Extending internet signal to all outlets My house is wired with two Cat5e cables: one terminated downstairs, one upstairs. Currently, only the downstairs outlet is receiving signal, with the modem being hooked up to it. I'd like to move the modem before the two cables, so I can have ethernet upstairs too without having to run a new cable. Seems pretty straight forward, but don't want to operate on assumptions and break something.
My internet point of entry is the outdoor device pictured below. The cable coming out of the board is going to a junction box right below where it's spliced directly into the downstairs Cat cable. The upstairs cable is also in this junction box, unterminated.
Am I correct to assume that I can can simply run a cable from the pictured device straight into the modem, then have the two house wires connected to the modem, or am I missing something?
Thanks in advance

What you are showing in the photo is the internet provider's "modem".  In this case it appears to be a FTTH termination with 6 "Ethernet" outputs.
There also appears to be a single, poorly done, connection to one of these Ethernet ports that is going somewhere, presumably to the working downstairs location.
The photo doesn't appear to show any additional Ethernet wires that might be used to distribute Ethernet signals to other parts of the home.
While you might be able to do it yourself, what is needed is a new Ethernet wire from another of the "LAN" ports to the new location you want to have a connection to.  The simplest way would be to purchase a ready-made Ethernet cable of the suitable length and "fish" it through the walls in order to route it to the new location.
If that's beyond your capabilities, it might be wise to have a professional installer do this for you.  While they are at it, the existing wire should be checked and possibly replaced.


Powerboard overload switch melted We came home last night to find one of our powerboards (outlet strips) had melted/caught fire. Pretty scary!

Now I'm not 100% sure on what happened but I believe that there was an oil column heater (2000w or 2400w, we're in Australia so max 240V/10A on a circuit) plugged in to the powerboard. The heater had been on all day and then turned off when people went out. We came home a few hours later to find the powerboard looking like that. None of the house circuit breakers had tripped.

I wanted to find out what happened so I opened up a similar powerboard and found that it was obviously the black box in this photo that was the issue:

I guess I'm wondering what happened? I was wondering if one of the live wires came loose from the overload switch (black box) and touched the other, causing a short circuit; this should have tripped the house circuit breakers shouldn't it? Could the overload switch have just failed on it's own? Would having the heater running all day have had an effect? The heater running at full power will draw the max allowed from the circuit but there should be no problem running it.

You should never, EVER put a space heater (or other high-draw appliance) on a plug strip!!

Even thought they are rated for a certain amperage or wattage, most are cheaply made and cannot handle the load of a single high-draw appliance. It's not that they will definitely fail, but unfortunately your experience is not at all uncommon.

What happened to yours was likely not a short circuit. That would almost certainly trip a breaker or fuse. It was probably a poor connection inside the plug strip. A poor (high resistance) connection under high load will create a tremendous amount of heat, but will not draw any more current. So a fuse or standard circuit breaker will not see this as a problem. The same thing can happen with a loose plug/receptacle combo. It's all about Ohm's Law.


My whirlpool Cabreo dryer isn’t drying put in heating element still not drying what can it be My whirlpool cabreo dryer isn’t heating up changed the heating element but still no heat what can it be

The leading cause of a dryer not heating is a thermal safety on the power to the heating element.
These are usually attached to the heater or duct and usually easy to get to a plugged or limited air flow is the reason they usually open.


Exterior Extension Cords I just moved and from electrical outlet to the road it is roughly 180 feet.  In order to clear my driveway with an electric blower I plug in 2 100 ft exterior extension cords.  Is it safe for me to do this consistently (meaning 2 - 3 times a week)?

Is there a better option that I could do in order to be able to span that distance?

EDIT
These are the extension cords Extension Cords

This is the blower I use Blower

And the outlet is a GFCI outlet

If your outlet is GFCI protected this is the first part of doing it safe, with 180' of extension cord you will need to use heavy duty cords some cords use 16 awg wire and at this length with a small or light cord there can be excessive voltage drop causing the blower to over heat and possibly trip the breaker. With a heavy gauge cord like 12awg it would be fine and possibly ok with a 14 awg cord but the size of the blower would be needed to know. With a GFCI and heavy cord it will be safe.


How to drill a 3/4" or larger hole in a steel bracket? I purchased a wheel set and the bracket has a hole drilled in the wrong place.  I need to make the hole larger.

Will a titanium bit (like the link below) drill thru a 1/8" or 3/16" steel bracket? If not, what do you sugggest to make the hole larger?

Drill bit: http://www.amazon.com/Neiko%C2%AE-10194A-Shank-Titanium-Increments/dp/B000FZ2UOY/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453485308&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TITANIUM+STEEL+METAL+UNIT+1%2F4%22-1-3%2F8%22

Bracket:

If you're referring to the hole at top center in your photo, you'd have a hard time drilling a new hole halfway overlapping an old hole. A better approach would be a rotary grinding tool. Any abrasive grinding bit will allow you to enlarge the hole enough to get the bolt through.

Be aware that this will tend to heat the part being worked. A damp rag on the part near the hole will absorb heat and prevent paint damage.

Alternatively, clamp a scrap bar over the original bar and drill through both. The scrap bar will act as a drill guide. You can use any high-speed steel bits available. There's no need for titanium or other exotic stuff.


Smooth a badly damaged wall My goal:

Get a wall smooth enough for wallpaper without replacing the wall

My situation

I have a wall that's been patched about 100 times in the last 50 years or so. I can't say why (I live in NYC), there's zero record on what the wall has gone through, but given that it's a top floor apartment, I'll go ahead and say past roof problems caused most of the damage, the rest would've been the work of previous tenants. The wall is made up of what looks and feels like a sandy plaster/mortar mix or old cement board (Can't confirm lathing but some areas might have a steel diamond mesh lathe) under drywall.

My idea:

The only way I can think of fixing this without completely redoing the wall (trying to avoid garnering any/much attention from the landlord or going through the next 3 months with management just for approval) is to chisel the really bad parts off either with a normal chisel tool, or use a saw blade or spiral drill bit if it takes too long (Whichever turns out works best), then follow the same process used to set veneer stone outdoors, just drywall instead of stone...

Ex:
https://youtu.be/YPfjBmjnJSE?t=234

Anyone ever gone through a situation like this? maybe you know a particular type of mortar best for this operation (if you have any suggestions other than "regular").

I've had to do some unusual restoration work in the past, but this is a first for me.

Drywall. Thin (1/4 inch is available) drywall. It can be screwed to the subsurface or glued if there is not easy access to wood or steel framing. Tape the seams and the edges, a few coates of joint compound, and it is smooth sailing.

If the subsurface is not level enough, a few shims, also glued to the wall should let you get a fairly flat surface.

This is not structural, just a solid surface for paint or wallpaper.


Accessory for connecting a manual scissor jack to a drill to lift it faster I have a scissor jack and I was wondering if rather spinning it manually, if it is possible engaging it to my drill.

I'm pretty sure that there is an accessory like a hook for drills, or something similar, however I'm struggling to find it.

If there is no such accessory, maybe there is a combination of pieces which might sort my problem.

I would use a clevis pin like the image, with a bit of hex shaft welded into it for the chuck to grip.

Remove the safety clip and withdraw the clevis pin to allow the jack eye-hole to pass into the jaw, then push the pin through and secure with the safety clip. A spacer to reduce the play between the clevis pin diameter and the jack eye-hole diameter will reduce excessive play and wear.

I would make a shaft to go into the drill chuck from some hexagonal shaft - commonly available and likely stronger than grinding flats on some cheap jack handle...


Garbage disposal replacement: how much to replace? I'm replacing an Insinkerator Badger 1 garbage disposal with the same model.  The original leaks.  One leak is internal, and water comes out holes in the bottom cover only when it is actually operating,  But there is also some dripping higher up on the outside of the body.  It's in the vicinity of the outlet pipe connection, but I can't be sure if it's coming from that connection or higher up.  The sink flange seems to be water tight.

The new unit was advertised as "quick change", which I assume means you can just lock it onto the old sink flange and mounting ring.  However, the original unit was in place for about 12 years, so there's a good chance the original plumber's putty is brittle.  I'm not sure if the torque and banging around of removing the old unit and locking on the new one will disturb things and create leaks at the sink.

There is also a dishwasher connection.  There's a corrugated plastic tube that goes into a rubber sleeve that is secured with a compression clamp to a barbed inlet tube on the disposal.  That rubber sleeve is also 12 yrs old.  I have no idea of the extent that those deform over time or become brittle (how reliably they can be reused).

The instructions don't discuss quick replacement, they just show how to install everything from scratch.  It isn't clear whether that's meant to imply that everything should be replaced, or that common sense would tell someone to just skip ahead to the part where you lock on the new unit.  It's also silent about reusing the dishwasher connection, it just show how to connect one.

So my question is for people who have replaced a lot of garbage disposals.

Is the sink flange designed to last "forever" once installed, and normal practice is to just leave it in place and attach to it, or is that unreliable, and best practice is to always just replace it?
Is normal practice to just reattach the old dishwasher connection, or is that unreliable and the sleeve should be replaced?

I wouldn't rely on the old flange. While the flange itself might be fine, there's plumber's putty between it and the sink. That stuff doesn't last forever, and if you knock it loose replacing the disposal, you'll wind up pulling it off and adding it anyways. The good thing is it's not crazy hard to get off or put the new one on.
The dishwasher compression fitting depends a great deal on what they used and what condition it's in. I was able to keep the same one (rubber) when I replaced mine a few years back, but be sure to inspect it for cracks and leaks. It can't hurt to replace it either.


One specific light fixture seems to be killing my LED bulbs I have all LED bulbs in my house, the nice CREE models that look like this. They've all been great, except for the ones I put in my bathroom's four-bulb fixture. One by one, all the bulbs in this fixture--and only this fixture--have been dying. They were purchased at different times so it's probably not a package of lemons that's to blame. What happens is that while the lights are on, every once in a while there is a very brief intermittent flicker. The flicker gradually gets longer until a bulb dies and its LEDs will only produce very, very dim light, even when put in another fixture whose bulb works fine.

