Repair a crack in a brick windowsill How do I repair a crack in a brick windowsill?   I assume that it needs to be sealed to prevent water from getting in, especially during the winter when it could freeze.

The other side of the window has a similar crack that was repaired by the previous owner of our house.

It appears they may have used some sort of epoxy.   Is that what I should do for the other side as well?   If so where do I get it and how do I use it?

If the cracked bricks are loose (as in when you wiggle them they move) they should be removed and new brick installed (or clean the old ones of mortar).   If the cracked bricks are sound and secure the gaps should be filled ,as you noted, to keep water from further damaging the sill.  There are many colors of concrete-type caulking, so if desired the gaps can be filled with a red color and the joint with a grey color. Use a urethane caulk for greater longevity.    A two part epoxy would work just as well as a caulk but it would be difficult to color match (if that is important). Epoxies can be purchased at a local hardware store or a contractors warehouse.


Is it possible to boost an electrical circuit for more current draw? In my attic I have a relatively decent electrical circuit that runs a family room with a modest entertainment system, a home office with a monster PC, and a couple of ceiling lights. I've never had any problems with it before.

Recently I got a new laser printer that apparently draws a lot of current briefly when it comes out of sleep mode - enough to trip my UPS (the printer is not plugged into the UPS). I don't know if this is a dangerous situation, but it's unsettling and I'd like to fix it if possible.

To directly answer your question: no you cannot "boost" a circuit.

Every wire has a voltage drop, and according to NEC it can't be more than 5% at the outlet. Voltage drop is proportional to the length of the wire, resistance (which is dependent on the size of the wire), and current. In other words, as your load goes up, so does your voltage drop.

If your existing wiring is just on the edge of either load or size, then the current may be going up enough that it's below the UPS threshold and thus the UPS is switching to back-up power because it sees it as a brown-out.

If the cable is too small (typical is 14AWG for a 15A circuit, 12AWG for 20A) then the only thing you can do is either increase the cable size, or run a new circuit (and really, you're not going to pull out the old cable and run bigger cable, it's just as much work to run a new circuit so you might as well do that).

If the load is too high (eg, you're close to 15A) then the only thing you can do is run a new circuit, or decrease the load.

You could start by using a Kill-a-watt or similar device to measure power consumed by your PC,  printer, TV, etc. This will help guide you to what is consuming too much power, and where (if you go this route) it makes sense to split the circuit up.

You mentioned lights; using LED or CFL bulbs may be a stop-gap to save some power, and is certainly one of the easier things you can do.

If it comes to it, there's ways to be creative about how to split the circuit up, without necessarily having to rip out a lot of drywall. You may be able to run a new cable halfway, and then splice in and split the circuit into two, starting from a light or receptacle. You may be able to find the wire underneath in the basement, and cut it and put in a junction box so the circuit from that point on is on the new circuit. It's hard to be specific here without actually being in your house.


What tape should I use to seal leaks in forced air heating system? I have some of this duct tape Nashua 557 Premium Grade Flex Duct Tape.  Is this the correct stuff to use to seal leaks in a forced air heating system, or is there something else I should be using?

Note:

It says it's rated for Class 1 ducts, I haven't been able to find out what exactly a Class 1 duct is yet though.

Looking at the specifications on the page you linked to, it appears to be made of the same basic materials as other duct tapes: plastic coated fabric with a rubber adhesive.  Premium Grade it may be, but I think you'll run into the same problems -- it'll get brittle and crack with age.  I've used aluminum foil tape where I've needed spot repairs; Home Improvement 1-2-3 says to use duct mastic when installing ducts.

I found this article very useful: Can Duct-Tape Take The Heat?

  Duct Tape Cannot Take The Heat

  Although our testing has not been able
  to differentiate amongst other sealant
  products, the data shows that cloth
  duct tape is not a good sealant for
  use in ducts that operate at much
  above ambient temperature. We believe
  this is due to the rubber adhesive,
  but cannot state so definitively. For
  the most part, cloth backing and
  rubber adhesives go hand in hand. Thus
  it is not surprising that the other
  sealant products have not demonstrated
  any of the failure modes we have seen
  in the duct tapes. There are a few
  products that use rubber adhesives
  with non-cloth backing and we intend
  to test these in the future.

To address your side note about Class 1 ducts: from the scope for UL 181 Standard for Factory-Made Air Ducts and Air Connectors

  Class 0 - Air ducts and air connectors having surface burning characteristics of zero.

  Class 1 - Air ducts and air connectors having a flame-spread index of not over 25 without evidence of continued progressive combustion and a smoke-developed index of not over 50.


hampton bay ceiling fan quit working my ceiling fan is hard wired with no switch only operated by remote control.it stopped working so I replaced the remote control,which worked for about a year.i opened the remote and could find no problems...checked/replaced battery,still no go.could the problem be in the fan itself?the unit is approx. 12 years old.the light on the remote works but is dim....


How do I install laminate counter tops? What are some tips/tricks to it? I'm preparing to install a new laminate counter top in my kitchen; as this is the first I have installed by myself, I would like to know if there are any tip/tricks or things to look out for while doing it?

Specifically, what is the best saw and technique to use when trimming the counter top to length?  The counter top has a back splash attached, and I'm not quite sure how to handle cutting it.

What are the best tools and techniques for cutting the hole for the sink, are there any tricky bits to watch out for while doing it?

I know this is a lot to ask for a single question, but I'm looking for the ultimate step by step guide to installing a laminate counter top.  Also this counter will be in the shape of an "L", so it would be nice to cover attaching the two pieces and any gotchas associated with that.

Cutting the countertop to length:

Try making a custom circular saw jig to cut your countertop to size. 3/4" plywood placed together at right angles with a cleat for guiding your saw should give you a straight cut. Assemble the jig with extra material, then cut it to size with your saw for a perfect fit.

Use a saw blade with a high tooth count and cut the counter upside down. That way, the blade teeth are traveling down (but really up) into the counter surface, minimizing chances for chipping out. Start by cutting the backsplash first, with the rest of the counter pointing towards the floor. Then stop and rotate the countertop so it's upside down and finish the cut. Be sure to support the cutoff material so it doesn't break off a chunk of the laminate near the end of the cut.

As @auujay points out, masking tape can also help reduce the likelihood of chipping.

Source: woodworkingtips.com

Cutting the sink hole:

I crawled several forums looking for advice on this one. Some suggested techniques (in the order that I would try them) were:

Use a jigsaw with a down-stroke blade to cut out the sink hole. By cutting on the top surface, you have a more accurate picture where your sink hole will be, and the downstroke blade will eliminate chip-out. Start each rounded corner with a 1/2" spade bit.
Use a jigsaw with a metal cutting upstroke blade. The finer teeth will make for slower work, but have less of a chance of chipping.
Use a circular saw to cut straight sides from underneath the countertop. Flip over and finish the rounded corners with a downstroke jigsaw blade.

Once again, use masking tape for both cut line visibility and to reduce the chance of chipping the laminate. Also remember to support the cutout section to avoid tearing the laminate near the end of the cut.


Are 2" roofing nails through the nailing fins of a new window enough to hold the window in place permanently? Is using 2" roofing nails on the nailing fins of new construction windows enough to hold them in place permanently?  It seems to me like there should be some fasteners in the extension jambs, but maybe I'm just remembering back to when I installed some replacement windows (without nailing fins).

Matthew PK offers some very specific instructions. I happen to disagree with most of them, but they may work for some windows.  I will simply state that every new window comes with specific installation instructions.  You should follow them.  Otherwise you will void the manufacturer's warranty.

Here is an informative article from Fine Homebuilding:

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/install-replacement-windows-and-flashing-correctly.aspx

As far as fastening the jamb extensions to the trimmer stud goes - unless the window installation instructions specifically forbid it you may want to shim and trim screw just to guarantee plumb/square.  The casing is typically what connects the jamb extension to the trimmer studs.


Leveling techniqe for wooden floors I have a hole in a wooden floor as shown on the picture below.

There are different bumps on the underfloor beneath. There used to be and old furnace installed here before so it's possible that the underfloor has been additionally reinforced.

I've managed to find some leftover wood lying around that is thick enough to fill the hole to the level which the primary floor boards take.

However, at some places the holes in the underfloor are to big, so the the new boards would either bend or float.

Here is a conceptual drawing of the situation:

1. This is how it currently looks.

2. and 3. are the approaches I would choose to take.

Is there a established best practice on how one would approach this problem and what could be the pitfalls?

Making a stable support for the frame is turning into more work that I have anticipated. Some of the boards of the underfloor are having almost 1cm hight differences.

So far, the simples way I found to stabilize the boards was to use wedges and flatten the pointing edge so it serves as a touch point for the neighbor board.

This is not woodworking per se, but.... I would recommend mixing mortar and creating a level surface at one level in which the subfloor can be firmly supported and either anchored or glued.  If the base concrete is loose, it should be removed down to a firm base and then refilled to the appropriate level.  Note that anchoring to the concrete may be difficult with nails and may require concrete screws in drilled openings to provide a secure base.

The pitfalls are instability from not providing a firm anchorage to support the flooring and the possibility of mold or decay if the wood comes in contact with water or excessive humidity below.


Adding a 24" closet door to interior shear wall Does the wall in the image need additional support? I intend to put a 24" wide closet in a hallway. The Wall has a diagonal beam going across it. I believe the beam was put there for shear. Supporting horizontal forces (wind etc..).

I will be adding another 2x4 to support the load of the roof. I will also add a header for the closet. Both are shown in black in the image. Would you recommend additional support to the wall to help with load or shear?

Structure: 1962, Split level
Location: Western North Carolina

We don’t design for what’s normal. We design for the unusual. Just because you don’t have wind storms too often, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take precautions for high winds.

Structural shear walls are usually at the exterior (perimeter) of the house. However, perimeter shear walls can only resist a certain amount. If the house is more than 3:1 length to width or if it has an unusual shape (like “L” shaped) or a split level house, then interior shear walls are often required.

