How can I resolve drain issues in a home with no venting? The country house I live in was built 40+ years ago. Had septic tank replaced and a broken exit pipe repaired. Now air is trapped in the house pipes so upstairs drains into the downstairs tub and the downstairs toilet will not evacuate. Discovered there is no plumbing vent. Am thinking AAVs might help but that won't evacuate gases. Essentially I cannot use any showers, toilets or dishwasher until this is resolved. Need some suggestions.

If you were to remove a p-trap from under a sink upstairs, you'd basically be opening a vent. If you do this I doubt you'd notice any change however. You sound like you have a blockage in your drain line. Lack of a vent isn't going to force your entire drain to hold water like that, it would just prevent a full volume of drain flow from occuring. You need to snake your mainline, the line leading into your septic has a blockage somewhere. That is your actual issue.


What brand is this screw? Does anyone know what brand is this screw?
I thought it might have good performance on hard wood, and want to buy some but don't know what brand it is.
Here are the pictures of the screw.

If one does not require the center spiral section, I think you'll find a match with a round washer (truss head) multipurpose torx screw:


light turns on when window ac unit is on Why does the light in the same room as my window air conditioner unit dim ON when the air conditioner unit is on? this happens when the light switch is on the OFF position and only happens on one outlet in the room... the light is an led and dims very little. also the light is not on a dimmer.

Call a trained electrician and get them to take a look at it.

Electricity is dangerous, and it sounds like you've got mains voltage leaking between at least two circuits - and it's entirely possible that things like the wall or floor of that room are currently electrified, depending on how the leakage is occurring. Trying to fix it without formal training could potentially get you killed or your house burned down - and is potentially illegal, depending on where you are located. I can say with a certainty that it's definitely legal in Australia, at the very least.


Pneumatic Vs Mechanical Rotary Hammer I was told by some people from the store that there exists 2 types of percussion types regarding the rotary hammer drill: the pneumatic percussion and the mechanical percussion. I need a confirmation if this is true or not ?
The second question is: What is the difference between a rotary hammer that has a pneumatic percussion system and a rotary hammer that uses a mechanical percussion system ?
The 3rd question is: how can I identify (if the manual does not specify) which is pneumatic and which is mechanical ?

I think the first step is to clear up the terms you are using.  There are "rotary hammers" and there are "hammer drills".  You are combining the two, causing some confusion.

In general, if a product is called a hammer drill, it will have (to simplify) a pair of ridged disks inside it that rub together and cause the bit to move in and out a little when the drill rotates.   This hammer drill will have a high "beats per minute" and has a characteristic sound almost like slowly rubbing a coarse file with a nail.

A rotary hammer is normally larger and the in and out motion of the bit is performed by a pneumatic piston.  They are more powerful and also absorb shock more for the user so can be used for longer periods.  They also will typically have the ability to use the hammer without the bit rotating (which is not possible on a hammer drill).

So to answer your last question, if it is called a hammer drill, it uses mechanical percussion, and if it's called a rotary hammer it uses a piston.  I guess a manufacturer could use the wrong term and at that point you would need to look at the manual or a parts diagram. This article from Popular Mechanics actually mentions a drill that is marketed as a hammer drill but is designed like a rotary hammer (the Rockwell).


What grease should I use for an aftermarket cylinder valve (Moen) We've a Moen faucet for the kitchen sink. Years, maybe decades old. The faucet was dripping last year so I replaced the cylinder with a Moen cylinder. Solved the leak but the handle would not stay up in the on position.  Returned the Moen cylinder.  Bought an aftermarket cylinder from Home Depot.  Handle stayed up.  Now, a year later, the faucet is very very difficult to turn on, as if the cyclinder needs to be re-greased.

What type of grease is compatible?

EDITs:

1) the cylinder looks like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/100051867

2) found a possible duplicate:
What can I use to lubricate a new kitchen faucet no longer turns?

Any "Plumber's Grease" will lubricate the moving parts. Plumber's Grease is silicone based so it wont dissolve in water and it is viscous enough that it will remain were it is applied.


C wire Hooked to Compressor but terminated at Thermostat I'm looking to install a thermostat that requires a "C" wire. See the picture below of the terminal inside the furnace one of the blue wires appears to go to the cable that goes outside to the compressor.   The other blue wire goes to the thermostat wire for the thermostat and is not connected to the thermostat.   Is there any issue using that C wire for a new thermostat that requires one?  Any precautions for installation and instructions other than turning the power off to the furnace would be appreciated.

Go ahead and use it

The fact that there is a C wire going out to the air conditioning compressor is normal where air conditioning is installed.  In fact, in systems with air conditioning where the C wire isn't clearly labeled, tracing the wires out to the compressor is a good way to find where to connect a C wire to.

So, go ahead and hook your blue C wire up to your new thermostat -- there is nothing else you need to do to have a functioning C wire.


Old vinyl flooring stuck to tile Many years ago, I placed vinyl sheet flooring over the tile floor of our bathroom without using adhesive.  I simply caulked all the way around the edge. Over time, water got under it and I noticed mildew in one of the corners that was lifting up.  When I attempted to remove the vinyl flooring, the backing apparently is now stuck to the tile and hardened along with the mildew. It is extremely difficult and tedious to try to scrape it off the tiles. Is there a solvent I can use to make the job easier?

I'm picturing a felt or paper backing that has been partially dissolved and then dried out. It's probably not much different from what happens when you accidentally lay a magazine in a bit of water on your countertop at breakfast and return after work to find it glued down solid. The binders in the paper dissolve and create a weak glue.

You haven't mentioned what you've tried, but I'd start with a simple dishsoap solution. Water caused the adhesion, and water may remove it as well. A bit of soap won't hurt.

Otherwise, I'd look at something fairly mild like wallpaper paste remover first. Harsher products are likely to damage wall finishes and grout. You could also create your own solution of white vinegar and/or lemon juice. More on that.


Mount Heavy TV onto re-patched drywall My contractor just installed our new 65 inch TV into our wall. The problem is it's about one inch too high. There are now 9 holes drilled into the wall, and only 2 holes is into wood. The rest is with plastic anchors into drywall. Would it be safe to remove these screws, patch the holes with wood filler, and remount the TV one inch below? The TV weighs 65 pounds and uses Samsung's no gap wall mount.

Yes you should be able to move it. If the screw pattern is regular you may be able to get away with a few extra holes and be able to reuse some of the original holes.

One warning - Do not use wood filler to patch holes. It will not adhere correctly to drywall and not look good. Use a premixed joint compound if you want ease of use. For example: this one

Use a suitable drywall anchor for the screws. Here is one that can hang 75lb each. Home Depot


While building a bed frame, at what point should I start worring about cross beams? So, I've made this bedframe that's rather tall, the frame is 32" off the ground, and the legs are each bolted on with two 3/8" bolts running perpendicular, and horizontally.

Having not actually used it yet, it feels very stable, but for safety I'm considering some sort of lateral support. Not actually being a structural engineer, I'm not sure if that's overkill so long as everything else is pretty stable, or if it's a better safe than sorry thing.

Any thoughts/experience is appreciated.

Click for full size

Lateral support is probably very important. Over time your bolts will not grip as strongly, and the legs will start to wiggle. Bracing the legs to each other or to the top of the bed will counter this rotational tendency. You'll need to fasten each leg at two points to make this work right, so you might consider the following options for securing each leg to the adjacent legs:

Strapping a wide (probably 6+ inches) board across two legs, fastening at the four corners, or
Trusses, fasten the bottom of the left leg and the bottom of the right leg to the same point on the lintel, or
an X shape between each pair of legs, with a fastener in the center.

As this is a bed and will be subject to... ahem... use, you'll probably want some sort of bracing.


White spirit and wire wool to remove paint traces from wood I've been stripping paint from some softwood beams using both stripper and a heat gun (very stubborn patches and I have no idea what the paint type is - we've only owned the house for a few months). I'm left with beams that have all the main paint off them but because they are rough softwood there are plenty of flecks left behind, which hopefully you can see in the attached picture, although my phone camera is pretty rubbish. I don't want to sand the beams since they have a dark stain on them which we would like to keep ideally (matches other beams) and also getting a sander into the angles is impossible.

I've been told at some point that white spirit and wire wool is the way to get rid of a fair amount of the residue (maybe not all but that's OK), however I'm now having doubts as I've heard this leaves an oily residue and we may want to wax or oil or otherwise treat the beams with something like Osmo Wood Wax.

Will white spirit be OK, or should it be avoided, and if so, what other strategies are available to me beyond sanding?

My personal suggestion is a wire wheel or nylox brush on a drill or similar. It seems to me the bristles might work some of this out where sandpaper attacks the highest points. Bristles tend to flex and work into lower points almost equally with high points.


Water damage to cabinet baseboard I recently had a situation where my fridge leaked water over a period of 2 years. I found it was a cracked pan and this is how the house was sold. In any case I didn't know it was affecting the base of the cabinet or toe kick adjacent cabinet and front facing toe kick. After much headache the hardie backer was removed. There was water damage on sub floor but a good sanding took care of this. The plywood toe kick a long with the oak veneer toe kick was removed and replaced. The tile is now set in. In preparing for the delivery of my new fridge I noticed a black discoloration on the toe kick located on the inside area of the oven space. The other side of this wall is a shower with fiberglass wall. There are no signs of water damage on the wall or inside cabinet. No damage that the floor guy can remember. Is the black discoloration on the particle board normal. There is no kitchen water source close by and the fridge was far enough.

It's hard to tell what that is but I would not worry too much. If it was from a water leak I would think that you would see discoloration down along the bottom, along with actual swelling of the particle board. That, along with your statement that there are no other signs or symptoms, make me think that could be a dirty smudge left by the hand of a carpenter, painter, installer, etc.


Adding new lights to a switch I have a single light controlled by a switch in my garage.  It's really pathetic, so I decided to add some shop lights to the same switch.