I suspect that something it wrong with the fixture itself or its wiring. What could it be?

Here is a picture of the fixture. Only one bulb remains, and I suspect that it will burn out soon, too.

And here's a photo of the base of the dead bulbs:

Are there any signs of burning on the base of the bulb when you take them out? I wonder if the bulbs are not seating fully in the fixture (due to the shape of the bulbs and glass shades) and you are getting some arcing in the socket that eventually ruins the contacts.

Another thing to look at is to verify that your bulbs are approved for damp locations. It looks like most of the current Cree bulbs are but you seem to have an older model (?). If there is a shower in this room perhaps the moisture is working its way into the bulbs over time.

My final thought is to look at is the voltage at the sockets, if you have a multimeter. Is it considerably higher than the rest of the house? Anything over 125V is probably excessive. Or do these lights share a circuit with a refrigerator or something that might cause a voltage spike when the compressor turns off?


Why isn't my dishwasher cleaning as well as it used to? My dishwasher no longer cleans dishes as well as it did 5 years ago. Some info:

It is 10 years old, a low-end Frigidaire
we have hard water here (and no water softener)
I have cleaned the food trap at the bottom which helped

Any suggestions?

Some detergents will build up over time, gumming up the works. Try changing to a different kind.

Try vinegar. Pour some in to the dishwasher and run a "rinse and hold" cycle. It can clean out scaling from hard water, and detergent goops.

Check that the basin is filling up properly. I read that it's supposed to be just below the heating coil.

Check the water temperature. Let the machine run to fill the basin, then measure. If your hot water pipes are not insulated, insulate them. You can run the kitchen faucet for a minute to bring hot water closer, but it doesn't help much. Consider turning up the water temperature at the water heater. I did this and my dishes came out much cleaner.


How to connect a DIY thermostat to the HVAC System I am building a DIY thermostat similar to this blog. I want to connect it to the HVAC system of my home. How do I do that?

I found this post which is very informative but doesn't completely answer my question.

Since you haven't supplied much detail, I'll have to use nonspecific examples based on typical installation methods.
Furnace and Condensing unit
If you have a setup where you have a furnace, and an outdoor condensing unit. The wiring will be similar to this (Note: This is a basic overview, not actual wiring).

Basically, the R wire provides power to the thermostat. W, Y and G are energized depending on the state of the thermostat. For example. If the thermostat is set to the COOL mode, and the temperature in the room is above the set point. The Y and G terminals of the thermostat will be energized. This tells the furnace to turn on the blower at high speed, and  the condensing unit to turn on. Alternatively, if the thermostat is set to the HEAT mode, and the temperature in the room is below the set point. The W terminal will be energized, which tells the furnace to turn on.
Heat Pump
If you have a heat pump, the wiring will be similar to this.

Here the R wire again provides power to the thermostat. This type of setup uses either an O, B, or O/B terminals to change the state of the reversing valve in the heat pump. In this type of setup, the thermostat works similar to the example above, though it also has to manage an extra terminal.
Some thermostats offer both an O and a B terminal.

When the thermostat is in COOL mode and calls for cool, the O terminal will be energized. If you have a system where the reversing valve is normally in HEAT mode, you'll use the O terminal to move the reversing valve to COOL mode.  When the thermostat is in HEAT mode and calls for heat, the B terminal will be energized. If you have a system where the reversing valve is normally in COOL mode, you'll use the B terminal to move the reversing valve to HEAT mode.
Some thermostats offer and O/B terminal, and will have a jumper to select which function it provides.

In this case, you'll set the jumper based on the type of system you have. Then when the thermostat calls for heat or cool, the O/B terminal will be energized appropriately.
For more information on the C terminal, please see this answer.


I want to install a motion sensor for the stairwell Stairwell has a switch at top and bottom with no line of sight between them.  Can I use two motion sensors?  It looks like what I found are single pole and can be used with one 3 way switch but not two motion sensors?

Need some more info:
What are you trying to do? I mean, if you want the 3-ways to control on and off as they do now, and have the motions apply lights regardless of the 3-ways being on or off.
Can you add wiring, or are you intending to try and do this using only existing boxes and wiring?
There are probably several configurations of function possible.
Also, I know the code requires ability to turn lights on from any access/entry point in a stairwell; as far as I know it does not require ability to keep it off...
(so combining 3-way control and motion control is ok AFAIK)
[I do not know this for sure].
What I assume that you want to do, would require at least one additional conductor, and probably 2, possibly 3, depending on existing wire routing, and if 2 or 3 wire motion sensors. (and require 2 motion detectors, standard kind - single pole).
Frankly, I did not understand your sensor that can use one 3-way; a 3-way would not function alone.  I would need details on that to understand what it is, or does.
{there are code implications, depending on what that actually does, or if it has a manual 3-way function incorporated).
Mr K L
OOPS, I'm new here.  I should have posted this as a 'comment', as it is not an 'answer' yet...
I will try to move it.
-- Huh, I can't move it until I have '50' reputation; but it lets me post incomplete 'answers'; oh well...


What's a suitable sealant for the garden slabs in the picture? What is the best type of sealant I should get to fill the cracks between the slabs in the picture below?

I think these are concrete slabs that I have in my garden, and not sandstone, but I'm not sure.

It appears that there is grout in place now with some caulking where it's cracked out.  I'm going to guess that these bricks are set in a sand base? If so, then you'll never get the blocks stable enough to keep the grout from cracking.

Have you considered just removing the grout and applying some "paver sand" into the gaps?  That's a lot more forgiving than grout and a lot less trouble to maintain.

Otherwise, you'll probably want to go ahead and re-grout this after removing the old and cracked parts.  It will need to be updated regularly but I think the result will be better than just applying caulk or silicone sealer.


Will big box home supply stores cut Zinc-Plated Slotted Angle pieces to size for customers? Will big box home supply stores cut Zinc-Plated Slotted Angle pieces to size for customers?

Things like

The shortest they sell at my local home depot is 5 feet, but from one piece, should they be able to cut it into a few pieces for me just like they would for lumber?

If they can't, how could I? Would a reciprocating saw with a blade for metal do the trick?

They may.

But if not, you can do it with a reciprocating saw using a metal blade (but watch out; some are only rated for copper or brass) or a manual hack saw. The steel in these angles is pretty mild (soft) and is cut with just a little effort.

The most important thing is to firmly brace the metal before trying to cut.  If you have a vise, that is ideal. If not, you can place the metal over a piece of 2x4 so that both legs are sitting against wood. Clamp the steel to the wood. Firmly attach the 2x4 to some rigid item, screwing or nailing it on temporarily if necessary.

Cut slowly. If the metal binds, you can use a little light oil to lubricate the cut. Each cut will only take a minute or two.


Installing light switch that requires neutral wire - wire is continuous through box I have a new switch that requires a neutral.  There is a neutral wire in the box, in the back, but it's continuous -- comes in one side and goes out the other.  Is the proper procedure to cut it, then bundle the two ends along with the neutral going to the switch? And then cap the new bundle of course.

You are in conduit, which changes everything.

Nope, you can't cut it.  You don't have enough length remaining.  Both stubs will be illegally short and you would then have to replace both of them.

However, what you can do is replace just one half of the run, left or right, whichever one is easier to fish/pull.  Continue using the original wire on the other half of the run.

Identify which one is easier to replace by opening up both connecting boxes, and push and pull on the white wire from here.  You will get tactile feeling on which one moves easier.  While you're there, see if there is an abundance of slack in those boxes and you can just move wire around.  The legal absolute bare minimum is 3" of insulated wire sticking out beyond the surface of the  wall at each box.

Then on the "easy end" pull the slack out of the old wire, and lash it to the new wire with electrical tape at least 6-8", as long as you can. Streamline the "nose" so it doesn't hang up on things.  Then, from this box, pull the old wire out, dragging the new wire in.

Shove the old wire down the other pipe back to center, because you probably pulled all the slack out of the other box. That box needs that slack.  Then unsplice old and new wire, position everything and cut all the wires so they are 8" beyond the surface of the wall.

You could also leave the old wire and double back from the next or previous box on that conduit.  I do the "pass thru and double back" trick all the time to reduce practical box crowding, but that won't help you here.

Since you will be making all your joins at a wire nut, you might as well use stranded THHN wire which is more flexible and easier to handle, there's also no stiffness penalty for #12 wire.  Must be white or gray.


Will splitting a duct to extend HVAC to an addition cause problems? I'm building a 15 x 26 addition off of current family room to use as a music room. The family room has 2 vents(registers) where the family room meets the new room, and because of convenience they extended the 2 into the new room.  That's fine cause they were lined up perfect.

The issue is they were told to replace what they stole from one room, and now want to split that duct run from the one register to two. Basically they want go up to feed original duct, then keep going and feed new room.

My concern is the family room will not be getting all the conditioned air that it originally did, and will be too warm in the summer and too cold in the winter because of the reduced flow. they robbed Peter to pay Paul so to speak. Am I crazy for asking for replacement runs with registers to original family room?

Typically Ducts are sized for the space they are conditioning. Splitting a duct will reduce the efficiency of conditioning that space. You will need to know if the HVAC system has enough CFM Flow for the addition to begin with. Ideally it would be best to run a line direct from the main box coming from the HVAC unit. You could also increase the size of the line to the main unit and then branch from the larger line to the addition.

Will it cause a Problem in the HVAC System, not really, especially if it is not zoned. If you have a Zone system then your bypass damper may need some adjusting as the back pressure of that run is now lower.

