Can I paint a load center cover? I would like to paint the cover and door of my flush mount load center to match the wall color more closely. The manufacturer does offer a white in addition to the standard grey cover, but it is hard to find and ridiculously overprice.

Only the outside would be painted, so all labels on the inside would not get any overspray or anything else on them and would remain intact. I would also of course first remove the hinges and locking mechanism to ensure their operation wouldn't be affected.

Is this OK to do per NEC 2017 and with typical load center UL listings? Let me know if specifics are needed to answer.

That is fine. The Electrical Code is silent on the issue, except for NEC 110.3B, which requires you to obey the unit's labeling and instructions.  So if they do not disallow painting the panel, then have fun.

Do not cover up any labeling or numbering, and do not paint the breakers themselves.

If you have a panel with no door, and you don't want to be looking at breakers, then contact electrical supply houses (not retail stores) until you find an authorized dealer for that brand of panel.  Ask them about panel covers with doors, or retrofit doors.  Paint the door.

The only exception is if your panel is the CH type.  Cutler Hammer's choice of color is pure perfection.  To make it match,  paint the rest of the house that color! :)


What range of heights are allowed for wall receptacles? I need to mount a receptacle on a basement wall.  If I can mount it high enough, it can go on the wood cripple wall instead of having to drill into the concrete and risk the excellent watertightness of the basement.

How high can the receptacle be placed and still count for the "within 6' of any point on the wall" requirement?   While we're  here, since it's related, what's the lowest allowable position?

The NEC doesn't count a receptacle above 5-1/2' to satisfy the requirement -

210.52(4) Located more than 1.7 m (51⁄2 ft) above the floor

The NEC doesn't have a lower limit for height, in fact 210.52(A)(3) allows floor receptacles within 18" of the wall to satisfy the requirement.

  (3) Floor Receptacles. Receptacle outlets in floors shall
  not be counted as part of the required number of receptacle
  outlets unless located within 450 mm (18 in.) of the wall.

Now if there are any requirements for ADA accessibility, receptacles and switches must be between 15" and 48" and unobstructed.


How to support 1 corner of stair landing We have a stair landing that is approx. 4 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet long. The 4 foot wide side rests on the outside concrete block wall. One inner corner appears to be held up by a 2x8 and 2x4, nailed together going down approx. 5 feet to rest on the concrete basement floor.

The other inner corner is buried possibly into a chimney I'm going to remove. It does not transfer anything else above it, and must support the landing and top of the basement stairs.

For a 4 foot by 2 1/2 foot landing is a 2x8 and 2x4 nailed together sufficient to support 1 corner of the landing? I have searched several stair building books and they all gloss over this.

Yep, doing another pair of sticks under the landing where the chimney used to be is quite enough. Slip a galvanized plate under the existing & new leg to prevent moisture wicking. With your new sticks, anchor the first stick to the cinder block, even with just Molly or Mushroom Head Bolts before attaching the other stick.

This will avoid any possible future racking or pull-away type movements. Not that it would, but you can also avoid the anchors by doing an X-brace of sticks between the then 2 supporting legs or posts, so you don't make any holes in the walls.


Low voltage track lighting flashing at low frequency I have two sets of track lighting on the same switch, and one of the tracks flashes at a low frequency at seemingly random times. Video of the behavior.

Some relevant details:

The two tracks are on different transformers. The transformer on the issue track has a 150W max. It is an electronic transformer.
The track with the issue has 2 50W halogen bulbs, but exhibits same behavior with 3 50W bulbs.
It doesn't appear to be related to high load from my condo unit, i.e. even if the AC / heat, washer / dryer, dishwasher, etc are all off, it can still happen.
The lights are on a 3-way switch with a dimmer, but I swapped out the dimmer for a regular switch and it exhibited the same behavior.
The voltage on the track when it's doing this oscillates between 0 and 1.5V. Normal output should be 11.5, but I'm reading closer to 10.5 during normal operation.

Any ideas?

Because you have too much lighting load for the power supply (not transformer*) to cope with, so it is crowbar-ing.

Reduce load.   This is a good time to think LED.

* "Transformer" is a proper term for a very specific thing, which this is not.  Transformers are quite heavy and withstand short-term overload very well.  This weighs 6.4 oz. for 150W, and fails instantly at 100W. They can call it an A-10 Warthog if they please, but it's actually a switching power supply. As such it has a protective circuit (crowbar) which is tripping for whatever reason (defective? Misapplied? Loads you don't know about?)

The RU mark is a good sign, but still it's only rated as an electronic component, it would need a UL mark to be legal for direct use in mains wiring.


modify fridge to temporarily defeat auto-defrost? I would like to modify my 3 year-old KitchenAid KRFC300ESS french-door (freezer on bottom) refrigerator to disable the auto-defrost cycle on a short-term basis, preferably by putting in a switch mounted near the front (ideally, connected the low-voltage control circuitry, not the defrost heater itself).

The motivation is that I'd like to be able to drive a few critical loads from a 1kW inverter, during short-term (few days) power outages.  The inverter is usually able to handle these with aplomb, but during a recent power outage it could not (overloads and shuts off) even when I isolated so the fridge was the only load.  I believe the auto-defrost must be the culprit.

I am a EE, and I'm comfortable going inside of appliances (in fact, I fixed a noise problem on this fridge that a tech could or would not).   But I don't have the first clue how auto-defrost works, in theory or in practice.

Auto-defrost just raises the temperature enough that the accumulated undesired ice build up (very thin at this point) melts away while still cold enough and short term enough to not melt the items frozen in the freezer. It does this with a heater inside the fridge to periodically warm the appliance during the defrost cycle. Here's a video that explains it.

If you want to disable, you can find and remove or cut the wire to the heater. There should be a wiring diagram on the back and probably down low. Due to your background, I think that you can take it from here


Does a drill press or a hammer drill have more torque? I've recently bought this hammer drill for the purpose of getting a drill press holder. I like my tools modular.

I was about to get above type of drill press, when I checked my options for an actual drill press
I was expecting much significantly better specs:
both nearly the same top speed  -- 3000 rpm for my drill and 2900 rpm for the latter. both has 12 speeds, but mine has a handling of 7A, while the latter is 3.85A.
To me, at least torque is more important than speed and neither shows it explicitly.
So,

Which one has a higher torque?
If I was to assume that the current handling is actually reached at some given (usable) speed and assuming that given (usable) speed is nearly the same for both drills, then my current drill has more peak torque, obviously. Assuming the given speed is usable.

If my drill has higher torque, then why so? I mean look at the casing for the latter's drill, it's definitely larger.

If torque is your objective, the drill press is going to provide more. It appears to use the same gearing as my quite-old Sears Craftsman drill press in that one releases a sliding motor mount, pulling the motor forward. Re-position the drive belts to a different pair of stepped pulleys for ratio change, then re-tension by pushing the motor aft and tightening the clamps/levers/bolts.

Any time you reduce speed by a gearing change, torque is increased. The hammer drill likely uses some form of electronic speed change, pulse width modulation, for example. As such, the amount of power transmitted is reduced for a specific period of time. Reduced (electrical) power, reduced torque.

One can bog down a variable speed hand drill by running it at a low enough rpm. It is nearly impossible to do so with a belt drive drill press, if one had one geared low enough to match.

I see that your hammer drill is not 12 speeds, but fully variable across the speed range, by the way.

Each tool choice is a compromise of sorts. The drill press will provide a stable surface on which to place parts and provide for greater accuracy with respect to squareness and precision. It's not going to be something to drag out to the backyard or driveway for an assembly project, however.

The hand drill has portability and light weight, but lacks precision and stability. A hole saw bit in a drill press is a good combination for comparison. Put the same hole saw into a hand drill and you won't get quite as smooth a hole and if the saw is large enough, it will be challenging to hang on to.

On the flip side, you won't be using a drill press to prepare concrete for anchors, as you can with the hammer drill.

Why not buy both?


Alternative ways to insulate a shallow slab foundation? I would like to turn a shed on a shallow slab foundation into a living space for a family member. Insulating the roof and walls seems straight forward enough, but the floor and foundation are tricky.

I considered insulating the foundation by digging around and inserting insulation, but one side of the foundation is blocked by a recently added patio and is not accessible. I was wondering what alternatives I may have to frost protecting and insulating this floor/foundation?

You can either build up (put an insulated floor on top of the concrete slab floor - most people would also see this as nicer than a concrete slab floor for living in) or you can waste a lot of heat (and the floor will always feel cold.)


Does Pex tubing have any advantages over copper? What are the advantages/disadvantages of Pex tubing? How does it compare to copper?

From Pex Information:

Flexible PEX tube is manufactured by extrusion, and shipped and stored on spools, where rigid plastic or metal piping must be cut to some practical length for shipping and storage. This leads to several advantages, including lower shipping and handling costs due to decreased weight and improved storage options.
PEX plumbing installations require fewer fittings than rigid piping. The flexible tubing can turn 90 degree corners without the need for elbow fittings, and PEX tubing unrolled from spools can be installed in long runs without the need for coupling fittings.
Attaching PEX tube to fittings does not require soldering, and so eliminates the health hazards involved with lead-based solder and acid fluxes; PEX is also safer to install since a torch is not needed to make connections..
PEX resists the scale build-up common with copper pipe, and does not pit or corrode when exposed to acidic water.
PEX is much more resistant to freeze-breakage than copper or rigid plastic pipe.
PEX tubing does not transfer heat as readily as copper, and so conserves energy.
Water flows more quietly through PEX tube, and the characteristic "water hammer" noise of copper pipe systems is virtually eliminated.
PEX plumbing installations cost less because:

PEX is less expensive than copper pipe.
Less time is spent running pipe and installing fittings than with rigid pipe systems.
Installing fewer fittings reduces the chances for expensive callbacks.

If you are only going to be doing a little bit of work, check with your local rental stores, you may be able to rent the tool for a decent price.