You call the diagonal brace a “beam”. I call it a diagonal shear brace. (The code allows diagonal shear braces, in lieu of plywood shear walls.)

I suspect the diagonal shear brace is structural, because someone went to a lot of work to carefully cut the studs for the diagonal brace. One way of checking to verify that it is structural is to 1) verify that it extends from the top plate to the sole plate, 2) verify that a diagonal brace or shear wall (plywood or OSB board) extends up to the roof in the attic DIRECTLY above the diagonal brace, 3) verify that a diagonal brace or shear wall extends down to a CONTINUOUS footing. (Are those 2-16 d nails into each stud?)

If any of these conditions do not apply, then it’s not a structural shear wall FOR WIND OR EARTHQUAKES. (However, it could be for lateral stability for stairs or some other element. To verify that, we’d need more detail.)


Is there any considerable advantage to a forced air-to-air heat exchanger over just cleverly positioned positive pressure forced air intake? This is from a typical North Western European housing perspective where most (older) buildings will not have forced air/AC/heat pumps etc. for various reasons, and most houses are only heated using gas powered central heating with water based radiators for transport. This means if you want fresh air in winter, you're opening a window and wasting energy in the air that was heated.
I understand the workings of forced air-to-air heat exchangers and how they can warm or cool fresh air coming in and how that could improve the energy loss situation. My question is, is it that much better than just forcing fresh air in to mingle with the stale air and having the over-pressure leak out, perhaps at the opposite end of a room or low to the ground where it is colder?
Of course I understand that you will lose some efficiency over a heat exchanger, as you will be leaking a mix of air containing also a lot of stale energy out that has not properly transferred energy. But is it that much worse considering the added complexity of a heat exchanger? Any other downsides/advantages I should be aware of?

This is a simple question requiring a complex answer...!
What you are asking is the cost-benefit tradeoff of installing a heat exchanger. How much will you save on heating costs, vs what does it cost to purchase and operate the exchanger. And you wish to compare that to forced air ventilation.
Factors to consider:

Required or desired ventilation rate, usu. depends on occupancy and your tolerance to flatulence
Number of heating degree days, from local climatological data
Heat exchanger efficiency, e.g. 60-80%, or 0% for ventilation without exchanger
Electricity consumed by exchanger, including its fan and defroster
Cost of heating, based on your local price of electrical or hydrocarbon energy
Purchase cost for the heat exchanger sized appropriately for your dwelling

This linked article shows a pay-back time of 5-years, but of course, it all depends on your parameters. The data in these calculations use imperial units, but it's a good example. You'll find similar calculations elsewhere, and I wouldn't be surprised if your local energy supplier has some detailed data, considering the cost of energy and your climate (Belgium? Netherlands?)
https://home-energy.extension.org/cost-effectiveness-of-installing-heat-exchangers/
Personally I have found that in mild climates (North West Europe, Western Canada / North Western USA) the heat loss due to cracked-open windows or natural ventilation pales in comparison to the house's heat lost through building envelope cracks & radiation losses. The heat exchanger makes much more sense in areas with long winters down to -10C ... -20C.
One reason is the obvious temperature of the taken-in air, but the other is the local building code for insulation. Milder climate regions often have looser insulation requirements, and so the total energy loss is less impacted by ventilation.


Can we use an under mount sink as a drop in? We got a great deal on a sink, but then found out it is an undermount model.  Our current one is a drop-in.  We would not be able to add the support needed for an under mount.  Has anyone installed an under mount sink as a drop in?  It is a Kohler (K-5805-2) cast iron, and it's obvious we will have to do something with the larger pre-drilled holes (2 3/8").  Hope you have some advice for us.

According to your model number it is a Kohler self rimming, surely made for drop in, not undermount


Will joint compound / drywall mud clog my drain? If I wash my tools (knives and mud pan) in my laundry tub/sink after use, will the drywall mud clog my drain pipes?

I think it would depend on the amount of compound you're putting down the drain, what size drain, how much water is used to flush the tools, and probably a few other factors I haven't thought of. Though typically it's not a problem, as long as you're not pouring a whole tray of mud down the drain.

Scoop out any left over mud from your tray/hawk, and throw it away. Then rinse all the tools thoroughly.

NOTE: If you're using premixed compound, never put unused mud back in the bucket.  Once the mud is out of the bucket, either use it, or toss it.


Replacing the track and the rollers for a sliding glass door (kitchen to patio) The track that this door slides on is worn out beyond repair. I need to replace it and I would like to know if it is possible (from your experience) to totally replace the rollers and the track.
I have looked online for such kits but they don't seem to be available. i can't see how I can replace the track only as it is impossible to find one online so I am thinking about buying the whole thing (rollers and track). My questions to you: are these pretty much standard ? Is this type of replacement possible, do you foresee any issues?

The only thing "standard" about sliding doors is that they have rollers and tracks. Beyond that there is no such thing as standard. If you start to look around for replacement rollers themselves you will find out that there are literally dozens of sizes and styles. Check out this web site to see what I mean. They show 114 types that they have available!!

So to replace rollers alone entails having the part you are replacing in hand and very carefully compare it to the size description and pictures at the place you hope to find the replacements.

As far as track replacement, if your track is not too far gone, sometimes it is possible to purchase a clip on stainless steel strip that fits over the worn track and provides a new true edge for the rollers to run on. Not all tracks are compatible with these strips though and that leaves you with a huge decision of whether you just replace the whole door assembly. That is likely the only real choice because for as many styles of rollers that exist there an equal number of models of aluminum extrusions that the door manufacturers have used for the track and lower threshold of the door.

There is the additional factor regarding the replacement itself. If you look closely at most sliding door track pieces you will note that they are assembled to the side parts of the door frame using screws up from the bottom side. In the case that you did somehow get lucky and found the exact replacement track piece you would have to completely remove the door frame unit from the rough opening to be able to install the new piece. At that point you are half way toward what it would take to install a new door assembly.

If your house is old there may be some good arguments to install a new door. There have been many advances in these doors over the years including more energy efficient glass pane stacks and vinyl frames.


Is there any problem with installing a prehung inswing exterior door backwards as an outswing? My local home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes only have prehung inswing exterior doors, and I could special order an outswing prehung door but they're like $310+ whereas the equivalent inswing doors are around $170. I really don't want to pay double just because I'm installing an outswing door. Is there anything wrong with reversing a prehung door designed to inswing in terms of waterproofing or something I'm not considering? I'll of course switch to security hinges so you can't just pop the pins out and take the door off from the outside. Also I was wondering if it's possible to reverse the bottom plate so that it looks correct?

Thanks

I don't recommend this if the door is exposed to any sort of weather.

The threshold is different. This is the big issue, as you don't want standing water, and an exterior door isn't designed to deal with indoor rain. You'd also end up with rain pooling on the top edge of the door, which might be bad. Make sure all the hinges are rated for outdoor use; you don't want them to rust, and that's something an inswing door doesn't need to deal with.

Code wise, if you're switching from inswing to outswing, make sure there's enough room near the front door. If you have steps up to a small front stoop, an outswing door may not be code compliant, as you'd need to step off the stoop to open it. (And would be generally annoying to deal with.)


Drill hole through thick wall for TV cable I want to drill a hole in the wall to pass tv cable from one room to adjacent room. My drill bit has small length. If I want to drill from both sides of the wall, how to mark the hole to match it in between.

Not knowing your wall configuration (or even your country), I am going to assume the most common walls for interior walls in the USA.  That is a hollow wall with 2x4 studs with drywall on each side.  You pretty much have 2 choices of how to do this.  One is buy a longer drill bit and the other is do your best from both sides.  A while back I purchased a 1/4" dia x 12" long. It can probably be purchased at any hardware or big box store.

If you don't want to spend a few bucks on a longer drill bit then do the following:

In the area you want to put the cable through, determine the stud locations.  Either use a stud finder or tap gently on the wall with a hammer and listen for hollow vs more solid sounds.  You will want to avoid the studs for the obvious reason and because there could be wires running along them.
Drill a hole in one side of the wall, using the size of drill bit that the cable will fit through.
Measure where that hole is to a corner that might be common distance on both sides. For example if both rooms are on a single outside wall, measure to the corner on that wall.
In the adjacent room, measure back from the appropriate corner that distance, and the same distance up from the floor.
Drill a smaller hole from this second room.
Have a friend hold a flashlight up against the small hole while you look through the larger hole.  This will let you know if you are close enough and in which direction to try to fish a wire through.  If the hole does not line up very well, repeat the drilling of the smaller hole and checking the alignment.
Once you have good alignment, enlarge the smaller hole.
Tape an end of the cable to a stiff wire (old wire coat hangers were good for this, but now hard to find) or rod (long pencil, dowel), or even a stiff broom fiber.  Basically anything that is stiff and small enough to go through both oles that a wire could be taped to.
Poke the stiff through the hole until you feel it pass all the way through. Once it is through, it is easy to gently pull the wire through.  It might take a second person to help the taped connection get through.
If necessary, go back and repair any of the smaller holes that might need patching.
If you want it to look better, you could use a short cable and purchase electrical plates for cables.  This becomes a connection in each of the two rooms that a cable is attached to.

Personally, it is a lot easier to buy the longer drill bit, then widen the hole a little bit larger. Then  tape the cable end to the drill bit to use it to pass through the wall.  They are not all that expensive and has been useful in many situations.


New Wooden decking. To stain or not to stain I had new wooden decking installed on my balcony.
The guy that did the job says it doesn't need stain because the wood is already treated: http://www.diy.com/departments/premium-brown-softwood-deck-board-t28mm-w144mm-l3600mm/945944_BQ.prd

He said to sand and stain it in two years time, but I was wondering if I stain it now maybe it will last more than two years?
I live in London so, as you probably know, it rains A LOT. Wood is a very poor choice, but I can't change it because of the rules in my apartment lease.

I'm not sure what preservative-treated means. [Edit: lower in the page it specifically reads "pressure-treated".] Around here, pressure-treated lumber is soaking wet and not suitable for stain/sealer until it's dried at least an entire season.

