What should I look for in a roof dryer vent? I'm in the process of installing an upstairs laundry room, and I'm looking to vent the dryer to the roof.  The route to an outside wall is almost 25 feet, with a few turns, whereas the route to the roof is roughly 8 feet from the dryer - so I think the roof is the best option.

My question is, what should I look for in a roof vent? I'm in an area that gets a fair amount of snow in the winter (a few snowfalls over 1ft each year). I'm planning on using all solid pipe, and insulating the pipe in the attic all the way to the vent, and keeping the vent higher up on the roof to prevent ice damming.

What should I look for in the roof vent itself?

No mesh that would collect lint
Low back pressure
Metal or plastic?
High or low profile?
Anything else I'm missing?

If you truly have significant snow accumulation then you need the following: Start with the thinnest walled 4" diameter PVC pipe you can get your hands.  Check the irrigation supply companies; Class 100, & Class 125.  Terminate it about waist high directly behind where the dryer will sit, against the wall. Use 4" flexible vent material to go from the dryer to this PVC pipe.  Extend the PVC pipe through the ceiling of the laundry room and then on through the attic and through the roof line, securing along the way as necessary.  Avoid any unnecessary bends.  Using 22*bends or at the most 45*bends, off-set as necessary in the attic to avoid framing members.  I would extend through the roof about 2-feet.  Flash the pipe at the roof line with a standard 4" plumber's type rubber boot roof flashing.  Make sure it goes under the shingles. On the top of this vent pipe install a rain cap or is sometimes called a china cap. Select a cap with lots of venting space.  Eliminate any and all screen material. I like a product made by Award Metals.  They call it their 'Type B' china cap.


Water based clear protective finish coarse first coat I have already sanded about 600 sq/ft of white oak flooring that now feels very smooth. I applied a Minmax water based clear protective satin finish on a small area, with a roll. Maybe it's because it hadn't completely dried out yet but I felt that the surface was not smooth at all when I touched it. I would therefore have 3 questions:

What can I do to make the finish feel smooth?
Applying the finish with a brush on such a large area is not an option. What is the best type of roll that I can use?
What mechanical means can I use over a large area to make sure it's evenly and finely sanded prior to applying the second coat?

As implied by @keshlam in his comment, you should do some reading about finishing wood floors with waterborne finishes.

waterborne finishes are typically applied in several thick coats, it is especially important on woods that are prone to raised grain; the thick coats will bury the raised grain.
for large areas, water based varnish is most often applied with synthetic applicator pads, working quickly to maintain a wet edge. A brush is used along edges and in corners.
required large area sanding between coats is often accomplished using a stand-up random-orbit vibrating sander specifically designed for use on flooring. Supplemented by use of a hand-held sander along edges and corners.

You should visit a good paint shop near you, much advice can be had. Often these shops rent the equipment needed as well.


Cosmetic fix for installing decking board when not parallel to house? I am expanding the deck that goes very far (35 x 48 feet ~ 1000 sqft). So I am pretty sure the further end will not perfectly parallel to the house. It could be 1-2 inch off from one end to the other end.

Imagine a scenario like this:

If I start to install the composite decking starting from the house, the one near the last board will end up like the red rectangle in the photo. So should I cut the last board in a weird way (one end is shorter than the other end)?

It's composite decking board so I cannot "play" with the gaps by having larger gaps or something like that. So I came up with few options:

Option 1:

I am thinking about doing the "picture frame" method around the edges by installing #1 and #2. Then at the end, I will install #3 (as photo below). But then I am wondering how many inches a composite decking board and "hangover" the edge of the trim joists?

Option 2:

Without using picture frame method, I would start installing the boards from the further end of the house. This will result in the odd looking board near the house right at the foot step. I am assuming it's "harder" to see the imperfection this way?

What would be the best cosmetic way to manage situation like this?

Look like I found my own answer here: trex.com/trex/groups/content/documents/document/trex_004114.pdf as basically you could have 2.5 overhang and you can screw from bottom up at 45 degree angle. Interesting! If you the deck is totally not parallel and has more than 3 inches offset. I imagine the easy way to fix would be to "double" the trim joists with another joist that has spacer at one end?


How can I correct a crowned floor joist? In my son's bedroom there is a raised spot in the floor along one of the joists. I went into the crawlspace with a level and that joist is bowed up about 3/4" to 1" compared to the other joists on either side of it.

Best I can tell, this may have been like this when the subfloor went down as the subfloor is well attached to the joists in this area. Also, the blocking isn't flush with the bottom of the crowned joist where it peaks. Everything else around this one joist looks okay and I'm not noticing any signs of settling in the drywall inside or the brick outside.

I noticed the raised spot shortly after we bought the house a few years ago, but recent furniture placement has made it incredibly obvious. I don't think it has gotten any worse since then. Is there anything else I need to look for that might indicate a serious problem?

If the problem is just this one joist being bowed up as I suspect, what are my options to remedy the situation? Is there any way that I can pull it down from below?

EDIT

After thinking about this some, would it be possible to attach a piece of steel angle or t bar to the crowned joist with lag bolts and use the joists on either side to pull it down?

Pretty simple to fix if you have access from underneath. I would start by adding a couple of 2x4 with screws underneath several of the joists on each side of the problem joist.

Next, cut the joist vertically at the location where the bump is. This will let the joist sag down on top of the 2x4 braces that you added.

Finally add a sister next to the joist that you cut. The simplest thing to do is to use a piece of wood of equivalent size as the existing joist. It is glued onto the existing joist with construction adhesive and then bolted together securely with closely-spaced bolts.


Rewire switched bathroom receptacle to always be hot I currently have a light switch in my bathroom that controls the light and also the only outlet.  Can I remove the bypass the switch so the outlet stays hot or do I need to run a new line for the outlet?

I doubt anyone would intentionally wire a bathroom receptacle this way.  They either made a mistake making the connections / splices, which can easily be corrected, or they ran the wiring wrong, which is more much difficult to correct.

You can correct the problem without correcting the wiring if you convert to a smart switch.  If the switch box doesn't have a neutral present, this will limit your choice of smart switch, but it is still doable.

You could also remove the switch so the light and receptacle always have power, and use a light with a pull cord switch - it's perfectly sound electrically, but it's not really done in the US any more.


Is this double tap for a subpanel a problem? I've been reading posts but am still a little confused on this as each situation is slightly different and I am not familiar with the terminology.

Main breaker has two larger wires coming into it.  The second one feeds a panel in the garage, which was an addition.  Panel has 3 circuit breakers in it.

Here is picture. My home inspector mentioned it as a problem. Do I need to deal with this?

My bet is your panel is full and someone wanted to add the shed subpanel anyways so they simply fed it into the utility connection to the panel. There's several problems here

They're mixing aluminum and copper. This is dangerous because the wires can corrode like this. Corroded aluminum is a fire hazard
There's no way to cut the subpanel off. I'm sure someone can quote the relevant NEC, but there's a few reasons you connect wires in the panel to a circuit breaker, and one of them is you want to be able to cut the power to that wire
Even if the subpanel has a breaker, there's a risk that the wires double-tapped can exceed their design limits (which is the other major function of a breaker). If they do, the insulation can melt and now you have unrestricted current flowing straight from the utility, likely meaning fire.

If your panel is full, you'll want a subpanel by the main panel to hook this to. That likely means you'll need an electrician. It's a mess, but I wouldn't leave this as-is.


How to fix pitched floors in a brick building I'm looking at a property the was built in the lat 1800s. It's a 3 level brick building with two other building of similar stature on each side. I too a quick look at the second floor, and it pitches quite a bit throughout. (probably 5inches for 10 feet in various directions). I'm wondering what options I would have for leveling the floor in this type of structure. I think most of the movement is simply from 100 years of settling.

Huge RED FLAG !  5 or more inches of floor displacement is a condition for serious concern. There are a number of reasons that could cause this condition. If you are not experienced in structural inspections, I'd highly recommend getting an inspector or structural engineer in there before you buy a serious problem.

The fact that it is also sharing common walls with other units complicates some repair scenarios. Get a pro in there and also get quotes based on the engineer's recommendations.


How do I safely paint the walls and ceiling in this high ceiling staircase? I need to paint the walls and ceiling in this staircase. The ceiling is flat, and does not slope down with the stairs. That means that the ceiling at the bottom of the stairs is very high.

The walls and ceiling will be a different colour, so I need to be able to use a paintbrush to "cut in" under the coving.

How do I safely paint this?

I am in the UK (in case anyone wants to recommend a tool hire company).

P.S. The test colours on the wall are not the colours I'm using.

There are three ways:

1) Lean a ladder against the lower wall, put boards connecting it with an upper stair, and put a ladder on top of that.

2) Use a baker scaffold.  Baker scaffolds can be set up with varying height legs. Then put a ladder on the baker scaffold.  This is my recommended solution.

3) Use a 2 wheel edging paint pad that will allow you to cut-in using a pole.
http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/f/FDDEDGPD/

If you are really careful, this might even look ok.


What kind of saw should I use for cutting thin metal? A rather strange issue has occurred where I moved into a house and there was a lot of junk, the majority of which turns out to be useful, but there is a big set of blinds encased in a 2 meter unit made of metal.  To get rid of this, I either have to drive to the local dump or if I can cut it in half, the refuse collectors will take it.

So I realised I don't have a tool for cutting this.  I only have a wood saw (my tool collection is growing, but limited).

The question really is, what do I need to cut this thin, long metal casing in half.  I have used saws that do this kind of thing in the past, but don't own one.  I really don't want something over-elaborate - does a hacksaw or a jigsaw do this kind of work?

A hacksaw would definitely get the job done. If you're looking for a power-tool version, a Reciprocating saw is the (fun) way to go.

Probably not a good thing to use a jig saw on as usually they are intended for making more precise cuts, hence are slower.


short-term high humidity due to rain I know that indoor humidity should be <60%. If it is 80% for a week due to a week of rain, is this a problem, if when it stops raining it returns to 50-60%? The house is in PA, where humidity is not always a problem (like FL), but we have had very high levels outside for a week.

