Central AC Unit - Intake is very cold So my central AC unit started doing something that I have not experienced before.

Once the AC stops, cold air comes out of the intake vent, like really cold air.  This has lead to ice forming on the inside of the evaporator coils.  Once this ice melts water drips down onto the insulated duct work of the intake.

Any clue what might be causing this?

AFIK the main cause of freezing on the evaporator coil is low refrigerant. This may sound counter-intuitive but it is a well known accepted fact.

There may be other possible causes. I think the blower is supposed to continue for a short period after the compressor cycles off and your unit may not be doing that. Call a competent a/c tech. This is not a DIY project.

From original poster:

  a tech . . . discovered that the switch
  to turn the outside unit on and off was bad. It would sometimes stick
  open and other times closed. The result was that although the inside
  unit turned off, the outside unit continued to run.


What happens if you sweat pipe copper pipe without flux? I may have forgotten to use soldering flux paste when I replaced a water valve on 1/2" copper tubing. It was in a tight place and sweating pipe is not something I do often.  Some of the joints I attached on the ground but others had to be soldered in place, near the ceiling.

In any case, after I put the new tubing and valve in place and soldered it, I looked up and could not recall putting flux on one of the joints.

If I soldered the joint without flux and it does not leak should I leave it alone or redo it?

There are several possibilities to consider.

If you had really cleaned the joint beforehand with emery cloth or steel wool (both parts of the mated joint) there there is a good chance of a decent joint. The cleaning action helps clear out any oxidation on the parts that prevents the solder from adhering to the copper. (Keep in mind though that the simple act of applying heat to the joint also brings on oxidation.
If you had happened to be using a rosin core silver solder that flux built into the solder wire may have been more than enough to clean the joint for proper soldering.
An improperly cleaned joint may appear to not leak because it is tight or a small amount of solder may have flowed into the joint but it is no substitute for a properly made joint. One way to understand the sweat process success is to carefully observe how the solder sucks into the joint just as the silver solder wire is touched to the joint and melts.

So if your situation is like #3 (and possibly #1) you will really probably want to take things back apart and re-do this work. Last thing you want is for the joint to come apart under mechanical stress on the pipe or start leaking after a year of so of thermal cycling of the joint.

It can be really be worth while to get a handfull of copper fittings and a length of copper tubing and practice a dozen or more test joints to get the techniques down. (Note that standing water in or on a pipe near where you are soldering can be a huge detriment to getting good sweat joints.


How do I cosmetically resurface a bathtub to get rid of a greenish / pinkish hue? I have a bathtub that has over the past 2 years begun to show a greenish / pinkish hue. I use standard cleaning solutions (Scrub Free, Vim, etc.) to remove dirt (weekly), however while the tub gets cleaned, the coloring still remains.

How can I make the tub white again?

I suspect the off color of green/pink may be from chlorine or fluoride added to the water supply.  Does any of the bathing soap products you use have green dye in them?

You didn't mention what your tub was made from. Porcelain  or fiberglass? In either case, I would try a product called CLR first. This is good for removing hard water stains.  The second product I would try is Barkeepers Friend.  This product has an ultra fine polishing compound and ascilic  acid, which does a great job removing scum, stains and restoring a shine to most any hard surface. It is safe to use on either material.


Circuit breaker problems The circuit breaker for our kitchen will always trip if we use two appliances at once. So we try to avoid doing that. But it's tripped dozens of times through the past 30 years. What happened lately is the kitchen lights would flicker and eventually all kitchen power would go out. Yet the circuit breaker didn't trip. I flipped it off and back on and that worked and everything was fine for 2 days. This morning the lights in the kitchen were flickering again and then off went the power to the kitchen. Again the circuit breaker hadn't tripped. I tried flipping it again off and back on and nothing. But when it's flipped to the on position I can hear a faint crackling noise coming from that circuit that goes away when flipped off. So I have two questions.

Do you think it's a bad breaker?
And if it turns out to be that, should we replace it with a larger capacity one? This one has a 20 on it.

NO! This is not a bad breaker.

NO! DO NOT replace the breaker with a larger one.

YES, please call an electrician. This situation needs to be troubleshooted by someone with the knowledge to do so properly.

The "faint crackling noise" is wires arcing, and possibly burning. This is a BAD thing. PLEASE, leave the circuit OFF and call someone.


How can I repair staining on a parquetry floor? My friend spilled water without noticing on my parquetry floor and it had some time (12h) to stain the wood. I wonder, how can I improve the look, remove those dark staining at the edges of each bar. A picture says more than a thousand words:

EDIT on January 2014:
The condition of the parquetry floor improved drastically over time.
Yet some marks are still visible. In our case we do not need to repair it.

If water is absorbing this readily into your floor and discoloring it this much, it's probably time to refinish it.


Lumps after Carpet Stretching We paid to have our carpets stretched by professionals. When they were finished it all looked great to LOOK at.........then after they left I started noticing that there were LUMPS everywhere UNDERNEATH the carpet! Lumps that were NOT there before the carpet was re-stretched. Is this because they allowed the padding to bunch up underneath as the re-stretched the carpet? and I'm guessing this can't be fixed.

Your guess about the padding bunching up in highly possible. If the carpet was installed over the pad for some time it may have stuck to the padding in some places leading to the padding being pulled out of position as the carpet was restretched. There are a number of things that could cause carpet to pad adhesion.

A carpet backing material inherently incompatible with the type of padding.
Environmental conditions that cause the padding to decompose into a sticky goo that pastes to the carpet backing.
Hot melt carpet splicing tape where some of the glue oozes out from the edges of the tape and adheres to the padding.
Something was spilled on the carpet at one time that bled through the backing and made a sticky mess at the padding but was unable to be fully cleaned from above. Think 'can of soda' or similar.
Heavy furniture with legs that caused high pressure point locations that compressed the carpet and padding so tight together over a long period of time that they literally bond together.


