How to cut away portion of sub floor to inspect for leaks? I am a very new home owner (a few weeks) and I recently discovered a leak in my fully finished basement (discovered wet carpet). We had some concrete experts come inspect, $3800 quote later we will be getting some foundation work done.

The room that was moist, did not have sub floor. The room beside this one, has what I believe to be a plywood sub floor (~2 inches above ground). The concrete expert recommended I cut regions of the sub floor to inspect for moisture (so we know if we need to excavate a larger region). To do this, I need to first pull back the brand new carpet and underlay (recently renovated).

Can I simply cut anywhere? Or should I try and cut in certain regions (i.e. outer region of stud), so that I can simply re-screw the plywood down. I bought a circular saw for this reason.

I have minimal experience with anything house related, although I have been Google-ing the heck out of this.

Thanks!

Addition: If I remove an entire panel, should I expect it to be nailed and glued or just nailed down?

This is going to be complicated and expensive.

First, you need to determine if the leak is coming from the exterior or the interior. I'd check plumbing fixtures above the area and see if you can trace it down. It could be running down a wall and into the space under your subfloor.

Second, if it's coming in from the exterior, you need to know the extent of the damage. So, you will need to remove sections of the subfloor. (If you live on a slope, I'd start on the high side of the slope.) If you find a wet spot in one area, I'd move 8' -10' and remove another section. If it's wet you can assume it's wet between sections too. However, finding the point at which it's leaking into your basement is key. I'd assume the wetter the area, the more likely you're closer to the point of leak.

If it's coming from the exterior, Possible leaking points: 1) joint between concrete wall and concrete slab, 2) joint or crack in floor, we call this hydrostatic infiltration, (it gets pushed up from the sub-soil), 3) backfill against the outside wall that is placed too high on the wall. (Water could be coming in over the top of the concrete wall.)

There are other possible places where it could be leaking, (I.e.: roof flashing, downspout, stormdrain, expansion joint, etc.,) but I'd start with  the 3 listed above.

Repair will depend on where the leak is occurring, of course. I'd let your contractor guide you on that.

Hmmm...so...when you bought the house was this leak disclosed to you?  If not you probably have a claim back to the seller. I'm suspicious of the "new carpet" in the basement because I don't think most people refurbish their basement unless they're trying to cover up a past problem in hopes of a sale. So, be sure to document what you find, take lots of pictures, and get a written statement from your contractor on what he found and if it looked old or new. I've testified as an expert witness for buyers who found leaks, settlement, etc. covered up. A good professional can tell if a leak is new or old...usually.


building garage what is proper way to frame an 8 ft garage door concrete base is 6" high and is 8 Ft wide. I am in the process of framing a 16 ft X 18 ft garage

I assume you are wondering what size header to use for the framing and how to support that header.  You should: consult your local building department they can tell you.
The old rule of thumb is 1" height of header for every foot of width.  With an 8 foot span you should use double studs (jack studs) on each side to support it.
So - for a 8' span with 2x4 framing a 4x8 header is minimum but my experience is a 4x10 with a nominal dimension of 3.5 x 9.24 is the smallest size header I would use.  These days, contractors use 4x12s for most headers up to 12 in width.


Is deck joist sistering a sloppy repair? I have a few bad deck joists that I replaced with new PT joists.  These repairs are great.

Now I have a few more not too bad joists that will be rotted in a few years.  I am thinking to add new PT joists sistering with the old ones.  In addition, I will add carriage bolts to strengthen the two sistering joists together.  My new joists can rest on a beam at one end, so the carriage bolts will be act like joints hangers.

Is the sistering repair an OK practice?  Shall I go the complete repair to take the old joists off?

Sistering board on the exterior is problematic.  Without a gap between the two boards, water gets trapped and rotts them from the middle out.  Same reason ledgers without spacers are a problem spot on houses.  If you sister the joists, make sure you put in a spacer to allow air flow between the two boards.

Or do not sister and just install another joist nearby.  Not pretty layoutwise from the bottom, but not really noticeable from the top for the layman.


What is the purpose of a window well for a window that is above grade? Recently my neighbour installed window wells around all of his basement windows, but they all sit with the bottom edge about 2 inches above the ground. Do window wells serve a purpose if your window is still above the ground?

If you were in a really dry region, it might be overkill, but window wells and covers also help protect basement windows from physical damage (stuff the mower throws, ornery pets, etc).

That said, two inches isn't terribly much, and installing them would probably be prudent if you planned to raise the grade around the window with flower beds or something.

I'm pretty sure you're wondering if installing them on your home would also be a good idea. If you've never had a problem, then you probably won't. It's worth asking your neighbor about, if they were installed as a requirement for a home inspection, it'd be nice to know.


Can I use smart switches for my 3-way? I have a 3 way setup and one switch has white black and copper wire and the other one has the same but with a red wire. Can I use smart switches for these?
Thanks!
Joe

Yes, a smart 3-way switch can be installed.I have used this 3-way switch in the past. Additionally, with the new smart switches, in general, the use for 3-way IMHO is becoming obsolete. Most link to your smart home hub (i.e. Alexa Echo or Google Home) and you simply have to tell it to turn on or off.

If you don't want a 3-way you could also get this alternative.


Is it safe to leave light socket without a light bulb? We have several light sockets with light bulbs, controlled by a single light switch. I don't need that much light, so I want to remove a couple of light bulbs from their sockets.

Is that safe ?

In my case the sockets are pretty high up on the ceiling, and there is no danger of accidentally putting a finger in there.

Depends on what you mean by "safe". I wouldn't entirely trust it with a kid in the house, but it's probably fine for adults.

On the other hand, you can make it a bit safer by screwing in a dead bulb (which, like everyone, you'll acquire over time), or one of the edison-base-to-outlet adapters available at hardware stores. I'd consider either of those approaches reasonably child-resistant, especially given that the fixture is presumably out of reach of kids anyway. Not worth the effort, I expect, but you did ask.


Can my new pressure switch's range be adjusted to match the original? I replaced my Pressure tank which had a leak. As I was putting the pluming back together I noticed the contacts in the 40/60 Square D switch.Can you use a 30/50 Square D pressure switch (a new on which I happen to have on hand) to replace a 40/60 pressure switch and raise the range to 40/60?

Depends on the switch.

The particular one (it's also a Square D, but they make various models) I have on my well is a 20 PSI differential and can be adjusted from 20/40 to 40/60 (perhaps beyond, I don't recall right now.) Check the instructions (should be in the box if it's brand-new, or look up the exact model number on-line.)

Instructions for the 9013 Pumptrol show a larger nut (1) and a smaller nut (2) with the following instructions:

  Adjust in the proper sequence:
  1. Range: Turn nut down (CW) for higher cut-in pressure, or up
  (CCW) for lower cut-in.
  2. Differential: Turn nut down (CW) for higher cut-out pressure, or up
  (CCW) for lower cut-out.

I will warn to be sure that power to the circuit is off at any point when adjusting the nuts - with the cover off to access the nuts, the line power contacts are exposed, and I prefer the level of being careful that shuts that off at the breaker to the level of being careful that is "I should avoid touching those."


How long do evaporator coils last in a home AC system? I was going through my blog roll this morning when I saw that someone had asked this elsewhere. I figured it would be a good question to ask.

In general, how long do evaporator coils last in a home AC system? How can I make them last longer? If I want to replace them, what should I keep in mind?

They should last for the life of the A/C system, which is generally 15-20 years for a high quality system. (Many people end up replacing their systems between 12 and 15 years due to efficiency issues or deferred maintenance causing damage to more easily damaged components, such as the compressor.)

Most of the time, evaporator coils fail because they are allowed to get dirty or are allowed to have ice build up on them. Things you can do yourself to help prolong the life is to make sure you change your HVAC intake filter regularly and use a high quality filter (filters should be in place for no more than a month, and should be replaced sooner in a dusty environment if you can no longer see light through the filter), and make sure that your evaporator coils are draining correctly.

The easiest way to make them last longer is to have a licensed HVAC technician perform regular maintenance on your system. This should be done once a year, typically in the winter time. The technician will clean the coils and check them over. At the same time, the A/C tech will check to make sure that your coolant is at the right level/pressure and that there are no leaks in your system.

If you replace them, you probably want to replace the entire system at this point thanks to many recent gains made in efficiency.


Does adding a disconnect box below the meter mean that my service panel is now a subpanel? I don't understand the bonding at my main disconnect. My problem is that my main panel in the house was wired OK with the neutral bonded to ground. The power company added a disconnect box below the meter box.  I noticed the disconnect they installed doesn't have the neutral bonded to ground. Am I going to have a problem? From what I read my main panel is now a sub panel because they added a disconnect? I am wondering why they thought it was OK.

If the power company did not change the bonding point, you still have a main panel ("the one with the bond in it.")

So long as there's only one, the location of the bond can and does vary with the preferences of the power company, mostly. Mine is inside the meter box, so my panel is wired as a sub-panel.

On a typical panel run from a meter and bonded in the panel, the meter itself is a disconnect point that's upstream of the bond, and that's not a problem.

You should realize that the neutral and ground conductors are not interrupted by a disconnect, so the bond in your panel is still effective even with a disconnect upstream of it.

If the power company had opted to move the bond point, they would have needed to rewire your panel - a considerable expense (for them) and inconvenience (for you) they avoid by not changing the bond point.


How can I get a direct stream of water out of my kitchen sprayer hose? I fill up my humidifier tanks several times a day. The tanks don't fit under my kitchen sink, so I have to fill them partially in the sink and then the last 10% with the sprayer. The sink has a flow restrictor, and of course the sprayer is inhibited by turning the water into a spray. Additionally, it's a cheap faucet where the water does not get cut off to the sink when the sprayer is engaged, so there is a half flow that goes to each.

What I would like to do is:

Replace the sprayer head with some other apparatus which will allow me to completely turn the flow on and off.
Replace the sink aerator with some other apparatus which will allow me to completely turn the flow on and off. There are some aerators on the market with this feature, but my initial research showed that at least some of them don't completely turn off the flow, and I'm not sure about the others.

update: Apparently there is a value that shuts off the sink water, it recently started working. So issue #2 has gone away.