Above 60%, mold spores multiply and people with respiratory issues become uncomfortable. It should go back down soon with no major issues other than a slight permanent increase in the amount of musty smells in the house when all the windows are closed due to the new mold spores. Don't let it stay above 80% for extended periods of time, though. If you're bothered, run your AC or use a dehumidifier.


Wiring for Outdoor Garage Lights I installed two outdoor garage lights using 14/2 MC Armorlite Cable. The lights are only 8.8 watts and have day/night sensors. I connected the wiring to a garage door opener dedicated 20 amp circuit on the ceiling. This circuit has one duplex 20 amp receptacle for the garage door opener plug. The new outdoor lights 14/2 wires are fed into that box. I now realize that the wiring is not correct. I should have used 12/2 wiring. Upon advice from a friend/electrician I replaced the 20 amp breaker with a 15 amp breaker and replaced the 20 amp receptacle with a 15 amp receptacle. Is this allowed? For safety, should I replace the wiring from the outdoor lights to the garage door receptacle with 12/2 wire?
Thank you for your advice.

Your friend gave you good advice. Breakers are sized by the smallest wire in the circuit. Since you added 14/2 to the circuit, a 15 AMP breaker is the maximum allowed. Replacing the receptacle was needed too. The 14/2 you installed is fine since you replaced the breaker.


How can I build a vertical hinging stair safety rail/siding? I live in a New York apartment and want to use the loft bedroom for 4 year old daughter.

The stairs are wooden slats built into the wall but completely open on one side...there is no safety rail/guard.  Due to how tight the space is, we need a safety rail that can be hinged down when we need to carry things up the stairs.

I was thinking of a piece of wood with a hinge that allows it to go straight up or down but lock in the up position.  Hinges allow the wood to move up/down but only come out a few inches while happening. There is not enough room for something to swing down through 180 degrees, it needs to stay in a vertical plane but can move laterally a few inches while going up/down.

Can anyone suggest what is the name of the hinge I need or idea for where to look ?

Why not consider that the times when you need to move big things up and down the narrow stairs would be seldom and under specifically controlled conditions. For example think of a strategy where you only have the rail open when moving furniture up and down from the loft. This strategy can put a whole different spin on the type of scheme that you could use for temporarily removing the railing.

One approach could be to build the railing unit up in one or two sections and then bolt it into place using lag bolts or hex head bolts and T-Nuts embedded into the "mount to" frame if the stairway.

Another approach could utilize a mounting that worked much like the stake pockets used for truck and wagon side boards. These brackets look something like this:

This picture gives an idea of how these are utilized for trailer sides:

A similar scheme could be used for your railing whereby the sections of the railing could be simply lifted up to take them out and away for the furniture moving scenario. For safety sake a screw could easily be added through the bracket into the post to prevent accidental lifting out.


Replace breaker with Tandem I am trying to get some extra space in my panel and am having a hard time finding a tandem breaker that will fit in this box (see photo), can anyone help?

All we can see is QP and hom breakers  we need to see the texts printed on the panel to provide help. The breakers need to be listed for the panel. , since this information is lacking a code compliant recommendation is impossible. Square D panel has Non CTL breakers and double stuff breakers but we need to know the type of panel to suggest a code compliant breaker.

Added with the panel photo;
 that is a 40-40 panel so you can not use double stuff or cheaters. The proper path forward would to be to add a sub panel to the side. Remove 2 breakers from that panel and use those slots to install a feeder breaker to your sub. The wires for those 2 breakers including the neutrals and ground can be pigtailed or spliced and pulled into the sub then hooked back up. You will need a 4 wire feeder 2 hot 1 neutral and 1 ground to the new sub panel. The ground and neutral need to be isolated so if your new panel has a bonding screw or copper jumper that would need to be removed. This is the only code compliant way to proceed with that panel.


Convert 220v dedicated oven connection to 110v receptacle? I removed a 220V Oven residing on a dedicated circuit using 2 pole 40A breaker. The wire from the breaker to the outlet is 8/3 with red, black, white, and ground.

I would like to move my fridge to this new location. So my thought was to change the 220v outlet to 110v outlet.

Could I remove the circuit breaker and change it to a 20AMP 2 Pole breaker.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-BR-20-Amp-2-Pole-Circuit-Breaker-BR220/100207223

Then wire the exist outlet to a 20A receptacle breaking the Line bridge (one terminal with red wire, the other terminal with black), and having the receptacle share the white neutral (split-wired receptacle)?

Another issue, I don't think I can install a GFCI receptacle in this configuration. If I want to make sure this circuit is GFCI, should I consider using a Ground Fault Circuit Breaker since this is for a fridge?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-BR-20-Amp-2-Pole-Self-Test-Ground-Fault-Circuit-Breaker-GFTCB220CS/206677554

You're creating a multi-wire branch circuit (MWBC).  These have special rules, but you seem to have them covered.

Handle-tied breaker.  Must be on opposite poles.  You've got that covered with a 2-pole, providing you really do mean a 2-pole and not a double-stuff.

Hooking 2 major appliances may be a pain, because most plugs have the cord go right-angle downward (down=ground pin side).  I have a hunch they do that on purpose, to stop you from plugging two major appliances into a single duplex receptacle, presuming that a single 15A or 20A circuit can't support two major appliances.

You will need to pigtail neutral

Of course, in this case you only have one outlet, so you don't need to pigtail neutral.  But you would if you extended this MWBC to another outlet.

However, you will need to pigtail after all, all the wires, because of the impracticability of putting a #8 wire on a receptacle.  Pigtail with #12 wire.

GFCI on fridges, no.

"Should I consider using a Ground Fault (GFCI) circuit breaker since it's a fridge?" No, you should consider avoiding at all costs using a GFCI on a fridge*.  There's absolutely no safety benefit whatsover (provided ground is present): The "hot" equipment is in the bottom back of the fridge, impossible to access without pulling the fridge out. The metal shell and good ground assures any ground faults will be trapped. And you're not likely to drop the fridge in the sink.

The fridge is a safety system: its job is to keep food safe.  It has that in common with a fire pump or radon venting system.  You don't want "dueling safety systems", especially given the nil benefit a GFCI provides a grounded fridge.

"Food getting spoiled" happens by someone noticing the GFCI (breaker) has tripped, and resetting it - often because something else doesn't work.  It never occurs to the person that the fridge has spent the last 11 hours off, and it chills back down with the damage done.

"Hurting someone" happens by the astonishingly common scenario of a caregiver feeding food to a child, elder, or sick/disabled person, who are already vulnerable to food illness. It's common for caretakers to not taste the food (if the caregiver is paid, always; eating client food is stealing).

Even worse, refrigerator makers were caught completely flat-footed by the emerging GFCI and AFCI requirements in kitchens.  They haven't even begun the engineering necessary to prevent refrigerators from generating ground faults or appearing to generate arc faults.  So it's very common to buy a brand new fridge, get a string of nuisance GFCI trips, and be told "tough toenails" by both the dealer and the manufacturer.  Many manuals even say "Do not put on GFCI/AFCI", and UL approves the manual this way.  Which is actually the final word on the subject; you're not allowed to install those on GFCI because the instructions say you can't, and that's how UL approved it.

If I had to put a fridge on GFCI or AFCI, I would put it on an isolation transformer sized for continuous run wattage (VA), so quite a small unit in the 100-300VA range.  Transformers can handle startup spikes just fine.  The transformer would make the GFCI not care about the fridge's internal ground faults, and dampen the arcing signals that make AFCIs trip.

If you want GFCI...

Since I gather you only have a 1-gang opening there, your choices of GFCI are limited.

You can fit a GFCI receptacle here, but that means you'll have to cap off the red wire, and only have one 20A circuit instead of two.

You can fit an $85 2-pole GFCI breaker, and have both MWBC legs protected.   However, they will also trip together, so another appliance could take out your fridge, even if you try my "isolation transformer" approach.  Double trouble...


What is this electrical tool? Can anyone tell me what this might be used for? I found it in a box with some other electrical things, but I don't recall when I got it. It might have come with another tool like a soldering iron.

It's definitely injection molded, and appears to be glass filled nylon as far as I can tell. There are no markings on it.

Very late answer: it's a "pot twiddler" for adjusting trimmer potentiometers (variable resistors) and capacitors. It's plastic so as to be non-conductive and fairly low capacitance, "wire holders" etc. are usually aluminium to withstand heat but not be solderable.
Some of the "high end" ones, e.g. made by Bourns, have a small piece of brass shim as the screwdriver tip to make it last longer... I've got one somewhere which must be 30+ years old. There are comparable tools for getting inside inductors, but these are much less important than they used to be in the days of superhet radios.


What do you call the rubber strip attached to cupboard door? My bathroom has a white cabinet, where one of the doors has an adhesive rubber strip running down the inside of the door.

This is so when both doors are closed, you cant see a big black gap in the space where the door edges meet.

I need to replace one of them, as it has shattered, but Ive no idea what to search for? Do these little babies have a name?

I would probably call it a back plate, a span strip or a draft blocker.

I would probably be wrong, but that's what I would call them.  I've never shopped for one on their own, I usually fabricate such things out of strips of hobby wood.


Getting rid of hard wire for dishwasher I'm installing a new dishwasher.  I would like to go with a plug and outlet even though the old one was hardwired into the house.  What do I do to take care of the hardwire line?

Purchase an appliance cord, at least 6' long. Route the power cable from the house for the dishwasher into the the under sink space.  Install a electrical box and conventional receptacle on this power line.  Fix it to the back wall of the sink base.  Route the cord from the dish washer into the sink base together with the water lines. Plug this cord into the new receptacle. P.


How can I eliminate an odor in an unvented bathroom? I have a very small bathroom in my office.  The said bathroom is unventilated.  Obviously it leads to a foul smell in the bathroom.  Please suggest to me some method by which the foul smell can be eliminated.