Can lag bolts go fully through both pieces? This is probably an overly long explanation for a question for which I think I already know the  answer to, (probably obvious) but other opinions would be great.
In tearing out some very old outdoor wooden steps that are starting to rot, a few of the center stringers for those steps split at the corners.  Hence, the new treads (11 inches deep) at these locations will not be supported by that full 11 inches.
My plan is to sister a new board to the center stringer at those spots (the existing stringers, except for the several split corners, are still in pretty good shape).
Both the stringers and sister boards are about 1.5 inches thick.
My question: I already have a good number of (expensive) 3.5 inch-long lag bolts that are plenty strong (1/4 or 3/8 inch).  However, the end of the lag screw would stick out by a tiny bit (~ 1/4 inch max if I use a washer).  I can't imagine this would be a problem (other than bothering me aesthetically, even though it will never be seen), especially since the end is tapered and not contributing to any holding strength, but just wanted to check.

Are you replacing all of the treads?  If so, can you tear out the old, rotten stringer so you don't need to sister in a new one?  That would be best if the part of the stringer supporting some treads is beginning to fail.  It will also make it easier to use a modern connector between the top of the stringer and the joist supporting the landing.
If you can't tear out the old, I think framing nails are a better choice than lag bolts.  They'll distribute shearing forces across more nails and therefore more wood.
Lag bolts are often used to hold a beam together but it's the ends of the bolt and the outside faces of the beam doing the work.  In your case, you want the fasteners to transfer load from one compromised stringer to the new one; and you want to spread that out with several framing nails, instead of creating a point load inside of the stringers with fewer (but larger) bolts.
Be sure to use galvanized or stainless steel nails since it's an outdoor project.  If you're unsure which, your local building supplier will know (and they probably won't even sell stainless nails if you don't live near saltwater.)


Circuit Breakers for Electric Baseboard Heaters Living in an apartment for a few years and just now tried to label the circuit breakers.  Everything is electric. There is no gas in the building.  Oven/Range, Water Heater, Baseboard Heaters, in-wall panel heater in the bathroom, fridge, Air Conditioner,... I have no to little knowledge about this stuff, so please correctly me if I am using terminology incorrectly or if I am wrong about anything.
No numbers so I'm using what I think is conventional labeling.
#1 is Top Left,  #2 is Top Right.
Odds on Left, Evens on right.
#13 is Bottom Left, #14 is Bottom Right
*#5 is a 15Amp single pole that controls the lights and outlets in both the bedroom and adjoining bath as well as the bathroom exhaust.
#6 is a 15Amp single pole that controls the outlets in the living/dining room area.
#7 and #9 make a 60Amp double pole that controls the oven/range.
#8 and #10 make a 30Amp double pole that I'm guessing controls the water heater.
#12 is a 20Amp single pole that controls the lights and outlets in the kitchen as well as the fridge/freezer.
#13 is a 20Amp single pole that doesn't seem to do anything (that I have found yet).*
That leaves the wall unit air conditioner, the three electric baseboard heaters, and the bathroom heater.  Each baseboard heater has its own wall mounted thermostat.  The bathroom heater just has a power knob.
**#1 and #4 need to be BOTH ON for either the bedroom heater or bathroom heater to work. Both are single pole 20Amp breakers on opposite sides of the panel (diagonal).
#2 and #3 need to be BOTH ON for the dining area heater to work.  Both are single pole 20Amp breakers on opposite sides of the panel (diagonal).
#11 and #14 need to be BOTH ON for either the living room heater or the air conditioner to work.  Both are single pole 20Amp breakers on opposite sides of the panel (diagonal).**
? Does this mean those heaters are wired for 240V and 20Amps? Or 120V and 40Amps? Or does each heater require TWO DIFFERENT 120V 20Amps circuits to work? Is is safe to be wired like this?  Flipping either breaker OFF will shut down the heater, but is the whole circuit dead- or will the other breaker still  provide half the voltage (or current)?
p.s.
? Is it likely that the 30Amp double pole (#8 and #10) IS the water heater? And is it likely that there is a 20Amp breaker (#13) that doesn't do anything?

It sounds like you have the numbering correct.
240v is the result of any L1 and L2 connection, the NEC requires the handles be tied, so a two pole breaker or adjacent breakers are required.
1 and 2 are L1 connections, 3 and 4 are L2 connections. I think it is possible somebody reversed the wires that are on #3 & #4. Swapping those two from the current position would make the breakers feeding 240v adjacent, and able to be connected (as required by code) with handle ties or preferably two-pole breakers. Why they aren't on handle tied breakers is less clear, may somebody removed the ties after finding they didn't properly disconnect the misaligned connection. The 11/14 connection would create 240v also, but an explaination of why misswired is less clear, maybe another 240v 12/13 was removed.
A typical 120/240v service is created with two opposing 120v legs, L1 and L2, and are built in a typical residential panel fashioned as two interlocking combs feeding horizontal breakers with the same leg. So when you look at the panel 1 and 2 are on L1, 3 and 4 are on L2, 5 and 6 are on L1, 7 and 8 are on L2, etc..
Any place you mount a two-pole breaker by design terminates in two side by side buses, and automatically attaches to the opposing legs.
P.S. The two-pole 30 could be a water heater. The amperage marking on the handle is the rating for maximum current (amps), it does not double for a two-pole connection. Amps are kinda like lanes of traffic. When you make a higher voltage (which is pressure/force) you essentially speed up the flow of electrons within the existing lanes, so you get more work done without needing to increase the wire or breaker size. If you need to use a breaker that allows more amps then you have to use thicker wire. It is also possible #13 is not connected now, my suspicion is it should go to the kitchen since you only show one of the two required 20A circuits that the code requires to feed kitchen countertop work surfaces.