Sprayers don't last forever. You can try replacing the sprayer and hose to see if that solves the problem. There could be some bad washers which are making a poor seal. This could be why you aren't getting a good flow from the sprayer.

Since you stated that the current faucet you have is a basic model, you could also invest in a replacement one. These can usually be replaced without needing very many tools. You would want to have some basic plumbing tools such as water pump pliers and an adjustable wrench. These tools will vary depending on the style of faucet you have, so you should consult with an employee at the store to see what they would recommend.

You can also try filling the humidifier in the bathtub if you have one. This is what I typically do. There is much more room underneath the spout and it fills up pretty quickly.


How do you descale a dishwasher heating element? I've tried something I got at Lowes (with the wax plug, you put upside down) and CLR.

The CLR worked the best, but didn't really get it off and it's building up again.

I've heard vinegar will work if you use it regularly.

Might want to check out this thread.  Seems like they have a few different ideas:

CLR (which you already tried)
Run vinegar through the dishwasher.
Use a different detergent (can vouch for cascade complete here - it's awesome)
Use a special filter/water softener.


How do I remove a lead stain from my windows? I have lead around my windows and after a new lead installation there has been a stain there for over a year. I have tried window cleaner and multi-surface cleaner but no success.

I had an 'easy clean' treatment applied to the windows when I bought them and wonder if the fix to remove this stain then will also affect the treatment.

Had hazy marks from lead flashing on conservatory roof.  I thought I'd try 'Silvo' which is non-abrasive and used for cleaning fine silver.  Success!!  The marks came off a treat with really minimal rubbing with a soft cloth moistened with the product. Crystal clear glass after


Replacing light fixture I have a wall light attached to a switch.  There are 2 black wires and 1 white wire.  The fixtures as one white white and one black wire.  How do I connect

If you have 3 wires at the light fixture (not including grounding wires)  you need to check voltage, find 120 volts, TURN OFF THE CIRCUIT, connect the white to the neural wire and the black to the wire carrying 120v. Make sure you cap the other wire regardless of the voltage it is carrying, it could be dead because of a disconnect, switch/ breaker etc. Be careful and if you don't understand how to do what I just said, get help.


Sub-panel without any loads I sold a hot tub that was on my property when I purchased it.  There is a 240V sub-panel that powered the hot tub and it has one double-pole breaker.

With the hot tub going away, what should I be doing with this sub-panel since I'm left with no load on it.

Should I just switch the single breaker off in the sub-panel?  Should I also switch off the breaker at the main panel that feeds the sub-panel?  Or should I be removing the breaker at the main panel altogether?

Just shut it off in the main panel.

Or... Change out the main panel breaker to 20A.
Put a pair of duplex receptacles fed off the hot tub subpanel breaker.  The breaker in the main panel provides overcurrent protection for the receptacles.   The breaker in the hot tub panel provides GFCI.


Bar-sink drain won't drain water I have a new shallow bathroom sink that has no overflow. I put in a bar-sink drain cover (to prevent anyone from closing the drain), and the water doesn't flow down the drain. It just stands there, until I run my finger back and forth over the holes in the drain cover. There is a vent pipe on the main drain pipe. Is there an easy solution to this? Would a drain pipe vent solve the problem?

If by "bar-sink drain cover" you mean a perforated strainer like this:

then it might be related to the relative "softness" or "hardness" of your water supply. Where I am from we have "hard" water (high in mineral content) which has high surface tension and will not drain as easily through fine strainers. "Soft" water has less or no dissolved minerals but has dissolved sodium, and lower surface tension. Get a gallon of distilled water at the market, or mix 1/2 gallon of water with a 1/4 cup of table salt and see how that drains. If it drains fast, then you probably have to buy a strainer with bigger holes or enlarge the holes in your strainer. Or buy a water softener. Or best of all, install a sink with overflow protection.


What does the latch position of a circuit breaker mean? I bought a new home in December 2011. After some time the kitchen lights and the lights in the living room started to switch off randomly. Some days it would happen 3-4 times in a row. Other days it would only happen once.

We have had an electrician come out to our home several times to fix it. The first time he replaced the circuit breaker. I'm not sure what he did the second time, but that didn't help either. The 3rd time he cut some wires in each of the 6 kitchen ceiling light "cans". That didn't help either. Then he decided to put the kitchen lights on a different circuit than the lights in the living room. That helped. We haven't had problems with the lights going out since then - until now.

There were only 9 light bulbs on that circuit. That’s 900W at maximum. At a voltage of 125V, the load is approximately 7.2AMPS. The circuit breaker has a nominal value of 15AMPS. So it was definitely not a load issue. And it wasn't a faulty circuit breaker either. So then it must be a wiring/circuit problem. Solving such a problem requires either 1 re-wiring or 2 identifying the bad wire. The electrician did neither. He just moved the living room lights over on a different circuit. This is a quick-fix. It's not a solution to the problem. It's masking/hiding a problem. If the lights were moved back on the same circuit we would have the exact same problem.

Now the problem started happening again. This time with living room lights and the dining room lights. The living room lights were moved over on the same circuit as the dining room lights. So I guess it's the living room lights that's causing a problem?

Long story short: I have taken some pictures of the circuit breaker. As far as I know the latch position tells something about what the problem is, but I haven't been able to find information about what the different latch positions mean, so I'm hoping that somebody here can tell me.

Click on photos for full size

If you're referring to the circuit breaker switch being in the middle after it's been tripped, that's just the "tripped" position. As far as I know it doesn't tell you anything about the reason.

You have arc fault breakers, which means the breaker was tripped because:

there was too much current flowing
there was an arc fault.

Based on the relatively low loads and intermittence you describe, I would guess it's an arc fault issue. Perhaps a faulty wiring connection. Maybe it's being jostled occasionally if someone walks nearby and causes just the right vibration or something. Or as Steven mentions in a comment below, a faulty switch could cause an arc fault.


Add a switch to an overhead light I recently purchased an old house.  The switch in the living room has two 14/2 wires.  One is the line to the breaker and the other is to three outlets on one wall.  I checked and the switch is wired to each entire outlet and not just the top of the duplex.  A cover plate is in the ceiling where I thought a ceiling fan was removed.  When I removed the plate I found one single (hot) strand of 14/2 romex that was not in a box.  Yikes!

I have since put the ceiling line in a box and rewired the box where the switch was so the outlets are always hot.  My goal is to install an overhead light.  Note:  When the breaker to the outlets is off, the ceiling line is still hot.  I traced the breaker of the ceiling light and have confirmed it is separate from the outlets.  I am familiar with x10 modules, but am not finding any module that doesn't require a switch to the overhead (which I do not have).

Does anyone know of a way I can control the overhead light I would like to install?  I'd like to use something other than a remote, but if a remote exists, I can fashion a switch where the other switch was mounted.  I would not like to have a pull chain as the light is over a coffee table and would be inconvenient.

Sounds like you want to control the overhead light with a switch that's on a different circuit.  You can use an "in-line" switch such as this one which fits inside the ceiling electrical box.  You'll need a compatible wall switch to send the commands to the in-line switch which actually controls the load.  There are probably a number of other technologies and manufacturers, I'm just using this as an example.  If this is your first or only home automation project, you'll want to be sure both circuits are on the same 120 volt leg to be sure the signals get through.


Help replacing dimmer in household this is my current dimmer setup

My understand is;  from the dimmer side to wall side, there is one black wire connected to black wire, there is one red wire connected to black wire, there is one red wire with cap and not connected, and there is a green wire connected to thick copper wire
The new dimmer has black, yellow, and green screws, with a second yellow screw covered for “3 way wiring” and can be setup as single pole or 3 way wiring
I have watched some videos and I am assuming the following:
The red wires are controlled by the switch.  There is one unused because there is only one switch.  This red wire should connect to one of my yellow screws on the new unit.
The black wire is the active electrical power.  This should connect to the black screw.
The green wire is the ground and should connect to green screw.
Is this correct?

Yes it is. the black screw is the common terminal which is hooked up to your always hot, the black wire which is hooked up to the black wire from your old switch. The black wire connected to your red wire from the switch would go to the yellow screw and the ground wire to the green screw.
Good job taking pictures before disconnecting everything and then asking how to put it all back together


Garage Light mystery I have 4 fluorescent fixtures in my garage and one was broken, so I replaced it. But now 2 of them will not turn on even though there is 120v going to each one. So, I replaced both of those and they still will not come on. What gives?

Hard to tell from the little information you provided, but as a gross generalization, things like this tend to be a loose connection and from the sounds of it, a loose neutral connection because the neutral is common to everything.


Generator Power Inlet Box location I am installing a 50 amp power inlet box to backfeed my 12000W generator (it has 50amp outlet) into the house main circuit panel (with approved interlock kit..). The inlet box is a GE T050N, that only has punch outs on the bottom, and bottom of sides.
https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/pdfImages/b5/b535b44c-bc9b-47b8-ae55-7859edf6623d.pdf

See my installation zone in the picture below. I was thinking of putting the inlet box directly below the main panel and run 3/4" PVC conduit down from the main panel and into the lower right side of the inlet box.  I've been looking on the web for rules on proximity of the natural gas meter regulator to electrical boxes and couldnt find a consensus.  I live in Texas and local municipality has adopted 2018 version of Building code, NEC, etc.  Any issues with the proposed location? from what I've read on wire size, I need to use 6/3 UF or #8 THHN in the conduit, sound right?

Thank you for your advice

That plan looks fine and normal. They don't like top entries because real-world, they leak.

I myself prefer a "drip loop" as it were, where I enter the bottom of both boxes, with an LR and LL right next to each other.

You must use something like #8 THWN wires.  You can't use NM-B obviously.  And you cannot use #6/3 UF-B, because UF-B is thin and wide, and that requires wide conduit... 2" for #6.  And that inlet box is absolutely unable to support an opening that large!

