Why are all towel bars 24 inch? With studs being 16 inches apart - how do people mount them? I want to install a towel bar in my bathrooms - and I went to Home Depot to get one - but all of their towel bars were 24 inch...
This to me is weird.
Do all people just mount their towel bars to a drywall using drywall anchors? That just seems so hackish and unreliable.

Guys - could someone confirm  what's the right way of installing a towel bar?

Using drywall anchors
Directly to studs

Drywall Anchors

I have had 100% success with drywall anchors but I am very careful about all aspects of the mounting hardware.  You have to design and execute your plan carefully to have success, otherwise they'll be vulnerable to pulling out as Michael Karas points out.  If you mess up any aspect of what I set out below, your anchors will probably pull out.  If, on the other hand, you get it right, the anchors will be stronger than the sheetrock.

Select a Towel Bar with Appropriate Mounting Plates

Select a towel bar where the mounting plate at each end has the following attributes:

holes for at least 4 fasteners - You can only expect about 50 lb pullout strength from each drywall anchor, but the pullout strengths add up.  So with 8 anchors altogether you end up with 400 lb pullout strength.
holes for 2 of the fasteners separated vertically by at least 1-1/4" - A towel bar is an overhung load so the tendency is for the top of the mounting plate to pull away from the drywall.  Fasteners near the top and bottom will prevent gaps from forming between the mounting plate and the drywall when the towel rack is under load.  You want a tight fit between the mounting plate and drywall because you need to at all times maximize the surface area in contact between the mounting plate and drywall.  Drywall fails when it is subject to pressure (ie. force per unit area) above a certain, rather small threshold.  Keeping the full area of the mounting plate in contact with the drywall at all times spreads the load over the widest possible area.  Area is the denominator for pressure (i.e. P=F/A) so maximum area minimizes the pressure.
solid flat-back mounting plate that encompasses at least a 2" round circular area - A flat back and large area minimizes the pressure on any single point on the drywall which is good for the reasons in the previous bullet.

This is an example of a good mounting plate (installation guide):

Note the flat, solid mounting plate and four-hole bolt pattern.

Select Studs or Pristine Areas of Sheetrock for Mount Points

Areas of sheetrock that are in any way damaged (from installation or otherwise) will reduce the pullout strength of the anchors dramatically.  I use a power drill with a 1/16" drill bit to test how sound an area of sheetrock is.  With a little practice you should be able to detect the difference between seams, drywall mud, studs, and pristine sheet rock.  In general you want to avoid the following areas for mount points:

anywhere within 4" of any edge of a piece of sheet rock including seams and corners
anywhere within 2" of a stud - There's a good chance there are drywall screws near that spot on the stud and drywall screws damage the sheetrock in about a 1" radius around the screw head.  On the other hand, if you can put the fasteners right into the stud, that is likely a better solution than anchors for that end of the towel bar.
anywhere there isn't enough clearance for the anchor and screw behind the drywall - The risk here is that the end of the anchor or screw contact a hard object (like an electrical box or concrete) and the anchor or screw acts as a jack against that object.  That will certainly cause that anchor to fail because you will immediately exceed the holding strength of the anchor when the jacking starts.

Select Quality Deep Thread Screw-Type Anchors

Forget about toggle anchors: The toggles are so bulky and the bolt patterns so crowded that the toggles will usually interfere with one another and whatever happens to be behind the drywall.

Sheetrock only has strength because the gypsum is under compression.  The gypsum is under compression only insofar the paper (yes the outside of drywall is paper) retains its tensile strength and gypsum does not leak out.  These anchors, used correctly, work without compromising these critical aspects of the sheetrock:

Note how the anchor's threads achieve a large contact area with the gypsum and have deep threads.  Note also how the head and barrel of the anchor seal against the paper to keep the gypsum in.

When these anchors are installed correctly they do two critical things to preserve the integrity of the sheetrock:

They stretch the paper around the barrel preserving the paper's tensile strength.
Their barrels displace the gypsum slightly into the surround area thereby preserving or slightly increasing the compression of the gypsum.

If your method of installing the anchors doesn't achieve these critical things, you need to re-think your approach because the anchors won't hold.

For reference, here is the data on the anchors I use (I got them from Home Depot):

Note the table of shear and pullout strengths -- these are quality engineered anchors.  Installed correctly, they have real usable anchor strength.

You have to get your layout perfect, the first time.

You need to get your layout perfect the first time.  You cannot undo a hole, or move an anchor 1/4" to the right or left.  Once you put an anchor in the drywall you must leave it in there if there are other anchors anywhere nearby.  Otherwise the sheetrock in that area will be forever weakened and your other anchors' pullout strength will be severely weakened.  You can easily sink an anchor into the paper and float mud and paint over it.  You can't however move the location of an anchor once you have drilled for it.  Here is my advice for layout:

  Measure, check, measure, dryfit, measure, check for level, check what's behind the drywall, go for coffee, check it again, dryfit again, check for level again, and then repeat.  You must be absolutely sure your layout is correct before you drill your first hole.

Pilot Drill at 75% the Barrel Diameter

Forget what it says on the box of anchors about self-drilling.  You must pilot drill every anchor hole.  No exceptions.  Without a pilot hole, the anchor tips will do two things that are terrible:

tear the paper - This undermines the tensile strength of the sheetrock in the surround area.  If you do this, you no longer have sheetrock in that area. You just have a bunch of paper and dust.
wander - It is critical that your anchors line up with the hole pattern of the mounting plates (which you carefully layed out, right?).  If the anchor and hole patterns don't line up well enough, the anchors and mounting plate will fight one another, the shear strength of one or more of the anchors will be exceeded and those anchors will no longer have much holding strength.  Without a pilot hole, the anchors will wander before they start to penetrate, and you are basically guaranteeing anchor failure because the anchor pattern won't match the hole pattern.

The pilot drill should be sized at about 75% the barrel diameter.  This will result in the right amount of gypsum displacement and will stretch the paper around the barrel for a tight fit without tearing it.

Set the Anchor with a Slow Drill set to a Low-Torque Clutch

This point is extremely important.  If you overtighten the anchor into the sheetrock, the anchor will fail.  If the axis of the anchor changes as it is screwed into the sheetrock, the anchor will fail.  The only reliable method I have found for setting the anchors into sheetrock is with a decent variable-speed cordless drill starting with the following settings:

low gear
lowest torque clutch setting

Do not use an impact driver.

The reasons I use a drill are as follows:

you reliably can apply torque and stay on axis - As you screw the anchor into the dry wall it is critical to keep the axis of the anchor perfectly still.  Until the anchor is set all the way into the sheetrock, the gypsum is surprisingly vulnerable to damage.  Even the slightest change in angle caused by the driving tool while the anchor is being screwed into the wall will cause the gypsum around the anchor threads to turn from its semi-solid form into a powder.  When that happens, the strength of the drywall anchor is reduced.
you can drive rather quickly which reduces risk of damage - Once you have the clutch set to the right setting, you can set an anchor in one or two seconds.  This speed is an advantage because while the anchor is screwed part-way into the sheetrock, it is very vulnerable to damaging the surrounding sheetrock and undermining its strength once set.  With the speed of a properly-setup drill, you reduce this risk simply by getting through the vulnerable stage quicker.  You only have to hold the drill perfectly on-axis for seconds (see previous bullet).

Start twisting the anchor into the pilot hole with the drill.  Make sure you keep the axis of the drill completely still.  If the clutch is slipping, increase the torque setting just enough that the anchor advances into the wall.  Stop as soon as the head of the anchor makes contact with the paper.  The clutch should slip just as the anchor this occurs.  You might have to adjust the clutch to get this right.  The head and paper should be snug when you are done.  Do not overtighten.  Do not back out.  Doing either will almost certainly result in tearing the paper or losing some gypsum which will cause your anchor to fail.

Use the screws that came with the anchors.

The anchors and screws that go into the anchors are engineered to work together.  Don't try to substitute.  Their length and thread profile must be correct for the anchors to work correctly.

Assemble the towel bar to the mounting plates.

Once the mounting plates are installed in the correct position, the rest is just a matter of following the manufacturer's directions to assemble the towel bar.

Here is what one of my installations look like:

Note that even though the towel bar is overhung about 6", the mounting is plenty strong enough.  People knock their elbows on it and grab it to steady themselves without a problem.  This works because the load is distributed across 8 correctly-installed anchors for a combined pull-out strength of about 640 lbs and a shear strength of about 960 lbs.  At that strength, the weakness is the sheetrock itself, not the anchors.  In other words, to break this mounting you'd have to apply enough force to tear a whole section of sheetrock off the wall.


hoses instead of pipes Quick question that came to my mind earlier today:

When installing a water system (concealed installation), why does one use pipes. It seems to me that hoses would be easier to install, more flexible and might reduce effects like rushing sounds.

If you look at the picture below you will see pex tubing.  This has become the industry norm in some areas of the US - I know some countries have adopted similar things and some haven't.  The compression fittings are supposedly made to last longer than than a soldered copper joints - jury is still out on that.  Let's see what complaints there are in 10-20 years.

My problem with these is the drinking water.  Copper does a great job of not letting bacteria grow in it and it has been used for years with no issues.  All of the plumbing going to sinks in my house is copper.  I use pex for toilets, showers, and things like that.

Some good links on coppers anti-bacterial qualities:

HowStuffWorks
ScienceDaily
Wikipedia

On the other side of the argument is the idea that PEX has issues in biofilm formation and passing on toxins/bacteria - California study here.  This side, I don't really buy that much because you can read counters for most things.  I just know that copper has a lot of good qualities and installing it isn't that big of a deal so will leave that for the main and drinking water.


Help with transition between rooms using hardwood and laminate flooring All hardwood and laminate flooring needs an expansion gap according to every manufacturer.

My problem is that I am replacing carpeting in one room that connects to my entryway area.  The new floor will be laminate that will be the same height as the existing hardwood floor in the entry.  Now, the usual recommendation would be to use T-molding but since the room has a 71" opening (obviously no door here) I would prefer it be more seamless.

