When should I replace a circular saw blade? Is there a rule of thumb for how often a circular saw blade should be replaced? Is visually inspecting the blade condition enough?

You should replace your blade when its dull. Ways to tell its dull:

it starts binding
it tears/chips the substance more than usual
it burns the wood
just a pain to use = a sharp blade should let you push the saw forward with minimum effort. If you find yourself forcing the saw forward (not ideal from a safety perspective), change the blade.


How to secure toilet fill valve hose to canister I have a Kohler Wellworth (low flow model) that uses a canister-style flushing mechanism. The tube that comes from the fill valve is to be seated/secured in an opening at the top of the canister, held in place by what I assume should be a snug fit. However, the hose continually pops out of place after flushing.
Is it safe & effective to glue a hose like this in place? I can't see a place that a typical clip could be used to hold it in position.

Assuming you're talking about something like this:

Source: plumbingsupply.com
and that the tube is connected to the protrusion at the top, I would suggest a simple hose clamp to hold it in place.
Source: hcl-clamping.com
They come in a wide variety of sizes and one small enough to fit that would be pretty cheap. Just don't over tighten and crush the input fitting.
A zip tie might work, as well, and they are as cheap as can be, and when you're using one small enough for that fitting, it's hard to pull on it hard enough to do damage.
If the larger portion of the fitting is still in place, push the tubing on far enough to reach the top of the canister itself and a very small amount of pressure around the smaller diameter portion (from either the zip-tie or the hose clamp) will be enough to squeeze the tube so that it can't slip up over the larger diameter.


How to connect PBI to detect an open door What's the best way to connect a wired magnetic contact stripe to the door, in order to detect whether or not it's open.

I'm not interested with a wireless one, I'm building all the electricity from scratch, so I want a wired one.

The way I thought to do that is, to use a push button interface (in my case, a KNX PBI), and connect it to the a magnetic contact stripe on the door.

On the door the magnetic contact stripe would close/open the circuit and notice the PBI when the door is closed/opened.

My question is, what's the best location to place the PBI? Should I place a switch near the door, and put the PBI behind it?

Should I pull the cables of the PBI far, to the fuse box?

Thanks,

Security systems normally use a reed switch for this purpose.

It is usually mounted on the strike side at the top of the door to detect even a small opening of the door.

Good luck!


How can I pour a concrete floor over a particle board subfloor? I want to pour concrete over the particle board subfloor in my living room. I like the look of stained concrete. We have a crawl space underneath. What product do I use? How thick so it won't crack? Rebar, framing (or whatever that mesh is called) or no? Any info you got would be appreciated.

Frankly, Stacey, the thought of a concrete-over-wood floor frightens me badly. IF you can determine that your existing framing can carry that much additional "dead load", then definitely rebar and remesh (the mesh) well or it'll crack. You should know that the floor will want at LEAST 2" of thickness, which means each square foot of flooring will weigh at least 25 pounds, so the floor for a 12'x12' room would weigh a total of 3600 pounds (nearly two tons).

Talk with your local concrete companies - they may be able to mix a batch of lightweight concrete for your purposes - if you're dead-set on this. It WOULDN'T hurt to employ an engineer to verify that your structure will tolerate that much extra loading, though.

You do know that the concrete floor will be very cold underfoot, right?

EDIT: ...and that it'll always generate "concrete dust"?


Finish plywood for closet organizer I am building a closet organizer using plywood. I want to put a clear finish over the plywood to protect it.  I am going with either Shellac or Water-based Polyurethane to avoid the nasty smell.

I would like to know, in your experience, how many coats is needed for such application?  This is not high used furniture like tables.  Just looking for reasonable protection while minimizing the time for finishing.  There are lots of panels to cover thus you can imagine if I can do one less coat, it’s lots of time saved.

I used to prefer oil based finishes, but the water based ones have gotten so much better over the years that I will now use them instead. For a simple closet organizer I suggest 2 coats, lightly sanding after the first coat.  The main problem with water based finishes is they tend to "raise the grain" of the wood on the first coat, which requires light sanding to remove.  Almost always the second coat doesn't.  And if you aren't yet satisfied with the 2nd coat, another light sanding and third coat would almost certainly be sufficient.

But to be succinct, I really think for your purposes 2 coats of a quality, water based Poly would be fine.


2018 IBC code requirement for tempered glass windows (safety glass) I'm trying to figure out if I can bypass requirement for tempered glass.

I have 3 windows 40x69 ea, installed in a row separated by 1 1/2 inch material  (2x8), all of this is installed in a rough opening in the front of the house.  (most people have a bay/bow window there, in that rough opening, but the house I bought has these 3 windows)

The interior seat (sill) is only 15 inches from the floor.

2018 International Building Code (2406.4.3) specifies that tempered (safety) glass is needed if all these conditions exist:

The exposed area of an individual pane is greater than 9 square feet (0.84 m2).
The bottom edge of the glazing is less than 18 inches (457 mm) above the floor.
The top edge of the glazing is greater than 36 inches (914 mm) above the floor.
One or more walking surface(s) are within 36 inches (914 mm), measured horizontally and in a straight line, of the plane of the glazing.

Now I want to replace these 3 windows with possibly 5 windows to bypass rule (1) - 9sq ft area rule.
By splitting that huge opening into 5 (instead of the current 3),  the window glass pane area of each window could possibly be below 9 sq. ft.

Is this acceptable?

No, it is not acceptable to use non-tempered glass, because the “seat” area is within 18” of the floor.

The Code doesn’t say the window sill must be directly above the walking surface or if it could be recessed (like a window seat), etc.

Plus, you don’t want to put family and friends in jeopardy by having them next to such a hazardous situation. (What If a child walked along the seat?)

Btw, this code requirement requires the homeowner to change immediately. It is not “grandfathered” in as compliant. (There are 2 items in the Code that require the homeowner to up grade immediately: 1) tempered glass, and 2) smoke detectors.)


Mansfied Toilet Compatibale bowls? Are there compatible bowls for a Mansfield tank, I have a Mansfield Model 148 tank and no bowl?

I will answer by using this question as a platform to address the difficulty and expense, at least in the U.S.A., of procuring one replacement piece (tank or bowl) for a 2-piece toilet.

There are numerous manufacturers of toilets from many countries and locales, most offering (at least) several designs and several colors of each design.

The primary reason is financial. Supply and demand dictates that sales of complete toilets would dwarf sales of just a tank or bowl. With essentially zero demand there would simply be no financial incentive to ship, wholesale, then retail the individual components for separate sale. If they did, the cost would likely be very near the cost of buying a complete toilet, which would undoubtedly rankle most consumers.

That being said, there are exceptions. A good plumbing shop may very well have just a tank or bowl available for the basic top seller at their shop and in the most common color (white). You also may be able to order a replacement from the manufacturer, through a distributer. What you are not likely to find is replacements for anything no longer manufactured (designs change frequently, for many reasons); anything in a color that is not white; anything not originally sold in large quantities; anything from a distant land.


Identifying proper capacitor for HVAC I plan on replacing my my home HVAC condenser fan motor, as well as the compressor contactor, and the capacitor.

The current condenser fan motor is a TradePro TP-C16-1SP2 which requires a 10 μF run capacitor, per the label:

The replacement condenser fan motor will be a Rheem/Protech 51-100999-03 which requires a 3 μF /370 VAC capacitor, per the label:

Both fan motors are rated at 1075 RPM and 1/6 HP.

The compressor is a Copeland ZR32KA-PFV-130 scroll compressor which requires a 50 μF/370 VAC run capacitor, per the label:

Currently, the only capacitor I found when I removed the cover on the A/C unit outside was a Titan Pro TOC10 10 μF/370 VAC run capacitor. I believe this is what is known as a single capacitor rather than dual capacitor.

It seems as though this is the proper capacitor to run the TradePro condenser fan motor. However, I don't see a capacitor for the compressor.

Here is an image of the schematic for the compressor and condensor assembly:

What capacitor should I use for the new condenser fan motor and compressor combination?

Edit: Okay, so I think I neglected to identify the start capacitor which I believe is pictured here:

If that is the start capacitor, then the wiring appears to be normal, and I can just get a start capacitor that matches the specs for the compressor (and of course, a run capacitor for the condenser motor).

Buy a 50-3 dual capacitor. Titan part number TRCD503 is a good replacement. Just be sure to double check part numbers because manufactures offer both round and oval shapes. If it doesn't fit in that original mounting hole, you might need to buy a bracket for it and mount it yourself.

You can also leave the compressor capacitor in place and install a separate 3uF fan capacitor. It won't hurt the dual capacitor to have its fan terminal unused. Just be sure it's voltage rating is more than the line voltage so a 370 or greater volt rating is fine. Make sure the value is 3uF and the capacitor construction is of the film type.

My opinion: replace the compressor cap as well. Especially if the unit is 10+ years old.

If you add a separate capacitor, make a note on the units schematic for future reference with a service date.

By the way, that equipment grounding conductor (EGC) looks a little on the small side. Should be no smaller than 10 AWG for 30-60 amp circuits.


Why does my 3-way dimmer circuit show low voltage on one traveler or the other? I have a 3 way dimmer that was wired incorrectly, with you currently having to have the switches thrown in the correct order to get them to work. In trying to work this out, I have been able to determine which 2 wires are the Travelers by using the other switch to isolate them. My question/concern is that when one traveler wire shows 120v, the other traveler wire shows about 50v, and they swap when the other switch is thrown. Is this normal?

Thanks

This is indeed normal. Modern, high-impedance voltmeters can measure voltage that has no actual "oomph" behind it. What you are seeing is a capacitive "phantom" voltage coupled to the inactive traveler from the active one.  If you have a Low-Z range on your voltmeter, it will indeed not show this "phantom" voltage, nor will it be indicated by an electrical voltage tester ("wiggy" or equivalent device).


How large a span can a 4x6 hold safely for a swing set.? I have a 4x6x16 to use for the header of a swing set. I was going to span 12 ft between supports and cantilever 4 ft but I now would prefer to put the supports at each end. I would hang 4 swings over the 16-ft span. Assuming 200 pounds per swing, would this be safe. I plan to use 12-ft splayed legs.