Generally for 1 cable in conduit, the conduit's practical ID must be 138% of the width of the cable.  With 6/3UF that puts you at about 1.65 inches, too big for 1.5".


How can I insert a hanger bolt into wood table leg? I am attaching table legs to table top with Waddell Metal Table Straight Top Plate. How can I insert a 5/16-18 X 3 in Hanger Bolt into wood table leg?

How can I insert a ... Hanger Bolt into wood

Plan A
I would drill a pilot hole in the wood and drive the screw-threaded part of the hanger bolt into the wood by using a spanner/wrench/socket on a double nut on the bolt-threaded portion (the second nut tightened against the first nut using a pair of spanners/wrenches to thus lock both nuts in position on the bolt). Then unlock the nuts and remove them.
You can then screw the legs into the top-plate.
Plan B
I suspect you could also do this by attaching the top plate to the table top, turning the top upside down, inserting the bolts into the top plates and then screwing the pre-drilled legs onto the screw. Using lubrication/strap-wrench/clamp as needed.


Why does a wall in my finished basement only have a steel plate and no studs? I am trying to mount a TV that's about 20lbs into some studs in the wall. I used a stud finder and drilled some holes where the studs should be but never hit any wood, instead I hit a metal plate about half a centimeter thick.

First off I am puzzled why I would have this metal plate to begin with but I am more concerned by the fact that I can't find any studs. Is this "ok"? Can I safely mount my TV by drilling into this metal plate?

The room in question is in the basement and has finished drywall on the walls. I tried drilling 16in from the corner of 2 walls and tried the stud finder in several locations but everytime I only hit the metal sheet. Where a stud shouldn't be (according to the stud finder), there's no metal plate which makes me think it's a substitute for studs.

If I left out any important details please let me know. Thanks!

As Legion600 suggested, you probably have steel studs as furring strips. You need to be sure you are not hitting protection plates installed on wood studs.

These protect electrical or plumbing lines close to the stud face, and you must never attempt to drill through these. Usually, if you drill several inches above or below such plates, you will hit wood. If you are hitting metal along the entire stud length, it is not a protection plate, but a metal stud. Metal studs in this application should be fairly light gauge and easy to drill through. Protection plates are about 16 GA and are not easy to drill through.

You may anchor objects to metal studs. They are sturdy enough when finish sheathing is attached along their length. Do not use toggles, the hole required is too large. It's best to use a number of self-drilling screws that are barely long enough to engage the stud face material after passing through the mount and wall finish. This avoids damaging any lines routed through the center holes of the stud. You can also use self tapping screws into pre-drilled holes, but drill very carefully so as not to damage any underlying lines when the drill breaks through the face material, and again, use appropriate length screws.


Open duct found in ceiling I cut a hole in a basement ceiling drywall and found an open duct at the end of the span between the joists (see photo).  I'm sure this isn't good for the efficiency of the hvac system.  What are the best practices to handle an open duct that is unused?  Or how should I close it up?

Sometimes the Joist bays and stud bays are used as conduits for the air, being in between the living spaces it may not affect the efficiency and be needed for moving the conditioned air or return air. If there is no connection to other areas it would not hurt to seal it up. A piece of sheet metal some self piercing screws and some silicone sealant will seal most duct openings put a bead around the opening screw a piece of sheet metal in place and screw ~every 4” let the sealant cure prior to running the system or it may blow your seal and a leak like that can be very loud like blowing on a blade of grass between your thumbs loud , but if it cures and holds there will be no problem with noise.


Hot Water Water Hammer When Cutting Off Cold Supply The house is 3 years old. This just started to happen. When you cut off any cold water supply the inlet line to the water heater knocks or water hammers.

The first attempt I cut the water off at the street and cut on all the faucets in the house and let it sit for 15 minutes. Water hammer came back right after.

I drained my water heater thinking there was hot air trapped after reading a couple of posts. The water hammer went away for 3 days.

I have now cut off the main again and let it sit for about 45 minutes. Water hammer came back just like attempt one.

A couple of extra things to note, the hot water heater is now dripping in the overflow pan on a regular basis. Is this just my hot water heater going bad?

Any ideas?

Water hammer can happen with very low flows. The fact that it stopped for a few days after draining your water heater tells me that a water hammer arrestor would fix the problem as well as a “air leg”. when we built homes my dad would install vertical dead end pipe 2-3’ long pointing up on the supply line and sometimes do the same in bathrooms. This air cushion stops the water hammer like a water hammer arrestor but will last a lifetime arrestor last a long time but do leak when they wear out. The arrestor is smaller device that can be added later at a toilet or sink supply line and they cost about 15$. An air leg can be added with a T at the supply to the water heater then a section of pipe with a cap up to the ceiling less than 15$ but if copper it takes some skill to solder, CPVC is quite easy and can be done similar to copper with primer & solvent for about the same cost. It’s not the water heater but a loose pipe issue combined with a resonant flow that causes the water hammer. Add a air pocket or arrestor and this usually eliminates the water hammer.


How to connect toilet flush valve chain with provided v-shaped connector My husband has been fixing an older toilet in our house - it was leaking so we completely replaced all the seals on the tank and then we replaced some of the seals inside it - this is all working fine but as part of it, we got a new flush valve and chain, which came with a curly v-shaped piece of wire and we can't figure out how to actually attach the chain with the wire.
Here's an overview of the inside of our tank:

And here's the little v-shaped thing:

Here's the thing - I've been looking around and the best I've found is written instructions for how to connect it that mention shoving the v through the holes on the lever bar - and that part I understand - what I don't understand is how the chain connects to that without slipping off. Honestly, I think at this point what I need is an image that shows it because the written descriptions don't align with my attempts to use this connector.
On the Home Depot site, others seem confused about this as both the questions on the product page ask how to use it but the explanation is confusing to me.

The flush mechanism on the toilet handle has a bar with holes along the bar. Simply force the V shape clip through one of the holes so that the V faces down. If the old clip is still in place then on the plastic actuator, thread the chain UPWARD through the hole at the top of the plastic actuator leaving the BALL END "INSIDE" the actuator. Then thread the other end of the chain through the V shaped bracket and adjust the chain to the proper length by trial and error until the the toilet flushes properly.

This doesn't actually explain how the chain is supposed to be held by the V shaped bracket - when I run the chain through it, it seems too loose to be secure.

(caveat: I've never met this version in person...)
That appears to be intended for the "between-beads" part of the chain to slide down into the smallest part of the tip. The beads should be larger than the opening in the smallest part of the tip. Depending on maufacturing tolerances, it may take some force to get the chain in there, or it may not. If loose, the chain should stay put by gravity, as both sides of the chain should hang down. If you have to force it in, then it should stay put until pulled out.
If the beads are smaller than the narrowest part of the slot, I might be wrong.


Could a frozen dishwasher line have ruined something? I had a frozen pipe under my kitchen sink and was able to get the hot water moving with a hair dryer but the dishwasher also has a frozen pipe.  I was able to warm that up and get that going, but when I ran my washer, it filled up with water and spilled out all over the place.  I shut off the water and got everything cleaned up and the water stopped running.  after all of that, I turned the water back on and it was pouring out into my basement.  did the freezing ruin something?

Could a frozen dishwasher line have ruined something?

Yes

Are you kidding?  Water spilling out and even in your basement and you're asking if something 'could have been ruined'?  You're way past that point.

Freezing water breaks things.  It probably destroyed the pump in your dish washer and any fittings near by.

PROTIP: Don't let the next one freeze.


2nd floor laundry room drain spraying water up into room 2nd floor laundry room drain trap is fed from pipe going up to a shower....i have water spraying out of the laundry room drain everytime i turn on the shower...it's been working fine for 10 years and now does this.  HELP

It's clogged. Hire a plumber to snake it, or buy a snake and do it yourself. A simple drill mounted snake (about $10-$15) should do it. If you've never done it before watch some youtube videos explaining how first.

It's probably full of hair. Once you clear it make a point of periodically (every 6 months or so) taking off the drain cover in the shower and removing the built up hair.

The "Zip It Drain Cleaning Tool" works very well for removing hair. (And despite what they say it's not a one time use tool - they just wish you would think so.)

When snaking your goal is catching things and pulling them back up to you, not drilling a hole in the clog. If the snake doesn't turn easily immediately stop the drill - you don't want to overstress the snake and break it in the line. Never EVER run the drill backwards with a snake - not even when removing the snake from the line!


How do I install a vent above a closet door? I located some home theater gear in a closet directly behind our family room where the TV is located. Now the closet, a sizeable walk-in, is getting rather warm.

How do I install a simple vent above the closet door to allow the heat to circulate out? Is it as simple as cutting an appropriate sized hole in the drywall and putting up some stock return grills? Can grills be screwed directly to the drywall and/or fastened with drywall anchors? Is there anything else to consider?

Depending on the structure, the header of the door may be load bearing and you'll be met with a solid block of wood behind the drywall that shouldn't be cut. Drill a small test hole from the inside of the closet first.

Otherwise, installing a return grill on each side of the wall is fairly simple. Leave at least an inch or two border to the edge of the return grill so that the screws are not near the edge of the drywall. And it wouldn't hurt to use some plastic drywall anchors because drywall itself will easily crumble if you over-tighten the screw.

A few tips, turn the grill so the vents face the ceiling where you cannot see into the hole. And if you can, make a second vent towards the floor since you need a source of cooler air to replace the hot air you're trying to vent out.


Can I build a mitered aluminum glass frame from glass edge banding? Can I build a more substantial window frame from ultra thin aluminum edge banding by mitering the corners and installing a super low profile corner key?

What you describe as to structure can be built if you have:

A source for the aluminum extrusion frame material. If no source you may need to design its cross section profile yourself and then finance a manufacturer to extrude the material for you.
A source for the corner brace piece. For a custom designed extrusion you would need to design around some existing corner or design and get custom corner pieces stamped out. Be prepared for a tooling charge for custom parts.
The tools needed to cut the aluminum extrusions and a press to push in the corner brackets. Depending upon the method used to retain the corner pieces you may also need  a tool to crimp or rivet the part in place.
Patience to put it together with the glass panels.

