How do I apply the same texture to the bathroom wall after patching a hole? My repair guy patched some holes with drywall mud on walls that had been painted with semi-gloss; we went eggshell. He then painted over the area after the mud was supposedly dry.  The area did not match the texture of the rest of the wall and it had tiny bubbles as well as the area looking scratchy from the spreading knife.  I could see these huge flat areas amongst the textured so I tried stippling the bumps back in with a kitchen sponge; maybe way too soon after painting.  I then tried to roller a coat over the area I did.  Now I have dull scratchy areas all over the area, but there is some texture.  What I need is a novice way to prep the walls so I can repaint and I will get a textured shiny wall like I thought I was going to get.  I would like this method to be a good one, but one that does not require expensive supplies or talents I do not have.  Help!

The short answer is to repaint the entire wall. When patching, its almost impossible to get a perfect match of texture and color. If the patch is small you might never notice it, but large patches are usually noticeable to some degree.  This might be just because the original paint has cured for a few years (probably yellowed too), or it could be like your case with different textures.

It does however sound like the patch might not have been sanded well enough, so the first step is to sand the patch back down so the surface is smooth and even with the wall.  The prime the spot, and repaint.  If the original wall was painted with a roller, make sure to use a roller again.  A patch that is painted with a brush will usually stand out on a wall that was painted with a roller originally.


Toilet Shut-Off Valve Not Working Attempting to shut off the water to the toilet, however, after turning the knob clockwise all the way, the water still runs. The water stops when I place a plastic bottle under the float ball, however, to replace the components I know I need to shut the water off at the toilet shut-off valve. Should my next step be to shut off the main water shut-off valve into the home?

Make sure the valve stem is turning and not just the handle. Spraying a little WD-40 in there sure can't hurt. If the valve still won't completely shut off, you'll have to find your whole house valve which is usually on an outside wall in the vicinity of your water meter. These gate valves are notorious for failing too  so don't be surprised if they don't work too. If that's the case, there is usually another valve on the line side of your water meter that you should be able to operate. If not, call your water company and they will operate it for you. So if you get your water shut off, this is a great time to replace any of these valves that failed to do their job. good luck.


How should I approach my landlord about doing basic repairs on their house? I have a good relationship with my landlords, and there are some small improvements that I would be willing to do to the house in exchange for, depending on the situation, either

permission
permission + materials
permission + materials + compensation (e.g. adjusted rent).

As examples (small jobs to start with)

I already do pretty heavy yardwork because I enjoy it, but I would want their permission before doing serious pruning
the driveway is cracked and I would be willing to remove the weeds and fill the cracks if they would buy the materials
They have a really nice deck that needs to be stained, and I would be willing to do this in exchange for materials and something like 1/2(?) of the going rate of a professional.

I would appreciate advice from people who have made such arrangements (as a renter or especially from the landlord's side).

I have been a renter in a similar situation to you.  The types of projects I did were major landscaping, installing hardwood floors and trim, replacing old appliances, plumbing repairs, and pest control.

In general you are going to have the easiest time with low cost, low risk work.  By low risk I mean risk of messing up something serious that ends up costing the landlord a lot to fix, or injuring yourself or others (immediately or for future tenants).

Start with a smaller projects, like the pruning and filling cracks.  Describe the work you'd like to do and get approval in writing.  Include in your agreement a way to be reimbursed for minor expenses by turning in receipts when the work is completed.  If the landlord is not local, be sure and send pictures of completed work so you can show how nice it is.  This will build their confidence for allowing you to do future work.

I never had any problem getting reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses that were minor or agreed to in advance.  I think you may have more difficulty getting paid for your labor.  I never got paid for mine outright, but I did negotiate a lower rent.


How to (roughly) calculate torque for cordless drill clutch settings? Is it possible to (roughly) calculate the torque limits that correspond to the clutch settings on my cordless drill? I use my drill to do quick on/off attachments of a kid trailer (and other things) on my bicycle. I'd like to be able to set my clutch rather than the guessing I do today. The only way I can think of to do it is to tighten a bolt in a piece of scrap metal/wood using a calibrated torque wrench and then working my way up the clutch settings to find the closest setting.

yes as you stated You could buy a torque wrench clamp it to a work bench or put it in vise and then go through all of the settings on you drill to get an idea of the torque each setting provides,

but then you have the CORRECT TOOL FOR THE JOB and would no longer need the incorrect tool ( drill/driver ) for the tasks you are performing.


My outlets have ground wires twisted together and bonded to the metal box, but not the outlet. Is this ok? In my home, I've been replacing the outlets. The old ones are so loose that things don't stay plugged in! While doing this, I noticed that the ground wire(s) in every outlet are twisted together and screwed to the metal gang box. The grounds wire(s) are NOT connected to the outlet's grounding screw.

A few questions about this situation:

Was this ok in the past?
Is it safe? Will the way it's wired provide an adequate ground?
Should I take the time to fix it by adding a pigtail to connect the ground to the ground screw on the new outlets?

Ground wires were not implemented on a large scale until a few decades ago (possibly after your home was built). Outlets themselves may not have even had ground screws.

You should definitely add pigtails to the existing connection and ground your outlets. Use the same size wire as the existing ground conductor (or slightly larger if that's what you have on hand).

In case you're new to house wiring, be sure to 1) create good loops and wrap them clockwise on the screw, and 2) not put more than one wire under any screw.


Hangman's Noose vs Uni Knot Is there any practical difference between the Hangman's Noose and the Uni Knot (a.k.a. Duncan loop)? The difference I see between the two is that the coils are wound inside the loop in the uni knot while the coils are wound outside the loop in the hangman's noose. Does this difference in configuration affect the knot's strength or proneness to jamming, slipping, etc?

I plan on using these knot to secure a line to a pole which will bear some load on the other end (think of a cantilever roofing with ropes attached from the vertical wall down to the end of the roofing to support it). I prefer using one of these two instead of an anchor hitch or some other hitch since these two knots are in a way adjustable.

The Uni Knot is a slip knot that is adjustable.

The Hangman's Noose is not typically considered adjustable.

The Hangman's Noose when the loop is under load is pulling on the top of the knot as well as conventionally on the bottom of the knot which is truly tightening the knot. They are typically only used with thicker ropes because otherwise you run a risk of pulling your knot out under pressure. Because they tighten down they can end up with a "permanent" loop larger than intended or may not be adjustable when load is removed.

The Uni Knot while the loop is under load is only exerting force on the line and bottom of the knot (more cinching the entire knot), so it puts load on the knot but doesn't really tightening it which also allows you to loosen or adjust it when the load is removed. Because of the complexity of tightening/securing the knot, this is typically used only on thinner lines and is a typical favorite among fishermen for attaching hooks and lures as fishing line is thin and has little friction. On line that can be stretched, loads on the loop and line can seemingly tighten the knot since the line is thinner(stretched) under load and make in not easily adjustable when load is removed; I say seemingly because the knot isn't considered tighter when load is reapplied.


Do I need a pancake box to hang a ceiling fan or can I use what is already in the ceiling? I have a space in the ceiling that looks to be wired for a ceiling fan.  It had a plastic cover over it.  I did notice that the cover was screwed into wood that I assuming those are the joists.  I didn't see any other areas that I could screw in the ceiling fan bracket. Would a pancake box work and then just hang the ceiling fan bracket off of that?   It's hard to tell (for me) what is going on in the picture.  Thanks

Try to pull the wires out a little more and check the writing on the box. It should tell you if it's ceiling fan rated. Even if it is, it's always good to remove a few screws and make sure it's mounted securely to joists. If it's not rated for a ceiling fan, you'll have to replace it with pancake box or some other ceiling fan rated box. Make sure the power is off before doing any work. Even though you have the wires nutted, you'll need to remove the wire nuts to replace the box. I've seen people get knocked on their butt because they forgot to turn off the power before removing the wire nuts.


Would a 20 amp 240 volt panel from the main panel be enough for a laundry room? Would a 20 amp 240 volt panel be good enough for three circuits, of total 40 amps 120 volts in a laundry room?

If the laundry room does not have an electric clothes dryer, then yes, 20 amps at 240 volts should be adequate.  That could be arranged as a pair of 20 amp 120 volt circuits:  one for the clothes washer and an iron, and the other for the motor of a gas or propane clothes dryer.

However, if an electric clothes dryer is needed, that alone should be a 30 amp (or larger) 240 volt dedicated circuit.  Another 120 volt circuit at 20 amps for the clothes washer and iron, etc.  The total is at least 50 amps.


Wire cladding selection 120V wire an be clad in Aluminum 'whips' or in PVC as shown in the photo.

When is it appropriate (required?) to use Aluminum?  PVC?

The straight metal flex will give the internal conductors a degree of physical protection and will keep the conductors concealed from human contact.  The PVC covered flex, with the right fittings and boxes will add a layer of protection against moisture.


Is 'bonding agent' the same as 'admixture adhesive'? I see many tutorials regarding stucco and concrete talking about bonding agent that is applied like a primer, but there is no such thing in Brazil (I guess).

What we do have is something describe as "synthetic resin, high performance cement additive", composed of "vinyl copolymer" that is milky white and smells like PVA glue. The instructions tells me to mix 2 parts water 1 part additive and use this solution as the water for the cement/sand mix to make a slurry to use between concrete and mortar on top. Or to make "chapisco" (it is cement and coarse sand very runny that is rolled or thrown on a surface to work like a scratch coat). But nowhere it says to use it as primer like the bonding agent.

Now I'm not sure if they are the same product and Brazil just uses for "chapisco" because this is the only thing that every brickworker does here or if they are completely different products.