Scott<-


How can i increase the temperature of my student housing shower? I'm living in a completely new building that was just finished this summer, and have consistently been experiencing water temperature problems. For some reason, the water temperature has never been hot enough since I moved in in August, and it's just been getting worse as the weather gets colder. I set the knob to as high as it will go and it is still not nearly warm enough. I'm not saying that absolutely freezing water is coming out; it's heated water, but it's not hot water. I am not trying to scald my skin off -- I would just like to take a shower and not come out shivering.

I spoke to the accommodation office about it and they said "yeah, we've been hearing that from some people; we'll take a look at the --" (I'm not sure what it was; the hydrostatic valve or something) -- "outside your room and see if that will help". Apparently it was then set to as high as it should go (55˚c/130˚F), but the shower just doesn't get nearly that hot.

I Googled extensively for answers and didn't really find advice for people who didn't have control over their own water heater. A common problem people seem to have is that their water temperature or pressure fluctuates wildly; mine doesn't. The pressure is fine, and the temperature just wavers between wait-this-is-a-bit-hotter-just-a-little-more-would-be-good and just-kidding-I-only-did-that-to-get-your-hopes-up.

Another possibly important thing to note is that my bathroom sink can indeed get scalding, so I'm guessing it isn't a problem with the hot water supply to the flat itself.

I know nothing about showers or plumbing but I want to go to them as informed as possible and suggest things, because it seems a level of incompetence that this cannot be fixed, or that this is a problem in a new building. The office told me that they had gotten "over a dozen" complaints about it, so it's definitely not just me.

What could be causing a shower to not put out hot water when the sink clearly can?

Update: After trying the mixing valve and getting the admin to come try and fix it many times, to no avail, the only thing that would help was running the cold water in the sink at the same time as taking a shower. Which is an unreserved waste of water but there seemed to be no other solution.

If they've already checked everything outside your unit, then the next thing to check is the mixing valve in your shower. Especially since your sink water gets hot enough.


What is the cause for low voltage when the breaker is off? I wanted to find the breaker for directly wired (i.e. no plug + outlet) dishwasher by using a 'non-contact voltage tester' and it showed +ve for three different breakers. Then I hooked up a multimeter (V/AC setting) and tested. The reading for three breakers were 120V, 13.7V and 1.7V.

What could be the cause for the last two? Induction when wires run parallel? Insulation deterioration over time? Neutral is not at 0v? I suspected induction because when the last two breakers both on the voltage drops to 1.3V. However 13.7V seems too high, not that I know anything about what it should be.

The house is 37 years old, but probably it was rewired sometime later.

Your thoughts about induced voltage is correct when wires are run in parallel the field created on the live wires induces voltages on the conductors of the other circuits (this is how transformers work). Non contact meters read the field voltage and most hand held meters are high impedance so they will also show voltages. A low impedance or low Z meter creates enough of a load to eliminate the "phantom voltages" as many people call them. The voltages you are reading are quite low and nothing to be concerned about.


How can I repair water-damaged hardwood countertops? Me and my housemate are complete novices when it comes to home improvement/DIY/etc. so when we moved into a recently renovated house with solid wood worktops, we were oblivious to what care they might need and the thought never crossed our minds. We treated them just like any other worktop, and they have since become damaged. I am concerned about our deposit, so I want to know if there is anything I can do to 'fix' it.

There are a few things:

The worktops have become sticky because we just cleaned them with ordinary household surface cleaners (not bleach, but chemically stuff) and I think that has caused the 'treated surface' to 'melt' or something.
We left pots and pans etc. with water in them to soak on the counter top, making the area next to the sink totally water damaged - the wood is warped, and has gone black.
There are a few ringmarks where I've left mugs etc. on the surface

What could possibly be done to remedy these? We have not done ANYTHING to maintain these surfaces because we have no idea how to care for them properly, and were not instructed by the landlord to do so. We have no tools or equipment barring screwdrivers, so if you could advise exactly what I'd need to ask for at a hardware store to fix anything that would be great.

I'd really need to see a photo to know, but more or less...

A lot of your options aren't great for food prep surfaces: for a non-food surface, I'd use turpentine or Restor-a-Finish.

Start with baking soda, warm water and a green scrubber to get the gumminess up. You might try washing soda or dish detergent if the baking soda alone doesn't do it. Fill a small bucket with warm water, sprinkle some baking soda down, scrub it up, wipe it up with a wet dishcloth, rinse the dish cloth, repeat. I've heard you can alternately use white vinegar. You probably won't scratch the wood but it never hurts to go with the grain instead of in circles.

Either way, don't leave standing water on the counter, clean it up as you go.

If it is really nasty you might wind up with a few rinses. Once you get it clean, oil it with mineral oil or refinish it.  If you go the mineral oil route, you pour a small amount on (small) and rub it in (with the grain) and repeat.

UPDATE: I just happened upon a blog post which suggests that a bowl of hot water, a few tablespoons of  murphy's oil soap and a pad of steel wool will go along way. With steelwool and sand paper you definitely want to go with the grain, always. Never ever go in circles. Add the soap to your hot water, scrub with the grain, rinsing often as you go. Change the water as it gets grimy. Keep some rags handy to dry up with so you aren't leaving standing water.

As far as the warping goes, you probably can't do much except plane it, is a recipe for making everything worse if you don't know what you're doing. Are you moving soon or just starting to realize you maybe need to be more conscientious?


Halogen transformer replacement: safe to use 60w max to replace a 75w max? I have a 120V to 12V 75W max transformer powering an Ikea Halogen light fixture. It seems to have burnt out.

All I can find in stores are 120V to 12V 60W max halogen transformers. The 75W max model I have found online shows a picture of 60W max model.

Is it safe to use these 60W max models to replace the 75W max model, or do I absolutely need a 75W max model?

Thanks!

Depends. What load is on the downstream side?

If there's only one 50W bulb, you should be fine. Two 35Ws? Need a bigger one.


Polymeric sand or replace original paver sand? My back patio is made from closely placed paver bricks.  Weeds and moss grow up from between the cracks.  I've pressure washed the whole area off, removed all of the moss, and pulled out all of the weeds.
Should I replace the original paver sand that was between the bricks or try to use polymeric sand?  I'm worried that, with closely placed bricks, I won't be able to get the polymeric sand down into the cracks.
It rains a lot here, BTW.
Thanks!

I agree with Matthew; this looks like a pretty good paver job. Pressure washing probably did a good enough job, depending on how long it has gone from either being built or from the last time it was cleaned, til the next time it needs cleaning.
However, if you've got weeds coming up (the moss, by contrast, is probably growing downward from transplanted seeds rather than growing up from underneath the pavers), it could be that there wasn't a proper base layer or weed barrier put down. Or, this could just be an old patio; no weed barrier lasts forever,
I would recommend polymeric sand over normal leveling sand simply because polymeric sand is designed to go between the cracks of the pavers and then harden, which has two benefits:

makes the pavers move less under your feet

makes it more difficult for weeds to grow

When applying the polymeric sand, it is important to use a tamper or vibrating compactor so that the polymeric sand settles down fully into the cracks; you don't want air pockets in it when it is setting. After that, be sure to wet the sand per any provided instructions and let it set before walking around on it.
Also note that polymeric sand is recommended to be reapplied in a touch-up capacity every year or so.


Deteriorated downspout replacement The downspout out the back of my apartment has completely deteriorated. I didn't get around to looking at it when I moved in last summer, but finally got on a ladder and took a photo today:

So as you can see, that's a mess. The upper portion is completely rusted through and is stuffed full of debris; it's actually barely hanging on there. The problem is, the part that's toast is part of the trough, fixed with a weld. I'm not about to take down the whole trough.

Any suggestions to mend this without removing large pieces of the trough? I know what to do to prevent this once it's fixed, but that's where I need to start.

Personally, I'd cut the downspout back so it is even (level with the ground), with about an inch of pipe hanging down (or as much as can be saved). Get another piece of pipe, in which the inside diameter is the same as the outside diameter of the original downspout. This will be used to replace the piece you just cut off. Before you affix your new pipe to the old, you'll need to put something on what is left of old pipe to save it from deteriorating further. I'd use a rust converter, something like POR-15. Use it liberally on the inside and the outside of the pipe ... wherever you see deterioration. If the new pipe is a snug fit on the old pipe, you can actually use the POR-15 to bond the two pieces of metal together. You'll also want to put some type of screen up top to prevent the debris from getting stuck down in the pipe again, or you'll run into the same issue. You'll need to get some type of reducer which will allow you to transition from the new piece of pipe to the crimped piping which is there now.

This would be the "easy" fix, if you will. If the deterioration is too bad, you'll need to consider a complete replacement of the gutter system. This would cost some serious money, but would bet you are going to have to do it sooner or later anyway. Check any other downspout to ensure the same thing isn't happening there. Use the POR-15 to prolong your pocketbook agony for as long as possible.


How do I fix sagging sofa back and seat cushions on a leather couch? Around 18 months ago, I purchased a VRETA sofa bed - Mjuk black from IKEA for $1000.

I have used this couch quite a bit either for watching TV, playing on my laptop or reading a book. As a result, the back and seat cushions are quite saggy and it's not as comfortable leaning back. Same thing with the seat cushions. Both sets of cushions have noticeable wrinkles. Fortunately, there is no tearing of that sort.

I also have two leather care products from IKEA (A leather cleaner and a leather cream bottle). I'm not sure how much either of them would help though.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Here is a link to the couch

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20109805/

If this is only a year old I would think it would still be under warranty from IKEA.  I would call them and ask what you should do.

Normally the manufacturer will send you some foam (or whatever) inserts.  Then you would add them to the cushions.  If there is no easy way to insert the inserts then the manufacturer might have someone with expertise visit your house to help.

If you want to fix this yourself and want nothing to do with IKEA then figure out what is in your couch and get more of it.  Then cut open the couch where need be and staple/sew it back together.  You are dealing with leather so this is not easy at all.


Rented Property: Install Nest I have a Worcester boiler (Greenstar HE?), with a TR2 thermostat. I was looking at replacing the thermostat with a Nest (or equivalent).