If it's truly kiln-dried, you're free to apply a stain/sealer at any time. To preserve color and prevent surface degradation, sooner is better.


Why does the circuit breaker for my bedroom continue to trip without any visible event after a power loss? The 20A breaker for my bedroom will trip whenever we have a power outage at my house. If you reset it, it will trip again after an interval, say 5~10 seconds. The longer you wait to reset it, the longer it will go before it trips. It generally takes 5-6 hours of waiting before you can reset it and and not have it trip again. What might be causing this? Could it actually be a wiring or electrical problem in my house or is it likely that the breaker is failing?

Things connected to the breaker:

Two desk lamps
One overhead lamp
One fan
Two desk clocks/alarm radios

Having the lights and fan off does not seem to impact this.

The last time this happened, we contacted our landlord to have an electrician come fix it when we could not get the breaker to stay on. An electrician came out the day after and found nothing wrong and it was working: very unhappy landlord.

Probably a bad breaker, but the symptoms are also consistent with a mild overload causing the breaker to heat up and trip over time, the longer you let the breaker cool before resetting, the longer it takes for it to heat up and trip again.

I'd leave it turned off until you've ruled out a short in the wiring or other overload condition causing it to trip - if it's a short somewhere, that short is causing a lot of heat somewhere in the walls or other inaccessible place.

It's possible that the wiring is not straightforward and there's a load connected to the breaker that you're not aware of - like maybe the toaster in the kitchen is on the same circuit so be aware of what other appliances in the house may be in use when you experience the trip.

The hard thing about finding a short circuit is that if it's due to, say, a bad connection in a junction box under the floor, it may not short out until you walk near it and make the wires flex enough to touch. If you notice any kind of burning smell associated with the trip, keep the breaker turned off until someone finds the problem.

Some types of breakers are subject to "nuisance tripping" even without any overload or wiring problems - if you have an AFCI or GFCI breaker, you could be experiencing nuisance trips due to a device that's plugged in.

If you have 20A service to your bedroom, you're probably in a newer house (15A is more typical, especially in older construction), so a short is less likely than if you're in an older house so the most likely cause of the problem is a bad breaker. Hopefully the landlord had his electrician swap out the breaker since a breaker is relatively cheap compared to having the electrician make another service call.

The consequences of a short somewhere are severe enough (i.e. a fire in the walls or other inaccessible area) that it's worth ruling out a short before you leave the circuit turned on. If the landlord can't fix it to your satisfaction, hire an electrician of your own and bill it back to the landlord. Even if it's just a bad breaker, the landlord is responsible for wiring problems.

The fact that it stays on after waiting 5-6 hours probably means that it's not a short, but I wouldn't dismiss any repeated circuit breaker trips since the circuit breaker is your only warning about a dangerous short in the wiring.


Only run hose when other fixtures are turned off In my basement, I have the plumbing pictured here below. The pipe going up from the tee on the right feeds all the fixtures in the main house, and the pipe going down feeds everything in the pool house (a sink, toilet, and hose spigot). Currently, when anything (particularly the hose) is running at the pool house, everything in the main house completely loses pressure. We can’t so much as pour a glass of water from the sink, let alone do laundry or flush the toilets.

With pool season coming up, I’ll be running that hose quite a bit to replace the water that evaporated over the winter. This is a huge pain, and with everyone stuck at home during our shelter-in-place order, we can’t just run the hose while we’re at work like we used to.

Is there a way to reconfigure this so that the pool house loses pressure when house fixtures need water? Ideally, I’d like to not even notice that the hose is running at the pool. (This would also enable me to add an auto-fill valve out at the pool so that the water maintains level. I’ve wanted to do that for a couple years, but I’ve hesitated because it means we’d lose pressure in the house “randomly”)

Update:

I had a chance this afternoon to investigate the well equipment a bit. We have a 30/50 switch, and the pump is a Franklin Electric model 2445059004. Would it be a good idea to replace the switch with a 40/60? Would it help?

Use a reduced flow rate to fill the pool, don't open one of the valves fully so that sufficient pressure is maintained in your house.


Custom-making vertical downpour showerhead from copper pipe? What are the necessary considerations for custom-making a showerhead? Specifically, what is the relationship between the number of holes and the water flow and such?

I'm about to begin a remodel project of my main floor bathroom. I'm on somewhat of a tight budget and I've already hit that without buying any fixtures so I'm looking for crafty alternatives to buying brand new kit. As part of the re-plumbing, i'll end tearing out about 20 feet of somewhat clean 3/4" rigid copper pipe. I was thinking of bending some of this into a tight coil and drilling holes, 1/16" or smaller, to turn it into a vertical downpour type showerhead. I have all the tools necessary for this kind of project.

If I use 1/16" holes, I would need to drill 256 of them to end up with almost exactly the same overall area as the cross-section of the 1/2" plumbing that is feeding the showerhead. Do I want fewer holes to increase the pressure? Or more holes?

What you're going for is flow and velocity to make for a good feeling shower.  There is absolutely no reason to assume that the cross-sectional area of the nozzle has to match that of the pipe, in fact you don't really want it to, you want the velocity coming out of the nozzle to be higher than that in the pipe, that's why you have a nozzle.  At any rate, the pressure drop across 256 (shouldn't it be 64?) 1/16" holes is a lot different than that across one 1/2" hole.

Nozzle making is tricky because there's a lot more that goes in to it than just the pressure and velocity.  There's friction, edge effects, and contraction at the holes.  There's even, as gbronner says, pressure drop through the line, but in a 3/4" manifold, the drop should be very small.  I'd say your best bet is to experiment.  Start with a small number of holes and work your way up until it feels right.  Looking at my own shower head, it has 45 holes which all look a bit smaller than 1/16th inch.  So maybe I'd start with 30?  The fewer

Your biggest problem will be getting them to point where you want them to go.  That can be a bear and I'm not sure I know of any way to solve that other than to drill and deburr the holes very carefully and, again, experiment.  Maybe even just start with a few.  You may be surprised at where the water wants to go.


How do I understand this description of lumber? The instructions to a DIY project asks me to purchase something described as:

8-foot ¾-inch clear pine 1 x 8

What exactly does this mean. Here's my guess

8-foot: the length of the board
¾-inch: the actual height?
clear: no knots?
1 x 8: in inches the common or rough height and width.

I'm also asked to get

4-foot 5/4-inch clear pine 1 x 8

Same idea? Is the "5/4-inch" a typo that should be "3/4-inch"?

Technically, the 1x8 is 3/4" THICK, not "high". That's nitpicking, though. A 1x8 is always specified as a "1x8", never by actual stock thickness in softwoods (ie pine). A nominal 1" plank will always be 3/4" thick after planing, a nominal 2" plank will always be 1-1/2" thick after planing. Width is a little different, but follows generally the same rules - an "N"x2 is always 1-1/2" wide, an "N"x4 is 3-1/2" wide, an "N"x6 is 5-1/2" wide, BUT an "N"x8 is only 7-1/4" wide. Wider planks than nominal 6" are narrower by 3/4" instead of 1/2".

The "5/4" (pronounced "five-quarters") is correct, very commonly used for hardwoods and occasionally for "presentation grade" softwoods. That's a plank that begins life rough-sawn at 1-1/4" (5/4") thickness and is planed to 1" thickness.

"Clear" - no knots or bark inclusions.


White mold or fungus on PT lumber I'm building a wooden fence and have a number of 4x4 pressure treated lumber stacked neatly in my garage. I've been pulling posts from the stack as I work on the fence over the last 4 weeks. When I removed a post today, I noticed a white fungus or mold growing on the posts in the center of the stack. I didn't get a picture of it, but just scraped it off and sprayed the affected areas with a 10% bleach solution.
Now that I'm thinking about it I'm concerned the posts may be defective. Should pressure treated lumber support fungus or mold growth?

Most building wood, esp. PT which usually has a very high moisture content should be stacked with stickers between the boards vertically and a half inch - inch or so between them horizontally to allow for air flow. Also best to store high moisture content wood outside, but covered only on top (like a wood shed). (posted as an answer at the request of the OP).


Trying to remove a bar sink faucet and we have nothing to unscrew to be able to remove it We are trying to replace a bar faucet that was an expensive unit but 20 years old.

All the videos we watched showed a fairly simple screw to unscrew and the faucet would come right out. With this faucet, if you look at the screw and the two plates above the threaded part, nothing moves and we can't get any traction at all.

The actual faucet can twirl somewhat on the tile, but nothing actually moves below. The threaded part isn't part of any screw or nut and the threaded part isn't threaded all the way around, it has notches in the threaded area.
It would seem like those plates might be the working part but I can't make them move either.

What tool to use because nothing is working.

Any thoughts on what we are dealing with and how to remove it?

Try using a pipe wrench placed directly on that studded nut which I point to with an arrow.


Can you use casing molding for baseboard molding? I am curious if there are any reasons not to use a casing molding (typically used for doors or windows) as base molding along the floor?  The casing molding is made out of pine which seems to be used for a lot of base molding as well.  The casing molding appears to be thicker (11/16" instead of 1/2" or 9/16").  They distinguish them on the sites that sell them, so that's why I ask the question.  The casing molding is thicker (which could help with any large flooring gaps left by floating floor) and is a bit cheaper.

Casing molding:

Base molding:

As others have pointed out, it really is a style choice and nothing prevents you from switching the two.  But one thing not pointed out and you probably didn't notice, is the edge that meets the floor.  For baseboards, the bottom edge is square, where casing typically round the edges (which will not make as nice of a transition from the molding to the floor if installing over wood or tile).


Difference between interior and exterior headers This appears to be a great site for calculating header and beam requirements:
http://learnframing.com/wood-beam-calculator/
But it distinguishes between interior and exterior beams -- and the results are very different.
I am adding an addition to my one-story house. I am knocking a 10' wide door between the existing building and the addition. This door is going into the existing "exterior" wall. But when things are finished it will be in an "interior" wall. I have calculated the weight, and added the weight of the new roof to the existing. But I can't understand the tool's differences for interior vs exterior and hence not sure which to use.

Think of it as “bearing” and “non-bearing” walls.