I believe it is the same product and can be used in either job as a primer or as an additive to give the concrete more resiliency and plasticity. Your description makes it sound like the same product here in N.A. To be sure it can function as a primer try this test: using a paint brush apply it full strength to a clean out of sight concrete surface. If after several minutes it dries to a clear to opaque finish it's most likely a concrete primer (the brush that was used should now have a plastic film from the dried polymer). To use as one I recall that the newly applied primer should not be allowed to dry before the cement is placed. If it does I think you just recoat with another application. To use it as an admixture for better workability (in mortar mostly): pour the recommended amount into a clean bucket and than add the required amount of water for the batch to the same bucket and mix. Now add polymered water to the batch.


Wiring of two fans with individual switches and outlets I am in the process of replacing my family room fans and I am confusing myself. I took pictures before taking the fans down to get the wiring correct, but between bad pics and second guessing myself, I am not positive how the wiring should look. Here is the situation...

I have my power coming from the panel into Fan A. From Fan A there is a line running to a light/fan combo switch. There is also a line that runs to an outlet. Lastly, there is the line the runs to Fan B.

Fan B has a line going to it's own light/fan combo switch and another line going to an outlet.

The pics wouldn't upload, but here is a diagram that I can figure out from the pics and other wiring diagrams I came across online. What needs to be changed? Sorry for the messy diagram too!

As the drawing shows at each fan:

Red to blue on fan
Switched Black to black on fan
White to white on fan.
Blacks tied to one white are permanently hot, keep them tied back and do not wire to fan.
Not shown: Bare copper to green.

Assuming the wiring at the switches and outlets was not altered, that should be good.


How to wire a ceiling fan to a switch that controls outlet Switch has only 3 wires.  1 black, 1 white, 1 neutral.  They are coming from outlet.  No other incoming power source.  Outlet has a source to the bottom half.  Top half is controlled by the switch.  Can I pull the wires for ceiling fan from the switch though there is no direct power source to the switch - other than it acts as a toggle for the outlet power.

You run a cable from the ceiling to either the switch or the receptacle. You then need to change the connections in the outlet, and if you route to the switch you will need to change those terminations too. If you route to the switch you will lose the switched receptacle.
There are so many actual ways to make the terminations at the receptacle that you would really need to post a picture of the wires connected to the receptacle to get advice which terminations to intercept.
But basically if you route to the switch you get a new receptacle and connect all the blacks to the gold screw (small slot) side of the receptacle, and the whites to the silver screw (tall slot) side. Then at the switch connect whites together and blacks to the switch.
If you run to the receptacle you can either reconfigure to eliminate the switched receptacle or not. This is where a picture is needed, but essentially you connect the new cable to the terminals or wires connected to the switched portion of the receptacle. You will need to concerned the code limits the number of wires in a box based on size of the cu. in. of the box. Gauge of wire is needed to calculate.
Edit. You should replace the receptacle, re-using stab back receptacles produces questionable results. You will also need a few new wire connectors (tan wingunts) and a 4" piece of white wire.
Turn off the power, connect all ground wires together and pigtail to devices.
At the switch where you ran the new cable connect white to white using a yellow or tan wire connector, and blacks to the switch.
At the receptacle box remove the white from the red wire connector, and all the wires from the old receptacle. Connect all black wires and a black jumper together in a new tan (or red) wire connector. Form a hook at the end of the black jumper wire (using a hole on the wire strippers) and connect to a brass screw on the new receptacle.
Connect all the white wires and the new 4" jumper together in a new tan (or red) wire connector, connect the jumper to a silver screw.


What is the definitively correct way to hook up a 3-prong electrical dryer cord? I have a new dryer, and I have a 3-prong outlet (NEMA 10-30). The written instructions and the video instructions for this model contradict each other. Internet research has only confused me more. Looking for a clear, definitive answer... Do I install the wires like this (pic 1):

...where the white wire is left connected to the chassis (this is what the manufacturer video says, and what most other videos I’ve found say)
OR do I do it like this (pic 2):

...where I connect the white wire to the middle (neutral) terminal? This is what some internet things say, and this is also what the written instructions say, with an additional claim that I need an external ground wire connected to the chassis and then imaginably, a ground.

There is no way to make a 3-wire connection safe.
It's only legal on a legacy basis, with certain cable types because the appliance industry complained and moaned that they'd lose appliance sales if it was outlawed.
What they are actually doing is connecting chassis to the live neutral.  The concept is that neutral is supposed to be safe... as long as there aren't any loose connections... and loose connections are unlikely since these plugs and wiring are rarely disturbed. Uh huh.
So it is leeeegal to jumper the appliance chassis to the neutral wire and then call it a day.  Would I do it? Heck no!
However in my experience many installations either have a 3-wire receptacle  needlessly because they actually do have ground behind the receptacle... or they are using a cable type that was always illegal (/2 + ground NM or UF).
You are really, really better off upgrading to 4-prong receptacle and plug ASAP.  That will give you a separate neutral and ground.
If your installation is old and uses a legal cable type (/3 noground or SE), then it's legal to retrofit a ground from the socket to anywhere that has a #10 or larger ground back to the panel - water heater, grounding electrode wires, any metal conduit, or back to the panel.
If it is infeasible to retrofit a ground, you can change the receptacle to 4-prong anyway, wire the appliance for 4-prong anyway (meaning: isolate neutral from ground, very important!), and then use a 2-pole GFCI breaker to feed it.  This is labeled "GFCI Protected / No Equipment Ground".


Can I paint and polyurethane my plyfloor or does it have to be covered? On a new build, our subfloor is going to be 18mm plyfloor.  I like the idea of painting it with a whitewash and then coating it with polyurethane to keep it as our main floor, rather than covering it with vinyl or laminate planks.  Is that a possibility?  What are the pros and cons if so?  Thanks in advance.

Pro: cheap, and nothing prevents you from putting a real surface on if you find the look does not really appeal after a while.

Cons: Potential for nasty splinters; plywood splinters are miserable. Relatively loud (both to walk on, and acting as a reflector of sound - also loud to the level below if there is living space there).


What preparation is required for tiling over poorly laid floor boards? 4" hardwood floor boards mounted on a poorly-designed frame made out of whatever wood the constructor had lying around it seems. There's a lot of bounce, some boards even drooping 1/2" when walking on them.

I'm thinking of tiling over with 12" square tiles, maybe 16".

I've never used self-leveling compound before. Would it be suitable to level the floor with this before lining it with 1/4" cement board prior to tiling, or would it seep through gaps between the floorboards?

With the ceiling height already being illegally low at 7', I'm trying not to raise the height of the floor too much.

Anything rigid you put over a flimsy structure will be destroyed over time because it won't have the support it needs.  Most tiles (except plastic/vinyl) don't handle bending well.

Self leveling compound doesn't add rigidity, it just makes a smooth top surface.

You need to fix the structure first.  That means going down before you go up.


Rising damp, ground floor walls I have an old house (about 150 years old) which has an issue with rising damp. Plastic sheets were placed under the floors, so they aren't affected, but the walls (up to a max of 4 foot) are damp because ultimately they sit on the earth, I suppose, and must soak up the water. I've treated some of the symptoms with anti-damp paint, but I have no idea how to deal with the cause.

Around the exterior of the property is concrete. On one side it is higher than the others (making one side of the property semi-basement). However, there is no obvious means for water to actually enter the property. It is possible that water seeps down from the garden. I also do not know if the drains/sewers have any cracks etc.

Does anyone know how any approaches for dealing with this problem, or at least mitigating its effects?

Concrete will absorb water much like a sponge.  Assuming there is drainage at all, it's likely porous clay-pipe (that's why they call PVC drain pipes "drain-tile".)  This was often installed right up against the building.

Over time, when the ground shifts or roots get into the pipe, it breaks and clogs and no longer drains away.  What's left of it now draws water in towards the house and up against your concrete.  If you have gutters and downspouts that go into the ground, they connect into this system and basically seep into the ground around your house.  If you ever dig holes and find pieces of clay pipe, that's your drainage system.

There's really no fixing old clay drainage tile once it's shot.  You should get a contractor to give you estimates on drainage.  In my area, these companies also do landscaping.  Expect the cost to be in the thousands.


Can I wire a light with 3 switches in a 4-way switch configuration with one switch being a dimmer? I have an overhead light wired with a single-pole dimmer switch on one side of the room and a 3-way non-dimmer switch on the other.  I would like to add a third switch to this circuit if it's possible without losing the ability to dim the light.  Is this possible?  Also, the wiring diagrams I've found online all have the power going into the first (3-way) switch.  In my situation the power enters at the ceiling fixture.  What do I need to do differently for this?

Here is a page I just found with diagrams for various 4-way configurations, including one with one of the 3-way switches being a dimmer.

Here is a 3-way dimmer switch from Lutron.

Looks like I'm all set!


How would one extract a brick chimney embedded in the middle of a house? I have a no-longer-in-use brick chimney running from basement to attic (roof was closed over it), left over from earlier heating systems. The space alongside it is being used for plumbing and electrical, so it would probably be a pain to actually recover those few square feet... but it has me wondering:

How would one extract a brick chimney embedded in the middle of a house? Open up one of the adjacent walls and attack it with rotary hammer? And would the years of combustion residue -- gas and oil most recently, but I suspect there were one or more woodstoves originally -- be a significant health hazard, or just a mess?

(If I don't extract it, I'll probably want to cap it off to make sure it isn't breaking my air-sealing. Thoughts on an easy/cheap way to do that also welcome.)

We removed an old brick chimney to install a modern (well, 1970's modern - stainless steel is more common these days in your better chimneys) block and tile chimney by simply hammering and removing bricks. If you do it top down it's "apparently more tedious" but actually less time overall than anything involving "knocking it down" and then clearing up the mess, when it's inside an occupied, normally clean house. A wide mason's chisel may help. Bricks are actually pretty easy to get apart when you learn how, and that won't take long if you pay attention to what works on the first few layers.

Incidentally, if you drop the bricks down the chimney they pile up in short order and become a relative pain to remove. Take it from a former teenager who thought that was a great way to get rid of them until we hit the pile coming up as we were tearing down.