Why does my house heat up, even when it's cool outside? Summary
The question pretty much says it all.  It's probably a ridiculously easy one to answer.  It's cool outside but I know that my house is heating up because my AC kicks on periodically.  I've had this experience in multiple houses, so I presume it's not just caused by some sort of one-off issue with an AC or thermostat.  It seems strange and I'd like to understand why it happens so that perhaps in the future I can make my house more energy efficient.
More Details
I'm a life-long Florida resident and have had this experience in a few houses.  I've noticed that even when it is cooler outside than in (say the AC is set to 80°F (27°C) and the weather is 76-78°F (24–26°C) outside), my AC still runs periodically throughout the day.  Note that the obvious answer is "Just open the windows", but for those not familiar it is usually 80%-90% humidity outside, and even 76°F (24°C) isn't pleasant at 80% humidity (it's also a recipe for mold, which has been a problem for me).  Basically, there are only 1 or 2 months of the year when it is both cool and dry enough to open your windows in Florida (IMO).
In that sense having the AC run periodically is not actually crazy, mainly just to keep the humidity down.  However, it still seems strange to me that if the AC should kick on (aka the house is warming up) at all if it is 2-5°F (1-3°C) cooler outside than the temperature I have the AC set to.
I realize this is likely house-dependent, but I've lived in more or less the same "kind" of house for the past decade or so: wood frame, insulation-in-attic, single pane windows, and a few trees around providing shade for the house (although certainly not enough to shade the entire roof).
I presume this is a sign of some general inefficiencies in my house's thermal-insulation-design.  Why might my house be heating up even when its cool outside?

Meet solar gain

For the most vivid example of solar gain, sit in your car with everything off - A/C off, blower off, windows rolled up tight, doors shut tight.  You can't. Your body will force you to open a door or something because it will become unbearably hot within minutes.

If it were always night, or if your house were entirely in shade, this would not be an issue.  However, your house is in sun,  and that means it is being actively heated by about 100 watts (300 BTU/hr) per square foot (around 1 KW/m²).

That's really a square foot directly facing the sun, so it'll be less if you're not at the equator at noon... but walls count too, so that's kind of a wash. The reflectivity of the roof and walls help.  So let's say all in all, 50% gets through.

This is why a car with 48 square feet (4.5 m²) of cabin gets so hot so fast - it's intaking 2400 watts/8000 BTU/hr of heat.   That's the heating power of an oven.  This is why leaving a baby in a car is so serious. I'm not equating a house to a car, just pointing out that solar gain is not to be armwaved or ignored, and is definitely your #1 load by a wide margin, maybe even by an order of magnitude.

So, your 1000sf (93 m²) house, is absorbing 50,000 watts of heat, or about 150,000 BTU/hr, from solar gain.

Yes, this is a stupidly large amount of energy.  Too bad we can't harness it for something, eh? :)

Insulation slows it down. But only slows it.  Given enough time, it still gets through.

Thermal "mass" works both for and against you.  The thermal mass inside the insulation envelope helps your house resist changes in temperature.  However the thermal mass outside the insulation envelope (roof, joists etc.) has been warmed by the sun all day, has reached 120-140F (50–60°C), and holds that heat for a few hours after sunset.  That means its high heat is still trying to push through the insulation even after the sun has gone down.  Conversely in the morning, even with full sun, you get some relief before the roof and joists heat up.

At least it's more efficient...

Your A/C unit interchanges with air, and in your case, you are saying the ultimate heat sink is cooler than the thing it's cooling.  That gives a heat pump an advantage; it is pushing heat "downhill".  You can check it with a load monitor (if the cycle length doesn't make it obvious), but you probably aren't using near as much power as on a hot-air day.

It's even better, of course, to interchange heat with groundwater. But that is a more specialty unit.


What is the relative importance of cut-retardant safety gloves when using a chainsaw? I am evaluating some cut-retardant gloves for use with a chainsaw.  At first the idea of protecting my hands appealed to me, but later I couldn't really justify to myself why that purchase would make sense if the rest of my torso was unprotected.

I'd like to know if there is a rationale for spending money to protect your hands before spending money to protect the rest of your torso, including arms.  It seems like your hands are actually not that likely to be hit by the chainsaw's blade.  It's kind of hard for me to visualize how that would even happen, or at least happen at a frequency that is much higher than the frequency of another part of my torso being hit.

A diagram put out by the US Product Safety Comission shows that the left leg and left arm/hand are the most commonly parts of the body injured by chainsaws:

(Source: OSHA Web site)

If the dots on the diagram represent frequency of injury,  protecting the left hand would help prevent a common source of injury.

The State Compensation Insurance Fund website also states that "The most frequent chainsaw injuries occur to the left leg and the back of the left hand."

The diagram on the OSHA site dates back to 1994, so it's not clear if modern safety features like chain brakes have changed the distribution of injuries.

Note that the  STIHL Cut-Retardant Gloves referenced by the asker of this question only provide cut protective material on the left glove: "Engtex®, a cut-retardant material, is sewn into the back of the left glove", so Stihl too has identified this as a particularly vulnerable part of the body.

To be honest, from personal experience, I'm unsure why the back of the left hand is so frequently injured, it must be because that hand can slip off the grab-bar when the chainsaw kicks back and the hand slides into the moving chain.

Since I was curious whether or not the current injury distribution matched the 1994 statistics, I did a little more research and found a CPSC query tool that gives access to their injury data.