Although, when I tested the beam calculator out, it is not accurate. It’s very conservative...especially the end bearing requirements.


3-prong to 2-prong extension cord/dimmer connections I have a lamp with a 3-prong transformer.
I have those small 3-2 prong adaptors available to use.
I want to use a dimmer switch cable (in the form of an extension cord with a sliding switch at the business end that allows a lamp to be dimmed.)  Unfortunately, this dimmer/extension cord has a 2-prong connector.

So, I want to plug the 3-prong lamp (transformer) into the 3-2 prong adaptor, and the 2-prong side of it into the female 2-prong connector of the dimmer cable so I can adapt the lamp (with its simple on/off switch only) to be dimmable.

However, I see that 3-prong adapters have a safety metal grounding plate that is supposed to be screwed into the wall plate(s).  I understand that - but I can't possible do this on an extension cord-type (dimmer) cable!

Is it possible/safe to simply plug these three things together (the lamp transformer into the 3-2 prong adaptor, and this into the female connector of the dimmer extension cable)?  I believe so because I read somewhere that modern day contraptions (like this dimmer cable) are designed to be hmmm... self-grounding?

Is that true, and would it make my idea safe to use?

Thanks for any insights,

Richard

Setting aside the issue of defeating ground wires, there's a more fundamental problem.

Actually, the lamp's ground pin is trying to protect you from this mistake.

Dimming does not work that way

The "transformer" is in fact a digital switching power supply (unless it weighs five pounds, then it really is a transformer, but I doubt it). Either way, dimming will not work with it.

The transformer will see the dimmed signal as dirty power, which it will try to clean up - getting hot as it does.  Too hot.

The switching power supply will see the dimmed signal as a brownout or defective power, and work around it - doing its level best to draw rated power anyway.  So the dimming won't work well, and will heat up, overcurrent and burn up the internal electronics of the power supply.

Both of these are precisely the types of loads which should not be dimmed.  And they put a 3-prong outlet on there, both to safety-ground the power conversion apparatus, and to try to keep you from plugging it into one of those plug-in dimmers on the cord.

How dimming really works on this type of light

Now you haven't said boo about what exact kind it is.  There are low-voltage lights which still use AC and incandescents, and this doesn't apply to them (the idea they need to be dimmed on the low-voltage side applies).  I'm assuming this is a modern light, that is LED, and runs on DC voltage.

LEDs are actually, internally, run on DC power.  Sometimes fairly high voltage DC, but also sometimes a low voltage in the 11-28 volt range.  Now, if this is a constant-current power supply -- the label will tell, by saying a range of output voltages but one output current -- then the power supply itself needs to do the dimming, by reducing current flow.  It may be possible to change it to one that does that, if the current value is respected.

Many LEDs lights, especially low-production/specialty/homebrew ones, are actually constant-voltage DC.  They specify 12 or 24 volts DC at a range (or maximum) of output currents.  Tear the individual LEDs are resistors to make them work right on 12 or 24 volts.  These dim using a technique called PWM, and the dimming is on the DC side.  So you need to look for a 12-24V PWM dimmer, and find a form-factor that will let you build it into the LED or cord.


Should the solenoid to a Furnace Humidifier be intermittent? This should be a simple yes or no question but I can't determine it myself. I have an AprilAire 550 Humidifier built into the ducting from my furnace. It appears that the humidifier isn't working due to water never spraying out of the line. I have narrowed it down to the solenoid. I can test the line going to the solenoid with a multimeter and confirm that 24 volts is going to it. Whenever the solenoid is connected, while monitoring the power, the power stays at 24 volts but the solenoid only opens the valve briefly when I connect it.

So I do know solenoids can be both intermittent and not. My question is, should this solenoid be an intermittent one? If the answer is no then of course I will replace it. I believe the answer is no since the humidistat and furnace circuit will determine whether it should be on or off.

This solenoid should not be making any decisions on its own.  It you give it power it should stay on.


Power in 1/2 house not a breaker? Short out 1/2 the house when I turn on bathroom light , then if I giggle the plug of  a plugged in lamp in the living room it comes back on? Is this a wiring in house issue ? It doesn't blow any fuses power is still running threw house.

You have a serious house wiring issue, possibly a loose wire in one or more places.

There are several possible outcomes here, one of which is your house burning down.

Call an electrician, today.


Help with strange wiring in light switch box Recently purchased a new home and went to swap out a broken single pole light switch with smart switch that requires neutral. A quick clance into the switch box and I thought it had what I needed. Upon opening it up I am just stumped.

As you can see in the picture and first thing to throw me off is the white and black wires from the same cable tied together. Only ground is tied into other cable. Upon testing, not only is this cable on a completely different circuit than the switch but the hot wire is the white wire. Also nothing in the house changed (that I noticed) when I temporarily untied to test.

When I tested the wires from the cable tied to the light switch, the white wire here is also the hot wire.

I've only changed a few other lights in the house but they were all wired as expected. Any ideas or help with what is going on here? Am I out of luck as far as a needed neutral wire goes? Thanks.

Here is my guess what is going on:
Old Wiring
Not super old like my house. (OK, that's not "super old", just the 1950s. Super old is knob & tube). Just old enough to not have required a neutral in the switch box. Neutrals in the switch box are trivial if the wiring is panel->switch->fixture. But they require an extra wire - and builders don't like to spend on an extra wire if they don't have to - if you are using switch loops.
Two Switches
Why two cables? Because there were two switches in the box at one time. One of them was removed and just wired "on" by connecting black (switched hot) & white (hot). That was probably not the right thing to do (I don't know if it is code compliant or not), but it was the easy thing to do as it makes the switched item "always on". The alternative is to disconnect the switch loop and change the wires around at the fixture so that it is always on.
Switch Loops
A switch loop is a set of wires - commonly 2, but 3 if you include neutral - that extends from a fixture to a switch. The full wiring is:

Neutral (white) from panel -> fixture neutral
Hot (typically black) from panel -> hot wire to switch (white in your case)
Switched hot (typically black) from switch -> fixture hot

With typical 2-wire cables, the only colors are black & white. So you end up with black & white connected together in a couple of places, including at/through the switch.
Normally, white means neutral. But since you don't have a neutral in a normal switch loop, you get to use white as hot. It should be marked but often isn't because it is "obvious". But with the new neutral requirement, which was created for things like your new smart switch, you need a 3-wire cable, so white becomes neutral again (capped if not used), black becomes hot and red becomes switched hot.
Since you have the box open, you should go ahead and mark the white wire going to the switch with black tape. That will make it clear to someone else in the future that it is actually a hot wire.
Sorry, Neutral Not Available
You have two choices:

Find a smart switch that doesn't require neutral
Replace the existing 2-wire cable with a 3-wire cable


Help wiring a Broan Heat/Vent/Light I am remodeling my bathroom and replacing the old HVL with a new Broan 100HL. Rather than use the Broan switch which has 3 switches in 1 gang, I am using a standard switch and a combo switch. I'm not sure my diagram is correct. Would a hot wire need to jump over to the combo switch? It seems to me that the combo switch won't have power in from the panel, therefore it would not have a circuit to break. I'm thoroughly confused and would appreciate any help!  Thanks in advance!!

Since the three switches & devices are all in one circuit, they need to share hot (panel to the switches) and neutral (from the devices back to the panel).
Hot
Take the hot wire off the vent switch. Typically there is a jumper/bridge connecting the two hots (i.e., to make a common hot connection) on the double switch. Assuming that is the case, connect two short pieces of black wire with a wire nut to the hot wire that you removed from the vent switch. Connect one of those pieces to the vent switch and the other to the double switch (heat or light screw, doesn't matter which one).
If there is no jumper/bridge between the two hots on the double switch, then connect three short pieces of black wire with a wire nut to the hot wire that you removed from the vent switch. Connect on to each of the 3 switches (vent, heat & light screws of double switch).
Neutral
Based on your diagram, you appear to be using either separate wires in conduit or a /4 cable - black/white/red/blue, and joining the two separate neutral connections of the HVL together to the white (neutral) wire going back to the panel. If so, that's fine.
However, if you actually have two separate cables - one black/white from vent switch and one black/white/red from the double switch then you have a bit of a problem. Each neutral in a cable has to match the loads in the cable. Based on the diagram, the light & vent (which each typically use < 100W) share a neutral and the heat (typically ~ 1500W) has its own neutral. You can't mix & match neutrals. Either they all get combined and the neutral wire runs next to all the switched hot wires in conduit or in a single cable, or then must be kept matched together. To keep them matched together in cables, the white (neutral) for the light & vent must be together with the switched hots for those devices and only combined together with the heat's neutral in the switchbox - not combined at the device.


Stainless Steel Washing Machine Hoses I see that an installer used stainless steel jacketed filler hoses with my new washer. (See picture below.) I was wondering if these are any better than rubber hoses?

I've heard a few stories about people going on vacation and finding their washing machine hoses burst while they were away. I try to remember to shut off the valves when I'm away, but I I'd like to know if these SS hoses help at all. (After all, they don't have to burst only while I'm out of town.)

I see in the details from my hardware store that stainless steel hoses are rated for 1500 to 2500 PSI. The rubber ones are rated at 150 PSI. That's a big difference, but does it address the underlying problem, which I assume is that the hose ages and eventually fails?

I was about to answer that these stainless steel-wrapped hoses are more reliable than plain rubber, but after looking at some articles on line, I'm not so inclined to say so. This PDF  says they're no more reliable nor last longer than good quality rubber hoses, and another article here says about the same thing. Both rubber and stainless steel clad hoses should be replaced at the same interval, about three - five years.I would still go with the stainless steel hoses, as they're not too expensive and during their lifetime are less prone to damage. However, if your water supplier uses chloramine (as opposed to chlorine) to disinfect your water, then I strongly recommend using good quality rubber hoses and replacing them every three years.


How can I remove Gorilla Glue smudges from a quartz countertop? I used Gorilla Glue to fix an item and of course there wasn't enough counter protection. I removed as much as possible but now there's smudges of Gorilla Glue.  I am afraid to do more damage! Has anyone else dealt with this issue that could offer a wonderful solution?