What box extender to use for dryer outlet? I am planning on putting beadboard wainscoting on a laundry room wall. I will need to add an extender to the dryer's 240v outlet to keep it to electrical code and have the outlet sit flush up against the extender. The beadboard will add 3/16" thickness to the wall.

I can't find a suitable product to use. I've used these in the past for 1-gang outlets, but there doesn't seem to be one for the bigger box. Which product should I use?

Here's a picture of the box, it is plastic and W: 3.75" H: 3.5":

Use an Arlington BE2

What you have appears to be a two gang plastic box, so you'll need a two gang plastic box extender such as the Arlington BE2 or equivalent (picture below is of a BE2, but for illustration only.  These should be available at any supply house worth its chops, and can even be ordered from the orange borg if you can't get it any other way.


Help with Wire Nut sizes I need two sizes of wire nuts but I can't find anything that specify the work/wire load that I need.

Plus I wanna swap out my backstab/push in connectors with Wire nuts cause people saying it's not really a recommended way of tying lines together

I'm looking for wire nuts that support

4x 14 AWG solid copper
6x 14 AWG solid copper

Red, as per this Ideal Industries datasheet.


Is this half mask suitable for spray painting? I've recently begun spray painting and realized that I should probably buy a gas mask to protect me from harmful solvents.

I read as much as I could, but since it's not my area of expertise, I would like to ask for someone more qualified than me to see if I made the right choice.

I chose a 3M 7503L as a half mask, with a pair of 3M 06915 cartridges Link in german for protection. I was not certain if this is the right filter for the job, or if this filter is compatible with the mask.

The filter states it's suitable for spray painting, so I guess it's alright. Then again, "I guess" isn't good enough for personal safety.

I also happen to have a thick beard, which could be a problem. And no, shaving it is not an option.

Edit: The spray contians the following:

Acetone
Propane
Butane
Xylene
Isobutane
Propylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether
Petroleum distillates

The 3M half mask, as long as it fits well (and you don't have a beard or other impediments) should be fine. My rough translation of the German link indicates that the filter is for organic vapors, so those are perfect for spraying. You can usually find pre-filters that go on the OV cartridges that'll slow the clogging process.

Caveat: there are probably some harmful solvents that aren't adequately covered by the OV mask. If you are using something non-typical, check with the manufacturer.

edit to reflect new information:

Beards are a problem, as a poor seal isn't protecting you. You might need to shave, or look at 'positive pressure respirator' masks.

A useful guide to various chemicals can be found on 3Ms website: respirator selection guide (Chemicals start at page 15. It's noteworthy that many of your listed chemicals cause short filter life, and propane won't be filtered by the OV unit.)


Fix headphones ear pads I have a nice pair of over-ear headphones but the ear pads cracked apart. Any idea on how to fix this is very welcome.
Photos:

Clean both surfaces and use either Superglue or a glue gun to stick those two surfaces together.


Choosing the cutting length of a router bit I'm trying to decide how long the cutting edge on a pattern router bit should be.  I'm trimming a 2-by (1-1/2" actual) with a pattern / template on top, and I'm having a hard time finding a 1-1/2" (cutting) length bit.  I found a 2" length.  Is there a reason I shouldn't just use the 2" length?  I can't find any technical information about selecting the appropriate length, or whether I should avoid a longer length.
P.S. I'm aware of the stability considerations with shank diameter; that's not what this question is about.  The 2" length bit has a 1/2" dia shank.

You wouldn't want a 1-1/2" bit in the first place, as that would require absolute precision with both router table depth and technique. You almost always want some buffer with woodworking tools, so a 2" seems ideal anyway.


How to remove flaking concrete sealer/paint After my basement flooded and I removed the carpet I found the previous owner had sealed the floor but it's flaking up now and I want to remove it all. It's about 200 sqft so a wire brush by hand is not going to cut it. So, what's the best method to remove this stuff? I'm thinking something like a floor sander but with a wire brush roller. Not sure if such a thing exists.

Not saying I'm an expert, but I did just finish scraping up about the same square footage of old mastic (asbestos-free!) from my basement. Obviously the real answer is to try various things to see what works best, but in my case, I found a long-handled razor scraper and a lot of elbow grease managed to get up the majority of my problem. Because the mastic was really tough in spots, I ended up using progressively shorter blades in the razor scraper handle (from 8" all the way down to 2" utility razor blades).

The stuff that couldn't get removed by the razor scraper came up nicely using the same wire wheel that bib mentioned. I used a two-handled corded hammer drill which was easy to control. However, I would not recommend trying to do the whole floor with that tool - it was really powerful but had a really small contact patch, so you'd be on your hands and knees for days trying to do the whole thing. If a power drill is your thing, though, you may find success with one of the larger rotary wire brushes.

Lastly, I looked briefly to find a floor refinisher that I could rent, and Home Depot apparently had some options. However, I decided that the rental hassle (my car is rather small) wasn't worth the small floor area. If you think a big machine is what you want, check with your local HD or tool rental shop.

Also, if you are doing anything that breaks the surface of the concrete (as I was) don't skimp, and get a respirator that provides P100 protection. The power tools especially can kick up some pretty fierce concrete dust.


Does a neutral-to-ground voltage of 0.0 indicate a bootleg ground? As described here (for example), in a correctly-wired receptacle, there will be a small potential difference between the neutral and ground wires that increases slightly with increasing load. I'm thinking that with a bootleg ground, this voltage will always be 0 no matter how much current is running through the circuit. Is my reasoning correct? If so, is measuring the neutral-to-ground voltage a good way to test for the presence of a bootleg ground?

Backstory: I'm in the middle of buying a house in the US. The home inspector discovered that some of the three-pronged outlets had no ground wire. The listing claimed recent electrical upgrades, so I asked the seller to rewire these. I meant for this to be the starting point of a negotiation, but somewhat to my surprise, he agreed to do it. In the spirit of finding a cloud for every silver lining, I'm concerned this means he's planning to do something  like a bootleg ground to fool me and the inspector into thinking the problem is solved, and I'm trying to come up with a way to test for this without buying a $300 circuit analyzer.

Backstory update: It turns out the guy just replaced all the ungrounded outlets with GFCI boxes. Which is not exactly what I asked for, but good enough.

The best way to check for the bootleg ground, is to open up one of the boxes and look at how the receptacle is wired.

Since the grounded (neutral) and grounding conductors are bonded at the service equipment, they should always be at about the same voltage potential.  If you had a long circuit, and an accurate meter, you might be able to measure a slight difference.

Since wire has a resistance, it's certainly possible to measure a voltage difference. However, a reading of 0 volts, does not necessarily mean there's a bootleg ground. The only way to know for sure, is to actually inspect the wiring.


What port are these wires for? There are six wires. Four are held into four corners in the cutout with screws, while two wires are loose.

Wire that supports 3 telephone lines, but in a house with 2 or 1, by the look of it. Standard telephone color scheme for twisted pair wiring. Could be serving some other low-voltage function or could be abandoned, but that's what the wire is, so that's probably what it was used for.

Also the box says "WE" which stands for "Western Electric" which was the manufacturing arm of "Ma Bell" (the old AT&T, when "the phone company" meant them, and nobody else.)


Can I use both a grounded 120V circuit and 2 wire + ground 240V circuit for 3 wire + ground wall oven? I have an opening in my cabinetry for a wall oven that has both a 120V grounded circuit outlet and a 2-wire + ground 240V circuit. My oven has a 3-wire + ground connection. Previously, the oven was connected to the 240V circuit only via a black-black, red-black, and white+ground-ground configuration. While this (obviously?) worked, it's probably not the safest configuration, nor does it sound like it's legal these days.
Assuming I could figure out which of the 240V hot wires is out of phase with the 120V circuit, could I connect the oven's 3-wire + ground to both the 120V and 240V circuits? As an example, have the oven's red, white, and ground go to the 120V outlet and the oven's black go to the 240V circuit?
Alternatively, could I leave the oven's red, black, and ground going to the 240V circuit and have the oven's white go to the 120V outlet?
EDIT: the wall oven unit is a KitchenAid oven + microwave combo unit (I don’t know the model number). The 240V circuit uses 8 gauge wire for the two hots. The oven wiring uses 10 gauge for the two hots and 12 gauge for the neutral.

No, you can't combine the two circuits because of NEC 300.3(B).  (funny I was just answering another question about that one).  It says all related wires must be together in the same cable.  But also, they must be in the same circuit.
That bare "ground" from the wall
Now, if the ground wire from the wall is bare, it's probably illegal.  When grounding came in in the 1960s, they did a bargain with appliance makers to continue allowing 3-prong H-H-Neutral connections, but with a big asterisk, and the asterisk was to start using 3-wire+ground cable as soon as stocks of the old cables ran out.  So at least someone could convert to a safer 4-prong connection later.   The legal cable types were:

SE service entrance cable (in small sizes) -- two hots and a bare neutral in a mesh around the hots.  This is made for the service entrance or lateral from the utility, which supplies 2 hots and a bare neutral.  If this is the type of cable you have, then it's legal to wire N+G to the bare mesh Neutral... but only because you are grandfathered.
/3 no-ground cable -- insulated white neutral.  Deprecated because /3 has ground now.
/3 w/ground cable, when stock ran out of the above cables. The ground went unused.
NEVER legal: /2 w/ground cable misusing ground as neutral.  Ground can't be re-tasked to be neutral.

Some electricians felt the other cables going out of stock was their "license" to use /2 w/ground.  Wrong.
However... /2 w/ground actually is fine for a 240V-only range.
So if your cable is /2 w/ground, then something goes in the trash, either the cable or the neutral-hungry oven/range.  Either replace the cable with /3 or get a range that is 240V-only.
If your cable type is SE (meshed neutral), then you have an option... but not quite as good.  You can carefully insulate neutral, and then retrofit ground by running a #10 ground wire from that location to anywhere else that has a #10 or larger ground wire going back to that same panel.  The list of possible appliances are water heater, dryer (if it's not in the same pickle), air conditioner, any non-flexible metal conduit, or the bare mesh copper "Grounding Electrode System" carrying ground out to the water pipe or ground rods. You need a split-bolt to tap the GES, you must not cut it.
Another very, very wackadoodle option, if you have the oven's schematics, is to re-wire the oven so the 120V loads on the oven are completely separated from the 240V power going to the oven heating elements.  This may be quite easy if it has a big 2-pole contactor to control oven power.   Now you can have two line cords - a NEMA 5-15 common recep with H-N-G that runs everything but the heating element -- that can go onto any 120V circuit including kitchen recep circuits........ and 2 fat hots and a ground which can go to that /2 cable. This must not have any conductors tied together or in common, except for safety ground.