Install a fan vented to the outside
Install a fan with a carbon filter that recirculates air
Spray a deordorizer/fragrance
Put a clothes-pin over your nose
Eat foods that result to less foul smelling bowel movements
Close the door and hope for the best


How to protect exterior galvanized flashing? With ships, they'll bolt zinc blocks on, can I "re-galvanize" metal?

I ask as I have some flashing that was likely installed in 1938. It was galvanized and is in reasonably good shape.  But replacing it would be very expensive and hard, as it laps under the stucco.  What can do to extend its life?  Or will it rust under the stucco first anyway, making a external treatment moot?

Here's the specific flashing, with two rows of tile removed:

Oh finally a picture. Thank You! Yeah, you could flash over it with galvanized, aluminum, copper or stainless. But, the problem is cutting it in. You'd want to match the cut-in on the chimney all the way up the roof slope's wall. That's to do it right.

But, plenty of guys cover the old with new to just caulk & screw the new stuff to the wall. It's asking for future problems, but if maintained (re-caulked repeatedly) can last the life of the roof.


Can I re-grout if there is possibility of mold/mildew behind shower? We have a problem with psocids in our bathroom, which like to feed on mildew. They come and go out of gaps and holes in the shower grout. I am thus under the impression that there may be mold and mildew behind the tiles.

I have been reading a lot about removing grout and redoing the grout between our tiles. If there is a mildew issue behind the tiles, will re-grouting will be useless? I want to get rid of the cracking and crumbling grout to seal out bugs, but am afraid to seal in any mold or mildew. Any suggestions that don't include a full bath makeover?

This is the current state of the shower ledge, where it seems to be the worst

This is really impossible to answer without opening it up more.  But basically it depends on the damage already done.  What you really need to do is clean this shower (bleach) and take out any loose pieces.  And let it sit for a week.  Also try to keep the humidity in the room low too.

If nothing grows back and your tiles are structurally bonding you can grout over.  You need to get rid of as much as the old grout as possible.  Then you need to let grout sit a while after putting it in - at least 3-4 days.  I would even introduce heat to the room and have done this before.

You need to sap the moisture and humidity out of the walls.  Then you need to seal the new grout.  Even if you have mold/mildew on the walls (unless it is extremely bad) it will soon die off due to lack of air/water.  Note that there could be issues inside the wall or on the other side I am not addressing.

This advice is nothing more than a logical guess from someone who has flipped a lot of houses with bathrooms like these.  I would normally try to look at the wall from the other side if possible and have cut out huge sections to look.   If this is your only shower this is going to be tough to do but I certainly wouldn't go through the trouble of cleaning, getting rid of old grout, and regrouting before properly drying out the shower.  I have demo'ed showers full of mold/mildew before with drywall behind and find almost no signs of damage.  At the same time I have demo'ed showers with some mold in one corner and that water leak caused mold on everything behind it.  If you can see this wall from the other side and it is concrete board (can take a tile off too) then I would be very confident in just letting this thing dry out and regrouting.


Wiring a Double Pole Thermostat to Replace a Single Pole 240 Thermostat I am attempting to wire a new double pole four wire 240 volt thermostat to replace the single pole thermostat that is pictured.  Coming into the junction box on the right are two Komax lines.  On the left side of the box one line is going out. You can see two black wires connected (lower red wire nut) to the black wire of the old thermostat.  Also on the right side are several white wires (neutrals) connected by a red wire nut.
The red wire coming off of the thermostat is connected to the single black wire.
Attached is also a wiring diagram.  I guess my main question is how do I determine which of the wires is coming in from the panel and which is going to the heater?  Any suggestions or thoughts are greatly appreciated.....

<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RkzQ9.jpg" alt="circuit box
" />

You have EITHER... supply power being split here to power other thermostats... OR... this thermostat controlling two heaters.  Don't know, don't care if the thermostat doesn't.
Let's convert this thing to 4 wires.
A "Cable" is several "wires" inside a sheath, which you seem to grasp.  We're going to label the cables A1, A2 and B (not really, we can't reach them, but pretend).  Turn the power off.
If you look at the wire-nut with 3 black wires, it includes these 3:

Black "A" pigtail to the thermostat
cable A1 black
cable A2 black

So, I want you to follow A1 and A2 blacks back to their cables.  Those will be black A1 and A2.  Follow those back to their respective cables, so you can identify White A1 and White A2.
Get a new white pigtail wire, and wire these exactly like the blacks. Add pigtail White A, which splices to White A1 and White A2 with a red or tan wire nut.
The remaining black and white from the wall are Black B and White B.
Now, if you ignore the pigtails, you have 4 wires: White A, Black A, White B and Black B.
Now you can hook up the thermostat as instructed.

By the way, wire-nut-wise, those Scotchlok wire nuts are garbage. 3M is a great company but these were a miss... and they're not reusable, and the products on the market today are vastly superior.  If you're not touching them, you can leave them alone. But if you have to disturb one, throw it in the trash and replace it with an Ideal brand nut.


What Happens When a Copper Wired Component is Introduced into an Antique Lamp with Aluminum Wiring? A couple years ago I inherited a reading lamp my Grandfather gave my Grandmother back in the 40s. It was functional, except the 3-way rotary switch needed to be replaced. The new switch had copper strand wiring, whereas the lamp's wiring was aluminum strand. Now I'm hearing it's not advisable to mate copper to aluminum. Too late, I already did. Using butt connectors. Am I in for problems?

I doubt it was aluminum wiring , in fact silver or tinned copper is more likely for fixture wire , butt connectors would work ok for either of the 2. If aluminum corrosion may have already started. I would check for signs of thermal stress at the connectors. I actually have run into silver several times because silver was available at times when copper was not but including solid silver buss bars . I have never seen aluminum fixture wire.
Note tinned copper looks just like aluminum but aluminum is brittle and just a bend or 2 it starts cracking and breaks. But I doubt it is aluminum.


How can I dry out our attic and prevent mold? What is the best way to dry out our attic. While putting away Christmas deco I noticed black mold on the ceiling. We don't have the money to pay a professional to get rid of it. And with the cold weather it isn't drying. We stopped using the bathroom vent which put the moisture in the attic in the first place. I just need some info on how to get it completely dry before we start to get rid of the mold. The bathroom vent is now going blowing outside..this is a big mess no leaks from the roof just from the moisture from the fan.

If you can get to it, try spaying it down with a diluted bleach solution. Then see if the dry winter weather kills it off.

You may have already removed its source of moisture and depending on how much there is it may die off on its own.

You should check it periodically to make sure it doesn't get any bigger.

Happy Sunday!


Tiny White Insects Under Peeling Stucco I'm having trouble identifying some insects I came across crawling around my foundation outdoors. This is in southwest Ontario.

On two sides of my house the foundation concrete is covered with a layer of plaster or stucco, not exactly sure what it it. It's bumpy in texture, and simply covers the foundation up to where the brick begins.

On one side of the house this stuff is cracking and peeling off of the concrete, in some cases taking a few mm of concrete with it.

I'm peeling it off where it is loose so moisture doesn't get stuck there, and while I'm doing this I notice the are lots of very fast, tiny insects, 1 or 2mm in length, impossible to see features, can't photograph them.

(Wolf spiders seem to love them, as they had a bonanza when I peeled some of the chunks away. )

I also have ant hills nearby, as this is by my patio and near the air conditioning unit, which makes a lot of moisture in the humid summer days.

These definitely aren't ants, way too small.

The only white insects I can think of are subterranean termites, but from what I can tell, they should be much larger than this (closer to 1/4", 4x the length or more), plus they should have visible mandibles. Although, I'm still worried they might be termites.

I'm planning on pulling off all of this stucco to rid myself of this moisture trap, but I'm still worried about the insects. Any ideas on what they might be?

Do an Image search for "Psocids" or "book lice" or "bark lice" and see if they fit what you saw. They are not really lice, they are a type of mite and they feed on molds that grow in damp places like under the bark of trees (or old wet books), which your flaky stucco may have been similar to from their perspective. They kind of look like tiny tiny termites, but without the mandibles. They are harmless.


Basic power tool set for Home repair and simple projects I have a feeling this has been asked before, but I didn't find it here.  I've read a number of websites and there always seem to be a little fluff and maybe this favorite tool or that.

I'm thinking about putting together some basic home repair toolboxes for my twin boys who recently moved out on their own.  They already have sets of mechanics tools, needle nose pliers, ratchet sets, and so on, and one boy has a set of electronics tools, but if anything goes funky in the house, I get the call or at least have to loan them my tools.

Here is what I'm thinking So far:

Corded Power Drill
Corded Circular Saw
100' heavy duty Extension Cord
Level
Speed Square
Bit Drivers
Hand Saw
C-Clamps
Miter Box
Hammer
Crow Bar
Saw Horse clamps
Black and Decker Workhorse table and vise thingy.
A wheeled dolly kind of toolbox, think Stanley Fat Max thing.

What else would you recommend?  What unnecessary fluff have I included?  Are there name brands that are good, but not extremely expensive.  What name brands to avoid.

Edit:  As I am not a consistent power tool user, I tend to distrust cordless tools.  I know battery tech is vastly beyond what I used to use, but there is nothing more aggravating than not being able to use a tool because a dead battery.  If they were to make a corded adapter for a cordless tool I'd be all over it.  Also, My corded Ryobi drill has lasted more than 20 years, so....

Shopping sprees are counterproductive

There isn't a Great Depression coming up, and this isn't an expedition to Mars.

Buy what you need... when you need it.

As far as circular saws, I can't remember the last time I used one or even missed having one.  I think their danger:utility ratio is pretty poor.  What I've found indispensable, however, is a built-in radial arm saw with lead-in and exit tables. Wow, what a useful tool!

I have a sawzall I used once.

Forget the wheeled dolly toolbox.  Tool boxes are personal choices. Get them a Home Depot gift card instead and let them figure out what works for them.