Upon opening up the light wiring box, I found not 1 but 4 sets of wires coming in.  And I was adding a fifth!  Turns out this circuit continues to various other parts of the house.

Anyway, I added the new 14GA set, and wired up a new outlet to plug my shop lights into.  Plugged them in, and presto!  On they turn.  Success!

Except when I turned the switch off, the old light turned off, but the new shop lights did not.

The current wiring setup is there are 5 sets of ground, all together and connected to the ground screw; 4 sets of black all together with one white; one black going to the light; the remaining white all together, with a patch wire coming from them and going to the light.

I'm somewhat handy with the electricals (at least that's what my electrician said!) - I just can't figure out what I did wrong.

It sounds like the switch is at the end of the electrical run; the white wire that's connected to the black wires is carrying current to the switch, then the black wire coming back from the switch is connected to the light:

You need to connect the black wire for the new outlet to the black wire going to the light, not the cluster of other black wires; all the neutrals and grounds should be OK as they are.

While you've got the electrical box open, does the white wire connected to the black wires have black electrical tape wrapped around it?  If not, it should; this will indicate that it can carry live.


How do I increase the water pressure in my shower in spite of water-saving hardware? I recently rented a new apartment that has water-saving hardware in the bathroom. My bath pressure is decent, but my shower water pressure is barely a trickle. How do I increase the water pressure and flow, i.e. the force and amount of water?

If Jeff's suggestions don't fix the problem, it could simply be that the water-saving showerhead doesn't allow the pressure / flow rate you want. This was the case in all of the apartments I lived in; I went to Home Depot and bought a decent new showerhead for $30, and moved it with me from apartment to apartment. Each time I moved out I simply put the original one back on.

They aren't difficult to replace; all you need is:

A pair of pliers large enough to grasp the collar (tongue-and-groove pliers work best)
A rag to wrap around the collar, to prevent damage from the pliers
A small amount of Teflon pipe thread tape

Take the old one off and clean the threads of any old sealant or Teflon tape. Apply 2-3 wraps of new Teflon tape in a clockwise direction - direction of wrap is important so that when you thread on the shower head, you're going in the same direction as the wrap and not unraveling it as you tighten. Thread on the new showerhead until snug and check for leaks.


How to get dried paint out of washing machine? I'm trying to clean latex paint out of a front end loader washing machine. It was a towel that was soaked in paint. Chalk paint! It was thrown in my front end loader and I’ve been trying for 2 days to get it out. Still some sticky, and some very stuck. I’ve tried vinegar, baking soda, bleach etc.

I would try a latex paint remover if you don’t want to try that let it cure once it cures it may chip off a little at a time my wife sprays my paint clothes with a latex paint remover and washes them .


Running both a 120v and 240v extension cord in generator simultaneously Can I plug both the 120v and 240v extension cords into my champion 9000w generator?

Yes and no. It not as simple as keeping the wattage under the maximum value.
The load needs to also be balanced if you have 120v devices the load needs to be on both legs equally or close.  220/240v loads are usually balanced but not always. (A dryer is a example of an unbalanced 240 load).
1 120v leg you can normally pull 2400w beyond this will probably trip the protective circuits. (For the single 120v outlets)  splitting the and putting the load evenly on each leg it will work so to not overload the generator.
you may be able put ~6000 w on the 220/240 but then it depends how the 120v circuits are loaded 1500w on each leg will work but a large imbalance will overload the generator even if the total is less than the generator rating.
I mention the loading because years back a man set up his own system on the first power outage he kept tripping the generator over temp safeties (ruined the generator) they would not warranty it and called it abuse, I was referred to set up the new one.
His problem 80/30 he had 30% on the 240 load then 50% on L1 leg nothing on L2 even though he had less than the total load it was so heavily imbalanced it smoked the coils from being reset.
I went out and he was really upset he had done an excellent job setting it up but did not understand balancing and the inspector did not check it when he signed off the job.
I moved 3 circuits over to the other side and then asked him what he would add if he had power.  I added 4 more circuits and his total was still well under the rating but well balanced.
I explained how to check the loads with the meter on the generator and to make sure L1 was close to L2 and he would be fine with 1-2 below the max but the large imbalance and resetting was what damaged the original generator.
He did not believe me and turned off his main and ran the generator for close to 250 gallons of propane without a problem.
So as the question is asked yes or no can be the correct answer depending on balancing of the 120v loads.


Why is it so cold downstairs? My house has a concrete slab foundation and the floor in the kitchen and living room is all tile. It is always freezing downstairs in the winter and I'm wondering if this is due to the floor or maybe there isn't proper insulation in the walls. Upstairs it gets hot because the hot air from the heater rises up. So while it is 72 degrees downstairs it feels cold but upstairs it is hot.

The living room and kitchen are small and they are the only rooms downstairs, next to the built in garage. I'm tired of wearing coats and hats downstairs simply because we can't afford to have the heater on so high all throughout winter. How can I fix this??

Sounds like your concrete slab is un-insulated around the perimeter and/or the bottom. The very conductive flooring material (tile) doesn't help; the combination of these two means that the floor has very little thermal resistance to heat flow, so you constantly lose heat through the slab.

If the heat you generate is quickly rising through the second floor, it sounds like you have a secondary problem of too little attic insulation, which is causing the rising heat to rise right through the attic rather than get stuck at the second floor ceiling due to all the insulation that should be there.

The second problem is easy to fix: go up into the attic and air-seal all the places on the attic floor that are open to the living space using caulk and canned spray foam, and then blow 15" or more of cellulose onto the floor, covering up any existing insulation up there.

The problem with the slab is harder to fix.  If you have bare dirt around your house rather than a concrete walkway, you can dig a trench around it to expose the perimeter and add rigid EPS or XPS foam insulation panels (not polyiso, it absorbs water). If you do this, take the time to add perimeter drains too; there'll never be a better time.

If that's not an option, and I assume you'd like to keep the tile flooring, you can always cover it up with rugs. It's surprisingly effective. Russians love their rugs.

Finally, it sounds like you have a poorly-designed heating system. Even in a badly-insulated house, heat isn't supposed to pool in the second floor like that. Old houses with ducted furnaces but lacking much insulation commonly had all the returns on the first floor to encourage air mixing. But without more details about your heating system, it's hard to say more.


Shorted a wire and now no outlets work I turned off the wrong circuit breaker by mistake and when I cut a wire thinking it was dead there was a large spark.  I went to the circuit breaker box and the circuit breaker did not look as though it had been thrown.  I flipped it anyway and then noticed I was no longer getting power to my kitchen outlets.  I am getting power all the way to my attic 1300 box but the last run of wire to my kitchen outlets no longer seems to carry juice.  How do I diagnose this problem.  It seems certain that the cause was the short but once I flipped the circuit breaker power should have been restored.

Are any of the receptacles ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI)? It sounds like you might have tripped a GFCI with multiple receptacles connected to it. Pushing reset should fix the problem.


Proper way to wire 4 light switches I have a two switch box with a single light on one switch and a ceiling fan and two separate lights on the second switch. There are 5 sets of wires coming into the box with one being the main feed. I want to separate the fan and two lights onto their own switch each... The way it is currently wired is a little confusing. All white wires are twist cap together as well as all the grounds.  The black wires are what is confusing... there is black coming into the bottom and top of each switch. Can anyone provide a diagram of what the wiring should look like for the four switch configuration?

All white wires are twist cap together as well as all the grounds.
This is normal.

The black wires are easy the first is the main feed - you will need to feed a black wire from each Switch Line In to the next Switch Line In [Also referred to as Daisy Chaining].

The below is an example - the order of what is a light and what is a fan does not matter.


Fittings for conduit passing through ceiling/floor A follow up to this question: Running Coax cable to the upper floor

If I cut a hole in the ceiling of my dining room and then another in the floor so I can run a conduit from the upstairs all the way to the basement, what should I use to secure the top and bottom of the conduit so it doesn't just fall through to the basement!

I need some kind of clamp (or maybe a bushing?) that will secure the conduit at the top (either on the ceiling of the dining room or the floor of the attic) and then again either at the floor of the dining room or the ceiling of the basement. I know I can clamp it to the wall (assuming I can find the stud), but it still seems like I should secure the top and bottom or else it could slide vertically out.

Depending on the type of conduit used, the codes for securing and supporting it are a bit different.  In general, the conduit will have to be supported every 3-10 ft, depending on the type and size conduit used.
Fireblocking between floor may also be required.

International Residential Code 2012
Chapter 3 Building Planning
Section 302 Fire Resistant Construction
R302.11 Fireblocking. In combustible construction, fireblocking shall be provided to cut off all concealed draft openings (both vertical and horizontal) and to form an effective fire barrier between stories, and between a top story and the roof space.
Fireblocking shall be provided in wood-frame construction in the following locations:
4. At openings around vents, pipes, ducts, cables and wires at ceiling and floor level, with an approved material to resist the free passage of flame and products of combustion. The material filling this annular space shall not be required to meet the ASTM E 136 requirements


What should I do with the grounding wire when connecting an ungrounded light fixture? I have an extension cord with a grounding wire in it.  I have cut off the female end and want to wire it to a light socket that will have an LED fixture screwed into it.  This is for a garage workshop LED light.  If the light socket doesn't have a grounding screw, what do I do with the grounding wire from the extension cord? I was going to put a wire nut on it, however I don't think it will fit inside the light socket enclosure.

Any alternatives?

You do nothing with it.

What you're doing violates electrical code and invalidates the UL listing of the components. However, most light fixtures don't require ground wires because they're "double insulated", so you'll just tuck it away or cut it short.


Is there a high temperature glue that I can use on a cook top? We have a 1 year old Frigidaire gas range (This model or a near sibling, purchased from Lowes).  The burner grates appear to be painted cast-iron, while the surface below them is a polished and painted metal of some sort.  To protect the lower surface from damage, the grates have several tiny feet.  I'm not sure if the feet are rubber or plastic; they have a texture which is kinda half-way between.