Why would a lawn irrigation pipe slope down to nothing and just end? In my lawn sprinkler system, one of the PVC lines starts off at a normal depth around 6 inches but slopes down and ends up 2 feet down and leads to nothing. The pipe just ends, not even capped off. It looks like it was intentionally bent. What does this mean? Was it just a potential area for expansion of the system and the installer bent the PVC instead of capping it? Or does it have some sort of purpose like drainage? The line runs parallel to the driveway and slopes down to the edge of the lawn.

To answer my own question (after a bit of research)...

In terms of following standard sprinkler system layouts, there is no technical reason why a downward sloping pipe would just end and be bent. This seems to be a unique feature to this system. Most likely, the pipe was laid for future expansion. Perhaps budget was an important issue at time of installation, or perhaps the design changed at the last minute. It could be that it was not designed professionally and the layout was changed around a lot through trial and error. All one can infer with the information known is that a pipe is bent and essentially capped off (since water does not seep). It's not causing a loss of pressure in that case. If anything, perhaps the pump is having to work ever so slightly more to maintain the pressure in that zone (since there is a bit of more pipe to cover). If there is little or no pressure in a zone that was at one point working then it has had a change in it's supply, either a loss from leaks, or an issue at its source (the well). But those are whole other issues.


How should I build a garden fence on the edge of a swamp? I'm currently building approximately a 60' X 100' garden on the edge of a swamp (1-2 feet above the water table), and am wondering what to build the fence out of, and how to build it as this is also my wild mushroom garden, and the mushrooms will attack the poles.

Well, there is a whole university of thought on how to best keep fence posts from rotting. There are also quite a few good answers on this site - try searching "fence post rot".  Some of them are linked below:

Why did a gate post rot after just 6 years?

Using PT (Pressure-Treated) posts

Setting in dirt vs. gravel vs. concrete

In general, water is not necessarily bad for wood - it is the combination of water and air that allows microbes to grow and causes rot.  On our farm, we usually use bare cedar posts for our wire fence, which hold up pretty well, but we still end up replacing them every 5-7 years.  For structural posts, or where we want to hang nice wooden fencing on the posts (sounds like your application), we generally coat the bottom few feet with creosote, which helps somewhat with minimizing water penetration (depending on whether you soak or paint it), but mostly keeps the air from getting in.  The most important part is to extend the coating about 6 inches above the soil, to complete the barrier.  Personally, I don't know whether the coating could affect the fungi - I would go for actual creosote, as opposed to the CCA compounds, but both can have health risks.


Any potential problems with re-numbering electrical panel? I'm going through and re-labeling our electrical panel. Currently it has the numbering: 1a & 1b, 2a & 2b, etc.

Quite a few of the breakers are linked together (for things such as the stove, or the air conditioner). The air conditioner, for example, has two 30 amp breakers covering 31a, 31b, 29a, and 29b.

This naming scheme doesn't seem super efficient to me. Number 1 is on the bottom right of the panel, and the highest number is on the top left of the panel. I want to re-label everything with new numbers 1-28, going from top to bottom on the left side, and then top to bottom on the right side. All the breakers that are joined together would simply have a single number to reference them by. In my mock up, all of the air conditioner breakers would just be labeled "15".

Are there any problems removing the old numbering system? I wouldn't think there would be, but if there is some type of standard I don't know about, I would be worried about making things more complex for any future electrician visits.

Might be a dumb question, but I want to be sure before I pull/cover up the old labels.

The accepted practice in most of the USA is to number the breaker slots. We number them odd on the left and even on the right from top to bottom. A two-pole breaker takes up two slots and therefore two numbers.

Some newer panel numbers are imprinted in the metal with this numbering scheme. Most construction blueprints also use this numbering scheme.

You can use whatever scheme you want this is just the common practice. The National Electrical Code requires that you complete a panel registry with descriptions of the circuits. As long as it is legible and logical, any subsequent homeowner or electrician should be able to follow it.

Happy Day!


container liner for easy cleaning when mixing concrete Whether its a wheelbarrow or a 5 gallon bucket, is it okay to use a liner?

For example, put liner in container, mix concrete, pour concrete, pull out liner, dispose liner, squeaky clean wheelbarrow/bucket remains. If it is okay, what should I use as a liner?

What kind of liner do you propose to use? Seems to me that any liner that I can think of would rip easily with the rigor of mixing the concrete.

I have used one of those heavy duty wheelbarrows that has a plastic tub on it for mixing concrete. It was surprisingly easy to wash out as compared to a metal wheel barrow.


Help with mounting a TV over a window I would like to mount my television over a window. I identified this mount; Chief OB1U

It looks like it will do the trick, except that the opening of my window is approximately 60" high and the max length of the mount is approximately 66". It needs to be mounted in at least two studs but over the window I understand contains a header and I'm guessing it is taller than the range of the mount.

So my question is, can the header withstand the weight and force from this mount and 75lbs of television?

Here is a picture of the opening I will be placing the tv;

Yes it will not be an issue. The header is almost surely over-sized as it is not designed to just barely support the design weight but rather it is up-sized to the next sized header that is being used on the project. Even if it was a max capacity, 75 lbs is relatively small compared to the amount of load that the header is designed for.


Wood glue versus epoxy for doweling stripped screw holes I've come across two schools of thought for gluing dowels in place.

PVA wood glue, such as Titebond.
Two-part epoxy, such as Araldite.

Bearing in mind long-term stability, which is preferable for interior door hinges?

Wood glue, hands down. Wood glue is designed to penetrate the wood for a tighter bond. Properly done, wood glue is stronger than the surrounding wood. I have chairs I've wood glued and clamped and they're still fine years later.

Epoxy is OK, but you have to make sure you get the right epoxy too. Many are exothermic (they get hot) and might eat your wood. Just be sure to read labels for supported materials.


How can I get High-CRI lighting for a small room? I plan to replace a CFL lighting fixture in a small room (10' x 15'), due to its being too dim and giving less-than-perfect light.

I'd like to install something that would give me 3500K light with color rendering index (CRI) ≥ 85.

My options are seemingly halogen and LED. I'm OK with replacing the fixture, adding transformers, etc.

Halogen bulbs I encounter seem to have low power efficiency, below 20 lm/W (example). This means lots of heat, which I would rather avoid.
LED bulbs I encounter usually have CRI of 80 or worse (example), which I would rather improve on.

What am I missing?

UPDATE: A cheap and relatively nice solution I ended up with is having several CFLs with various color temperatures, from 2700 to 5000.

I understand that my "3500K" requirement was due to misunderstanding.

Update Feb 2020: By now, high-CRI LEDs are not hard to come by, for any reasonable color temperature. My current setup with 3200K and 5000K srtips with independent dimmers proved to reproduce colors in a way which is hard to tell from natural sunlight.

A quick check on Wikipedia suggests that below 5000K the Color rendering index is unreliable in the first place.  Incandescent lamps have a color temperature of between 2700-3300K and a CRI of 100.


Remove plywood floor before insulating attic? My 1940 house's upstairs ceiling is composed of:

1/2" of plaster
1/2" of solid paper backing
2x6" joists spaced 16" apart (2" rolled batt and 4" open-faced batt insulation)
1/2 inch plywood
Open attic space (A-shape) which I can easily stand in (I wanted to use this as storage but previous owners neglected a broken basement window and mice got in. I may or may not have got them all but I'm not sure. I do not wish to use this as storage.)

The floor does not actually run parallel to the ridge of my roof; it is perpendicular but I didn't know how to illustrate that.

My region is Upstate, NY. I think R60 is recommended.

I have a bunch of leftover blow-in cellulose insulation from insulating my walls and was wondering if I could just freely blow it into my attic? Is the R value of plywood beneficial/harmful? Could the plywood alone cause some sort of moisture trap?

I know you can get ceiling sag if you blow in directly into exposed joists so it seems beneficial to just blow in on top of the plywood because I could do R80 if I wanted to.

I know I need to install rafter baffles so that I can insulate out to all edges of my attic. Should I foil-tape or caulk/silicone all the plywood seams?

I welcome all suggestions and especially appreciate references to good tutorial videos!

Side-note: I plan to do a complete tear down of the upstairs and remodel every room in the next 5-10 years.

I'm assuming that the floor of the attic is insulated, and the roof is not insulated at all. Do I have the right picture?

Options

A: Put insulation on top of the plywood.  This is straight forward, and can be done with soffet baffles at the edges, and half a day's work with an insulation blower.  You can choose between cellulose and fiberglass.  The former is environmentally more friendly, and usually cheaper, and not nearly as itchy.

B: Remove the plywood, and put insulation on the old insulation.

C: Insulate the rafter space.

Only insulate the existing web.
Make the rafter space deeper by adding 2x to the edges of the rafter.
Use a higher R-value insulation between the rafters.
Fasten foam board to the interior edges of the rafters, then cover.

Tradeoffs on removing the plywood

You lose the potential storage space if you put insulation on top of the plywood.   (You said you're not interested in doing this, but anyone else who finds this answer may be.) Removing the plywood will be a big pain.  You also lose the support.  More than one person has stepped through the ceiling of the room below when missing a joist.

While plywood isn't a vapour barrier, is will be a limited air circulation barrier.  Normally when adding insulation, you want about twice as much on the cold side of such a barrier to keep the dewpoint on the correct (cold) side of the barrier.  Blown in insulation is cheap.