To complicate matters, I'm in a rented property, so I cannot do any work that could not be easily reverted when moving out. That would include any changes to the wall mounting.

Ideally, I'd be able to remove the TR2 unit from the wall mount, and attach the Nest to the same mount.

Is this possible?

Assuming the Nest thermostat you want is compatible with your boiler, there is no issue in replacing the existing one. Most if not all thermostats are designed to be removed in a non-destructive manner.

Mounting it may require drilling new holes. When your lease is up, simply reattach the old one. Any new holes if needed would be covered up by the thermostat, hence should not be held against you by any reasonable person.


Windows the big heat loss? I am planning an addition and trying to compute the insulation design, and it seems like windows are where all the heat is lost. For example, thermal triple paned glass only has an R-value of about 2.3 compared to 18 for 6 inches of mineral wool. If you consider that that is just the R-Value for the GLASS, and that double hung windows seem to lose most of their heat at the seams, the value could actually be a lot lower than 2.3.

Other than making the addition windowless or reducing the size of the windows, is there anything I can do?

On a related note, I am planning to use commercial-style sealed windows, so I have no issues concerning heat leaking past the cracks in the window.

Using the most energy efficient type of window will help.

Double hung and sliding windows are made to fit a little loose so sashes can slide past each other.

Use an awning or casement window that has a latch that pulls the sash in tight AND locks it tight will have less air infiltration, etc.


Most durable paint type for baseboards and trim I want to paint (by brush) some stair and baseboard trim in my basement.
I’m looking for the most durable type of paint, (not brand recommendations). It seems the higher the sheen the more durable. I would like something that is scuff resistant, can be washed, and  applied easily.
Also, can one apply a polyurethane coat over paint for more protection? Are paints available that contain polyurethane?

"Two Pack" or "2K" is the hardest paint. It is polyurethane based.
It has a volatile organinc solvent, and outgasses during curing so use lots of ventilation, the stuff is nasty, positive pressure respirators are used in industrial applications.
Clear polyurethane (two part or one part) can be used over existing paint to protect it.


How do I affix wires to an E27 T210 lamp holder? I have a E27 T210 connection for a lamp holder, and there are no screws to fix wires into.  It is also unclear how they push in.

If this a push connection are the wires supposed to be soldered?

For push-in connectors, the wires do literally just push in. There is usually a gauge printed on the unit to show how much insulation to strip. Soldering stranded wire is helpful but not necessary if twisted tightly. There is usually also a tab to press with a flat screwdriver to release the wire (in case you need to remove it).

(Click image to enlarge)


What is this pipe in my basement? I have a lot of water coming into my basement from a line that is next to where my water pump feeds into. It has been raining a lot lately. I found a pipe in the basement that looks like it could be a drain.
I ran a hose from the line and put it into the pipe in the basement. I am thinking that it is a drain of some sort but just worried that it is something else and I should not be running water into it.
Any thoughts?
EDIT: Thank you both for responding. The water is coming from a pipe in the wall in the basement. There was a bucket under it when we bought the house a couple years ago but never knew why. Yes, that pit is in my basement floor with a pipe. So far the water going in is draining to somewhere. House was built in 50's.

Looks like a dry well. If so, then it is a drain of sorts.


I stripped the thermocouple adapter on the gas valve on my hot water heater so I cannot connect the thermocouple. I can tell the connection piece has threads, is there a way to unscrew that piece and replace with a new one?  The nut sheared off. Is there a way to alternately connect the end of the thermocouple to the gas control valve?

Safest and easiest repair is to purchase a replacement at the hardware store. It isn't worth trying to repair a part that primarily functions as a safety device.   You may need to replace the valve if your existing thermocouple isn't removable or if the warranty is expired, bite the bullet and replace with a new unit.


Will 2x10 13'6" span support outdoor bbq? I am building a deck and will have 2x10 joists.  I want to put a BBQ that unfortunately will run parallel with the joists, so the last two joists will support the full weight of the BBQ distributed across 10'?  The span of the joists are 13' 6" between the header and supporting beam.  The outer rim will be doubled 2x10s.  My overestimate of the BBQ is that it will weight 2000-2200lbs.  Will the current joists support the weight?  If I double the 2nd joist, will that help?  Does that effectively support twice the weight or is that not how that works?  Should an additional post be added mid-span?

Yes, two 2x10's spanning 13'-6" will support 2,200 lbs.  Grade of lumber can be No. 2 & better of typical framing lumber, like Hem.-Fir...it need not be Doug. Fir-Larch. In fact, each 2x10 will support 1,200 lbs.

To be clear, spans are measured as "clear spans". That is to say, from face of support to face of support. Also, if your BBQ is located in the middle of the span so that people can stand around the BBQ, then there will be an additional "Live Load" acting on the joists. This assumes the BBQ extends from support to support.

By the way, the code doesn't require blocking until you use 2x12's. However, for this "concentrated" load, I'd use blocking. (Yes, I know, technically, it's not a concentrated load, because it extends from support to support. However, it could be considered "concentrated" because it's resting on only 2 joist, not over multi-joists, like in a large space (room).)

If the joists rest on a beam, then secure the joists to the beam with a clip. If they "hang" on a beam, make sure the hangers are rated for the load, because you're approaching the joists maximum load. The joists need a minimum of 1 1/2" bearing at each end.

You didn't ask, but don't forget to install seismic deck straps (or rods) at about 20' oc. This is new to the 2014 code for all decks.

Re: your question about doubling joists...will that double the allowable supporting load...yes, that is how it works.

By the way, you reference a 10' space. Shouldn't that be 13'-6" space (span), or are you referring to the distance in the other direction. However, to me, that doesn't seem relevant because it doesn't contribute load to the 2x10 joists supporting the BBQ, right?


Where can I hide an AC to DC adapter for cove lighting? I have a 12'x15' room to which I'd like to add cove lighting.  There's a second floor above, so I don't have access from above.  I do have an outlet along the wall where I can tap off for 120V power, and run any wiring up inside the wall to the top.

I will be building the cove, essentially a T-section. I anticipate about 2" of head room above the top edge of the cove.

My issue is, where can I hide the power adapter that converts the 120V AC house power to 12/24V DC for the LEDs?  I suppose worst case I can cut a hole near the outlet for an access panel (or blank wall plate) painted to match the wall, and stuff the power adapter in the wall.

Anyone got any other bright ideas?

I invite other answers, but since you mention cove lighting specifically, there are slim transformers that are made to be easy to hide like this model:

Armacost 12v LED Driver transformer

To use this, you could have a 120v standard electrical box behind the molding where the NM cable would exit the wall and attach to the transformer.  I'm not sure exactly how to make the transition from the wall to the transformer in a 100% by-the-code way, but the electrical contacts are covered and since it is cove lighting, the connection will be inaccessible to anyone that wanted to touch or snag the wiring.

The transformer would be easy to hide in the "tray" of the molding and comes in different output wattage depending on your needs.  Now, I've never used this model and I'm certainly not trying to advertise it - I'm just pointing it out as an example of the slim-profile transformers that are available.


Sizing a landscape lighting transformer I'm surprised this hasn't come up before but I did a search here and didn't find anything, so here goes.
I need to power a dozen 12VDC LED deck post lights, each drawing 1.6 watts.  I want to place the transformer in a basement utility room where I have an outlet and run 20' of 12/2 stranded wire to the first light.  From there, the rest of the lights are spaced out along 160' of the same wire.  I know I need a transformer capable of providing at least 19.2 watts (12 lights x 1.6 watts) but I've seen some references to 300 watt transformers because of the wire length regardless of the number of lights.  How do you calculate the current draw of the lights plus the resistance of the wire to determine the required transformer size?

How do you calculate the current draw of the lights plus the resistance of the wire to determine the required transformer size?

You do not need to
At that low of a current draw voltage loss will be negligible. The big concern about voltage loss with outdoor lighting was important with incandescent and halogen bulbs, not LED.
The calculator I used would put end-of-line voltage at 11.59 in your setup. Your LED bulbs will operate correctly down to minimum voltage required to power the fixture. Typically anything higher than 8.5 volts is acceptable; check your specific fixture.


Will returning two 1/2" lines to 3/4" get a volume return? I am converting a seperate shower and tub to a large walk-in spa shower. The cold water at the existing shower is 3/4" (and branched off to the tub,shower & toilet in 1/2"). The new shower valve system is 3/4" so I am good there with just a bit of re-plumbing. The problem is with the hot plumbing. The plumbing is all under slab and the 3/4" part of it is non accessible. The tub and shower hot branch off a 3/4" to 1/2" under the slab somewhere. The access between the two 1/2" hot water lines is configured in a way as I could bring them together at the new shower wall. If I were to bring them together with a T that fed them to a 3/4" line to the new valve would I get my flow back from the 1/2" drops? I am installing 6 body sprayers and need the flow. I did get sprayers with the lowest rate possible (only 1.5 gpm per head). So basically, if I have X amount of volume in a 3/4" pipe and reduce it into two 1/2" pipes then bring both 1/2" pipes back to 3/4" will I retrieve my volume? It would work kind of like a loop would it not?

It depends on your flow rate, and the length of your run. The short answer is you won't have a noticeable pressure drop for a relatively short run.

Using this table, the nominal inside diameters of the pipes actually give you a slightly greater cross sectional area from the two 1/2" pipes (0.608 sq. in. vs 0.533 sq. in.).

However, the head loss is still greater for the two 1/2" pipes. For the 9 GPM you'll need for the body jets, you'll have a loss of about 15.8 ft/100 ft pipe on the 3/4". For the 4.5 GPM you'll need through each 1/2" pipe, you'll have a loss of 16.9 ft/100 ft pipe.*

This comes out to a loss of 6.85 psi per 100 feet of pipe for the 3/4" pipe, or 7.33 psi per 100 feet of pipe for the two 1/2" pipes. You'll have to add another 15.6' of equivalent footage for the two extra T and elbow fittings as well.