When running this tool against their 2012 data, it reported that the CPSC estimates that there were 30,509 chainsaw injuries, and they had detailed data for 635 cases. I downloaded the detailed case data and counted up the number of hand, wrist and finger injuries:

Hand:   54  injuries (8.5% of total)
Wrist:  15  injuries (2.4% of total)
Finger: 123 injuries (19% of total)

They also provide limited details of each accident, here is limited descriptive data for a random 15 hand injuries:

59YOM USING A CHAIN SAW TO CUT BRANCHES CHAIN KICKED ..LAC TO HAND
40YOM-HAND LAC-GOT CUT WHILE USING A GRINDER TO SHARPEN A CHAIN SAW CHAIN-@ HOME
PT'S FRIEND WAS TRIMMING BUSHES WITH A CHAIN SAW AND PT'S HAND GOT IN THE WAY. LACERATION HAND, RIGHT. 54 YOM*
CUT HAND ON CHAIN SAW. LACERATION HAND, COMPLICATED. 44 YOM*
59YOM CUT HAND WITH CHAIN SAW/ RT HAND LAC
43YOM THAT WAS HELPING A FRIEND CUT DOWN A TREE WHEN HE WAS HIT IN   THE RT HAND WITH A CHAINSAW. DX: RT HAND LACERATION
17YOWM WHILE HOLDING CHAINSAW IT SUDDENLY FLIPPED & JERKED HIS HAND VIA      A ROTATIONAL FORCE. DX: SPRAIN R HAND
32 YOM CUT HAND ON A CHAIN SAW AT FRIENDS  HOUSE     DX/ LEFT HAND LAC
46YM CUTTING WOOD WITH CHAIN SAW THAT KICKED BACK CUTTING HAND       >>LAC
88YOM HELPING SON CUT A TREE, PATIENT WAS HOLDING TREE LIMB, CHAIN SAW       ACCIDENTALLY CUT HIS HAND .  DX.  LAC. HAND.
57YM CUTTING A TREE WITH CHAIN SAW WHICH KICKED BACK CUTTING HAND    >>LAC
54YOM WITH LAC TO HAND FROM A CHAIN SAW
49YOM CUT HAND WHILE USING CHAIN SAW DX: HAND LACERATION
49YMC CUTTING A TREE WITH CHAINSAW KICKED BACK FELL CUTTING PALM ON CHAINSAW/LACERATION
17YOM LACERATION TO HAND CUT WHEN THE CHAIN SAW HE WAS USING SLIPPED CATCHING HIS GLOVE

Based on this data, it does appear that kickback is a significant factor in hand injuries -- I didn't look at all of the records, but looks like kickback is cited around half the time for hand injuries.

When looking at finger injuries, kickback doesn't appear to be listed as a cause as often:

41 YO M PT WAS USING A CHAIN SAW AND CUT THE TIP OF HIS LT MIDDLE FINGE
35 YOM INJURED FINGER WITH CHAIN SAW. DX-LACERATION RIGHT INDEX
20YOM CUT THUMB ON CHAINSAW/ LT THUMB LAC WITH TENDON INVOLVEMENT
FINGER LAC, 37 YOM CUT FINGER WHEN USING A CHAINSAW
41 YOM LACERATED LEFT THUMB ON A CHAIN SAW
49YOM CUT HIS HAND ON CHAINSAW. +ETOH/LAC FINGERS
38YOM CUT FINGER WHILE USING CHAIN SAW DX: FINGER LACERATION
44 YOM SUS LAC TO FINGER, ACCIDENTALLY SLID CHAIN SAW OVER FINGER
LT THUMB LAC.34YOM LACERATED THUMB ON A CHAIN SAW.
30 YOM SUS LAC TO FINGER, HIT IT AGAINST JAGGED PORTION OF CHAIN SAW
71 Y/O MALE CUT FINGER WITH CHAINSAW AT HOME
55YOM CUTTING SOME BRANCHES USING A CHAIN SAW INJURED LT FINGER;
58 YOM W / LACERATION TO RT 3RD FINGER S/P WAS HELPING SISTER CLEAR UP
55YOM  PT CUT L INDEX FINGR W/ CHAINSAW AT HOME.  WAS NOT WEARING WORK
45YOM LACERATION TO THUMB CUT WHEN CHAIN SAW HE WAS USING SLIPPED

For comparison, I looked at the distribution of injuries for 1997 (the earliest date they provide downloadable case data for), and the distribution is similar:

Hand:   57  injuries (10% of total)
Wrist:  9  injuries (1.6% of total)
Finger: 145 injuries (25% of total)

I'm not sure what conclusion to make from the data -- if the gloves provide protection for the hands and fingers, they appear to be a good investment and will protect you from a common source of injury. If they are only effective for hand/wrist injuries, those injuries only account for around 10% of all reported chainsaw injuries, so there may be less value in the gloves.


Ethernet Cable Through Floor I'm trying to add an ethernet drop to an entertainment center. The coax cable drop was drilled through the floor (picture), since the room below is an unfinished basement with easy ceiling access. Is this code compliant? Would it be code compliant to add the ethernet cable next to it? Or do we need to drill up into the wall?

I don't know how much code applies to low-voltage wires. Since it's unlikely this will be inspected at any point in the near future, I'm not sure it much matters.

You can drop Ethernet or coax through a drilled hole like this. Mind you, it's not sightly, but it sounds like that it's not a concern. It would be trivial to remove, since you simply remove whatever ends you've attached and pull the wire back into the basement.

If you have access into the wall, the cleanest solution would be to drill through the top plate of the basement and the bottom plate of the wall, then cut a low voltage bracket in and fish the wire up.


Trouble removing vinyl tile and underlayment from wood flooring I'm in the middle of remodeling my half bathroom and have run into a sticky situation with the existing flooring. My goal is to remove it and refinish the flooring beneath, much like has been done for the rest of the house.

The old flooring is made up of a few layers. From top to bottom:

9" x 9" vinyl tiles
black mastic/glue
9" x 9" wood/mdf/plywood-like squares. These are about as thin as the vinyl tiles.
Putty colored clay-like material. Seems like it may act as both an adhesive and a leveler.
Fir flooring

I began removing layers 1-4 and found that they were particularly easy to pull up around the perimeter of the room. Using a heavy-duty angled paint stripper and a hammer, I was able to pull everything up within the span of a few minutes.