Using a "brand new" razor blade will remove the bulk of it. Scrape very gently against the dried glue at a sharp angle. Then use some #000 or #0000 steel wool to remove the remaining residue. Then wipe the area down well. I wouldn't suggest any harsh chemicals, it might dull the shine. Soap and water with a small amount of rubbing alcohol is about as far as I would go.


Is this a stress fracture or natural cedar characteristics on a swing set? This a 3 year old (lightly used) weather exposed swing set.

Should I be concerned about the cracks?

This is typical of wood movement. The wood will eventually start to rot because of the "pockets" created by the cracks. Those will hold water, expediting the rot that will occur over the years.

Cedar is rot resistant, but with these cracks it will quicken the inevitable. If a well formed metal cap can be added to the length of the top which would be preferred so it can be fastened on the sides, or covered with a peel and stick waterproofing, so the movement of the wood will not affect the covering. This is another preferred fix, since a metal cap is a nice harbor for insects, depending on how close it is set to the wood.


Newly framed bathroom wall not square, how bad will the tile look? I'm in the middle of a new bathroom install and have hit a bit of a snag with a bathroom wall being out of square. This bathroom was just framed from scratch, and as you can see from the attached photo one corner is pretty badly out of square. I already had to have the contractor fix the studs once (before the drywall went up) as they were even further out of whack - the stud in the bad corner was about 2 inches further out that it was supposed to be. But obviously it's still not even close to being square.

This happens to be the side of the bathroom where a tiled shower will be, and since we're using 2"x2" floor tiles, I'm concerned about how this is going to look with that much of a running/angled gap on that side. The last thing I want are little angled tile pieces running along that side. Would you have the contractor redo that section of drywall to make sure it's square? Or would you consider this within acceptable tolerances?

Thanks]1

That looks like nearly 3/4 inch in a 2 foot run. That is a lot of angle, and I think most carpenters would consider it unacceptable on a new framing job (unless there were some underlying issue, like a pipe or an old beam preventing a square outcome).

But it also sounds like your contractor is challenged when it comes to getting something square. You can try again, but you may still be disappointed.

An alternative is to use a brick pattern on the floor.

The lack of a straight line on the left would make the angle cuts less noticeable.


Why does my mobile home's panel read 240 volts between hot and neutral? The red leg of the panel in my mobile home reads 240 volt from hot to neutral. What might be the cause of this? It's causing the light bulbs to pop, and I'm afraid to turn on any appliances

You do have an open main neutral.

Turn off the main power now and call the utility. They will check to see if the problem is on their side of things or yours. I suspect yours though.


Is it possible to fix bowed baseboards? I have an old house which probably dates back to 1920s or so. Most walls are plaster and the outside walls are brick. Tenants in the 80s or 90s did not take good care of it. It was rehabbed, quickly and a bit shoddily (which I did  not really discover until after I bought it). So there are tons of examples of cutting corners (literally; when we removed some drywall to do some work we discovered one corner did not actually have a stud supporting it).

We had a handyman lay the floor but not the trim. He installed it against the existing baseboard and I'm installing shoe molding to hide the gaps.

The dining room has around 10 feet of base molding which bows considerably, as does the wall behind it.

I've heard people mention that sometimes older homes used green wood which bowed when it dried. Here's the thing, though: when I push against the bottom of the wall, it gives noticeably. I'm wondering if it's possible that this wall is not really attached to anything — at least, not in the bottom middle — and if it would be possible to attach the base of the wall to something sturdy behind it (probably the brick as I'm not at all certain that there are studs there that I can use) so that it no longer gives or bows.

If this is a bad idea for some reason, what are my options for attaching shoe molding? Do I just force it against the curved baseboard? Do I cut it into shorter pieces to compensate, and angle the lengths accordingly?

Base shoe molding is really rather flexible and should be able to push up to walls that are more than an inch or so out of alignment over a reasonable length of say nine or ten feet.

You did not show any picture or quantify the amount of bowing that exists so it is hard to take the shoe molding fit any farther without more information.

Normally when installing shoe molding it is nailed with just short finish nails into the baseboard. You do not attempt to use huge nails in an attempt to reach through into the studs. For cases where it seems that you are trying to nail the base shoe into a spongy surface I have found it to be useful to fasten it in place with a pneumatic brad nailer. The nailer imparts a lot of energy directly onto the brads so that they drive home without the bouncy flex of a wall section being much of an issue.

The bouncy and unsupported wall sections may very well have to be left for a discussion on another day.


Issues with 4 Prong to 3 Prong Conversion I've really been at a loss trying to figure this out. Quick backstory: GF moved into apartment built prior to NEC code change so it has a 3 prong outlet. Her GE Profile dryer had a 4 prong plug attached. I may ask the complex to see if they will update the outlet to a 4 prong, but assume that doesn't happen. This is a second floor apartment and the device is in a cramped laundry closet.

I opened up the back panel and the terminal block was oriented in a bizarre way from anything I've seen online. This is a used dryer so she doesn't have the owner's manual and I couldn't find anything for this model number (DPSR473EV0WW) on GE's instruction manual/owner's guide website.

I disconnected the 4 prong including the green wire from the ground screw. I was expecting to find an internal ground wire from inside the dryer that I could reconnect to the ground screw, but there was no green wire to be found. I went ahead and hooked up the 3 prong as shown:

 (closeup)

You might be wondering why the 3 prong is threaded behind the terminal block and it's because there wasn't enough slack (or enough room) in the 3 prong heads to connect them on the slanted terminal block when coming in from the right side. Hopefully this isn't an issue.

My bigger question though concerns the yellow wire which I currently have attached to the ground screw. The yellow wire (barely visible in the second image) was originally connected to the neutral terminal along with a white wire (red wire fed the top, black wire fed the bottom). I have no idea what this yellow wire is. Is it it the ground? Should I connect it as I have done to the ground screw or is it something else I need to put back onto the neutral terminal? The back of the dryer discusses a ground strap which of course is long gone so I can go get one to connect neutral to the ground screw, but this yellow wire has me perplexed. I'm trying to do this right, but this GE design is really bizarre compared to all the guides online.

I'm leaning towards putting the yellow wire back on the neutral since I don't know specifically what it does. I've heard that ground straps are not recommended anymore as it may not actually ground the chassis, so I'm kind of at a loss for what to do to make this safe.

Any ideas or advice?

Functionally what you do is get a jumper to connect the ground to the neutral since the outlet for 3 prong doesn't have its own ground.  Take a look at Harper's answer here


how to remove this faucet aerator? it just slips I have the following type of faucet aerator:

I tried to "unscrew" this one, but it seems not screwed at all; it just spins. Is there any way to remove this? As it is a separate part, there must be a way to remove it. Please help.

A bit late, but for anyone still wondering I had this problem today. I took two forks and put one prong on each into those little notches and turned counter clockwise until I felt it becoming loose. At that point, I just had to unscrew it a bit more and it came off.


How do i know how many amps to send to my subpanel? I am building a 24'x15' woodworking shop inside a larger pole barn. I want to put a subpanel in the shop fed by the buildings main panel but how do i estimate the size of the breaker to use in the main panel to send enough power to feed the shop? Is there a general guild line for woodshop power usage?

You haven't been very specific about what type of equipment you'll have in the shop, so it's impossible to give an accurate estimate.

I generally recommend 60-100 amperes, depending on what type of equipment and how much time you'll be spending on the shop.


Questions about DIY on cedar siding and maybe new windows Admins, this might be too much for 1 post, but they're all related so if it needs broken up, just let me know.  Also anyone reading this, please feel free to speak to just one part because it's a lot.

My house is wrapped in cedar siding, built in the mid 80s. Someone painted the front in latex paint (cracked, split, cupped, name it) and needs replaced, but the rest was stained rather well -- a lovely green I might add and looks fantastic, outside of a board or two that has split for who knows why.  I'll be replacing those soon.

Anyway, I'm considering replacing all the siding on the front of the house myself (I have a miter saw, circular saw, a good ladder ... plenty of tools to do this) and had a few questions about doing it in a way that means business and I REALLY don't like doing things twice, so I want to do it right.  I also hate paying 3-4x more for someone else to do it.

My first set of questions is regarding the siding.  My house is facing south, so it gets baked in the Georgia sun.  Bad.  I have some really large trees that protect the rest of the house, but the front gets sun for 8+ hours and for this reason I've considered concrete (hardy) siding.  My questions -- 1, should I do it (hardy) or the cedar and 2, would it look stupid?

My next questions are around replacing the particle board panels and adding a layer of that house wrap stuff.  I figure if I'm ripping off all the siding, I should replace the particle board with plywood and add house wrap. The way it's done now is with that thin, really crappy stuff and I have a feeling I'm going to find problems.  I've watched a few videos on doing the wrap and it seems stupid easy.  Any reason why I shouldn't do the house wrap?  Other than cost, any reason not to do the plywood and how thick should the plywood be?  Has to be exterior rated too right??

Final set of questions -- should I replace the windows while I do this?  My current windows are 14 years old, some don't open real well, hazed up, etc so they're due but the framing of the windows I have is metal and there's no screws on the inside of it for removal.  It makes me think there's no easy way to do replacement windows (vs new construction) but I'm not sure, so I ask :-)

I REALLY don't like doing things twice ...

This might indicate it is not a DIY project for you.  However, if you are willing to do a few bits and pieces twice, you might be able to master the work well enough for a permanent result.

  I also hate paying 3-4x more for someone else to do it.

This is often the best motivator, and hopefully provides some perspective.  If you end up spending 20% more than a perfectly executed DIY, you are still way ahead.

  1, should I do it (hardy) or the cedar

Dunno without seeing it.  My house is brick on one face (the north side, oddly) and cedar shingles on the other sides.  As long as the finished product looks like it is supposed to be that way, it should be fine.  Have you thought about planting shade trees on the south side?