*Note: I linearly interpolated these values, but the head loss curve is NOT linear. So not an EXACT answer, but probably close enough.


laminate flooring transitions I am planning on putting down laminate flooring on a 3/4" plywood original subfloor where there is carpeting now. I also want to put the same laminate flooring where it leads into the kitchen area from the above area, but there is already a luan subflooring over the 3/4' original subfloor,that has 12'X12' stick down tile floor tiling. Do I need to rip up the luan underneath the tile flooring??? Or is there a way to transition this area without a trim piece that will no doubt get kicked on due to the differing heights????

Guessing that the luan subflooring is only 1/4" thick I would strongly suggest that you remove it. Since the existing carpet squares are glued down to it I suspect it would be way more work trying to remove all the glue and prep its surface to a suitable condition for the laminate flooring.

If you tried to leave the luan subflooring any type of transition that you attempted to use would most likely be noticable to some people to say the least. In addition the transion zone would place stress on the snap together joints of the flooring causing them to not stay nicely closed.

I am not a big fan of laminate flooring in the first place but suggest that it wants to be laid down on a surface that is flat and continuous.


Repurpose telephone line to ethernet I have a (UK) telephone socket in the same corner of each of the three floors in my house. My broadband router is connected to the socket on the bottom floor.
The wiring looks like the following:

Top floor:

Middle floor:

Bottom floor:

What type of cable is it? Can I use it for ethernet? If not, would it be pretty straightforward to run an ethernet cable alongside it?

Gigabit Ethernet

If you need Gigabit Ethernet (1000Base-T), you're out of luck and will have to run new wires with CAT 5e or better cabling. It's likely not that difficult depending on your house. It seems like these jacks are above each other in the same place on each floor. Thus, you could easily drop a cable down from the upper floor and run them all down to your bottom floor. If the cables are in different spots, it'll be more challenging. However, you could just cut a small hole in your wall and then you'll need to cut another small hole in your frame using a bit like this. It's not as bad as it seems - especially if there's already a wire you follow (ie: your telephone line).

Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s)

If you're only interested in Fast Ethernet (100Base-TX, ubiquitous), you can rewire those telephone lines to become ethernet lines without much work, provided the existing cables are CAT 5 or better. Check the outer sheath of the cable to determine what you have. If it is only CAT 3 then you are out of luck. You'll have to make a few concessions for that to work:

You'll have to have a switch on your middle floor
You're giving up your telephone lines (as they will be ethernet instead

The telephone wires in your house have 3 twisted pairs. Ethernet is usually ran with 4 twisted pair wires. However, for 100Base-TX, 2 of those twisted pair wires aren't used as only the orange and green are used for transmit and receive. The blue wires are used for Power Over Ethernet. From your pictures, you should be able to wire a RJ-45 Keystone Jack with all 3 pairs of your wire.

Basically, you'll need to take your orange, green, and blue wires and connect them to the terminal on your RJ-45 jack on each floor. On the middle floor, where you have 2 wires, you'll need 2 keystone jacks. Then, you'll need to put an ethernet switch in the middle floor and connect both the top and bottom floor (along with the middle floor). If you're only interested in connected the top and bottom floor, you can put in a small 6" patch cable to connect the top and bottom floors together. Obviously, you'll need to remove your telephone jacks to replace them with the RJ45 keystone jacks mentioned previously. While this solution isn't the fastest, it take minimum effort to get up and running.


Are there any good videos available that teach basic carpentry? I apologies if this was already covered but I could only find a thread on books, and it was geared towards someone having some basic skills already.

While I am far from useless, I never had a reason to learn much about home repair when I was around people to teach me.  I recently relocated across the country, including buying a house, so now there's tons I want to do.  Unfortunately I don't really know anyone here I could ask to help me learn, so I am basically left to learn everything via books and videos.  I have been doing pretty good, as I am laying a paver patio and doing it correctly, fixed underground sprinklers, and a replaced a toilet (got help there since it was my first time).  However I am now getting to the point where I want to do some basic wood work and I have really never touched a power saw till today to cut a sprinkler pipe.

I have a few books I bought however my lively hood it my hands on computers so this is something I really feel I should be watching to see how things are correctly done rather than read a book and guess off the pictures.

I am not expecting to knock out walls or replace windows by any means.  To start I want to do some very basic projects like repairing my fence entrance (looks like I just replace 3 wood pieces), build a 20 gallon fish tank stand, and build a base for a shed I just ordered.  These are extremely simple projects that if i mess up a bit, its not a big deal visually.  Through them I hope to learn basic cuts, joins, and tool handling. With the tank stand I'm hoping to learn basic staining and painting so down the road I can build a nice 100 gallon tank stand.  It just seems these are smart starter projects.

I'd eventually like to then build a nice work bench after i get the basics down, allowing me to build something a lot bigger where a bit of uneven cuts wont be life or death since it will just sit in my garage.

Can anyone suggest a video series or website that is geared at the very basics such as going over the different types of saws and tools you can use with what each are best for and how to use each correctly?  I'd love something that covers the most common rookie mistakes so I can learn from others mistakes instead of making my own (sure I will make some, but better to learn the majors off others error). This especially includes something that teaches me all the key safety tips, which surely is important and something that can be hard to learn via pictures in a book.

I found tons of sites that outlines basic projects or go over specific tools but if I don't know what a miter saw is used for, I wouldn't know that I should be watching that video.  So to start I would love just a intro 101 type video to get me introduced to all the tools and what not.

Again I am very sorry if this is to "general" for the forum.  I am a common stack overflow user and this seemed like the best stack exchange site relating to my topic.

I learned a lot from watching "This Old House", back in the day when the home owners did a lot more of the work (now get off of my lawn).  I also learned a lot by watching the "New Yankee Workshop".  However I didn't watch these to learn anything specific, I just watched them because I enjoyed them.  I'm not certain how they might suit your needs.


How do I make two wall switches work in coordination, wirelessly? I remodeled my kitchen and added under cabinet lighting.  The under the cabinet lights are controlled by a wall switch on one side of the kitchen.  The overhead recessed can lights have a switch on the other side of the kitchen.

1) I’d like the overhead light switch to not only turn on the overhead lights but also the under the cabinet lights.  2) I’d like the under the cabinet light switch to only turn on and off the under the under cabinet lights.

How might I do this?  Ideally without having to pull wire (so using wireless switches)?  While I don't want say an additional switch on one wall or the other, I am happy to replace the kind of switch that is in the current switch locations.

I already have a Wink hub, but don't need any kind of timer or even remote on/off from my phone.  These lights are all LED, and I don’t want or need to dim them either.

There are half a dozen ways one could do this, but I would do it this way

Purchase 2 Lutron RF Maestros. ( The RF part is important, as they sell none RF Maestros too) ( for non dimming use MRF2-6ANS )

One Pico wireless switch

One Pico switch plate adapter

One 2 gang decor plate

Change both switches to the RF Maestro and put the Pico next to the switch that controls the recessed lights using the Pico adapter and 2 gang wall plate. (No cutting necessary).
Program the Pico to turn on both RF Maestros and you're done.
If using electronic or magnetic LED the Maestro will need to be compatible and same goes for the recessed lights.  But since you are not dimming these you do not need to worry about that nor would you need to worry about the wattage.


Which side of door should I install a threshold draft excluder? I purchased this door bottom, MD Building Products 3 ft. x 1-3/4 in. x 1-5/8 in. Vinyl Door-Bottom Moulding, and the directions are straight forward except they don't indicate which side of the door you would screw this into.

After looking at the installation guide (direct link to PDF), it needs to be fixed to the door face that closes onto the stop beads (which are usually attached to the inside face of the door frame), or put another way, the opposite face from the hinges pins.


Is this open supply duct in my vented crawl space necessary? New (first-time) home owner here (4 months in). I recently discovered what at first seemed like an un/disconnected supply-side duct in our vented (open) crawl space. Photo attached. After several hours on the internet educating myself, it appears this might've been put there intentionally to keep the plumbing in the crawl space from freezing (although I did notice tape residue near the perimeter of the opening, which might suggest someone tried to close this off at one point).
We live in eastern WA (Spokane-CDA), which is Zone 1 for radon and sees several days of 32F (or below) weather, but nothing close to, say, the mid-Atlantic. I have a thermo/hygrometer down in the crawl space that was putting out 59F when this "vent" was open, and ~ 57F with this temporarily shut off with the foundation vents open (it's about 32F outside right now - humidity in the crawl space has stayed below 50% RH). The fact that the crawl space is 10F below the house setpoint is probably an indication of a larger leaky ductwork and subfloor air leak issue, however I was curious what everyone thought about leaving this particular port closed off? Note there is no mesh or damper on this right now.
I'm generally curious to know what is considered the "minimum" ambient temperature inside a vented crawlspace at which the likelihood of pipes freezing becomes likely/imminent? Am I ok to have the ambient temperature pretty much drop down to 32-35F before freezing becomes likely? There is a delta T of about 25F between the inside of the crawlspace and the outside right now (foundation vents open), so I imagine this would be the scenario where the outside temperature drops to ... 10F? Unlikely where I am, but I'd like to know where my goal posts are.
Thanks for reading, and I'd appreciate any thoughts/comments on this.

Without addressing the moderately unanswerable "do I need this duct" since that depends on a lot of factors specific to your house/insulation/comfort/budget/etc.
Moderately standard freeze protection thermostat setting is 45°F/7°C and "freeze alarms" at 41°F/5°C - running much closer to freezing than that risks freezing in spots that might be colder than where you are measuring the temperature, or in the case of the alarms does not give you time to take action.
The level of engineering you need to "not freeze pipes" while running them as low as 33°F/0.5°C is considerable and rarely engaged in. i.e. standard "heat trace" (the quality electric pipe heating tape that is the thermostat) starts to heat at 50°F/10°C, and (along with an insulation overwrap) is the standard (quality) solution to below-freezing crawlspace pipes down to sub-zero °F temperatures. The cheap heat tape with an external thermostat is much more prone to fail, but is a common approach by those who like to make their own mistakes rather than learning from the mistakes of others.