I've seen many, many examples of transitions between flooring that do not have a t-molding and are flush. So, how can I accomplish this?  Am I okay with an expansion gap on the opposite end of the laminate flooring while keeping the laminate/hardwood flush?

I’d try keeping them flush, you’ll have expansion allowance on both floors anyway. Just think of it as one floor with expansion gap around the perimeter.  Which it will be effectively


How to supply air in 2 rooms through a single joists cavity? In my basement, I have a bathroom of 8'X5' and next to it there is kid space of 10'X15'
both sharing one wall. I don't have much space in ceiling to run 2 flex ducts in their own separate joists cavity.
Just above in the upstairs, have two bedrooms and one bath room which took almost entire ceiling space for plumbing/flex duct. so I have only one cavity left between 2 joists in the ceiling to supply air to both of these rooms/spaces.
But How ?
Thanks

Without being there to visually see just what you have to work with is almost impossible. Try looking at an 8"X 6"X 6" WYE duct at Lowes, Home Depot, or on-line to see if that will solve your problem. Can't think of anything else without being there. Don't forget to add a return air grill mounted near the floor if you want to add heat to the game room.
One possibility would be to install a heat duct for the game room and a small electric wall heater for the bath room. A better drawing or even a picture or two would also be helpful.


Replacing pendant but there are extra live wires I was going to replace a pendant light. But during removal of the old one I've come across this wiring which don't really understand.
The thick brown one on the left is the live wire which is connected to the switch. Along with the blue neutral this is where the light was connected.
The three thin brown wires in the middle are live (regardless of the switch).
What are these for and what should I do with them when I connect my new pendant fixture which doesn't have connectors for these.

Connect your pendant to the leftmost and rightmost terminal in this picture.  Your pendant should have brown and blue wires that correspond.   If it has a yellow, green, or bare wire connect that to the corresponding large terminal at the top of the picture.
One brown/blue pair in the center set of terminals is power coming in, and another brown/blue pair is power going to the next pendant.  The third brown wire in the middle triplet goes off to the light switch, and the leftmost one is switched power coming back for the pendant.


Drilled holes too wide for drywall anchors- how to fix? I drilled holes for drywall anchors too wide - so now the anchor and the screw is loose. How do I fix this?

This is very complicated, and I'm hoping that you'll stick through all of the steps with me. ;)

Go to the store.
Get bigger anchors.
Return home and install bigger anchors.

(No, really, that's the answer. You can't patch the drywall and put anchors in; the most you could hope for would be re-drilling holes near to your anchor, but you really risk cracking the drywall if you do that. I'd just get bigger anchors.)


Ceiling rose with twin wire, no earth? I have a ceiling rose with a twin live / neutral wire and no earth.

This is unexpected as the house was built in 1986 and the light switch does have an earth.

Can I still use this with light fittings that are not double insulated?

Read more at diynot.com:

  I am going to follow [a suggestion made in the above link] to replace the 2 core flex with 3 core flex. If I am only connecting it between the rose above the ceiling and the rose below, can I use standard 3 amp / 720w flex or do I need higher-rated non-flexible wiring? It is only connecting to a decorative pendant lamp.

If your luminaire has any mettalic parts it needs to be grounded unless it is double insulated.

Your plan to replace the 2 conductor cable with a 3 conductor cable (2 conductor with ground) is probably the best course of action. Even if you current fixture has no metal parts you may want to change that in the future.

Good luck!


Why do pigtails not count towards box volume capacity I would like to know why pigtails are not included in the volume count for outlet receptacle boxes.
I recently upgraded to a two way outlet and had a total of four 14/2 wires coming into the box and stay under four wires per wire nut I used pigtails. This ended up leading to quite a few pigtails in the box but based on NEC codes I’ve seen people quote on here pigtails aren’t added to the count and I don’t understand why. It definitely can crowd the box!
Edit 1/8/2020 9:51pm: For example my situation is as follows:
I’m looking at new handbook and maybe getting confused. I thought the point of this was to ensure there was enough space ( conductors to space ratio) for heat related issues. In my case , The outlet box is 38 cubic inches. I have 3 14/2 wires going in and 1 14/3 wire going in. I have two receptacle outlets for it. I wired the outlets in parallel instead of daisy chain (I created daisy chain to limit to a max of four wires in a wire nut). In total I have 6 black, 7 white , 1 red, and 7 ground. I had a total of 7 ideas protwist wire nuts used. So what does that put me at for total volume then?

Using an NEC Handbook, which is the NEC with more information and comments, I find that the pigtails are currently counted as part of the device fill rather than a separate conductor. All of this can be found in Article 314.16 and the associated tables.
The NEC Handbook has a set of separate commentary tables. In particular, Table 314.3 shows how different device allowances change based on the number of conductors are attached to it.


How much gravel do I need for a paver stone path? I want to build a simple path from my driveway to my back yard using individual 24" x 24" pavers.  They weigh close to 100lbs each.  There is a slight slope, just under 1 inch for each paver.  I plan to level a pad for each paver 30" x 30" and each pad will be about 1" higher then the one below. it.
How much gravel do I need as a base for each paver?
My original thought was I would compact the ground below, add an inch of compacted gravel base, and a half inch of sand.  At most 1 persons weight on each at a time.

A carefully planned and placed base course is very important for a patio or a continuous walkway so that individual pavers will not heave or settle over time during winter freeze and thaws or when underlying soil becomes saturated with water and turns into a muddy fluid.
Your project is not a continuous patio or walkway, though. Each paver will be well separated from its neighbors and there's a change of elevation at each one too. The generous spacing will make it difficult to even notice if one paver shifts, rotates, or tilts a little bit relative to another. In fact, I question whether loose pavers sitting on gravel and sand may actually be more prone to movement than they would be when sitting directly on and surrounded by soil. Think of the lateral forces involved if a person jogs or pushes/pulls a wheelbarrow or other cart along the path.
My personal opinion is that a base course of gravel and sand is unnecessary for this project. I'd compact and screed the soil so that there's a firm, flat surface (whether level or inclined) and lay the paver right onto it.


What kind of sealant can I use on my spray painted freezer? I'm currently in the process of spray painting my freezer a matte black colour (I'm making a keezer). However, I would like to also apply a sealing coat on top of the black so that

My fingers don't get black over time
The wall doesn't get black
Paint will be less likely to chip

This is the paint I'm using (not sure if this is the exact can, but its very close look -- I'm at work):

It's a rust protecting paint.

What sealant should I use to protect this? I'm hoping it won't leave behind a shiny coat...

Most rust-proofing paints are fairly hard enamels, even if they are matte finish.  Unlike house paints, they are not supposed to chalk off. It is more likely that handling the matte finish might make it a bit shiny in places rather than the finish coming off on your hands.

There are some matte polyurethanes, but they may not be as hard as the finish you are already putting in it. There is an article here describing matte poly.

If you do try a poly over the enamel, do a test in an inconspicuous area first.

SUPPLEMENT:
It looks like Rustoleum makes a matte clear finish that could be simply spray painted over your other finish. Other brands may have similar products.  I would still do a test in an inconspicuous place.


I want to add a receptacle to a circuit with a traveler I'm adding a receptacle on the exterior wall and I'd like to power it from a very conveniently located gang box which on the interior side of the wall.  The existing box is covered with a blank plate, and since it is 5 1/2 feet off the floor, it must have been for a wall sconce.  Inside the box are three pieces of Romex:  two are three wire, but the third has a red traveler.  Everything is connected with wire nuts:  NUT 1 - all white.  NUT 2 - black from one romex, and red from the 4 wire.  NUT 3 - black from the last piece of romex, black from the 4 wire, and then a black wire that connects NUTS 2 and 3.

It seems to me that I can add my new romex to NUT 1 and NUT 3, and I should be ok.  I highly doubt this is to code, so I anticipate that any advice will come with the caveat that this isn't to code.   I'm in New Jersey, and thanks.

So if this is on a traveler circuit

Do you have two switches somewhere that controls that circuit ?

I think your logic about what you intend to do is fine. You will have a hot a neutral and a ground.

One of the things that looks off to me is that normally your switches have the traveler between them and not your luminary box. You would see here Two 4 wire romex's [red to red ]and then your 3 way power romex - perhaps you had two sconce lamp receptacles..


Is there any advantage to using a weather resistant GFCI in a bathroom? I'm replacing an old GFCI in a bathroom, and for a little more money, I could buy one rated for weather resistance.

This bathroom has no fan (only a small window), so it can get pretty steamy with water condensation on all surfaces after a shower.

Would a weather rated GFCI be safer or longer lasting in such a location, or is a standard GFCI adequate? I'm assuming that it's ok to use a WR rated GFCI in an indoor location that's not exposed to outdoor weather?

Similarly, there's a downstream receptacle that I could also swap out with a WR rated one if there's any advantage to doing so.

What is the real difference between the regular and weather resistant models besides the little WR logo?

Probably no reason to use a WR outlet. The "WR" rating may not mean what you think it means. The primary difference between a WR outlet and a regular one is the WR one uses a special kind of plastic that does not get as brittle when cold and has better UV protection so it does not get damaged by direct sunlight. It does not provide any additional water resistance. If the outlet is going to be subject to direct water spray (either indoors or outdoors) it should be protected by a weatherproof outlet cover.

(It's possible a Tamper Resistant outlet would provide a small amount of protection against water since there are shutters that cover the slots, but that's certainly not what it's designed for. You may or may not want to install TR outlets, depending on whether it's required by code and/or you have kids.)


Can a plumbing vent start in the horizontal where it connects to drain line? I'm laying out my shower drain and it initially was going to look like this:

Fairly straightforward. Shower into p-trap, vent coming out of top of drain line over to wall to be vented, all connected into the main. This is the TOP drawing below.

The catch is that the total height from the top of the vent elbow to the bottom of the p-trap is much taller than the height I have to work with in the joist bay.