The middle section is another story however. It's hard to even get an edge under the wood squares. The construction and layering looks similar to that of the edges, though the edges may have had a different kind of adhesive for the 4th layer (it looks a little darker).

This 4th layer material may be somewhat water soluble (with hot water at least), but it's hard to get the water underneath the wood-like layer. I've tried flooding the wood layer with hot water but it isn't particular effective.

The flooring was installed in 1949, which is a little before asbestos was heavily used. There's still a reasonable chance of it existing in the vinyl tiles and the first layer of mastic (layer 2) so precautions are being taken (approved respirator, eye protection, disposable clothing, dampening of everything to keep the dust level down, proper disposal of materials, etc). That being said, I consider sanding to be out of the question at this point, though the top vinyl layer and mastic could be fairly easily removed first if need be.

How might I more effectively remove this flooring?

Update

I'm beginning to think that the 4th layer might actually be extremely old vinyl tiles, meaning that the mastic between them and the wood flooring is what's tripping me up.

Sometimes it takes a village. Here's a summary of what ended up working:

The first layer of tiling came off without too much trouble by using a heavy duty paint scraper (with a slight bend to it) and a hammer. I was able to get through this in less than an hour.
The second layer was much harder. I believe @Ecnerwal was right in that it was actually a layer of older vinyl or linoleum. This ended up coming up only with the use of a heat gun and the scraper. This took 3+ hours.
The remaining glue (putty like material) responded well to hot water. I heated up a kettle and would put a small amount of hot water on the remaining material. I used the scraper and a piece of steel wool to remove the material, sometimes requiring two passes. I had a towel handing to wipe up the water and material.

I'm now looking at fir flooring in relatively good condition, minus a nasty gouge mark I made when first trying to remove the tiling by force.

Some other details for those reading:

Make sure to take precautions as there may be asbestos in your flooring. Do not assume any of my steps taken were safe.
Paint thinner, as recommended by @Ecnerwal did not have any effect
I tried using some orange-based product to remove the glue from the floor. It had a minimal effect, took longer, and was more expensive than hot water. I didn't let it sit longer than a few hours, which may have limited it effectiveness (label recommended 30 minutes to 24 hours).

This, in the end, was really backbreaking work. Whether it was worth it or not will be more obvious once I figure out how well I can repair the gouge I made.

Thanks everyone for your help with this!


What's the proper way to replace a wall switch with two black wires? I have a wall switch with two black wires. How do I replace

with this new switch:

The current switch is set up as having a hot wire in (from the breaker box to the switch) and a hot wire out (from the switch to the light). The neutral / White wires should be pig tailed together in the box. There is also a green screw on the side, and this is for the ground.

Make sure to shut off the power before doing this (turn the breaker for the circuit off). Connect the top screw to the wire that feeds to the light. Connect the bottom screw to the hot wire. When you turn the power back on, and if you want to swap the direction of the switch (as in press down to turn off, or turn on), turn off the power and switch the two black wires.


Install a single handle with latch on closet door I have a pantry door that has a dummy handle (a handle that looks like a normal door handle but is not connected to a latch).  The door stays closed using a fairly shoddy catch like this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042YFBBS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_l81HwbGC94ZJ9

I'd like the door to open and close like a normal door, but I don't want a handle on both sides of the door.  Besides cutting a spot for the latch on the door, and the strike plate on the frame, do I need to buy a special door handle system for this?  Or can I pull this off with a standard handle system somehow?

If you put a conventional door handle latch system on the pantry door you will want to have a working knob on the inside in the event someone gets shut inside the pantry!!

If the pantry is as you say a closet that no-one could get into then you certainly can install what is known as a "one sided door knob". Google it - you will find a plethora of ideas.


Best way to replace caster wheels I have a nice oak desk chair that's on caster wheels. The plastic wheel inserts used by the manufacturer broke up and crumbled, of course, because that's what plastic does when used in high-stress applications it shouldn't be used in.

I bought some replacement wheels with metal inserts, but the inserts are 3/8 inch while the originals were 5/8 inch, so the drilled holes are too large to begin with, plus they've been worn by the wheels wiggling about once the plastic inserts broke up.

This photo demonstrates what I'm talking about:

I see two solutions here:

Fill the holes with wood filler and drill new holes to fit.
Fill the holes with wood filler and then insert the new metal bases while the wood filler is still wet, basically gluing them in.

The downside of option 1 is drilling four identically plumb holes with a hand drill. I don't own a drill press.

The downside of option 2 is I would need to fill the inserts with something to keep wood filler out while I'm inserting, but that's no big deal.

Am I overlooking other options? How should I proceed?

Best option - drill hole out to 3/4", cover a 3/4" wooden dowel with wood glue, stuff it in the hole, wait for glue to dry, cut it off flush, drill new hole.

Wood filler is not a quality repair you should expect to last.

You might have enough room to drill your small hole beyond the current hole.


How can I keep a hanging cloth hydrated? As the summers are approaching, it kinda gets hot in my room. I make it cooler by dipping a bed-sheet in water and then hanging it on the curtain rod next to the window.

This cools down the air that enters my room and it feels awesome to be in this naturally-cooled room.

However, the cloth dries up every hour. When this happens I need to drench it in water, wring it, so that it's not soaking wet, and then hang it up again.

Qs: I'm wondering if there's a way I could keep this cloth hydrated throughout the day? Is there something that I could place on top of the curtain rod, that releases water slowly to keep the cloth hydrated?

Place the bottom of the fabric in a shallow pan of water. It'll wick moisture continuously until the pan is empty. It should last a day at least, though.

You could even suspend a wallpaper tray from the fabric itself, which you'd install on the curtain rod (assuming that it's robust enough).

Place a rod through the ends of the tray with the curtain's hem slipped over the rod. It should be stable enough if you only fill it say 1/3 full and keep the rod up high.