As far as redoing the siding's cladding/sheathing, you probably won't know until after tearing off the siding.  It could be that part was well done.  I don't think it needs exterior rating because it should be well protected and never in contact with moisture.  1/2 inch plywood or chipboard is standard, but thicker won't hurt and will help a bit with sound insulation and overall durability.

As far as house wrap, brace yourself:  it is surprisingly expensive (maybe $100 for one side).  If airflow through the wall is a significant factor, like all the other walls are tight and this wall is the big leaker, then it is worth it.  If all the other walls and windows leak significantly, then don't bother unless you plan to eventually seal them all.

You might also consider adding additional insulation while that is open, both inside the wall cavity and perhaps as another layer on the outside.  This might cost thousands, but given the high price of electricity there and typical air conditioning use, it probably will pay for itself in 8–15 years, as well as being a big improvement in comfort.

If you are going to replace windows, it will be way easier with the siding off than at any other time.  The flanges are screwed into the cladding from outside.  14 years isn't all that old of a window, and a straight replacement isn't likely to save much.  However, an upgraded replacement could well save on energy costs.  Again the pay-for-itself period is probably in the 8–15 year range.  Get an energy audit from your local utility (usually free) to learn more.


Is my plan for moving return duct a few inches ok? Below is my ac unit and the return duct that connects to the blower. I currently slide my 1-inch filter under that pvc pipe that's inside the furnace. PVC is in the way and there is no L-shape latch in the back of the furnace for the filter to hold, its only only in the front. So the filter gets sucked towards the blower. I decided to install 5" media air box outside between the furnace and return duct in the picture where 1 arrow is pointing.

Problem is, the return duct that's marked as 2 in the picture is not coming down straight, it leans towards the right which is why they installed the green flex duct or whatever its called and I won't be able to install the 5" rack like this because there will be some space in between. I have move the return duct to the right by couple of inches, Can I simply remove the duct and align it then cut the top duct by few inches and cover the old space?

I will also move the condensate pump to the left of the furnace first.

Edit: Added more pictures

In pictures you can't really tell clearly but that long duct is not straight. It needs to be moved 1-2 inches to the right to make it straight.

Here is what I would do. First, move the condensate pump to the left side of the furnace to get it out of the way of the return duct. Make sure that you add enough pipe unions so the pipe could be removed for furnace service. You may even be able to use a flexible tubing instead of the rigid piping. I would then measure from the bottom of the return duct to the wall to see how far I could move the duct. I would draw a diagram of the duct I would need with an "S" offset to move the duct to the right as per the drawing. Disconnect the whole return drop from the horizontal piece to the furnace connection. Take the duct that you removed and your drawing to a sheet metal shop and have them fabricate the "S" offset or a completely new duct including a filter rack. Also have them add a canvas connector to the vertical run to make installation easier. You could then take the new duct to your home, install it, and you now have an easy filter change and a correct duct. If this out of your expertise, you could call an HVAC shop to do the work. Hope this helps


Can I use #6 wire to feed a sub panel off main I have a 200amp service, thats loaded with twins, my son just bought house, anyway I want to put a 100amp sub panel inside basement off the main panel, the run is nomore than 20', I have about 50' of #6 that Id like to use to see 100amp sub, now thing is off this sub panel I have to running 3-double pole 20's for 3 8' baseboard heaters, the Main 20amp arch fault breaker for room & a homerun 20amp breaker dedicated to a window AC unit (Im pulling lights of that line, 7 high hats.........is my #6 (4 wire) enough to carry that load and to add to down road or should I splurge to play safe and use #4 or #2?

You can feed as many 100A subpanels as you want with #6 wire, as long as the wire is supplied from 60A breakers.   Breakers protect wires.  You need a 60A breaker to protect #6 wire.  (or #4 Al).

In fact you can use any size of subpanel whose amp rating is >= the breaker that is feeding it.  Upsizing the panel is a very good idea  if it means getting more spaces.  Always get so many spaces that you never need twins/double-stuff breakers -- you can never have enough spaces!  42 spaces is not too many!

The required size for subpanel feeder is exactly the same as the required size for branch circuits, and comes out of NEC table 310.15(b)(16), formerly 310.16.  Do not use the service drop/lateral table, those are outside and can't burn your house down obviously.

You need 4-wire cable to feed a subpanel.  It is both illegal and unsafe to supply hot-hot-neutral (ungrounded) to a subpanel.  However, 3-wire cable can be used to a subpanel that is 240V-only and supports no 120V or 120/240V loads whatsoever -- for example water heater, A/C unit or any of those 8' baseboard heaters.  If you are stuck with useless 3-wire cable, sell it on Craigslist and let someone else use it.

If you have individual wires (THHN) also keep in mind your neutral must be natively white and your ground must be green or bare.   Different deal for wire #4 or larger, as it can be "re-defined" using black, red, white or green tape.

If you want to buy the correct wire for serving the panel from a 100A breaker, buy #3 Cu or preferably #1 Al.


How can I keep screws secure over time in a loft bed kit? I just ordered this bed and a lot of the reviews say that the screws loosen and have to be retightened often.
I'm wondering what the impact to the wood itself, over time, if I used wood glue in the holes during assembly. Would this cause the wood to split or anything from whatever pressure changes that (normally) cause the screws to loosen up?
This may be a completely dumb question, I don't know why I'm second guessing myself; I think it would be fine but I don't want to learn by trial and error with this one.
Thanks!

I would use something a little less rigid since you probably want to be able to snug the screws down the road. Wood tends to shrink and deform, and if you lock the screws you won't be able to do followup snugging.
I'd use a low-strength threadlocker compound. This should allow snugging without needing to remove screws and reapply.


use of 12/2 wire with 14/2 wire I am putting electrical service to a outdoor shed and a chicken coop. I had outside service to a pool. The pool is no longer there. the wire to the pool was 12/2. I have wired the coop with 14/2 outside wire and I just dug a 18 foot ditch min of 18" deep. I was going to put the wires through the conduit, and I saw the wire coming from the house was 12/2. there is no way I can change that wire at the circuit box. can I use the 14/2 or do I need to change the shed and coop to 12/2?

It's perfectly fine to use the 12/2 wire, but if it's connected to 14/2, the circuit breaker needs to be 15 amp, not 20 amp, (due to the wire size of the 14 ga wire) and should also be GFCI (not due to the wire size, due to the location/use being outside)


How can I stop bulbs from buzzing when dimmed? I've got some hanging lights with "Fat Albert" bulbs that are plugged into a dimmer switch.  When they're dimmed to certain levels, the bulbs make a soft buzzing sound.  The buzz is amplified and directed straight down because of the shape of the shade.  It's quite annoying if you're under them!

Here's a photo / blog post about these lights:
http://lukecyca.com/2010/factory-lights.html

Why do the bulbs buzz when dimmed?  Are there other bulbs that don't buzz when they're dimmed?

Why do the bulbs buzz when dimmed?

When you pass AC current through the filament of an incandescent bulb, it produces a magnetic field.  This magnetic field tends to push against itself, so there's some mechanical force acting on the filament itself which causes it to vibrate slightly.  When running at full power, the AC is fairly close to a sine wave (either 50Hz or 60Hz, depending on where you are) so this vibration is pretty much constant and generally barely noticeable.

A dimmer will truncate and clip part of that sine wave; this introduces a lot of higher-order harmonics, which in turn changes the characteristics of the magnetic field, changing the way the filament vibrates.  Depending on how the filament is supported, this may cause resonance at certain dimmer settings, leading to the vibration becoming noticeable.

See this article for some more background information on how dimmers work, including a mention of this phenomenon.

  Are there other bulbs that don't buzz when they're dimmed?

If you prefer incandescent lights, look for rough service bulbs; the filament and its supports are designed to withstand more vibration than normal bulbs.  You could also try halogen bulbs or even dimmable CFLs.


4 way switch with only two switches I just bought a 3-way dimmer switch for the kitchen.  There are only two switches that switch the overhead lights.  I went to take off one of them to install the dimmer and the switch had 5 wires (2 red, 2 black and a ground) hooked up to it.  That would imply to me that it's a 4-way switch, but there's only two switches.  What gives?

EDIT

I solved the mystery.  There was a 3rd switch that was hidden behind a wine rack.  The electrician that installed stuff in my house must haven been on crack when he put stuff in (My brother-in-law who is an electrician said "He must have been a real @#%#% because there's no reason your wiring should be laid out like this").  The electrician put in 3 separate gang boxes (not a 3-gang box, 3 separate boxes) for switches - one above, one below and one two studs over.  Honestly I'm surprised that it passes code because it controls the over head lights to the room.

As Speedy said, your wiring is indeed characteristic of a four-way switch.  Four-way dimmers are not a COTS item; however, you can put a dimmer there with the help of a 3-position, 2-pole (DPDT) wall switch such as this Hubbell-Bryant 4825I, mounted in a dual gang box and wired as in the following diagram (travelers are black and red, grounds are green, neutrals are gray, and in-box jumpers are blue, but you can use any color for those save for white, gray, or green:

Do be forewarned though that the results of this aren't quite the same as a regular four-way switch: in particular, if you flip the switch fully at this location, you won't be able to turn it on at one end without flipping the switch at the other end as well.  (I might come up with a better answer -- but it'll take me a while to fiddle with things, and 4PDT wall switches aren't a thing, either -- can you use a suitably rated electronics-type toggle switch in mains wiring?)


Ballast TLE54 won't light 2 circline bulbs Would you be able to help be debug a curious issue with a dual circline light fixture (12"/32W, 8"/22W) and a TLE54 ballast?

I needed to replace both bulbs.  Once I did that, flipping the switch to on results in the lights briefly lighting up for a fraction of a second, and then going dark.

By experimentation I found out that if I connect only one of the two lights, then flipping the switch to ON position will turn the light on and the light will remain on.  This is true for both the 12" and the 8" bulb: if I connect only one of them, no matter which one, the fixture works.  But the two won't stay on if connected at the same time to TLE54.

The ballast used to be able to drive both bulbs.  What is going on, and what do you think I can do to have a fixture in which both bulbs work?

Thanks!

It's not unusual for ballasts to fail.