How to install wood laminate flooring against existing hardwood transition in doorway? We are getting ready to sell our home and are planning to replace carpet in three bedrooms with laminate wood flooring.  We have hardwood in the rest of the hallways, kitchen, dining, etc.  In each of the hallways by the bedrooms there is an existing transition molding.  How do I install the laminate so there is not a gap between the transition molding but still leave the required expansion gap? I don't think I can remove the existing transition molding without damaging it.

You are almost certainly going to need to remove the existing transition strips and replace them with a different type. The upper portion of picture below shows what is most probably the configuration of existing strip. The lower portion shows the what you will need to transition to the new floor on the right.

It was hard to tell from your picture if the hardwood floor was a full 3/4" type with the transition strip actually also 3/4" thick and joined to the hardwood by tongue and groove. If so then my picture is not going to be exactly correct. For now lets go with the existing hardwood being some type of engineered flooring that may be 3/8" or 7/16" thick like my picture.

In any case if you were able to remove the existing strips without damage AND if you had the proper tools you could probably cut the additional rabbet cut off the right side to accommodate the thickness of your laminate flooring. Short that possibility you will have to make or purchase the proper type of T type transition strip. With luck your engineered hardwood and the laminate flooring are the same thickness and then you will be in a much better position to purchase a more standard T strip that has the same size rabbet cut on both sides.

Removal and replacement of the existing transition strip looks like at a minimum that you will have to temporarily remove the door stop moldings as well. It the the new transition ends up being thinner (which is possible of you use one of the newer ones that are made of plastic) you may even want to fully replace the door stops so they can extend down to the new transition.

Note that the finishing touches that go with what seems like a relatively simple choice to rip out the old carpet can cascade to a lot of extra work and added expense. A new carpet may be an overall easier choice being as you are selling anyway and I think most people prefer carpet in a bedroom anyway.


I want create some hanging shelves using zinc E-Z Drywall Anchors & Sisal rope. How much weight could this method bear? I recently bought a projector and am looking to build a shelf for it to sit on. I rent, so I really don't want to do anything with the ceiling. The configuration I'm currently using is just a standard bookshelf, but the thing is there is a window directly opposite my living room wall, so the projector is off-center. What I'd like to do, rather than placing the entire bookshelf in front of the window, is to place the anchors above the window, attach the sisal rope to those anchors, & then wrap the rope around a plank of wood. My projector weighs 5.5 pounds. Is this a decent set up? Is there a better method? I really don't want it falling, so if there's no way to be certain it'll be stable, what should I do instead?

There are ceiling mounts available for most projectors that let you attach right to the ceiling, that might be easier.

However, there is an adjustment that lets you use most projectors at an oblique angle to the wall, look for a "keystoning" adjustment in your projector's manual.  This would allow you to get a perfect rectangular image with the projector in it's current spot.


What to do about gap in bottom of plasterboard wall when fitting floating floor (UK) I have removed the skirting boards in my new build house, as I am going to fit engineered wood floor via the floating method.

The issue I have is that after removing the skirting, I was presented with these cavities at the base of the wall. They are around 2 inches wide, but vary in size around the room.

On the exterior walls there is also a gap in the flooring at the back of the cavity.

The interior walls have do not have this gap.

In addition to the below questions I was wondering the purpose of this gap?

I'm not sure how to proceed with the fitting of the floor though.

Should I just lay underlay and leave the cavities as they are?
Would this not allow a draft under the skirting?
Would it allow too much movement of the floor?
Fill the cavity completely?
Would this affect any insulation/damp-proofing on exterior walls?
What should the cavity be filled with?
Fill the cavity to within half inch of floor?
This is how the walls were when I have previously laid flooring
How would I go about filling to this level?

Appreciate any assistance with this and happy to provide any more information if required.

If you're putting back the skirting boards, you can get wooden beading/moulding to cover the expansion gap.

Alternatively you could use a thin bead of hidden flexible caulk underneath the skirting board if you don't mind having a gap, as this would stop drafts coming from underneath.

In my (limited) experience this 2 inch gap is normal on both plasterboarded and normal plastered walls. It seems like there's a few advantages - e.g., it avoids damp problems from the floor or spills, and also allows expansion movement.


Dado (+glue) or just screws (+glue) for painted MDF bookcase I am thinking of building some MDF build-in bookcases, dado joints are clearly stronger but creates lots of mess from a router and takes more time.

As the book case will be painted, I can hide any screw heads, so that is not an issue.

I see 4 options:

Just screw and glue the shelves to both the sides and back.
Dado, screw and glue the shelves to both the sides and back.
Dado to side, screw to back.
I could also make “cheat” Dados by gluing 6mm MDF onto 15mm MDF on make the sides

Dado at the back means I need a thicker back that will make then harder to build due to the mass.  However I don’t know if screw joints into the end grain of MDF are strong enough,   I am thinking of using 18mm MDF for the sites and 30mm MDF for the shelfs.

I am thinking of using spax MDF screws as they don't need predrilling etc.

(I am not asking this on a woodworking site as I do not have great woodworking stills and care more about the result then the process.)

There's many variables, many choices. You could just slam some screws into the shelf edges and it may be adequate. Pocket screws are a big improvement because you are no longer screwing into the panel edges. They work really well in cabinet face frames because there is plenty of room for screw embedment. For a bookcase, embedment is limited, so you should plan on more screws to get adequate strength.

You can get more strength by providing support along the back, but the gain is marginal since the front will remain unsupported. The extra cost and weight of a structural back are typically not worth the gain in strength for bookcases.

Another problem with simple butt joints is the glue strength contributes to much less or even none of the overall strength, depending on the type of glue used. This is because butt joints move quite a bit under load, eventually breaking either the glue itself or the bond. Dados greatly restrict the joint movement, allowing glue to contribute a significant portion of the strength. Not to mention the huge strength from the continuous edge support.

But dados require a lot more work. A good compromise is the placement of cleats under the shelf ends, combined with the edge or pocket screws you would typically have used anyway. Nail or screw gluing cleats makes a very strong joint to the side support. The cleat does not move, so the glue bond is significant. The cleat does not need to be very thick, most of the strength is simply the continuous edge support. The height of the cleat should be a good amount to maximize the glue bond area. Use enough fasteners to fully clamp the cleat as the glue sets. Such a cleat reduces the number of edge or pocket screws you need from enough to support everything to enough to hold the shelf in place on the cleat.

Cleats provide much more strength than screws alone, getting you much closer to dado strength. Yet the extra amount of work is minimal, especially considering you'll need fewer edge or pocket screws.


How can I remove broken pipe threads from inside a galvanized tee fitting? As I was trying to break loose the galvanized pipe from a Tee joint, the pipe snapped at the joint. I applied PB blaster to the rusted connection and let it set for about 30-45 minutes before attempting to loosen it. Is there a way to remove the joint without cutting off any of the remaining pipes?

I'd borrow or buy an "inside pipe wrench", then heat the T fitting with a torch for a bit to expand it and give it a crank.


I want light controlled by one switch, not two I have two switches that control one light. I would like to close one of the switches, so that the light is only turned on and off by one of them. I removed the light switch from one of them (pictured), but now the other light switch won't turn on the light (also pictured with connected wires. Do I need to close the circuit somehow by connecting the wires from the old switch?

This is what happens when you randomly tear stuff off the wall without taking pix first.  I'm guessing you assume the wire colors are meaningful in some way; colors mean less than than you think, and less than nothing at all in 3-way circuits. That stinks, so get some yellow electrical tape; we need to make colors meaningful.

Looking at the 3-way switch still wired, it appears a black wire is on the black screw (coincidentally).  That means the two brass screws are red and white -- those are travelers and mark them both yellow with tape.

On 3-way switches, travelers go to brass screws. That's what you must remember.  Switch manufacturers randomize the location of black and brass screws on every model of switch.

The other switch, we don't know.  However, 90% of the same time, the travelers here are simply the other end of the same cable, so they'll be the same colors -- red and white in this case.

That's tricky because  there are two reds, but hold on, didja catch that? The travelers are in the same cable.   So follow the white wire back, see which red wire joins it in the same cable, and voila - those two are your travelers.  Mark them yellow.

Whoo! We now have the 2 travelers identified.  Now everything gets easy.

There were 3 wires (besides ground) going to the old switch. Pick one traveler at random and cap it off. You will need tape to hold a wire nut on a single wire.  Join the remaining two wires with a wire nut, but don't tape it - if it won't hold by itself, it's a bad connection and it will arc and start a fire.

At that point, the switch will work in one position.  If it works in the "down" position, flip the switch over when you install it.

A few more matters

You may notice you can go into 99% of rooms and find the light switch immediately.  That works because the Building Codes require you have switches in certain locations.  You are not allowed to have "secret switches" that only you know how to turn on. This protects both your invited guests and first responders: so the EMT can see to save your life, and the cop can see that's a computer mouse not a gun in your son's hand.
Make sure that your switch removal does not violate the building codes or make it hard (for visitors) to get a light switched on in that room.

Also, I must warn you that you cannot bury electrical junction boxes. You currently have a blank cover there; that must stay there forever until you run a new cable which bypasses this box, and remove those cables.  Further, you may want to leave it as a house feature, in case the new owner wants to restore that switch.  (or the pre-sale inspection reveals the switch is mandatory).


12/3 w/ ground run from switch to ceiling fan. Way to jump 12/2 for new light with independent switch? Remodeling a bedroom in a 1980s townhome. The home was set up with switched outlets and no ceiling lighting in most rooms. The bedroom in question does have 12/3 cable w ground to the ceiling from the switch box, but my parents are set on having a fan without a light in that location. In essence, the red cable isn't being used for the fan, and we'd like to get light to a different ceiling location. I have access to the fan j box from both below and the attic space, but the 12/3 cable is tied to studs and run through ceiling joists, so I cannot pull new lines from the switch without tearing apart walls/ceilings.