The one thing I really do recommend, because they will never find it on their own, is a speed wrench + bit holder in lieu of a cordless drill to drive screws.  It's much more efficient than you'd think, and does several things for you.

exceptionally good control. No more blown through or buried screws.
you can leave the drill bit in the drill
which makes pre-drilling holes more sensible, giving better work and fewer splits
does not steal battery power from the drilling task


Can furring strips be installed diretly to a cinderblock wall not in a basement? I've tried finding a definitive answer but it's far more common for folks to have block walls in basements that need to be furred out, so the information deals primarily with that and I believe this is different.

Problem:

The original owner of the home I just purchased used a combination of 1/2" and 3/4" high-grade plywood as wall coverings. Some of it was furred out to accommodate a pocket door and electricity, but the entire section of the perimeter (exterior) cinderblock wall has the wood nailed/glued directly to it. The wood has no signs of water damage of any kind and the wall's exterior has vinyl siding.

Plans:

Ultimately I want to go with drywall. I plan to install furring strips to attach the drywall to. Originally I looked into the $.99 - 1x2s for price and space saving, but I imagine I'll break half of them when I start screwing the board up. Same goes for the 2x2. In addition, they aren't treated, but neither are the 1x3 strips I've seen being recommended (again in a different context).

I'm now thinking of using pressure treated 2x4s mounted wide-side-down just for piece of mind and plenty of space for shallow j-boxes. I would mount them 24" on center with either tap-cons or ramset. I plan to have the assembly entirely held by the wall.

Question?

Are there any moisture considerations when mounting furring strips to a cinderblock wall not in a basement but with an exterior side?

I've read it's always an issue mounting untreated wood to concrete or other porous material, but he amount of time - about 25 years - and the lack of damage make me question this.

Are there any other processes that can be used to accomplish this if it is a problem (i.e.; sealing the wall, painting the wood with a special product, etc.)?

This is related to your question, but something I felt like commenting on: since your CMU exterior walls are covered up with vinyl siding, you have a perfect opportunity to insulate your house, which should give you quite a lot of bang for buck given that it currently has none. Remove the vinyl siding (carefully), cover the CMUs with 3+ inches of rigid foam or mineral wool boards, and then re-install the siding right over that. The difference in comfort and utility bills should be dramatic.


Could these white fluffy spots on the wood in my attic be be mold? I am currently living in Vancouver area, recently I got a leak in my roof but my roofer already fixed it yesterday.
After the day it was repaired  I went up to our attic to check if if everything was OK  and no more leaks but I   noticed this white something (maybe mold) growing in some of part of my wood.
I read on the internet that you can kill molds with a bleach solution and wipe it with paper towel? I am not sure if this would be safe to do in my attic.
Is this dangerous that I need to call professional immediately?

I’m 99% sure this is mildew/mold caused by the high humidity level in leaky attic.  Hopefully the moisture levels will come down now that the leak is fixed.
It would be wise to spray the areas with a non chlorine mold killer like Concrobium
For the next few weeks check humidity levels in the attic.  If they remain high you may need to ventilate the attic better.


Extend direct burial electrical cable There is a direct burial electrical cable running from my house to the shed in the back of my garden.  This had been put in years ago, was inspected by a certificate electrician and confirmed as correct/valid installation.  If I had my ways, it would have been put in a conduit, but it wasn't.
The cable is connected to a separate 30A RCD in the CU in the cupboard, from there it goes under the floor, runs for about 6 meters to the rear wall, and then about another 20 meters direct burial under ground to the shed.  It then rises straight into the shed from under the shed's floor and connects to a sub-panel in the shed. In the shed, this powers a light fixture (led flood light - 20W) and a receptacle, which in my 10 years in the house has only been used for electric lawn mower and some hand-held tools (e.g. angle grinder).
The shed has lived its useful life and I will be replacing it soon.  When I replace it, I want to put the new shed further away from the house and the existing cable is too short - by about 2 meters or so. What are my options to extend this cable to the new shed location?  Ideally, I'd like to keep all of the cable underground, but I'm not sure if a junction box can be buried.
To the best of my knowledge, it's this cable.  I am in the UK.

In the UK, I think the rules are similar to the US and Canada in that you can't bury a junction box, but you can bury a splice, except in the UK you don't call it a splice you call it a joint.
The hardware used to make the splice / joint must be rated suitable for direct burial.  If you search for "resin joint kits," you'll find something suitable, such as the 3M™ Scotchcast™ Resin kit Series 92-NBA.
Since repairing or extending underground cables comes up all the time, I'd be surprised if they were not readily available in local stores.


What is a fireplace facing and what is it used for? I live in an old house and have a wood-burning brick fireplace with no facing or mantle.  I recently had a chimney sweep and inspection. The inspector recommended that I install a fireplace facing. I thought that facings were purely aesthetic. But the inspector did not clearly explain why it was necessary, nor could I find a clear answer on the web.

Why should I install a facing, and are there any kinds of materials that are better than others?

A modern, properly installed fireplace should not require a mantle to catch smoke; they are purely decorative. I believe Nathan was referring to the glass doors and metal screen that an indoor fireplace does require to be safe. Also that the inspector may have been referring to the surround (protects the walls around the fireplace and is often topped by a decorative mantel); the masonry directly adjacent the fireplace, on the walls and including a section of the floor.

The white mantle is decorative. The exposed hearth and the tile surround are functional.

In order to lower the risk when using your fireplace, you should:
Keep all combustibles a safe distance away from the hearth.
Use a fire screen to prevent sparks.
Install a spark arrester at the top of the flue to guard against roof fires.
Keep a fire extinguisher handy.
Install smoke detectors on every level of your home. You should also have a carbon monoxide detector.

Code -rumford.com (note, masonry fireplace; for steel-box construction consult the manufacturer)

R1001.11 Fireplace clearance. All wood beams, joists, studs and other combustible material shall have a clearance of not less than 2 inches (51 mm) from the front faces and sides of masonry fireplaces and not less than 4 inches (102 mm) from the back faces of masonry fireplaces. The air space shall not be filled, except to provide fire blocking in accordance with Section R1003.13.
Exceptions:

When masonry fireplaces are part of masonry or concrete walls, combustible materials shall not be in contact with the masonry or concrete walls less than 12 inches (305 mm)from the inside surface of the nearest firebox lining.

Exposed combustible trim and the edges of sheathing materials such as wood siding, flooring and drywall shall be permitted to abut the masonry fireplace side walls and hearth extension in accordance with Figure R1003.12, provided such combustible trim or sheathing is a minimum of 12 inches (305 mm) from the inside surface of the nearest firebox lining.

Exposed combustible mantels or trim may be placed directly on the masonry fireplace front surrounding the fireplace opening providing such combustible materials shall not be placed within 6 inches (152 mm) of a fireplace opening. Combustible material within 12 inches (306 mm) of the fireplace opening shall not project more than 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) for each 1-inch (25.4 mm) distance from such an opening.

Under my interpretation of #4, the mantle pictured is to close to the edge of the fireplace (~8") to stick out so far (~4"). It isn't the best picture to show a safe fireplace. Merely, it does a good job showing a useless mantle. It lacks doors and a screen but at least they attempted to keep combustibles (drywall) one foot from the opening in every direction.


what ground cover to use under bike storage shelter? I recently built a lean-to style bike shelter in the yard; no walls, with a sloping roof, and big enough for 4 or 5 bikes.

At the moment it's bare earth on the ground, does anyone have any suggestions for ground cover? I can't pour concrete because of my city's bylaws and the bikes have to be able to stand up with their kickstands.

Thanks!

phanmo

Are you able to put down bricks or cobblestones?  Or Pre-cast concrete pavers?

Ideally you want a hard surface that won't be muddy in the rain, and will allow rainwater to drain off.  It should therefore stand slightly higher than the nearest drain.

Bicycles aren't heavy, but you still want a flat base layer of compacted sand to support the pavers/bricks, to prevent them moving and cracking.  The base layer would need to resist washing out in rain too.   A good base layer helps keep all your pavers/bricks level to prevent trip hazard.

Lastly, you will want some way to lock up your bikes too, which probably means some kind of hasp or loop or shackle to secure your bike's lock.  I'd also put hooks in the inside for things like helmets and wet coats.


How to cleanly remove, and reuse, an area of plasterboard (drywall) Has anyone been able to cleanly remove, and then reuse in its original area, a piece of plasterboard (or 'drywall')?
My plan is to remove an area of plasterboard in my walk-in-wardrobe, which is the same wall that is behind my bathroom sink, in order to check if pipes are unloose. [The house was built in 2008, in Melbourne, Australia. This would be a non-load bearing, timber-framed wall.]. I would like to reuse and put back as much of the housing matter as possible

Firstly, I guess I have to remove the skirting board (or 'base board'). I thought this answer on the forum was pretty good at explaining how to do this. However, my problem here is that the ends of the skirting board inside my walk-in-wardrobe are cut diagonally (Please find a photo of the area attached) This means that the adjoining skirting board, at 90 degrees to it, would prevent me from pulling this out horizontally. Additionally, it would be hard to pull it out vertically, because it would have been nailed in. I guess I would have to make a cut in my skirting board towards the ends, so that I can pull it out horizontally?

Secondly, I would like to only remove as much plasterboard as needed for the job. The actual water outlets for the bathroom sink are only about 650mm (~2.13 ft) off the floor (Please find a photo of the area attached). As such, I don't think we need to remove plasterboard from the whole 2.4 m (~7.87 ft) of wall? Given that my wall is 2.4 m high, I am guessing the builders used two pieces of 1.2 m plasterboard.
Would you recommend I try to find the middle section, where these two ends meet, and use this as the upper limit where I cut until? However, during construction, the wall's plasterboards would have been installed first, and then the timber floor boards. The timber floor boards are about 18mm (0.7 in) deep. As such, would this make it difficult to pull out the bottom bit of the plasterboard?