How should I attach crown molding to cabinets with limited space? I am putting up some crown molding on top of some existing cabinets, but I only have about 12 inches of clearance.  In the past when I have done projects like this, I have used a finishing nailer or brad nailer, however with this space, the tool won't fit.

What options or tool can I use to attach crown molding in this limited space?

You could use a good construction adhesive to glue it in the areas you cannot drive a nail through.  Make sure to use a scrap piece of molding to wedge the piece against the wall until the glue dries.


New breaker and panel: What's the brown goo where they connect? I'll be replacing my electrical panel soon and I noticed that the new breakers and panel have a brown goo on them where they connect to one another. I'm guessing it is lubricant .. similar to what goes in the aluminum wires but I rather make sure than end up with fireworks.

Should I leave the brown goo in place before I plug the breakers to the new panel or should I wipe it out? Thanks.

Leave it there. It's a dielectric grease that prevents corrosion on the metal contacts. It probably does also act as a lubricant for easier installation.


Filling gaps between water pipes and floor/wall - what material to use? In my bathroom, the water supply and drain for the wash basin are exposed. The 3 pipes run along the wall at floor level, like this:

There's a small gap (a few mm) between the drain pipe and the wall. I suspect this has become a hideout for insects, so I want to fill it in.

I've got some tiling grout, would that be an acceptable material? The wall is concrete.

Second, the water supply pipes are copper. They're corroding where they run near the shower stall. I could cover the pipes with e.g. a plastic plate, but if the seal isn't perfect water can still get in.
Can I cover the pipes in tiling grout? Or should I use cement, or something else entirely? The object would be to prevent further corrosion, so the material shouldn't be porous.

I'd use "minimally expanding foam" rather than concrete or grout.  Be sure to have plenty of ventilation and read the directions carefully... the stuff can make a helluva mess so cover/tarp/mask off anything you don't want to foam to stick to.


Water seeping through my foundation in the garage - what is the source? I have a house built 1994, one story, slab foundation.

A few weeks back my renter left the sprinkler system on for over 7 hours on one side of the house (valve was broken).  By the time she called and we got the water shut down it was too late.  One side of the house was saturated already.  Now we have noticed water seeping into the garage and the master closet (sharing one wall) from the ground.

A plumber thinks it is water leak from a broken pipe.
I think it is from all the sprinkler system that was running for hours.

Would someone please tell me what I should do, the plumber wants over $2800 to cut the foundation and fix a pipe he does not know if it is broken or not.  Please help me.

I would say to wait and see if the water continues to come in after a few days. It is quite possible that the sprinkler water is seeping through above the slab.
Are there bathrooms or other water usage utilities above where the leak is? Pipes usually rise vertically from the ground to the bathroom.
You could also try to shut off the main water valve for as long as possible to see if the water ingres shows down. Switch off water heaters before you do this.
You need to adjust the sprinkler heads so that they are not spraying on the house.


what to do with tall, square fireplace opening? I'd like to have 4-5 fires a winter, and the rest of the time have it closed off so the kids can't get hurt or dirty from it.  The opening is really tall, almost square (35.25" w x 33.25" h), and the bottom of the opening is 4" off the floor.  I can't find any stock fireplace doors that fit (all require an opening < 32.5" tall), and custom doors are more than I want to spend.  All reasonably priced firescreens (aka spark guards) are too short, plus they don't solve the problem with kids.  What should I do?

I ordered fireplace doors that almost fit, but then realized the frame is meant to be supported by the floor, which makes the doors about 5" too short.  As pictured there is 3/4" between bottom of frame and bottom of fireplace.
I thought of supporting the frame at the bottom with steel bar stock, but then I need an attractive way to cover that up.  Also, the damper knob (by masking tape) doesn't extend past the frame (since some tiles stick out 1/2" farther than others), so can't turn damper knob.

The only solution I have is to cut out the stone tile all the way around the opening, so doors are recessed into the tile.  Then have 3/4" brick with tile facade added to bottom of fireplace opening.  That way the damper control knob will turn, and the frame is supported at bottom by tile, with no gap for sparks to fly through.  Could remove the tiles, cut new ones and install; or maybe cut the tile in place.  Any tile experts know what this would cost and how clean the results would be?

Open to other ideas.

The frame is only about 1" thick and rests against outside of fireplace. Screen doors extend about 2/3" into fireplace, so total thickness of the item is about 1 2/3".  Brand is Pleasant Hearth, model is Alpine.

Your idea is fine but the metal should be on the inside of the fireplace.  You may want to call manufacturer of insert first and ask if they suggest a mounting kit.  If not you can either build your own or have a local shop make one.  A perfect bracket would align with the mounting edges on the inside of your insert all the way around and you would screw into it.


Does Makita multi-tool DTM51 have a real Starlock mount I own a Makita oscillating multi-tool DTM51 but the question is valid for more Makita models.
The multi-tool is compatible with Starlock blades, it is shipped with a lot of these.
But the mounting head is different from the Bosh and Fein ones.
So the question is, does Makita use the Starlock system? Or are Starlock blades just backwards compatible and therefore fit my Makita?

No
Your multitool does not have a Starlock mount.  But some Starlock blades are compatible nonetheless.
Starlock
Starlock has three types of blades: Starlock regular, Starlock Plus, and Starlock Max.  The latter are more sturdy.

All Starlock blades are 3D-curved; they have a bulge. The three sub-types differ only in the cutouts.

DTM51 is not Starlock
Your Makita DTM51's mount is not curved, so it's not StarLock.

A 'real' Starlock mount has an inverse bulge like this:

And Makita is starting to sell these too.  See the new Starlock Max DTM52.

Compatibility
Your multitool can however accept some Starlock blades when these blades are backwards compatible with 'flat' heads.
For example, cutouts in the shape of Bosch OIS (Oscillating multitool Interface System) may be present.
Typically, Starlock Plus or Max blades will not have OIS cutouts because they support larger forces for which Starlock was developed.


Gas Oven Keeps Tripping GFCI (Moisture?) My gas oven frequently trips my GFCI outlet.

The GFCI outlet is upstream of the oven. Every outlet on that wall is on a shared circuit (I understand this is suboptimal, but I imagine there isn't a large load with just a gas oven and a Google Home plugged in).

The oven creates a lot of steam, which condenses on the backsplash. My theory is that the moisture drips down the backsplash and hits the outlet where the oven is plugged in.

When it trips, it takes 5-10 minutes until it can be reset. I believe this is because the outlet is drying out.

Interestingly, it can be reset a lot quicker if the convection fan is not used. For instance, if the GFCI trips and is reset 5 minutes later, I can turn on the oven again, but turning on the convection fan trips the GFCI. At other times, the convection fan is no problem.

Is my moisture theory correct? If so, what's the solution? Perhaps some sort of backer rod stuffed between the back of the oven and the backsplash to prevent drips from reaching the outlet?

Thanks!

It's your fan/motor...

Motors are common causes of GFCI trips because of insulation breakdown.

In your case it could be simply that.  However, given that the fan's job is moving air which is particulate-laden, it is rather likely that the particulates in question (or merely dust in your house made sticky by food grease) have accumulated on the motor.  The cool motor draws up hot, humid air... and condensation occurs.  This wets the particulates.  This makes them a good enough conductor to induce a ground fault and trip the GFCI.

You could clean the fan motor area and hope for the best.  The problem may be deep inside the motor in an area impracticable to clean.


Tile parquet is coming off the concrete surface 20 year old tile parquet that was polished and varnished in February has begun to rise off the concrete surface. The concrete is so dry that dust comes off it and the only source of humidity seems to be the air, which has been very humid (60-100%) for the past couple of weeks.

Can this still be salvaged by using the original tiles, or do you have to replace a larger area with brand new parquet?

First the flooring is fine as long as it isn't warped.

To me there seems to be three main install issues:

You do not have enough gapping around the perimeter of your install.
If you are going to glue these down on concrete they would almost assuredly need some space between them - might use 1/32 spacers.
The glue dries to brittle.  Doubt this glue was meant to be used for wood to concrete - you are lucky you used the wrong glue as it let the squares pop up clean, relatively.

So your floor buckled.  This is due to:

is this flooring meant to be installed on concrete?  What does the manufacturer's info say?
has your house had wide swings in humidity?  This will cause the wood to expand, especially next to cool concrete.
have you had a lot of rain?  The concrete will keep moisture without revealing water but this water will escape up.
did you let the flooring sit out for 3-4 weeks before installing?

What it comes down to is that this flooring is probably not a good solution for your situation.  It could have been a humidity swing but you shouldn't be required to keep your house like a climate controlled wine room to keep your flooring from buckling that much.  This is a solid 9 out of 10 on the buckling range.   Expect that if you glue the squares down again, even with a little gapping added, you will probably get buckling in the future.  At the very least you are probably going to need to introduce a vapor barrier and subfloor to install a glue down.  I don't think I have ever seen glue down wood to concrete other than large apartment buildings.

My guess is that you and the previous owners are very lucky the install lasted that long and probably have been keeping house at normal ranges.  In my area we see this all the time, and it is buckled just like yours but not usually as bad.


Can I run a new circuit in the same conduit as ground cable? I had a 100 A sub-panel installed in my garage. The electrician used an LB and conduit stub to bring the ground cable outside into the ground -- the cable is 4 AWG, stranded, in 1/2" schedule 80 PVC.

There is a shed about 10' from the garage -- I'd like to run a single circuit out there for a light and outlet (using direct burial cable -- ideally 12-3 for future-proofing, but could get by with 14-2 if needed). To get this cable from the garage panel out into the ground, can I run it through the same LB and conduit as the ground cable for the garage?
I'd prefer not to cut a second hole in the exterior wall of the garage if I can avoid it.