Looking at span charts, such as http://www.southernpine.com/app/uploads/AL_33-38L.pdf
I see the Total Load for a plywood covered angled roof from SYP is as low as 34 lb/ft for a 2x6, and doesn’t simply double for a 4x6.

You are talking about a clear span of nearly 16’ with a total weight up to 400lbs swinging back and forth exerting greater than your listed weights when swinging hard — I think you’d want much closer supports and a lot of extra bracing. You might not immediately break the beam, but I can see it flexing a lot, and possibly pulling down the sides, especially if they are not attached to rigid anchors at the ground. From wood, for that type and use of span, I think you should look at a laminated, engineered beam.


Would my grounding conductor be “choked” out by metallic conduit? I’m in Hawaii. The G.C./engineers have told previous electricians that they want the bare ground coming up through slabs to building steel to be in a short piece of rigid conduit for protection of the ground wire.

I'm sure this causes a choke on the ground which means the mains may never trip, etc. There are no grounding bushings on the conduit. Is this an approved means in Hawaii?

You want Schedule 80 PVC, not a metal rigid conduit

Assuming that the engineers want the grounding electrode conductor protected from physical damage, then the tool of choice for this job is Schedule 80 PVC conduit, as you are correct that putting a single conductor in a ferrous (steel) conduit will cause a "choke" effect that impairs the ability of that conductor to carry current.  Either that, or if ferrous conduit is required, then use a conduit grounding clamp, jumper, and lay-in tap lug at each end to bond the conduit to the conductor -- this suppresses the choke effect.


Can water-based wood glue deep in timber joinery initiate wood rot? In joinery projects where PVA glue is restricted access to air (for example, with doweling) moisture is dissipated through the surrounding wood and the glue typically takes longer to dry.

Is there risk of wood rot in the surrounding timber in situations like this, or with excessive glue use?

Water based glue quickly drys out and has been used for centuries. If it created rot we would have no antiques as most very old joinery is held together by tight joints and glue only. Two much glue wipe the excess but it will dry if their is an internal puddle and won’t cause rot.


Effective approach to running Romex on existing lines. If a power outlet has an mix of 12 & 14 gauge wire or 14 gauge wire, would it be as effective, provide up to 14 amps, and safe to run 12 gauge Romex to a new outlet?

You're always allowed to upsize the wire.

So if you have a 15A circuit with 15A breaker, you are required to use at least 14AWG wire.. But if you want to use some 12AWG that is also ok.

There are some reasonable reasons for doing that.


Does a second layer of OSB over a rotted layer cause weight or rot concerns? I had some dry rot and moisture issues in my attic because ventilation was not installed correctly 20 yrs ago when the roof was done. I am a new owner (10 months) and decided to replace my roof.

Yesterday the roofer called and said the entire North side of my cape cod needed new OSB.  I said ok and when I showed up 2 hours later the new OSB had been put down and they were starting to shingle. The roof was finished yesterday, when I got home from work I went into my attic and I noticed the OLD OSB was still there. They did not replace the OSB, they just went over it.

My concern is the old osb dry rot affecting the new osb.  Also, is there now a weight concern with the two layers of 1/2" OSB and shingles?

Dryrot, unlike bug infestation, will stop when moisture stops. Plywood weighs 3.0 lbs. per square foot per inch of thickness. (OSB board could weigh slightly more because it has fewer voids and significantly more glue.)

So, adding a layer of 5/8" OSB board might add 2.0 lbs. per square foot at most...not significant, unless you live in a high snow zone or your roof structure has decayed too. (By the way, the Building Code allows up to 2 re-roofs before they all need to be torn off, which weigh about 4.0 - 6.0 per square foot depending on the type of shingle.)

A bigger issue for me would be what thickness of OSB board did they use? All roofing manufacturers require a minimum of 7/16". Less than that and you have no warranty...where the dryrot is located.

Also, do the nails penetrate both layers of roof sheathing or extend a minimum of 3/4" into solid wood? All this info is on each shingle wrapper.

In most jurisdictions, no Building Permit is required for re-roofing, (it's considered maintenance...that's why you don't need a permit for carpeting, painting, etc.) However, now they've replaced the roof sheathing (a structural item) and I'll bet they did not get a permit. So, who inspected the nailing of the new OSB roof sheathing? Big problem.


Does Nest utilize all the benefits of a communicating furnace We just got a new furnace, the Lennox SLP98V. We have it hooked up to a Nest and its working fine. It is set up with two stages. We also have a whole house humidifier set up to it as well.

Lennox offers a thermostat of their own. My question is, does Nest utilize all the capabilities of the new furnace or does it lack or fall short in comparison to the Lennox product?

The reason for this question is that it seems like the Nest turns it into a 2 stage furnace instead of a fully communicating system that can adjust the blower speed and output between multiple stages.

Also, to be clear, I am not looking for a review in terms of which is the best product. I am looking for the technical difference between the two and which utilizes the furnaces capabilities better.

After More Research

After reading the installation manual, I did learn more about how the onboard control board works so the following is based on how I interperted it.  A conventional 2-stage thermostat will only have control to set it to 1st or 2nd stage. From there, the control board will auto adjust blower speed and auto modulate itself based on how long its been at a stage. With the propietary thermostat, it has full control over modulation and blower speed. So 2-stage thermostat on a modulating furnace is still a modulating furnance, just without the amount of control as if the propietary thermostat was used.

Nope

The Nest can only control furnaces that use "on-off", 24VAC control systems, such as conventional and two stage furnaces.  Fully modulating communicating systems (such as your Lennox iComfort, or the Carrier Infinity) use proprietary serial protocols that the Nest doesn't know how to speak.

This means that in order to get the full benefits of modulating operation at this time, you need the matching system thermostat -- otherwise, your furnace is simply a rather good single or two stage furnace, not a modulating furnace.


How can I attach/seal around an exhaust fan duct at the roof? I am redoing the ducting from a kitchen exhaust fan to the roof cap.  The old ducting was 6" and I'm increasing it to 8" to match the vent on the new exhaust fan.  The current roof penetration is a 6.5" x 6.5" square, and the old rigid ducting just sat in it without any strapping or sealant.

I plan to increase the hole to an 8" circle, but that will leave ~0.6" gaps in the corners so I assume caulk won't be sufficient to span them.

What's the best way to attach the ducting and ensure an air-tight seal?  Would something like a take-off be the way to go?

A proper roof vent would mate to your ducting. The seal will be between the duct and the vent via an integrated collar. You don't seal between the vent and the roof (at least for this purpose--rainwater is another issue). The vent flange should cover those corner gaps without issue.

I'm not sure you really need 8", though. Most such roof vents are going to be 6". I can't see a typical kitchen vent needing that much capacity. I'd get a vent with a 6" collar and a reducer. It'll be dandy.


New outlet doesn’t work breaker not tripped and the tester lights up I have and outlet that went bad I replaced it with a new one but still doesn’t work. The breaker is not tripped and the tester light up when I put it in the outlet and the hot cable?

StackExchange will hear this form of a question many times, and even reading it right now it doesn't make sense. If you have a device that has gone bad and if the new one doesn't work. How does it not work? Either you replaced the receptacle correctly and you power is still off, or you installed the receptacle incorrectly now it doesn't work.
First you need to isolate the problem. You will probably need to abandon the tester light and get a voltmeter. Check the voltage between the source wire and the neutral and the ground wire. They both should read around 120V. If they do then the problem is the new receptacle. If they don't then your circuit is the problem. I would look real closely at the breaker panel and verify the breaker is not tripped. Just because it is not in the tripped position does not mean it hasn't tripped. Use your voltmeter to check the post on the breaker against the neutral bus and see if it is getting 120V.
If you have power at the panel and still no power at the circuit. Then you will need to trace out the entire circuit to find where the break is. Chances are you are not working on a dedicated circuit so find the other devices on that circuit and see if they are working. If they are working, try and find which device is feeding you receptacle and look to see if there is a loose wire in that box.
In short we isolate the problem and then look for the reason it isn't working.
Also most electrician will recommend not using the back stabs on a receptacle for installation. It is better to wrap the conductor around the screw and secure it that way.
Good luck and stay safe.


How to supply power outside under soffit See photo in post. I want to install a camera and flood light under the roof soffit. The soffit area in the attic is very difficult to access. Also I want to be able to replace the camera easily since they can go bad. I want to be able to plug a new one in easily. I am getting power from a 15 amp junction box in the attic. In the attic I am using 14/2 with ground NM Romex grey color. The package says it’s for outdoor or indoor use, the grey wrapper is much stronger than the white wrapper.

I attached a male electric plug to one end of the Romex so it plugs into the outlet in the attic. I will run the Romex from the electrical box along the roof rafter trusses then go through the outside wall and vinyl siding near the top gable vent which is about 20 feet up from the ground. I will use Moldable Silicone Putty or Duct Seal Compound to seal the wire and hole.

My plan was to run the Romex down the drip edge of the roof line then under the soffit into a GFCI Outlet 15 Amp that is attached to the soffit the GFCI will be facing down . My question is do I need to follow the code. Do I need to protect the Romex once it comes out of the house and run it inside PVC Conduit? Can Romex go inside rigid PVC Conduit or should I use individual THWN wire? Do I have to use rigid PVC or can I use Liquidtight Flexible Non-Metallic PVC Conduit Cable?

Gray Romex is normally type UF (underground feeder) look at the info printed on it it should say UV resistant, if it is it would be legal to attach it as you have in the photo if that low point is above 8’ (but look like a hack job) the part that would not be legal or “code compliant” would be plugging it in. There should be a splice inside the box that has the outlet, if the box fill is two large or two many wires for that sized box a larger box or box extension will be needed to make the splice.


How Do I Remove Plastic Shelf Support Holder Pin I've been trying to remove this support bracket so I can install a closet rod instead, but can't seem to find out how to do so. Can someone help me out please? Thanks!