My question is whether or how I might try to jump off of this unused red(hot) for a second ceiling fixture. The switch box has room for another switch; it currently has a switch for the outlets, the fan switch, and an empty space, as the old fan had the light and fan switched separately. For the new light, can I just run 12/2 w ground to the new light location from the fan j box, attaching black to red and white to other whites. I guess I'm not sure if it's okay to run two separate fixtures off of the 12/3 of the fan like that, or if it would even work.

I can figure out a smart switch fix on another circuit from the attic, but I'd prefer everything be hard wired and on the same circuit.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

Yes, providing there is enough capacity in the j-box, you can just run 12/2 w ground to the new light location from the fan j box, attaching black to red and white to other whites.

12 awg requires 2.25 cu in per insulated conductor, plus adding one conductor to the count for all grounds. The fixture wires from the fan don't count.


What type of connector is this and how do I remove it? I was trying to install a ceiling fan in my apartment and came across these connectors when removing the light.  What is this and how do I take it off?

It's a push-in wire connector, like these from Ideal.

The wire should come out without too much difficulty; grip the connector firmly in one hand, then pull the wire with the other.

The instructions for the Ideal connectors that I linked to say:

  7. In order to remove a wire, pull and twist the wire back and forth.

Since you're installing a new light fixture, this is also relevant:

  6. Connector is reusable on solid wires of the same wire gauge or larger.  If reusing connector, cut and re-strip conductor.


How can I unbend a bent furnace filter slot? I recently bought a new home. When going to change the furnace filter, I couldn't get the original furnace filter out of the slot at the last part of the filter (where the cardboard border is). Since it was a cheap used filter, I wasn't too worried about destroying it, so I just kept yanking while holding the air duct in place, and eventually ripped it out. After removing the old filter, I noticed that the top lip of the furnace filter slot, going into the air duct, was bent downward a little bit. It's not bent a lot, but enough that the cardboard will get caught while removing the filter. It is a major pain.

I tried getting a hammer in the tight (1") opening, but I couldn't seem to do anything with a hammer. I tried bending the metal metal with my hands, but the metal would just go right back to where it was originally. I want to get a nice permanent electrostatic furnace filter, but I am scared that I will put it in there and never be able to get it out to clean it. Cardboard will rip and break, metal will be a little harder to destroy to get it out of the air duct. Does anyone have an idea on how to fix this problem? I really don't want to have someone come out and replace the air duct just for one small bent piece of metal. Below is a picture of the setup.

It sounds as if the slot is OK at least on one side of the bend, or perhaps both. If so you can make a shaper out of a piece of wood whose thickness is cut to the width of the slot.

Insert the wood in the good section of the slot and force it through the bent section. You may even be able to tap it sideways with a hammer.

If the wood is too soft to bent the metal back, try a harder piece of wood or even a piece of metal if you can find one of the right size. A piece of wood layered to the right thickness with a thin piece of metal toward the bent side of the track would also work.


Temporarily have no gutters, what do I need to worry about? My gutter contractor has been interrupted by the rain. I will be without gutters for a few days and there is a total of 1.5" of rain predicted over those few days.

I am monitoring my basement for water. It has a known minor leak that pops up during major rainstorms and it has appeared now. Nothing to worry about.

What else should I monitor while my house is without gutters? Leaks? Drainage issues? Protect plants?

The biggest concern is definitely leakage and drainage issues. It's hard to say without seeing the property. These may be more or less of a concern depending on the grading around your foundation and your soil type.. not to mention other factors such as the type and condition of that foundation, if you have a sump pump or other drainage system, etc.

The plants are probably a minor concern, but a hard drip of rain around my house (which does NOT have gutters) causes there to be a break in the vegetation right at the drip line.

Ultimately, I think you are right to be concerned. If you normally have gutters and even then see water intrusion during heavy storms...well I'd say 1.5" over a few days is moderately heavy!


At what temperature should an unoccupied house be kept at in winter? We are moving to a new house and unfortunately we don't have our house sold yet. I was wanting a recommendation as to what temperature to keep the furnace going @. I found a good recommendation to turn off the main water line and try to drain the pipes as much as you can so you don't have to worry about pipes freezing. Until we sell it we will be paying for two house payments so of course we are trying to cut cost as much as we can. I was thinking 50 but i i'm just guessing at this point.

Depends on location but 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit is fairly standard.


Where can I download the U.S. NEC at no cost? Is there a website where I can access the complete and most recently updated version of the United States NEC for free?

Yes, the NEC. Is free once adopted . search for free NEC and you will find it. This is only for the "code" I don't think they release the hand book that has a lot of information on why, this is the version most inspectors use , but once adopted the NEC is free on line. Just checked look up nfpa.org free access just need to sign in..

Free Access to NEC


GE PowerMark Plus GE Breakers I moved into a house with a GE PowerMark Plus Load Center. I'm trying to add some AFCI and GFCI breakers. The label on the inside of the door states that the following GE breakers can be used: THQP, THHQP, THQL, THHQL, TQDL, THQDL, or TXQL. I know that THQL is wider than THQP, but other than that I'm not sure what the rest mean. Which one would I use for AFCI, GFCI, or combo breakers? I included a picture of the label.

GE breaker part numbering explained

GE loadcenter-type breakers come in various flavors, but there are a few things in common.  First off, all the part numbers start with "T" -- this is likely because the line was acquired when GE picked up an upstart breaker maker called Trumbull Electric.  The next one or two letters (H, HH, X) designate the interrupting rating of the breaker -- the normal H designates a standard residential 10kAIC breaker, with a few exceptions to be noted below, while HH and X are used for higher interrupting ratings found in commercial work.  Some very old (Trumbull-era) breakers lack this letter in their part number, indicating they are only rated to 5kAIC -- this is a good indication they are obsolete.  The next two (or occasionally three) letters indicate the type of breaker:

QL denotes the standard "Q-line", plug-on-type, 1" wide breaker
QD denotes a "double-wide" (4 slots in a 2x2 pattern) breaker used for 150-225A ratings -- these breakers are 10kAIC unless denoted with a raised interrupting rating by a single H in the part number.  They are cable-in/cable-out types by default, although they are available as plug-on types as well, denoted by a "QDL" in the part number.
QP denotes a "half-width" (1/2" wide), plug-on-type breaker (GE's equivalent to what's called a "double-stuff", "cheater", or "tandem" breaker).  These can only be used in slots that specifically permit them.
QC denotes a cable-in/cable-out type of breaker, used for applications like subdivided protection for large electric heating loads.  Instead of plugging into a panel to get their power, they have a lug terminal on each end and thus can be used in a situation where there is no busbar to plug on to.

Following this letter prefix for the breaker type/series (what you see on the labeling on your loadcenter), there is 4 or 5 digit part number:

The first digit denotes the number of breaker poles present
The second digit denotes the voltage rating of the breaker, save for THQP's which lack it and are always 120/240V as a result.  It will always be 1 on breakers used in residential work, for a 120/240V slash rated breaker (120V line-to-neutral, 240V line-to-line).
A few devices will have letters after the second digit, to denote unprotected switching -- you probably won't run into these.
The remaining digits in the part number specify the trip rating (amp rating) of the breaker.

Any designations after the amp rating indicate special breaker features, such as ground fault, arc fault, or dual function (arc & ground fault) protection.  (There are others as well, but you generally won't find them in residential work.)

Specifically:

GFT denotes a current-generation ground fault breaker (the T here is for self-test functionality as per the current UL943)
AF2 denotes a current-generation combination arc fault breaker (AF was used for the previous generation of GE combination arc fault breakers -- the differences are fairly subtle and only impact multi-wire or 240VAC branch circuits)
DF denotes dual-function breakers that combine arc & ground fault protection

Of course, not all part numbers are made -- check a current GE breaker catalog for details on what you can get.


Why would my zone controller be displaying error: AC voltage insufficient? Our AC unit was new with our house and is only 7 years old. We have a split zone system controlled by a Honeywell HZ322. Today we had no AC so I started looking at possible issues. When I got to the controller test, the AC test clicks a few times, on the controller, and says "AC voltage insufficient". The heat and fan will test fine.

If there is enough voltage for the fan and heat, how is it that only the AC is out? Is there a fuse for each area of the unit. One fuse each for fan, AC, heat, and so on? I am only seeing one.

I am familiar with electronics. Multi-meters and such so if you have any of those ideas feel free to post them.

The tech seems to think the HZ322 is going bad. The good news is they are not terribly expensive and fairly easy to program.

So since it started working he could not say what was wrong.


What is this drill guide/template used when fixing electrical sockets called and where do I buy one? My dad used to have one, you use it as a drill guide/template when fixing electrical sockets, but I cannot find anywhere that sells them, and as I don't know the name Google is not much help!

(Searching on google for "socket drill template" did not find anything useful)

It's called a pattress jig.

B&Q stock them in the UK.  However they can only be purchased from a physical store not online, the ean code is 03619377 and the cost is £7.68. (A B&Q store can order one if needed based on the ean code.)

There is also a seller on eBay UK.


How can I prevent water pooling on a windowsill from getting behind wall tiles in a shower? I have a windowsill in a shower which had regular 6" ceramic wall tiles over drywall.

Some water had obviously pooled on this, got under the joint at the lip of the tiles and rotted the drywall. So I removed the drywall, left it to dry for a month and now I have to repair it.

I have some waterproof, for bathrooms, grout some special bathroom grade drywall and the same tiles.
Is there anything else I can do to prevent it happening again?

I would never use tile tor the window sill. The tile itself is waterproof, but the grout seams will always crack, the thinset is permeable, and the water will find a way to get behind the wall. Get a piece of stone custom fit, make sure it does not puddle water near the wall, and then you only have to worry about the edges which can be sealed with a silicone caulk


Help with basement wall insulation Here is the issue, my basement wall facing south is trapping moisture. Removed the drywall and found a layer of poly and rigid insulation on the lower wall and batting insulation on the top side. The 2x4 framing studs are built above the footing blocks but on the inside they put 1x6 furring strips and drywall over that The exterior brick wall under the window shows efflorescence. Btw, my footing is above grade.
Would this have been caused by water/moisture from the exterior brick wall/ window or internally from the vapor barrier?
I've read too much information about basement wall insulation and some say to insulate it some say don't.

any help or information greatly appreciated.