Tradeoffs on insulating the rafters.

This is far more time consuming.  You either are getting less insulation, having to make the rafters deeper, or working with foam, then protecting the foam from fire.  This may or may not be necessary depending on local building code and the particular foam product.  See http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_0944/0901b80380944bea.pdf?filepath=styrofoam/pdfs/noreg/179-00011.pdf?filepath=styrofoam/pdfs/noreg/179-00011.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc

You could do this by putting 2x4 on edge on the existing rafters. then insulate.  If the existing rafter is 2x8 (7.5") then adding 2x4 will give you 11 inches.  Fiberglass at R3.5/inch gives you R38.  If the floor is 2x6 and filled well it's about R20.

The flip side of this is that you have the space as a either storage, or hobby room, or potential spare bedroom, with the addition of a folding attic stair.  This room is halfway between two insulation layers so it will tend to be warm in the summer, and cool in winter.

As even a roughly developed storage area it may increase the value of your house.  You could consult a local realtor to find out.

You can also blow in insulation in the hollow of the 'A' so it could be R60 for that part of the roof.

Another possibility would be to use foam insulation.  Insulate the 2x6 truss elements with bats, then put up 2" foam boards, then drywall.  (Foam board MUST have a firebreak -- it releases cyanide when it burns)  This has the advantage of insulting the thermal bridge that the 2x6 has in the roof.


How to polish Corian countertop? I have a Corian countertop that has seen many years of wear and tear.  I'd like to sand and polish it however the instructions that came with the countertop recommend Hope's Countertop Polish as the final step.

My challenge is that it appears that the Hope's products are not available for sale in Canada.  I have checked with all the major home improvement stores around me and it seems that nobody has ever heard of anything for polishing Corian.  Everything they have is either for granite or 'natural stone' only which I don't think will work on a Corian countertop.

Is there something else I can use to polish my countertop?  Ideally something that's available in Canada would be excellent.

If you're really going to sand it you don't need a polishing compound to finish.  I worked a deep scratch out of a small section using a quarter-sheet power sander, and then worked up through 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 grit paper, at which point it had a mirror finish.

(Only problem is it now looks so much better than the other Corian sections, and it would take a full day to repeat the process on the whole surface area.)


How to add a new cable box to an existing stud wall I need to wire in a new speaker volume adjuster and box into an existing stud wall. My worry is I am not sure if the speaker wire will be able to get to where I need it to go. This is because I am worried that the stud wall wood will get in the way.

If this were not yet plaster boarded, I could pre-drill any needed holes. The wall is freshly painted, so the less cutting the better.

How likely is it that the cable will be able to drop vertically down the wall if I insert it at the top of the wall? If not, what do I do to get the cable where I need it?

Top View

Please ask for more information is needed.

What are your suggestions?

If you have access to the top plate of the wall and the wall has no insulation, that's super easy:

Get a low-voltage, existing work rough-in box from the hardware store.
Cut a hole in the wall for your box. Make sure you are at least a couple inches away from a stud, although dead center between to adjacent studs makes the process easier.
Drill a 1/2" hole in the exact middle of the top plate.
Drop the cable down through the top plate.
Stick your hand in to the wall through the hole you cut through the drywall and grab cable.
Done!

If the wall is insulated, the procedure differs based on what kind of insulation you have. If the insulation is soft, such as blown-in cellulose or batting, then instead of just dropping the wire in you need to use something stiff to push through the insulation. The proper tool would be a fish tape or similar, but if the distance isn't too long you could use a hanger or similar.

If the insulation is rigid foam or sprayed in foam then you will need to carve a channel through the insulation. The easiest way to do that is with a long drill bit designed for drilling through cross-members inside a wall. The only difficult part is knowing where the drill bit ends up because they don't always travel straight. I've had success drilling the initial hole through the top plate almost adjacent to a stud, and aiming the long drill bit towards the stud. (Not at the stud; towards and long the stud.) The drill bit can then follow the stud down the wall. That should make it easier to locate the cavity you've drilled out.

And don't forget that repairing drywall is pretty easy in the grand scheme of things. If you need an extra hole(s) then don't worry about it.

When you're all done, make sure to fill the hole you drilled in the top plate with fire stop caulk or foam.


What are some at-home options for pest control? I am thinking about ditching my pest guy and going straight DIY.

Raid has released a new product called Raid Max Bug Barrier.

Lowe's also carries a number of DIY insect treatments. I figure the initial startup cost is high but long term is cheaper.

Has anyone else embarked on this before and what were the results? Suggestions?

We've had crickets getting into our basement, I believe through a gap somewhere in the basement egress window edges.  Those windows have timber-lined window wells, and they like to sneak around between the timbers.  I just threw down a bunch of Ortho Home Defense MAX all around the house last night, paying special attention in the window wells, and it was like a war zone down there this morning...dead and dying crickets abound.

If I remember, I'll come back in a few days with a report on the population trend inside the house.


Is it normal to miter the non-pivoting edge of a door? Recently I've seen someone miter the edge of a bathroom and closet door so it swings shut without hitting the door frame. I've never seen this before -- is it normal?

Clarification: The edge that was mitered was the part that would swing into the door frame first due to the angle the door is at while closing it.

It shouldn't be necessary.  Some times it might be useful:

Your hinge plates aren't flush to the surface of the door or the frame.
You have a build-up of paint on the door or frame causing the door to rub or stick.
Some wood splinters easily if it's cut at a right-angle. Rounding the corners a little can help this.


Garage door needs a push or pull to start opening/closing I have some 20+ year old garage door openers, and one works great, the other will sometimes open/close fine.

Sometimes when I hit the switch there is a click and a buzz like the motor is trying to lift, but the door does not move.  If I hit the switch again it stops.  If I go over to the door and pull it up about an inch (or pull it down, if it's open) the motor "catches" and it goes up/down just fine.

Is there a slack adjustment of some sort I can look at, or is the motor bad?  I replaced the capacitor on the door that is not working about 6 months ago, and have replaced the springs and safety cables on both doors at about the same time.

Any ideas?

Though they're 20+ years old, they didn't miss the plastic bug. It's likely that your drive sprocket on the one is worn down & begin to miss. However, a little more specific & much less involved to remedy to your symptoms would be to play with the up-force & down-force adjustments.

Usually, clockwise is to ramp up & counterclockwise is to ramp down. The openers develop flat spots on the clutch & screwing-in or clockwise reseats the contact points. If it works it'll work for years, I'm going on 5-years now with my current one & two others I had before got 8 & 10 more years before adjustments didn't work anymore.


How can I get the hinge pin out of the refrigerator door? I just went to open my fridge and the door just fell off. The reason appears to be that the bottom pin that the door swings on had worked its way loose from the frame it's normally screwed into and is now stuck in the door:

It's totally flush with the surface and I cannot get this thing out. It's a Frigidaire and they're totally unhelpful. There's no tech support on the phone. I can pay $169 for a service call, but I can't see how the tech will get it out either, and I don't want to pay if the answer is a whole new door.
What to do?!

As the hinge pin appears to be flush with the plastic bushing, the first attack would be to pry at the edges of the bushing. If you can wiggle it out, the pin becomes more exposed, allowing for more prying directly on the pin.
If you can get a tool between the bushing and the pin, there's another wedge pry point.
If you have access to strong magnets, you may be able to secure an attachment to the pin and tap on the frame while applying exit force. If the pin is stainless steel, it may have minimal or no magnetic attraction.
Along the lines of a last resort, using a rotary tool such as the one frequently called a Dremel™, cut a slot into the center of the pin and use a straight blade screwdriver to rotate the pin and pry it out.
But wait, there's more, also along the last ditch effort concept. Thoroughly scuff up the surface of the pin and clean well. Apply an epoxy product suitable for the surface. There are some paste/clay looking epoxies I've used, specifically for steel, as well as the tiny tubes of epoxy known as JB Weld™ that would provide for a sufficient grip. Go one step further and epoxy a grip of some sort, perhaps a keyring type, to make it easier to ease out the pin.
It would be necessary, of course, to grind away the epoxy once the pin is extracted, unless you are able to purchase a replacement pin.
If the pin is threaded into the mount, consider also to use an anerobic adhesive such as Loctite™ or similar, to prevent a repeat complication.


Indoor ant control: Caulk up baseboard and counter/wall junction? Background

I rent a 1-bedroom apartment on the 9th floor of a highrise.  I've
been trying to solve an ant problem over the past two months,
including three bouts of commercial bait that is suppose to eradicate
the colony.  The problem only abates for a few days.  The landlord has
already brought in a pest control expert a week ago, who merely dabbed
some gel at two spots (kitchen and bathroom).  The problem remains
unchanged, despite hieghtened vigilance in cleaning (I'm was already a
clean freak beforehand).  I may have to ask for fumigation.  I believe
that the landlord would be justified in inspecting neighbouring
apartments, but that's not within my control.

From what I've researched online, an ant problem might be an ongoing
management problem.

The question

As a means of mitigating the problem, prior to actually getting it
under control, would it be advisable to:

(1) Caulk up the junction between the baseboards and the wall,
   between the  shoe moulding and the baseboard, and between the shoe
   moulding and the floor?

(2) Caulk up or re-caulk the junction between the kitchen
   counter and the wall, and between the washroom vanity and the wall?

My thinking is that restricting their mobility makes their life and
survival more difficult, but I am also concerned that it may reduce
the effectivenes of other measures.  For example, it may interfere
with their bringing bait back to the colony, or make satellite
colonies more likely.  Or it may impede fumigation, if that happens.

bifenthrin

you'll need a <=1 gal sprayer and mix rate up to ~1 ounce per gallon.  spray the entire place, let it dry.

another one is permethrin, in Martin's Cyonara.

both can be gotten at tractor supply, or amazon, sometimes at depot/lowes.


Trying to identify these wires on a switch I think the black wires with the white and blue caps are the hot ones, and maybe the brown wire is ground or neutral?