One of these feet has now fallen out.  It has a quarter-inch diameter rod piece, which fits into a hole in the cast-iron.  It doesn't look like anything broke (no residue from tabs on the back end of the foot) but it now freely comes out and won't stay.  So, I'm looking for ways to re-attach the foot.  I'm thinking maybe some form of high-heat industrial glue, which will bond to cast-iron and plastic.  Food safe would probably be a plus; not that it's in contact with food but if the glue gave off fumes when exposed to heat that would be bad.  Are there any glues which meet all these requirements?

UPDATE

I finally managed to talk to Frigidaire about this, and thought I'd update with the info they gave me in case anyone wants it in the future.

They do sell an adhesive for this; it's terribly expensive.  Also, these rubber feet things are not covered by warranty, which may explain why not many other people discuss this; it's a part that's expected to fail, and people just ignore it.  Personally, I kinda like my stove top level and un-scratched.

Similar to @Steven, they recommended a high-heat glue.  When I asked about heat requirements, they suggested shopping in automotive supply stores for glues suitable for car engines.  So I'm off to see how those compare.

A silicon based glue should be able to withstand these temperatures. Makes sure to verify the max temp on the package. Silicon glue


How to 'warm up' LED output color without changing the bulbs I tried to ask this question before, but I don't think I was clear. I replaced my recessed lighting with recessed dimmable LED fixtures.  The bulbs are contained in the fixture, and I don't believe they can be changed. Perhaps I'm wrong about that. They are from Commercial Electric, Model T61.  They are 6" recessed LED swivel fixtures and I really don't think there's any way to change the bulbs inside. If I'm wrong and you know a way to change them, I'd so appreciate it.  They are labeled "soft white", but they are bright and harsh.  They are dimmable, but even at the lowest setting they are pretty bright. So are there photo gels or some other way to "warm up" the lighting to more closely match my old halogens which were just beautiful.

If you look at, e.g., this Amazon page and scroll down to "similar units," you'll see a variety of similar fixtures which are color-temperature rated. (The lower the temperature, the redder the output color balance).  I rather doubt you can easily swap out the LED in the fixture you bought, and it's certainly not worth the money you (probably won't) save.


Covering hot outlet and waterline Can I cover up a wall outlet and water line to an old icemaker with a drawer base cabinet? Or do I need to cut out the back of the cabinet to allow access?

You should cut out the back of the cabinet.


What amp breaker for 20 Amp electrical oven and 40 Amp electrical range on same circuit What amp breaker should I use for a 20 Amp electrical oven and a 40 Amp range?
Currently, I have a 6 gauge wire and a 50 Amp breaker, and my current electrical cooktop and electrical oven are both hooked up to this.
I want to replace my current cooktop and oven with a 40 amp electric cooktop (induction-type) and a 20 amp electric oven.
Do I need to update my 50 Amp breaker to be a 60 Amp breaker because the total of the two new appliances is 60 amps?  Would the resulting system (6 gauge wire and 60 Amp fuse) be safe for the combined cooktop and oven and within California code?
If helpful, the model and electrical specifications for the two appliances are listed below.
Frigidaire Professional 30'' Induction Cooktop

Amps @ 240 Volts: 35.0 / 35.1
Connected Load (kW Rating) @ 240V: 8.4 / 7.3
Minimum Circuit Required (Amps): 40A
Power Supply Connection Location: Right Rear
Voltage Rating: 240V / 208V, 60Hz

Frigidaire Professional 30'' Single Electric Wall Oven

Amps @ 240 Volts: 20.8 / 18.3
Connected Load (kW Rating) @ 240V: 5.0 / 3.8
Minimum Circuit Required (Amps): 20A
Power Supply Connection Location: Left Rear Bottom
Voltage Rating: 240V / 208V, 60Hz

Column C

First off you'll notice the text "Column C to be used in all cases except as otherwise permitted in Note 3.)", in the title of table 220.55. This makes it simple. You have 2 appliances, so follow that over in the table, and you'll see 11 in Column C.  So there you go, you can just use 11 kW. Done.

11,000 W / 240 V = 45.8333 A

So you'll need a 50 ampere breaker, and wire sized appropriately for the load.

Note 3

Note 3 says:

  Over 1 3⁄4 kW through 8 3⁄4 kW. In lieu of the method provided in Column C, it shall be permissible to add the nameplate ratings of all household
  cooking appliances rated more than 1 3⁄4 kW but not more than 8 3⁄4 kW and multiply the sum by the demand factors specified in Column A or
  Column B for the given number of appliances. Where the rating of cooking appliances falls under both Column A and Column B, the demand
  factors for each column shall be applied to the appliances for that column, and the results added together.

Perfect, so instead of just using the value from column C you can do math. Let's step through it.

  ...it shall be permissible to add the nameplate ratings of all household
  cooking appliances rated more than 1 3⁄4 kW but not more than 8 3⁄4 kW...

8.4 kW + 5.0 kW = 13.4 kW

  ...and multiply the sum by the demand factors specified in Column A or
  Column B for the given number of appliances...

Let's check the table again... You have 2 appliances, both between 3 1/2 and 8 3/4 kW. So You'll look at column B, and find 65%.

13.4 kW * 65% = 8.71 kW

8710 W / 240 V = 36.2916 A

So using this method you can use a 40 ampere breaker, and appropriately sized wire. However, keep in mind that if you change the equipment, you'll have to do the calculation again. So while you can use this value, you may have to upgrade the circuit later if you change equipment.

Note 4

I'm not exactly sure how note 4 comes into play, but I think it can be used if this is the only equipment on the branch circuit. Just for fun, let's run through that one too.

  Branch-Circuit Load. It shall be permissible to calculate the branch-circuit load for one range in accordance with Table 220.55. The branch-circuit
  load for one wall-mounted oven or one counter-mounted cooking unit shall be the nameplate rating of the appliance. The branch-circuit load
  for a counter-mounted cooking unit and not more than two wall-mounted ovens, all supplied from a single branch circuit and located in the same
  room, shall be calculated by adding the nameplate rating of the individual appliances and treating this total as equivalent to one range.

You're only concerned with the second half of this note, since you have one counter-mounted cooking unit, and one wall-mounted oven, all supplied by a single branch-circuit, and located in the same room. So you can add the nameplate values, and treat it as a single range.

8.4 kW + 5.0 kW = 13.4 kW

So you can treat the units as a single 13.4 kW range. Check the column C again, this time for a single range. You'll find a value of 8 kW. But wait... The column header says "(Not over 12 kW Rating)". Your range is 13.4 kW. That's bigger than 12 kW. Now you'll have to check note 1

  Over 12 kW through 27 kW ranges all of same rating. For ranges individually rated more than 12 kW but not more than 27 kW, the maximum
  demand in Column C shall be increased 5 percent for each additional kilowatt of rating or major fraction thereof by which the rating of individual
  ranges exceeds 12 kW.

That's easy enough.

13.4 kW - 8 kW = 5.4 kW

Since .4 is not a "major fraction", you can just use 5 kW. So you'll have to add 5% 5 times.

5% * 5 = 0.25
8000 W * 0.25 = 2000 W
8000 W + 2000 W = 10,000 W

That means you'll have to use 10 kW as your demand.

10,000 W / 240 V = 41.666 A

Which means you can use a 50 ampere breaker, and appropriately size wire.


Curtain rod came off What type of wall is it? I am new to this . How do i fix it and hang rod again. My curtains are heavy

This will require you to repair the area (similar to the repaired areas a few inches to the right of your current problem, which looks to be a previous issue identical to your current issue).

After repair, you will need to select and use appropriate hollow wall anchors, of which there are many types available depending on the weight and service of the material being attached. My presumption would be that either your curtains are heavy, or there is some other reason that the bracket was torn from the wall.

Use your Google-Fu to research different styles/types of anchors for different applications; there are just too many options to go into depth about here...

BTW, I have had good luck with these:

You will have the best luck if you are able to choose a new bracket location where you have some confidence that the wall is sound, rather than trying to anchor in a location where there was previous damage...


Moen Shower/Tub Valve Identification / Water temp issue I am currently redoing the shower/tub surround, and would like to know what valve I currently have.
It is a Moen, and uses the 1225 cartridge (crystal pull out handle, pull for volume twist for temperature).
On the side, it looks like "85811".
The house was built in 2000. High-end materials were not used.
I ask about the current valve, because we are having a terrible time with controlling temperature. Even turning on the sink (hot or cold) will affect the shower temp, and things like dishwasher and clothes washer make the shower useless with all the temperature changes. But from what I understand, this valve is some sort of mixing valve that should be handling temperature fluctuations like this. If this valve does this, then would a fancy thermostatic valve accomplish anything? Or is there some other cause.
We have 2 shower/tub combos, and both behave the exact same way.

This is neither a pressure-balanced or scald-protecting valve. It is very simple Moen mixing valve that mixes cold and hot and adjusts flow according to your manual input with the knob.
There are various tricks to help reduce the effects caused by other users; the simplest is to install a flow-restricting shower head.
Changing the valve for a pressure-balanced unit will help but only to a point. If you really want to solve the problem you need to take a hard look at your water delivery scheme and investigate options like up/down-sizing parts, adding a hot water recirculating strategy, etc. Maybe consult an expert (licensed and bonded reputable plumber sourced through personal recommendations).


Is there a good way to test water quality in your house? What are the best ways to test for water quality in your house?  The water is from a well, not town water.  Are there any products that can continuously test the water coming in (versus manually sampling the water every so often)?