Can I do what the BOTTOM drawing is showing? Instead of the vent coming off the drain line vertically, it's horizontal over to the wall, where it then goes vertical. This would shorten the total height allowing me to raise the whole shower drain assembly up. I can then connect that to the main run with a 45 degree connection.

In researching this, I've seen some informal mentions that this is OK as long as that vent branch is also sloped the requisite 1/4" per foot like any drain line. And I don't see a physical reason why this wouldn't work. But I can't seem to find a definitive "yes, this is OK" from a code perspective. Is this OK code-wise?

The only thing I see in the code is “A dry vent connecting to a horizontal drain shall connect above the centerline of the horizontal drain pipe.”, so as long the wye is angled up (which it would be to get the slope you described), I think you would be good.

I am not a plumber, so I advise waiting on some more experienced advise.


How to fix this leak in my on-demand water heater The picture below shows the leak that my on-demand water heater developed. What's the likeliest culprit? Is it where the blue tube connects to the fitting or is it the fitting itself? In either case, can it be repaired? Also, what do you call the conic-shaped gasket that creates the seal in the compression fitting?

To identify the source of the leak:

Dry it thoroughly.
Come back in a little bit (depending on how fast it's leaking) with a dry paper towel.
Starting at the top, carefully wipe around the blue PEX/brass fitting junction - check the paper towel for moisture.
If it's dry, move down to the brass/white plastic junction.
If it's still dry, continue moving down until the towel shows water.

When you've wiped around an area of the fitting and the towel comes up wet, you've found the source of the leak.
Is it fixable?
That depends on where the leak is.
If it's in the white plastic, that's probably not fixable (i.e., don't count on just gluing it back together). It looks very much like a bespoke piece that you will have to order from a plumbing supplier or direct from the manufacturer. Once you have that part removed, you may discover that it's just a fancy connector that could be replaced by some standard brass fittings. Your best bet would probably be to take it to your local plumbing supply house or home improvement center and find some fittings that match the threads on the heater end and on the existing brass fitting end (i.e. bodge something together that will work).
If it's in the PEX or the brass fitting, those are off-the-shelf, stock items that you should be able to source from your local home improvement center and replace. The replacement technique will vary depending on exactly where it's leaking, and would be an excellent topic for a new question with clear, focused pics showing exactly where the leak is.


My toilet bowl drains when my neighbor flushes his toilet About three months ago, my neighbor renovated his bathroom.  We have a common wall between the master bathrooms in the condo.  When he flushes his toilet, my toilet bowl drains.  He installed a new efficient toilet.  The building was built in 1993.  No idea as to why this is happening. Ideas?

Sounds like a problem with the venting.  Your neighbor's toilet is likely not vented properly, so when they flush it siphons your toilet.

Contact a local plumber, and/or the building manager, and have the problem investigated.


Ceramic tile on conrete floor: caulk or grout to cinder block wall I plan on tiling a laundry room concrete floor.
Two adjacent walls are cinder block.

I know NOT to use grout between tiled walls and floors or it will crack.

However, since there should be little or no flexing between the surfaces, can I use grout in this situation?

There isn't a right way to do this.  In my opinion I would grout the area unless it is razor thin.  In most cases this won't be uniform as a wall isn't exactly flat and so you may end up with a rather large gap in some areas - more than 1/8th inch.  If your grout does crack in the future it looks just fine with a layer of caulk over it.


Can I use Rigid Foam Insulation instead of fiber insulation? I have a question: Can I use Rigid Foam Insulation on outside walls instead of fiber insulation from the inside of the house?

Yes. There are several types of rigid foam board. Polyisocyanurate (polyiso) has the best R-value at 6.5 (after aging). A 2 inch thick board will be at least R-12.9.

There are two main methods you can use from inside the room. With the first method, sometimes called "Cut-and-Cobble", you cut the panels to fit inside the joists and then use spray foam (e.g. Great Stuff) around each panel to create a tight air seal. If you have a 2x4 exterior wall, you could even get 3 inches of foam in there if you can find 3" panels or use a 2" and 1" panel together. I recently did exactly this myself in a bedroom that I gutted down to the studs.

Another method is to add the foam panels to the inside of the wall on top of the studs, tape the panels together with foil tape, and then put the drywall over the panels. This second method is preferred since it reduces thermal bridging from the cold studs into the wall and also provides a continuous air seal across the entire wall. If you do put the panels over the studs, you must fasten them to the studs and then use longer drywall fasteners to connect to the studs since the foam is not considered structural. The downsides to this methods are that all of your trim and receptacles must account for the additional wall thickness and you lose a bit of space in the room, depending on foam thickness.


How can I get the "new bed" smell out of my daughter's bedroom? I bought one of those princess carriage beds for my daughter. You know, the kind that take seventeen hours and five allen wrenches to put together. Anyway, I get it together and honestly, it's gorgeous. But it smells like... chemical. I don't know if it's the paint or the treatment to the wood or what it is, but it smells distinctly like chemicals. I'm not a big fan of my 3 year old daughter sleeping in that kind of smell.

We've had the windows open for nearly a week now, and it's fine when they're open, but when they're closed it smells right up. I've never seen a piece of furniture emit a chemical smell for this long.

What can I do to make this smell go away?

There's not really much you can do to stop the off gassing of VOC's from that piece of furniture, you just have to wait it out.  How long it will take depends on the compounds used and the manufacturing process.

Your concerns are definitely valid, there have been many harmful health effects associated with VOC's.

Most of the time, this process happens relatively fast, though a week isn't all that long.  Maybe a couple weeks to a month.

I agree with the commenter that suggested you call the manufacture or distributor.  They might have some information on how long this will take.

In the future, you might want to consider furniture that is certified low VOC.  GreenGuard is a UL certification common in North America.


Hue Light Strip - Best outdoor, long run equivalent? Purpose is to light up a path along a dark area in the woods behind the house .

Requirements

Able to run 200 ft, at a price less than Hue Strips which are quite expensive.
Either weather proof, or coverable by some sort of partially transparent diffusing conduit.
Dimmable.  So it can be a subtle peaceful effect that doesn’t light up Christmas tree bright

Notes / Questions

Not sure if these are good power options: I’ve considered micro trenching a 110v power
cable, or using solar with battery.  I see things on Amazon using 12v a lot but not sure why.
Don’t want to put those torchlights you buy at Home Depot and mount every 10 feet. It’s just personal preference, don’t like that look, and hopefully the LED strip can look like a continuous band of light with some basic diffusing.
RGB colors would be a cool, but not absolutely necessary for a walking path
Home automation standards are not necessary.  It would be nice, but I’d be happy with any standalone app that let me control the lights from Inside.
Actually haven’t heard of dimmable light strings before outside of the Hue, but I see quite a few different options especially 12 V be used on Amazon, but I’m not sure how they would fit into a solution.
Already have good wifi coverage

Any feedback or ideas appreciated.

Search on Wish or AliExpress for “solar light string” - these things cost almost nothing and look nice and do provide light. Usually they have some kind of settings like different patterns or intensities.

For wired: There are other “LED strips” that you have to do more work to wire up, but the possibilities are endless - RGB, or variations of warm or cool white, or other colors. Most come with remotes, so you can make adjustments. There are specific strips that are waterproof (encased in rubber).  They all run on 12v so you can use transformers and plug into 110, or do things like use a solar panel.


Left switch on gang light pair not getting power I’m trying to install a set of light switches to control my fan and lights. The left switch has two black cables running to it and the right has a red and black.

I installed both switches and the left doesn’t power on when I flip the breaker. I’ve confirmed it isn’t a manufacturing issue with one of the switches by uninstalling/reinstalling them in the reverse order. In both cases, the left side is the one not receiving power.

Below are the original and new configurations, respectively:

The new red wire on the left connects to the nest of black wires similarly to the original bottom black wire. I’m afraid what may happen if I reverse the wires going to the red and black on the left switch, though I don’t know whether that will do any actual harm.

Any clear issues with how I rewired these?

These new smart switches are active devices, and power themselves between supply (their black) and neutral (their white obviously).  Therefore they care about the difference between supply (their black) and switched/lamp power (their red).  Your old switches didn't care about that.

You need the smart-switch black (supply) to go to the bundle of black wires.  The smart-switch red (switched) must go to the lamp/fan, which are the red and black that go into the same cable.

Remember, do not dim a motor.  Motors respond very badly to triac style dimming intended for lights, they need a different type of thing called a fan speed control.


Water coming down PVC pipe from ceiling to furnace Water comes down the PVC vent pipe to my furnace and leaks out at the elbow. Water seems to come even when the furnance is turned off.  I had a furnance man come out.  He said there is a leak at the roof, as it had been raining.

Now, it is days after he left.  We have not had any rain.

What type of repair person would I need to call?

You likely just need caulk from a poor HVAC guy install using flat metal that is now sagged (needs to be crowned) & letting water in as well as causing condensation water whenever the furnace runs. If you aren't comfortable with getting on the roof to see if you just need caulk, then absolutely get a Roofer to address it.


Will a GFCI-protected 15A circuit meet light power tool needs in a shed? I want to run electric from my house to shed, which is 23 feet from my house. I was going to run 12/2 wire from the outside gfci underground to the shed. I plan on having 2 lights and 4 outlets in the shed. The outside gfci breaker is 15amp. Will I run into any problems if I occasionally run a power tool with the shed lights on and possibly a stereo? I don’t have a workshop in my shed or anything. My only other option was to run a dedicated line to my electrical panel. If I did this, what amp breaker would I put in for the shed that’s compatible/suitable for 12/2 600 volt wire?