This is a thread-cam locking shelf support. You can undo it by turning the screw a quarter turn counter clockwise, then lifting up on the shelf.


Choosing the right replacement pump for well I have a 40 foot deep 6 inch drilled well.  Currently it has an old 3/4 horsepower jet pump, but it is shedding bits of rusty metal into the return pipe which are getting clogged in the foot valve.  Everyone is recommending that if I have to replace the pump, I switch to a submersible, but nobody can say why other than "they are better".  What are the actual benefits of a submersible over a jet pump (other than being capable of greater depth which doesn't matter here)?  Do I need to get a 3/4 HP submersible, or would a 1/2 be fine since they say they do 12+ GPM at 40 feet?

Jet pumps were a great idea when pump motors were terribly unreliable, and you could keep the pump motor out of the well by using one.

These days, that's not true. Likewise, anyone who recommends a "3-wire" submersible is also living in the past. Things have changed. I'd suggest a 2-wire pump (there are 3, but one is the ground, and not counted as per usual - "3-wire" pumps use 4 wires for the same reason.) 3-phase is a different deal and un-applicable to most folks with individual water wells. Personally, I prefer a stainless steel pump.

Advantages of a submersible pump other than greater depth capacity -

much more power efficient - you pump the water once, that is it. You
don't pump a lot of water around in circles to pump less water out of
the well, which is roughly what a jet pump does.
You don't need to prime it. So much simpler. Drop it in the well and apply power, out comes water.

If they made them, you could probably use a 1/4 HP pump on that well. Last time I was shopping pumps, 1/2 HP was the smallest they made. You may need a restrictor valve (or orifice/plate) to keep it happy.

In the same counterintuitive manner that fans draw LESS power when restricted, non-displacement pumps also draw less power when restricted, and can draw too much power if unrestricted with low head. The short and simple explanation is that it's doing more work (moving more water) when un-restricted, and doing less work (moving less water) when restricted. Most people not already aware of this won't believe it until it is demonstrated with an ammeter and a valve.

Likewise, if your well can't keep up with 12 GPM you'd want to restrict the pump for that reason.


Is an interior disconnect required for an AC unit? I'm trying to understand why my outside AC unit has 2 shutoff breakers (not including the main panel). There is a breaker installed on the INSIDE basement wall of the house. Outside there is another shutoff breaker right at the AC unit.
I know current codes state that a shutoff breaker must basically be 'within sight' of the unit. I'm thinking the inside breaker was there originally and later someone added the outside breaker to bring it up to code but was lazy and didn't touch the inside breaker.
Main question: I want to remove the inside redundant breaker and just run the cable directly to the outside breaker. The two breakers are only about 30 inches away from each other and I know I have enough slack to make the connection on the existing cable. I can't see any flaw in this logic. Anyone else?

YIKES!!! The ground wire is connected through the L2 connection on the disconnect! You need to go through every box and device and verify the grounds are securely grounded and not switched.
We can't see the whole system and there may be circumstances not seen, but it appears it could be eliminated. One caution is that the HACR rating on the breaker is only applicable to AC equipment that the label says breakers are acceptable for protection. If the label only says "Maximum fuse size" the a fused disconnect is also required.


ADSL + Ethernet Surge Protection. What is chaining? I would like to protect my home network setup with surge protectors.

The products I am looking at are:
APC Essential SurgeArrest 5 outlets 230V
APC ProtectNet standalone surge protector for 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet lines
APC ProtectNet standalone surge protector for analog/DSL phone lines (2 lines, 4 wires)

Here is the suggested configuration:

Here is the configuration I want to use:

As you can see I want to use one protector on the phone line (ADSL internet) and one protector on the ethernet network. All of this will be powered from the 5-way power strip indicated above.

In my research I've read that "chaining" surge protectors is not recommended due to the devices interfering with each other. As you can see below the fault ratings and mode of protection differ between the devices, so I'm not sure if this is an issue?

Here are the fault ratings:

| ProtectNet Model |          Mode         | Standoff voltage | Breakover voltage |  Let-through voltage | Peak surge current |
|:----------------:|:---------------------:|:----------------:|:-----------------:|:--------------------:|:------------------:|
| PNET1GB          | Line-line Line-ground | 6 Vdc 1,500 Vrms | 60 Vdc 1,800 Vrms | < 50 Vpk < 4,000 Vpk | 6,500 A 250 A      |
| PTel2            | metallic longitudinal | 220 Vdc 200 Vdc  | 260 Vdc 260 Vdc   | < 325 Vpk < 325 Vpk  | 150 A 150 A        |

Does my configuration count as chaining? Will I get better protection using both devices or should I just pick one?

As explained in this Electronics.SE article, daisy chaining of AC power protectors, where they both attempt to protect the same electrical circuit, can cause interference and failure. But that's not what you're doing. You have 3 protectors, for electricity, ethernet, and phone/DSL respectively. Those are 3 separate circuits, even if some of them flow into the same devices, so your setup is fine.


Brass central heating elbow joint leaking at connection to plastic pipe Since removing a radiator to decorate a room I've had a slow leak in the central heating. Luckily I've found where it is - directly below said radiator - I must have moved it about too much in the process. It's ground floor so the water isn't a big problem. Vertical copper radiator pipe joins to the brass elbow, which leaks where the plastic pipe joins it. See photo:

I would like to fix this properly so I don't have to worry about it after replacing the floor, ideally I'd like to do without draining the whole central heating system but will do if necessary to avoid turning ground floor into a swimming pool.

Does anyone have any advice for:

if it needs replacing or just tightening (there doesn't seem to be
anything to tighten - is it push fit?)
if it needs replacing what to replace with
how to do this with the least faff/flooding

I'm a novice, but confident to do things myself, based in UK, easy access to Screwfix, Wickes or B&Q.

Thanks all

The fitting looks like it’s a Sharkbite which is a type of push-on fitting that can also be removed by pushing the plastic ring at the end of the hub back into the hub by use of a special tool, an adjustable wrench, or even sometimes your fingers.

Before you remove the fitting, you will need to shutoff the heating system, relieve the pressure, and if possible isolate and drain the affected line.

Once that is done, you can remove the fitting and inspect the pipe ends and the fitting for any visible defects or damage. Here’s a instruction video on how to install and remove the fitting.

Note that there should be a sleeve that inserts into the end of the plastic pipe that looks like this:

It strengthens the end of the plastic preventing it from being squished by the clamping force of the fitting. If it’s missing, it might be the cause of the issue. More info here.

Once done, you can reinstall the fitting or replace it if needed. If the end of the plastic pipe is damaged, you may need to cut it back and add a new piece. Sharkbite also makes couplings as well.


Leaking tap after seat recutting I installed brand new Automatic washing machine taps, recut the washer seats & what I thought was impossible, happened... it still leaked. I cut the seats again with a new seat cutter.... still leaks. The seat does not appear to be an insert so I have no other ideas. Anyone have any thoughts?

If they aren't hexed holes then they aren't replaceable, you might have to put a hex bit in to confirm removability. It sounds like you removed too much. If the seats were scratched, pitted or therefore defective, then you should've put new good ones in instead, if possible or returned the taps. But, you shouldn't touch the seats unless or until they leak & if you do it should just be a light few turn honing.

If the seats started out like most seats, being proud or raised from the shoulder, but are now flat or even with the shoulder. Then, you took way too much off. Only the seat is your seal, not the entire shoulder. You'll either need to get new seats, if they remove. Or, have to go to thicker washers. Or, get new taps with replaceable seats & not touch the included seats.


Good power, good outlet, dead outlet I have two upstairs bathrooms with ac outlets.  One outlet was working fine, then intermittently, then no power to the device (night light).  The wires are hot (voltage testor), but will not power anything.  I swapped out both outlets, replacing them with GFCI outlets and still no power (wires are still hot).  The outlets are on the same line as the outlets in my kitchen, all on a 20amp breaker, and all downstairs/kitchen outlets work fine.
Suggestions?

If the voltage tester you are using is a "no-contact" or "glow stick" style tester they are not reliable beyond the presence of voltage. Induced voltages from nearby circtuits will cause these to glow.

By this I mean you need to test the circuit with another style of tester such as a solenoid style, LED, Neon or digital multimeter. Electricians for years have used the solenoid style because it puts a load on the circuit and induced voltages from nearby circtuits will not show up.

All that said, the outlets in the bathroom should not be on the same circtuit with your kitchen. If the house was built years ago this may be the case but it shouldn't be.

Step 1 double check that all your breakers are turned on. Some breakers don't appear tripped when they are and their handles only move to the center. Turn all breakers all the way off and then all the way back on.

Step 2 double check your wiring and make sure you are wired to the "Line" terminals on your GFCI receptacle NOT the "Load" terminals.

Step 3 if you have a GFCI receptable that is fed from another GFCI receptacle it cannot be coming from the "Load" terminals on the other GFCI.

Try some of that out and see what happens.

Good luck with your project!


Are outdoor receptacles required to be GFCI receptacles in the US? In the United States, are outdoor receptacles required to be GFCI receptacles? Or can they be non-GFCI receptacles but downstream from and protected by an indoor GFCI receptacle? This NEC draft says:

  All 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles installed...
  [outdoors]... shall have ground-fault circuit interrupter protection for
  personnel.

Does the word "have" in this context mean the outdoor receptacle itself must contain/provide its own GFCI protection or that it may receive protection and/or provide its own protection?

I don't have a copy of the current official NEC spec. Does that excerpt still apply now?

Any GFCI protection will do

When the code says something "shall have ground fault circuit interrupter protection for personnel", it does not care where that GFCI protection is provided -- at the outlet via a receptacle-type GFCI, upstream of the outlet using a receptacle or deadfront GFCI device, or via a GFCI branch or feeder breaker.


Mount 55lbs tv on 2x3 studs So I am going to mount a 65" tv weighing approximately 55.347lbs using an omni mount (probably this one: http://www.omnimount.com/products/tv_wall_mounts/full_motion/ulpc-x/).  It supports a max 250lbs.  The arm extends and tilts/pans/swivels and I plan on using that functionality all of the time.