I'm trying to replace it with whats in the second image but not sure what the SW1 wire is (pass through maybe)?

Someone else will probably post a more complete answer soon, but you need to figure out which of the black wires on your old switch is always-hot, and which is hot only with the switch on.  Always-hot connects to live on your new switch, and switched-hot connects to SW1.  Neutral gets added to the white wire bundle in the back of the box, and ground connects to a screw into the metal chassis (because the conduit is your ground here).


How should I lay ceramic tile in a room where one side slants? I am going to replace the tile on my kitchen floor.  Part of the kitchen floor (~25%) covers an area by a sliding glass door, that was added onto the kitchen.  This area used to be a porch, and has since sunk a bit since the addition was put in (we estimate it has been there since the '70s).  Consequently, the floor on that area is on a slight downward angle, compared to the rest of the level floor.

I want to lay down long tile in a herringbone pattern.  I'm afraid that if I lay it down on the existing subfloor, the tiles that straddle the point where the floor changes slope, will eventually crack/break.

Everyone I talk to say I should lay down self leveling concrete and level the entire floor, but I'm looking for alternatives on how to handle this situation.  Any ideas?

If you have a floor that is sinking or sagging, I would seriously consider whether it is sufficiently able to handle tile. If the floor has a bounce to it, you're going to constantly be having grout breaking out no matter whether you level it or not. Tile requires more infrastructure than other flooring options, so, without knowing I'd at least say reconsider or have an expert at least look at it for you first.


What are the consequences to laying continuous floating floor without using transitioning pieces? I have a manufactured home with OSB subfloor, to install another subfloor for hardwood would cause a lot of problems. I want a continuous floating floor with no transitioning pieces and I want to know what are the common problems.  Is it done in long, continuous installations? The length is 28' ft x 22' ft (living & dining) reducing to 13' x 17' (kitchen) and then to 8' x 10' laundry, then to 16'x 3' foyer.

The problem is expansion of the floating floor from seasonal moisture changes**. Transitions provide expansion joints. If you have excessively long continuous flooring, without large expansion joints at the ends, then when it gets humid your floor will expand, not be able to push outwards at the ends, so will push upwards in the middle instead.

** My thanks to DA01 for his comment on this. I'd always assumed it was thermal expansion.


Looking for bearing part for GE Washer Dryer Combo WSM2700HBWWW I have a GE Washer Dryer Combo WSM2700HBWWW, and during washers' last stage of the spinning cycle, it makes a grinding sound, so I suspect something wrong with the bearing.
So I found parts are available at https://www.appliancepartspros.com/parts-for-ge-wsm2700hbwww.html, which part should I buy?

There are three possibilities: 1519 which is just the bearing, 1540 which is the motor that has bearings in it and 1603 which is the transmission hub which also has bearings in it. None of these parts are cheap so I suggest some major disassembly to determine exactly which part is bad. I'd start with part #1519.


How to rescue exterior door paint job? I have a newly installed exterior metal paneled door that was still dirty when painted. Also embedded in the paint job are bits of foam rubber from the brush, lint from a paint roller and hair from an exuberant dog. Oil paint was used because this is a southwest facing door that gets a lot of heat and we were told that latex based paint would not perform well in those conditions.

Two questions:

Was oil based paint the proper choice?
What is the best way to go about fixing the foam, lint, dirt, and dog hair in the current paint job?

For getting paint off a door, I highly recommend using Citrus Strip.
We tried it on our old wooden door and it  worked great, taking off multiple layers of paint.  It doesn't work as well under a lot of sun and heat, so I would recommend either taking the door off the hinges or erecting some sort of tarp to block the sun from hitting it directly.  Then get a paint scraper,and it will come off pretty well.

For painting the door, they make small rollers (cabinet rollers) that we also used on our door, and it worked out very well. They are only about 4" wide.  I believe we used a latex paint, but I will check the can when I get home.


Removing a wax finish from a wood countertop, in preparation for tung oil I have a wooden countertop in my kitchen that has been finished with Butcher Block Conditioner (mineral oil and natural waxes).  It is not satisfactory and I am now preparing to refinish it, using tung oil (Waterlox).  However, I have to strip all the wax out of the wood first.  What is the easiest, safest and least toxic way to do this?  Will Citrus Solvent do the trick?  Vinegar and water?

Wax is pretty hard to remove, everyone seems to agree about that, then everyone disagrees about the best way.  Here is ONE way.

You can use a solvent, rags, and elbow grease to remove wax.  When you apply the solvent to the wax, you get a liquid with wax dissolved in it, and when you wipe it the mix is absorbed by the rag, and thus removed.  With enough passes of solvent and rag you carry away most of the wax.

For the solvent usually mineral spirits to get off as much as possible, and maybe denatured alcohol for a last pass.  (The alcohol will remove the mineral spirits as well.)

For the rags, try fine steel wool or scotch pads for the first pass, then paper towels.  Use a lot of paper towels.  If the paper towel is dirty it's no longer removing wax it's just moving it around.

I don't recommend using a heat gun, to me that just melts the wax deeper into the wood, but it does make sense to keep the ambient temperature in the room on the warm side and keep the solvents at room temperature, not out in a cold garage or something.

When you think you've removed the wax, let that last pass of alcohol dry then spray the surface with water to test.  If the water beads up, try to remove more wax.  (Note that some naturally oily woods may bead up even with the oil removed so this isn't a perfect test.)


Rheem furnace ,RGGE Contour ,communicating ,modulating , 2 stage installed a Rheem RGGE 07EMCKS  Furnace (communicating ) Im getting a d1 code , installed a 2 stage thermostat according to instructions , any ideas what this is ?

Here's the relevant page from the manufacturer manual:

More on the memory card and the D1 error:


What is this device? It's a bit off topic, but let's see...

I live in a condo, and the devices pictured below are found everywhere: in flats, in corridors, even in the car park (they are attached to ceilings) and I have no clue what they are. Would anyone know ?


Why would a repairman install a 1/3 HP fan motor into a 1/5 HP unit? Why would a repairman install a 1/3 HP fan motor into a 1/5 HP unit?  He had to cut the shaft to make it fit.  Two weeks later unit quit again and then he had to come and replace the capacitor MFD (whatever that is).  I found all this out from a different company's A/C tech when it quit again 2 months later (fan had also been put back in backwards and damaged).

Probably I should mention the original repairman tried to sell me a new A/C from the start, "when parts start to break it's time to replace the whole unit".  When I told him our house was only 4 years old he said that's as long as they last sometimes.

Most likely because he had it on hand. Possibly leftover from an unrelated ordering error, so he was chuffed to use it in a chargeable account. If all the other characteristics were similar, there's nothing wrong using a somewhat oversized motor. It's a big IF though. For instance, the larger motor may have overloaded the starter circuit, frying the capacitor. No accusations here, this is pure conjecture.

No matter what, it should have lasted more than 2 months. It was either defective, or there's something inherently wrong with how it's installed that greatly shortens motor life. Backwards is a rather comical rookie mistake, easily caught if someone bothers to check their own work before leaving.

A pretty flippant comment that some units only last 4 years. He's somewhat correct in that a rare few units fail prematurely due to some defect in manufacture. But expected lifespan is quite a bit longer.

We might write this off as a fluke, but if you have another motor failure, an investigation for a contributory factor would be warranted.


Why are lights flickering, but only in one room? I'm in the UK in an old house with fairly old wiring. In one room, I have a 5-bulb light fitting with LED bulbs. I've been battling for months a problem that they are not constant brightness - infrequently they dim for anywhere between .1s to 2s. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me and it's our main living room but I've run out of things to try.
Some further information:

Similar bulbs and fittings in other rooms on the same lighting circuit without any issues
I have changed the bulbs
I have changed the switch (now it's a  simple on/off not a dimmer)
I have tested the fitting in a different location (wired to a plug) and it works fine

Initially I thought it was a problem with bulbs or with a new dimmer switch but swapping things around it seems to be this room specifically. I might be able to lessen the effect using incandescent bulbs as they have better smoothing, but we use this room a lot and I want to save on energy costs... and damnit I want it to work properly! That other things on the same circuit work fine is confusing.
What is likely to be causing this problem and how could I go about confirming this? What can I test?

It's possible there's a bad connection between the fixture and the supply wiring, I've had situations where I screwed down a chocolate block (nickname for a screw-down terminal block in the UK) as much as I could but there was still a bad connection in it. I've since started using Wago splice connectors as they are much more reliable, and very quick to use.
However, this sounds like bad wiring to me, either the wiring supplying the switch or from the switch to the fixture has issues. This could be the wires themselves being faulty, perhaps the insulation is breaking down, or the gauge of the wire can't deliver the power needed for the fixture. This is potentially dangerous as it could cause a fire, so I would not mess around. Try replacing choc-blocks with better splice connectors, if that doesn't work it's probably best to get a pro in to track down the source of the issue and replace bad wiring.


Aluminum vs galvanized vs stainless tubing for fence with railing? I'm building a simple fence that's composed of 1" or 1.5" OD x 0.065" wall x 4-ft tube soldered to a stainless steel base that's bolted to concrete. This fence will have a wood rail at the top.

Initially, I was thinking of galvanized steel, then I switched to stainless, and just today I saw many sellers selling aluminum tubing that's cheaper (cost + shipping) than stainless steel. This will be close to the ocean, so it would need to be rust-resistant.

Would it make sense to use aluminum tubing instead of stainless or galvanized? The only weight these tubes will bear is the 2x4" lumber used as railing.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of aluminum is tin foil, and that's why I'm asking. I understand it's not as strong as steel, but I want to confirm if it's strong enough.

It's something like this, but with wood rail.

Thick wall Aluminum can work, but you'll likely need to sand or grind it annually. Salt air and Aluminum don't really like each other, they're only cordial most of the time.

Stainless Steel is your only real option and will be vastly stronger as well as maintenance free the longest. It too can be sanded and ground back to new way down the road. Burnish it with the shiny side of aluminum foil after a renewal to deposit a fresh layer of chromium and nickel.