A cable is several wires that are factory assembled. A "circular inch" is the area of a circle 1" diameter. A "circular mil" is the area of a circle 1/1000" (1 mil) diameter.   (so there are 1 million circular mils in a circular inch).  This unit is used a lot in sizing larger wires, but I find it rather useful in conduit fill calcs.
The interior of 1/2" PVC Sched 80 conduit is 0.546" or 546 x 546 = 298,116 circular mils.  (or 0.298 circular inch).
Hold on... is this leeegal?
Yes, a branch circuit can share a conduit with a Grounding Electrode Conductor.  In that thread you see a great deal of arguing about how bonding works, but that's because they are using metal conduit. You're in PVC so you sidestep the discussion.  Nobody challenges the idea of a branch circuit in a conduit with a GEC.
The grounding electrode and branch circuit need to go their separate ways.  You can't do that in a conduit body (at least not this particular type).  So this conduit body must be changed out to a junction box or more flexible conduit body.   Remember the branch circuit needs a conduit "stub-up" down to 24" burial depth. That is probably incompatible with the bare GEC wire routing.
You are not allowed to cut and splice GEC runs, so you will need to pull it out of the conduit for this modification and then put it back in.  You are also not allowed to assemble conduit around cable, by the way.
UF cable doesn't work...
With oval shaped cables, the wide dimension is used for conduit fill.  Because it twists.
With 2 things in the pipe (cable and ground wire), we are allowed to use 30% of that or 89,435 circular mils.
The #4 bare ground wire is .232" diameter at its widest. That is 53,824 circular mils.
Leaving 35,611 circular mils to work with.  Square root of that -- the largest cable that will fit is 0.188" across in the wide dimension.  No cable exists anywhere near that small. Not gonna happen.
But let's crunch the numbers anyway.

A 12/3 UF cable is .626" diameter at its widest, so 391,876 cmil. So 445,700 cmil, divide by .3 and we need a conduit with 1.485 circular inches, or 1.218" ID on the conduit. So you'd need 1-1/4" conduit.  Wow!

A 14/2 UF cable is .423" diameter at its widest, so similar math: 1" conduit.

...try it with THWN wire
Okay, cable in conduit is always a stupid idea, and the above is a picture postcard as to the reason why.  Let's try it with THWN individual wires, at least through the pipe. Since we have 3 or more things, it'd be 40% or 119,246 cmil. The #4 bare ground wire is still 53,824 cmil, leaving us 65,422 cmil to play with.
A #12 THWN copper wire is 0.127" or 16,129 cmil.
16,129 x 4 wires (hot hot neutral ground) = 64,516 cmil.  And we skate under by a nose!    If it were closer we could use a solid ground wire and strip it bare.
OK, so we've got our 12/3 multi-wire branch circuit through.  Now we have to bury it.
Routing to the shed
Since you said "direct burial", you must trench down to 24" of cover (so 25" depth). Really. As discussed above, you will need a junction box or more versatile conduit body there.  Loose THWN wires can't be buried, so after you're through the hole, you will need to splice the THWN wires to a 12/3 UF cable that can be direct buried... and that means, it will need to be a junction box, not a conduit body.
You cannot use the 12" exception for GFCI protected circuits, because that only works on plain 120V circuits, and your planned/future multi-wire branch circuit does not qualify.
If you run conduit to the shed, the news gets brighter.  You need conduit for the stub-ups at both ends anyway, so if you simply stay in conduit in the trench, then you can just continue the THWN wires in the conduit.  No splicing and you only need 18" burial depth.
Rigid conduit  only requires 6" burial depth (12" under vehicle pathways), the stuff is hella expensive at over $2/foot Of course, you're only going 10 feet.  It will take a friendly hardware store who threads pipe and a couple of runs to see them once you have lengths worked out.


When pigtailing a second load to circuit If I add an outlet near the electric panel and pig-tail the hot wire to an existing 15a breaker do I have to attach the neutral and ground to a specific spot or any open slot on their respective bars?

Any spot on the neutral bar for the neutral, and ground bar for the ground, will do.


Can I plug an IEC rated for 10A into the wall? What I'm trying to do is have this embedded into a hollow table, then I can use it to feed into a couple outlets elsewhere in the table to power a few things, like a low power computer and a printer.

If I understand your question, the answer is no.  Or, yes, you "can". But no, you should not use a hollow table as the electrical enclosure for a home-made power strip unless the table was actually designed to be an electrical enclosure.
Instead you should buy ready-made boxes that do what you want.  If you want to have power outlets embedded in a table, there are a lot of ready-made modules to do that.  Search for "recessed table outlets" "recessed conference outlets" and so on.   Some of them pop up in cute ways.  Some of them have built in USB charging.  Most of them have built-in power cords under the table presumably because that is cheaper than using an IEC connector and avoids the risk of users kicking the cable out.  But some do have female IEC connectors instead so you can use separate power cords.  Some of them can be daisy chained so you can install recessed outlets in different parts of a large table, while having only one power cord connecting the table to the wall or floor.  That sounds like what you want to do, but a lot safer.
If you use daisy-chained ones perhaps you could route the double-insulated cables between them through your hollow table.   Again, a more ready-made way to do this would be to install a $2 plastic channel under the table, or just use staples.
All my links are the results from random searches, just for illustration.  They may or may not be what you or anyone should use for your purpose.


How do I insulate my garage ceiling? My garage gets really cold in the winter and I'd like to insulate my ceiling and/or roof.

Here is my ceiling

I store quite a bit of things in the ceiling, so the idea is to insulate the inside of the roof and then build out the "ceiling" - put in a ceiling and ceiling door with drywall.
If I have insulation in the inside of the roof, would I need to insulate the ceiling also, or would this be redundant..?

I have also seen aluminum sheets and foam insulation - are these used in combination or separately? What is the purpose of each and what should I use for my application?

I just did closed-cell spray foam in my attached garage.

There is a bedroom above (to the left of the I-beam in the photo), while the front sloping part is a hot roof (see Do I need to add roof vents if I close off a small attic space in the garage? for detail/pics).

In your case, you should decide if you want the attic space to be 'conditioned' space or not -- You should not have insulation in both the ceiling and on the roof. That will just create different thermal zones, which can mean you have different places for condensation to form, which means you can get mold. Without actually conditioning (heating or AC) the garage itself, which one is hotter and/or more humid at any time will change throughout the year, and I think having two layers of insulation is just going to cause problems.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'aluminum sheets' -- perhaps you are referring to foil-faced Polyisocyanurate? The foil in that case forms a radiant barrier -- in the case of attic space, I'm not clear on if this would actually make a noticeable benefit. Polyiso does have a very high R-value per inch (near that of closed-cell foam) so it may make a good choice anyway regardless of the foil -- but cost and value are at issue (I'm not sure how it compares cost-wise to regular XPS).

Keep in mind that if you're using any type of foam boards between rafters, that the rafter itself will not be insulated, so you only get the insulation value of the wood itself. This is one of the benefits of spray foam (and the reason I went with it) -- you get a complete thermal break, and it fills all the crevices. Expensive, but they did my entire garage in about 4 hours (including setting up and cleaning up, and encasing some duct work that hangs below the ceiling joists).


What are my options to replace my porch railing? My front porch has an existing railing that was clearly put up in a hurry. Since the wood was not properly treated, the top and bottom railing pieces are warping and the balusters are starting to fall out. I tried screwing them back in, but the gap is too large, so they are starting to fall out again.

I would like to start over and replace the railing/balusters.

The big issue is that it's an older house (1950s) so the poles are not a standard distance apart (6 feet). They are "about" 9 feet apart (9 ft. 1/8 inch and 9 foot 1 inch). When I went to Home Depot, they sent me away saying that they can't help me since they aren't 6 feet.

Anyway, I checked with the town and I don't have to worry about building code since I am not replacing the poles (IE, I don't have to add new poles like I would if it were new construction).

I have a budget ready for this project. Obviously, saving money means I can spend it on other home improvement projects, but I can spend as much as $1,000. I am willing to build everything myself, but if I can use something pre built that is fine too. Time is not too much of an issue, although I would like to get it done pretty soon.

I am thinking wood would look much nicer. The vinyl railings look so very cheap. Can I do some kind of metal railing?

Anyway, please help me find the next direction, I know what I want, but how to get there is a little sketchy. If I need to spend some of the budget on tools, great! I love tools. I have an huge assortment of hand tools and a power drill. My father-in-law is fine with me using his circular saw for cutting wood as well.

If you cannot find wooden porch rail parts long enough in your local home center, you can use stair rail parts. The handrail comes in lengths up to 16 feet, in oak or hemlock.

You would also need shoerail.

The center section of each comes out to leave a channel to hold the balusters.

All of these are unfinished, but you may be able to find primed versions.

Assuming you are lifting the shoerail above the porch floor (the most common style), you need to support the shoe rail in several places along the 9 foot run. The balusters will then support the middle of the rail.

You might also consider putting a newel post in the middle of the rail run to break it up and increase the lateral stability (toward and away from the house).

Fancier ones are also available.

All of these parts are unfinished and not pressure treated.  They do need careful priming and painting (including the cut ends) preferably prior to assembly.  They also need regular maintenance, but would give a great look.

You may be able to find similar materials in pressure treated lumber or cedar, both of which are more rot and weather resistant with more limited maintenance (but they do need some). However the longer runs may be harder to find.

If you are putting in a middle newel post, you also could use some of the prefab rail sections, either wood or metal since each section would be slightly less than 4.5 feet.