My home is older and is framed with 2x3s.  Assuming I follow the manufacturer's installation guide correctly, and I find the center of the studs correctly, can I go straight to the studs or should I think about 3/4" ply (VC) between the wall and mount?

I guess I'm just worried about 2x3 vs 2x4 and having the arm extended completely.

Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: I just saw that the power bridge product require a 2x4 depth.  So that is out.

Looking at the manual, it looks like the top mounting points are about 1' above the bottom mounting points. If you have that 55 pound TV at the full extension of 2', then that means the top mounting points will be pulling directly out from the wall with double the weight of the TV, or 110 pounds. Guess that someone will lean on the thing, or your cat will jump on top, and you should plan for at least 200 pounds of pull on those anchor points (100 pounds per screw).

I doubt that a single screw in a 2x3 can reliably hold 100 pounds pull straight out from the wall. That, plus the info that you need a 2x4 cavity to use that power bridge, leads to the following suggestion:

Cut a 1/2" plywood panel large enough to support the base of the OmniMount, plus a few inches on all sides
Bevel the edges of the panel to make it look more planned/streamlined
Cut a hole in the middle of the panel for the power bridge, expecting to mount the bridge into the hole, rather than into the wall, so you have the needed extra depth
Cut a clearance hole in the wall for the power bridge
Mount the panel to your studs with plenty of 3" lag bolts
Mount the OmniMount to the panel
Mount the TV to the OmniMount

It's possible this is overkill, but wouldn't you rather be sure your lovely new 65" TV didn't become a YouTube-able lesson?


Can I add framing to build a room under my basement staircase? I have space under the basement staircase that I want to make a proper room with door. On one side I have a concrete block wall, so there is no issue there and I can put a door in the front. But on the other side I cannot put drywall because existing studs are not aligned and metal post supporting the beam is outside the stud.

So can I solve this by adding additional studs on either side to the existing studs (sister stud)and the put a drywall on it? Or any other ideas?

You can frame as you like to provide a surface for drywall. Use pressure-treated lumber when in contact with concrete. It's common practice to do so to surround steel posts, plumbing, etc.

If you have more specific questions, please update your post.


Can I use 3/4" gravel to grade land away from my basement wall? There's a portion of concrete slab that slopes towards the basement wall of my house. It is winter already so I can't really pour concrete, but I do have several bags of 3/4" gravel (crushed stone) in my backyard.

Can I use it to grade the land away from my basement walls?

Won't it just allow water to go through, making it pointless to use?

Won't it just allow water to go through, making it pointless to use?

You said it.

Start by checking your downspouts to make sure they direct roof water runoff away from your house.


Is this a split bus electrical panel? My home inspector called this a split bus panel and that it should be replaced eventually. Looking at split bus examples, I don't think it is. Was he just confused by the 200Amp double pole braker? Should I have this updated?

It's not a split-bus/Rule of Six panel.

I plainly see a huge main breaker.  The distinguishing feature of a split-bus panel, also called a Rule of Six panel, is no main breaker.

The entire point of a split-bus panel was to allow services > 60 amps so you could have all-electric houses... but avoid the (then, very expensive) cost of >60A breakers.  The strategy was to place the large 20-50A 240V electric appliance loads in the "main" or "Rule of Six" area, along with a 60A breaker which would power an internal subpanel.  In this subpanel went all your 120V loads.

Honestly I think what confused your inspector was the cluster of breakers that is 5 spaces tall x 2 wide, with a large empty section above.  I had to do a double-take myself.  It looks a lot like the 4x2 or 6x2 group of "main breakers" section of a split-bus panel.

Looks OK to me

I wouldn't replace the panel on the basis of it (not) being a split-bus panel.  It's a GE Q-line with all the spaces enabled for the double-stuff breakers, so you could fit 40 breakers in here if you didn't need GFCI or AFCI.  And if you do, there's just enough spaces to convert them all. And GE makes a magic 1-pole AFCI that can be used in pairs to protect 240V circuits.

The only reason I'd replace it is if the GE dealer (a local electrical supply house) were to say "I can't get you breakers for that panel". But I doubt that would be so.


Are magnetic bit holders interchangable? Originally  I bought a Dewalt bit set and they have their own magnetic sleeve that goes over bits to magnetize them. It works well but because it's a sleeve if the bit is in an extension the sleeve cannot be used as there is not enough space to slide down.
Next I bought a makita holder which is like a little extension but claims to magnetize bits.
Finally I bought a new set of bits by Milwaukee on discount which includes a similar little extension that claims to magnetize bits.
Milwaukee extension + Milwaukee bits = pleasure to use works great.
Makita extension + Milwaukee or Dewalt bits = does literally NOTHING.
Milwaukee extension + Dewalt bits = works ok not great.
So what I don't get is are there different types of magnets and alloys that each company uses?
Is Makita intended to work with Makita bits?
Why does combining Milwaukee/Dewalt produces worse hold.

I have bits from Bosch, Makita and DeWalt but also many cheap ones.
They all fit into various holders from the above names as well as some no-name ones.
The magnetic hold is different on all holders - some are strong and will hold suitable screws while others “just” manage to hold the bit.


Is there any way to stop a low-profile desk from racking back and forth? When I remodeled my house I had left over granite from the kitchen. I had the mason cut a piece for a built-in desk in a dormer. He first cut and polished a piece that wasn't the right size. I kept it with the intention of building a desk / table out of it in the future. I have now done that and the table looks just like I wanted it to - very minimalist - but there is a slight racking (swaying) side-to-side that I'd love to correct. I don't see any movement at all between the tops of the legs and the wood when it's racking, but I have to assume it's coming from this table-leg connection and not from an unlevel floor. The legs have adjustable feet that haven't helped.
I bought pre-build metal, rectangular tube steel legs. They're rated to hold 220lbs each. I connected them with flat-faced hurricane bolts to 3/4" plywood at 62" x 28" to fit under the granite. I then added a piece of 1x6 nominal hardwood across the belly to connect the legs and support the table. Outside of the wood I mentioned, the legs are independent.
With this setup (before the granite), I could sit on it without issue. There was still some racking, but I'm 240lbs. So, adding the 120lb granite weight didn't seem to be an issue. I now have had the granite just sitting on the plywood without any adhesive. It's been sturdy for 2 weeks.

Could someone please give me some ideas on how to possibly remove the racking without fundamentally changing the look of the table? If it can't be done, I'll live with it like it is.
I have come up with adding flat, angle braces in the corners to possible sturdy up the leg-table connection. I also thought of cutting 62" x 2" x 1/4" steel to bolt directly to the 2 legs to stabilize them from moving independently of each other.  Like I said, I could probably add a skirt or some other boards or metal around the outside of the legs to make it not rack, but that would defeat the purpose of what I'm trying to do since I wanted a desk that I could work from one side and someone else could work from the other side.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The "very minimalist look" is a bit too minimalist for boring old function. You may regret "living with it" when it fails and a hunk of rock lands on your foot (or other body part), or someone else's.
Failure is very much an option. Fasteners can be ripped out pretty easily, and wood can fail when you have a long lever (legs) attached to them.
Adding a stretcher (compression brace) at or near floor level on the back side and X-Brace cables would still be quite minimalist, but far more functional. There are other ways to achieve the same end with various "looks." Since you want "double-sided access" some sort of angle braces on the corners are one option, and longer center braces from the top to the "foot cross bar" are another option.
Making something that "looked like this" but which was "actually stable" would be quite a design project and probably involve welded steel and sneaky tricks like getting some depth of bracing hidden within the depth of the table-top. You can rip welded steel apart with a lever-arm, too, if it's not well designed.
Unless the top is very low, an apron (not a terribly wide one) is in fact a very normal approach to this issue for tables, and it will be designed to let your legs slide right under it. Here you could use a curved apron with more depth (and thus better bracing) at the ends if the intent is to sit "in the middle" of each side, rather than "all around" as with the typical dining room table that typically has an apron for exactly this purpose.


Can you run 230v powertool on single pole 20 amp breaker? (Location: Ontario Canada if that makes a difference)

I want to run a 230V 1 PHASE 9.6 AMP table saw. I only have a single 15amp breaker that is not being used left in my panel.

To run the saw, is it enough to replace the 15amp breaker with a single-pole 20amp breaker and wire a new outlet into it (realizing the wiring needs to be compatible with 20amps)? Or do I need a double pole breaker?

AFAIK, Canada uses the same split-phase arrangement as the USA to deliver 230 V to the premises, with the center tap grounded as the "neutral" wire.

So yes, you definitely need a double-pole breaker. Both "hot" wires need to be protected from over current.


Floor-to-ceiling bookshelf before or after carpet? Building a built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in a room in the basement (~7'10" tall).  I've read a lot of differing opinions on whether to build the bookshelf first or put the carpet in first. Anyone have any convincing arguments for one or the other?
I may be building the shelving to be on 3 walls, and not just the one. Does that make a difference?

Before.   I have done both and you can certainly do it either way but it is easier (and cheaper) more sturdy to fasten and shim the bottom to the floor without carpet in the way and because of the carpet you may need to shim more.
The only argument for doing it after is "I may hate these bookshelves in a few years and when I tear them down I don't want to have a flooring issue".   To add to the "pro-carpet" argument.   I have torn down many a bookshelf next to a fireplace.   The carpet has compression marks but this goes away after a few weeks and this carpet is basically brand-new.   Which means it probably looks out of place next to worn carpet if the area was used a lot.


Is it possible to make an "energy harvester" that drains old batteries? I am currently looking at my stack of old batteries at home, did some measurements and found that most of them contain at least some energy left. I was then thinking. What is I could make a device with several mountpoints (holders for different types of batteries such as LR6, LR03, 6LR61, LR20, CRC032, LR44, and so on). All have an expected operating voltage but since they are removed as being "empty" they usually are below the expected voltage.
Is there some kind of low voltage (like under 1 volt) transformer that could take in a variable voltage and convert it into another so that I can unload all old batteries into a rechargeable battery pack? Are there already existing diy projects that attempt this? Or out-of-the-box solutions I've missed?
But, I'd like to build this as a hobby project maybe. A simple device where I plugin all old batteries, and they are drained into a battery pack. So I suppose "energy harvester" would be the proper terminology.
I saw this video on Joule Thief: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6jytol. It's a good explanation but I need to get a broader understanding of this subject in order to control the output voltage and to charge a rechargeble battery with it.