The correct way to insulate a basement wall is with rigid foam or spray foam right up against the masonry walls, with air sealing scrupulously done with caulk, tape, and more spray foam, to make sure that no humid air can touch the masonry walls. Once that's done, you can safely build a framed wall covered in drywall if you like to finish the space. There should NEVER be poly in this wall sandwich, as it will trap water and cause everything touching it to get wet.

If you currently have a wall that has poly anywhere in it, you need to remove it. Then redo it according to the above description.


Deck Stairs on Uneven Ground - How do you recommend putting in deck stairs on uneven ground? I have significant slope in both directions - 8 inches sideways across a step and 3.5 inches down the steps. See attached drawing showing wrap-around steps at the corner, but the highest point from the ground to the top of the deck is 20 inches, which slopes down towards the bottom of the stairs to a height of 23.5 inches. The lowest point from the ground to the top of the deck is 15 inches.

Nothing has been built yet, so I can change the layout if this isn't going to work. But I'd really like to make it work because it seems to be the best location convenience-wise for the steps. Open to other suggestions though.

Uneven ground is very complicated for steps.  You really want the distance from the last step to the ground to be uniform across the step, and the distance to the ground should be the same as the height of a step (i.e., if you have risers, the last one should be at ground level.

The right way to do this is to grade in the area of the steps so that a distance equivalent to at least several treads in front of the steps is level and then tapers gradually to meet the surrounding grade.  You can do this by building up the low area, reducing the high area, or a combination of the two, which minimizes materials needed or needing to be disposed of.

You have some flexibility because a 7" riser is common but not a requirement.  There is a relationship between the riser and the tread (2 x riser + tread = 26 to 27 inches).  You generally don't want to go above an 8" rise, and a 10" tread is pretty narrow, so those factor limit the height.  But you can go with long, shallow steps in the other direction, which is very comfortable to use.  Here is a handy chart: http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/64stepchart/.

So you have several things to factor into a solution that you can adjust to best fit your situation.

The ground has some grade, probably in several directions.  Besides being uneven from side to side of the steps, it may slope as you move away from the steps.  So how far out the steps come based on the tread size will likely affect the total height you need to transition with the steps.
You need an integer number of steps, but you can adjust the riser vs. the tread to optimize the distance covered vs. grading requirements.  For example, if the yard has a slope down going away from the deck, more distance covered by treads will require more total rise, so you might add an additional step to accomplish a more desirable step profile or to land at a point where the ground is more even so less grading would be required.

You can do this with trial and error calculations and a bunch of measurements of relative yard elevations at different points using a long level, or a board and a level, and ruler.  The grade will not be perfect, so after you optimize everything, you will still need to do some amount of grading.

Grade to a little lower than you need.  Install the stringers, supported by footers.  Then fine-tune the grade.  Lack of treads will give you access "under" the steps.  Then install the treads.


Need help with wiring I think I burned out one digital time switch and don't want to damage the replacement I bought. Can someone take a look at the diagram I drew and complete the wiring?

The wiring diagram that came with the 'Woods in wall digital timer, model 59018/59028', is nothing like that in my fixture.

I have the timer fitted inside, next to my front door. It is to control the outside front porch light, where there is also a single pole-double throw on/off switch.

I'd be very grateful if someone would lend a hand and tell me which wires I need to connect to the timer, given the existing wiring shown in my diagram.

There are multiple options here:

Bypass the switch

Use Tester101's instructions :)

Use the switch as an override-ON

In this case, turning the switch on overrides the timer and turns the light ON until the switch is turned back off, giving control back to the timer.

This can be accomplished by nutting all the blacks together and all the reds together in the timer box, along with all the whites and all the grounds.  If you wish, you can also replace the switch with a single pole one -- join the incoming red with the outgoing black and a pigtail to one switch terminal and connect the incoming black to the other switch terminal.

Use the switch as an override-OFF

In this case, turning the switch ON allows the timer to control the light, while turning the switch OFF forces the light off.  Connect the black wire from the incoming cable to the black wire on the timer, connect the red wire from the outgoing cable to the red wire on the timer, nut the black wire on the outgoing cable off, and connect all the whites together and the grounds together.

Get a 3-way timer instead of your existing one

In that case, the timer will have 5 connections instead of 4, or be able to operate without a neutral in the box.  Keep in mind the latter timers have limitations on what loads they can control due to needing to send a "trickle" of operating power through the load in order to maintain memory.

Install a SPDT Relay to adapt your existing timer to the 3-way configuration

You'll need to use a UL listed relay like the Functional Devices RIBU1C for this job.

The White/Yellow wire on the relay goes to the White wire on the timer and the White wires in the incoming and outgoing cables.
The White/Blue wire on the relay can be nutted off as it's not used here.
The White/Black wire on the relay goes to the Red wire on the timer.
The Yellow wire on the relay goes to the Black wire on the timer and the incoming Black wire from the power source.
The Blue and Orange wires on the relay go to the Red and Black wires on the outgoing cable.
Finally, the Green wire on the timer goes to the bare ground wires on the incoming and outgoing cables.

(You also may need a mudring or extension box in order to fit all the wires inside it -- run the box fill computations please!)

Note that with this configuration, the outside switch will invert the sense of the timer's operation -- flipping the switch will convert timer ON times into timer OFF times and vice versa.


Hot Water line Clogs only in Kitchen Sink New Faucet installed in Kitchen sink. The cold water runs just fine but I keep getting little pieces of black stuff in the filter of the hot water line. The hot water will run fine for about 30 Seconds then slowly starts to slow down to the point that it barely comes out. This line also splits to the Dish Washer, that runs fine. I Can take the filter off the line and dig all of the black pieces out and it will do the same thing over again. The guy who installed it couldn't get the nut off of the old faucet so he cut it off, is there a chance something got down in the hot water line?

Most likely it is shavings and debris from the cutting the guy did into the waterline.

You should turn off the water supply valves and disconnect the water lines from the faucet but not from the valves (  do the cold even though it hasn’t given you problems just for peace of mind ).

Get a bucket and put the end of the supply lines that were attached to the faucet into the bucket and hold onto them while you open the valve and bleed the system for about a minute. ( Open the valves slowly there will be quite a bit of pressure)

Before you reattach the supply lines to the  faucet  open both the cold and the hot on the faucet, take the aerator out and try to blow backwards through the faucet to blow any debris that might still be left inside the faucet back out.

Reassemble the faucet reattach the supply lines and see how she goes.


What size cable do I need for a replacement sub-panel? I'm doing a kitchen remodel and while tearing down the walls I found quite a mess of wires from a sub-panel that exists in a small closet off the kitchen. It was so bad that I decided it needs to be replaced.

While replacing this sub-panel the main feed wires from the main panel down in the basement started to crack along the insulation, they are very old maybe from the 1950's and brittle. I've enclosed some pics of my new sub panel box and the 70amp breaker down in my main panel that feeds the sub-panel. I want to pull this wire because I don't think there's any way this will pass inspection with how brittle the coating is on the wire. I've got electrical tape on the wires now, but that isn't gonna make it pass either.

My question is, what size wire can I replace this with? It's a 70amp breaker down in the basement, and the wire that's there now is quite large, maybe a 2 gauge. I believe this might have been a main box back in the day and this wire used to be a main into the house and not a sub, instead of rewiring, they kept it? Just my opinion.

My sub panel will be used to power electric stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher & sink disposal along with lights, outlets and other lights in other rooms in the house.  Thank you for any and all help/advice!  P.S. This is in New Jersey.

For 70 amperes, you'll want to use 4 AWG copper or 3 AWG aluminum conductors. If the run is overly long, you'll want to compensate for voltage drop, by increasing the size of the conductors.

It looks like there originally wasn't an equipment grounding conductor included with the feeder, but you'll need one with the new feeder. If the original feeder was run through conduit, you might have to upgrade the conduit to fit the additional conductor.

If the original feeder was a cable assembly, and not individual conductors run through conduit. You should be able to replace it with 4-4-4-6 cable, from the local big box home improvement store.

When you install the equipment grounding conductor in the new panel, you'll want to make sure the neutral bus bars are isolated from the ground. And you'll have to terminate all the neutral and grounding conductors at the appropriate bus bars.

NOTE:

If you're replacing the panel, you might have to install AFCI and GFCI protection devices as required by code.
If you don't want to rewire all the circuits in the panel to add a grounding conductor, you might want to consider adding GFCI (and possibly AFCI) protection devices.


Please suggest to me some thermally resistant plastic similar to PVC and Polycarbonate Plexiglass? I want to find some colored/transparent plastic sheeting that has stable mechanical properties at 100 degrees Celsius, 200 Fahrenheit.

Edit- Sorry i forgot to say the project: It's for an electically insulated prototype drilled and machined box for lithium batteries, with various drill places for the batteries and some places for various screw fixtures. i can't allow the plastic to case to warp at all and i have to foresee a possible scenario where something could be 70 degrees and under tension of springs and so on.

Something very tough, same as plexiglass or pvc sheet.

I wish to have it in a sheet format for example 1/4 inch, 7.5mm

Someone told me that there are some electronics boards and fiberglass epoxies that are stable until 150 degrees C at least...

i dont know anything about plastic, what sheets can i find of that kind? melamine would be ok, except i don't think i'll find melamine sheets round here very easily.

Plastics that are thermally stable at this range would be VERY exotic to the average person just going to a hardware store or ordering online (without a very large budget). Plastics by nature tend to be something that can be injection molded, vacuum molded or similar , that is to say easily deform-able/mold-able with heat, which is not what you're looking for.

At that temperature range, unless you're looking into fast temperature swings, I would suggest a glass or ceramic material. Even then, Pyrex is an incredible material used in lighthouse lenses where they must deal with the intense heat of the light source, and be durable in often cold/wet areas. Even your average pyrex baking pan carries these properties. I seem to remember my mother even having a stove-top pan made from this material.