What is not at all certain is if this will provide the protection against glass breakage and shattering that you desire. Obviously the design of the frame will need a good bit of engineering modeling to fully understand the rigidity and strength of the frame to protect the glass. It is almost assured the slimmer, thinner and lower profile the frame the less protection it will offer to the glass. There will also be considerations on the type of glass used, its panel size and thickness.

Another factor that also plays into the protection level is if the frame will include a rubber or vinyl isolation strip between the frame and the glass. This alone will likely require considerable engineering work and experimentation.


What is this mysterious odor from the kitchen sink and how do I fix it? The kitchen sink in our home has recently been producing an odd aroma - depending on the day, it's a mix of boiled eggs, sulphur, brackish water, or old food.
What we have tried

garbage disposal cleaner
clorox
ajax
regular dish soap

After any of our attempts so far, the smell returns within 1-2 days - even with no dirty dishes anywhere to be seen.
What we can't do* (it's a rental home)

replace the sink
major plumbing

What can we do to address this issue?
* if it requires anything "major", it will need a maintenance request, but we're hoping to avoid that and find something simpler

you could try removing the disposal and p-trap and cleaning those out.

also, if your sink has an air gap under it, check to make sure that it's not stuck closed. if it is stuck closed, then when you sink drains, the water that's supposed to be in your p-trap is sucked out and sewer gasses can come up the sink.


Why isn't my window film insulation kit causing water damage? My understanding is that insulating inside of a window can lead to condensation problems on the outside (see answer to this question). I have been using insulating window film kits for a few years and have not noticed any damage like this? What are possible reasons for this? (Maybe I have simply not applied the film very well?)

Actually, that answer is talking about condensation on the inside of the window, between the glass and the fiberglass insulation.
But you didn't put up fiberglass insulation, which leaves an air gap next to the window. This is where the condensation happens.
On the other hand, you put up insulating film which sticks directly to the glass without an air gap. Thanks to the film, the inside surface doesn't get very cold so there is no (or very little) condensation.
You're fine.


Septic tank pumped 6 months ago, filter cleaned 2 weeks ago, toilet backing up again. Plumbing or septic problem? I have a septic tank that was pumped out 6 months ago.  The toilets started backing up and one was leaking from the base.  I had plumber out, they snaked line to septic tank but said the tank needed to be pumped.  Septic company looked at it, said it did not that, contents were clean water, that filter was just clogged.  They cleaned filter, snaked line again.  Two weeks later the toilet is backing up again and only drains slowly or possibly with help from plunger.  Is this a septic problem or a plumbing problem?  What is the next step to trying to fix it?

With a freshly pumped tank and cleaned filter your next possibility is a flooded drain field
OR
a broken /collapsed or line full of tree roots on the line out of the tank to the field.
I have seen broken lines several times after heavy rains that may have slightly lifted plastic tanks (I have never seen this with a concrete tank).
I would be looking for water to be bubbling if a break, at the break or collapsed line.
If the line is blocked or field flooded the water will make it out to the surface at the tank in most cases where the tank was opened.
If the house is not elevated much (slab) a slow drain field can cause this after heavy rains. I would not expect a 10 year old field to be plugged unless a garbage disposal was used then quite possibly the field could be plugged up.
Standing water at the drain field location may explain your problem if recent heavy rains and after a few days to dry out the ground won’t be saturated and the system will start working again.
Trees in the area could be blocking the flow I have seen willows almost 100’ away plug a drain field the willow was large. Also cottonwood within 50’ and many other trees and bushes closer cause drain field problems. Digging down is sometimes the only way to find the problem if no water is bubbling up.


Dryer Thermal Fuse Keeps Blowing I have a Samsung DV42H5000ew and the thermal fuse (DC96-00887A) on the heating element housing has blown twice, most recently one a day after it was replaced.
After it blew the first time, I replaced the high limit thermostat (DC47-00018A) as well as the heating element (DC47-00019A).
Since it has blown again, I have tested the thermistor (DC32-00007A) and got 9.16 ohms.  My understanding that 10-11 ohms is normal - is my reading too low to the point that the thermistor is not regulating heat properly?
I tested the thermal fuse (DC47-00016A) on the blower (next to the thermistor) and it has continuity.
The vent and blower are extremely clean, figured I'd find some lint but did not.  I have great air flow at the vent cap.
I did discover that the dryer cord was incorrectly wired so far as the ground jump wire from the dryer was wired to the ground of the cord instead of the neutral terminal.  I have corrected this mis-wire - is it possible that, after 5 years of normal operation, this wiring issue caused problems that led to the thermal fuse on the heating element housing blowing?
At this point, I can't think of anything else that could be causing the dryer to overheat and blow the fuse.  Any suggestions on what else to check?

The dryer has 2 thermistors, one near the heater element. One failure mode, if you have bad seals (they do wear out with age) on the blower or filter cover, such that colder air is sucked into the system, giving that thermistor a lower reading than actual, the control system will keep adding heat to bring up the temp. But, actual temp get hotter and blows the thermal fuse. Replace or repair blower and dryer filter cover seals.


Do I need a pump for my water heater discharge pipe? I was wondering do I need a special upflow pump for the hot water discharge on my water heater. I have a finished basement and want to set it up so if the heater blows off it will pump outside. My concern is, do I need a special upflow pump to handle the hot water. Thanks

If the safety valve blows off due to over pressure and to a greater degree from overheating the discharge from that safety valve is usually  quick and violent. I hope that the pump and reservoir is of adequate size to hold a large amount of water and steam/water vapor. A special pump for this event is not necessary, just make sure it has a large pumping capacity.


Possible to convert spa pump motor to bench mounted grinder? I just added the pictures. I would like to know if it's possible to convert a motor that came out of a spa (magnetek brand) into a bench grinder.

The plug has 2 round poles, with a rectangle pole between them. They are arranged diagonally across a rectangle plug-head.

There is a wiring diagram that shows it can be set up for "high voltage" and "low voltage". I have not taken any covers off to see how it's currently configured. I'm in the U.S. and would want it to run on household current. (some call it 110v some call it 120v)

I did finally see the Amperage, and it's 16.0 or 8.0

A spa pump motor is usually what's called a "C face" design, meaning that the motor mounts directly to the pump, which is what mounts to the spa. When you take it off of the pump, you have no mounting feet, so no way to hold it to your bench. So yes, you can use a spa pump motor for other things, but it will require some substantial mechanical engineering to make it into a grinder. Also, a typical grinder has a shaft on both ends, a pump motor has only one.

From an electrical standpoint, you need to read the nameplate of the motor to know what it requires and if it is adaptable to 120V household current. They often are, but then the next issue might be how MUCH current it will pull. The practical limit for a typical 120V outlet in a residence is 12A (80% of 15A), which means the motor must be 1/2HP or less. Many spa motors are 3/4HP or 1HP, so you would not be able to legally connect that to a standard 120V 15A receptacle.


Can I upgrade to a dimmer switch in my bathroom without using the ground conductor? I'm installing a dimmer (and thus replacing the left switch in my bathroom) and from the four wall wires only the white and red attach to the left (light) switch and the bare wire (I'm assuming the ground) attaches to the right switch. They seem to operate independently as I can turn on the lights and/or the fan. The dimmer has a green ground wire that they say to attach to the ground however I do not have access to this wire as it is attached to the right switch.

Am I safe installing the dimmer using only the two wires that are attached to the left switch and leaving the ground unattached?

Left Switch Connection (red and white wires)

Right Switch Connection (bare and black wires)

The ground, presuming it is actually electrically the grounding conductor and not being misused (illegally) as a neutral, should be pigtailed and connected to both switches.

However: it is difficult to see what the actual connections on the second switch (black/bare) are. If it is a functioning switch and only has the black and bare wires connected to it, then the bare wire must be a live wire in the switch loop. If this is true, then it is both illegal and dangerous to humans and must be fixed.

The fix depends on what is really going on in this box, which is still difficult to tell from the pictures.

You could, for instance, have a single circuit supplying switch loop current on one wire and feeding two different loads through the other two wires. This would be fine. You would just pigtail the incoming live wire to both switches, and pigtail the ground to both switches and to the box.

There are too many unknowns and we really do need to see better pictures of the switches, and pictures of the wiring on the other end (in the ceiling box[es]).


Upright Freezer won’t come back on once it shuts off Replaced controller and capacitor on compressor, still won’t cycle on. Banged on door slightly and it came on. Does this every time it goes off. Any ideas on what I should check?

The door switch probably has a problem. That switch not only controls the light, it is also used to turn off the fans and compressor if the door is open. If you banged it and it worked again, there is a wire or connection to it that is loose, or the contacts of the switch have corroded.


How to cut Patio Pavers I would like to lay patio pavers for a patio in a diagonal fashion.  I would like to know what kind of tool I should use to cut the pavers in half.  They are about 2" thick, and I'd like to not use the Hammer and Chisel approach so I can get clean edges.  Is there a particular kind of blade I can put in a circular saw to do this job?  Since this patio is going to be over 200 square feet, I would be willing to purchase a new tool if needed to save me time on this task.

You could probably rent a saw like this from your local hardware store.

They will usually have a diamond tipped masonry blade. You'll also want to make sure it's a wet saw or you keep the stones wet as you cut, as the dust from cutting concrete can make a real mess and be harmful to your health.

You may also be able to find a splitter like this.

The splitters produce far less dust and noise, and can usually be found cheaper than a saw (I found a couple on-line for a few hundred dollars).  However, splitters may not produce a perfectly clean cut. Splitters also come in pneumatic and hydraulic varieties, purchasing those might be out of the budget ($1000.00 and up) but might be available for rent at a reasonable price.


Wiring ceiling rose with single pole switch isn't working The ceiling rose has usual configuration i.e two connectors for lamp(+ve) and switch, three connectors for live and three for negative and lamp(-ve). There is a separate connector for earth.