Is this possible? Of course it is. But is it practical? Not at all.
The comparison is not to the cost of batteries. Batteries are expensive. The comparison has to be to the cost of electricity. Using some very rough numbers:
Cost of electricity per kWh: US average is around 13 cents. Let's round up a bit to make the math simple and call it 20 cents per kWh.
How much does power does a battery hold? That varies a lot, depending on size. A few examples:

LR20 = "D" = 2.5 Wh (that's Wh, not kWh) - 27 Wh
A typical 12V car battery = 48 Amp-hours = 576 Wh
A large 12V car (or marine) battery = 100 Amp-hours = 1,200 Wh
A large Tesla battery pack = 100 kWh

Let's assume that each battery starts out filled to 50% capacity (unlikely), and that the magic energy harvester can get every last drop of electricity out of the battery (pretty much impossible) and can do that with 100% perfect efficiency (also impossible). The $ value is:

LR20 = "D" = 0.0135 x 0.2 = $ 0.003 (less than a penny)
A typical 12V car battery = 0.288 x 0.2 = $ 0.058 (less than a dime)
A large 12V car battery = 0.6 x 0.2 = $ 0.12 (less than a quarter)
A large Tesla battery pack = 50 x 0.2 = $ 10.00

In the case of the small batteries, toss 'em (in an environmentally friendly way - there are plenty of commercial and government locations that accept used batteries for recycling).
In the case of the large batteries - the safety precautions needed to properly process the batteries will likely cost far more than the potential value of the stored electricity.
In general, subject to local laws, you can usually toss small batteries, especially non-rechargeable batteries (e.g., alkaline). However, if you do that, be extra careful with 9V batteries. 9V batteries have a potentially dangerous design flaw - the + and - terminals are right next to each other. If you take a 9V battery, even mostly dead, and short circuit the terminals, you can start a fire. With most other battery types the danger is incredibly small. But a 9V battery tossed in a trash bag that landed on a piece of aluminum foil or other conductive material could actually start a fire. A piece of electrical tape across the terminals before tossing the battery eliminates the danger. Video about 9-volt batteries.


How to remove gloss paint incorrectly applied to wainscoting over gloss paint A contractor installing and painting baseboards said he could paint the wainscoting in our half bath. It is gloss latex paint over the old gloss latex paint, but I don't think the walls were cleaned or prepared at all, and am sure they were not primed before the new coat, and over two weeks later I can use my fingernail to pierce the new paint and peel a 4 foot section down the wall. The wall here is covered in a plywood wainscoting with a small beaded double groove every 2 inches.

Since it is wainscoting, how can I remove this new coat, including in the wainscoting grooves so I can re-paint it properly? A paint scraper won't get in the grooves, at least not without damaging the bead.

Rip out and replace the wainscoting.  Wainscoting generally comes pre-primed.  For a little more at a better lumber yard, you can get a true plywood panel.  The big box stores will have MDF, which is much less durable.

You might be able to compel the contractor to do this.... but given the story above, you probably don't want them doing it.


Is fixing these stairs as simple as just replacing the stairs and supports? It looks to me like it's just a support piece nailed into the wall with a 2x4 running across as a step. They go down to our unfinished basement and a few of them are starting to fail.

Anything I should be aware of?

If the cleats supporting the steps are solid and haven't deteriorated, use 3 inch course-thread screws to re-secure them to the stair stringers (the long outer sections that span from the bottom to the landing.

If you are in doubt as to the condition of the cleats replace them. I'd use any 2 x stock cut a bit longer than the width of the step. Install it so the cleat's edge is recessed back from the step's edge. From the looks of your foggy photo it appears your steps are 2 x ? stock. If they are in need of replacement (and can't be repaired) replace with similar dimensioned wood.

Also you might want to consider if there are several steps and/or cleats to be replaced is to install a third stringer between the existing ones. They can be found sometimes pre cut. And it isn't that hard to cut one from a length of 2 x 10 or 12 Douglas fir.


mold problem in basement I had some insulation put on half my basement wall.  Since then I have been having a problem with mold.I know my basement walls leak. Could wet insulation cause mold? If so is it bad mold. Alls I know is I have white stuff growing everywhere in basement., and there are no visible leaks.

White fuzz on the walls of the basement may be harmless mineral deposits called efflorescence from slow water movement, not mold.


Install a hardened glass in front of chimney There is a chimney like this:

I have ordered a hardened glass with four holes to be installed in front of chimney with dimensions like this:

There is a 2 cm empty space below glass to allow fresh air in.

I designed the dimensions in a way that the four glass holes would be between the bricks.

The problem is I'm not sure what's the best approach to attach the glass to wall through the holes. I prefer the glass to be easily removed and put back in place. Any idea is welcome.

The North-East glass hole is like this:

There is standard hardware for the job, from things like glass inserts in stair/deck railings and glass signage.

Try "glass standoff bolt" in a search engine. You'd put an anchor and stud (or screw, depending on the standoff design) into the masonry and attach that hardware to/with the stud/screw. Looks decent, easy to unscrew when needed.


Fixing sump pump discharge Could someone explain exactly why this discharge system works or what I need to do to fix it?  I installed a backup sump pump last month.  I noticed that the discharge pipe going through the wall was loose.  Like really loose, like it wasn't even attached to anything on the other side of the wall.  The pump was turning on once or twice an hour all month while it dealt with the spring thaw.  But yesterday, a puddle of water appeard on the floor.  I pulled apart the wall and saw water dripping behind the vapour barrier through the insulation.  When I moved the insualtion I saw the pictured setup with the pipe sitting loose inside a much bigger pipe.  I pushed the pipe in further and there hasn't been any more leaking. It looked like the bottom gap between the two pipes may have been taped at some point.

Before I seal up the wall, what should I do with this discharge pipe?  Should I seal around it with expanding foam?  How has my basement stayed dry all these years?

Edit: Adding more pictures.  You can see the large PVC pipe stuffed with insulation.

Since the 3" pipe is flush with the foundation, I can't add a reducer to connect the pipe properly.

Chisel out a half an inch around it so you can get a rubber repair reducing coupling on there.


How can I install a TV mount to metal studs? I'm trying to mount a tv in the new apartment. I thought I found and marked the studs and drill holes, but when trying to drill though met resistance. I'm able to look into the wall a little because of a chute for the wires and I don't believe I see any actual studs, mostly metal. Does this mean there are metal studs? And if so how can I go about mounting the TV? Thanks a bunch.

Joe

A few things to consider when mounting is the weight of the television and whether it is a flat mount or swivel.  If the TV is heavy or on a swivel mount the "right" way to do it would be to open the wall and use wood studs to build a good support.
Here's my thoughts on metal stud mounting, but my preferred method is below this:
If the TV is not too heavy, I've mounted to metal studs using toggle bolts.  3/16" if its on the lighter side, 1/4" if heavier.  The pilot hole for a 1/4" toggle bolt needs to be 5/8" so its important find
the center of the stud.  This means finding the location where it starts and ends and drilling as close to center as possible.  You can use a stud finder to mark the approximate edges and then use the smallest drill bit you have to drill inside the markings to confirm where the edge is.  Measure and mark the center.  When you drill, take it slow, and have a sharp bit that can drill metal.  After you drill through the drywall pull the bit out to clear the dust, then start drilling the stud with some pressure but not so much you bend it.  This might pop the other screws on the stud above and below the area you're drilling.  Let the drill do the work, once it catches the metal and punches through it might be rough because the drill bit edges will catch the stud and rattle it.  Then setup your anchor bolts on your mount and push them all through and let the frame hang before tightening.  You may have to fiddle with the bolts to make the backs flip up and down.
The other, and my preferred option if the wall is standard drywall and the tv/mount is not too heavy is to mount directly to the drywall using the name brand Snaptoggle Toggler bolts, they work great.  The exact weight tolerances are here: https://toggler.com/pdfs/SNAPTOGGLE%C2%AE-Heavy-Duty-Toggle-Bolts.pdf but I recommend erring on the side of caution.  Buy a couple extra because the snap off feature can sometimes be tricky to get a hang of.


Can I reduce hot water distribution delay with thinner tubes? Kitchen and bathroom(s) are at the opposite sides of my house (14m).

I recently replaced and moved my hot-water-heater (electric, now thermo-dynamic) closer to the bathroom(s) in order to reduce the time it takes to have hot water in the shower, bath, etc. It works nicely.

I was aware that now it'll take much more time get hot water in the kitchen sink due to the plumbing done as it is.

I only have one sink with hot-water in the kitchen. Therefore I was thinking of putting in a new - direct - tube between the boiler and the sink to reduce the delay.

One sink, not much pressure is needed: I could use a very thin tube, like that less water has to travel. But how much pressure will be lost?

Is this a good idea in general in my configuration? I don't want to add more active components until I run out of passive solutions.

You could try to split the difference slightly "bathroom weighted" and branch off to the kitchen down the line so that the cold water column is reduced to either fixture once one has operated it's a little difficult to calculate gpm based on pressure and pipe diameter. Also static pressure will drop with a draw. You can't calculate that without a field test.

In order to calculate gpm based on pressure and pipe diameter you need to solve the bernoulli equation. It's not a simple task and there are many aspects that are easy to mess up. I don't know it well enough to discrbe it and I have never used it in practice. If you did want to try 3/8" pipe (uncommon for domestic supply) pick up a roll, attach one end to a hose bib and measure gpm with a large measuring cup. If 10 seconds gives you half a gallon (it probably won't using this figure for clarity) then 1 minute would give you 3 gallons thus 3 gpm.