If you could elaborate on your intentions/projects, I'm sure we could make some more specific suggestions.


What is the most efficient way to connect 20 Lamps for my backyard? So as the title says, I have bought 100 feet wire, 20 lamps and 20 lamp holders.

Each lamp is 110v and 3w, and my electrical source is 110v. I can't remember anything from electricity courses except that there is a serious and a parallel way of connecting to an electrical source.

What is my best approach here and how should I wire them? Taking into consideration that they should look nice. Diagrams are best!

... there is a serious and a parallel way of connecting to an electrical source. - Sandra.

  Wire them in parallel, seriously. – Transistor.

I was being a little naughty with my comment. You meant "series and a parallel way", not "serious". I couldn't resist.

If they are 110 V lamps and you have a 110 V supply then they have to be wired in parallel. That means you need a cable with live, neutral and, if the lamps require it, an earth. The cable can loop from fitting to fitting so that they appear to be daisy chained but the wiring is in parallel.

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

Figure 1. Daisy-chained parallel lamp wiring.


Using Greenie grounding connectors I'm trying to figure out exactly how to use Greenie grounding connectors. In a 2 or 3 gang metal box, can I join each receptacle's ground wire and then fasten the single wire coming out the tip of the Greenie to the metal box with a grounding screw. Is this an acceptable way to ground multiple receptacles using a Greenie?

Green wirenuts with a hole in the tip are stupid.

You're not supposed to stick one of the wires in the top. You're supposed to stick all the wires in the bottom, and one of the wires is 9" longer than the others and is supposed to stick through to let you ground one more thing.

What does this mean? You're supposed to strip about 18" of Romex sheath off, and then cut 9" off all wires but the ground wire.  So you are wasting nearly a foot of Romex.  The logic is you are supposed to use the cutoff wires as pigtails later.  Meh.

What is pictured is a perfect use case for it, though, as it already has 6 ground wires incoming and 3 switches to also deliver grounds to.  Without tricks, you'd need to put 9 grounds under a wirenut, (plus one for the box). They don't make 10-wire nuts, so you'd need to be split into 2-3 wirenuts with a pigtail between them.  This latter approach is exactly what I would do.


Minimum Size of First 90 Degree Fitting Downstream of a Sink The Building code for Wisconsin states this:

  The minimum radius for the first 90° fitting downstream from a trap serving a lavatory or sink shall be 1-3/4" for drain piping 1-1/2" in diameter. The fitting shall be a tee or quarter bend.
  The minimum radius for the first 90° bend or elbow downstream from a water closet shall be 2-1/2" for drain piping 3" in diameter.
  The minimum radius for the first 90° bend or elbow downstream from a water closet shall be 3" for drain piping 4" in diameter.

Could I get a translation, please? This sounds like it's either poorly worded or unrealistic. The "minimum radius"? So downstream of a sink, if I want a 90 degree turn, I need to increase to a diameter of 3 1/2 inches? That sounds absurd. There appears to be no such thing as a 3 1/2 inch PVC pipe at the average hardware store.

I was under the impression that I could do long runs with multiple 90 degree turns, maintaining 1 1/2 inch diameter as long as I use long-turn fittings.

Bend radius, not cross-sectional radius. Pipes are never sized by radius, but by inner diameter.

They want you to use elbows other than those with the sharp 90-degree corner at the inside, such as this one:

Instead, use standard elbows (or longer):


How long should I wait before painting new lumber? I am building a fence. I just bought some treated 4x4s from the lumber yard and they are water logged from being out in the rain for an unknown amount of time.

The weather has been cool and wet for the past few weeks and I doubt we'll have a consistent period of warm sunny weather anytime soon. My plan is to prime and paint the fence posts in my garage before building the fence in a few weeks.

I'm wondering if I put the 4x4s in my garage to dry out, how long should I wait before I prime and paint them?

In my experience, treated 4x4s will check and twist like crazy over the span of a year as they slowly dry out. So, you're not likely going to get a pristine finish anyways. I'd build the fence, then paint later. If you have the money, I'd swap out the treated posts for cedar.


How long should I run my pool filter per day? I'm trying to determine how long I actually have to run my pool filter per day, but my maths are not adding up. Most places on the internet (that I've come across), recommend 8-12 hours per day.  The maths I've done, says ~4 hours per day.  Why is there such a large discrepancy?
I've calculated that the pool capacity is somewhere around 11,227 gallons.
Volume = pi*r*r*h
V = pi * 126" * 126" * 52"
V = pi * 15876 * 52"
V = pi * 825552
V = 2593548.0983563609875993121703532 cu.in.
1 cu.in = 0.004329 US gal.
Gallons = 2593548.0983563609875993121703532 * 0.004329
gal. = 11,227.469717784686715317422385459
The documentation that came with the filter lists a Design Flow Rate of 100 gallons per minute (GPM), and an 8 hour turnover of 48,000 gallons.

Hayward XStream® Filtration

Based on all this, it seems that if I run the filter for 8 hours, I'll have turned the water over more than 4 times.  Is this really the case?  Could I run the filter for only 4 hours a day, and still meet the  recommended 2 turns per day?
Using 100 GPM rate, and the capacity of the pool. I've calculated a running time of just under 4 hours.
11,227.5 gallons x 2 turns = 22,455 gallons per day
22,455 gallons / 100 GPM = 224.55 minutes
224.55 minutes / 60 minutes = 3.7425 hours
I'll have to check to be sure, but I think the pump I have is the Hayward Power-Flo® LX (SP1580X15).
The gauge on the filter reads ~14 PSI, so...
Head (feet) = PSI * 2.31
Head = 14 * 2.31
Head = 32.34
Based on this chart, I should actually be somewhere around 80 GPM.

80 GPM
22,455 gallons / 80 GPM = 280.6875 minutes
280.6875 minutes / 60 minutes = 4.678125 hours
70 GPM
22,455 gallons / 70 GPM = 320.78571428571428571428571428571 minutes
320.78571428571428571428571428571 / 60 minutes = 5.346 hours
60 GPM
22,455 gallons / 60 GPM = 374.25
374.25 / 60 minutes = 6.2375 hours

Bonus:
Is it better to do the 2 turns at once (run 8 hours straight), or split it up (run twice for 4 hours each time)?

This is more of a comment but too long...

I was a pool boy through college.  I have also owned 3 pools.  What you are doing has too many variables.  You have temperature, environment, chlorine levels, quality of original water, amount of swimmers, pump size, plumbing size, pool depth, almost anything around the pool is a variable.

So as a kid I would clean pools, add chemicals and often people had me set up their timers.  But I was a dumb kid and was told 12 hours minimum and 16 hours for bigger pools.  Usually in 2 shifts a day and we tried to set up timer to hours they were not swimming.

Some customers though set up their own timers and the times were literally all over the place.  I have seen oversized pumps on for 2 x 2 hour shifts and the pool never had an issue (pool was in the middle of a yard not close to house, trees, and wasn't swam in a ton).  I have seen algae grow in a pool that was being pumped 12 hours a day.

I would think that for your size pool and pump your baseline is 2 x 4 hours.  I would consider 3 x 2.5 hours too.  From there you can work your way down or up as needed.  The big thing is if you are playing with the filter times then you need to keep an eye on the pool.  You have to figure that each hour a day might be $8-15 a month in electric costs.  But at the same time will you have to spend a ton of money on chemicals to fight an algae problem and all the time that goes with that.


How do you calculate the right size furnace to maximize efficiency? Given that sizing of the equipment is the most important issue to get right to maximize efficiency, what are the factors an installer should take into account to determine the correct size? Is it possible for me to calculate it?

For example, this homeguide describes two formula for sizing a furnace -- one based on square footage (understood to be too crude) and one based on heating degree-days:

50 x heating therms x furnace efficiency = load in BTUs/hour

Oddly, this formula suggests the required BTUs/hour increases as furnace
efficiency (AFUE) increases. Surely that can't be right, since the furnace size
should not need to increase as the furnace gets more efficient.

So if these formula are not correct, what is a good method of calculation?

Correction: In the formula, as furnace efficiency increases, actual heating
therms used would decrease. So I'm wrong; the formula does, at least, pass the
smell test.

With a Manual J heat loss calculation. The number depends on your house's size, insulation, and air sealing, among other things. So you (or the installer) need to know those things first. You can do a rough, ballpark calculation yourself at http://loadcalc.net/ (no affiliation). It won't be 100% accurate, but it's a heck of a lot better than using antiquated rules of thumb. Dismiss anyone who tries to use rules of thumb or blindly recommends replacing equipment with something of identical size. They don't know that they don't know what they're doing.


How can I fix/modify my tub/shower combo so the water comes out of the showerhead? My house has a guest bathroom that has a shower/tub combo, but I realized there seems to be no way to get the water to come out of the showerhead instead of the faucet. There is a volume and temperature control which is identical to the one in the stand-up shower, but nothing on the faucet to pull up to control where the water comes out. There's nothing on the showerhead either. All I can figure is the previous owner swapped out some hardware when they left, but I have no idea what. Is there some easy fix to this? Am I a moron and missing something obvious?

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

If I'm not mistaken, you can pull down with some force on the bottom of the spout.

If you turn the water on and do that, the water will come out of the shower head until you turn the water off (or until the pressure is low enough).


How shallow can a basement be for an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) I'm looking to build an ADU with a habitable basement and keep it classified as single story. Single story maximum height is 18' where I live (San Jose, CA). Additionally, basements must have an emergency exit in every room, which can be an emergency exit window, provided that the sill height of the window doesn't exceed 44" above finished floor and the window meets certain height and width and area requirements.