[A brief history:
There has been a ticking/tapping sound, behind my bathroom wall for the past two years, which has gotten louder over the years. It happens during and intermittently after I switch off the tap. My bedroom is behind the wall of my bathroom (the same wall that the sink is against). I can also hear the tapping sound when other taps are opened/closed around the house, for example, when a sink in the other bathroom is used or when the kitchen sink downstairs is used. The tapping occurs intermittently, for many minutes, after the last spigot in the house is closed. I usually can only have complete peace in the middle of the night, when no one has turned on a tap for a long time.
My bathroom is on the 2nd floor. This area is about the furthest in the house from the water mains. (I noticed the sound started shortly after doing some plumbing work where I had drained the pipes in the house. Unfortunately, not knowing at the time, instead of slowly turning the taps on starting from the closest to the water mains, the first tap I opened was my bathroom tap. There was that loud, water sputtering. I noticed the ticking sound started in my wall 2-3 weeks later.)
I had previously diagnosed the problem as air in the pipes. I have tried various, unintrusive, means of trying the get rid of the air, for example, draining the pipes and then slowly turning the taps back on starting from the closest to the water mains, all the way back to my bathroom. However, these have not worked to get rid of the noise. So I have concluded that the initial incident 2 years ago must have loosened some pipe fixture behind my bathroom sink.]

It's not practical or cost efficient (even with "free" labor) to remove drywall for reuse.
However, since what you are (evidently) "really" after is an access panel to your piping, you might get away with the following:

Identify via strong magnet locating lines of fasteners, or your
stud-finding method of choice where the studs are.
Identify as closely as possible by measurement where your pipes of interest are.
Cut from stud to stud somewhat above and below the area of interest, to provide adequate working room. Cut along side the studs to release that section of plasterboard, and remove it.
Do whatever needs doing in there.
Realize that plumbing access panels are a Good Thing® and frame the opening with some simple wood strips
Install a wooden panel slightly larger than the hole or use the cut-out plasterboard as a panel screwed to your strips
If using plasterboard, install some thin wood strips to cover the joint (do not apply joint compound - the whole point is to not have to rip the wall open again the next time, because there will be a next time, if not for you then for the next owner.)


Do I need chemicals if I drain my hot tub after 3 days? I'm installing a free hot tub I got and I'm looking for ways to use it without chlorine, bromine, balancers, anti-foamers, clarifiers, etc etc. I only plan on using it on weekends and my calculations tell me it costs about $7 to heat my hot tub from cold and water is free and plentiful where I live so my thought is to simply fill it up Friday morning and drain it Sunday night. I will have a cartridge filter running at least 12 hours per day.

How quickly does hot tub water go slimy/green/smelly/cloudy?

Thanks!

Fill it on Friday, and use it all weekend. On Monday you chlorinate it, and let it sit chlorinated all week. This will prevent bacterial growth from taking over your filter. Drain and refill on Friday before the weekend, and don't add chlorine. Once you're done using it for the weekend, add chlorine. Rinse and repeat next Friday before the weekend.

I assume your intentions are to not bathe in chlorine, but hopefully the use of it is acceptable to you for spa maintenance during the week when you're not using it. The small amount left over after a drain and fill is negligible, but you could even drain, partial fill, and drain again if you want to be sure. It'll definitely be less PPM of chlorine than is in city water out of the faucet, but you said that water was free, so you may be speaking about well, rain, or lake water.

If you decide to never treat the water after using it for the weekend, then remove the paper water filter from the water filter housing and replace with either nothing or a perforated metal filter instead. Without any biological control, bacterial will use a paper water filter as a petri dish and grow wild.


What type of equipment do I need to complete this audio setup? I am trying to figure out how to setup audio and TV in a new home. I've got my TV in the family room. I want to buy a surround sound system for that room. I'm guessing i need 5.1 channel speakers for that. I also have 4 rooms in the house that have 2 speakers mounted in the ceiling. The wires for those speakers come out to where the TV is in my family room. What kind of receiver/amplifier do I need to power the TV 5.1 speakers and the speakers throughout the house? I'd like to be able to have the TV on and be listening to something else like the radio in the other rooms. Just need to know what to buy to hook it all up.

There are a million options out there.  The main thing that you need in this setup is finding a receiver that has really good output control - in that you can pick exactly which outputs you want the sound to go to and be able to save those settings... So if you want to go to all rooms you would have an all-room criteria saved, and so on.  You need the receiver and the monitor/module that controls it - usually sold together.  Everything else is all about tastes and how much money you have to spend, and how many controllers you want - you could station wireless controllers around your house.

Don't want to get too off-topic for DIY... You need to be looking at multi-room or multi-zone receivers.  Here is an example.  I am not telling you this is the exact fit for you.  You have a lot of researching and figuring out your requirements.  There are receivers that have monitors that you could station in every room and every room could hear its own thing... lots of $$$.  I would say you need at least 2 zones - living room and bedrooms... Also can you control the sound level in the bedrooms do they just have the speakers wired to the living room?  If you want different sound levels each room will be its own zone.

Also 5.1 isn't a must.  There are tons of surround options from 3 to 9+ speakers.  5.1 was the standard a while back and is fine.  Any multi-room/zone receiver will give you surround abilities (most high end ones do 7.1 or 7.2) in your main living space.


No water flow through zone of water boiler, all other zones working. How to get water flowing? tl;dr - How can I get water flowing through one of my zones of a baseboard boiler heat system?
I have baseboard boiler heat with 10 zones (5 per boiler). One of the zones (unfortunately, it's our bedroom) is cold. I have vented the air using the 2nd floor vent valve. There was some air initially, but water now comes out.
I disassembled the zone value thinking that was the issue, but when I open it up with the valve fully removed (see picture), water flows initially and then stops. When I reconnect everything and open inlet and outlet valves water seems to flow in the reverse direction (i.e., the outlet pipe is warm and inlet pipe is cool (though not cold).
I've been troubleshooting for a few hours, but I'm stumped. Any suggestions?

Edit: Adding more pictures
Here's the system as I have it now:

Here's a picture of the (removed) valve system. It's a Honeywell 40004850 valve.

Edit #2: the saga continues
All valves for the problematic zone have been checked. I took apart the inlet valve (which was dirty but not clogged). My best guess now is that there is a lot of air in the lines preventing flow. This goes from basement to 2nd floor bedroom. They system's pressure if a bit high (>30 psi according to the pressure gauge), but I'm struggling to get the air out.
I've isolated that zone by closing the other 4 for that boiler hoping that I can get some movement of the air.

In my personal experience, this is most often caused by a section of the pipe loop in question being frozen. Tends to be aggravated if there's a setback (automatic or manual) at night causing a long "off" time when the weather is particularly cold, or a woodstove causing a long off time for the boiler. Having a "time override" on the circulator/zone can be helpful in that case (to make it run a few minutes every hour, even if there's no call for heat from the thermostat) since the heating pipes are often located in the coldest edges and corners of the house.
Could also happen due to an air blockage causing no flow in that loop while it's particularly cold out.
I managed to thaw one by making sure the boiler inlet was open to refill it from the auto fill valve and wet-vacuuming (a few gallons of) water from the bleeder until I had hot water to the bleeder, which then warmed enough of the pipe to let the ice clog melt and flow resume. After which, more bleeding, since new water always comes with some dissolved air that needs to be bled out.
A different (long-term) solution to loops freezing is to convert the system to polypropylene glycol and water antifreeze mixture. That complicates the fill procedure: you need a pump (not your circulator, which is optimized for a different sort of pumping) rather than just letting water pressure do the trick and you need a reservoir for the antifreeze (and no leaks, but you want no leaks anyway.)


Using PEX Fittings with Nylon Tubing I'm planning on plumbing my shop for compressed air and I think I want to use nylon tubing, like what comes in the RapidAir kits. I don't want to use PVC for obvious reasons, and though I think PEX could technically work, its temeperature derating curve concerns me given the pressures and temperatures the material would see.

My question is this: has anyone ever used PEX barbed fittings and crimp rings with nylon tube? I'm not a fan of push-to-connect fittings and compression fittings are expensive and difficult to install in tight spaces. I'm sure brass PEX fittings could handle at least 160 psi (what I believe is PEX's maximum rating) and I think the dimensions are compatible with nylon tubing. What do you think? Thanks!

There is a great video on YouTube by "The Build Show" about various PEX and push to connect fittings. They pump them up until they burst. They burst well above the stated ratings. Unfortunately I can't answer the nylon pipe question but check out the video

The Build Show with Matt Risinger 14,000 PSI test

I temporarily installed PEX Airlines and PEX oil line for my best friend who is a mechanic and that was four years ago.


What is this mysterious filter and purpose? Behind the regular HVAC air filter and next to the duct, there is a filter area with some rough filter covering an additional smaller duct. Does anyone have any idea what it is and its purpose?

My guess is that you have a high efficiency furnace and they will have a way to get combustion air separately from the regular air stream. The image below depicts this as "combustion air" toward the top.

In more modern systems the source of that combustion air is a 2nd pipe going outside, so as to not create negative pressure in the living space that ultimately pulls unconditioned air in through cracks and leaks in the walls, doors and windows. Yours may be an earlier version from before they figured that out, so it is taking in the combustion air from the intake grill, but using a filter to keep from introducing dust to the combustion chamber and creating soot. It also means you can change that filter without going outside, so maybe that's deliberate if you live in a cold area.


How should I go about fixing a faulty 240 V Electrical Outlet This afternoon, my wife and I noticed a peculiar smell coming from the garage.  We localized it to a faulty 3-wire 240 V outlet.  Something got really hot resulting in part of the rubber melting on the socket:

Upon further examination, it looks like the socket itself has issues.  Here's a view of it with the cover on:

Here's a view with the cover off (and yes, it's completely powered off at the breaker box :D)

Obviously the dust is a concern. I plan to clean that out.  What concerns me more though is that the black wire appears to be frayed and turned black.  Like it was overheating perhaps?

Here's another view:

I'm prepared to hire an electrician to come out but I'd like to know more about what's going on here so I don't get swindled and spend exactly one billion dollars fixing something that isn't related.