There are MANY things that determine quality of water, common ones being:

"Nuisance" Bacteria

Not always harmful, but they do release iron and sulfur into the water during their life cycles, and form a biofilm on the well surfaces

Disease-causing bacteria

Most common are e. coli and coliform, but can also include fecal coliform and fecal streptococci among others
You don't want any of these in the water

Iron

Yellow or orange color, may cause stains on laundry and fixtures, and may have a bitter taste

Manganese

causes black or purple color in water and may stain fixtures, and cause a bitter taste

Hydrogen sulphide (sulfur)

Smells like rotten eggs
Can be naturally occurring, and sometimes be caused by bacteria

Hard water

Caused by calcium carbonate (salt)

Lead

Can be caused by leaded solder, and old brass plumbing components.
It's a neurotoxin which is quite dangerous to drink

Sand or grit

Most jurisdictions have their own set of guidelines for acceptable levels of about a hundred different attributes (eg, here are the EPA contaminants limits, to my knowledge in North America, the local standards are is at or below these levels).

There are currently (to my knowledge, at least) no continuous processes for checking bacteria -- though I do know of at least one company who has been working on it for commercial applications (I would guess it would cost upwards of $20k). There are some sensors that can monitor other attributes. Most are prohibitively expensive for a home (conductivity and pH come to mind that could be done for a couple hundred dollars).

Here's the thing though - most of the quality attributes are unlikely to change, definitely not fast enough to actually monitor on your house. Contamination from bacteria can increase over time if your well is biofouled as the bacteria grows, but otherwise, unless you have a source of surface contamination (such as a poorly-constructed well that is not sealed properly, a dug well, or a well with direct influence from a body of water) then generally the water quality will be fairly steady.

In Canada at least, most local public health units will test for e.coli and total coliform for free. You can also take your water to a lab to do a full analysis, or to a company that specializes in water treatment to do this for you. Be sure to pick one that uses an accredited lab though -- some fly-by-night/shady treatment companies will test "in house" looking for some really basic attributes, but are actually more interested in selling you a softener and a salt contract than treating the real problem (eg, doing a clean-out and then shocking your well every month or two may kill off the bacteria causing the iron or manganese in the first place -- but they make a lot less money if you do that).

One option for home testing is water test strips (eg, like SenSafe makes). These are relatively cheap, and you can do them at home. Becareful though, it's not really possible to measure your water quality or safety using just these strips. They can help give you an idea, and check that your treatment is working, but don't base your health on these alone. Talk to a professional that understands the chemistry of the water and how all the different factors interact to come up with treatment options.

The EPA has a decent site about Private Wells, you may want to check it out for more information.

(Note: my dad ran a water treatment company for over 25 years, so although I am by no means an expert, I did pick up a few things)


Where to buy polystyrene coving in the US (idaho) I'm trying to find a source for polystyrene coving but I have had absolutely no luck finding it state-side. Anyone have any experience in a method of making coving or sourcing this material?

The key is to not assume that they're all made of polystyrene.

https://www.certainteed.com/drywall/products/certainteed-decorative-moulding/


Relative maintenance costs of painted vs. stained cedar siding? I'm house shopping and I have a pretty good idea about the costs to maintain painted cedar exterior siding, but I've run into a few homes with stained cedar exteriors.  How does the cost to maintain stained cedar siding compare to maintaining painted?

I have two small areas of solid cedar. I used a natural/brown stain and a sealer. It had to be resealed every 3 years to look good , every 5 years just to keep it from bleaching. The same time I built a shed with cedar plywood and painted it ; it is still good after 15 years.


What kind of halogen bulb is this? One of our ceiling fan bulbs recently went out, and I can't for the life of me find a replacement for it.

By my best approximations, size is 3.65" H x 1.3" W, and 11-12mm at the base. The engraving says, "GE 120V 29W CHINA G50". The G50 part really throws me off.

This is the closest I can find, but I'm not certain it's correct.

That looks like a torpedo bulb with a candelabra base (the base indicates globe style, it's mislabeled). If the voltage is at least accurate, that 29w should be a 40W incandescent equivalent, which is how many manufacturers often indicate wattage on packaging. They also make LED versions of virtually every bulb nowadays if you wanted to get an even more energy efficient version, a decent sized hardware store might carry them.


Electrical wire inside Schedule M copper tubing Is it ok to run electrical wires in schedule M copper tubing?  I have recently installed electric cove heaters in my house and I do not want to run the wires through the wall.  I am thinking about using copper tubing to hide the wires in a sort of "industrial" decorative way.

Thank you

No, that's not a listed wiring method. Also, the wires would never make it around the corners.

But why not just use EMT, then?  It has the same industrial look, and it's easy to work with once you get the hang of it.   Paint it copper if you really want to.


Dead circuits with breakers across from each other I have 4 dead circuits which were intermittent off/on at first- now dead. The 20 amp dual tandem breakers are across from each other in the breaker box. The breakers/circuits above and below the affected breakers are live and functioning properly.

There was enough voltage earlier to energize the digital temperature readout on an LG window unit, but turning on a light killed the display.There was also a faint odor of something burning, resembling burnt newspaper. Box and breakers are cutler/hammer.

I'm about to pull the guilty breakers and replace them and check the BUS.

If all the breakers on every other row go out, you lost  one of your phases.  That's not as bad as losing a neutral, in which case each 120V leg can go as high as 240V, blowing stuff up and starting fires.  All that to say, if it proves to be a wire connection problem, check your neutral too!

If both breakers in a single row go out, you may have a burned up bus bar there.

For two rows, and not others, to go out, very unusual.  Maybe if they're the bottom two on the panel and somehow the bus bar burned up or took damage, but they usually don't make bus bars thinner near the bottom, so there's no reason for that to happen.


Cracked toilet seat hinge: repair seat or replace seat? Does it ever make sense to repair or replace a broken toilet seat hinge? The seat is in good condition otherwise, but a new seat is under $50.
Just a standard elongated toilet seat from glacier bay with plastic hinges.

I see universal hinge replacements online for $10, but a new seat (low-end) would cost $10-$20.
This is somewhat of a personal decision. My recommendation would be to start by trying to glue the hinge back together if that makes sense. Use a glue that says it works on plastic. Will this work? Maybe, but you probably have an appropriate glue lying around the house somewhere, so there's little actual risk. I think it's likely that it'll break again after a while, but that might give you a few more months of use for free.
If that doesn't work, I'd just buy a cheap replacement. I did a quick look over Lowes, and they don't seem to offer seats with nylon hinges, and while they have "chromed" options, that phrasing sounds dubious, and the design doesn't look strong; I doubt it offers much more in the way of durability over plastic. What it looks like is that paying more money can get you more style (a wooden seat, or a padded seat, or different colors), but not more durability. On the other hand, my experience has been that the cheap seats are actually okay, and won't snap in half after a month or disintegrate when humid. My usual recommendation is to buy the cheapest option that is actually designed to last, and even the cheap seats seem to pass that test.


Replacing carpet with vinyl plank I am going to replace the carpet in my three seasons porch with vinyl plank from Costco. I pulled up the carpet and found a layer of carpet underneath. Should I remove both, or could I install the plank over the bottom layer? I'd have to remove the tack strips. I'm worried there's a reason they didn't remove the bottom layer to begin with. It seems to be totally glued down.

Could I install the vinyl flooring over the top layer?

Follow the vinyl flooring manufacturer’s instructions.

I doubt they recommend installing their flooring over old carpet, because the carpet can compress when loaded and deform their flooring.

If you sit a table on the flooring for very long, 1) it will show a deformed area around the leg of the table from the weight of the table, and 2) it will not spring back into its original shape once the table is moved.

I’d remove everything down to the slab/subfloor and fix anything (including possible moisture issues) that I find.


Lights Dim on Electricity as well on Generator Got a 30 year old fixer-upper recently. Lights dim in house when using garbage disposal or blow dryer. Lights almost turn off when new AC comes on. Had electrician and electric co-op out and they didn't see any problem, only saw a few loose wires. When we had power outage and were using a generator the lights still dimmed when using garbage disposal. Have been slowly replacing old plugs and switches. Don't know where to go from here?

Almost every time I had a service call where lights are dimming and don't seem to be related (such as they are not on the same circuit). I always found a broken neutral and I usually found it on the service drop. If you are replacing receptacles and switches because they need replacing then that's OK, but its not going to fix your problem. You need to look deeper into the wiring and start checking out neutrals and grounds and possibly where a ground is being used a neutral. This happens most frequently if the original wiring has been disturbed such as in a remodel area of the dwelling.

This can be a long and drawn out process. That's why I would start at the service drop and the grounding electrode system. Take a good look where the service drop neutral is connected at the bracket and see if that is where the conductor has broken by wind movement and such. Then inspect the entire triplex drop to see if some insulation is nicked or broken off of the hot conductors and see if it has shorted and burnt the neutral in half.

Good luck


Nuisance smoke alarms Recently, four of the six battery-operated smoke alarms in our house have started going off every few days, for no obvious reason. The four that have been going off are of three different models, including both ionization and optical types. They are not wired together. We have a CO alarm which has not been going off.

This happens in the absence of any obvious source of smoke, dust, water vapour etc.

So the question is: what, apart from the obvious, would cause multiple types of alarms to go off?

Some battery-operated alarms use a radio signal to interconnect so they're all set off together. You should be able to verify/test this using the test button: press it on one, and if the others go off then you know they're interlinked.

As far as what's triggering them, there's a few possibilities:

Dust in in the sensors. Recent renovations especially can cause dust to get on the sensors, making them very sensitive to even a slight change in the air. Using a vacuum to clean them out can often remedy this.
Signal from other nearby units. If you have wireless interconnect, they may be on the same frequency as neighbour's alarms. There should be a method to change the code they use (often some dip switches on the back).
Bad location. Smoke alarms should be located a minimum of 4" away from a edge of the wall/ceiling, inside corners, and the peak of a vaulted ceiling to avoid the dead air space. Good airflow is important.
Wireless interference. Apparently some brands can be sensitive to interference from other electronics, and it's best to relocate the alarm or electronics.
Defective alarm. It's possible one or more alarm is simply defective. Most smoke alarms have a 10-year age limit.