What could be causing wall cracks through the middle of our house We have been fixing cracks in our interior, and exterior walls since we moved into our house 3 years ago, and it just keeps getting worse. Our house sits between a field that goes uphill at a 45 degree angle, and a downhill at 45 degrees on the other side of our house where the neighbors are located. We have about 2 feet clearance from the downhill and our foundation of our house. I'm wondering if these cracks are from the foundation losing its battle with the hill during the rain. The cracks are forming from our front door down the hall to our bedroom directly in the middle of the house. As previously stated we have been fixing them since we moved in, but lately they have been getting worse. The Cracks from our front door are corner cracks leading to the ceiling both outside in the stucco and inside drywall. We also have a crack leading from the hallway to the front door 5 feet long. We have another crack from our front window right next to the front door leading to the carpet. Is our foundation giving way?

If your cracks are getting worse you have a serious problem, most likely subsidence, and that's bad. Get a professional, unbiased assessment and soon. Do not leave this problem any longer, deal with it right away! Get help!


Is installing a packaged HVAC unit (PTAC) a realistic DIY project? I'm a handy guy and can do pretty much anything around the house that I put my mind to.

Assuming I can handle the part of the install that is outside (the concrete pad, the hole in the crawlspace wall, the electric), is it realistic for a handy homeowner to run flexible ductwork throughout a small (1000 sq. foot) house and hook the whole thing up?

What are the most likely mistakes a newbie would make in this process?

If you're willing to blur the line between homeowner and HVAC tech, sure. If this is a split system, hooking up the linesets, purging the lines with compressed nitrogen, pumping it down, measuring the vacuum, adjusting the charge, and ensuring that the system is leak-free are all likely to be the most challenging parts. These tasks require specialized tools and knowledge. You can certainly get the tools and acquire the knowledge, but once you do that, you're basically as good as an HVAC guy, many of whom don't actually know how to do this stuff very well themselves.

Duct design is also its own huge field. If you just haphazardly run flex duct off a main trunk, you're getting a pretty typical professional residential job. But if you're doing it yourself, you have the opportunity to fabricate rigid sheet metal ducting, seal all the seams and gaps perfectly, design the entire system to be balanced, have enough returns, etc. This information would all be found in ASHRAE Manual D (D for Duct). Keep those ducts out of the attic! A crawlspace duct install is fine as long as there's a sealed vapor barrier over the dirt and the crawlspace walls are insulated.


Cap water supply line (kitchen) I have a 3/8 OD (I believe) water supply line coming out of a T-connection in my kitchen - one line services the cold water for the sink faucet and the other goes to the fridge.

I would like to cap the line that goes to the fridge/ice maker (but I don't want to remove the T all together because I want to preserve the option for later).

I went to the hardware store and was directed to the compression cap in the photo but this doesn't feel like the right solution.  I would be tremendously appreciative for thoughts on:

-Is this the right solution?

-Should I be worried that it just metal on metal without a washer or anything else to seat the cap?

-Should I use teflon tape?

-Someone mentioned that this item was not to be used solo but rather with a ferrule.  Do you agree?  How would that work?

-The packaging is unintelligible to me - it says to "fit nut onto tubing and then insert sleeve" and "insert tubing into fitting."  I don't know what this is referring to but it leads me to think that this is not designed for the use I have in mind.

I am very nervous about water leaks and want to take the most judicious approach.

TL:DR version:
We don't use the ice maker in the fridge and the current water supply line going to the fridge is rusty and not looking good.  Rather than replacing the line (I also fear that my freezer might have a small leak in the line but that is for another post) I figure capping it is the best way to avoid possible leaks in the line or a leak in a line once the water enters the fridge.  Also, I don't want to remove the T-connection that splits the main cold water line to the sink and the fridge because we may be getting a new fridge and we may want to use the ice maker then...  Are there other clever solutions to this problem?

The back of the cap packaging is generic and is meant more for other compression fittings.  It doesn't make sense for a cap.

That cap is the correct part you need, but Teflon tape is not needed for those threads.  In compression fittings, the threads do not seal anything.  The seal is made between "compression" of a ferrule that slides around the pipe being connected to.

With a cap, there is no ferrule, and the idea is that the seal will be metal to metal - the flat surface on the male threaded side of the tee, and the flat inside of the cap.  That cap will need to be tight to make a good seal.  If the face of the male threaded part is damaged or roughed up at all, a good seal might be hard to achieve.  In that case, you can cut a small washer to insert into that cap out of rubber or nylon or similar material.  That is usually not needed.


What is a dry steamer? I want to buy a steamer to help getting rid of bed bug but I read that a steamer could wet the wooden furniture thus they could be ruined.

Some recommends dry steamer but I am not sure what do they mean by it. Is it some steamer which doesn't need to put water in it?

Dry steamers are the preferred model as they reach upwards of 240 degrees Fahrenheit and leave less moisture after treatment. Wet steamers, still effective on bed bugs, don’t reach such high temperatures and can leave surfaces wet; the higher the temperature, the more effective in tight spots.

http://www.badbedbugs.com/bed-bug-steamer/

So they aren't dry, they are (allegedly) hotter than other steamers which presumably means after hitting your cold furnishings, much of the (invisible) steam is still hot enough that it doesn't condense back into (visible) water vapor. Therefore your steamed surfaces end up less wet.


Single pole switch to combination switch My light switch only has two wires, and I wanted to install a combination switch is it possible?

Im in new york and I dont know if this is even up to code with the city.

Two wires means you have a hot and a switched hot. You don't have a neutral, which is required for the outlet. So you can't hook that up.

You'll need to run 3 line wire so you have a proper neutral.


How to fix wobble in outdoor pavers I have an outdoor area covered in pavers. The pavers are 2ft by 2ft. Under them is Brock PaverBase and under those is sand. The surface under the sand is as level as can be. There is some wobble in the pavers that is noticeable. I didn't use any polymeric joint sand due to the large size of the pavers. What can I do? Thank you in advance.

I wouldn't remove the paver base, which provides quite a bit of stability, but I'd consider a thin layer of sand over it to act as a buffer. If the base has joints or gaps that would allow the sand to drain, you could install a sheet of plastic or heavy landscape fabric first.


sudden problem with a 3way switch The 2 overhead lights in my garage are controlled by LIGHTED 3way switches. The wiring has been in place and operating properly for years. Recently, ONE of the lights has been going off and on at various times for various length of time. Only 1 light has been effected, the other has been fine. I've made the following changes in this order: replaced the bulb, replace the light fixture and replaced the switch closests to the problem light. I have not been able to correct the problem. Could the 2nd swicth be the problem? What causes switches to suddenly fail? Any help would be appreciated!

With only 1 light having a problem it is not the switch. You changed the lamps. Since it still has a problem the ballast in that fixture is failing. This is very common with electronic ballasts. When the lamps get old they stress the electronics. The lamps need to be changed as soon as they start flickering especially with black at the ends of the tubes. You will need to replace the ballast or the fixture. Some times cheaper to replace the fixture, or buy a cheap fixture of the same size and swap the ballast if it is an expensive fixture.


How much weight can my garage's ceiling joists support? I've got a detached garage which was built in the 1940s and I'm trying to figure out whether it's safe to add an attic ladder and use the attic space for storage. The ceiling joists are 2x6 [pine/fir], spaced 16" OC, and span 20 ft. The wide span makes me bit wary about putting heavy items up there or installing a ladder.

It should make you leery. Playing around with a wood beam calculator I had to trim loads down to 7 lbs per square foot to get any of the solutions to come up 2x6 for 20 foot span and 16" spacing. That's not even light storage (by my definition.) It's not even a residential attic with no storage by more official definitions (10 PSF) nor an attic with storage by those (30 PSF)

Either leave it alone or hire a civil/structural engineer to develop a plan where you'd either refit the roof structure (effectively turning a rafter and joist arrangement into trusses, if that's practical, by adding web members) or place a properly sized and supported beam down the middle to cut the span in half. In short, if you want storage up there, it will cost a bit more than a set of stairs.


Can you run a pool pump with a cover on? Can you run pool pump with vinyl tarp style cover on the pool.  This cover drops down into the pool approx. 6-8 inches by design.

Sure, a pool cover doesn't bother the works at all.  Most outdoor hot tubs are designed to have a cover over them while waiting for bathers to show up.

If there are any aerators, I would close them if it will be running for more than a few days without the cover being removed—to keep it looking nice and smooth.  Otherwise big blotchy bubbles form.


How does one carryout a thermal survey of one's house? House built in the 1940's, Pacific Northwest, generally snowless climate, now with several generations of additions, such as a dormer, all in all at least twice as much living space compared to 1940s.

How do I carry out a survey of heat loss to identify and prioritized weak spots for limited dollars for improvements?

Is it as simple a matter as getting an thermometer gun from a box store like Home Depot or Lowes or Harbor Freight, then mapping out the doors and skylight glass and window glass and various walls and ceilings?

How do those examples of conductive/convective heat loss compare to mass losses such as faulty sealing around doors and sashes?

Lastly, are there any online estimator calculators or tables for major projects? for example adding thickness to a 250 sqft 2x6 cathedraled shed dormer to make it more like 2x8 or 2x10? or more simple projects like replacing an old single-pane exterior door with a thermalpane door?

Your utility company likely has a free survey you can complete yourself (sometimes they will even send someone to do it), and there are probably similar surveys to be found online.  These are based on compiling data about your house that can be calculated.  This includes things like wall dimensions, thickness and insulation, size and type of windows, attic insulation, geographic location and house orientation, etc.

That will tell you which existing features it might make sense to upgrade, the upgrade options and typical costs, and how long the payback time would be for each.

But that is only as good as the condition of those features; it can't identify thermal leaks from deterioration of the features, like the seals around windows and doors.

Those problems can be identified with thermal imaging, but they can also largely be identified through inspection.  You may see the gaps, or feel drafts from gaps around doors with bad weatherstripping or windows with bad sealing.

But even if some existing thermal leaks are hard to discern, you won't necessarily need thermal imaging to discover every last one; they may get fixed in the process of upgrading features even if you aren't aware of them.  For example, if you replace old single-pane windows or upgrade the windows, installation of the new ones should take care of any leaks associated with the old ones.