If the finished basement floor is 36" (3') below grade, and the sill height of the emergency windows are 44" above the finished basement floor (to meet emergency exit requirements), they will end up 8" above grade. With an 8' ceiling in the basement, this means the 1st floor finished height above grade will be 5' plus the thickness of the floor/ceiling separating the basement from the first floor. Depending on construction technique, I could imaging this being as little as 5" (post tension concrete slab) to as much as 14.125" (2"x12" floor joists, 5/8" rock below, 3/4" plywood above, 3/4" flooring above plywood). This would put the finished first floor level anywhere from 5' 5" to 6' 2.125" above grade. With a 8' ceiling and a flat roof, I think I can stay below the 18' overall height requirement, but I'm not sure about whether this finished first floor level height is too high or not. Obviously it would necessitate an entrance with some sort of exterior landing and stairs, but that seems solvable (a portion of my current home has a floor at 40" above grade with a landing and set of stairs), if a bit higher than your typical ground level with crawl space home.

So, how high is too high for the finished first floor level? Said another way, if you took a 2 story ADU structure with the first floor slightly above grade, how far do you have to transition it below grade before the first floor now is called a basement and the entire structure can be considered a "single story"?

Per the International Building Code (IBC):

"The portion of a building having its floor subgrade (below ground level) on all sides. This definition of “Basement” is limited in application to the provisions of Section 1612."

"BASEMENT. A story that is not a story above grade plane (see “Story above grade plane”).
This definition of “Basement” does not apply to the provisions of Section 1612 for flood loads."

The definition is in the code that is used by your jurisdiction, which is almost surely the IBC. However, your city, county or state may have revised it to their desire as well. You need to determine the code that applies to your area to verify.

It would seem that a basement is any level whose floor that is not entirely at or above grade, and is not related at all to the wall heights


Hot water doesn't come out of faucet right away and makes banging noise when it does This happens on every faucet in the house. Sometimes, when you first turn on the hot water, it comes out (just the pressure in the line) and then it runs slow and stops.  Then, a banging noise happens and the water starts.  At other times, there is a banging noise at the time the hot water faucet is turned on.  More recently, there is a slight banging noise in the pipes after flushing the toilet (which is cold water).  I have tried reducing the water temp on the hot water heater.  I considered buying a water pressure gauge to see what our household water pressure is.  Is this a problem with the entire water system or perhaps the hot water tank pressure regulator?

Likely problems

Over-pressure from the street.  Solution is installing a pressure reducer just after the main shutoff.
Missing or leaking "water hammer arrestor", which is a vertical pipe with air in it or a tank with an air bladder, meant to soften sharp pressure changes.

Water temperature is not a likely candidate except at the extremes.  If you have a local tool library, or perhaps home store, they may loan out pressure gauges.


How do I interpret a central air conditioner label? The label on my central air conditioner looks a lot like this one (photo below). What do the two numbers (separated by a slash) mean for voltage and the three amperage ratings?

The text Volts 208/230 Phase 1 means the device will run on either 208 volts or 230 volts (which is nominally 240 volts).

In the amps section, the separated numbers (which are the same) are the corresponding value for operation on 208 or 230 volts, respectively.


Proper way to lay gravel around garage I have a garage that has had quite a weed problem around the side and back of it. I decided to go for it and lay some gravel down, following this "This Old House" how to:
Seems pretty straightforward for the most part, I'm going to dig down a depth of 4 inches and lay down weed membrane, pack down stone, and follow the other steps in the article.
My question is, are there any special considerations I need to take when digging and laying the gravel right up against my garage? I'm attaching some pictures for reference:

This side and the back of the garage in particular are what I'm wondering about, you can see the belly board (which I have another post about here: Garage belly board needs fixing) and how you can dig right underneath it from this image:

I get the impression that I should just dig straight down into the earth 4 inches right next to the belly board, and not dig under it to lay the gravel? I'm not sure what the considerations are for drainage and erosion, or the integrity of the cement foundation under the garage   or if I'm overthinking things and it's not that complicated.
Also attaching some images of the back of the garage as well, where I also plan to dig and put gravel in. There are some strange boards that the previous owner nailed onto the back of the garage... not sure why, but I do plan to eventually remove them and fix whatever is underneath.

Thanks for the help and advice!

The only suggestion I have is if you decide to use aluminum flashing to protect the belly boards, extend the flashing down to the depth of your path and utilize it as the edging shown in the video you're basing your project on.


How to determine whether my electric wall fan heater is 120 or 240 volts? Would like to replace wall heaters in the house, but it looks like the previous owner forgot to cover them when painting and now I can't determine the models to look up whether they are 120 or 240 volts.

Does the fact that there are two breakers for each heather in the box mean that all of them are 240V?

Also, if I don't know the model, how do I determine which wattage to replace with?

This is in the US, of course.

Below is all I have to identify the models. But I couldn't find anything definitive other than Dimplex WH 6100770000 manual, which says that there are both voltage and multiple wattage models within the series.

Easy.

Connect it 120V. Either you'll get normal heat, or it will be very weak tea.

240V resistance heaters supplied half voltage will work fine, but will produce 1/4 the heat.   This can be used strategically, for instance I have a vehicle block heater sized for using 240V/22A but it will work fine on 120V/11A as well.  That's what we'll do.

Get a #14, 3-prong line cord.  That is 120V (common NEMA 5-15). An easy way to make a line cord is get an extension cord and lop the socket off.

Disconnect the supply wires in the heater's junction box and hook the heater's two supply wires to line cord hot and neutral, and ground to the heater chassis.

Plug it into a Kill-a-Watt meter then into the wall.  Use a #12 extension cord if needed.

The Kill-a-Watt will read watts, which should be no more than 1500. 1500 is midsize for a single heater, like the plug-in heater-fans or oil/"radiator" heaters.  A Cadet 6' long baseboard heater is 1500W.  If the Kill-a-Watt's number makes no sense, and seems like it's 1/4 of what it oughta be, then you probably have a 240V heater.

Then run the heater for at least an hour, and see if it's putting out reasonable heat for a heater its size, or if it's really weak.

Finally listen to the fan, and see whether it seems to be running healthy, or is really anemic.  The fan motor may also have a nameplate you can check.


How can I stop my lights dimming when my Air Conditioning turns on? I have no noticeable problems with my house's electricity, but when my Air Conditioner kicks in (and here in Central Texas, it kicks in year round) my lights dim for a second or so and then run normally. It doesn't seem to have any bad effects, except that it's annoying and makes me worry that something might be wearing out from the load. How can I change things so that my lights stay even when the A/C turns on?

First I would check the electrical connections to the compressor and the breaker in the panel, see that they are tight and not corroded. Next I would measure the starting current of the compressor with a clamp on ammeter. I had a problem like this on a friends AC, only his problem was tripping the breaker at times. His compressor is about 10 years old, and is harder to start now. When I measured the starting current it measured 175 Amps! Which on this compressor is the locked rotor current! We replaced the starting capacitor and added a "Hard start kit". Now the starting current is a respectable 50 Amps.

Some tech info:
The induction type motors used in these compressors have an extra motor winding. This is called a "start" winding and is used with the "start capacitor" it is there only to get the motor to initially turn and a mechanical switch disengages it at a low speed. What happens over time is that the motor load is increased due to wear, and the start capacitance becomes weaker. So why not just build a compressor with a large start up capacitance to begin with? Some higher end units do just that, but most don't to save $$$. Contrary to popular belief, the start capacitor size does not "Give a bigger jolt" to the motor, but delays the 60 cycle feed to the second winding fooling the motor to think it is driven by a poly phase feed. The larger the capacitor value, the bigger the delay - hence the lower the starting current. Without a start winding, the motor will sit there humming until it trips the breaker. Three phase motors (poly phase) do not have start windings because they have three windings.


Garage door opener won't open/close or start light when called for I have about a 12-13 year old Overhead Door opener. I was a dummy and left it open over night in the Arctic cold and snow we've been having. Now the contact closure for the motor won't engage the motor.

Pressing the light switch on our wall panel toggles the contact closure for the light. The light works fine.
The sensor beams seem to be fine. One is green and one is red and flashes when I break the beam.
Pressing the motor switch on the wall or on the remotes does not engage the contact closure for the motor or the light. The wall switch does flash as its opening the LED's circuit.

Would there be a fuse or something worse wrong? Would it be time to replace the opener entirely?

Looks like power cycling the opener was the fix.

Glad to have helped.


Goodman furnance Air pressure switch - faulty? I have at least a 10 year old Goodman gas Furnance.  The past couple of days the burner and blower did not come on.  I do not see any indicator lights come on.  The inducer comes on, but nothing else. I took the air pressure switch out and blew air into it and the air hose. I reinstalled the switch and everything worked fine.  I've done this twice in two or three days.

My question is - does this seem like a faulty air pressure switch or is it an indication of a bigger problem?  I can easily buy and swap out the switch which would tell me the answer, but before spending $25 on the switch - I thought I'd ask here.

Thanks

It sounds like the switch is sticking, which is a sign that it's time to swap it out.

Before you do, though, make sure the exhaust and condensate drain aren't blocked/restricted.

$25 is a fairly cheap test, unless you have a gauge on hand to check the pressure.


Whats size concrete aggregate Not sure on what size stone/gravel i should use, 10 mm or 20 mm in my cement mix
1 cement + 2 sharp sand + 3 gravel (10mm or 20mm) ?

I need to fill 4 gully's in an internal concrete floor, each about 4m length x 0.08m width x 0.18m depth

Thanks

For such a narrow channel, I'd use 10mm aggregate.

You could even go to 4 parts gravel in the mix - a typical "go to" mix ratio for concrete is 1:2:4


Painting basement wall with obstruction I am currently in the process of painting a section of my basement. it has bare cinder block walls, and I am painting with latex DRYLOK

For the most part, this is fairly simple, if tedious. However, the paint is very thick, almost like painting with glue. This makes it difficult to do any type of detail work, including painting behind obstructions. Thankfully there are not any obstructions in this section of basement, with one exception: the water meter.

I am using a masonry roller with about a 1 1/8" NAP, and a masonry brush that is also very thick. Neither fits behind there.