If you're running PVC anyway...there's no need to wrestle that UF alligator down the pipe!
Since you're planning to run PVC conduit in any case, you shouldn't bother trying to wrestle that 12/2 UF alligator down it.  Instead, what you want to run inside the conduit are 3 individual 12AWG THHN/THWN wires (hot, neutral, ground) of the appropriate colors. This takes up far less room in the conduit, is far easier to pull down the conduit, and lets you use stranded wire, which also makes your life easier pulling things.
Running a fat conduit is a wise investment
Furthermore, if I were in your shoes, I'd make that conduit fat, so that the next person (who may be you!) doesn't have to dig it up and replace it if they need more power at the shed.  A 1" conduit will easily accommodate a 60A feeder, so it'd be my minimum size for this; if possible, I'd go up to 1.5", which provides enough room for a 125A(!) feeder to the shed in the future, if such is desired.
Having GFCI upstream of outbuildings is never a good idea
However, there's no reason to provide GFCI upstream of an outbuilding, and a couple good reasons not to, primarily that you really do not want your lights knocked out from under you when something like a faulty power tool trips a GFCI.  As a result, running from your panel with a conventional breaker at the panel and a GFCI receptacle in the shed is the best plan; it also works well with the fat conduit mentioned above.  It does mean you'll need to make sure there's 18" of dirt between the top of the conduit and the finished grade once you've backfilled the trench, though; in order to do this, you'll need to trench down to 21 or 22".


I have 120v when measuring between true ground and the screw on my outlet plate In the process of going to add some low voltage landscape lights to an existing low voltage transformer I found out that when I touched the metal base of the transformer I got a bit of a shock. I originally figured it was something shorted in the transformer box itself but as I traced it out further to where it was connected to the outside 120v outlet that if I put my meter leads on the metal part of the outlet box and the other end directly into the ground ( the dirt) I read 120v. Kept backing up and found the same thing on 2 other patio outlets thats on the same circuit.

Im in the low voltage business so I know how to use a meter and have some knowledge of electricity but I cant figure out how I have the 120v between the metal outlet box and earth, and again, this means sticking one lead directly into the dirt near the box.

Any thoughts or advise very much appreciated.

Unfortunately there could be several causes.   At a minimum you don't have an effective grounding conductor, to say the least.  That's one thing that needs to be fixed.  A way to find the problem is to unplug everything on that circuit and see if you still have the problem.  If not, you have a defective (ground faulting) appliance or other piece of equipment. If you still have 120 between ground and the real ground (the Earth!), then you have a short someplace.  I'd try removing all the outlets and examine them for shorts, loose wires.

I recently fixed a true short (tripped the breaker when a outlet controlled by a switch was turned on). Turned out over time the ground wire in the box came into contact with the hot side of the outlet.

If you are comfortable working in a main panel, I'd pull the cover off, determine which breaker controls the "shocking" circuit and follow the wire from the breaker to where the cable enters the panel, then follow it's ground and see if it's connected and in good shape.

You could also have a break in the ground connections anywhere from the main panel throughout the circuit. Like Ed, ph3, Harp and others have said here, wire and cable failures inside a wall, once installed are extremely rare.   By far most often these issues are in an outlet or fixture box someplace.   One more reason the code requires fixture and outlet boxes to be permanently accessible!

Please be careful when working inside a live panel.  One of my rules personally is only one hand in the panel at a time whenever possible.


c wire on a multi taco zone valve boiler looking for assurance on what I think is the right setup to add a c wire to a current 2 wire zone setup. See pic of transformer junction box.
Currently I have 3 zones using one transformer and 3 taco zones. All stats use 2 wires, Rh and w.
Looking at my transformer setup it looks like they took all the stat wires from the different apartments, zones, bundled them up and connected all the Rh wires pigtailed together to one of the leads on the transformer. ( see pics. Note I didn't remove junction cover yet )
I'm assuming they then pigtailed all the W wires from the stats along with all the wires from taco zone terminal 1 together and pigtailed together to the other transformer lead. Then took taco zone terminals 2/3 pigtailed out of the junction box (I saw the 2 wire cable go to relay box) to relay then boiler on the t terminals.
My doubt is if I introduce a new stat wire for c, where do I connect the c wire. Should that go on the bundle of wires that connect the stat W and zone valve terminal 1?? Or is there a better way.
Also the transformer terminalit doesn't seem to be marked with + or - so am assuming you can just connect the R/W to any terminal as long as it's consistent.[![enter image description here nhi][2]
Thanks very much for the forum and everyone that's been helping.
Paul
[2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/M7vrA.jpg![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bU3DV.jpg)

One of those transformer terminals is "R" the other is "C"
If the red wire joins to the thermostat "R"  wires then the beige wire is "C"
Thermostat wires should not be inside that junction box with the mains wiring,  get a new box for the thermostat wires.


What is better for a roof, plywood or OSB? While watching the builders next door do their thing, I became curious with their technique to install plywood on edges neighboring the next townhouse, and OSB for the rest (which for these narrow interior units is a single panel in the middle, but they use OSB all the way to the non-attached side on the end units). What's the reason to pick one over another?

Follow up: I'm guessing this is related to OSB's tendency to expand on the edges when wet, possibly for the flashing and the plywood side of the firewall that would rest on top of this edge of the roof. Here are some links that I came across when doing a bit of research:

Comparison from home inspectors

Comparison from UMass

It could be that they are trying to slow down a fire from spreading. The material at the edges might be more fire resistant, so the fire will spread to adjacent buildings more slowly, allowing the occupants more time to escape.  You might be able to verify this by checking the local fire codes for conjoined (not sure this is the right term) buildings.

See how if there was an MS Paint fire, the flames would stay away from the next building (assuming the material in the middle burns faster).

The man would then have more time to get to safety, or be saved by Captain Construction.


How should I repair flaking paint? I have just removed some frog tape from a painted wall and it has taken the paint off down to the plasterboard (4 layers, 2 undercoat and 2 topcoat).

How should I go about repairing the damaged areas?

I am assuming you have quite a divot that needs some filling.  I recommend using lightweight Spackle. It is very easy to apply, and you can smooth it with fine sandpaper and a damp sponge about 15 mins after you apply it and paint it within an hour.


Are the outlets grounded? I was checking out the outlets in my house, that's when I discovered 1 outlet didn't have an ground wire attached to it. I looked inside the plastic junction box, I could see 2 ground wires twisted together then looped around the screw at the back of the box. Does it mean the outlet is already grounded?

If it's not grounded, can I just attach a copper wire to the ground terminal on the outlet and twist it around the ground wires?

Also, the previous owner attached a cable on the opposite wall of this outlet, but it only has 2 wires: Hot and Neutral

I'm going to install an additional outlet there, I already purchased a metal outlet box. Since there is no ground wire, will the outlet be grounded if I just attach a copper wire to the ground terminal and loop it around the screw on the metal box?

First off, verify the two wires twisted together are really grounded and not just some addition that hasn't been completed. If they are grounds, then yes, connect a copper wire to the two twisted together, use appropriate wire nuts, and the other end to the ground screw on the outlet.

The wire the previous owner attached, is it in conduit with a metal box? if so, it might be grounded, you'd have to check that. The metal box you're installing will not be grounded unless you connect to conduit that is grounded or to cable that has a ground wire. Just going from a metal box to the ground on an outlet will not ground it.


parallel #8 or #10 from splice point in outdoor box for 60 amp rating? I need to repair a splice inside an outdoor, 60 amp, NEMA 3R AC cutoff switch.   The electrician had used a NSI Tork IT-4 to lengthen the #6 to reach the switch terminals (all within the box).  Its on a 60 amp breaker.

As I don't have #6 or better wire, I liked to run a pair of #8 THWN or #10 solid splice point to the switch terminal (all within the box).  Is this an acceptable practice?

The new splice would be a Morris 90612 or SR-2 splice/reducer and would be insulated with shrink tube and electrical tape - with #6 entering one side, and a pair of #10 or #8, possibly twisted, leaving the other.

You're not allowed to parallel wires smaller than 1/0 AWG (NEC 310.10).  Further, paralleling requires special equipment on the supply-side, and special dual lugs on the load side.  This equipment handles certain very serious problems that can arise with paralleling.

Not least, what happens if one of the two wires breaks or has a contact problem, and all the current is flowing on the other wire?

It's maybe not so bad since since your issue here is entirely contained inside a junction box... however, it's maybe not so hard to get some #6 wire.

If you must cheat this, use a single #8 wire and declare "inside the box" to be a 90C environment, 55A@90C rounding up to 60A. That's not legal either, but it's a better argument than paralleling.  Then do replace it as soon as you can obtain some #6.

NFPA does a lot of thinking about electrical safety in writing the NEC.  Many rules didn't make sense when I started, but do make sense now that I have some experience and have thought more about all the reasons.  I have never found a rule that didn't make sense, both in terms of safety and finance.

An example is the "neutral on switch loops rule" -- it causes 50 cents worth of additional hardship at install time, and saves $200 of additional hardship (or a dangerous hack) when the homeowner wants to install a light switch.


How can I extract a broken off 1/2 inch threaded galvanized pipe? Looking for options on removing a 1/2 inch threaded galvanized pipe broken off with about a third of an inch of it still inside the hole.

Screw Extractor: (cromwell.co.uk, #3 is what you need, I think. Finding them at a real store and comparing actual sizes might help)

For larger sizes, use an Internal Pipe Wrench: (plumbingsupply.com)


What is causing extremely high water usage? Our condo's (12 units, 2 buildings) water usage went from $300 to $3000 in a few months. We don't have separate water shutoffs to test each unit. Nobody's reporting any visible leaks. Any idea how to proceed? We are going to go bankrupt at this rate.

You could install flow meters on each unit and bill them separately.


Help with untangling an ancient wiring mess So, let me preface this by saying I live in a 100 year old apartment building, and I can't tear out all the wiring and start over again. (As much as I'd like to.)

In my living room, there existed a ceiling fan with a light. The fan had become noisy and eventually just stopped working. I removed the fan blades a while ago, and it's been basically just a ceiling light for a long while now. I decided to replace the fan with a new, quiet model. I'm a fairly handy guy and I'd already done the kitchen ceiling light quite easily, so I figured, no big deal. Then I took the old fan off...