Replace a blown breaker Hey :) I have a blown breaker. I live in a townhouse and there is no main shut off in my place. I took the cover off the panel, shut off that breaker, did a voltage test on the wires and no alarm so I removed the wires. I tried wiggling the breaker but it wouldn’t come out then realize it’s a bolt in breaker. Used my voltage tester at that acre holding it on and alarm is going off, now I’m afraid to touch that screw to get it out. It’s for our baseboard heater and northern Canadian winter, need heat ASAP. Do I need an electrician or is that bolt safe to remove then I just put a new breaker in?

If I am reading this question right, you couldn't find the main for your panel, so you decided to try to replace the breaker for a dead heating circuit in the live panel.  Lee Ho Fook.  That could have gotten ugly.

No offense intended and I may be reading the question wrong, but do you realize breakers are not one-time protection devices like fuses?  You can reset a breaker by turning it off then back on if it trips.  You should do this just once and if it trips again, leave it off until the fault that's tripping it is diagnosed and rectified.  Don't reset it over and over hoping it will hold.

If that doesn't work for you, call in an electrician.

Replacing a breaker in a live panel is never ideal, a safety conscious electrician will avoid it if at all possible, it might be unavoidable in a some critical facilities, never really ought to happen in residential.  For DIY, just don't do it.

I reiterate, if you can't figure out how to de-energize something to work on it, DON'T WORK ON IT HOT, call in reinforcements.


Can I repair a stone step? I have a 1911 property with a stone? back door step which is worn and either crumbled or cracked.

A few years back a plasterer did a repair and think skimmed it, but needs doing again.

I had a Google around and Toupret exterior masonry repair filler had good reviews, as well as U-can repair steps concrete repair from B&Q.

I can do most things and am happy to give this a go.

I think the step needs an angle adding or building up so the water runs away also.

Any advice or thoughts much appreciated.

Pictures Added

Here is the step from inside and outside.

Also photos of windowsills, also needing work to help with type of stone.

Absolutely you can repair it! A photo would be helpful to give us a idea what is needed, etching and adding a new layer or maybe a thin stone veneer to help it look original. I have etch granite steps that were worn over 100 years a thin layer of mortar holding a 1/4 inch granite slab on top of the steps was approved and later awarded for a restoration project on a Vicky, ( one of about a dozen things that were mentioned in the award) but this was decades ago. The same process will still work.


What is the purpose of this inverted Philips head screwdriver bit? I have a set of jewel screwdriver bits, for torx, Phillips, etc. However, there's one bit that looks like a Phillips head that's inverted or backwards, and I can't figure out its function.

The bit is a female Phillips head, and the label in the kit just says "PH 2", which I imagine means Phillips head, size 2.

What do you use this for? Getting another screwdriver out of something?

Edit: Here's most of the set, in case it helps. The top left bit (not in the handle) is the one I'm talking about. The set is filled with various bits that you would use on small screws.

Here's the web archive for the amazon product. I bought it in the U.S., whose page has been removed, but the same product is on the U.K. page. According to the product details, the screw bit is a Cross size: PH2. Maybe it was simply a miscommunication with the manufacturer when the bits were milled?

The bit that you are asking about is what is called a "concave Phillips" or "inverted Phillips" bit. They are used for removing screws that look like this:

(picture found at ebuy7.com)

The cross pattern on the screw head is actually raised.


Need help identifying this drywall anchor used to lock in a ceiling air diffuser Just finishing a whole house paining job and had to pull down all ceiling registers.  A few of the drywall locks went missing and I need to buy more but have no idea what they are called and cannot find them online.  This is what they look like:

I am sure they are on Amazon but have run out of search ideas.  Thanks for the help IDing it!!

I have installed quite a few registers like that but have never found them for sale. I have made them out of scraps of polypropylene, and UHMW. Most had to be shaped on 1 side a belt sander worked well for that holding the plastic with pliers. A few I could put in without shaping but not very many.  Note if you drill the hole with a drill it needs to be smaller than the screw size the screw needs to bite into the plastic and rotate out when tightened.


cannot get last radiator on the line to heat up All radiators but one are toasty. The cold one is up on the second floor, and is the last one on the line, farthest from the boiler.

It has been bled of air. It shoots out a thin stream of (cold) water in a small arc when the bleed valve is opened.

There is a supply main and a return main (black iron pipe from the 1940s).

Boiler is cutting off as expected at about 188F, with pressure reaching ~21psi.

The expansion tank is empty. It rings hollow. (I know from firsthand experience the dull sound of one whose bladder has failed so that the tank is full.)

This radiator was working fine until we lost electrical power a couple of weeks ago after a storm, and so the boiler was non-functioning for 24 hours. I thought perhaps the line had become frozen, but wouldn't the small arc of water from the valve indicate that there is no blockage?

EDIT: On the cold radiator in the new room, there is a shutoff valve on both the return and the supply. There's an arc of water from the bleed vent when supply is open and return is shut, and when the supply is closed and return is open (and of course when they're both open).  But the water is cold even when the boiler is firing and the circulating pump is on and the system temp has reached 185F and about 22psi.

The water that is being vented or bled out when you open the vent could be coming up either the supply or the return line. You could freeze one line and not the other. Is the circulating pump for the boiler running?


What do I need to know about LED strip lighting? I've read a ton of various posts about different aspects of LED lamps, strips, comparisons with fluorescent and incandescent lamps, and I decided that I want to install LED strips to light my room. Strips seem to give off the most natural light of all options, are relatively cheap, come in different colors, can have variable lengths and don't take up much space. But there were several aspects which I'm still confused about.

Brightness of each strip is different. I'm planning on using a dimmer anyway, but how do I find and measure maximum desirable brightness level for my room? (my current lighting situation is a mess, so I wouldn't try and match it)
Uneven light comes off of an unfiltered LED strip, because diodes are placed in a dotted line. Common recommendation is to use light diffusing filter, which scatters the light enough to make it even. Although these filters take away up to ~30% of total brightness (measured with luxometer). What kind of filter should I get?
Positioning seems to be very important. People say placing a strip parallel to a surface can absorb up to a third of total brightness. At what angle should I install a strip in different locations?
Light spectrum is often unusual, especially with cheap low quality strips. I still don't know how to tell HQ from LQ LEDs. My local store doesn't have many and they're all generic types.
Dimmers have to be of certain types to work with LED strips. Very often I see recommendation to get dimmer amplifiers. Aren't there any dimmers that work fine without additional expenses?
"White" color is a vague definition. How do I easily select the color temperature that's right for me? Do I have to buy different strips and compare them on site? Or is there an easier way?
SMD ~~~ codes are still a mystery to me. Some say it only determines the dimensions of a single LED unit and its relative socket on a conductor strip, others say it also affects light spectrum and overall strip lifespan. Does it matter?
Noise from power supplies seems to be a common problem indoors. People recommend to use waterproof models, which are somewhat airtight, and it helps reduce the noise. Others recommend to install regular power supplies in a waterproofed power box. The former appears to be more expensive, and the latter takes up more space. Radicals recommend placing power supplies in a far location, connecting to the strips with long wires, but that creates some safety concerns. How do I make sure there is no noise and it's still safe?
IP class determines how much protection LED strip has. Does it affect installation, use and light in any way?

That's a lot to consider about lighting. If I missed something important, please let me know.

Not a complete answer, but here's some more info.

Brightness

While there are ways to calculate this that aren't that complicated, it requires knowing many coefficients that are not readily available, so ends up being an educated guess at best. You can do just as well totaling your current lighting's lumen output, then adjusting for changes in fixture styles. (I consider even a simple LED strip a "fixture" for the sake of this discussion) It's a starting point. If you use proper task lighting, there's a lot of room for variance in total levels.

Uneven light

You do not want to see the actual LED elements, it's really annoying. Besides diffusers, indirect lighting techniques work well, though require more lumens due to losses through reflection.

Positioning

I'm not sure what the issue is with parallel surfaces. The efficiency is mostly inherent in the fixture's ability to direct light where it's needed. The mounting surface has little to do with this, you need to direct the light where it's needed.

White Light

The "whiteness" is measured in degrees Kelvin. The temperature a black body must be heated to emit the same color of light. Standard daylight is often taken to be 6500K, anywhere in the 5000-7000 range is close enough for most tasks. You eyes adapt quickly to small variances. In residential settings, daylight is considered too harsh because we are so accustomed to incandescent lighting, so most home lighting is produced to output more in the 2000-3000K range to mimic the orange incandescent lighting.

Noise

How audible the noise is varies by manufacture and environment, as well as personal temperament. I don't think noise data is readily available. Testing in a noisy store will not yield any useful data, other than if you can hear it from a few feet away it is too loud. Noise can be attenuated by placing it in an enclosure, but keep in mind power supplies generate heat that has to be removed by ventilation, you cannot seal it into a sound proof box.

Try to place power supplies as far from your pillow as possible, trying to sleep is when it will be most bothersome. Placing it lower so there is likely to be more furnishings obstructing a direct path will help, as well as being surrounded by soft materials that do not reflect sound as well.


Is it hazardous to leave a hole in the wall for a week or two? Yesterday in a fit of manliness I accidentally punched a hole in the wall of my bedroom. I will eventually get some putty to fill in the hole but I'm concerned about the fibrous dust that may be in the air/on the walls. For a relatively small/fist sized hole is it safe to leave it exposed for a week or two? (I've simply taped over it with a swiffer duster cloth). Also I noticed my throat is slightly irritated post-wallpunch; is it possible that's due to the dust?

Come to think of it, I don't suppose it helps matters that I did pushups beside the wall after I hit it.

Breathing in the dust isn't healthy, but you've basically already created all there is to create. You should vacuum* it up and fill the hole whenever you get around to doing it. No rush.

If you patch the hole properly, you will probably create more dust patching the hole than you did in making it.