How to install drain in a wall above concrete foundation I am usual successful finding answers with enough searching but it seems I've hit a dead end here.

Just started a kitchen remodel in our 104 year old home. Looking to move our kitchen sink to an adjacent wall in the house.  The issue I'm coming up against is that it looks like the outside wall where I need to install the drain / vent stack is sitting on the far side of an 8-10" foundation wall.

How on earth would one tackle running a drain down to the floor below (unfinished basement) from here?

In the photos attached you can see the floor after removing the rotted flooring and can catch a glimpse of the top of the foundation.  The other pictures are for context of the wall location.  The sink would go directly underneath the window.

Any help would be appreciated.!

A few options:

Run the drain pipe through the foundation (rent the appropriate rotary hammer/hole saw for this)
Run it through the cabinetry (as NPM suggests)
Build out the interior wall in front of this window and run the plumbing in there
Build out something on the exterior and run the plumbing in there
Build up the floor above your existing floor and run it through there

Running through the foundation may be the cleanest option, but I've seen all of these approaches deployed in various houses. Depends on your budget, skill, and preferences.


How should I properly ground a separate building? I installed a sub panel in a building that is around 200' from the main panel so I omitted the neutral and ground from the main panel therefore running only the 240V from the main. I hammered a new ground rod and bonded the ground and neutral at the new building sub panel, which I figured would give me the same setup as a main panel, but when I turn on one of the single pole breakers at the sub panel voltage dropped from 125V to around 23V. I ran three way wire to the building so I hooked up the neutral at the main to the sub panel and everything works fine so I know there are no breaks in either power line. I'm wondering what I need to do to

Congratulations, you've created an open (floating) neutral.

  "I omitted the neutral and ground from the main panel... I hammered a new ground rod and bonded the ground and neutral at the new building sub panel, which I figured would give me the same setup as a main panel..."

This is partially incorrect. The main panel should be supplied from the utility with two ungrounded (hot) conductors, and one grounded (neutral) conductor.  You'll then have an on-site grounding electrode (ground rod, etc.), which the equipment grounding conductor and grounded (neutral) conductors will be bonded to.

To feed your subpanel you'll have to provide at least two ungrounded (hot) conductors, and a grounded (neutral) conductor from the main panel.  Since this is a separate building, you are correct that a separate grounding electrode is required. However, you'll want to make sure it is an adequate ground before using it.  It's not likely you'll have the equipment to do this, so you'll probably have to call somebody in to verify a good ground.

If there are no other bonded metallic paths between the buildings (water pipe, gas pipe, coaxial cable, etc.) then you're allowed to simply run two ungrounded (hot) conductors and one grounded (neutral) conductor.  In this situation, the grounded (neutral) conductor should be bonded to the grounding electrode at the subpanel.

If there are other bonded metallic paths between the buildings then you should run two ungrounded (hot), one grounded (neutral), and one grounding conductor. In this case, the grounded (neutral) conductor will not be bonded to the grounding electrode at the subpanel.

See: National Electrical Code 2011 250.32(B)(1)


How do I replace one switch in a 2-gang box with a timer? I have a box with 2 switches wired in it.  One switch controls the front porch light; the other at least one half hot outlet.  I want to replace the switch that controls the front porch light with a timer. The existing wiring is shown below

Currently, the black power wire is  stripped about 6 inches down from where it comes into the box.  The striped portion is bent into a u-shape and attached to the hot switch on the brass side of hot switch then  the other and is connected to the front porch switch light.

I hope this makes sense.   My neighbor thinks I should piggy tail the power wire to the two switches. What do you think?

The current set-up with the wire bent into a loop and the same wire proceeding on is perfectly fine. You do not have to have separate pigtails for each switch. I have one 3-gang switch box where I used that connection method for the three switches. The city electrical inspector said it was fully acceptable.

EDIT
But it could be that the installation of the new timer switch would be easier if the two switches were each fed by a separate pigtail from the line hot. Sometimes these timers have stranded wire leads and sometimes they have hard contacts. What does yours have?


What explains a sudden voltage drop to laundry room? We have a 20 amp circuit running from the service panel to our laundry room, where we have a gas washer and dryer on 120v.

We've not had any problems with the electrical system in our house since we bought it (7 years ago), at which point we upgraded the service panel and had some new circuits runs.

Today, when using the washing machine, it suddenly turned off, and would not turn back on. I went to the service panel - none of breakers had tripped. I manually turned the garage breaker off, then back on, but the washer still would not turn on. Back in the garage I used a multi-meter and found the voltage to be at ~60v (whereas other receptacle in the house correctly report 120v). If I plug in a lamp in that receptacle and turn it on, the light shines, but dimly.

What's going on here? What would explain the sudden voltage drop? It's been years since we've had any electrical work done and it's worked flawlessly until just today. Does this indicate a short somewhere in the wiring? An issue at the service panel?

Thanks

This sounds like a “back stab” problem to me except you said 20 amp and backstabs are only approved for 15 amp circuIt. Current code requires a dedicated circuit. I would expect to find a loose connection or broken wire at the receptacle or in the main panel. If an older home with multiple receptacles on this circuit work backwards to the panel it will be the first not functioning receptacle or the last working one.

What are you looking for? A loose or broken wire at a wire nut or screw since a 20 amp circuit. I usually find them in the receptacle boxes as the wire fill is tight there compared to the main panel, but it can be in the main at the breaker or the neutral buss.


Questions concerning dual flush converters I'm considering purchasing dual-flush converters for our toilets and was curious if anyone had thoughts on them. Specifically, I'd like to know:

Are there any major disadvantages to using them?
How difficult are they to install?
Are there any specific considerations to keep in mind for houses using septic systems?

-M

We put a dual flush converter on my parents toilet a year ago.  It was pretty crappy (pun intended).  The problem we found, was that the half flush didn't always clear everything out, and much of the time you had to double flush the half flush.  When we called the manufacturer, they stated that with some old toilets, the converters don't work so well.  Luckily HD was willing to take the kit back, so we returned it after a couple of weeks of trying to get it to work.

Granted, this was one of the first dual flush conversion kits, and they may be better by now, but YMMV, as it seems to depend both on the kit you get, and the toilet it is going on.

As for special considerations for septic- the less water you can use the better, so in theory converting to a dual flush should be of benefit.  After our experience with my parents, for our new house (on a septic system as well) I just went with a high efficiency 1.28GPF toilet.


Best shoes for walking on a standing seam metal roof? I went up on my roof this weekend to do some work on an antenna and clean chimneys.  It's the first time I've been up there since I replaced the hail damaged asphalt shingles with standing seam steel.

I wore some basic cross-trainers, roof was dry, but cold - probably 35F.

The lower roof (4/12) was ok, but I didn't feel all that secure.  On the upper roof (5/12) I didn't feel very secure at all with regard to slipping and doubt I'll go up there again unless I can find a better solution.

I did some roofing and construction as a kid - working on roofs doesn't spook me in general and these aren't particularly steep.  But I've never worked on a steel roof before.

Will warmer weather or better shoes make a big difference?  I don't recall the crew putting the roof on having much trouble, though they got off in a hurry at the first hint of rain.

What you did was fine for the task at hand. A good sneaker/trainer is all you need, but yes, ANY moisture and you can go for a ride easily with little chance of stopping before the ground.

Metal roofs can be spooky.


How should dual motion sensors be connected? One supply parallel to connecting two motion sensors. In between lights connected. Lights common for two sensor.

In same time two sensors activated in the sense any problem happens sensor and lights.

I have done this with up to 3 sensors (all on the same circuit) quite a few times with generic motion sensors for myself and customers that liked the way it worked, I tie the reds together but these all must be on the same branch circuit. Just a note you may want an override like if having a party to light up the house / driveway constantly I did this by using a 3 way switch one side went to the lights directly the other to the motion sensors, with the switch in the up position they were on 100%, with the switch in the down position it powered the motion sensors and when any or all the sensors were triggered the lights will stay on until the last sensor times out. The only problem with this setup is when 1 sensor fails on it takes a bit of work to troubleshoot but on my own home I think I have lost 2 sensors since 2000 on a 3 sensor system.


Ceiling fan/light in bathroom shortcuts when humid I have a ceiling fan/light combo in my bathroom ceiling. It's hooked up with those white connectors you see on this picture:

When someone takes long showers, especially at night when the temperature in the house is lower, the fan/light shorts and the breaker is tripped. The bathroom goes dark. As soon as I disconnect the fan I can flip the breaker and everything in the bathroom comes on again. I can also see some black lint dirt down in the connectors that probably adds to the problem. I have cleaned out the connectors many times but after a while it happens again. I also replaced the fan/light combo but it keeps happening. An electrician told me to add some anti-ox stuff inside the connectors to keep moisture out but I have not tried that yet and wanted to ask if that's worth while trying or if I need more drastic measures. Ideas anyone?

The fan looks like this:

You could apply liquid electrical tape around the connector to reduce the moisture getting to the electrical connections.
For a better seal, remove the connector and wire it using heat shrink butt connectors, or use regular butt connectors with heat shrink tubing and a water proof sealant like liquid electrical tape.  This will reduce the ability for moisture to get into the connector.  Though I understand this might be more difficult to do with some light/fan combos.


Crack in floor tile. Replacement possible? Or prevent further damage? My kitchen floor has been down 4 years and suddenly one of the tiles has cracked. Either it happened by itself (movement between extension and old house? Or someone dropped something very heavy and didn't own up to it (I have dropped a number of heavy duty IKEA glasses and they lose every time!)

So could could get someone to replace the tile (i have spare) but worried the grout won't look the same (colour and spacing//alignment) . Thoughts? Worth it? Should I attempt it myself?

Is there a repair I can do to minimise the visibility of the crack? And prevent it getting worse? (Which I think it has) Filler?

Thanks for your help!!

I have replaced a few cracked tiles, I saved extra tile from the original installation .On my concrete floor , a chisel works best to remove old cement and grout. Any grinding make a remarkable amount of dust. However , I would not do the work to replace the tile shown. Maybe a small rug ?