There are 8 or 10 wires up there, all twisted together in 2 bundles. I figure one bundle is hot, the other is neutral. But the wiring is the old-style cloth-covered kind, and at this point, it all looks black. It's old.

At this point, I've got all the fuses to my apartment shut off, so there shouldn't be any power flowing through any of them. Just to be sure, I test the bundles with my voltage meter.

And I find that there's still 120V running through the wires...

I can assure you that all of the breakers were flipped off for my apartment. So I went back to the basement and flipped off all the breakers for the common areas, too. Tested again, and there's still 120V.

This is troubling, to say the least...

I recognize this as a fire hazard. Serious, full stop, bad mojo.

I carefully go through the painstaking process of separating the different wires and capping them individually. All circuits are broken, and it should be safe to keep them that way while I figure out what's going on.

Except, when I turn the power back on to test the wires, I find that 3 out of the 4 rooms of my apartment no longer have power. It appears that all of the wiring for each room of my apartment (except the kitchen) went through this ceiling pancake.

I waited a few days while my landlord and I went back and forth via text, basically with no power in most of my unit. I happened to run into my neighbor in the hallway and he mentioned that he was having electrical problems in his bedroom (which shares a wall with my bedroom). His power had been out for a few days.

So, this clues me into the fact that the live wire is probably a circuit on his fuse box. This weekend, we plan to test his breakers as well to see if we can isolate the live wire and get it turned off.

My electrical knowledge doesn't stretch so far as to where to go from there. What I'd like to know is, once I identify the correct pairings of HOT to NEUTRAL wires for each breaker, can I safely twist them together and allow power to flow to the other rooms, independent of each other, and on their own circuits?

Rather than have 4 rooms (and 2 apartments!) worth of electrical wiring twisted into 2 bundles in my ceiling creating one big ol' circuit, can I safely twist together the HOT and NEUTRAL wires in their appropriate pairs and allow the power to flow?

Thanks in advance for your help.

P.S.
You may ask why I don't just call an electrician to do it. Well, the landlord refuses to authorize the expenditure. I can live without power for a few days. But I don't want to be on the hook for unauthorized electrical repair work.

I decided to replace the fan with a new, quiet model. I'm a fairly handy guy and I'd already done the kitchen ceiling light quite easily, so I figured, no big deal.

It is no big deal. There are 2-3 wires coming down that actually go to the fan/light.  Those are the only ones you touch.  Easy peasy, and it's done.
These kinds of job are so simple they don't require a permit to be pulled.

There are 8 or 10 wires up there, all twisted together in 2 bundles. I figure one bundle is hot, the other is neutral. But the wiring is the old-style cloth-covered kind, and at this point, it all looks black. It's old.

It's a fair assumption that when you have two clumps of multiple wires, you're probably dealing with a hot clump and a neutral clump. Seems like a sensible guess; of course it's not conclusive.
Here's the important thing.  When you see that presumably-hot clump and presumably-neutral clump, that circuit is carrying current onward to some other point-of-use. "It's not yours to disassemble" is probably the best way of thinking about it.  Taking it apart won't help your project goal.

Serious, full stop, bad mojo.

Yes. Full stop. This where you exceeded your "personal minimums" and you should've buttoned it up and called for help.  But you didn't because curiosity or "get-there-itis" got the best of you.

I carefully go through the painstaking process of separating the different wires and capping them individually. All circuits are broken, and it should be safe to keep them that way while I figure out what's going on.
Except, when I turn the power back on to test the wires, I find that 3 out of the 4 rooms of my apartment no longer have power. ... my neighbor was having electrical problems in his bedroom (which shares a wall with my bedroom).

That's no surprise to anyone with experience.  This stuff wasn't broken, and fussing with it didn't advance your goal. You have to admit curiosity was your motive.

So, this clues me into the fact that the live wire is probably a circuit on his fuse box. This weekend, we plan to test his breakers as well to see if we can isolate the live wire and get it turned off.
My electrical knowledge doesn't stretch so far as to where to go from there.

No. Sit down.  You are done.
I'm about to say something I don't often say.  There are reasons.
I.  You are doing unauthorized electrical work in a rental unit.  Even if the landlord authorized the fan swap, you could have simply cut the modern-ish wires from the old fan (it's scrap) and spliced those to your new fan with orange wirenuts.  You went way past the landlord's possible permission or intent.
II. The extra work crossed the threshold between "trivial work" and "actual electrical work that requires a permit".  So you are doing unpermitted work, with consequences all their own, and those consequences fall on the landlord.
III. Most everywhere, only licensed contractors can work on rental units.  The landlord can't fix the electrical.  The landlord's handy cousin can't fix the the electrical.  The tenant sure can't!  When unlicensed contractors do work on rental units, the consequences fall on the landlord.
IV.  As you readily admit, you're well beyond your depth.  You should not have done this. The cure is not "do more".  You may think "if I can only try every combination, I'll get it" - no, you'll get an apartment fire.  Where did the rule When you are in a hole, STOP DIGGING come from? Don't people realize they are messing up?  Well... no.  People get tunnel vision, puzzle-solving mode, or get-there-itis. If it can happen to the chief KLM pilot at Tenerife, it can happen to any of us.
Now you call in the professional
Life as a consumer is funny.  I can walk into Home Depot and they will take back something I bought at Lowes, even though I damaged the packaging so it's no longer saleable. You get really used to that and it can be a total shock when others don't eat your losses for you.  This is one of those.  Simply put: This is on you.  All the way. Soup to nuts.  Simply put, you poked it, and now the consequences of poking it are yours.
You call the landlord and you ask which electricians he prefers.  You call up those guys and say you "messed up" and need one to come out PDQ. S/he comes out.  They bother your neighbor a couple times, drape wires around your apartment for testing.
Expect this to take a couple hours, if everything goes well.  The bill will be Very Ouchy if you're not in the habit of paying electricians.  You pay it on the spot. The landlord never knows the bill.  One time I had to do this with a very boutique porch light globe I accidentally smashed.  The phone call went like "You (landlord is architect) specced the porch light, right?  It's an Adams J101, do you know who supplies those?"  "Anderson Distributors in the city." "Thanks."  That was the last he heard of it.
Now it's possible it won't go well. Your poking may have brought it below condemning limits. It may have been "grandfathered" in Code and now it's not.  Or it may have been improperly wired in the first place (not least, the other tenant's power in your box? WTH? Scary!) and that must be fixed because it can't be returned to service that way.   Any of these could make this bill a fair bit bigger.  Unfortunately, that's just tough.  If it was defective before you came along and the electrican can tell your landlord that, you might get him to share costs.  That's the most you can expect.
By the way, the thing I almost never say is "hire a professional". In this case it's right for reasons I-IV above.
One last thing: Find out what the bedroom neighbor likes (cakes, tequila, Cold Stone) and get her something really nice.


Is this hole at the corner of the foundation major issue? I am in the process of purchasing a home. I found the perfect home but of course, I found water stains in the basement walls (mostly close to the floor). I also noticed a small hole at the corner of the foundation, about 2 to 3 inches in diameterCan this be the cause of the water seepage in the basement ? How can it be fixed.

Thank you for the reply. I took a picture and tried to post but won't let me cause I don't have reputation.
The sump pump is on the opposite side of the house. The hole is close to another pipe.

You may want to ask whether the hole is for a sump pump that removes water from the basement in wet weather - it could exist specifically to prevent further water issues (such as the one that caused the water marks) in the basement, in which case, filling it in would be inadvisable.


can a 2x4 withstand 200lbs out pressure on the 1.5" side? I need to know if I cut a 2x4 at 42", which will be down the side of a 2x8 by 7 inches, carriage bolted at 2" and 5" below the surface of the deck, bolted through a 2x8 (1.5" thick), that will extend 34.5" above the surface of the deck, if it will withstand 200lbs of outward pressure at the top (which is handrail height).

The 2x4 will be flat (3.5" side) against the 2x8 girder.

  ||
  ||
  ||
  ||_________________________
  ||------------------------- decking
 *||| BOLT
  |||
 *||| BOLT
  |||_________________________ 2x8 Girder

TL;DR -If the question is if you can use a 2x4 for a post, then the answer is no.

For guardrails see here, page 42 -6A (Chicago Deck Code).

Whatever a 2x4 can withstand is irrelevant. Guardrail posts are to be at minimum 4x4s.

The top rail is to be a 2x6 with a 'cap'.

Maximum span for a railing between two posts is 4'.

Use at minimum 5/8ths through bolts with 2" - 3/16ths washers to secure the post to the ledger board (and unless you want to do it again in five years, buy all stainless fasteners).


What is this thing that holds widespread bathroom faucet handle to sink? How do I tighten it? I have a Pfister widespread bathroom faucet.

As I was working on a leak and replacing the cartridge in one of the handles, I managed to loosen the other handle completely to where this part fell off:

It seems that it attaches to the bottom of the handle where the little metal pieces protrude as shown here from the top:

When I google, I find a lot of talk about using a basin wrench to tighten plastic nuts, but it seems like this contraption is something else entirely.

Can anyone enlighten me on (i) the names of the pieces and (ii) how I can re-attach the metal part from below the sink and then tighten it somehow?

Thanks!!!

UPDATE: Based on @JPhi1618's assistance below, you have to remove the handle (there is a cap which you can remove with your fingers or a flat-topped screwdriver, then a Phillips screw that you have to unscrew, THEN the plastic piece unscrews but for me this required quite a bunch of WD-40). Then, I made it to this:

Ended up buying two of these https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-10-in-Heavy-Duty-Straight-Pipe-Wrench-31010/100075882 RIDGID
10 in. Heavy-Duty Straight Pipe Wrenches. One is placed on flat portion of washer (?) shown by red arrow, other is placed on flat portion shown with yellow arrow.

Now, turn the wrench attached to the yellow arrow COUNTERCLOCKWISE while turning the washer shown with the red arrow CLOCKWISE. After some elbow grease, the washer started to turn, and I was then able to continue turning with my hand only. This lowered the carrier and I was able to re-attached the "gravity toggle" that fell off, then lower it under the sink, and turn the washer shown with the red arrow by hand COUNTERCLOCKWISE until it was tight.