The light switch is fed by two red wires and earths and connects to ceiling rose via one red wire plus earth.
It used to work then failed. I checked the bulbs and thought I had solved it as one of the switch (red) wires had come loose. Reconnecting did not help.
There is 250 volts* ac at the ceiling rose. I have not come across any similar wiring. All other lamps are wired differently.
*UK

Problem solved. The light switch in question was linked to the "live " in an adjacent room switch(i.e two reds on one switch). This had become detached and when reconnected both light switches worked. An odd way of making a ceiling light connection.


Which terminal should I connect it to for a “C” wire on an american standard AM4A0A30 I'm trying to connect a 3rd gen Nest thermostat. I have a 2 zoned heat and 1 zone AC. The zone with this thermostat has a boiler wired Rw, W1 and HVAC wired Rc, G, Y1. It's summer so I'm only using the AC currently, but the thermostat seems to be drawing power from my 2 zone relay attached to my boiler even when the heat isn't on. It keeps triggering it on and off constantly. I called NEST support and they said I need a C wire that needs to come from the HVAC not the boiler.

I'm looking at the wiring for the HVAC and I'm not sure terminal to attach the common wire to.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

to answer the question you asked. The "B" terminal is your common. You will definitely need to pull more wires. And YES you need a common for the nest to work.
 To make your life much simpler, you can add a FAST-STAT Common Maker Thermostat Wire Extender (Adds a Common "C" Connection). hope this helps


In which direction do I unscrew this utility sink faucet to replace the washers? This utility sink has a slow drip from the end of the spout. This should be easily fixed by replacing the rubber washers in the levers, however the phillips screws, shown further below, seem very tight.
Would both screws loosen counter-clockwise, or would they be opposite? I was thinking of using a manual impact wrench (the kind you actually hit with a hammer) but I didn't want to break it in the wrong direction.

Update: I've removed the phillips screws, but now the part under the handle that I need to remove, indicated by the red arrow below (what's the name?) seems very stuck. Are these also both loosened counter-clockwise?

Bonus question: Sometimes the faucet leaks near the base of the spout (see red arrow below). Is that also fixed with a rubber seal replacement? Is that done by turning the hex ring near the arrow counter-clockwise? It's not easy to get a tool around it!

Both of those screws loosen counterclockwise. Spray some WD-40 on them and let it soak in for a bit.  There is a washer or "o" ring at the base of the spout or in the base of the valve. hit that big nut with some WD-40 and turn it counterclockwise too loosen. you might have to loosen the supply nuts to get an adjustable wrench in there, a pair of Channellocks would just eat the nut up.


What is the cause of this short in the outlet receptacle? My dishwasher was plugged into this socket, and then this happened, tripping the circuit breaker.

So I assume there was a short in the outlet, but how could that have happened?  I replaced the outlet and plugged the dishwasher back in, and all seems to be working well.
There was no sign of water in or near the receptacle, and I can't imagine a piece of metal or wire somehow got into the wrong place.  I'm now concerned it might happen again, but I have no idea where to check.

The most likely explanation is that the screws were loose causing a poor connection, and arcing under load - evidenced by the fact that the base material has gone brown where it's been hot over a long period.
What happens in this case is that the contact surfaces slowly carbonize (so become higher resistance, and get hotter), and it gets progressively worse
You can see that the right-hand screw-terminal has actually moved because the plastic melted. I assume that it moved enough for the contacts inside to either come into contact or arc between themselves, and that's what tripped your breaker.
It's unlikely this will repeat itself, provided the new outlet has been wired correctly, but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on it for a few weeks, just to be sure. Also, as mentioned in the comments above, check the plug and replace if there's any evidence of damage.


Toilet keeps running! If I leave the refill hose in the Overflow tube it keeps running.  But if I just put the refill hose in the tank it fills to the place I have it set at and stops.  Is this a problem.  The guy at Home Depot says yes but he told me to just replace the toilet.  Really I said.  It is not the trap because why would it fill at all if it was that.  I think it is something in the overflow tube.  But do I have to change it.

If the refill hose is placed into the overflow tube (as opposed to clipped above it, as it should be), it could cause a siphon issue resulting in a continuous lowering of the tank water level.

This would normally cause the toilet fill valve to cycle on intermittently (to fill the tank when the level drops low enough to actuate the fill valve float mechanism), as opposed to continuously (you wrote "keeps running"). However, the "running" noise you are hearing might be the sound of the siphoning process itself. video explanation

This phenomenon is well known and can happen with most any fill valve (I won't say all because I just don't know). Your fill valve should have been equipped with a clip or tube guide to hold the refill hose above the overflow tube or to hold it just inside but not lower than the tank water level.


Patch for Tile Sealant Coat I have a problem with the tiles around the tub in my ~1910 residential apartment building in Washington DC.

At some point the existing tile was coated in some sort of sealant layer, which has developed a hole (approx. 3" x 3") as shown in the picture. Ideally I would like to patch the hole somehow, but I am open to any suggestions about the best way to proceed.

Here is some additional information:

The tile underneath the hole is cracked. However, I have been told that the tiles are set in concrete and extremely difficult to remove. I am open to solutions that involve removing and replacing the old tile, or leaving it in place beneath a patch.
The hole is currently covered in packing tape, which can also be seen in the picture.
Color match is a secondary concern to water-tightness.
We intend to remove and replace the caulk around the tub at the same time.

Please let me know if you have any other questions that might help.

You'll find out when all those pieces fall out while you're puling the old caulk out.

Judging by the crack, the wall behind there is shot, so there'll be nothing to attach a new tile to. This is a can of worms you'd better be ready to tackle if you do anything.


Is this bulge in my ceiling due to a roof leak? If the roof had a unknown leak would I notice it, and how? Would it cause damage to the ceiling, and would I easily see water dripping?
My concern is this bulge in my ceiling:

Based on the picture that was posted in a comment (then added to the original question). It looks like this was a poorly done patch.
At some point in the past, someone had to remove a portion of the ceiling drywall. Possibly to repair a leaking pipe, to repair a water leak from outside, or some other reason. When the person (a lazy contractor, or a previous home owner) went to replace the drywall on the ceiling, he either:

didn't have the correct thickness of drywall to match what was already on the ceiling so installed a thicker piece that he had on hand
didn't attach the correct thickness of drywall well enough, and one end has begun to sag

This just looks like a poor repair job, not a current leaking spot. However, it's possible that if there was a leak here before, that the spot (whether plumbing above, or something coming in from outside) is leaking again, and it bears keeping an eye on it.
Whether one would "notice drops on an iPad" seems to be quite irrelevant to the question. Look for additional signs of water damage - additional sagging, damp to the touch and/or discoloration.


Unable to remove my hose pipe ( garden hose ) from the tap ( hose bib ) Attachment for hose pipe ( garden hose ) was screwed on too tight, now I am unable to unscrew it.

I've tried using a spanner/wrench but it won't budge.

How can I remove it ?

A spanner like straight jaws will not hold a round fitting well.

You need a pipe wrench or adjustable water pipe pliers with curved jaws.

These pliers adjust to hold the fitting without two much damage and are a basic tool all home owners or some one that lives in a home should have.

Make sure you are turning the correct direction, this may sound silly but after teaching scuba I was amazed how many folks could not turn on or open a valve because they were turning the wrong direction.

To remove the hose turn the fitting counter clockwise , I used to tell my students put your thumb on the top turn right to close or tighten OR turn left to open or loosen. “Righty tighty lefty loosy.


Attaching gymastic rings / pull-up bar to the ceiling I am moving into a house, and planning to install some gym equipment in a garage. In particular, I want to add a pull up bar, made out of galvanized steel 1" pipes, and hang the gymnastic rings.

The ceilings are 11" and are dry-walled with the 1 5/8"x7" joists, spread 16" apart.

Most of the recommendations are to use eye-bolts or lag bolts. I am afraid that 1 5/8 joists are not wide/strong enough to hold the weight of the rings or the diy pull-up.

You can always run 2x4 or 2x6 across the joists over the drywall where you want to suspend rings and the pull up bar. As long as you secure the board  properly across at least 2 joists (3.5” or 4” construction screws-2 or 3 per joist) you should be good. Not the prettiest setup, but it is quite strong and easy to mount to.


Should no-frost fan always work? My no-frost fridge fan stopped working and it caused frost buildup at the back of the freezer and eventually the fridge stopped chilling the lower compartment. I assumed that the fan was broken but it turned out that there was no power at the fan socket and the fan was fine. I can't reach the back of the fan socket but I can connect the fan directly to the mains power.

Would it cause any problems? Is it supposed to work all the time (except when the door is open) or is should it only work when the compressor is working?

The fan in the fridge probably doesn't have anything to do with the frost-free features (or the compressor, for that matter). Most fridges only have chilling components in the freezer and then circulate cold air into the fridge portion with a fan, according to a thermostat in the fridge.

If your freezer is frosting up I would look at the defrost heater first. It should be located behind a panel at the back of the freezer, near the evaporator coils.

It's also possible you have a defective thermostat that is not calling for the fan to circulate air into the fridge as it should.


Is electrical tape enough to insulate contact that may be touching wall? I have a 3-contact switch like this.

As you can see, the switch doesn't have an OFF position, it diverts the current either between middle and left, or middle and right contacts.

Had to attach it to a wall lamp that didn't have a switch, by drilling a hole in the base of the lamp:

I have therefore one contact that I am not going to use and where I don't want current to flow at all. I cut it off and rolled all over the switch body in the place with 2 layers of insulating tape. The remaining 2 contacts were rolled in a layer of insulating tape as well, after connected to incoming live (middle contact) and lamp live (left contact) wires respectively.

As I drilled the hole in the base of the lamp, it turned out that the side of the switch with the spare contact may be touching the drywall a bit.

The question:  since the current is supposedly trying to go from middle contact to the spare contact when lamp is turned off -- is it liable to cause problems such as heating up its insulation or similar -- simply by being live?