How to select a good quality Duplex Outlet . . .? I tend put a lot of effort into select products.

I am searching for recommendations on good quality duplex-outlet and how much I should consider paying for it.

At the local box store, I can purchase a duplex-outlet for as little as $0.59 or as much as $8-$10 or maybe more. (Excluding GFCI and AFCI). I don't trust the $0.59 outlets in my own home. Not sure I really need to pay $20 for a standard duplex-outlet just for piece-of-mind.

Tamper Resistance (TR) seems to be the main requirement. So I bought a Tamper Resistant (TR) duplex-outlet and it was a bear to insert a plug. I bought another TR duplex-outlet, and the plug seems to fall out a little. I think I paid about $3.50 or so for the second one.

The Leviton 20 Amp Industrial Grade Weather/Tamper Resistant Self Grounding Duplex Outlet, White seem like a quality product.

I wish there was a "Consumer Reports" type organization to recommend/guidance on these types of things.

Receptacle grades 101 (for North Americans)

As you have noticed, North American wiring devices, such as receptacles and wall switches, come in multiple grades, each with an associated pricetag.  While there aren't hard standards on what each grade means until you reach the upper echelons, most manufacturers have settled on a basic system that goes like follows, from cheapest/chintziest to best built/tested:

Builder or residential grade.  These are the $.59 outlets that you find on special at the big-box stores, and are also what are used by builders wiring tract houses (in order to keep prices down).  As a result, while they meet the UL specification for receptacles, they generally just slide by, instead of exceeding it by a large margin.  However, they can give acceptable performance over time for a lightly-used receptacle if wired using properly torqued side screws.  Just don't use the "backstab" wiring features these receptacles provide!
Specification or "spec" grade, also known as commercial or construction grade.  This is the next step up from a builder-grade receptacle, and generally cost $2-$5 a piece.  These receptacles ditch the dreaded "backstabs" in favor of using a screw-and-clamp backwiring system that does a far better job of holding wire, in addition to generally being more robust.  They're what you'll find in places like office buildings, schools, and such, although they certainly are not out of place in a residential setting either.  They also offer a broader variety of options (receptacle types and so forth) than builder-grade parts do.
Industrial (heavy-duty) grade.  These are the next step up from a spec grade receptacle, and are found in industrial environments and other highly abusive places, as their name implies.  As a result, they have extra-high-impact plastic parts and improved contact systems over their spec-grade counterparts, in order to withstand not only mechanical abuse, but industrial-level electrical abuse as well, such as repeated motor surge currents.  This is where you get into paying $10-$20 a receptacle, as well.
Hospital grade.  Finally, we get to the beasts of the receptacle world, those meant for some of the roughest use possible: hospitals.  Hospitals are notoriously rough on equipment, and also place high demands on the safety of electrical equipment due to just how vulnerable you are to being zapped when you're opened up on an operating room table.  As a result, these receptacles receive extra abuse testing as part of the UL listing process in order to get their Hospital Grade designation, and will be marked specially with a green dot on the face in order to denote them as Hospital Grade parts.  Interestingly enough, they aren't as costly as industrial grade parts, either, only running somewhere in the $5-$10 range.

(You'll also run into what are called Federal Specification, or Fed Spec, wiring devices; these are basically something that's received a bit of extra UL testing to make sure it meets the standards the US government has set for the receptacles it puts in its own buildings.  Generally, any decent commercial/specification grade receptacle should be Fed Spec as well, although not all are.)


What is the name of extremely porous concrete for water runoff solutions? I have seen extremely porous concrete that water drains through very well.  Narrow strips of this may be put across a driveway to limit excess water runoff.  What is the name of extremely porous concrete?  How does one make it?  Where would one buy it?

It goes by many different commercial names, but the generic terms is "Permious" or "Pervious" concrete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervious_concrete


Fix bulging back wall in GE Monogram zdwr240 wine reserve In my pantry I have a under the counter wine cellar. Suddenly the door wouldn't close anymore. A little investigation showed that the back wall was bulging significantly. I am tempted to just try use some force and end it outward, but am afraid to completely break the otherwise functioning appliance.

What could have caused this and is there any way to fix this?

If you can't close the door, it does not function so well either. Unplug the cooler, let it warm up completely to room temperature, maybe even add a little heat, but not too hot, warm to the touch, from a hair dryer, and give it a shove back in with the part of your hand that is near the wrist. You may need to pull it out of the space, lean it back a bit, but not too much, the refrigerant doesn't like it. and push it back in.

There was something that did that, it must have somehow been pushed severely from the back side, at least so I guess. Check the back for any sign of abuse that may keep it from going back in.

Before you try that, the crease is really predominate at the corner. After warming it up, put JUST your thumb over the middle of the sharpest part of the crease, and push steady and hard if you need to, the rest should follow. If you have a well rounded LARGE handle you may be able to use that instead. Since the handle has no feeling you will not be able to govern how the progress is going. It may be more prone to cracking the PVC shell that is deformed. If it does, humidity may enter the casing, that may or may not be ok.


Need a quick fix for leaking door frame. During flood We are in the middle of tropical storm and there is flooding on one side of house.
The side door seems to be leaking from under the frame (not the actual door) its too wet to duct tape.
Any suggestions until the storm passes and we can fix it properly?

IF you can drive during this event  then stuff something in it  for now and go get sandbags, or supplies for making them if they are available.  If you can NOT drive, there may assistance available from your local municipality to have officials or  volunteers bring you sandbags.
You can apply caulking to the gap  under the threshold on the exterior, (this should have been done at the time the door was installed) this will only keep the water out if the water is not higher then the threshold. Most caulking can not be applied on a wet surface,I have read that Lexel by Sashco can be applied in/on wet surfaces.
Doors are not designed to stop water intrusion from flooding caused by tropical storms. They may stop driving rain but if the water outside is not flowing away and is accumulating faster then it can be absorbed into the ground, flooding, then it will make its way in where ever it can and door are perfect for that. Typical  entry doors will not stop that amount of water unless they are designed to do so, such as a ship or submarine door.
The usual way of keeping water out of houses during extreme weather events is to build a structure that stops the water from reaching the structure or diverting it away from the structure. (Or building the house above the high water mark, such as on pilings)  Sandbag walls are used in emergency's or in places where permanent structures are not in place.
Sandbags are not 100% effective at stopping all water but they will reduce the impact of flooding.
In some locations on the planet these events warrant a permanent structure to deal with the repeated events. In others it may be a "hundred year event" or an anomaly and sandbags or other temporary solutions are applied.  As the planets weather changes, the frequency of these events can increase.
In your case you need to stop the water from reaching the door now, not modify the door. Stuffing something in the gap under the threshold may help to keep the intrusion to a  minimum.
A sandbag wall is the best solution until the storm passes. Then you can determine if it is prudent to plan for future events and how best to do so.
Sandbagging Demonstration.


How can I install Z-Wave switches in these different situations? I am trying to install z-wave lighting switches into my apartment. What I have discovered is that every light switch in my apartment that I have taken apart (4) is wired differently. The switches I am trying to install are the GE/Jasco 45637 z-wave switches, which require a neutral wire, line wire, and load wire. Most of the switches I have encountered have neutral wires but also have other wires that I am not sure what to do with.

All switches to my knowledge are single pole.

Here are my light wiring configurations:

Light 1 - 1 line, 1 load, neutrals capped together. Would I pigtail a white wire to the neutral for this connection?

Light 2 - 1 line, 1 load - this config won't work with the switch.

Light 3 - This one is interesting. It has a red wire to the bottom screw and 2 black wires to the top screw, both coming out of the top of the box. There are also neutral wires capped together and a ground. Could I cap the two blacks and run a pigtail as well as pigtail the neutral and run the red into the bottom screw? Why would a red be there?

Light 4 - Interesting as well. This one has 3 neutral wires capped together, 1 black wire in the top push down connection and 1 black wire in the top screw and 1 black wire in the bottom, as well as ground. Any ideas here?

My main concern is to be safe, whether I install new switches or not.

Any help here would be so great.

Light 1. Yes, you will pigtail and put the 3 neutral wires together in 1 wire nut.

Light 2. Correct, it will not work. You will need to add the control at the junction box with the light or receptacle.

Light 3. I would put a pigtail in with the black wires, and put under the top screw. Add the pigtail and put the 3 neutrals together. The red wire to the bottom screw. Are the wires in conduit, or do they come from a cable? I would expect that the red is a 2nd hot wire, but that would lead one to expect a black wire to be somewhere close.

Light 4. Pigtail into neutrals for the switch. Another pigtail with the 2 upper black. And put the single black back in the lower terminal.

2 wires under 1 screw is a no-no, and using a screw and a push-in is just poor form.


New washing machine. Why we have to perform a cleaning cycle? I have few questions regarding as to why we have to do few things on new washing machines.

I ran the first wash on quick wash to check if nothing is leaking, but after checking the manual, I see that it is suggested:

Manually pour 2 liters of water into detergent compartment and add detergent.
And run the program with 90°C.
Run it empty.

Why do we have to pour water manually into the machine?
Why we have to run it with 90°C(basically a cleaning program)  on the first use?

As a side note, should I do this after the fact that I already did 40°C quick wash with a towel in it.

This is the same reason that any dishes or glassware that you buy says to wash it before you use it.  They really try to keep everything clean at the factory and chances are your glasses (or washer tub) are spotless, but they can't guarantee it.

To be absolutely sure your new white sheets don't end up with blobs of gear grease all over them because of a glob that wasn't noticed, they want you to to a hot wash with no clothes.  This cleans the tub and if there's a mechanical problem or leak, you find out with just water rather than 40lbs of wet clothes.

I would do the hot cycle as recommended just to be totally sure.  If you're just doing a load of old towels, maybe you can skip it since you did do a warm wash already.  Heat will help loosen oils and grease which is probably why they specify the 90C wash.