Or install a curtain rod at the tray location and hang the try on that.

        _________________________________
       |  ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧  |
=======|=================================|====== <-- curtain rod
       |                                 |           through double hem
       |  ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧  |
       |                                 |
       |                                 |
       |  ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧  |
       |                                 |
     . |.................................| .
   =========================================== <-- curtain rod
     | |  ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧ ♧  | |       through holes in
     |_____________________________________|       ends of tray
                                                   or straight rod
                                                   through tray ends
                                                   and curtain hem


AC unit won't turn on: both inside blower fan and outside fan unit won't turn on AC unit won't turn on: both inside blower fan and outside fan unit won't turn on. It is as if I had gone to the circuit breaker and cut the power to the whole HVAC system, but I didn't. I've been searching around and saw that in most cases, either the inside or the outside unit won't turn on, but I have not found a case where both won't turn on.

The outside unit has a disconnect box that contains no fuse. I've double checked that the rabbits didn't somehow manage to take the connector piece out...

I've also replaced the old mercury-based thermostat with a new digital, battery-powered thermostat, which didn't help. I can hear the clicking sound it makes to turn on the AC, but nothing else happens.

It was working fine 5 days ago. I turned it off for 5 days straight, and now it won't turn on again.

I'm trying to get an HVAC pro to come and take a look, but they're booked until next week. Is there anything else I can check in the mean time?

EDIT:
I'd like to open up the access control panel to check for fuse locations, but I cannot figure out how to do so. Here's a picture of what I assume to be the panel door. I've tried prying it open from all 4 sides with a flathead driver. It also doesn't slide in any direction. Any suggestion?

Additionally, I've verified that there is electricity in the unit. There is voltage in that the exterior white wire going from the box to the thermostat (see picture) and there's also voltage going through the disconnect box and into the outside fan unit...

UPDATE2:

I was able to take the control panel door off, and found that it's getting no electricity. As you can see in pic1, the exterior white wire is live and it goes in the little box with the black push switch to the left of the picture. However, in pic2 the three internal wires (green, white, and black) going out of the box are not live.

Pic1 - electricity going into the little box

Pic2 - no electricity going out of the little box

Additionally, the red status light that used to be on all the time (which I didn't recall till now) is now off.

Pic3: red status light no longer on.

So what is this little box and could it be the cause?

As it turns out, the box in the last picture is a safety measure which cuts the electricity when the panel door is removed. Turns out, there were a couple of screws on the outside that secure this box that were missing. Why? I did it (DOH!). I removed them a few days back when trying to open this panel door so that I can do the "G wire to C wire" switch for a new thermostat. Well, put those back and it's working now.


Building a house in sections over time Say I someday want to have a large estate, but for right now I just want to build the living room, kitchen, one bathroom, etc. and next year add another bedroom, library, etc. either adjoining or above the current build and more the next year and so on.

I know I should make sure I run utilities for what I want the house to be eventually. But how should I leave everything in the walls and ceilings that I know are eventually going to be opened? How should I leave the electrical/plumbing/HVAC and what kind of insulation should I use...? Any other considerations?

Assuming you have a floor plan that you like, there are 4 main issues: 1) Building Codes, 2) Planning Department, 3) CC&R’s, 4) utilities.

1) The Building Code requires certain building requirements that may not be apparent with a small house, but is required in a larger building, (i.e.: shear walls, larger footings for brick or stone walls, setback requirements, etc.)

2) The Planning Department has requirements such as maximum lot coverage, setback requirements, etc.

3) CC&R’s, if any, have specific requirements such as minimum size house (mini-mansion sub-division), maximum height restrictions, etc. CC&R’s are included in your “paperwork “ when you purchased the property. I’d re-visit your documents and make sure you understand terms like, “sight lines”, “natural materials”, etc.

4) utilities are difficult to re-do half way through a project. If you are on a septic tank and drainfield, your soil may only allow a two bedroom house, etc.

Therefore, I’d recommend you provide plans and specifications for the “final” design, not for the initial construction phase. Btw, codes and planning issues change from time to time. So, getting the entire project approved now will negate any changes that come along in the future. (However, most Building Permits have a time limit. I’d verify with your local jurisdiction.)


How to set up home network w/ fiber from street & unterminated Cat5e in garage I'm having gigabit Sonic Fiber installed soon in a newly purchased, remodeled house, and I need to figure out how best to configure my networking setup to distribute a wired (& wireless) connection throughout the house.

House has individual Cat5e jacks in several rooms (over 3 levels)
All the cable runs appear to end in the garage, coiled up unterminated in a white box
Fiber install location TBD, but probably into garage, near my unterminated cat5e cables
Previous owner had cable internet, which came into an interior (house) closet via Coax and was distributed wirelessly; same closet has a single Cat5e jack (leading to garage, I presume)

I need to prep cables & get the right equipment so that it's ready to test/use when the fiber installer comes, so I'd love any & all advice/suggestions on the best way to set up my network.

What I want to end up with:

Wired connections to all the rooms with jacks
Ability to connect multiple wired devices in some rooms (via switch plugged into wall?)
Wifi throughout house (3 levels), ideally via hard-wired routers in bridge mode
I do NOT want to use the wifi capability of the Sonic-provided gateway/modem (not least because it won't be powerful enough for the whole house from the garage). I want to use my own wifi devices (likely wired Eeros, unless you have a better suggestion)

My tentative plan:

Fiber drop to transition box to ONT in garage
ONT to Gateway (modem) in garage
Gateway(modem) to Eero (or other router??) - in garage
Eero (router) to Switch (garage)
Terminate & plug cat5e cables into Switch (garage)

In theory this should distribute wired connections to each jack in house, and I can attach additional Eeros and switches to jacks in the house to distribute further.