If you want to scare yourself look up the effects of breathing in silica dust.

*a shopvac with a fine particle bag or hepa filter is best for vacuuming, as drywall dust is very fine


Where do I connect a C-wire on my Honeywell TrueZone board? My Honeywell TrueZone 311 board does not have a terminal for the blue wire. Where does it go? I plugged in the wires for the dampers and the thermostats, but the five wires from the furnace to the zone board are incomplete due to the lack of a c terminal.

According to the install instructions, the zone board has dedicated R and C power terminals which should be connected to the corresponding transformer wires from the furnace, or to a dedicated 24VAC transformer if the furnace's transformer is not being used.  If your furnace doesn't provide a C wire (typically blue), update your post with pictures of the setup and we can provide more help.


Why would only the top outlets work in my two kitchen receptacles? I have two outlets in our kitchen, one on either side of the sink, where only the top plugs work. I've tried to do some trouble shooting and here is what I know:

There is a red, white, black, and ground wire on both.
The tabs are broken on the hot side (the side with the black and ride wire)
They are run off two breakers on the breaker panel that are tied together
I checked the panel with my multimeter and both wires at the breaker (red and black) give a reading of ~120v

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot further to figure out what's failing. It's an old house so I'm chalking it up to age.

Usually, a red and black wire connected to an outlet with a broken off tab indicates that one of the outlets is controlled by a wall switch somewhere. Typically this is used to control a light from the switch next to the door to the room. However, this is an unusual configuration for a counter-top outlet in the kitchen since usually the lighting is ceiling or cabinet mounted.

My next step would be to try to identify a wall switch that could be controlling these outlets.

Alternatively, just disconnect the dead wire, cap and tape it, and bridge the screws on the hot side of the outlet.


Can I work on resetting pavers on my patio after a heavy rain? This is about a pavers patio. If you are curious about the whole context please see my other questions.

Last night it rained a lot. I have some problems due to water collecting near the wall of my house from the patio. I am planning to reset the stones in some areas and to install a french drain between my house and the patio.

Is it OK to work on the above after such a heavy rain? There is more rain to come and I want to stop this madness with the water pooling near the wall when it rains heavily.

Yes, this should not be a problem. Under your patio should be various layers of gravel that should drain the water well. If the rain unsettles anything, you can always tamp it out while doing your repairs, but I would not expect much damage.


Add support to existing acrylic shower unit When we had acrylic shower units installed in our house apparently our employee did not know that they require concrete support under their floors. We learned about this the hard way when one of them broke with use, and we were obliged to replace it. We've used the others only infrequently since making this discovery.

Obviously it would be difficult to put concrete between an installed unit and subflooring now. Additionally, a warranty claim is not possible due the installer being under our employ (we paid him hourly), this problem is now ours to fix. Is there a product that could be used that would provide sufficient support? I assume we need something that would expand slightly to completely fill the gap with exerting too much pressure on the acrylic shower unit.

Thanks for your answers or suggestions!

The problem with expanding foam products is that you cannot effectively "control" the expansion, so it may expand in the gap to the point of damaging your acrylic from the other direction! The type that would be less likely to do that will also not really provide meaningful support; it will just compress with the flexing of the acrylic and you are back to square one.

I think a warranty claim against the installer is your best option. He did it wrong, he should make it right. He will not like it though because it will likely be impossible to remove the shower units without damaging them, they usually adhere them to the walls with construction adhesive.


How can I remedy moisture intrusion from my concrete slab? We bought a house a little over a year ago. The old carport had been converted into a den. It had musty, dirty carpet, so we ripped it out. A big problem we ran into is that we live in west Tennessee with high humidity. The room became unbearable to go into, and mildew began forming on the walls.

We've tried cleaning the walls with bleach, but the only thing that has worked is a dehumidifier. So progress on the room has been at a standstill, and we have no clue as to how to proceed. How can I seal this concrete so we can put flooring down and actually use this huge room?

Other than taking a jackhammer to it and doing it right from the bottom up, (or turning it back into a carport):

Lay 6 mil plastic in a continuous sheet, place 1 or 2 inches of XPS rigid insulation sheets, pour 2" of gypsum cement (might as well place radiant floor heat tubing while you are at it, even if you don't have immediate plans to use that.)

A cement slab for a carport almost certainly has no waterproofing below it nor insulation of any kind.


Is this kitchen wall parallel with the joists load-bearing? I purchased a house with an outdated kitchen. I would like to remove an interior wall to open up the kitchen into the dining room space. I've removed the drywall and was wondering if this wall is structural or if it can be removed. The wall runs parallel with the joists and is made up 2x3s.

Since that wall runs parallel to the joists above it is not a load bearing wall. That said, I always recommend that anytime you are going to remove any wall that could be a supporting wall that you hire a structural engineer to get his OK on your project. Removing any load bearing wall without the proper support could be a disaster waiting to happen.  My 2 cents.


Why "W" (heat contactor) and "E" Aux Heat connected in Thermostat I'm trying to update my thermostat to one that has a scheduling feature.  My plan is to just copy how it was hooked up in an old 129N Thermostat from Armstrong however, I can't figure out why the "W" and "E" terminals are connected and how I should mimic that on my new thermostat.  Additionally, after hooking everything up and turning the heat on, it doesn't seem to be heating the air.  Could anyone give some insight into why it would have been connected like this.  Below is a picture of how it was connected.

E is usually emergency heat. In systems that don't actually have emergency heat but a user might select that mode on the thermostat, connecting E to W will cause the normal heat to come on instead of doing nothing.


Should I use a carpet kicker or stretcher? I recently retiled my master bathroom. Our bedroom has carpet and I need to stretch the lay the carpet adjacent to the marble transition. For this small space would it be best to use a kicker or carpet stretcher? Please keep in mind that this area is maybe 2x3 ft.

Generally, I'd also like to understand what the differences are and why one would be used over another.

In a normal room-sized install, both tools are used.  The kicker for the first edge and the stretcher for the rest.  Kickers are also used in corners where the stretcher is awkward to use.  On stairs, just a kicker is used.

A kicker is ideally only used to attach the carpet to the tack strip.
A stretcher is used to attach the unanchored sides.  You anchor it at an attached side and stretch the carpet to the opposite side.

A pro would use a stretcher as much as possible.  A carpet that has  been kicked with a reasonable amount of effort will pull up at the edges from any typical abuse.

A small space like 2x3 would have only used a kicker - which is why they invented the mini-stretcher (like this one).  They're not cheap for a single job and I haven't seen one for rent, but it's worth a few calls around.

That's not to say you can't just use a kicker, and I probably would if I didn't have access to a mini-stretcher.  You can do a 90% job in a small space with a kicker, but you'll definitely work up a sweat.

FYI: For larger jobs, even with maximum effort, the smaller head of the kicker will lead towards ripping the carpet if you try to get the same amount of stretch as the power stretcher will give you with no effort.


Is it ok to switch wires from gauge 12 to 14 inside a box? Inside a multi-gang box I have a hard time working with the 12-gauge wire. Is it ok to connect them with a wire nut to a 14-gauge and then connect to the switches.
The box has switches to light, heater, humidifier. The circuit breaker is 20 amps. The current wiring is 12 gauge everywhere it seems. This is in a small bathroom in TX.

Absolutely not!  You need 12 AWG for enough wire thickness so you don't set the wires on fire.
What you should do is two things.

Use "screw-and-clamp" type switches and outlets.  These allow you to back-wire, but without the reliability problems of backstabs (which only take #14 anyway.
Once you have done that, if that is not enough to solve your problem, then pigtail, yes-- but with #12 stranded wire.

This is sold as individual wires called "THHN".  Many shops sell it by-the-foot.
Stranded is a sheer pleasure to work with.   However, it's illegal on backstabs and almost impossible for a novice to competently put on a side screw.  So, the "Screw-and-clamp" devices make that work out.
If you fall in love with THHN stranded, you can use it anywhere as long as it's inside conduit.  Smurf tube, PVC or EMT metal.  If you run metal, that serves as the ground.   You can put up to 4 circuits into a conduit, and it makes it easy to do things like 3-way circuits that need always-hot and neutral for onward stuff.


How do I replace shower / tub handles / spouts? I recently bought a house with 20 year old fixtures 3 bathrooms including a shower, shower/tub, and roman tub. The shower knobs say Harden on them and the tub/shower knob has a separate tub/shower lever and the shower knob has a volume control lever. The Roman tub I'm not sure who makes it, but the knobs on the tub match the shower knob so perhaps they are also Harden. What I'm what I'm wondering is:

Can I replace the spouts/knobs without replacing the valves (all of the valves are in walls with no access)?
Assuming yes, how can I find knobs/spouts that will work with the existing valves? (I'm not sure if removing the tub spout requires turning off the water so I haven't wanted to do it yet).

Roman tub:

Shower:

Shower / tub:

Yes: Everything in your pictures falls into the realm of trim.  If you remove the knobs, handles, and spouts, you will find valve and spout stubs.  You should be able to remove all trim without shutting off the water.

Plumbing supply houses should be able to find compatible trim pieces.


Should window headers be set against the top plate or at rough opening height? I've been building load bearing walls with the header located at the top of the desired window or door opening, but have had a couple people comment on how I should be putting the header directly below the top plate to save time. I find it actually takes more time to come back later and toenail a horizontal 2x6 exactly where I want the window or door opening to be and then later curse myself when I want to attach j channel or 5/4 trim on the top portion of the window since the window flange uses up most of the 2x6 I have used for the opening.

It seems this doesn't matter in terms of structural support as long as people put in the cripples below the plate and above the header to connect the load transfer.

Is there any other reason I should consider keeping the headers at the very top of the walls? I did read that span ratings vary if the header is connected to the top plate vs only connected to the king stud and cripples.

I was taught to put them slightly above the opening and blocking between the header and top plate. But have seen others do it at the top. For a small opening I doubt that it matters but for larger windows I would want my header close to the window for stability especially in a windy area.