If it helps to clarify, the house is about 50 years old and I'm pretty sure the original romex is still going to this socket.

Questions:

What could cause this issue?
What are the next steps for troubleshooting/repairing?
Would the entire wiring need to be replaced or could this just be a faulty socket?

I'm not in the US, so I used Google to deduce which prong is doing what in this outlet. I'll assume that the left and the right wires are phase wires and the middle wire is the ground.

Note that although the left wire looks melted the right one looks just fine although they usually carry equal currents. So this is not melting due to overload. The most likely scenario is that the left terminal got rusty and its surface resistance raised and so it overheated and this causes minor melting on the left wire.

The signs of burn on the outlet face are quite typical and likely don't indicate a wiring problem. Outlet contacts tend to get loose over time and once that happens they no longer maintain tight contact with the plug contacts. Also when a high load is disconnected an arc can start and this makes the contacts burn and cover with carbon and further increases the resistance. This is more likely to lower quality outlets, but happens just about everywhere.

So the bottom line is the outlet has just worn out and needs careful replacement. Remove the old outlet, clean the exposed wires, carefully connect the new outlet making sure all screws on the terminals are tight. You might want to test the new outlet - plug some high load and let it run for an hour, then trip the breaker, open the outlet cover and check whether there're any signs of warming up.


How will a granite countertop on a floating island affect the laminate floor it sits on? We are looking at upgrading our countertops to granite.  We have a floating laminate floor under a movable island that we don't wish to anchor.  The island would have a 40"x50" top surface.  How does the weight of the granite affect the floor?

A granite slab of the size you describe and 1 1/4 inches thick would weigh about 300 pounds. A 3/4 inch slab, about 200 pounds.

This is on top of an island that may weigh 100 to 300 pounds, depending on how it is constructed. if you add some contents, the total weight with the thicker granite will probably be between 500 and 700 pounds. If people lean on it, this could add another 50 to 100 pounds of pressure.

The maximum weight of the island, top contents and dynamic pressure is probably about 800 pounds. This is divided over four (or more) support points. Each support is carrying about 200 pounds of weight. This is comparable to a good sized person standing on something the size of the area of the support point. If this were a tiny, sharp metal leg, it might well damage the surface of the floor. If it were a wide 3x6 inch board, the risk would be very small.

Tiny metal glides might do damage. Broad teflon slides, probably not. If you need to use wheels, large diameter rubber ones would probably be fine. Using the thinner granite (if it is well supported and doesn't have a significant overhang) might be better.


How-Where should I end this partial skirt-board at the stair? (I have more wood to re-cut a new piece if need be) Stairs into basement

I'm not sure how the skirt-board should mate into the base molding? (Is this correct?)

And most important, where should I end the vertical cut from the stair nose (see arrow below)?

The wall will just be finished smooth with a drywall corner piece and mud finishing off the wall and ceiling.  I'm not planning on putting in trim at this time.

The original contractor had cut the tread too short and I thought this would be a great finish to a mistake I'm stuck with.

I think this is a perfectly good solution as pictured. You could, I suppose, run a little longer at the yellow arrow, but I don't think you'd want to go all the way to a point.

The only thing that offends this trim carpenter is the direction of the grain... I'd have done it in line with the angle of the stairs. (So no end grain on top.)

But a bit of paint, coupled with the fact that this is the stairwell to the basement and anybody else looking at it will think it's marvelous... well, I'd say you're done.


Compatible HVAC filter I need to replace the filter in my HVAC system. What I found at the air handler in the attic is shown in the picture. It says Aprilaire Model 2200 media air cleaner. My questions are:

Is it the filter holder with a filter inside that needs to be replaced or is the whole thing a filter in and of itself and the whole thing needs to be replaced?
Is Modeel 2200 sufficient for compatibility? For instance, is This Product compatible?

Thank you!

Yes, Aprilaire 2200 is what you need to replace the filter.

These air filters can be replaced one of two ways:

Replace the filter paper itself using the existing frame. The paper filter will accordion open to fit in the frame. This option is what the product you listed will do.
Remove the (probably plastic) frame and use a box-style filter to replace it. This stay has the accordion filter in a cardboard frame that you can insert into the furnace then close up. If you do this, just keep the plastic frame so you can go back to method 1 if you want.


How to anchor a shed on a gravel base? I'm planning on building a shed on a sloped area. I've decided to build a gravel pad framed by 6x6's to create a level surface for the shed.

How can I anchor the shed to the gravel pad? (It's required in my area.) Would eye anchors hold in the gravel? Can I attach tie downs to the frame? Any ideas appreciated.

Your anchors can pass through the gravel into the soil/earth below. Ensure that you have anchors of sufficient length to pass requirement for your area and the gravel aspect becomes unimportant. By that, I mean, install the anchors, then place the gravel.

A quick search presented screw-in anchors with 66" total length. If you do not have bedrock at such a shallow depth (for bedrock), you may be able to use such an anchor to meet code.


How can I protect a shed floor from ground moisture? I needed some sort of workshop/storage/playhouse, so I thought I’d build a shed with three sections:

Workshop - 2.4m x2.4m
Storage - 1.2m x 2.4m
Playhouse - 2.4m x 2.4m

Now I intend on turning the playhouse section into a gym, but I have a problem. After four years the OSB3 floor has gone spongy and needs replacing for something stronger to take the weight of the equipment and the duress of what it is to be used for.
I think I know a couple of contributing factors that may have led to the floor deteriorating. The end of the garden has always been soggy. Even in the summer, it takes a good bit of nice weather to dry it out and even then it’s normally only the surface that's dry. I dug up and filled the area (7m(L) x 3m(W) x 0.3m(D) with 40mm gravel and used that for the shed base to sit on.
Also, when building the shed it started to rain, so I covered it in some sticky backed plastic we had lying around (the stuff you use to protect laminate flooring when painting etc) to protect it. As this covering was on the floor, any treatment to it was overlooked and I think the plastic covering didn’t allow the OSB3 to breathe and as such it retained any natural moisture it absorbed over the years, so it went spongy.
The Issue
Now that I’ve pulled the OSB3 floor up, I intend on replacing it with some Spruce floorboards. Obviously, I’d like to not have to do this again in a few years so I’d like to take this time to do everything I’ve thought of in hindsight to protect the base, BUT, I’m not sure what to do.
After the long story, this is where you come in!
These are some of the approaches I’ve thought of, but I’m not sure what’s best:
1... Lift up the shed and lay some DPM on top of the gravel to stop moisture from rising up through the base. As much as I’d like to do this, the shed weight is well in excess of a ton so it’s not an option
2... Lay some DPM OVER the base’s bearers and lay the floorboard on top of it to protect the floorboards, but what about the base under it?
3... Paint all the base’s bearers and the underside of the floorboards in some kind of wood protection (not sure which type)

Wood preserver?
Bitumen?

This is pretty much all the info I can think of, so any help with what to do to help protect and preserve the base and floor would be VERY much appreciated.
I look forward to your responses if you have time.
Thanks!

UPDATE: I've added some photos for reference.

4x2 frame waiting to be covered in 18mm OSB3

Mostly complete bar additional trimmings and sorting the garden

Exposed base after pulling the floor up: THE POINT OF THE POST

I've built several such sheds in a climate that's quite moist and humid in summer. My strategy is to frame the floor with treated lumber, as you've done, then overlay either poly sheeting or house wrap, stapling it to temporarily hold position. You'll need to add some lumber around the perimeter to carry the floor along the walls, so do that first.
For flooring I've used untreated SPF tongue-and-groove plywood, which I give two coats of quality urethane after installation. This is mostly to protect against moisture draining from snow equipment and lawn hoses. I would not use OSB since it's more susceptible to moisture swelling and delamination in wet scenarios. OSB would be fine for the walls.
The first shed lasted 15 years with no serious degradation of the floor. The second one is about 3 years old and doing well. If you wanted to go the extra mile, sealing all sides of the flooring boards before installation would probably do some good in the second and third decades of the shed's life.


Making up a 1/2" difference in subfloor level I have linoleum flooring in the kitchen that is about ~1/2 inch raised from the floor. There is 1/4 ply and two layers of linoleum.
I'll be putting down vinyl flooring and I want to extend it to the rest of the house without a reducer.
I looked for underlayment options but the largest that I found so far is 6mm. Is there another cheap material that I can use for this? The rest of the floor space is 1000 sq ft so it has to be something cost effective.

I doubt you'll find a soft underlayment that's that thick, 1/2". You will probably need to lay down 1/2" plywood and then add your flooring on top of that.
There are many reducer transition pieces if you should decide to keep the new floor lower than the existing one. I know you stated you don't want that but it might end up being a viable alternative.


Which comes first - Flooring or Kitchen Remodel? My wife and I are going to upgrade multiple parts of our house but we really want two key areas completed first, but we're not sure where to start or if we should do then at the same time, which is why I'm here.

We want to install hardwood flooring throughout our house, but we also want to upgrade our kitchen (where hardwood will also be). The kitchen is a galley kitchen that will be remodeled with a new IKEA organization cabinet system/etc and we will also want that new hardwood floor in the kitchen.

Being that I'm a construction noob, which should come first? Hardwood flooring or kitchen? Or does it not matter? Or, is it best done at the same time?

Any tips or help would be appreciated. I just want to make sure I don't open Pandora's box unknowingly by attempting one without doing the other first.

The simple answer is if you are going to put down hardwood in the kitchen, it is usually better to install the entire floor before you put down the new base cabinets. It is much harder to fit hardwood to cabinets than to put the cabinets on top of the floor.  If you were using vinyl sheet goods, I would advise putting down the subflooring then install the cabinets and fit the sheet goods to the cabinets.