I am grateful and have upvoted all the three current answers, each of which provides relevant points for me. I feel that all three taken together answer the original question practically fully, but since I can only accept one, I gather I should accept the one, which most directly addresses the original question.

You can use the other contact not the common for the hot and then there would be no connection to the other contact point when the switch is in the off position but will work just fine just switch the hot to the other contact and the load to the common and you don't even need tape on the other side.


White Rogers 9600 Thermostat-Set at 70 Deg,dropped to 62 deg-no heat-Trane XR90 gas furnace I checked the batteries on my White Rogers-9600 thermostat,which were fine.(earlier in the day-furnace ran fine)
At 12pm the thermostat dropped to 62 degrees with no heat. After kicking up the heat to 70.It worked fine till 6am.When the thermostat showed 62 degrees again,and the house was cold.I hit the reset button. Now the heat is staying at 70 ,but for how long,as only time will tell. The thermostat wasn't programmed.
Assuming the reset fixed the problem,why did l have the drop in temp w/o programming the thermostat?
[

There is default programming that somehow probably started running. Maybe somebody pressed "run schedule" or "use schedule" or "run program". If you set the t-stat to "permanent hold" and it still runs the schedule, it's probably a problem with the t-stat itself.
Found this nugget in the install manual for your t-stat. What intrigued me is the default of 62 degrees is what you were experiencing.   The times might be off, install manuals aren't always fully accurate.   EDIT:  just noticed the comment at the bottom of the snippet. 6:00 AM!  Sounds like the default program started running.


How long after applying orange oil to my Grandmother's old desk should I stain it? I have inherited my grandmother's old childhood desk. This a desk that has been heavily used its whole life. I have sanded it down, finishing with 400 grit. I used wood condition by Minwax. Then restained it, came out horrible. I sanded it all back down, again finishing with 400 grit. But during the second of sanding, I noticed just how dried out the wood was. So this time I used orange oil. Sprayed onto my clean cloth and wiped on. The wood soaked it quicker then I could wipe it on. I did a second coat 24 hrs later. This time it soaked it pretty quickly but not a quickly as before. I had treated the WHOLE desk; the under belly, inside the draws, the interior where the goes (drawer cavities). Waited a bit I then wiped it down with a clean white cloth and no oil residue is on the cloth.
My question:
How long should I wait before restaining? Or is there anything I need to do before restaining?
I have restored lots of antiques and never had such a difficult time as this desk is giving me.

From the craftsman’s blog

  A lot of folks make the mistake of sanding to either too fine of a grit or not fine enough before applying stain. Too fine and the wood won’t be able to accept the stain. Too rough and the wood will be very dark almost to the point of being black.
  So, what’s the right grit? Generally speaking, for woods like oak and pine, I don’t like to go any finer than 120-grit or any rougher than 100-grit. Stay close to that range and the wood should look great.


200amps service - ground rods instead of pipe connection I upgraded my main circuit breaker today from 150amps to 200amps.

See my previous posts here on the same project:

Is RC2040M150CH MSP upgradable to 200amps main circuit breaker
Neutral on main service breaker?

What I missed is ground wire gauge. I had and still have #6 AWG copper wire which was enough for 150amps, but not enough for 200amps. So my inspection with my town failed - inspector has pointed me to this.

My copper ground wire goes all the way through basement to opposite side of house and connects to water pipeline there. I'd like to avoid upgrading that wire that goes in many hidden places (behind dry walls in the basement etc) to #4 AWG.. what I consider doing instead:

put a couple of rods 6 feet away from each other, but close to the MSP, like on this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7FzUUqCdpI ;
upgrade to #4 AWG just the ground wire from MSP to these ground rods;
connect #6 AWG that goes all the way to the water pipe to these rods as well.

Would these be enough of grounding for 200 amps service?
If yes, could somebody please reference relevant National Electric Code articles?

I now have to redo the grounding work, and request re-inspection, but I'd
like to avoid rerunning that wire that goes around whole house to water pipeline.
Driving a couple of rods into ground seems to me a much better idea, plus connect to the existing #6 AWG ground line as I described above.

What's interesting I already have one grounding rod and it's already in connection with that existing #6 AWG copper wire.. so I'd like to add one or couple more rods there.

When I brought up this idea to the inspector, he said NEC says if house has a water pipeline, ground wire has to go there. He was kinda opposing my idea of driving rods and making additional connections there (his argument was that AWG gauge for ground rods can't be more than #6 AWG). And again that's despite that I already have a similar grounding setup with a grounding rod.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Your inspector is wrong. You can always use a larger ground.

NEC article 250.66 covers this in depth.

In fact, the code handbook (an expanded code book good with explanations of what the code is requiring) has a great exhibit 250.30 which shows connections to grounding electrode systems. 250.66.A states the connections to rod, pipe or plate electrodes is not required to be larger than #6 copper.

if your existing connection goes from the rod directly to the service panel only #6 copper is required. If the system connects to a concrete encased electrode from that point (point of connection to the concrete encased electrode) to the panel #4 copper is required to the panel, but #6 or larger from your ground rod to the panel or point of connection with a concrete encased electrode is all that is required.

I use #4 solid copper all the time as most new construction has a connection point with the foundation rebar, and then a second method (driven rod) is connected. Since I already am using #4, I run the couple of feet outside and connect the rod with a listed clamp, all on 1 piece of wire.

It is OK to go larger but not required.

This method is code-compliant for up to a 400 amp service.


Does electric wire to meter need to be in conduit? Our electric meter is on the driveway side of the house, and was struck by a car yesterday. It's just barely hanging onto the house with the screws, the wires look ok.

I've talked to an electrician, the wires on in a sheathing but not a pvc or metal conduit. The electrician recommends putting them in a pvc (light gray) conduit or could do metal for slightly more, or just reattach the box securely with no conduit added for 1/3 the price.

What does code/best practice say? Thanks!

**Updated: I had an electrician replace with metal conduit, and a new meter socket. Thanks! **

Get something installed to protect these conductors, before your car becomes permanently attached to your electrical service!

Considering that I spy an exposed SE cable below the meter pan, well in harm's way from errant cars and with only the utility's fuses protecting it from faults, I'd flag this installation as a violation of 338.12(A) point 1:

  338.12 Uses Not Permitted.

  (A) Service-Entrance Cable. Service-entrance cable (SE)
  shall not be used under the following conditions or in the
  following locations:

  (1) Where subject to physical damage unless protected in
  accordance with 230.50(B)

  (2) Underground with or without a raceway

  (3) For exterior branch circuits and feeder wiring unless
  the installation complies with the provisions of Part I of
  Article 225 and is supported in accordance with 334.30
  or is used as messenger-supported wiring as permitted
  in Part II of Article 396

and 230.50(B)(1):

  (B) All Other Service-Entrance Conductors. All other
  service-entrance conductors, other than underground service entrance conductors, shall be protected against physical damage as specified in 230.50(B)(1) or (B)(2).

  (1) Service-Entrance Cables. Service-entrance cables,
  where subject to physical damage, shall be protected by any
  of the following:

  (1) Rigid metal conduit (RMC)

  (2) Intermediate metal conduit (IMC)

  (3) Schedule 80 PVC conduit

  (4) Electrical metallic tubing (EMT)

  (5) Reinforced thermosetting resin conduit (RTRC)

  (6) Other approved means

So, you'll either need to have this service-entrance re-run with a conduit, or see if you can get your local electrical inspectors to sign off on using bollards (i.e. concrete-filled metal poles) to protect the meter pan and service cabling as Machavity suggests.  Or you could do both, if you feel like taking a belt-and-suspenders approach to keeping your electric meter from being a hit-and-run victim.


Wiring Panel for Cargo Trailer I have an empty cargo trailer I want to wire up for use at BBQ competitions.  Installing a 30 amp rv power inlet to be used at campgrounds or via my generator.  I will wire that to a panel.
Hooked up to the panel:

Roof AC
Dedicated plug for full-size fridge
LED lights & switches
3 additional outlets

My question is:  Is a 60 amp 120/240 V panel the correct size to use?  Or is a 100 amp panel ok?  I keep getting conflicting answers.
Thank You

Your panel only needs to be rated for the overcurrent protection feeding it, so it only needs to be rated for 30A, but you could use a 60A, 100A or even a 200A.


Dark Spots on Wood in Attic We were exploring the attic and found several posts with indented parts covered with some type of black substance. Anyone know what this could be. Thanks!

Pitch. Dried tree sap. That appears to be a rather large "pitch pocket", and other than the size, is perfectly normal.
The other possibility (hard to be sure from this picture) is that it's more of a "bark inclusion" where a dent/scar that had scabbed over on the face of the tree was not removed in planing.
A higher grade of carpenter would probably have tossed that board in the scrap bin, but presumably it met grade for the class of wood required and your house builder was more into budget than "nice." #2 studs can be pretty awful looking and still work.


Cleaning an R&T A1250 toilet fill valve I have a slow-filling toilet, and it looks like a common fix is to clean out the fill valve. For some types of fill valve you just push down and turn to take it apart; this one, apparently an R&T A1250 or similar, I don't know how to take apart. I'm on the verge of giving in and calling the plumber, but if one of you fine folk happen to know what to do I may try doing it myself. Here's a picture of it.

I have an R&T A1260, which looks very similar. This is how you open it up. At the bottom, you'll see a little pull tab. Pulling on it will remove a filter.

The top has a blue cap that can be lifted by the two protrusions.

There is a horizontal pin here that you can remove with a pair of needlenose pliers by simply pulling it out.

This frees up the water level adjustment arm, which you can set off to the side. Now you want to rotate the whole top part so that the groove that held the adjustment arm rotates to align with the green overflow tube, which is about 15° counterclockwise. Take a pair of standard (not needlenose) pliers and grip the two raised walls that contained the adjustment arm, push down into the shaft and turn. This unlocks the top of the mechanism so you can just remove it.

With your needlenose pliers, grab the inner plunger and lift it out.

When it stops, gently tug on it with some more force. There are some O-rings that give some resistance but you should be able to overcome it easily. This pops the whole plunger out, finally exposing the inner chamber of the shaft.