Hope that helps someone! Still waiting for Pfister to tell me exact model of the faucet (I submitted a few tickets to them, haven't called yet).

This is a faucet that is designed to install from the top only.  Price Pfister calls it Top Pfit.  The piece you have pictured was probably over tightened, bent, and popped off.

Update: It looks like the old name for this was "Twist Pfit" back when they used it for bathroom pfaucets.  Top Pfit seems to be a new name they use for kitchen pfaucets.

It works like a toggle bolt.  It lines up with the pipe to slip into the sink hole then it flops down to a horizontal position where you use a nut or screw on the top side to tighten it.

If you remove the handle from that side valve, you should be able to figure out what to turn to make the carrier with the studs on the side move up and down.  Once you figure it out, the toggle will need to be bent back into shape and snapped back in place.  DO NOT over tighten the valve once you figure it all out.  You can use plumbers putty or even silicone if you are desperate to hold it in place semi-permanently, but over tightening will only get you back to where you are now.

If you look through the PF site, you might find some installation instructions close to your faucet if you need any help, but the design may have changed slightly over the years.

Pictures from found install manual:


If a Drill's Clutch doesn't properly align the gears, can it cause the Chuck to loosen? So I was using my hammer drill to drill into some masonry when I ended up hitting the clutch to a lower setting. When this happened, the trigger remained pulled for a moment, but the bit nor the chuck rotated. I assume the clutch didn't align the gears properly.

So I rotated the chuck until it seemed it popped in place, and ran it for a second in that gear - all seemed well. I switched the clutch back to the hammer setting and rotated the chuck for the click. When I went back to drilling, the drill spat the bit at me and dinged me pretty good.

The drill's chuck isn't keyless, or at least I haven't tightened it without the key. Is what I've described an indication that the clutch loosened the chuck or should I be worried the drill is damaged? I went back and put the bit back in and had no more issues for a few more holes before I was finished.

Oh, and I was wearing safety glasses and the manual of the drill mentions nothing about the clutch. /Norm.

That was a close one! I would surmise from your description ("The drill's chuck isn't keyless, or at least I haven't tightened it without the key") is the cause of the spitting drill chuck. I too am guilty of being in a hurry and trying to save every second and bypass the chuck wrench. The other issue may have been caused if your drill has a High and a Low speed setting. If the lever is placed in between the two speeds the gears (as you have mentioned) may not mesh. The resulting grinding sound is not a pleasant one. I've had a similar scenario using a DeWalt 18V Cordless Hammer drill.


How to wire a lamp to a junction box? In my bathroom, I had an old wall lamp hanging above the mirror, that was connected to a junction box. I dismounted the old lamp and didn't pay attention to which wires it was connected. Now I need to connect a new lamp and I don't know which wires from the junction box should be used.

The photo of the junction box is below. There is one strand of wires (black, white, ground) coming from the top, and two strands of wires coming from the bottom. All black wires are connected together, and all ground wires are connected together. Now, white wires -- it looks like only two of them were connected, though I'm not sure about that -- maybe one disconnected from other two when I dismounted the old lamp. So the question is: which wires should I use to connect my lamp?

Additional detail: there is a two-way switch on the wall that controls the lamp. The new lamp has standard white, black and ground wires.

First recommendation; put labels on stuff.  Sorry, nobody needs a Monday Morning Quarterback.

Do you have a meter?  I would try metering out which wire gets voltage with the lightswitch going on and off.

My guess, based on the two way switch, is that the three black wires are; Line ( from the breaker ), feed to the outlet, and feed to the switch.   The two whites in the wirenut would be the Neutral to the breaker box, and the outlet.  I am guessing that the single white wire is a carrier from the switch, or in your case, switches.  With this premise in mind I would check the voltage with a meter on the single white against ground while blinking the switch.  If the meter blinks with the switch, then put the fixture black onto this wire, and white with the wirenuted whites.

If this guess is wrong, I have more questions.  Did / does the outlet loose power when the lightswitch is off?  If yes, then it's probably wired with all blacks together and all whites together.  But again, I'd check with a meter before closing in all the boxes.

good luck, let us know the outcome


Can I reduce the floor register boot size in my old house? I am replacing the subfloor in my turn of the century house. After ripping up the old floor, I realized that the floor register boots are huge compared to the size of the supply ducts. For example, this a picture of a 6" round duct with a 10x12" register boot.

Look at that thing! It is eating up so much floor space! I have four of these on my first floor that I'd love to make smaller. As I understand it, a 4x10 or 4x12 register boot is pretty standard for a 6" round duct. Is there any reason I can't make this change?

While I'm at it, there are three returns in the same space that are even larger. I'm talking 8x30", 6x30", and 24x30". There is no way those returns need to be so large, right? My assumption is they just used the old gravity fed registers when upgrading the HVAC system some years ago. But that is just a hunch.

So I have a couple of questions:

Can I reduce my floor register boots for the 6" and 7" round supply lines without negative effect?
Can I reduce my return sizes as well?

I'm well aware that I should have a Manual J/D performed to get exacting answers. I'm looking for safe rule of thumb at this point.

Thanks all!

Many of the very old houses had gravity style furnaces that utilized large registers and grills that offered very low resistance to the flow of air. Since there were no fans or blowers the delivery pipes and registers had to be very large. Depending on the size of your room/house update it may be a good idea to ask an HVAC company for a bid on a duct work and register replacement package. You do not want to restrict the air flow to the furnace today and have to do it "again" if the work is done wrong. my 2 cents


One of my breaker switches buzzes when I flip it on, should I replace it? I recently installed a ceiling fan in a bedroom, and when the fan is active the electromagnet was a little louder than I was use to, but figured it may just be a cheap fan.
However today when I went to label the correct breaker switch (for some reason the bed room one was only labeled living room), I noticed the room got quieter when I tested the breaker to ensure my memory was correct.  Upon flipping the breaker back on the buzzing resumed.  From there I verified that fan and light were set to off via the wall switch.
Is it normal for a circuit breaker with no load to buzz?
None of the other breakers in my box seem to be making noise.

Buzzing breakers are not normal, but a common problem. The usual cause is an unseated magnet vibrating in the breaker. These magnets sometimes do not reseat into the correct position after tripping and resetting. This can cause the breaker to not lock into "on" position or hum under load. I am not sure if this trick will work on a AFCI breaker, but on regular breakers, we remove them and give them a firm slam on it's side. This sometimes jolts the magnet back into the correct position. You can then operate the breaker on and off a few times to confirm it is seated and operates freely.  I have not experienced this sound with a AFCI yet. So the sound could be the magnet vibrating or a defective coil. When I attempted to reseat a magnet and it didn't correct after a couple of "slams", or the condition returned after a trip again, I replaced the breaker.  Obviously there could be another problem and the breaker should be replaced, but the slam trick can be very effective.

The other test is to move the circuit feed to another breaker temporally to see if the hum returns on another breaker (not likely), thus confirming the problem is in the breaker.


How many man hours to build a small house, 2500 sq ft? I'm looking for a general estimate of "man hours" needed to build a small house. I'm sure it will vary widely. The purpose is curiosity, and to enable one to take it as reference and compare with time spent in another context.

Please consider a house built in a typical, simple process, not a modular house, 3d printed or other optimized process. We could consider a small house to be 100m². The typical crew seems to be 3-5 people.

So far I've found estimates like: 4480 hours (unknown size), 1280+ hours (2000ft²), 3 months (# of people and size unknown), 900 hours (1200ft²), 600 hours (2 story house shell) and 8000 (200+m²)

The answer could be a range or could be a list of estimates for specific conditions, for instance.

When I constructed my house which was a single story (20 feet x 30 feet) and approx. 600 sq. ft. it took about 4 months until it was 100% completed . The only labor I paid to have done was the concrete floor. This was for two people working 8 hour a days x 6 days a week for 4 months.  48 hrs./ week x 4 weeks = 192 hrs./ month x 4 months = 768 hrs. x 2 people = 1536 total hours. Or it took one person 1.28 hours per sq. ft. If you want to get an idea of what the national (in the US) average cost is for any phase of construction Google (or purchase) "National Repair and Remodeling Estimator" by Albert S. Paxton. Published by Craftsman Book Co.. It comes with a CD for calculating an estimate. It also breaks down every phase of construction A-Z giving hourly wage, time for completion, material and supply costs by job location, etc..


What to do with an apartment with only 2-pronged outlets I just rented an apartment (Colorado, for what it's worth RE code) that has 2-pronged outlets throughout the place except for two GFCI's, one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen.

I bought the $.30 2->3 adapter and screwed that extension piece of metal into the faceplate, and then used a cheap 'tester' to see how the outlet was wired (it has 3 lights, and they come up in combinations to indicate no ground, no hot, no neutral, etc). Each outlet I tested was 'no ground', so the boxes themselves aren't actually grounded.

I asked the landlord about this and they said 'we asked at Home Depot, and they said it's no big deal, just use a surge protector'. I don't know much about wiring/circuits etc, but this seems like shady advice given the landlord's interest to not rewire. I am a professional programmer owning a good amount of expensive hardware that 'asks' for 3-prong outlets to be used when plugging it in.

My question: What are the potential hazards (to myself and my equipment) of using a 'falsely' grounded 3-prong plug with my equipment? Is this something I should press the landlord on for code issues? (It may have been grandfathered in, the building is old but was recently redone).

Thanks for any input and advice.

My primary concern would be for your safety with the circuits with GFCIs.    I find it hard to believe that just those two circuits would have been upgraded to grounded cable in a remodel, and I can't see any way that a GFCI could work with ungrounded cable.  Test that the GFCIs work correctly on their own.  Does your receptacle tester also have a GFCI test function?  If so, use it on the GFCIs too.