I want to waterproof from outside, but my neighbors live 2 ft from us, is it possible? We live in a 90 year old home that has just begun to leak. The walls have always been somewhat damp, but nothing a dehumidifier couldn't help.  We are now interested in waterproofing from the outside, but our neighbors live 2 feet from us.  Some plumbers say this isn't possible, while others say they are looking into it...still haven't heard! Is it possible, or is it safer to waterproof from the inside?  Also I have heard that waterproofing old homes from the outside could be detrimental to the foundation as it should be a little moist, is this true?

you should always stop leaks at the earliest opportunity. whichever way it's getting in that's where you stop it. don't worry about some old tales about keeping foundation a little moist. What do you mean by waterproofing from the outside being difficult because of 2 feet to neighbour? Are you wanting to wrap the wall from the outside? is that where the water is coming in or is it coming in under eaves or behind gutters or leaky roof...or a leaky drainpipe in the soil?
Unfortunatelly when you ask particular trades people about a difficult to locate source of moisture, they typically only say that they can do x y z...and it will cost $$$ but no guarantee it will fix the problem. sometimes it takes years to find the true source of the problem. addressing it is the straight forward part.


How can I protect window air conditioner from bird droppings from above? I live on the second floor in a tall building.
My previous air conditioner (AC) was getting hit several times with pigeon poop. Not only the poop was going inside the unit, or getting stuck on top, but also making a loud noise.
Hoping one day manufacturers will have some kind of built-in protection on top the unit instead of leaving it open (I know it's to help ventilate the unit). Until then...

Ideally I'd like something that would be tilted so poop (and other stuff) can slide down away from the AC. And also would allow rain to clean it. Something that is removable for easy replacement when it gets too dirty would be nice too.

I know AC units are designed to stand this. However I remove my AC from the window every winter (so it frees up the window, etc.) so of course I'd like to protect it from getting more than dust/leafs.

I don't want to simply fully cover the top of the AC with foam. I think this might not even be safe.
Something that would protect the cover while still leaving space for ventilation, and that I could remove and replace with a new cover every summer (that is, not something permanently attached to the window). I was thinking about using brackets attached to the AC, with some kind of material on top (acrylic might be too fragile in a stronger wind/storm, for example?).

I'd like to hear some ideas!

Thanks!

For a long time I had several window ac units and had a similar issue with pigeons, a guy down the street raised them and they loved my house for some reason, I found a piece of sheet metal at an angle kept them from landing on them and when they perched on the gutter as they start to fly they would poop, the angled metal worked I used self adhesive Velcro to hold it in place, when it came time to pull them in the winter I popped them off and cleaned them in the bathtub, I did have to paint 2 of the 3 on the 3rd or 4 th year and after that I found motion activated sprinklers (I still use those today to keep birds out of my pool).


Motor for DIY Remote controlled shades I'm currently undertaking a project to build remote controlled shades from scratch. I currently have every piece figured out except I don't know know much about the motors involved in something like this. I am looking for suggestions on what type of motor to search for. I imagine I need a type that can go forward and back as well as stop when the shade is fully retracted. I don't know what to search for though.

Any help is much appreciated.

You need a gearmotor like the Dayton Model 2L003 .45 RPM 1/2800 hp 12VDC


Is permeable concrete suitable for a houses foundations? I'm curious if using permeable or pervious concrete for all or part of a houses foundations would provide excellent flood protection? Would it be strong enough to support a house and if not could it be used in conjunction with other construction material or normal concrete to achieve this aim? Thank you!

If you want to just let floodwater flow through, use a post-type foundation with either no walls or properly designed lightweight breakaway walls that will not impede water flow - plenty of examples of this in new construction in hurricane-prone areas. Park cars or other incidental storage under the house, let water flow right through when it comes in large quantities. Get it professionally designed so it actually works when the water comes.

I can't see that pervious concrete would have any benefit - if a mass of floodwater strikes it, it acts like a solid wall, with predictable (bad) results. For less massive water flows, it leaks. It's primarily of interest/use for reducing runoff from paved areas such as sidewalks or driveways (water can go through, rather than running off the edges in larger amounts.)


Adding 3 way switches I have a switch that controls the top and bottom of an outlet.  I would like to make the outlet hot all the time.  Additionally I would like to install a light fixture, convert the existing single switch to a 3 way and install a new 3 way switch on a different wall.  @tester101 explained to me how to do something similar yesterday, but without the 3 way switches.  What is the best/easiest way to accomplish this?
EDIT
Switch

Back of the switch

Outlet
Back of outlet

This might help. It's a showing a three way connection with power coming from one switch.


Replacing Outdoor FloodLight I took down an old floodlight that stopped working.  Now that the floodlight is down, I think I see why it is not working.  If you look at the image below, it looks to me like the seal on the floodlight had broken and was allowing water behind it.  We had a heavy thunderstorm last night and the board behind the flood light is pretty saturated.  What concerns me the most is the "burn" marks that appear on the electrical "sheath."  See this image - am I safe to use the same electrical chord even tho it appears to have burn marks on it?  Or should I call an electrician to run me a new line to this location?

(The reason I suggest running a new line, is I have tried to pull the wire to see if I can cut off the burned section and still have enough wire to work with, but when I pull the wire there is no play in it)

EDIT
This is what I took off.  No box included (which confused me, just wires from back of floodlight to wires coming out of wall)

This is EXACTLY WHY connections should be in a fixture or junction box!  You may have had a short directly in contact with wood.   If it were my house, I'd carefully open up that and after determining where exactly the wire goes (so as not to damage it further), cut an opening for a fixture box.  A rotozip would be a good tool to use.  Be sure the power is off to the circuit.  You might be able to fit an "old work" box like this. This would also expose a bit more of the cable to inspect for damage.  The wire might be a bit short to meet code, but that's something you could probably live with.
If you're not comfortable doing this, yes, call a pro.
  Old work box


Hanging a mirror from its wooden frame I intend to use four eye screws, pictured, to hang a wood-framed mirror. The mirror is about 44"x32".

But installing four eye screws (two on the bottom, one on each side, with a cable running through them, finished with a pair of L-shaped 2" screws in a wall stud) makes me unsure the 4 eye screws would be reliable for the 20lb weight.

And so I'd like to use some kind of "platform", sort-of like the one pictured below, that attaches with four screws and that has built-in some kind of loop, similar to the eye screws. I'm guessing that 16 screws would be enough for twice the weight of the mirror—a good safety margin.

A cable wire would then wrap around the four connection points and provide good support. I'd turn the cable into a loop with the contraption pictured below.

What kind of "platform" do I need, and what kind of screws would work?

The solid-wood frame is just shy of 3/4" (17mm) thick, and the frame is of an unknown grain, as pictured below. The only constraint being, to state the obvious, the screws cannot protrude from the face of the frame.

I am at a loss as to what "some kind of "platform", sort-of like the one pictured below " is supposed to do or how it would be used.

I would Use a french cleat and some stand offs on the bottom of equal thickness of the cleat so the mirror hangs parallel to the wall. ( Or adjust the thickness of the standoff to achieve any angle you like )

Another option is to use two D-rings on the back of the mirror with a cable and one or two solid (in structure or toggle anchors) hangers on the wall.  This system is common for heavy mirrors and photographs .

Or another option would be to use Keyhole mounting brackets

The advantage of the D-rings and cable is that you can adjust the mirror to hang straight after it is mounted, but with the cleat and keyhole care must be taken to mount the mirror LEVEL. The D-ring is a more  adjustable system, and the cleat and keyhole are more solid mounts, because the mirror cannot move around—even if bumped slightly—after it is installed.


Any reason not to put a structured wiring enclosure directly next to the house main breaker box? I'm adding CAT6 networking to my house for higher speeds plus some POE cameras.  I want to put the cable modem, switch and camera DVR in a metal structured wiring enclosure.  The best place is the the gap between the studs next to the main breaker box so the enclosure and breaker box would share a stud.  I've checked and there's no physical reason I couldn't install the enclosure there.
Are there any reasons not to put electronic/networking devices directly next to (separated by a stud) the main breaker box?  Interference?  Code?

Wire access space. When you plant something near the breaker box, you can't then enter the breaker box from the area blocked by that something.
You are going to be blocking off (what sounds like) a whole side of your breaker box from access. That can come back to bite when you need to add something later, and really wish that the other box was in the next stud bay leaving an open stud bay, rather than sharing a stud with the electrical box.


Dishwasher error e1 new world My Newworld dishwasher error E1 display. On any program it will drain and fill with cold water but now it no longer sprays hot water after several minutes it drains again and fills with cold water.
Any advice would be much appreciated

If the water is not hot after the DW has initially filled with water there may be too much cold water in the supply line. Try running the hot water from the sink until it feels hot. (The DW water supply is connected to the sinks Hot water lie).
If the water is still not hot enough (it should be heating to about 140F) it may be the heating element inside at the bottom. You'll need a voltage meter to check resistance of the element.
The E1 error code is (from my search) pump related. Specifically discharge of water cycle. As was stated in a previous answer check the drainage discharge flow. It should appear forceful until the cycle ends.
If not you will need to investigate further. Verify there are no obstructions in the DW drain hose. You can do this easily with a flashlight if th hose is opaque. Shine the light along the back of the hose and look for dark anomalies which indicate a solid mass.
If the hose is clear there may be a problem with the pump or the pump discharge port. This check involves removing the DW and disconnecting the service lines (power and water).
Once removed, flip it upside down to expose the pump. It is a round cylindrical-shaped container on the bottom of the motor attached to a large hose (the drain) and a narrower hose (the discharge hose). You should be able to disconnect both hoses and examine the inside for blockage.


Does dark exterior paint hold and transfer more heat to an uninsulated house? We are picking exterior paint colors for our stucco house. The interior walls are plaster and there isn’t insulation in the walls.

I want to stay away from dark colors because I think it will make our house hotter(we live in Southern California where it is sunny most of the year).

Is my concern valid?

If I insulate my walls, will I be able to choose dark colors?

A darker color absorbs more heat so yes it will heat the home more during the day. Your concern is valid. White is the least absorbent color and black is the most absorbent color.