Heat pump blower motor cycles on/off after running 140 seconds Standard Trane split heat pump, condenser outside blower inside.
Usually the system will run normally but after 2 min 20 seconds the blower motor will cycle on and off randomly for 20 seconds. Then run perfectly for the rest of the heating cycle.
One time the problem occurred at 3 min 20 seconds.
Expert checked system and said needed new motor.
Now has new motor but still same problem.
Anybody have any ideas.

Your system is trying to pull air it cannot supply. You have a dirty air filter; clean or replace it.


Vapor barrier behind durock? I am redoing a shower, tearing off old tile, replacing green board with Durock.  I need help on whether I should or should not put a plastic sheet, vapor barrier over the studs before putting in the Durock.  I am in a second floor condo and I don't want any water getting behind the shower walls and dripping down into the lower unit.
   I have read some other posts on this topic.  Some feel the Durock should "breathe" to dispense any moisture to prevent mildew for forget the plastic sheet. My worry is if my unit causes damage below- I have to pay to fix it.  I want things waterproof.
   I read another post suggesting a 12" strip of plastic along the top of the tub area with the plastic overlapping the lip of the tub and sealed against it.  That ought to be water proof and leave the Durock above the strip free to breathe.
   In any event, I'd welcome any opinions on the issue of a plastic vapor barrier under/behind Durock.  Thanks.

I have opted out of Durock in favor of DensShield. Then coat joints with RedGard or equivalent.

I would never use plastic in a wall. It only traps moisture and promotes mold.

Happy Day!


Trying to use two 3 way switches and a 4 way switch to operate 2 - 54187 Bennett Collections using one remote Can I make the two fan/lights work by switching them at 3 different places [2 3ways and 1- 4 way switch]  and also use the remote to operate both fan/lights? ....
 ..... Or will I have to wire two more 3 ways and one more 4 way to operate the lights separate from the fans? ....
YIPES! HELP!

It's really a matter of electrical circuitry. You can connect up any piece of control for equipment using your 3 3ways and 1 4way, and if done properly will switch the equipment on and off.

So right now when your circuit is in the off position there is no electricity available at your fans. When the circuitry is on the on position, there is electricity at the fans. Your controller for your remote is inline with this circuitry. So you can switch each light and fan off and on with the remote only if the circuit is in the on position.

In control speak we say, all stops are wired in series and all starts are wired in parallel. Using mechanical switches in series with the electronic controllers means your normal status is stop or off. Trying to wire in parallel with the equipment you specified means the normal status is start or on and the circuit would never turn off.

You might be able to use electronic (smart) switches and the remotes together but they would have to be addressed properly to coordinate with the controllers.

Hope this helps shed some light, so to speak.


Tiling on Drywall in Shower I have a bathroom where water-resistant drywall was put up around and over the tub. Is it okay to put tile over the drywall around the tub or shower?

If not, what can I do to be able to put tile?

Tile over dry wall even water resistant will not last as long but mat survive for up to 25 years if well sealed and has a gap at the bottom of the tub.
This method of tiling was quite popular in the 50’s, 60’s and into the 70’s . On repair work I have done on tiled bath and shower stalls neglect is usually the cause of the failure. What was the neglect? Failure to reseal the grout so water finally degraded the Sheetrock to the point tiles fall off or someone pushes the wall in , the larger the tile the longer the wall will last.
So can you do it , yes , we flipped several houses with a quick overlay that made a crappy looking bath look like a mid level home.
On my own houses I have always stripped down to the studs, on showers I put up poly vapor barrier, not on tub surrounds, then cement board and then tile. My very first tile shower is over 45years old and the only problem has been the fixtures failed and they were tough to replace as I tiled right up to the valves. (My mom still has this home) last time I was home I did acid etch and reseal the entire thing as my step dad can’t do much any longer but asked if I could make sure it would be ok, Mom has always been worried as it was my first shower back in the 70’s. So if done right they really can last a lifetime and this was 2”x 2”.


How to replace this washing machine valve/faucet? The valve leaks at the spot where the hose connects to the faucet. It has leaked with two different hoses. I'm trying to replace the valve, but it is not easy to get off. Is it designed to come off? Or do I need to hire a plumber to come in and cut the wall open and cut the pipe?

The threaded part on the valve where the hose connects seems, from the picture, to be rather short. It is possible that the part on the end of the hose is interfering with the valve body (represented by the green arrows in the diagram below) before the rubber hose washer gets a decent amount of compression on it.

If this is the case you may be able to purchase a thicker hose washer that is more supple than what is currently in the hose end to allow for the proper compression to seal the joint.
Also, as stated previously in the comments, it is often necessary to use a tool to turn the hose coupling tight to get a good seal.


Zoned heating system very warm even without heat on upstairs? I know heat rises, but our 1st story floorplan house gets pretty darn warm during the winter months.  Other than turning on the AC or opening windows in the upper story zone, anything else that could be done?  The majority of the square footage is downstairs and there is only one small stairway leading upstairs.

Forced air heat, supplies overhead. Upstairs is a separate zone. Displacement of sqftage is about 600 upstairs, 1800 downstairs. There are 2 zones, upstairs and downstairs. The downstairs is set to 70 in mornings, but gets up to 75 degrees upstairs without running heat up there. For the upstairs, there is one return air vent in the main rec room. Downstairs there are two in the hallway and master bedroom.

Shutting some internal doors might help. Especially the door to the room upstairs with the return vent, to avoid pulling hot air upstairs. Anywhere air can get out upstairs (e.g. bathroom extractors, trickle vents) can encourage convection too.

If there's heat in the downstairs hallway you might want to restrict it. I have had to do this with our (wet) heating system otherwise the master bedroom gets too hot. Heat from near the bottom of the stairs goes straight up. You may need to improvise, at least for testing.

Ceiling mounted warm air vents and their ducting have to be well insulated to avoid acting as underfloor heating for the floor above, and yours probably aren't. Feel the floor and you may be able to tell where the ducts run.


Sealing crawl space vents in Pacific Northwest? I just had a perimeter drain and sump pump installed in our crawlspace because it flooded frequently and severely during the rainy seasons. Before, I was under the impression that leaving the crawlspace vents open was the way to go in this climate (very wet winter/spring, very dry summers). Now, with the drainage system in place, I'm leaning toward closing off the vents, since (if the drain/pump system works) there will be no more standing water, and thus much lower humidity levels, and it would slow down the inevitable fouling of the new plastic sheeting from dust and such.

So, to seal or not to seal?

Thank you

Steve

Oregon resident here. You should keep the vents open if closed off things like radon have no place to go. Trapped moisture will cause rot, You may keep the water out but it will still be damp and it needs air flow.


Why are my LED bulbs pulsing/flashing? We've bought a house where most of the lighting is provided 12VAC halogens. Some of these globes are starting to burn out, so we decided to replace them with 12VAC LEDs. The LEDs are non-dimmable, but none of the circuits have dimmers.

However, the LEDs are pulsing on briefly about once every second.

I can't easily get to most of the transformers without ripping out the plasterboard.

The original globes are Philips 35W 12VAC Halogens

The new ones are Click 5W 12VAC LED

Try adding a single halogen along with a few LED's, and see if that fixes things. If it does you probably do actually have a dimmer, you just don't know it. Or the power supply doesn't understand the load and keeps switching itself on and off.

And note this:

  CAUTION: Recommended for use with 50-60Hz AC magnetic transformers or regulated DC power supplies/drivers only. Not recommended for use with high-frequency electronic AC transformers, as this usage will either create non-functional lighting, or if functionality occurs initially then internal MR16 LED bulb damage may result in premature product failures. Use of high-frequency transformers will void the warranty.

I suspect this is what is happening to you - the transformer is actually making high frequency A/C mixed inside low frequency A/C. And the LED power supply can not handle it. And/Or the transformer doesn't understand the LED load and keeps switching itself on and off.

This page explains it better. (It's too much text to copy into here.)

Your choices are finding a different LED (the page lists an option), or bighting the bullet and changing the transformer. Or switching to regular 120V power lines.


How to make a table fan noisy? This sounds an abnormal question at first, but I really would like to know how to make a normal table fan noisy (which parts to change). The reason why I want the noise is that the noise from the table fan is kind of white (distributed all over the frequency), that it hides the other noise. I have a busy street near my house. Of course, I could use a white noise generator but I also got some disturbing mosquitoes that needs to be blown away.

Thank you

I use my fan for this very reason. 'Fortunately' mine makes enough noise that simply turning it up to high works well enough so I use the fan speed and location within the house to fine tune things to my needs.

White noise from the fan is caused by the sound of air movement, especially turbulent air flow as it moves around items and itself in a pattern much like river rapids. What will tend to cause more of that is inefficiencies in the air flow. The primary items interacting with the air flow is the blades of the fan. Therefore to create more white noise, I suggest roughing up the surface of the blades so that it creates more turbulence.

The front edge of the blades is what hits the air first while the face of the blade is in contact with the air much longer. I would expect that roughing up the front edge would tend to create more loudness while roughing up the blade face would create more white-ish noise.

This could be done permanently by marking up the blades with something like sandpaper, or a grinder, or a razor knife. To do temporary, which also allows for more adjustment and experimentation, you can add tape, or even better, hot glue melt pieces on in a 'bumpy' pattern on the surface of the blades.

Note that this will be adding weight to the blades and we want to add weight to each blade evenly to keep the overall rotating fan in balance. When out of balance it will wobble and and likely make undesirable non-white noise, and tend to wear out the fan much faster due to stress on the bearings.


How much clearance is required around a kitchen island? How much space should at least be around a kitchen island?

Ideally, there should be enough room for a person to get by while there is someone standing at the island working.

So enough room for two people to stand side by side across the gap or pass comfortably. If you have to cater for people with mobility problems you will probably need to make this gap wider to accommodate the extra width and lack of flexibility of someone using a wheelchair or walking frame.

However, depending on your design you might be able to get away with less - especially if there's going to be little to no traffic in that area.