I do not own a paint sprayer, nor am I interested in the financial investment and headaches associated with trying to get such thick paint to work in a sprayer for a tiny part of the wall. I am also unwilling to remove the meter temporarily to paint behind it. Both of those options fall outside of the amount of frustration that I am willing to deal with to paint a small section of wall that I am willing to leave as-is if there are no easier options.

What options do I have, if any, for applying DRYLOK behind an obstruction such as this water meter?

Take a brush or putty knife or trowel or slab of cardboard or whatever you have on hand and slather the material in there. Get it thoroughly covered so that your primary objective--sealing the wall--is accomplished.

Then wrap a large rag around your hand and dab off the extra. Really you're just trying to prevent runs and create a texture that comes close to the rest of it. There's no science involved at all.


Sistering a damaged joist with 2 smaller pieces of wood I am trying to repair some water damage below an ensuite shower on the upper floor of a house. The room is only 120cm wide and the wet rot damage is isolated to the joist directly below. The damage to the wood at the end of the plank which is resting on a concrete wall below. The joists are 225mm high and as of right now are not showing signs that they will collapse.

I have removed all of the loose wood shards and I have treated the damaged areas with a wood hardener. The joists live in the floor cavity which is the same height as the joists. Because the bathroom is only 120cm, there is no way I can get a 3 meter long beam under the shower without ripping up a huge portion of the floor in the room next to the bathroom and dropping the new joist down to sister it to the damaged joist. It is possible for me to get a 75mm plank under the floor without having to damage any walls or floors. Here is my proposed solution using 75mmx35mm planks that are sistered to the damaged joist. Would this be enough to reinforce the damaged joist?

You've asked whether it's possible to get the repair joists in place. We can't really know that. The plan is reasonable, though. The key is to make the sistered joists long enough (or long as possible with adequate fastening). The shorter they are the more torque (shear) is applied to your fasteners and the wood fibers. Ideally you have a 4:1 lap-to-span ratio or better.

The block in the center isn't really necessary. It won't do anything of value. Install the other two and secure them to the original joist with construction (not black drywall) screws, or through-bolts, and heavy-duty construction adhesive.

Since it's just one joist that needs repair, it's not critical that you meet sky-high standards for load bearing. If you approximate the strength of the original joist the repair will be adequate. Good luck.


Do you really need a p-trap on bathroom sinks? If I do away with the trap what is it going to hurt?  Will something bad happen?

A friend had a problem with clogs. He took his out and has had no more problems. Can you tell me why that is?

The “P” trap (named after its shape, has nothing to do with urine) is there to prevent sewer gases from entering your home.  It stays filled with water to form a barier.

You need it.  Sewer gases are not good for you.  In the right concentration they can even be explosive.  Plus they smell really, really bad.

Everything that connects to the sewer needs such a barrier.  Some things like toilets have the barrier built in.  Sinks do not, so they need it in the pipe.

Your friend will eventually get a clog further down the pipe.  This time he won't have a convenient and easy to take apart P trap for whatever crap he washes down the sink to get lodged in, so he will end up having to spend a lot more effort to remove the clog.  Cleaning out the P trap (or just replacing it, if it was too gross to be worth saving a couple bucks) would have solved the clog problem just fine.


HVAC outdoor unit dead Woke up this morning to this message from the thermostat:

I can click that message away and it then it appears to call for cool. The air handler turns on but no cooling.
The outdoor unit shows no signs of life. Not like compressor struggling to turn on, but nothing. Not even a click of some kind.
The breaker is on, the voltage at the disconnect is correct. Upon taking the panel off (which is as far as I can comfortably go), I saw this (see white bubble):

Can anything be deduced from that?

It may just have been a loose connection.
With the disconnect off loosen the lug and remove & inspect the wire.
If the lug and wire are not burned off you can clean them up and torque the lug(you have enough wire to trim and strip a new piece if needed).
I see this quite often many times at the disconnect. Checking the lugs at the disconnect (on the load side) if they are loose it would be a good idea to kill the feed to the disconnect and torque them, once everything is snug turn the disconnect and feeder breaker back on.
If everything fires up the loose connections were the cause, if it won’t start it may have blown a fuse but I don’t normally find blown fuses with loose connections.
I have seen much worse that when properly cleaned up and tightened have worked fine, I would suggest giving it a try, if it starts know you just saved a c note at least. If it won’t start after that then looking at the starting cap and contactor would be the next steps also a diy project you may want to do.


Ring Doorbell w/ Digital Chime I purchased a ring doorbell 2 for my sister for Christmas. I am pretty tech savvy and offered to install it for her last night. I went through the instructions several times but I was not able to get it working correctly.

She has a digital chime that is about a 5 second sound of the "Big Ben" clock. Due to this, I followed the instructions of using the included diode. No matter which combination of the two wires and the orientation of the diode, as soon as the power was turned on at the breaker, the chime inside the house would continuously go off. It didn't seem to make it through the full chime before it kept looping and starting over which made me think it was a power issue.

I tried both with and without the diode as I am certain it is not a mechanical doorbell and was not successful.

The wiring used in her home for the doorbell is a cat5/6 cable and only two of the wires are hooked up to the doorbell, the others are cut back to the edge of the casing.

I asked her to take a look in the garage for the transformer to send me some pictures but she claims she couldn't find it (would a digital chime use one?).

Anyway, I am lost on what direction to go with this now. She likes the existing indoor chime and I don't want to have to buy one of the Ring door chimes to fix this issue.

Questions:

Could the doorbell not be getting enough power as it is only going
over a low voltage cat5/6 cable?
If the power is the problem, can the transformer be upgraded and if so, how does that impact the existing chime? Wouldn't that then receive too much power?
Anything else I can look at to try and resolve this?

Turns out that the specific chime, down the the model, was not supported by Ring. It was one that included a transformer and the chime itself. I had to remove that and put in my own transformer and mechanical chime to get it all working. As soon as I did this, everything worked as expected.


"Old Work" electrical box: should it be screwed into the stud? I'm interested in replacing an existing outlet (in a wall that's finished with drywall) with a two-gang duplex (four outlets total), using an "old work" box.  This box is located in the garage, so I'd like it to be sturdy.
Is it considered good practice to screw the box sideways into the stud?

It appears from another forum that this might violate electrical codes.
In the US, where I am:

NEC 314.23.  Supports.
(B) Structural Mounting.
(1) Nails and Screws. Nails and screws, where used as a
fastening means, shall be attached by using brackets on the
outside of the enclosure, or they shall pass through the
interior within 6 mm (1/4 in.) of the back or ends of the
enclosure. Screws shall not be permitted to pass through the
box unless exposed threads in the box are protected using
approved means to avoid abrasion of conductor insulation.

If so, is there a better way to support old work boxes than just relying on the drywall tabs?

Junction boxes are not to have additional holes drilled into them for securing them to studs. The box you have shown can be used and mounted fairly secure if you take the time to cut the opening as small as possible so the box tabs have more drywall to support it.
A better solution is to get a box similar to the one below with side screws already included to be mounted to the stud. This is the same size as the old work box but allows you to screw directly into the stud.

Southwire Smart Box 2-Gang Adjustable Depth Device Box #MSB2G


What kind of screws for attaching an Ikea style coat hook of an internal door? I have this Ikea coat hook, that I'd like to mount to a door. But I would like it to be rather sturdy to handle some bigger winter coats.

What kind of screws are recommended for (what I think is a typical) internal door?

If your door is hollow (easiest way to find out is to knock on it) then you will need to use toggle bolts.

The downside to these is that you need to make a relatively large hole to get the bolt through.  You might be able to get away with smaller or different anchors, but you specifically mentioned that you wanted to hang heavy objects, and these are best for heavy loads.  Make sure that the screw is not too long otherwise you'll never get it tight enough as it will hit the other side of the door.

If the door is solid then you can just attach it with wood screws (#6 or #8, 1/2 or 3/4" will do the trick).  You should pre-drill a small hole prior to prevent any splitting/cracking in the wood.

In both cases you will end up with holes in your door which is often undesirable.  They also make hooks specifically for doors that hang from the top of the door instead of requiring anchoring into the door itself.

The other thing I'd mention is that inside doors aren't usually designed to hold loads like this. You might find that overtime the door will shift.  You can probably mitigate this by driving 3" screws through the hinges on the wall side so that they are held up by the stud and not just the door frame.


Do AFCI/GFCI receptacles protect downstream circuits without equipment bonding conductor? I am renovating part of my house, and taking the time to update some old wiring that is now exposed.  The old wiring is primarily #14/2c WITH NO BARE BONDING CONDUCTOR.  This means that no device boxes are bonded to earth ground, and neither are the receptacles on those circuits.

I have run a new feed from a circuit breaker to a device box which now contains a UL/CSA approved Leviton AFCI/GFCI receptacle.  This box is now bonded to earth ground.  From this first device on the circuit, I ran a new cable, 14/2 with bare bonding conductor, to another device box for light switches (now bonded), with feed through to another device box with switches and junctions to old wiring.  This last box has older wiring that feeds lights and receptacles that have no equipment bonding conductor.  Are these last devices protected by the upstream AFCI/GFCI device (the ones with no equipment bonding)??  My understanding of this AFCI/GFCI device is that it detects differential current between the hot and neutral.  If there is no equipment bonding to earth, and if a fault exits, where does that current go, and how would the AFCI/GFCI device function?

Yes, GFCI decices don't require a ground to function, they don't even use ground.

If current is following a third path, causing a trip, then who knows what the third path is?  We just know it shouldn't be there.  The assumption is that an unwitting human is the third path.  Maybe they're touching the equipment while leaning on a water pipe.

AFCI  is a totally different thing than GFCI.  GFCI protects humans from shock, AFCI protects the building from fires due to arcing wires in the walls. It does that by listening for the "hooking up your speakers with the power on" sound.  AFCI works best in the panel; it defeats the purpose to put it past the wires it's there to protect.