thinking to attach some lumber to the existing roof frame like this so that when jacks are connected (those are represented by the grey vertical poles) it would all keep together

Lifted..

Any tips on the best way to approach this would be greatly appreciated.

If you're replacing the roofing materials anyway, I'd strip then entire roof off. You'll have far more working space/ease with everything out of the way. (Think about how much fun it isn't to be threading a new top plate log inside your jacking structure...) As @Michael Karas noted, there's a strong chance you've got rot near the ends of your rafters, so having everything on the ground would make it way easier to fix. You'll still need plenty of help (or a crane), though.


Sliding door replacements for “non standard” sizes I have a 1962 home with a 72 inch wide x 80 inch tall closet doors as shown in the pics. I am not sure if the sizes are standard.

These doors are worn out and I was looking for replacements in IKEA but unfortunately they don’t have these sizes. The IKEA door runners are pretty good and with Hettich sliders, springs etc. HomeDepot has the sizes but they look pretty cheap.
Can some help suggest alternative places to look for options?

More pics:

It would depend on the door style. Some closets use bi-fold doors with louvers: http://www.lowes.com/pd_45731-11813-LO45731_1z0s9mjZ1z0s9nt__?productId=4724621&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1  ,others that slide: http://www.lowes.com/pd_201629-32998-45006_1z0s9meZ1z0s9nt__?productId=1057659&pl=1 ,and accordion type: http://www.lowes.com/pd_696687-259-WF3680DO_1z0s9mlZ1z0s9nt__?productId=999911281&Ns=p_product_price|1&pl=1 . All the links are for doors measuring 36" w x 80" l.