How to insulate exterior walls with electrical wiring As part of renovations to our home we chose to replace existing aluminium electrical wiring with Copper wiring. We also wanted to replace the original R7 insulation with something better (R14 or 15) to minimize heat loss.

The issue we have now is that with the walls open the contractor has run a whole bunch of wiring through the wall studs. This poses a challenge with how to properly insulate the walls. We are concerned the insulation may not properly fit into the space and I understand we need to be careful that the insulation does not get compressed which will compromise the R value.

Hoping the experts from the forum can suggest how best to handle this scenario. Thanks for all the help with our questions!

EDIT - updated photos below. Not sure if this addresses some of the concerns about wires not being properly secured.

That's... artsy-looking wiring. I believe the stapling or lack thereof doesn't meet code. We should give due credit though for not jamming all those cables through as few holes as possible.

In any case, you asked about installing fiberglass insulation around the wiring. In the case of cables that fit neat and tidy against a wall stud, as do the three white and one yellow starting at the top left, simply install the batts and don't worry about it.

Cut away insulation so that it fits neatly around junction boxes.

Where cables pass through the middle of the depth of a bay separate the batt halfway through its thickness. Slide part of it behind the wiring and lay the other part in front. This minimizes the compression of the batt. It would also be possible to make cuts in the batt so that the batt can expand around the cable, but if you're using faced insulation it's best to avoid cutting the facing.


Max water pressure of clear acrylic pipe? I'm trying to diagnose an air locking problem with a power shower. It's currently fed by 15mm white plastic (type unknown) pipes for both hot and cold. I'd like to replace these with clear rigid pipes so I can "see" if and where air is getting into the plumbing.

The defacto "clear rigid plastic pipe" material seems to be Acrylic (often going by trade name Perspex by online sellers). The most readily available dimensions are 15mm outer diameter x 11mm inner diameter, sold in 300mm lengths (which is adequate for the lengths I need).

What's the maximum temperature and pressure of water such a pipe will take?

My hot water pressure is I'm guessing around 0.3 bar as it's a single-story barn conversion with a header tank. The cold pressure is more of a concern as it's pretty good; I'm guessing around 6 bar.

Acrylic can handle 180F, and isn't rated for pressure. Clear schedule 80 PVC is rated for pressure, but can only handle 140F. Check out McMastet-Carr online if you want more material specs.

Maybe look at this problem from another direction? Air getting sucked into a water line typically only happens on/near the inlet side of a pump, so check around the pump inlet first. Often times it's from cracked PVC fittings or a leaky o-ring when I've seen it in pools.

Instead of looking for the air in the water line, intentionally pressurize the water line with air and look for where water leaks/mists from the pipe. Even without water in the line you'll be able to hear it it if you can't see it.

Depending on how large your system is, and how large of an air compressor you have, you may need to add shutoff valves to isolate parts of the line. Use a regulator if you don't want to pressurize everything to 100+ psi which is probably higher than the pressure rating of your pipe and equipment.

On the same note, you can do a pressure drop test to confirm its not leaking if you're trying to rule sections of pipe out.


What outdoor materials can be damaged by by ice? I'm relatively new to this snow thing. I also have a new vinyl deck and paver stone walkway I'd like to take care of. I have a basic understanding of how water can get into things, freeze, and break them apart. I'd like to prevent this from happening.

For what materials should I worry about preventing ice damage?

Ice/water can damage anything and everything.

A vinyl deck should be OK. Your pavers might heave a bit if water gets under them and freezes. But that's the great thing about pavers. Easy to fix come spring. (tamp it down or add more sand if it needs to be raised)


Breaker size for 100 amp box can I put a double 50 amp pole in a 100 amp box

This should be fine

I would be comfortable adding the pool heater breaker (you'll need a HOM250) to this box; with only general lighting and receptacle circuits in it, I doubt you'll go over 100A here any time soon, and you have plenty of spare spaces here as well.  Also, you should be able to shut off the subpanel at the main panel, which means you can install the pool heater breaker and wiring with the subpanel completely de-energized.


Preparing an old metal cabinet for painting I bought an old metal cabinet that needs some restoration work, maybe not the best idea for a guy with no DIY experience and two left hands. So first I asked at a paint shop how much it would be to do this professionally , but for the quoted price I could have bought two already restored cabinets of the same type, so that's not going to happen.  I did some research on how to best approach this, and ended up with three different options.

At my local equivalent to home depot they said I should thoroughly remove all rust, sand to get an even surface, apply a primer, and then paint it in the color of my choice.
A shop that specializes in paints recommended that I should remove all loose material with a wire brush, and then paint the whole thing with paint of the "Hammerite" brand, which apparently includes rust protection and does not need a base coat.
basically every DYI site  I found on the topic insisted that I would have to strip the cabinet to the bare metal to get an acceptable result.

Now that I have three opinions on how to prepare the cabinet for painting, I need to solicit a fourth to help me decide. I have already resigned to the fact that I cannot do a perfect job, but this will go into a living area, so it should look at least decent. I am not afraid of work, but my neighbours will probably kill me if I spend the next three days making noise with a sander, so if can get away with not removing the old paint completely it would be some relief (if not I will risk their wrath). Picture of the cabinet is attached. Thank you for any hints.

OK, so this is a classic prep-paint situation, on a metal thing which has alkyd (that's what its mom calls oil paint when it's in trouble) or possibly LPU paint.   Definitely not latex, so we dodged that bullet.  shudder

Latex paints are not for metal equipment like this.  They will fail very quickly. However alkyds are very stinky. If you can't paint somewhere vented, then use a waterborne alkyd with synthetic for-latex brushes... but those are new, weird and I don't trust them.

Paint prep is a generally miserable job, and the picture postcard for a very basic rule about tools: Always use hand tools until you've achieved mastery of the hand tool. Only then, look at power tools, since you now have a well-caibrated sense of how you want to automate the job.  I own a ton of power prep tools. That particular piece isn't bad, and I would probably leave them in the cabinet and go at it with hand wirebrushes and sanding blocks.  I would go for a power wirebrush if there was determined rust there.

But based on the fact that this isn't very rusted, I'm guessing it lives in a low-rust-risk location, so you don't really need SSPC-SP10 surface prep; any residual leftover rust probably won't break out.  You just need it aesthetically smooth.

Prep is about

a) Removing and neutralizing rust.  For a low-risk situation like yours, I would use hand or power wire brushing and/or sanding, til very little remains, then hit it with a rust converter, which you paint on.
b) Smoothing the surface. That's what sanding is all about.  Dry-sand, or wet-sand if you're worried about lead.  Now, you also can use primer as a "filler", to fill in the low spots.  Primer -> sand -> primer -> sand -> primer is SOP around my shop, and they make high-build primers specifically for this purpose.  For deeper fills, you can use fairing (commonly called Bondo).
c) Roughening the surface. Fresh paint cannot stick to a glossy surface.
d) removing dust and dirt.  Mostly dust from the above lol.
e) removing contaminants.  Anything that'll mess up the paint - especially silicones, linseed oil, latex paint.  I prefer to take the primer I'm applying and use its own diluent (the stuff you thin it with, i.e. paint thinner for Rustoleum).
A double-cloth wipedown works best, cloth #1 is wet with thinner, and cloth #2 is clean and dry and picks up the contaminants.  Keep refreshing cloth #2, I prefer to graduate it to cloth #1.

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Now you prime that sucker.  You need to coordinate the primer to be compatible with the topcoat, both chemically and aesthetically.

Decide whether brush or roller stipple is something you can live with.  If not, you'll need to skill up on rattle-can spray jobs. They are easy to mess up with runs etc.

Rustoleum 7769 Rusty Metal Primer is the stuff you want. It performs WAY better than you'd expect for consumer tier stuff, it's available everywhere, and it won't kill you*. When I can't get a surface quite to SSPC-SP10, I use Rustoleum 7769, and then apply my industrial tier coatings.  You still need the unit quite dry, so drive humidity in the room down as much as you can.

Despite Rustoleum's "Stops Rust" slogan, Rustoleum 7769 is the ONLY product that will do that, and only over fairly good prep.

Rustoleum is an alkyd and is Very Stinky stuff. There is no way to avoid it. Water-based paints just won't perform on metal machinery like this.  And hardware stores are now trying to push you into  a "waterborne alkyd" - hissss! booooo! Avoid!

Paint outdoors. Lay down and weight down a tarp first, and don't overspray anyone's car!

You only need Rusto 7769 on the bare metal or formerly rusty areas.  If the old paint is solid, priming is not so urgent.

Nothing wrong with hand brushing. You must use a natural bristle brush, not the synthetic brushes for latex.  Either buy a good'un and fastidiously clean it after every use, or I get cheapie "chip brushes" and just watch for bristles and pluck them out of the coat as it goes on.

With spray, you'll need to multi-coat the first layer (if you try to get it in 1, it'll run).  Brush might not need a 2nd coat if you coat it well the first time.

If you're after a smooth finish, you can re-sand after the prime. But if you blow through to bare metal, you'll have to re-prime at least that area.

Now think about topcoat.

Rustoleum 7769 is too good not to use, but it leaves you with a deep brown.  If you want a light finish, prepare for 3 more coats. Normally I use Rustoleum 7780 for the next coat, but I gather you don't want to buy yet another can of something, so I just say use a 3rd coat of topcoat. There is no such thing as a 1-coat topcoat, because a) it's opacity isn't that good, and b) your application isn't that perfect.  Marketing lies!

Since you don't need to Rusto everywhere, you might make your first topcoat just over the brown areas.

Since this is equipment not a house, your topcoat should be an oil-based alkyd (i.e. not a "waterborne alkyd", yuck).  Rustoleum's topcoats (the alkyd "High Performance Protective Enamel" ones, anyway) are perfectly adequate.  On one hand, color choice is very limited; but on the other hand, a second can will match.  Sherwin Williams will custom mix, but their second can will be a bit off. That's just a fact of small-scale color mixing.