In my case, I found a piece of metal that had blocked the inlet. It's otherwise in good shape, except perhaps for the worn gasket at the bottom. Yes you could replace the whole thing, but if you have the patience to disassemble and clean it out, you could probably get a few more years of life out of it.


How does a copper water pipe disintegrate? Plumber found (what he called) a pin leak at the elbow.  It has done considerable damage.
I want to know how this happens and if more of my pipes might be affected.
NOTES:
House is 20 years old.
I don't often use the bathtub this was connected to.
Pipe has a 10' horizontal run before the elbow redirects water up.

Edit1:  Original setup with jacuzzi pump grounding.

That is corrosion due to flux residue from the soldered joints not being wiped from the outside or flushed from the inside.
There are several grades of flux and some are more aggressive than others - I use a very "soft" one for all tasks but make sure to clean both the pipe and the fitting, reserving the aggressive one for the very few joints that don't take.
Timeline is also about right - I had one go on me a few years ago. it weeped into a concrete floor for about 6 months until the evidence became visible.
Based on the evidence, there may be other joints being affected - check the ones that are visible. Note that some may have been cleaned on the outside as part of normal house cleaning, so find some under floor or behind cupboards etc to check.


New shower install slow drain? I had a pre-existing area remodeled to add a shower stall. Within a week the drain is extremely slow. Nothing has entered the new drain. It drains when I use a plunger, but continues to drain slowly right after. What could be causing this problem?

When doing the work did someone stick a rag in the drain to stop the gases from coming out? This is very common. Maybe it or a tool or debris got into the drain and stuck, maybe at the trap, maybe at a bend, and when you plunge the drain it is moved enough to drain the water but then settles back into place. Try snaking your drain to see if there is something in there


Foundation Cinderblock Chipped Repair I seem to have a fairly large chip in one of my foundation cinderblocks.

Is this type of damage repairable as a DIY project?

This doesn't look like foundation damage. This is a settling of the pathway around your house. Good news is that it doesn't look like serious problem, at least from what I can see from the picture. This issue should be fixed because it will only get worse, and then rain water will go under you foundation and that could be a problem. You should demolish pathway preferably all of it, if not than at least parts that have sunk. Then, pour some gravel and compact it. Over this layer you can pour concrete, of course use reinforcement meshes, so the new pathway wouldn't crack. Also, I like to divide these paths every 2-3 meters with a piece of wood or even better with Styrofoam which I take out after concrete has hardened. These way pathways can "breath”. I forgot to mention that it should be under slope so that water would go from the house.


What concerns should i have about moving into a 100-year-old nj farmhouse? The house was lived in and well-kept up til 5 years ago when my grandfather passed away.

There's no three-prong outlets except in the kitchen; i have a gaming pc pulling 750 watts or so, plus assorted other computers,  guitar amps, etc.

I plan to test the water, paint and dust for lead. (I've got a five-year-old.)

A recent radiator leak damaged the wall (cosmetically) and a dozen floorboards buckled, rising or sinking by an inch.

We'll be installing new smoke & carbon monoxide detectors too.

There's a well, barns in disrepair, railroad tracks, woods, rusting cars...

Anyone have any suggestions or advice? I'm mainly concerned with the safety of the house as opposed to the surrounding area (that's later!) All insights appreciated.

If it's painted and that old, there's going to be lead paint, lead window putty, etc.

You'll not "really" want to to but really should investigate the septic arrangements, and get whatever it is pumped out and inspected. Water testing should include things other than lead (with the prime one being coliform bacteria, the most basic well-water test.)

Any old house will keep you from getting bored; there's always more to fix than you have time (and usually also money) for.

You'll probably end up replacing the electric wholesale, eventually. When you do, remember to run network wiring (or better yet, conduits for network wiring, since it tends to change over time, and being able to pull it out and replace it is golden.)

Rusty cars can usually be vanished with a call to the scrapyard - you might even get $50. Unless they are something with value to a collector (even in rusty condition,) that's probably the right call.


Bowed Wall / Running Corners: Help Me Tackle Getting Studs in Plane So here is my conundrum: I'm dealing with some wavy walls in a very old home and clearly the framing is all over the place. The worst offending wall has what seems to be a pretty large almost 4' span bow in the middle of about a 10 foot wall. It's a nice outward belly U shape, maybe 1/2 to 3/4" span of a bow.
I'm looking to tile a backsplash over this and need to do something about getting this thing flattened. This obviously cannot be tiled on and is not allowing my butcher block counter to snug into place as it's rocking back and forth causing gaps between the walls at both ends.
My plan is to add a subway tile backsplash around 27" from the top of the counter and up the wall. I plan to cut and remove the sheetrock the span of the wall, above the counters, up to that 27" mark where the tile will end. - At the end of the tile run (just above the tile at 27") where the drywall will be removed and reframed, an open slab piece of shelving will be there to hide the junction, so I'm not too worried about that and have some room to hide things.
What I am trying to figure out is just what the best route would be to get these center studs trimmed and in plane with the corners. I cannot access the back wall or behind the studs as it's an exterior facing wall. So kerf cuts on the back wouldn't work. Given that theses studs are fastened to the back wall and not free standing, would the kerf cut straightening method even work here? Even if cutting kerfs in the front convex portion? I have a power planer on hand and am thinking of shaving the studs and sistering what I can on both the bowed studs and corner studs every so slightly to bring them into plane.
My concern ultimately with sistering or bringing OUT the corners  too much is that it might cause a weird transition between the above drywall and below at the junction point I mentioned, creating a lip. Is it possible to trim a chunk out of the stud, as long as it doesn't exceed a certain percentage of the stud? Maybe a half inch? And then sister two brace pieces on there?
Any thoughts here on my dilemma? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here you go. - That back wall span marked by the 4 foot level is the bow of the wall. That blue taped line up top is how high up I plan to put the subway tile backsplash. So either the middle studs need to be shaved/trimmed, or the far corner studs need to be shimmed out. I'm leaning on shaving the middle studs myself.

I'd be concerned about removing 3/4" from the studs on an exterior wall. I'd consider using 1/2" and 3/4" sheetrock or plywood to shim the sides as close as flat with the bow as possible, then use paneling, floor underlayment, or thin sheetrock over the whole wall to get a smooth surface for tiling. Since you're planning to open the wall anyway, another option could be to plane the existing sheetrock - not the studs - then sheet over it for a smooth surface.


Why are my recessed IC lights overheating? I was sitting in my new home with dimmable recessed incandescent lights when I noticed one light fixture "click" off and then 10 minutes later click back on. Then the fixture on the other side of the room did the same thing. I put my hand on the ceiling next to a fixture and sure enough it seems quite warm.

OK, so they're overheating... but why?

One bulb is a 40W A19 bulb and the other looks like a 45W R20.
The fixtures are Elite B4IC-AT-W with B401W/WH trim, which the spec sheet says "Accommodates up to 50W PAR20, R20, and A19 lamps."

Are they installed incorrectly? Should I just replace them all with LED (or CFL) bulbs and not worry about it?

The light is designed to dissipate heat through the top of the housing. If you have the ability check to make sure the top of the housing is able to get airflow.

CFL and LED lights will help your situation as they do not produce as much heat.


Why does my bath fan turn off when light switch is on and vise versa? I just put a new exhaust fan in the bathroom and connected it to existing light switch, which is connected to the bathroom light. When I turned the power back on, the bath light came on but not the fan. When I turned the switch off, the fan turned on and the light turned off.

I figured out that both the white and black on the switch coming from the light are both hot wires.

How do I connect my fan then to run from the same switch?

To simplify things, there are two ways to wire a light switch and a light:

Power=========Switch==(A)===Light

Power=========Light===(B)===Switch

(traditionally, but wiring standards have changed)

If the switch comes first, the cable coming from the switch (A) will provide switched power to whatever you want to put on it.

If the light comes first, the cable between the light and the switch (B) is called a "switch loop".  If you open up that cable, it will have a white and black conductor so it looks like hot and neutral, but it's actually playing the role of only the hot.  If you were to splice in a fan at position (B), the fan would complete the circuit, and it would run by pulling power through the light.

In most cases the light would also come on, but depending on the electrical characteristics of the light and the fan, only one of them might come on.

When the switch is turned on, it is what completes the circuit to the light, so the power no longer has a reason to run through the fan.

If the above seems true - you spliced into the cable between the light and switch - the only way to wire it correctly would be to run a cable from the light to the fan.  The switch box most likely wouldn't have a neutral, so you can't run a new cable from there.


What jig or template can I use to be able to drill in place through horizontal fence boards to be dead on holes in a steel post? Imagine that I need to drill through boards that will be set horizontally and they will need to be attached to a post like below. For simplicity I will say that the boards will sit on top of each other and will be installed from bottom to top. This is a horizontal fence

The steep post has .20" diameter holes spaced 1" from each other
As in the picture on the other side there is a piece of 2x2 that is already screwed to the post. The post will be sandwiched between the boards and the backer 2x2  (see the detailed picture, zoom in at the bottom of this post)

I think I need a jig that will consist of a piece of wood with three short #10 machine screws that will lock the jig into position, vertically and then predrilled holes in the jig, holes that I will use as guide for drilling new ones
Yesterday I tried a similar approach but with screws ...their tip is very sharp and the jig (made slightly different) had errors and I ruined a couple of boards

Here are the specs and the instructions for this type of post

Any other I idea ?

Update: here is the fence I am trying to build

Pegboard comes predrilled in a 1" grid, just like the holes on your posts. Cut a strip out of a sheet, line it up with the holes on the post, and attach a reference block to the top. Et voila, instant story board.


When replacing a circuit breaker in the service panel, how can I determine which neutral is associated with the hot wire? In my service panel I would like to upgrade two standard circuit breakers with AFCI breakers.

AFCI circuit breakers differ from standard circuit breakers in that you attach the hot an neutral to the breaker, and then attach the AFCI's coiled white wire to the neutral bus bar. With a standard circuit breaker, the hot wire is attached to the breaker, and the white wire is attached to the neutral bus bar. Here is a diagram of an AFCI breaker:

I shut down the power to the panel, remove the cover and now I need to find the neutral (white wire) associated with each circuit. I see a dozen white wires.