Questions:

I'm not a fan of putting all of my networking equipment (ONT, gateway, router, switch) in the garage. I'd prefer to have most (if not all) in the house, but I can't think of a way to get a wired connection inside and then back out again to all the cables dangling in the garage.
Does it even matter if I have all my networking equipment in an (insulated) garage? What's the best way to enclose/protect it?
Any suggested improvements or modifications to my plan above? (see attached diagram for tentative plan)

Thanks a million.

Without knowing more details, your plan is reasonable. Network equipment in the garage is not ideal, but not terrible, especially if insulated. On the other hand, if you live in a hot climate, the heat in the summer will be terrible for the gear. Cold is much less of a problem, though extreme cold would be.

One minor change is to add a patch panel between the switch and the drops to the rooms. This allows you to punch down all of your cables, rather than terminate them with jacks by hand; punching down is much easier for the novice (and the extra cost is minimal). You then run short cables (you purchase, not make) between the patch panel and switch. See my answer to a similar question for more details about using a patch panel.

Depending on how the house is laid out, and how much slack there is in the unterminated cables, you could take the whole bundle and move it somewhere inside the house. If there's little slack, you may just move them to the other side of the wall they're currently on. All my network and CATV stuff is in the master closet for this reason.

Brand recommendations are off-topic here, so I won't comment about specific routers or equipment. As far as testing the network, you should just need the gateway connected to test the fiber install. The rest is on you and can be done later. A simple network tester (example only, not a recommendation) will verify all your punchdowns are made securely, though that won't verify gigabit speeds.

As for multiple wired devices in one room, yes, a small 4-8 port unmanaged switch will work just fine.


verify if the Ground cable is connected to Neutral cable I want to verify if electricity outlet is grounded. For this I did a test using a bulb connecting it to Phase and Neutral and it lit (to verify if bulb works). Then connected with Phase and Ground and the bulb lit up again. As I still doubted it, I found out where the grounding rod is installed and removed the cable connecting it to the mains (at the grounding rod). Then did the same test and found out that the bulb still lights up. My understanding on this is ... either there is another grounding point or the Neutral is connected to the Ground plug point. Am I correct? How can I verify if the Ground cable is connected to Neutral cable? Thanks

In Canada (and probably US) the Neutral and house Ground are connected in the main breaker panel, and that point is connected to a earth ground rod nearby.  The power company also connects the Neutral to an earth ground at each distribution transformer.  The specifics of Earth ground and Neutral/Ground connections may vary in different jurisdictions.


How should a sub panel be grounded if next to the main breaker? How should a sub-panel be grounded if next to the main breaker? Do the ground and neutral need to be isolated (separated) from each other in the sub? Sub-panel will be about 6 - 8 feet away from the main and I will use 8/3 or 6/3 wire to give me additional breaker spots.

1.) Can I use the existing (main) wire to the grounding rod to ground the sub-panel?
Note: Keep in mind the ground and neutral wire are tied together in the main breaker box.

2.) Do I need to run a separate grounding rod for the sub-panel?
2a.) What size wire needs to go to the grounding rod from the sub?

Photos Below:

Our first rule of subpanels is Think Big. Really Big.

A 6-space panel might be dirt cheap and cure the itch today, but for a couple of pizzas, you can get a 30-space and cure the itch forever.  We really want you to do that.  There are plenty of stupid and useless ways to waste money in electrical work, but the one here is going too small and getting in the situatuon again after a few years.

It,s perfectly fine to feed a 200A subpanel from a 60A supply.  You do not need a main breaker in this sub.

I want to see 30-40% of the spaces unused even with no use of double-stuff breakers, and between both panels about 48 spaces available for the typical house.  That may seem absurd now, but believe me, if you have 48 spaces, it's a game changer.  Stuff you've suffered with is now easily fixed.

I recommend using 6 AWG copper cable instead of 8. Thqt will let you run 60A instead of 40A.  For such a short run, I would not fool around with aluminum. Wouldn't hurt, the lugs are aluminum, but copper is more flexible for the same ampacity. That may seem undersized for a 30-space sub, but the cable is easy to change when you need to upgrade.

If the existing panel is obsolete (Zinsco, FPE, Pushmatic) then I recommend a full 40-space for the sub, because then you're in a good position to phase out that old panel.  That's more than you want to bite off today, but you'll thank me on the day you decide to tackle it.

Neutral and ground are rigidly separated at the sub. Any sub.

So you need separate neutral and ground bars, and you need to pull the neutral-ground bond (green screw or strap). You already have separate neutral and ground in your /3 cable, simply put it to good use.  Provided neutral and ground bars should be a criterion in your panel shopping.  Also consider "bonus breakers", some panel kits will toss in 3 or as many as 15 breakers.

Grounding rods unneeded

Since you are in the same building, you get to exploit the same, grandfathered ground rods.  Your subpanel will get ground through the /3 cable.

Just remember, grandfathering only works if the ground rods are still up to the standard of when they were installed.  If they're broken, you definitely want to fix them.

For any of the sizes you are comsidering (up to 60A), #10 is the ground size, but that is already in your /3 cable.

But my /3 cable is obsolete and has no ground

First, if you actually mean /2 and you plan to use the bare wire for neutral-ground, that is a no-go. Cannot do it.

However, if your cable's neutral wire is insulated, then you can do a cheat: run the cable inside metal conduit.  The conduit inside diameter  must be at least 138% of the widest point on the cable.  Since the metal conduit provides a damage shield, there is no need to run up to the ceiling and across; you can simply make a straight beeline across the wall.  The metal conduit, properly fastened through fittings, is a valid grounding path.  Don't even try to bend conduit that large, just go straight across and stick spacers behind it where you strap it to the wall.


Sealing the inside of a water well to use it as a reservoir? We've had unusually dry weather and our well has run so low that we had to call in a water hauling company to refill it a few days ago.

The water man told me that even though he dumped in ~ 1000 gallons, a great part of it will seep out of the well to the surrounding (drier) aquifer, the same way groundwater makes its way inside the well in normal conditions.