Keep in mind a typical kitchen fixture is about 2 gpm. If your setup allows for a comfortable 100% hot at the outlet you will want to measure close to 2 gpm from your coil and use that as your max length.

Also when using solar and staying off grid etc. You need to consider legionnaires bacteria. Passive control of the domestic hot system can lead to a problem with the bacteria. Stored water should be above 140°F

Here's an example of how to pipe in the hot water


How to attach wheels to the base of slotted-angle rack? I want to build some heavy-duty racks with four wheels each as follows. The load is not more than 500 kg. The frame is made of slotted angle iron and the board is about 8mm thick.

The available wheels are

What is the easiest way to attach the wheel? There are two kind of wheels here, with a bar that must be inserted to the frame or a flat base wheel.

Edit

I found from the internet:

What kind of base plate is it?

You'll use one of the variants with the plate on top, and you'll use three of the four slots for carriage bolts. The carriage bolts should have square lugs that fit the size of the slots.

If you find that the corner bolt doesn't have good bearing, or the hole wouldn't be well-positioned with respect to the ends of the metal components, you many need to first install corner plates of heavy steel (1/4" or better). These could be anchored to the bars with four bolts positioned outside the area occupied by the caster plates.

The variants with the pins would require metal bores to properly support them against that load. You'd have to bolt metal blocks into your frame. It's not a good strategy.


Why would my Kenmore laundry center have black/yellow oil/grease sprayed across the inside walls? Follow-up to this question:

I opened up this same washer to diagnose the problem, and found the drive belt in shreds with major gashes and barely holding on, and the whole interior (outside the washing basin) covered with lines of black grease matching the height of the drive belt, and with yellow oil all over the inside floor.  There was cottony white (possibly plastic) fluff in several places as well.  It looks like the drive belt was actually hitting one of the support struts, almost as if it had gotten stretched and the tension wheel had pushed it out too far.

I have replaced the drive belt and heard no major noises except those as discussed in the original question (thumping after washer stops driving a spin cycle but while the basin is still spinning).

I talked with an appliance mechanic and he suggested a test to see if the problem was the transmission of the washer: run an agitation cycle and see if the basin spins with the center shaft.  The result was that the center shaft turns one way, then turns the other way, and the basin turns opposite to the center shaft on every other center shaft turn.

Questions:

Is this test and result sufficient to decide that the problem is not the transmission?
I'm sure the oil/grease is indicative of some problem; any suggestions on what this might be?

The only thing in a washer that has significant amounts of oil is the transmission. At this point, if the machine seems to be running normally, then let it be. That is what the appliance repair guy was talking about.

If the transmission dies later, the worst that can happen is you burn up another belt. So unless you want to spend the money on a new transmission now, just wait until it fails.


Can I use a spare #6 aluminum cable with no neutral to supply a subpanel? I have a spare aluminum cable (#6 60amp with 2 hot and 1 ground but no neutral). I would like to use it to add a subpanel. Can I do this and where does the ground attach? Thanks for any help.

Without a neutral, you cannot provide 120V in the subpanel - 240V only.  That may work if all your loads are 240V, or can be made to be 240V.  For instance modern fluorescent and LED lighting can often run on 120-277 volts.  It's also possible to provision a small transformer to provide 120V off that (don't use a stepdown transformer! It's not compatible with this!)

If you want 120V and 240V in the subpanel, you need two hots and neutral and ground.

However, anytime you install a 240V-only subpanel, some dimwit will decide he wants to do a 120V circuit.  He won't see a neutral bar, so he'll think "Oh, main panel rules apply here" and stick em both on the ground bar.  So you need to label the panel clearly "240V loads only no 120V" or something that will penetrate their skull.

Or a 120V-only subpanel

You could also set up a subpanel 120V-only with this cable.  Here, the ground is ground, one wire (that's white or has a white stripe) is neutral, and the other splits to both legs of the main lug/breaker. 240V breakers will not work in this panel.  Multi-wire branch circuits must not be used in this panel (not least they need to be landed on a 240V breaker).

You could use it in-situ for a range or dryer

If this stuff is SE cable -- meaning the ground wire is a web of wires around the two hot conductors -- that was legal in 1976 for hooking up dryers and ranges via a NEMA 10 connector, where you define the wire as a neutral.  You can't do it today, even with old cable - but you could do it a) if the cable is SE, b) if it is still in the original location and c) if it powers a range or dryer.

Recasting it as neutral is important. Why?   Because it's not legal or safe to retrofit neutral - but it is legal, safe and wise to retrofit ground.  So you can install the ground separately, even on a different route back to the panel. Copper 8 AWG solid-core bare ground wire is sold at hardware stores.

That ain't 60A

You may have seen an ampacity chart that put 6 AWG Al at 60A.  You are reading out of the 90 degree C column. Even if the wire is legal for that, the terminations usually aren't.  Normally we work out of the 60C column. That gives you 40A on 6 AWG Al.

There's nothing wrong with aluminum wire at these larger sizes, though it is a deprecated alloy called AA-1350 (new alloys are AA-8000) that had a lot of problems in smaller wires because of dissimilar metals. Do not put aluminum wire on copper lugs/terminations unless they are specifically rated for it (usually, not). Be very careful with your terminations.  The terminations in the subpanel probably won't be a problem since the lugs are aluminum.  Likewise on the neutral and ground bus in your main panel. But pay close attention to the circuit breaker, make sure it has a modern Al rating.  What caused all the problems in the 70s and 80s with aluminum wire is the devices/terminations had an "aluminum rating" which was approved carelessly.  They rewrote the ratings, look for new ratings on new products.

As always, get at rather large subpanel; running out of space is a major hassle, but a few extra bucks spent at panel-purchase time guarantees  you'll never have that problem.  What's more, larger panels usually have some circuit breakers tossed in as a bonus, and that ends up paying for the larger size!


How to open fixed paper ceiling lamp The bulb needs changing but I have no idea how to open this, I tried twisting it but I am afraid it will break. It feels like it is somehow attached to the hanging bulb, but I might be wrong.

Nothing "opens", it's all one piece, glued together.

It was easier than I expected. It is held by magnets, you just have to pull down on it and it will come off. Twisting it is a bad idea as it rotates the entire lamp block and wires.


How can I stop my windows from leaking when mild winter weather occurs? We have an 11 year old bungalow and this problem only occurs on the middle section of a bay window. We think that frost happens inside the insulation somewhere and when the temperature outside is mild the frost melts and water drips under the interior window trim and drips onto the slats of the blinds and pools on the window sill. We never have any water leakage when it rains.

We took out a large chunck of foam insulation in anticipation of mild weather and this morning the spot we had cleared was dripping. What do we do now?

Are you saying that you manually insulate the window on the inside with foam board to prevent heat loss? If so, this is completely expected. What's happening is that the insulation is doing its job by preventing the movement of heat, thereby keeping the glass colder. However, it sounds like the installation is not airtight. As a result, any moist air that goes through or around the foam board and touches the glass finds the perfect surface to condense on: something vertical, hard, and cold. So it does. If you want to manually insulate a window on the inside like this, the insulation must be absolutely airtight to prevent condensation. The more expensive but more correct solution to the problem would be to replace the window with a higher-performance one, likely a triple-pane. Low-E exterior storm windows are good too, and a lot cheaper, but that might be hard to do on a bay window.


Is my ground correct at my subpanel? I have a subpanel at my garage. It has 2 hots, one neutral and one ground from the service panel. The neutral and ground in the subpanel are not bonded. All the outlets including GFCIs all work correctly. When I test outlets with my DMM in the garage I have 120v between neutral and hot but do not have 120v between ground and hot like I do in the main house. Is this normal?

You were right to be suspicious and it does sound like you have a problem. You should see 120V from hot to ground in your garage, just like in your house. The fact that you don't is an indicator that there is a problem with the ground to your garage.

The ground and neutral should not be bonded at the sub-panel, so the wiring there sounds correct.

Does the ground you see at the sub-panel actually run along with the feeder back to the main panel?

If not: Your installation is not compliant with the NEC1. A sub-panel needs to have a ground wire (separate from the neutral) which runs back to the main panel, as well as a local ground rod. See this Q&A: Is it ok to use a ground rod at a subpanel instead of a fourth wire?
If so: Then it sounds like you have a problem with the ground wire somewhere between the main panel and the sub-panel.

As ThreePhaseEel said:

  Turn off the feeder breaker for the sub in the main panel, then go to the subpanel and use your DMM to check for continuity between the neutral and the ground there, then report the results, please.

You should see ~0 ohms between neutral and ground, indicating that both conductors are good back to the main panel, and that they are properly bonded together (hopefully at only one point).

Based on your voltage readings, you will probably see ~∞ ohms. From there I would look in the main panel where the sub-panel feeders enter. You should see the neutral and ground enter and connect to their respective bus bars (or the same bus bar if that is the main bonding point).

I'm guessing that your sub-panel ground either doesn't go back to the main panel, or it isn't connected.

1 - The NEC used to allow the use of a single wire for neutral and ground, both for sub-panels and for 120/240V appliances, but this is not the case any more. All 120/240V circuits must now be four-wire.


Water is not comming out from tap Our house is not in being used for years. Only one person is living and using only one washroom. Now we don't have water coming out from taps in other unused areas of house. Really appreciate your suggestion. House is in hot area so no issue of frozen pipe.

If your pipes are not copper or are galvanized there could be blockage due to interior of pipe rusting/corroding. With that in mind, check your faucet aerator for restrictions made from debris build-up. It would be wise to invest in a water pressure gauge so as to check pressure at several locations. Most household water pressure is between 60 and 70 psi. Also look for forgotten/hidden valves that are partially open.


Can the Harbor Freight Air Impact Hammar be Run from a 6 Gallon Air Compressor? I was looking at the Harbor Freight Medium Impact Air Hammar, (Air Hammar), but I'm not sure if it's a good match for my 6 gallon pancake compressor. I'm not looking to use it for very long, more for occasional DIY stuff, but I don't know if it can be run off of it. Would there be any obvious problems with this set up?