I know which wires are the hot wires for each circuit, but how can I determine which neutral wire is part of that same circuit? I can make some guesses based on the style and markings on the insulation.

And for the record, all of these circuits were installed by licensed electricians. And yes, they used blue wire on some circuits, which is a bit unusual but not unheard of.

Turn off all loads on the circuits in question.

Turn off the main for this panel. Possibly overcautious, but that's part of what's let me get old.

Either: short the dead circuit, or turn on an incandescent bulb on it (main off, circuit dead, still dead - just the bulb/fixture/lamp turned on.)

Pull neutrals and look for one with low resistance from the hot in question. There should be only one. Unshort the circuit or turn off the lamp and make sure the resistance changes (if nothing else is turned on, should be infinite, but if there are things that are not able to be switched off, may be non-infinite. But you should see a difference when you switch the incandescent lamp off or remove the short - it's a form of verification.

I think you have enough neutrals not to worry too much about this, but: beware of "Multi-Wire-Branch Circuits" where one neutral serves two hots.

As for the wire colors, only white and green (with or without yellow stripe) are reserved (and IIRC, you can retag white to another color, but you can't retag green - and you can't retag anything else to white.) If your wiring is run in conduit, using the full range of available colors makes figuring out (what is connected to) the hot side of circuits much, much easier. Most household wiring is not run in conduit, so it's not often seen at home.


How thick of shims can I use to bring new wood floor up to tile height? I am going to be installing hardwood flooring (Oak) on place of carpet. The wood will mate up with a schluter (sp?) strip with tile on other side.

After I remove the carpeting I see they have shims for the carpeting to match the tile height.
Is it an accepted / recommended practice to shim the wood floor to reach the height of the tile ?

Would the ~1/4" shims create any problem for the wood floor long term ?
Or should I install 1/4" plywood over entire floor to raise height?
(I'm talking about 13 sheets single layer across entire floor)

I am not a big fan of transition pieces as they create a tripping hazard, but I do recognize that to be a solution.

Either 'shim' up with subflooring that comes as thin as 1/8" or use self-leveling concrete. If you piecemeal the shimming then you're likely to get squeaks and other issues in your hardwood flooring


Could my furnace be leaking due to condensation neutralizer? I posted this and the main suspect was condensation pump but after troubleshooting, the pump is working fine (tested standalone). Now I wonder if the leak could be due to the condensation neutralizer; could that get blocked and prevent water from pumping? It that a likelihood?

More details in my the linked post if needed but basically the furnace leaks out water from top section after the pump runs.

To me it looks like the drain line is plugged causing the condensate to build up in the air handler. Once the water level is high enough it finds a way out.

You know your pump is working but now you need to make sure to clear the line from the air handler to the pump. It is quite common for dust and spores to develop blockages in the tubing and this creates the problem you have.

There is 1 more possibility that a low Freon charge could be causing the evaporator to ice up and possibly water dripping down the side wall is causing the leak but I would be clearing the drain tube (this is quite a common thing).


GFI Outlets and GFI Breakers Have a dedicated circuit for our freezer which has a GFI circuit breaker feeding a GFI outlet in our laundry room where the freezer is.  Unfortunately, the GFI Breaker trips with the slightest power interruption or power surge. This is a major problem when we are not home and the breaker trips.  Fortunately, people watching our cat have noticed the breaker tripped and reset them. I tried replacing the GFI outlet with a conventional outlet, but the GFI breaker will not reset. It immediately trips.  Re-installed the GFI outlet and freezer now running, but I need to resolve this issue to prevent losing food in the freezer if the breaker trips while we are away.

Yo Dawg

Who was the electrician? Xzibit???

Because putting a GFCI in another GFCI's protected zone is rather silly.

Speaking of silly...

Refrigerators and GFCIs

You want a refrigerator to last a long time, so they want to hermetically seal the Freon stages so the Freon doesn't leak out.  But how do you seal the piston rings of a compressor?  By putting the whole compressor inside the freon tank.  But then, how do you seal the shaft of the motor? By putting the entire motor inside there too.  So you have a steel jacketed motor swimming in Freon inside an aluminum tank, stuffed in the bottom back of a fridge that's entirely wrapped in steel and grounded.   You have no chance of touching the Freon tank, let alone the motor, and you're not likely to drop it in the sink.  Does this sound like the use-case for GFCI?  No.  No it does not.

Now, an AC induction motor is (as you might guess) a very big inductive load.  Inductors, when disconnected, must continue to flow current, and will increase voltage to infinity until they do. This plays badly with GFCIs, as you might imagine.

This is the classic "safety system versus safety system" scenario, like a low-oil-level trip on a fire pump: saves the $50,000 engine and lets the $50,000,000 warehouse burn down.  The well-meaning GFCI poisons all your food. If the trip isn't noticed by the right people, someone might just reset it and no one's the wiser.

This is a big problem that is well known to the industry.

GFCI does not belong here.  The Fridge should be removed from GFCIs entirely.  In many common freezer locations, this isn't quite legal because of a general Code requirement to have GFCI on receptacles in those rooms.  So this will require a nudge and a wink from the local inspector; or; he doesn't need to know about it.

So change the duplex GFCI receptacle for a simplex plain receptacle, and label it "Dedicated for freezer". That is making a fair effort to assure the receptacle isn't used for anything else, and that will satisfy many inspectors, who perfectly well know the problem of refrigerator GFCI trips.

You should now have a surplus GFCI receptacle and breaker.  What to do with those? Find another circuit that does not currently have GFCI protection, but could use it.

By the way, do the same thing in your kitchen. De-GFCI your fridge.


Water entering into fireplace during rain I recently observed water is coming in the fireplace during the rain. Although it is about  a drop per second or so, it is can easily fill up a small pan during a stormy and rainy day.

I don't think this is normal. I have a flue cap at the top of my chimney. Is this normal behavior?

Also what can the possible causes of it be?

It sounds like your chimney cap top might have flew off for that much water to come in.  Mine just a few months ago and I had to secure it with extra screws.  I would check that first.

If it is only coming inside the chimney it really has to be top of the cap or that you need caulking around the base of your cap.


Can range hood venting ductwork be hidden behind crown molding? Installing a range hood in older home going out the side wall.

Am I correct in thinking that the duct-work can be hidden behind the crown molding? (is realistic?)

Does the duct-work contain itself? Does duct-work leak? This is a residence with average cooking usage.

Two issues here... duct work for a range hood normally follows the same restrictions as a dryer.  The air is expected to be hot, so you need a sealed metal tube for it to flow through.  You can't use plastic or wood or any other combustible or meltable materials.  In practice, the air probably isn't much hotter than the ambient temperature of the house, but you have to build it to assume the air could be very hot.

The second issue is that the blower on a hood is not meant to deal with much pressure in the duct.  That means the duct needs to be fairly large.  A small economy vent hood might get away with a 4" round duct, but they normally use 5" or much larger for a "professional" model.  Even large crown molding would only hold a 2" pipe, and even that is a maybe.


Garage door opener stops--even when I take the chain off the gear! My garage door opener (LiftMaster 1/3 HP) stops partially through the cycle of closing the door.

I have removed the chain from the gear attached to the sprocket, and tried cycling it like that. I wanted to see how it performed with no weight to lift.

The problem persists. Even with no chain attached, the thing stops before it gets to the "bottom" position.

Also, I noticed that the stopped position of the sprocket is not all the way to the electrical contact for the "top" of the door.

So in other words, something is jamming the sprocket to only be able to move a couple feet between the full-up and full-down positions.

I just finished replacing the sprocket assembly, and this problem still persists.

What else could be causing this problem? The motor? The worm gear? (Worm gear looks fine upon visual inspection). Or is it just time to get a new opener? I believe the current opener is about 15 years old.

Garage doors have two pairs of settings:

End stops: one at the bottom and one at the top
Force limits: one for heading down, one for heading up

The first pair is obvious: you want the door to stop right when it's properly closed, and right when it's fully up; you don't want the door to stop too early. You've looked at these, and they seem to be fine.

The second pair is less so. If something blocks the door, you want the door to stop moving, rather than squish whatever is in the way. In fact, the doors I've seen, if they hit the force limit on the way down, will immediately turn around and open (so if, e.g., it closed on someone's leg, it wouldn't keep them pinned). There are force settings for both going down and going up, and must be adjusted with the door and lift springs attached.

See page 24 of this Liftmaster 1/3 HP manual (you may have an older model, but the idea's the same). My guess is that your downward force setting is too low, so that the opener thinks something is in the way and reverses.

You may also have a model with a sensor beam across the bottom of the door, to stop the door closing if there's anything in the way BEFORE it hits the object. If that sensor isn't working you might get the same symptoms.


How to remove a shelf fastener with a round head and no slot I have some shelving in my closet and it's screwed into the wall with fasteners that look like this (see image). It's a smooth circle and doesn't have any type of hole of slot on top. Is this a screw? If so, what kind of screw is this and how do i get it out? I want to take this shelving down!

That's an expanding plug anchor as is commonly supplied by closet system manufacturers. Pull the nail out by the head (a locking plier works well), then pull the plastic plug out.

Here's a representative item:

ClosetMaid has a blog post on removal.


How can I repair vinyl siding The previous owner of my house hung a hose reel with screws through vinyl siding. The reel came down and the holes are so stripped that even a sizeable lag has nothing to grip. I think I have to move a few inches to find a stud. But how can I hide the holes? I'm thinking of filling with paintable putty and touching up with paint mixed to match. Any better ideas?

Create a scrap of the existing siding from somewhere where it won't be noticed by cutting a full length section from it.  (And then buy a new piece to replace it.)

Cut out the damaged section and replace it with the "scrap" from above.

There are step-by-step instructions here and a video (skip to 0:01:00 to miss the clothing advertisement) showing the relevant skills.