Outdoor box or conduit body? I have a flood light that's not properly mounted and I'd like to run conduit to raise it about two feet higher on a stucco and brick wall.

The wires exit the house via a small, approx. half inch hole ( see photo ). I was planning on using a service entrance LB like this one or a regular conduit body but I just want to make sure this is the most appropriate way to handle wires exiting a house without conduit?

Is using a weatherproof box better than a conduit body in this case?  I think the box would be unnecessarily bulky compared to the conduit body/service entrance LB but what would be the best option to seal it from the weather?

cringe

This was a bodge job from the beginning.  Hole unguarded, NM cable coming outside as if Shelter-in-place was over, fitting intended for octagon box misapplied to mount an outside light, etc.  Is the light even rated for outdoors??

(NM-B is not legal nor reliable outside; this could be tripping a GFCI if it was on it just from hot-ground leakage from insulation breakdown. Meanwhile the paper stuffing is wicking water tens of feet down the cable).

I think a plain old 1/2" conduit body would be perfectly fine as part of a nutritious breakfast - er, proper wiring method.

I would run up the wall with conduit to your desired light location then fit an appropriate box there.  My preference is a box where the flexible cable to the light exits the bottom of the box with a proper liquidtight strain relief; that way when the liquidtight leaks, water still doesn't get in.  You don't want the conduit to turn into a rain superhighway into your house.

The only issue is, you can't run NM cable outside, and UF cable won't fit inside conduit (unless you make it stupid-huge).  That limits you to THHN wire, which works great in conduit (use stranded since you'll be splicing to wire nuts at both ends).  You will need to make a transition from NM to THHN somewhere inside the house, and that requires an accessible junction box to do that.


Can I protect 3 branch circuits with a GFCI outlet? I have 4 sets of wires coming into one outlet. 4 black 4 whites and 4 ground.  1 set is hot when power is on, all the rest are not.  I need to switch the outlet to a gfi outlet.  Is this even safe?

This is easy -- pigtail all the black (hot) wires together except for the one that's actually hot, and do the same with the white (neutral) wires.  Then, connect the hot black/white to the corresponding LINE terminals on the GFCI, and the pigtail black/white to the matching LOAD terminals on the GFCI.  Finally, pigtail all the grounds together and connect them to the GFCI's ground screw.

(If you don't want the rest of the circuit GFCI protected, leave a comment or edit your question.)


Troubleshooting a String of LED Recessed Lighting Fixtures I have 5 LED-based recessed lights on a 3-way switch that are problematic. When I activate the circuit, I rarely get all 5 lights switching on. If I turn them off and back on again, they all work.

They don't come on or go off, whichever ones switch on, remain on. There is also no pattern to which lights come on -- anything from 1 to 5 can come on, and not necessarily in the wired sequence. I have 20+ fixtures and they're all fine, including some installed on another 3-way.

Any tips on where the fault is, or troubleshooting, or do I simply need to replace all the cabling?

I think what everyone is suggesting is that there is something else wrong other than your cabling. If I was called to your home and you described this problem, I would not just come out and say "we need to replace the cabling". What a good service electrician would do is try and isolate the problem.

He would probably pull the switch and inspect it and put a meter on it just to make sure it was working properly. Then he would go about disconnecting all of the recessed cans inspecting each one for damage or burnouts. Once he finished disconnecting the recessed cans. He would then test all of the wiring for any problems. If it is not the wiring or the switch (which it probably isn't) and he hasn't found any defective splices or damage to the can lights, then he would begin to connect each light back up and see if he can duplicate the problem.

What a really good service electrician would do first is to call the manufacturers tech support and first find out if this has occured before and get their input.

Good luck


Why is my orbit/watermaster fuse blowing with brand new solenoid? I have a watermaster (now orbit) timer.
I replaced a bad solenoid with "the only orbit solenoid that fits the hole" at home depot, the Orbit 57861 13V
Now my fuses in the timer immediately blow when I try to use this brand new solenoid, why?

Turns out that new solenoid was a "13V DC solenoid for battery operated timer" and my timer is a watermaster "24v AC" wired timer.
Which apparently causes fuses to blow.  Using the right solenoid it works now.  I had better luck finding them at Lowes, YMMV, they do exist anyway (small head 24V solenoids).


Is it a good idea to paint during Winter? I heard that interior painting is not a very good idea during winter.  How accurate is this statement and why?

Absolutely not accurate!!!!!!   There is no reason not to paint inside as long as temps are above 60F. Today's latex acrylic paints dry fast, adhere well, and apply well in moderate temps.( we always use some flowtrol to make it work longer and spread smoother) Actually, in winter the relative humidity is usually lower, so paint dries faster than in the heat and humidity of summer. Longer dry times lets more dust adhere.   Go for it during the winter, then you will have more time to enjoy the out of doors come summer time!!!!


How is expansion and contraction affected when screwing a solid wood floor to the subfloor? I'm installing 20 mm thick solid oak flooring (180 mm wide, 2000+ mm length) on the second floor of my farmhouse in northern Germany.  Tongue and groove.  "Blind screwing"; same as blind nailing, but special flooring screws with reduced head diameter.  37 square meters.  The subfloor is 15 mm OSB tongue and groove over 24 mm pine or larch planks over substantial beams.  Boards will be laid parallel to the 5+ meter wall, cross wall is 4.4 meter, then expansion gap, then continue into a walk-in closet (room).  Northern Germany is pretty wet, and I'm worried about the natural expansion and contraction of the wood over the seasons.

I did a floating solid oak floor over concrete some years back in a nearby home, also second floor.  Glued the tongues and floated on underlayment.  Despite the small rooms, I'm not too happy with the seasonal gaps.  I suspect I glued badly on some joints.  Heavy furniture probably also comes into play.

I've built table tops from hand made planks, and seen how they can tear if not given room for expansion.

So what I don't understand is; how can the screw method work for solid wood flooring?  The screws leave no allowance for expansion or contraction.  Please explain what happens in this scenario.

This sounds like it's going to be a lovely floor!

Most modern solid wood flooring I've seen comes in narrow strips of 2-3" (~50-75mm), and is tongue and groove (T&G). (Heck, even your laminate flooring was T&G.) To install it, you nail through the bottom of the groove of the first piece against the wall, then lay down the second strip, bang it up tight against the first and nail through its groove. This locks all the pieces together, but each one is only held to the subfloor on one side. Expansion can move the wood from the nailed groove toward the unnailed tongue side. However, there's very little room for expansion because the pieces are pulled hard together by hammering them into place, then the flooring nailer is designed to give it one final whack in the right direction as the nail is driven home.

There will be some expansion in a floor like this, but since each strip is reasonably narrow, it will be minimal.

Your planks are 2-3 times wider, which means you'll have 2-3 times as much expansion per plank. You don't indicate if they're T&G or if they're flat sided. When you say you're going to screw them down, I'm envisioning that they're flat sided and that you're planning on screwing through the faces. In this scenario, what will happen is that they'll twist, warp, and split as they expand and contract. Not going to be a pretty result after a few years.

I'd suggest that instead, you'll want to nail through the edges to hide the nails. If you've already got the material on hand, consider getting a router and a T&G bit set. Route a tongue on one side and a groove on the other. Then, when you set the flooring, leave a small gap between each board and nail through the groove side.

I'd suggest doing a quick internet search for the expected expansion of oak. Depending on when you're installing (is it currently the wetter or drier part of the year), leave some gap to give you the approximate amount of spacing based on the expansion rate of oak in your width and thickness. You may want to make yourself some spacers (anything from a tongue milled on a board to a few nails that you can temporarily drive in to provide the spacing), then set the flooring as above.

If you look at old flooring (your pine/larch planks) you'll see that they were laid with some gap - it was for exactly this reason.

One final consideration - if you have modern HVAC, especially "AC" (air conditioning), that will help considerably to stabilize the humidity levels inside the house throughout the year and will help reduce the amount of expansion. If you do, you can likely reduce the gap you leave between the floor boards. YMMV.

If you cannot/will not make them T&G for installation, then I'd suggest that you'll need to predrill for each face screw. Once you've got a hole, with the bit still in the hole & spinning, rock the drill side-to-side (across the width of the board, not along the length) to make a bit of a slot instead of just a round hole. (Do this with the board on saw horses - you don't want to make a slot in the subfloor where the screw is going to hold down.) Then, when you screw the boards down, don't drive the screws completely tight, leave them just loose (the screws should be countersunk a bit to allow the heads to be flush or just slightly sunken). This will allow the boards to move a bit as they expand/contract and should help prevent warping/splitting. Again, YMMV depending on how much you slot the boards and this may vary from screw hole to screw hole.


How can I remove a musty smell from the basement? We're currently setting up a basement to be used as an apartment, and are trying to see how we could get rid of a musty smell that seems to exist in that area. While we're thinking it might be due to air flow (there's no direct airflow, but windows exist in all rooms), we're wondering if there's any options short of tearing out walls and what not.

To elbaroate on the "smell", it's the kind of smell that would exist in an area that is a bit damp, cool, and with little air movement. No mildew or other molds currently exist.

I think your first step is to clear out stored items and run a dehumidfier and fan in the area to drop the humidity. You didn't mention the type of walls, ceilings and floor coverings.  Normally, if you smell a musty odor, you will have some mildew somewhere. Are there fabric or paper items stored there now? if the odor still exists after drying out the area, you should thoroughly wash the floors and walls, etc. with a mild bleach and water solution and dry it out again. Depending on the wall and ceiling coverings, a coat of mold resistant paint may be required. Concrete floors may need a waterproof treatment like Driloc.


How to reduce brightness of recessed LED? I have recessed LED in the bathroom which is way too bright. LED is dimmable
but I can't put regular dimmer in front of it since it has small switch shared with two other switches. Neither I need changeable dimming.

So is there a way to reduce brightness? Can I stick some resistor in the switch?
How do I choose the resistor? Is there code legal components that can be used for that?

If the light is mounted inside of a reflective can you can try to sand or paint the inside of the can to reduce the reflected light.