You don't mention the model of compressor, but virtually all can produce the 90 PSI pressure.  The main issue with air impact tools is that they use a lot of air volume.  That tool is listed as average air consumption of 4 CFM.  "Average" means use of typical burst duration and frequency--how long you actively operate the tool and how long it rests allowing the compressor to refill.

If your compressor can provide 4 CFM at 90 PSI, you can use the tool in a typical way.  If the compressor can't provide that volume, you would be limited in how long you could power the tool before giving the compressor time to refill.  If your application is light, intermittent duty, it might not be an issue.  But below some compressor capacity, it might become impractical.  You would get a short period of use, then have to wait for the compressor to refill.

I've used a small air hammer similar to that with a small compressor.  It was fine for intermittent use.  But I once tried to bust up a concrete footer with it (ridiculously wrong tool for the job).  A jackhammer would have made short work of it, but the hand tool required almost continuous hammering over a very long period.  I spent more time waiting for the compressor to refill than actually getting work done.  So you need to apply some common sense and reasonable expectations.


Storm door catch too close to door knob From the image you can see the storm door latch is too close to the door knob causing you to scratch your hand when you try and open it. There are about three layers of support behind that catch, too.

The storm door fits well where it is, and doesn't look out of the ordinary, so I don't know what to do about the catch.

Consider replacing that door catch with one of this style. It would be a lot less traumatic to the knuckles when you use the regular door knob.

Alternatively you could consider a change of the regular door knob to an exterior lever style unit. These have additional benefit in that they can be opened by means other then a free hand which can be useful when you come in with two bags of groceries.


How can I attach legs to a table? I am holding four 44 inch long 4x4 pieces of lumber which I have sanded down to the finish I require.

I intend on using a tap & die attachment set for a corded drill to progressively drill two 2 inch holes into the corner of each piece of lumber where I will thread 1/2 inch width steel rods into, attach to the table top, and secure the legs with hardware.

Does this sound feasible? The table design is corner braced.

I would not weaken your legs by drilling huge two inch holes in them. Instead you could consider the leg attachment scheme as shown below. A heavy duty lag/stud bolt is screwed into the table leg. The upper inside corner of the 4x4 leg can be cut at a 45 degree angle as shown below to make it easier to drill the lag bolt into the leg.

The skirt boards that go between the legs are notched and an angled cross member is glued and screwed into the inside face of the skirt boards. The angle cut on the inner corner of the leg can also allow the cross member to get closer to the leg and be a shorter piece. A shorter cross piece will have less chance to flex. When a hex nut and washer are installed onto the threaded end of the stud an extremely strong leg attachment is created. Obviously the width of the skirt boards (top to bottom dimension) can be increased to as much as possible to increase stability of the leg attachment. In fact if the skirt board is wide enough it is possible to even use two lag bolts into the leg for even more strength.


Thin alkyd paint for spraying I want to paint over factory finished kitchen cabinets.

I plan to sand them and brush primer with oil based paint.

I plan to use an alkyd paint I was told will make a nice finish.

Home Depot warns me to use only latex in their rental sprayer.

What can I thin the alkyd paint with to safely use in the sprayer?

YOU DON'T!!!

Do not put alkyd (oil) paints in a sprayer not made for them.  They will destroy the seals.  The act will be detected.  That is a very expensive way to buy a commercial grade latex paint sprayer that only works on latex paint and is now ruined.

You'll need to buy a proper spray gun made for aklyds, epoxies, LPUs and the like. I have been delighted with this little guy, I run it at 10-20 pounds and it works great.

Honestly unless you are well practiced in the art of spraying, you may be better off sticking to brush.   Google "$50 Rustoleum paint job" for tactics to get near-spray-finish out of common alkyd paints.

P.S. there is nothing lowly or amateur about brushing. I do my best work brushing $300/gal. aircraft grade LPUs (because the stuff is extremely toxic to spray, whereas with brush, you only need gloves).


Spray hose connector for delta kitchen faucet? The connection from the spray hose to my kitchen faucet was made out of the cheapest of plastic and started leaking. I purchased a "universal" spray hose replacement at the local hardware store. In the course of removing the old hose, all the brittle plastic tabs snapped and I'm left with the a brass connector on the pipe into the faucet that has two small o-rings and then a couple small grooves.

Unfortunately, none of the connectors included in the kit seem to match up. What are my options?

Edit: the original connector looked like the one pictured in this video:  https://youtu.be/BpvqiO7iLk4

However, mine completely disintegrated when trying to remove it.

The connection is a specialty assembly specific to that brand of faucet. You will need to either find a plumbing shop that has exact replacement parts (as opposed to some "universal" assembly; which actually isn't, obviously) or source the parts from Delta as the person in your linked video did.


Removal of house numbers on stucco! I have house numbers on my stucco there are no screws. They seem to be glued on in someway. How can I remove them? I want to put new floating more modern numbers on. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Probably construction adhesive. The main problem is that this doesn't come off cleanly. On stucco, this is likely to turn into gouging out the letters, glue, and the stucco underneath, then repairing the stucco. Figure out if this is acceptable now.

You can use a hairdryer to heat up the area to soften the glue. There might be screws underneath, used for creating a good surface to adhere to.


Is this ants or termites? My tenant reported that ants have been digging dirt up between the cracks between house and sidewalk.

However, this seems to be quite a lot of dirt. Could it possible be termites causing this?

I agree with Steve. Ants for sure, maybe pavement ants. You can find several pesticides at DO MY OWN PEST CONTROL. I worked in pest control for 17 years. A Termiticide / Pesticide called Termidor SC will get rid of them for sure. Kinda pricey but it's a concentrate.

You'll probably pay more for a pest control company to do it. Do it yourself. One Ounce per Gallon of water mix should do it.  Just follow the label instructions on the bottle.


Can I run a bond cable through a hole in a wall shared by plastic conduit? 200 amp service upgrade. Can I run a bond cable through a hole in a wall shared by plastic conduit? If not how far away from the conduit do I need to stay?

There's no spacing requirement...
The NEC does not have any specific spacing requirement between conduits carrying power wires and bonding or grounding conductors.  (In fact, it'd be legal to run the water main bond inside the same conduit, with it departing the rest of the wires at whatever junction box is at the other end of the conduit run.)
...but hole size might be an issue
However, if your conduit runs through studs or plates, not just sheathing, you may run into issues with the maximum permitted hole size in the studs, based on the 40%/60% rules in the IRC.  (That is, you are only allowed to take up 40% of the width of the stud with a hole, with a boost to 60% if you reinforce the hole by sistering the stud or putting a stud shoe around the hole.)
As a result, I'd recommend boring a separate small hole in said stud(s) for this bonding wire, several inches up or down from the hole for the conduit.  This way, one won't damage any stud shoes that may be present at the conduit hole, and won't have to worry about notching or oversizing the existing hole, either.


What sort of vapor barrier should I install when residing an old wood-framed building? I own a building which was built in the late 1800s. Somewhere in the Forties, the width was doubled. This all on pillars with a crawl space. In the fifties, a large warehouse was attached on a slab and cinder block chain wall. The entire building is in need of re-siding and I intend to use the 5” cement board lap siding to maintain the original look.

My question is about a suitable moisture barrier to use. On the original portion of the building there are vertical 1x12 cypress beneath the existing lap siding. I will not be removing the cypress, which means insulation cannot be added. The rest of the building will have exposed studs once the siding is removed and I can add insulation to those locations. The warehouse is unfinished with exposed rafters and studs inside. The floor and attic has no insulation or barriers.

Should I go with a moisture barrier with the wrinkled surface to allow any moisture an escape route behind the siding, a smooth plastic type barrier or look into one of the thin foil backed foam  barriers (not the bubble type)? If I decide to finish the warehouse interior at a later date, should I add a vapor barrier inside at that point? Is it unwise to have vapor barrier in some areas but not others? At the front door recess area is vertical beaded boards. I do not intend to remove those at all.

Thanks for any advice you all may be able to provide.

With the rain and humidity in your area you'll want a breathable house wrap, not plastic or foil, and a drainage plane behind the siding to allow any water that does get through to drain away and dry to the outside.


Line loses power when light bulb is put in My wife's cousin keeps losing power to her bathroom lights and fan. It will be out for a week or so, then come back on for a day to a week, then go back out.
I went over and checked the line at the switch, the lights, and the fan. The readings were good (120v-124v) without any bulbs in (she had removed them before I came over). Since I had a good reading in the bathroom, I checked the breaker. The breaker is a 2-pole 15 amp WR and had a good reading as well (123v), but one of the wires was broken and away from the breaker. I reconnected it and retested, everything was checking out.
Now, for the weird part that is beyond my basic comprehension. After fixing the breaker, I checked the power in the bathroom and it was still reading fine, but when I put a light bulb back in either of the two light fixtures, it drops to 4v, but does not trip the breaker. When I unscrew the bulb, the power goes back up to 120ish volts.
I changed out the breaker and retested. 123v without a light bulb, yet still drops to 4v once a light bulb is plugged in.
What can be causing this?

To me this sounds like a bad connection. My first look is for backstabs prior to the switch or at the switch, it can also be a broken wire sometimes a Knick on the wire when striped the wire can break over time, and last a wire not fully in a wire nut.
All of these can show full voltage without a load but once a load (the light) is added it opens. I see this most often with backstabs the push in wire connections , I have found a few broken wires and a few more loose wire nuts over the years but most often a bad backstab.

Although I have found this problem hundreds of times on outlets I have found it a few dozen times fed from an outlet on a lighting circuit,
Usually lighting circuits are not as heavily loaded but in a daisy chain feed the bad connection is usually close to the switch a outlet that feeds the switch within a few feet. Or the switch itself.

You mentioned a double pole breaker so it might be a multi wire branch circuit, but since both hot to ground and hot to neutral voltage are good I would be looking for a bad hot , black or red wire.


How do I make a table drawer child-proof? I want to build a drawer into a table that is held shut by an unseen lock (probably magnetic).

The drawer front would have two small holes in it.