It's OK to have two-prong outlets if they're not grounded: see this answer to this earlier question for more information, but a surge protector simply prevents sudden changes in supply voltage from reaching the equipment it's protecting, be it on live, neutral or ground; it doesn't do anything to provide a good, stable, ground level where one didn't previously exist.

Electronic equipment often likes to have a stable ground level as a reference point.  Under normal circumstances, the ground conductor in NM cable doesn't carry any current, so it's all at the same electrical potential as the ground spike outside your building.  Without that stable level, a piece of equipment's internal "ground" can vary.  This usually isn't a problem internally within a single piece of equipment, but can cause problems if electrical signals are shared between two pieces of equipment: mains hum in hi-fi systems would be one example of this.  You can mitigate the effects by keeping related equipment close together to minimize the amount of electrical wire between them (like plugging them into the same duplex receptacle) but, depending on exactly what equipment you have, you may still run into problems.

As far as code compliance, permit applications and inspection results may be a matter of public record (they are in my locale), so you could do some research into what was done during this remodel.


Does anyone know if concrete blocks with half-moon tops are made? I'm planning to finish a concrete block fence and would like to cap it with a rounded half-moon style block for aesthetics (the whole thing will be covered with surface-bonding cement for an adobe-ish look). Trouble is, I'm having difficulty finding any and am not altogether convinced that such blocks exist. So do they?

They make them. Not concrete blocks per se but other precast concrete units. You'll need to find out if you're local suppliers carry them or you have a precast stone manufacturer near you.

The family of products you're talking about, which includes not only the half round but other shapes, are called concrete coping stones. That should help you ask around to see if you can get them.


Through wall to surface mount box? I've got a surface mount box mounted to the drywall. I now want to run an outlet to the adjacent room on the other side of this wall, but not directly lined up with the existing box.
Is there any problem with knocking out the knockout pointed to by the green arrow and just drilling a hole in the drywall big enough to fit the MC connector and then running the MC to a flush mount box on the other side of the wall?

It appears that there's a screw just to the left of your green arrow that holds the box to the wall. If that screw is centered on the stud, then it's likely that the stud will actually be blocking both knockouts to the left and right side. i.e., you could get the knockout out, but there may not be enough room for the connector or conduit.
If that's the case, you'd want to go with a knockout on the right side of the box, directly into an elbow pointed at the wall. Run your conduit through the wall at that point, then decide if it's going to go into the back of a box on the other side or into the side like this one.
Other than that (and ensuring you don't exceed fill limits), there should be no problem with your desired method.


Can I cut up sheets of cement board and use it as wall shingles? I have seen lots of great fiber cement board shingled projects popping up around my neighborhood lately, and would like to do the same for my garage. Currently it is done in vinyl which I absolutely hate.

As an avid DIYer and recent home buyer, I'd like to do it on a budget. I found Durock Next Gen Cement Board at HD (Canada) at around $33 a sheet.

At that price I could do my entire garage for $700!!

My question is this:  living in Montreal, with harsh freeze/thaw cycles, will this product pose any problems?
 I would like to do 12"x96" shingles that are blind screwed with SS screws. I do not want to paint or finish In any way.

Thoughts?

Cement board and fibercement siding (such as that from GAF or Hardie) are very different things. I'd never have considered cement board as an exterior product, especially in a climate with severe freeze/thaw cycles. I'd expect it to simply disintegrate as it'll absorb moisture readily.

Also, to cut that into siding shingles would be a monumental task, generating huge amounts of carcinogenic dust and burning through a good heap of blades.


How to drive a wood screw to get a precise screw-thread fit How does one drive a wood screw to a get a perfect-fit thread, as in the first image?

Note the difference between first and second images.

The 'bite marks' that would have been made in the upper part of the thread during driving look like they have disappeared, as if the wood has tightened around the unthreaded portion of the screw.

Edited (11/4/2020):

I've noted comments regarding different wood species, and end grain vs transverse grain. However, I'm still puzzled by the appearance of the first image, examined by itself.

Is the wood grain around screw threads dynamic enough to stabilize a screw over time?

My only guess how this would happen is that there was compression of the wood while driving, then subsequent re-expansion over time (under the influence of internal moisture flows).

It's less to do with the screw, the wood species or how you did it. It has to with wood being a natural project that has a grain with different properties based on the orientation of the wood grain.

In the first picture, the screw is placed perpendicular to the grain, the 'normal' way to use a screw. Wood is strongest this way and the screw works as expected because the wood confirms to the screw as you drive it in

In the second picture, the screw is placed into the end grain (parallel to the grain) and has very low relative strength. As the screw was driving in the fibers just moved out of the way, there was not enough strength to hold itself together.

This is an EXCELLENT way to demonstrate why screws and nails should not be used in the end grain, especially for withdrawal. Sometimes it's ok, like a stud to a plate, but the forces ares not in withdrawal but shear and things are different.

To solve the issue, do not use screws in end grain, especially for withdrawal forces. To help the situation, predrill the hole with a drill bit close in size to the screw shank at the threaded part (but don't include the threads themselves)

That done, the top piece is a softwood (probably hem-fir or doug-fir) and the bottom wood is a hardwood, oak. Hard wood doesn't conform very well, so predrilling is necessary. That combined with the end grain resulted in the very poor performance of the screw


How to properly wire GFCI Subpanel and Hot Tub As a disclaimer, I'm aware that this is technically supposed to be done by a licensed electrician. If it's possible to do this project myself, I'm willing to accept the risks in order to save money.

I have a newly constructed house, located in California, with a back yard with no landscaping yet. I'm planning to put a hot tub in the middle of the back yard and then dig a pond around it and put a bridge leading to the hot tub. Here's a picture of what I have in mind:

This is a 220 volt installation. What is the best conduit and copper wire to run from the main panel to the 50A GFCI sub panel?

It seems that the cable from the GFCI panel to the hot tub would need to run underground until i reached the bridge, then underneath the bridge, then underground until it is near the hole in the hot tub where the wiring connects, then over ground into that hole to power the tub. Since it's going both over and underground several times, it seems that liquid-tight flexible metallic conduit could work for me.

I've taken a look at the electrical codes related to this and I've read that the copper inside of the flexible conduit that will be partially buried going to the tub should be 6 gauge and individually insulated (not sheathed), and there should be 4 color-coded wires total: (1) red & (1) black hot, (1) white neutral, and (1) green (insulated) ground wire.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

From the main panel to the subpanel, you'd want to run either #6 copper UF cable.... Or if in conduit THWN-2 wire, either #6 copper or #4 aluminum.  Aluminum is fine for a feeder like this.

From the subpanel to the hot tub, any conduit will do, because all cabling must be wet location rated, and conduit is presumed to be 100% full of water anyway.   My first choice, if you can bear the pipefitting required, would be Rigid or Intermediate Metal Conduit, which only requires a 6" burial depth and lets you use conduit for ground, saving a wire.  I would not use EMT because it would rust quickly.  I would not use Schedule 40 PVC, but would use Schedule 80 PVC.

Inside the conduit I would only use THWN-2 and only copper, since it is outdoors and genuinely at risk for water exposure.

You don't need to worry excessively about shock hazard past the GFCI hot tub panel, stopping shocks is its job.

However California has seen at least one monstrous wildfire started from arcing in a bad hot tub connection, so AFCI protection is warranted if you are in a wildfire area.


Solar system with both grid tie-in and backup power without battery? My wife and I have been talking for a few years now about getting some solar panels installed on our roof.  We even went so far as to have a sales rep for an installer come out and talk through our options.  He told us that we could:

Have a system that ties into the grid and sells electricity back
to the power company.  This sounds like a great idea, and seems
cost-effective as well.
Have batteries that store surplus power to provide our home with backup power in case of a blackout.  Again this sounds like a great idea, but it also sounds like the cost
would be prohibitively expensive for us.
Have a battery-less system that provides power to our house when the power goes out, but
only when the sun is shining.

.... but that we could not have both (1) and (3) without (2).  He insisted that if we are connected to the grid, there is no way to switch our system to directly powering our house in the event of a blackout; if we wanted to be connected to the grid and have emergency power, a battery backup system is the only way.

This makes no sense to me, and he was unable to explain why (other than "it's just a different kind of system").  I suspect he was just trying to upsell me to a battery backup system. But since I don't really understand the technology I thought I would ask here.  Can someone explain to me what, if anything, are the issues here?  Please be gentle, as this stuff is well beyond my zone of competence.

Would it be accurate to re-state the option 3 differently: Have a battery-less system that provides power to our house when the power goes out, but only at all times when the sun is shining, and sells excess to the grid?

Probably the biggest reason why your solar installer can't do #1 and #3, ie have panels that sell to the grid normally, and work islanded when the grid is down, all without a battery bank, is this: His company is trained for and sells only a few packaged PV systems. They simply don't carry one that functions this way.

It's possible to do, of course, but accomplishing it requires a custom design using lower-level components. Many solar installers prefer to stick to plugging together pre-designed commodity systems comprising off-the-shelf modules.


How to fix stud drilled from the side? The plumber I hired to install a new washer box drilled a bunch of chunks off one of the studs in my wall. The chunks taken off are from the left side of the stud when looking straight at the wall.
From reading the International Residential Code, I assume this is not up to code.
But what can be done to fix it? I'm more worried about the structural integrity of things.
edit:
Here is some more information. I studied how the walls connected. I think the perpendicular stud is actually connecting to an exterior wall.

I see other studs hard against that stud.  this part of the wall
is probably still stronger than it ever needed to be.


How can I adjust my thermostat to account for solar gain? Above is a diagram of my HVAC system. I live in a ranch with three zone hot water baseboard heat and single zone Central A/C.

I have two issues with my current setup that I am trying to fix:

My zone 1 thermostat controls the heat for the master bedroom and family room. The thermostat is in the family room which tends to run hot all year round because the lights are on, we are generally in it and there is a skylight and slider that allow sun light in while the master bedroom is cold in the winter.
The other problem is in the summer. I have single zone AC where the AC thermostat is the same unit as the zone 3 heat. It is on the cold end of the house (more shade, less sun). Because of this the family room and master bedroom are hot unless we freeze out the other end.