* Unlike the 2-pack "have to wear a moon suit" mil-spec stuff you see on new airplanes, which is loaded with PBA or isocyanates, and doesn't work in cans, since you have to mix 3-4 chemicals and then spray it within an hour.  It's pretty good primer, though.


Is underlayment necessary in a room over a garage? It is my understanding that underlayment beneath laminate flooring reduces sound between floors, i.e. for the room below. Is there a functional purpose beyond reducing noise in the room below?

I'm installing laminate in a room over a garage, and I'm not sure whether I should install underlayment in this situation. Will it make the flooring quieter in the room itself, or is there another compelling reason to use it?

Thanks!

A flexible underlay will compact when walked on. This helps if your floor is slightly imperfect (it is) and people walk on the tongue-and-groove connections (they will). The extra stress could cause the connector to snap off one of the boards.

A more compelling reason is that any slight dips in the floor will cause an audible sound every time you step on it and it bangs onto the sub floor thanks to your added weight.

I'm not aware of any "serious" reasons to use underlay (fire safety, structural, etc). If it's your house and you don't want to lay underlay, you won't be the first homeowner not to bother with it and I doubt you'll have problems.

I always found, however, that a roll of Tuck Tape and a couple of rolls of foam underlay was pretty insignificant compared to the cost of the flooring itself, and the ease and speed of installation was similarly not a serious issue.


Trying to figure out how this service panel is getting electricity A friend's service panel is getting power from somewhere, but their power is shut off. They're in the process of getting a voltage detector and trying to use that to figure it out but they're super new at this.

In the meantime, if anyone has thoughts on where to look or how to tell where the power could be coming from, we'd love some suggestions.

All I was able to tell them so far is figure out if the mains are hot or not.

UPDATE:
To answer the question below, yes it is single family. I don't think anyone else uses it? I hope? I tried having him turn them off one by one. That seemed to show that all the power was coming from the one left main, but then we ended up going round and round still seeming to find contraindications to that answer.

Eventually he just took the whole thing apart and put it back together without the water heater, just treating it as if it's only getting 110V service. That seems to be working for now. Occam's razor, probably power is coming from that one left main. Assuming maybe the electric company person only turned off one of the mains instead of both on accident?

Wondering if there's anything else that we could be missing? Things still seem to defy sense. He says that the hot breakers are not alternating, they're consecutive. So the left main seems to be serving the entire right side of the panel instead of every other one. Could there be damage to the panel itself? Also seems like the 200A main breaker might not be stopping power to the hot bus, so that's concerning. Just another thing that seems super weird.

So the above part was just a miscommunication -- they do alternate like normal and the 200A breaker does turn off the whole thing. My bad-- one more mystery solved.

You will just need to shut off breakers to isolate each wire and check it for voltage.

Turn the main breaker off, and check the incoming lugs for voltage.  If present, then the power has not been "shut off".  With the breaker still off, check the lugs that attach to the sliver bars in the back of the panel.

If there is voltage on the bars, one of the breakers is "back feeding" voltage.  Turn the breakers off one at a time to see which breaker it is coming from.


How to run duct work for basement dehumidifier? Our basement is partially finished, approximately 50/50 in terms of square footage. It was used as a mother-in-law suite at some point by a previous owner.

The finished rooms are air conditioned/heated from our single central HVAC system. We also run a portable, 70 pint or so, dehumidifier in the "K" room

Our problem is that it is very humid down there and the air is pretty musty smelling. Humidity is typically 50% or greater in the summer months. In the winter, it drops to low 40s. We have white mold growing on a few items down there.

The current HVAC and dehumdifier aren't cutting it. We called in a basement/moisture company and they recommended a dedicated whole-house dehumidifier, ducted to just the basement. It was a $5k quote.

I am hands on, so I'd like to tackle this myself. I can save quite a bit of money, and it seems that the installation will be pretty simple, given that I have easy access to all the rooms.

I do not plan on integrating it with the existing HVAC ductwork. That will increase complexity and we may have an HVAC overhaul in the future.

I have attached a basic sketch of the basement and rooms. Finished rooms are BR, K and LR. There is a bath attached to the BR (not ducted, but there is a "window" to the unfinished portion of the basement.) I am planning on installing the unit in the unfinished space, near the existing HVAC. I have several ways to get the condensation out of the house from that location - pump outside, pump into washer stand pipe, pump into sewage pump.

I want to duct work the "K" room and another in the "BR," but I am not sure how to include the unfinished portion of the basement. We use the left most portion of the unfinished space for storage, so I would love to control the moisture level in that area.

Should my goal be to create a circular flow of air? One return in, say the K, and a supply in BR? Should the unfinished storage area have a supply or return?

Thank you!

This is going to be sort of a comment, or at least not a complete answer.

When designing the system, the goal is not to create a breeze through the space. The goal is to control pressure equalization in such a way that the air is mixed and dehumidified (conditioned).

Having one large return at one end of the space, and a large return at the other may work. But it's not going to be as efficient, and will require maintaining an open area for which the air to flow (no closed doors).

Let's back up a bit, and think about how the system works...

The fan (or blower) is going to create a high pressure area "in front" of it, which causes the pressure in the supply ducts to increase.  The higher pressure air flows from the supply ducts, in an attempt to equalize the pressure between the supply ducts and the rooms.  At the same time, the fan (blower) has also created a low pressure zone "behind" it. The higher pressure air in the rooms is forced into the return ducts, in an effort to equalize the pressure between the rooms and the return ducts.

So the system works by forcing conditioned air into the rooms, and having unconditioned air pushed into the system.

Wherever you have a supply duct, you want to have and unobstructed return duct. Otherwise you'll end up with a high pressure area in one place, and a low pressure area in another.

In your example, if you have a single supply duct feeding the kitchen, and a single return in the bedroom. What happens if the bedroom door is closed?  In fact, the bedroom door in your drawing would have a tendency to be pushed closed, if you installed the system the way you've described. You'll be creating a high pressure zone in the kitchen and living room, and a low pressure area in the bedroom. Which means the door could be closed by the pressure differences.

You'll want to install a supply and return in each separate area. In your case that would mean installing a supply and return in the living room/kitchen, bedroom, and storage area.

Unfortunately, duct design is a bit of science, and a bit of art. Covering all the information you'd need to know, would be nearly impossible in this short answer format. In my opinion, duct design is not a job for an amateur. At the very least, you'll want a pro to assist in that aspect of the job.

I know I've rambled a bit, and I'm sure you don't want somebody to tell you not to do it yourself. But in my opinion, it's better to have it done right, then to have it done cheap.  Aside from all that I've mentioned. It's impossible for somebody to design a duct system without knowing the equipment you're going to use, or the actual dimensions of the space. So there's no way anybody on this site could provide a duct design for you, with the information you've provided.

My advice... Get an HVAC contractor to design the system for you, then you can do the work of installing it yourself.


Are there any serious dangers to using manual tools? Recently, I had to fix some things around the house, without access to my usual electric tools. I found that the manual tools, such as a crank drill and a handsaw, are quite efficient, and I can no longer see much of an advantage to using their electric equivalents, electric drills and electrical circular saws. One thing that speeds up the work is these manual tools are lighter and I do not have to worry about running out of batteries or running cords around the house.

And more importantly, I can feel much relief working with tools that seem to be much safer. I think with a circular saw, one could easily cut off several fingers at once, in a split second. A spinning electrical drill could cause the similar damage in a short time.

At worst, I think a manual drill or handsaw would just cause a cut, requiring a band aid. I cannot imagine a manual tool causing damage requiring a trip to a hospital. Are there dangers to these manual tools that I do not realize?

Anything that cuts wood will cut flesh.

While hand tools are in general somewhat safer (since you'll stop when you cut yourself) it's quite possible to damage yourself to a hospital-visit-required extent (before you stop) through mis-use of hand tools, especially if you think they are magically safe since there's no motor.

I have a guillotine miter trimmer that will take your fingers off if given half a chance. I consider it rather more dangerous than my circular saw, as a matter of fact - if picked up carelessly the massive razor-sharp cutting head will move on its own and if anything is in the way it will be cut either deeply or off.

A rather more common tool that can hurt you badly if you are not careful is the humble chisel. And that hand saw can cut tendons before you stop if you get in its way. For the most part, dull tools are actually more dangerous than sharp ones (of tools that should be sharp) since a dull tool requires more force to use, so when it goes awry it goes awry with more force behind it.

A good deal of situational awareness encompassing "how this could go wrong and where the tool will go in that case" is a pre-requisite for safe tool use, powered or not. As are details like actually using safety glasses when you use a hammer (chips from the object being struck can be flung into your eyes with no need for power to be involved.)


What shelves to get for a china cabinet? I just purchased a somewhat old China cabinet. It has 2 heavy, thick glass shelved. One shelf is cracked so I plan to replace both shelves with painted wood shelves.

The width is 40 3/4 inches by 15 inches deep. The glass shelves are held in place by 4 metal pegs, 2 on each end.

Could someone tell me what material I should use for the shelves? I don't want the shelves to sag or collape.

Thank you

Since you're painting anyway, it doesn't make much sense to use the more expensive hardwoods like quarter-sawn white oak or blistered maple - quite ordinary poplar should do very nicely unless you plan to put a huge amount of weight on those shelves. Poplar is strong and dense, and it paints exceptionally well.

Note that you'll need to edge-laminate two or more planks to get your full 15" depth if you use poplar.

Another entirely viable option would be to use 3/4" MDF. It comes in sheets (you can often buy half-sheets and quarter-sheets). It's very heavy (about 96 pounds per full sheet). It's also very rigid and dense and takes paint very well. So well, in fact, that it's sometimes used as an inexpensive siding on condos. It doesn't tolerate moisture, though, so be sure to fully paint all surfaces.