The handle for the drawer would fit into the two holes, when inserted the handle effectively releases the lock allowing you to open the drawer by pulling on the handle just inserted.

Any ideas?

Well, it's not electrical engineering just because it's magnets. I suppose an active version could be made, but there is this option:

It doesn't appear to be available for purchase, but it doesn't look difficult to build.


Finding the other end of an ethernet cable that's punched into a 66 Block I have a Cat 5 ethernet cable that runs from a stereo cabinet to an equipment closet. A couple dozen other identical cables run from other parts of the house to the same hole in my drywall in this closet. They’re not all well labeled. Originally, the cable in the stereo cabinet served as a telephone connection, with a 4P4C jack in the cabinet and the other end punched down into a 66 Block in the closet (question edited to show 66 Block photo).

Now, I want to re-purpose that Cat 5 cable to serve as an Internet connection to the cabinet. I have already re-terminated the cabinet end with an 8P8C Ethernet jack, and I want to find the other end of this cable in the closet so I can connect it to our data network.

If the cable from the stereo cabinet weren’t punched into the 66 Block, I think it would be easy enough to find it, using an answer like “How can I find out which ethernet cable goes where?”. But if I were to use a Tone Generator and Probe, then I would expect for every cable in the house that serves our phone system (all of which are the same gray Cat 5, and all of which are tied together in that 66 Block) to probe positive exactly like the one cable I’m trying to find. Right?

Because of this, the only way I can think of to find this cable is to start pulling wire off my 66 Block. However, I don’t want to do this unless it really is necessary, because I’m fearful that I’ll mess up our home phone system in a way I won’t be able to repair. (One problem I foresee is that I don’t have a lot of extra cable length to work with for punching wires back down.)

How can I figure out which of the many Cat 5 cables that are punched down into the 66 Block in my closet is the one coming from my stereo cabinet?

Encouraged by the comments to my question, I bought a tone generator and probe (I bought a Fluke). Here are the steps I performed:

I plugged the toner into the jack in the stereo cabinet and set it to generate a tone for the probe.
I took the probe to the equipment closet and set it to the same icon as I had set the toner to.
In the equipment closet, I passed the tip over all the cables coming in from the wall.
The audible signal made it completely obvious which cable was the one I was looking for.
Once I found the cable, I pulled its blue/blue-white pair off the block.
I terminated the cable with an RJ45 keystone jack.
I tested the pins with my little Ideal VDV MultiMedia Tester.
I turned off my laptop Wi-Fi, cabled it into the equipment closet, and googled a word I knew wouldn't be cached. Called it a win when Google returned results.


Switch Loop / End Line Switch - Adding a Ceiling Fan Adding a ceiling fan in a room where nothing existed before.  I have a single pole switch on the wall that controls an outlet.  When I opened the switch, it looked like it was an end-line or switch loop switch (are they the same thing?).  Only a single 14/2 wire coming in with both black and white connected to switch.
Would it be possible to tap into this as a power source for the ceiling fan addition?  I don't care if the ceiling fan is always live and controlled from the pull chains.  Or controlled from the single pole switch along with the outlet it already controls.

You can if you’re willing to make the receptacle always hot, in which case you can repurpose the white wire to the switch box as a neutral. Basically, after turning off the power, you remove the switch first. Then, you reconnect the receptacle with your usual middle-of-the-run recertacle wiring, white to silver, black to brass, though you may have to replace the receptacle if it has the tab joining the brass terminals removed. After running new 14/3 cable to the fan from the switch box, simply join the two white wires together. If you want the fan and light controlled independently, you can put in a double switch, one switch controlling the black wire and the other controlling the red.


Does a long deck beam need a post at staggered joints? I am designing a deck that requires 40' beams.  In that design I plan to fabricate the beams with 2-2x12 pressure treated lumber.  I have tentatively planned to arrange the plies in this fashion: 1st ply 8'+16'+16' and 2nd ply 16'+16'+8' thus creating intermediate joints (a joint in only 1 ply) every 8 feet.  My question is do I need bearing support at intermediate joints?

How are you joining these 2x12's?

Who has done the load and deflection calculations to ensure that a 3.5" x 11.5" x 40' wood beam can handle the load you want to put on it?

What kind of load are you expecting the finished deck to hold?

Is this thing up in the air, or close to the ground?

You've considered that your finished beam is going to weigh somewhere around 550 to 600 pounds all by itself, right?  ;-)

If your beam is nailed or screwed together

If you're making your composite beam by nailing or screwing the 2 x 12's together, I would absolutely expect you to need a post under each staggered joint. I probably wouldn't want to stand under it otherwise, unless you used so many nails or screws that it looks like rows of rivets. Because a big chunk of the load will be hanging (a shearing force) on the nails or screws, and on the small section of the 2 x 12's that the nails or screws are in contact with, rather than the load being born fully along the length of the beam.

No engineering calcs or diagrams here; but in an unbroken beam most of the load is actually handled along the top and bottom of the beam, which is why I-beams are so strong yet so light, and why you can cut big holes through the center of the beam. The thin vertical part of the beam keeps the wide top and bottom surfaces of the beam separated, and those surfaces are what bear the load.

So if you put a post under each staggered joint, then the 2 x 12's will share the load and transfer it to the posts and the nails or screws won't be bearing any shearing force/deflection load. They'll just keep the 2 x 12's together, and you won't need all that many of them.

If you build the beam with adhesive

It's a different story if you're building the beam up using some kind of permanent, waterproof construction adhesive (and you'll need a lot of it).

If you're using glue to make your beam, you're definitely going to need a few friends to help you move it into position after the glue has set.

You need to clamp the 2 x 12's together hard while the adhesive sets. You could use clamps (a lot of them), or lay the beam out flat and use weights (sandbags, whatever), or you could use screws. If you use clamps or screws maybe you could build the beam in place as you go, using temporary posts to hold it up as it sets.

I'd also expect that you would use the same adhesive liberally on the ends that butt together and make sure they are pressed hard together while they set.

Still, since you're making the beam yourself rather than buying engineered prefab beams, I think there's a fair chance you'd end up with a beam that's still weaker at the joints than an engineered beam would be.

And you do need to have an engineer or architect do some calculations to make sure that 40' beam can do what you expect it to.


How should I treat mold under the caulk around my kitchen sink? I've got a tiled kitchen countertop and have noticed some mold under the caulking around the sink, especially where the tile dips.

Should I clean out the old caulk and re-caulk the area, or pop the sink out then clean and start over?

Never caulk an overmount sink into place.  If you've done it right, you will have to destroy the countertop to get it out if you have to remove it down the road.  Silicone is incredibly strong when used correctly.

First, remove the sink.  Then spray bleach and water (50% v/v) all around the mounting flange and the hole in the counter.  Let it sit for a few hours and repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 times.

Second, get yourself some stainless plumbers putty.  Roll it into thick ropes (1/2" dia) and place it all around the bottom side of the mounting flange. It should form a continuous ring underneath the lip of the sink. Just join the ends together by squishing them into each other.

Third, reinstall the sink and tighten the mounting screws a little at a time all around the perimeter of the sink.  Trim the excess putty away from the sink flange on the top of the counter once it's done.


Can I tape cement board with mastic instead of mortar? In the past, I have mesh taped cement board with thinset. Is it okay to do it with mastic instead? The reason I would prefer it is to avoid mixing thinset in my own tub, as opposed to the container the mastic is sold in the store and I just throw away, vs cleaning the tools after thinset, which is hell.

It doesn't matter.
Waterproofing is behind tape example:

Here you have your waterproofing behind the cement board - old school method.   I would always use thinset because it is easier.  Get a bucket of thinset going and water it down bigtime.
Tape and put just a slight slight layer right in the crack.   You should definitely be able to see tape, but nothing behind tape.
Let sit for 20/30 mins to stabalize, add mix to your bucket and start tiling
I don't see the point of using mastic here because you will be layering thinset right on this anyway.  The tape is just there to join the two pieces.   In reality you could tape and tile at the same time although the logistics of the tape falling would probably triple the time of taping in the first place - unless you have a tile magician.
the reason for "it doesn't matter" answer is that if you use it here there is still thinset over the mastic.

Waterproofing over the tape:

Here you are going to put something like redgard over the tape and cement board.
Materials for tape and bonding have very little importance.
ACTUALLY - the industry is in need for a solution here.  Tape and thinset is terrible as the amount of thinset causes a small ridge which may effect tiling, especially smaller mosaics.  Honestly I would use duck tape with no bonding if you take inspectors out of equation.
So mastic is just fine, just go light on it as you would thinset.   Remember you aren't hiding the mesh tape like drywall tape.

The real answer is you are putting too much thinset on.   Like I said - just enough to hide behind tape, not the tape.   The rest of the thinset that splattered should be scraped with putty knife and then wiped with wet towel immediately.   Big shower is 3 minutes clean up after taping if that.


Painting new boards installed on old front porch Hi—I recently replaced a number of rotten boards in my old (50+ years) front porch. Here is what I need to do, and I understand timing is important:

Let PT wood from Lowe’s dry out (1 month?)
Pressure wash the old boards because they have years and years of dirt and wear
Paint the entire porch with a new and beautiful color.

I currently have a striped floor—a mix of old and new wood. Do I go ahead and pressure wash the entire floor now, then sit and wait one month for the new wood to dry out?

Trying to get the order of work just right because I want the perfect front porch—thank you for advice!!

In my humble opinion, I'd wait for the new wood to dry out and then pressure clean everything. There will be some seepage/residue from the pressure treated wood that you'll want to remove before painting, plus, it will get dirty while drying. Same with the floor, if you pressure clean it now, it will get dirty while the new wood is drying out. After pressure cleaning, wait until both woods are completely dry before painting.

Get your new and beautiful paint now and follow any additional instructions that are included with it.


How do I best take up carpet & remove glue from concrete floor Would someone give a good list of the equipment, tools, supplies, etc., I would need to take up carpet and padding that is glued to the concrete floor.  Thank you.

This has been answered previously several times. Here is the link: carpet glued down removal.