It appears they make two variations, one with that exact form-factor which I expect is the exact same unit with a fake American brand stamped on it... and a more rectangular unit from several vendors including reputable Philips.

If the better unit can fit in the fixture, I'd try that.

Alternately, you could decide to make the leap over to LED and never worry about ballasts again.


Can both line and load go to same screw on a GFCI outlet? I was going to replace my GFCI since it is not working. The GFCI has 2 black wires going into the same screw -- one with the push in connection and the another wired to the screw. Same for the white. My guess is that one black wire is for load and another for line. I will anyways test it before replacing.

Can i wire the new gfci same way as the old one? That is can both line and load go to the same screw if one goes through push in and another by rolling around the screw?

You may be using the terms incorrectly.  "Line" and "Load" have special meaning with GFCIs, so I recommend not using the terms anywhere else. (well, smart switches it's OK).

When you're dealing with ordinary receptacles, I recommend using

Supply - the cable that is powered
Onward - the cable that takes power onward to feed other loads

And do the same with GFCIs - don't call onward "load" or it gets too confusing.

On a GFCI, "LOAD" actually means the GFCI will protect onward outlets if they are attached here.  That's a money-saver if you really want to do that, otherwise it just creates a big mess. You get nuisance trips from things that don't need to be on GFCI (lights) or that shouldn't be on GFCI (refrigerators) or people can't find the reset because it never occurs to them it's GFCI.

So if you really want to GFCI-protect onward wiring, attach it to LOAD.  Otherwise, leave the warning tape on there and attach the onward wiring to LINE. Please.

Most GFCIs these days support 2 wires on each LINE screw, using screw-to-clamp methods.  Screw down quite hard, actually use your torque screwdriver to spec.  Or pigtail.  Avoid "Back stabs" for reasons often discussed here.


New toilet already clogging? We recently had our bathroom redone and a new American Standard Colony Elongated toilet installed.  The piping wasn’t moved at all, we just put a new toilet in place of where the old one was.

I noticed it’s only been a week or two and it’s already clogged twice.  Is there anything the plumber should have checked for or could have done wrong during installation?  We’ve lived in the house about 3 months and this wasn’t a problem in this bathroom before.

I did pick up a pack of softer toilet paper by mistake so I thought that might be the problem but our other bathroom toilet is handling it just fine.  I don’t have 100% confidence in our plumber at this point, he already had to redo something in the shower because he used pex piping or something.

Also not sure if this is a coincidence but this is a toilet on the second floor. The bathroom on the third floor has a very slow-to-drain toilet.  We don’t even really use it much since we moved in- this bathroom is next on our list to renovate.  Could the problems be related?  OTOH the 2nd floor toilet worked fine until we replaced it.

A lot depends on how severe a clog you have:

An extra flush gets it going

You may have a toilet that isn't well designed. A lot of earlier low-water-usage toilets had this problem. But there may be adjustments you can make to the flush mechanism inside the tank to increase the amount of water used for each flush.

Plunger needed, but nothing more

In this case, it is likely a clog "nearby" - e.g., perhaps something clogged the pipes during renovation and has narrowed the pipe a bit. And it could also be a vent problem (though I admit I really don't understand vents myself). But it would not be something "far away" as that would likely affect other fixtures too.

Snake required

If you need a snake to fix the clog then this is much more serious. Could be a vent problem (as I don't totally understand plumbing vents, I can't say more than that) or it could be a drain pipe problem farther down that is "catching" some waste from the toilet when it shouldn't.


Will a SimpliSafe security system which include smoke detectors qualify under fire panel exception for the NEC's AFCI requirements? To expand on the question I'm trying to put these AFCI's and GFI's everywhere I need them, but nowhere I do not.  Also my experience with AFCI's up to this point have been poor.  They trip when the humidity in the room drastically changes and I don't like the idea of having an alarm system tied to it.

Below is my understanding of how the breakers need to be allocated based on NEC 2020.  Note that these four bedrooms will be occupied by four unrelated students, who will likely have their own computer, TV, gaming console, etc.  For this reason it seemed practical to give each bedroom its own breaker for receptacles.  That being said, I will happily take any scrutiny about this arrangement as long as it conforms with 2020 regulations.  Philly has recently cracked down on slum lords, especially when it comes to student housing.

Furnace Igniter        1 x AFCI
Water heater IG        1 x AFCI
4 x Bedrooms           4 x AFCI breakers
2 x Bathrooms          2 x Duel function breakers  (or AFCI w/ local GFI)
2 x Kitchen cntr       2 x Duel function breakers
1 x Refrigerator       1 x AFCI
1 x Dishwasher         1 x AFCI
LR + Hall +kit         1 x AFCI
1 Outdoor outlet       1 x GFCI
40A Dryer              1 x standard trip 240V 2 pole
50A Range              1 x GFI 240V 2 pole  (standard trip for 2017)
Sec/Fire panel         1 x standard trip

NOTE I have never seen anything about this in the NEC, but I was always told (by philly electricians) that inspectors want to see kitchen counter receptacles divided into a minimum of 2 circuits and this is in addition to wall receptacles.

NOTE I believe I read GFI's were required on 240V for breakers >= 50A

This post is similar to this one, but I still had many unanswered questions.  Mainly the title question.
Where should arc fault breaker not be used?

Since you have separate appliances, it's a NFPA 72 residential (combination) system, and thus 760.41 and its associated exceptions apply

You are correct that NEC 760.41(B) waives GFCI and AFCI requirements for power sources to fire alarm systems; in fact, it outright prohibits the use of GFCIs and AFCIs on fire alarm system power sources:

  (B) Branch Circuit. The branch circuit supplying the fire
  alarm equipment(s) shall supply no other loads. The location
  of the branch-circuit overcurrent protective device shall be
  permanently identified at the fire alarm control unit. The
  circuit disconnecting means shall have red identification, shall
  be accessible only to qualified personnel, and shall be identified as “FIRE ALARM CIRCUIT.” The red identification shall
  not damage the overcurrent protective devices or obscure the
  manufacturer's markings. This branch circuit shall not be
  supplied through ground-fault circuit interrupters or arc-fault
  circuit-interrupters.

However, in order to apply this, we need to know what sort of fire alarm system we have, and in order to do that, we need to turn to NFPA 72, which is the governing code in the USA for fire alarms of all sorts (from single station smoke detectors to massive systems that link together multiple high-rise buildings).

In the SimpliSafe's case, the system, in order to perform its fire alarming function, requires:

At least one compatible smoke detector (initiating device)
The base station/central hub (fire alarm control unit)
And some sort of sounder (notification appliance)

Since we have separate parts involved, we know it doesn't fit the definition of a single station alarm as those are defined as all-in-one units by NFPA 72:

  3.3.245 Single Station Alarm. A detector comprising an assembly that incorporates a sensor, control components, and
  an alarm notification appliance in one unit operated from a
  power source either located in the unit or obtained at the
  point of installation.

And, since we're not dealing with single station alarms, we know it's not a multiple station alarm either:

  3.3.149 Multiple Station Alarm. A single station alarm capable
  of being interconnected to one or more additional alarms so
  that the actuation of one causes the appropriate alarm signal
  to operate in all interconnected alarms.

From that point, we can deduce that it is a fire alarm system:

  3.3.95 Fire Alarm System. A system or portion of a combination system that consists of components and circuits arranged
  to monitor and annunciate the status of fire alarm or supervisory signal-initiating devices and to initiate the appropriate
  response to those signals.

and from the fact it's in a dwelling unit (house), we can then determine that it's a household fire alarm system:

  3.3.95.2 Household Fire Alarm System. A system of devices
  that uses a fire alarm control unit to produce an alarm
  signal in the household for the purpose of notifying the
  occupants of the presence of a fire so that they will evacuate
  the premises.

that also happens to be a combination system:

  3.3.95.1* Combination System. A fire alarm system in which
  components are used, in whole or in part, in common with
  a non-fire signaling system.

as it can perform the other functions expected of a household alarm system, such as burglary alarming.

As a result of this, since we have a fire alarm system using a separate fire alarm control unit:

  3.3.92* Fire Alarm Control Unit. (FACU) A component of the
  fire alarm system, provided with primary and secondary power
  sources, which receives signals from initiating devices or other
  fire alarm control units, and processes these signals to determine part or all of the required fire alarm system output function(s).

, we then treat the power source to the fire alarm control unit as a power source to a NPLFA circuit, which invokes NEC 760.41.  (Granted, NFPA 72 itself is evolving in this regard, and as of 2016, best I can tell, is not as stringent as the NEC is here.)


Spraying Drylok Paint? I need to seal my basement walls.

The manufacturer indicates that Drylok can be sprayed. However most professionals I speak with state that it will destroy the gun.

Is it possible to spray Drylok or another sealant paint?

Yes it can be sprayed, and says so on the bucket. The spray tip orifice needs to be large though, because drylock is more like pudding.  At least .025" which is bigger than the usual size used for latex paint.


Is it possible to control water pressure using a ball valve? I have too high water pressure (120 psi) on the main line. If we assume the water pressure on is constant, then is it possible to reduce it by reducing the flow using a ball valve?

The reason I'd like to go this route, is that installing a pressure regulator is a lot of work, and there's not much room where the main line enters the stucco of the house. Turning the pre-existing ball valve, would be a lot easier than installing a regulator.

To answer your question;  A ball valve only controls flow not pressure. A few seconds after water is flowing a ball valve will limit the pressure based on the flow. A pressure regulator requires no more plumbing than a ball valve. A regulator will limit the maximum pressure but not flow until the set point is reached. If you can answer the question.
Why do you want to limit pressure or flow. We may be able to point you in the direction you need.


Options for interior brick walls damaged by rotary hammer I recently removed some very deteriorated plaster from an interior brick wall. I used a rotary hammer and a traditional hammer and chisel. After having removed about half the plaster I stopped because I realized that both methods do a tremendous amount of damage to the brick underneith. Here are some photos:

Here is the exterior. The window here is the same window. There are a few minor cracks in the mortar, but there are no cracks in the bricks like there are on the interior wall.