I am trying to alleviate both issues. Any input is appreciated.

Edit* I think to fix the A/C issue I am going to use a zone panel and electrically controlled dampers to shut off different areas. I do have questions as to whether I would need thermostats in every area to report back to the panel or could I get away with a single ecoBee and the remote sensors to report back the various temps. This should make my single zone A/C act like a multi-zone system.

Regarding the cooling problem: first, I presume it is a forced air system which should have some dampers in the cool air ducts. Try partially closing the dampers (2/3 to 3/4 closed) in the ducts that carry the air to the shady side rooms. A similar effect can be made by closing the floor/wall/ceiling vents on the cool air ducts. (This is essentially what Isherwood recommended.) Additionally, set the fan to manual to keep the air circulating all the time. This will help even out the temperature throughout the house by mixing the air from all the rooms.


Shower doors don't fit on shower base We installed our shower base - round corner, and tiled our walls. Now our glass shower doors on steel frames don't fit on the base. It's too small and doesn't have enough room to sit inside of the base. It's off by about 1 inch combined from both sides. I don't think we took into account the walls. Is there anything we can do to fix this?

Unfortunately while your shower door and base look nice, the engineering on them is whack.  Just looking at where the door should sit... its not even flat.   I am guessing (hoping) that there is a bevel to the bottom of the door that makes it "fit" but just a flat surface works better.
I have put in 10s of these things.   On all of mine I have had the OPPOSITE issue. I have to build out to a depth so the door isn't inside.
What could you have done better?     Well you should have set your base up and put the door on to test out the dimensional fit before installing the backer and tile.   If you are off by that much there is no way this thing will fit.
(pre) Solution?   You could inset the wall compared to the rest of the room by using thinner concrete backer or possibly make the rest of the room thicker...   You could also push the base out by maybe adding a backing to it.   It is too late to try these things as you would need to rip out your base and redo plumbing a bit.
(post) Solution?   You cannot cut out a space for your door.   I have no idea why that is being suggested in the comments.   I have never seen anyone with any tool that could cut out tile in a straight line.   Sure you can cut it out.   Just like I can spray paint my car myself when I need a paint job.   Expect to use lots of caulk after and for it to look really bad and possibly leak.
Me guesses... I would guess that the manufacturers run sheet on this install is doing it with a PVC wall system.   I am guessing that they suggest that the walls go right on the 2x4 framing.  Then your door fits.   There really isn't another way given your details are correct.    (do you have the manufacturers install instructions for this? it is common for these bases/doors to be sold separate from a wall system as they can give you a variety of choices on the wall system.)
How do we salvage this?   The only solution without ruining the integrity of the tile work you have done and possibly ruining the waterproof system is to cut the door to make it fit.   Cutting the metal is not that big of a deal.   The cuts should be hidden for the most part and the side pop back in after.   If you can only cut one side obviously that is half the work but I am not there and doubt it.   The problem is you probably cannot cut the glass as it should be tempered.   Meaning local glass shop will have to send out two new tempered sheets.   So your cost of repairing this right is really just those two new sheets (100-150 in my area).


Wired "like" a dual transformer I'm trying to update to a smart thermostat and my current one is wired like a dual transformer but I only have a single hvac system in the basement. Any idea why?

My plan is to move the blackwire from the R and put it on the C and have that as my C wire. I'm not an expert so just making sure the existing system was wired this way for  a reason (other than not knowing what to do with an extra wire and jumping RH/RC)

This is a guess, but some thermostats require power to be delivered to Rc and Rh.  They will usually come with a jumper wire to bridge the Rc and Rh terminals, but maybe this installer just got into the habit of using two wires because that thermostat didn't come with a jumper or it was lost, or that's just how he liked it.

There should be no reason that both wires are used, and you should be able to use the black wire for the C wire.  Blue is typically used, but your thermostat wire doesn't have a white so your colors aren't going to match no matter what you do.


Bosch dishwasher part identification Trying to identify a dishwasher part.
Thia dishwasher is bosch, silence plus (I'm in Israel). This part was stuck near the pump inside the dishwasher (specifically the gear of the pump). The dishwasher wouldn't pump water in till I removed it. Can't seem to put it back in and now water won't drain out. Any ideas?

Found it. There's a round indentation in the shape of this part where the filter goes, it keeps the filter tight and in place.


Double Pole GFCI - Pool Rewire - 120V trips GFCI My pool system has a 3-wire connection to the main breaker box: 2 Hot and Ground. The wires go from the main panel to a 2 pole GFCI (pig tail not connected), from there to the timer and the pump. In order to connect a 120 V unit, I ran a neutral from the main breaker box through the same conduit into the GFCI sub-panel and connected it to the neutral bar (I made sure it's not bonded to ground). I connected the pig-tail to the neutral bar and ran a wire from there to a regular 120 V outlet (with one hot lead and ground).
The outlet measures 120 V and the pump system runs fine. Pressing the test button trips the 2-pole GFCI. Everything looks fine. However - as soon as I plug something into the outlet, the GFCI trips.
I could wire a GFCI outlet and take the hot before the 2-pole GFCI. But it is important to understand that the 120V outlet powers a pump and if it fails without the pool equipment shutting down, the pool pump will flood the equipment. So there's a relation that requires a fault in the 120 V circuit to cut the power to the pump as well. That's why I wired it this way in the first place.
Here's my question: Is it normal behavior for a double pole GFCI to trip in this configuration? How else can I get the desired behavior so that a fault on the 120V circuit will shut down the pool equipment?

The GFCI breaker is working as designed. As far as it can see, with neutral run directly to the neutral bar, there is a massive fault that might be trying to kill a person, so it trips.
If you want to feed 120V loads from that breaker you must connect its pigtail to the neutral bar and connect the load neutral wire to the load neutral terminal on the breaker. That way the breaker will be able to see all power coming and going and only trip on actual faults.


RedGard and wall tile Is there any problem for the mortar to adhere to Redgard painted Hardie backer? Putting large wall tile 8"x8" on tub surround wall. What mortar is better?

There is no problem with thinset adhering to Redgard painted backer. Just make sure there isn't a vapor barrier installed behind the backer board or you'll trap in the moisture. Hopefully, you taped all the seams on the backer board. Use a fortified thinset. Let it set 5 to 10 minutes before applying. Set the tile and wait 24 hours before grouting. Good luck.


What is recommended method to fix sunken garage floor slab? I have an attached one car garage where the floor slab seems to have sunken in one corner by about an inch and a half and varies lesser amounts in other areas. The slabs continues behind the garage into our stairwell (the house in on a hill and the main living are is one level above the garage).

We want to fix the slab in the stairwell and would prefer to make the fix in the garage as well. We have so far gotten a quote for "slabjacking" using polymer foam for around $1,500. Other options are to use a special bonding top-coat cement mix to level out the slab while also inject some of the mix into the cracks about the edges. That cement mix is not cheap ($15 for a 40lb bag) but because of the thickness needed I don't imagine it would require that many bags.

FYI, we moved into the house about a year and a half ago and haven't noticed any sinking. The house is 50+ years old so the sinking may have happened gradually.

I’m guessing that slab is on the ground floor .If so, and then from my experience it is much cheaper and easier to make a new than to fix the old slab. Firstly, you should smash the old one and then check groundwork under the slab. If it is not quality (well compacted) then you should pour some Breakstone, gravel and compact it as much as possible. Then you can work on a slab. It should be at least 15cm thick (round 6 inches if you are in US) and make sure that you use reinforcement; you can use either bars or net. At  this stage you must make a decision if you want to make a slab „floating“  meaning separated from the walls, or you should place some steel bars from the foundations of  the walls to the slab. This way they would be connected, act as a moonlit structure. But unless you have a problem with underground water, or anything that could cause negative pressure maybe you can go with „floating“  slab; in which case you should use something to separate slab from the walls while you are casting concrete, something like very thin Styrofoam placed on the walls.


Is it safe to pull CAT6 via old POTS line? My basement has this mounted on the joist:

Which appears to be a POTS/coax panel(?)
Each room has panels that are coax and rj11 combined. What I was thinking of doing was using electrical tape around an existing rj11 line in the basement and pulling that up via the office, since it appears this was put on far after the home was built and should not be stapled.
Then, I was planning on terminating the CAT6 with RJ45 in the rooms.
My question is mainly: how safe is it to pull on those wires? I don't know if these sorts of runs have electrical running or something, I don't think they do. They also don't appear to be connected to the old Bell Atlantic POTS panel on the right (not pictured).

Those POTS line look like CAT-5   Look on the cable jacket.  If so you can re-terminate the ends and be fine with them.  The whole thing looks too new to be the original old-style CAT-3 "voice line" or the even older 4 wire bellcore CAT-nothing wire.


Installing a transparent window in waterproof tool boxes I have a bunch of waterproof toolkit boxes that I usually keep in the shed, which are IP67 rated. I'm horribly unorganised and frequently switch tools between them, so I can never quickly work out if the one I'm opening is likely to have the tool I'm looking for. I also frequently forget to put them away, and they sit out in the rain for a day or so. Any kind of sorting and tidying regimen, as I have previously demonstrated to myself, is doomed to fail.

As such, I'd like to fit a small transparent window in the top of each. The boxes are plastic (ABS?) so I could easily take a drill to them and install some acrylic glass, but I'd rather do a decent job of it.

I'm not hugely concerned about retaining the IP67 rating, as something roughly around the IP65 level will do just fine, but I do want to make sure that moisture can't seep in and ruin all my tools.

Any suggestions on how to make a clean rectangular cut in the top of the boxes, and how to seal the "windows" in place without making a total mess and leaking water everywhere?

Make a clean round hole with a hole-saw and put in a larger polycarbonate (e.g. Lexan) window, with caulking on the surface, and perhaps three bolts, also caulked, to keep it in place.

Acrylic will quickly get scratched or crazed, or just break.