Both methods are removing a fair amount of the brick's face. Compounding this is the fact that the motor is basically sand at this point.

This is the interior side of an exterior wall. IE, it is the inner layer of the brick. The exterior layer of brick was inspected and is in good shape.

I am wondering what my options are. Originally I was intending to expose the brick wall, but that seems like a crazy task at this point as all the mortar needs to be repointed. But can I just replaster over this mess or will that also come back to haunt me? What are my options for addressing this and how big of a problem is it?

Overall I am not sure what to do with the wall. I wanted to have a nice exposed brick wall along the entire north side of the house, but given the condition I am no longer sure what to do.

Crumbling mortar means it will be easier to remove the really bad bricks and replace them. You could replace only the worst and call the rest of them "rustic." I found reclaimed bricks for free that matched what was used in my 1865 home.

Is that pipe just a vent pipe for only (what I assume was) the kitchen sink that used to be there? If so, you could remove the pipe and replace it with an air-admittance valve inside the sink cabinet (if your building code allows that). Then patch the carnage the pipe made. Maybe patch every other or every third brick at a time.

I'm no mason and maybe we were just unlucky, or maybe this only happens to chimneys, but I had bad experience with plaster over brick. Parts of the chimney were covered with plaster (some also with beaver board) which apparently trapped moisture and caused them to rot and crumble into dust, leaving HUGE holes hidden behind the plaster.


Can I thin thick PVC cement with primer? I needed to make a repair on some PVC pipe. When I opened my can of cement, I discovered that is was thicker than when new. I purchased the cement around a year ago and kept the lid firmly closed. The can is about 2/3 full. I could still easily spread the cement around the pipe. At what point is the cement no longer viable? Can it be made viable by thinning it with PVC primer? Yes, I should go purchase a new can of cement.

I use MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) available at most hardware stores. It has always worked for me and I've never had a fitting failure yet. I have had fittings fail from using thickened glue. Granted it's not the best thing to do, and I always buy a new can as soon as possible. But I do know where you're coming from when you need to do something to be able to finish a job, and can't run to a store at 3 am, or when you are 30 or more miles from any supplies.

Being that is the main ingredient in most welding adhesives or glues. Look at any MSDS Sheet and you will see the solvent used in it. For example:
http://www.speedlinepvc.com/user/pdfs/5152-pdfs-5-file.pdf

I know I'm satisfied with my results.
And storing that can upside-down always helps. I've even spread a bit of the glue around the top of the can to dry into a seal if I know I'm not going to use it for a really long time.


Help for roof ideas for very large cat enclosure I am building a very large enclosure for our cats. Approximate will be 20’ x 30’ 30’ x 30’ (pie shaped lot so one of the four sides is shorter.)
One side will use the house (stucco) as a wall. Two sides will use existing 6’ cedar fence as walls. The fourth side will need to be built and I’ll use steel fencing wire so they can see out.
I’m in Canada so we get a lot of snow sometimes.
How do we build a roof for this? (I’m leaning towards fencing wire so they get sunlight through).

Under conditions of low wind even a wire "roof" can pick up a lot of snow load.
So, a large roof area like that will require a lot of support, even if it's wire fencing. That can be provided by rows of posts with heavy wire to support the fencing between posts, and you could exploit the posts as support for cat entertainment, perches, etc.
Whether your cats will want to be out there once the snow makes it through to the ground may vary with your cats (or even with the age of the cat, most of mine got disgusted with snow after the first year or two.) Our very furry robust barn cats basically burrowed into the nests they made (we helped by stacking bales to make a starting cavity for them) in the hayloft and patrolled inside the barn over winters, rather than roaming out through the snow. Our indoor cats rarely spend much time at all outdoors in winter, and prefer areas without snow when they do go out.
A solid roof may have a lot more impact on your property taxes than a wire "roof." One possible intermediate approach would be greenhouse film (sheet plastic, but sturdy and UV resistant for years) which is not normally classed the same as a "permanent structure" for tax purposes. You'd need to support it in a manner that would shed snow, and that might be difficult, expensive, or require changing your plans if the fences you are using for walls are also boundary fences (can't just dump snow on the neighbors property.)


What if Grout got Wet? I thoroughly scraped and re-grouted my shower and applied some sealer (standard unsanded grout and Impregnator 511 sealer), but I am worried I didn't mix/stir the sealer enough or at all (my memory/recall is really sketchy nowadays).  I am worried because I think some of the grout might be starting to erode or crumble away under squeegee action (this is about 2 weeks later).  Grout was allowed to cure for ~48 hours before applying sealer, and sealer was allowed to cure for another ~48 hours.

So...in a worst-case scenario where sealer was completely ineffective (i.e. grout is effectively unsealed) and I have been dousing the grout with water for a week or so: 1) is the potential wearing away of the grout likely in this amount of time? and 2) is re-sealing the grout after letting it dry out for several days an option regarding fixing the potential issue, or will re-grouting be required?

"grout... starting to erode or crumble away under squeegee action"

Don't blame the sealer. Your grout was not prepared and/or applied properly. Applying a sealer now may help stabilize the grout but your best option would be to... re-regrout.


Two switches, one controls both I have a ceiling light that is controlled by two switches, however when one of the switches is off the other switch does not work.  What is the issue and how can I fix it?

Well, look at the simple diagram below:

If one switch is stuck then the other will complete the on/off function, but if one of the parallel wires is broken then the symptoms will be similar. A multimeter to test what is happening would be my next move.

As my simple diagram seems to confuse people, here is a picture taken from this source which shows a similar circuit, but this only needs a single wire to go between the two switches...:

(source: Light Wiring Diagrams)


Can I wire an extension into a Party line phone? We have a 2 party line phone in a rural area in Canada.  But we are the only party.  Thus we get a cheaper rate and do not have to share.  Win!

However, we have only the old pulse phone with Distinctive Ring wired in.

I would like to split that so I can have a jack for a second modern (cordless even!) phone.

Questions:
1) Can I do this?  If so, how?

2) Will the distinctive ring work on modern phones?  I.e. Will they even ring?  Would be fine if the old rotary dial phone rang, we would know to pick up).

From the 1940's till today Telcos went through 4 standardised system across the world.I am sure there were many other standards in various places... which makes things even more complicated.

DACS2 is the most recent standard that allow for multi call, caller ID and Digital data on a single pair of wire. They are usually terminated with filters at your socket.

DACS1 is what allot of people that were born in the 1980 will remember. FAX machines and 33.6 / 56k modems. There was no caller id support and having two calls on one line needed a separate pair.

1+1 WB900 about 1970-1980 is what I think you might have. It allows for simultaneous calls for two parties per pair but each party is terminated with a special filter. An easy way to identify this standard is by trying to find out if there is a battery at the master socket.

The best way to try and find out what you are working with it measuring 3 basic voltages on the line. on-hook, off-hook and ring. You need to be careful not to short the wires and do not touch them bare handed. You can never be careful enough with electricity. These voltages will help you determine if you can plug in a DECT phone or if you need to try and find some kind of other phone on ebay or something.

LTE coverage in your area is a perfect opportunity to use the up to 300mbit/s and install a voip gateway like the linksys SPA2102 or PAP2T models. You will then get a modern day DACS/DACS2 complaint signal and you can use as many DECT phones as you like. You can also redirect your landline number to a VoiP gateway or if you are in the USA Google offer some interesting things with Voice.(which is VoiP). Benefit of VoiP is that you can even have your Cell Phone (or cell phones) ring, while your home number rings and have an online mailbox that you can access from any device.

If in doubt just contact the Telco company and ask them about installing a separate phone. They might just do it or let you know how to do it - Or say. No its not possible because the system is antique and we cant get the phones any more.


Why would a GFCI fail in one outlet, but not another? We have multiple GFCI cords, such as this one (the GFCI is not an outlet). When plugged into a certain outlet, they all consistently trip with any load higher than a few watts. When plugged into any other outlet, they work fine.
Shouldn't this be physically impossible? If a GFCI just measures the current difference between the two halves of the circuit, no configuration on the supply-side should ever cause it to trip, right?
(For example, a ground-fault inside the outlet would cause the voltage/current to the GFCI to drop, but the current coming in and going out should still be the same, by Kirchoff's current law)
I assume this is caused by some nuance of GFCI implementations I don't know about, which is why I'm asking here.
Notes:

An outlet tester shows the outlet is wired ok, so the hot/neutral aren't swapped.
When using the outlet tester with the GFCI, the GFCI does not trip.  But various loads ranging from 250 W to 1500 W all cause it to trip.  Those same loads with the same GFCI don't trip in other outlets.
I've tried multiple GFCIs with multiple devices, all with the same results.
The outlet measures 120V

[Edit] One of the GFCIs seems to know when it's plugged into the bad outlet, even with no devices plugged in.  When plugged into the bad outlet, the 'test' function on the GFCI does not work. When plugged into any other outlet, it does.  The GFCI still trips with any device plugged in, which again should be impossible...
[Edit 2] This should not have been migrated. It is an electronics question, not a DIY question.  Sigh.

Shouldn't this be physically impossible? Maybe in theory, but let's come up with some real-world hypotheses.
There is a phenomenon of GFCI "nuisance tripping" when the current flow is noisy, or contains higher frequency components. I believe it's because the differential transformer that senses imbalance in the line and neutral currents, is not so perfect at cancelling our those two currents at frequencies above 60 Hz.
So, first hypothesis: loose or corroded connection in the line or neutral wire feeding this outlet. The simple outlet tester or basic voltmeter, would not detect this, so you may have to just repeat your experiment, remembering that the fault could be in this outlet, or anywhere upstream toward the distribution box. Power lines are often "daisy chained" through several outlet boxes. Identify all outlets on this circuit and repeat your experiment on each. That might help determine where the poor connection lies.
The other hypothesis, less likely, is that there is another appliance on this circuit, like a motor with sparking brushes, causing noise on the line. Again, knowing what this branch feeds, you should be able to disconnect any possible culprits and repeat the experiment.
I'm interested to hear what you find.