I'm thinking I could get some kind of drinking-water-safe plastic poly sheet sown or welded together at the seam to create a long and flexible tubing.

Then dropping the "sleeve" in the well with a heavy-ish "hoola-hoop"-shaped material the diameter of the well attached at the bottom of the sleeve end to weigh it down.

Wouldn't that effectively transform the well into a usable water reservoir?

Does this sound doable?

Your aphorism of the day: Theory and Practice are the same in Theory, but Different in Practice.

As a practical matter it's going to be near-impossible to fabricate, install, and install a pump or suction pipe into a plastic-sheet-tube without poking a hole in the plastic. If you manage to succeed, you've disabled your well - if no water can get out, no water can come in.

Generally, if you need a cistern, you'll do better to put in a cistern than to try and use a well as a cistern. 275 and 330 gallon food grade plastic pallet tanks are widely available for one quick/temporary solution, a stock watering tank with a fabricated cover is another that's widely available. If it's a long-term need, buried concrete tanks are the standard for large volume storage. If using the translucent plastic tanks, cover them to block light so you don't start growing algae.

Drilling your well deeper is probably the better solution. Alternatively, if you put in a cistern for delivered water, and you have some water in the bottom of the well, adding a small, slow pump to pump from the well into the cistern is another workable approach. While your main well pump presumably sucks the well dry when it's low, a much slower pump can extract a constant trickle of water and place it into your cistern/storage, from which you can pump to the house at higher speed when you need water.


Part of house has very low power electricity out of no where Ive lived here for over 7 years without any electrical issues. It is an older house. Part of my livingroom has low to no power. If I leave one light bulb on, it will work, if I put 2-3 on, it is very weak. If I turn on another device within the proximity all power/lights go off in that area.
So far it seems to effect the chandelier, tv outlet and side outlet, kids closet and back outside light.
I didnt have any power at all in this part of the house and I thought a GFCI outlet that wasnt clicking was the issue, I changed it and now I got this low power issue. But now I completely remove that outlet which I thought was the issue and not leave the cables disconnected, everything continues to work on very low power so I am so confused. I checked the breakers in the panel and all seem fine.
What could be the issue here?
New day:
My progress so far has found 4 things affected: 2 outlets that are hot but no power, livingroom ceiling light and one closet light affected. The breaker seems to be connected to much more outlets and lights around the house but not affecting any of those. I have already switched out the outlets affected with new ones without any results. I have disconnected the livingroom light completely. During all this, another GFCI outlet in the garage went bad, I need to replace that now which leads to my bedroom and bathroom without power till then. Big mess but I feel like Im getting closer, Im going to try my best before calling an electrician. Let me know if anything I say makes some sort of sense to anyone! Thank you.

You (probably) have a bad connection.
This is dangerous - that connection will be heating up, and hot connections can start fires.
At a guess, you might be best served by just calling a pro, since it sounds like you are somewhat unfamilar with electrical work, but if you want to try checking it yourself, turn the affected circuit off at the breaker panel, and check every device on it, starting from the breaker panel and working away from it.
You'll be checking to see that all wire nuts and connection screws are tight, on both the hot and neutral wires.
If you have any devices which use "backstabs" (the screwless "poke a wire in the back" connections) just assume that any of those could be your problem, remove them from the backstab, and connect to the screw on the device corresponding to the backstab you remove the wire from. Screws are a much more reliable means of connection wires to devices.
Depending how long it's been going on, and how severe the problem is, you may find obvious signs of overheating (discolored wire insulation, melted or charred plastic) or you may not.
If your wires (the actual metal part) appear to be silver-gray rather than pinkish or brownish metal, you may have a bigger issue from a house of a particular era - aluminum rather than copper wiring.


kitchen sink drain replacement I bought all the metal drain pipes to replace a rotted out existing system under kitchen sink . I showed the plumbing supply vendor a picture and shared my knowledge of the set up . He sold me basically exact matching parts ( metal) / I am very handy at most everything except of course plumbing . The pipes he sold me do match up to my existing rotted pieces except of course some shortening i will need to do with hacksaw.  Big dilemma is how do you fit 1 1/2 inch pipe into 1 1/2 inch pipe . the same diameter cannot fit into another pipe of the same diameter

First of all I would have used plastic pipes and fittings as they're much easier to install.

However, as long as you have the metal pieces, you can join them with a "Fernco" rubber joint. It is basically a short rubber hose with hose clamps.


While vacationing, is it worth augmenting AC with a dehumifier? Per Does running a dehumidifier with an AC unit save money?, I understand that while a house is occupied, it doesn't make sense to run both an AC unit at normalish temperatures (maybe 75), and a dehumidifier.

Elsewhere, I have read that if you are going on vacation, you should run your AC unit full blast for a couple hours and then bump it to something like 85 for the rest of the day. The couple of on hours help to dehumidify, while you save money for the other hours of the day. For example.

I am wondering if it makes sense to have a dehumidifier running all the time while I just leave my AC at 85, say.

No, a separate dehumidifier is not better. It simply does not have the airflow of the AC. Running the central AC at 72 for an hour or two in the morning is a good idea to remove the moisture from the air.


Outlet grounded by conduit - how do I add a second outlet with Romex? I tested the outlet with an outlet tester which states that it is properly wired.  However, I know that conduit is not necessarily always sufficient to provide a proper ground.  So I tested the outlet with a multimeter.  I get 120.5 volts when testing the line and neutral, as well as when I test the line to the ground hole on the outlet.  So it seems that the conduit is properly grounded.
I need to add an outlet nearby this outlet... but how do I properly tie in a romex cable to this situation?
Unrelated but similar question:
I also have several outlets that are not grounded outlets.  However, if they are run through conduit that is properly grounded, I might switch out the outlets...  But should I instead be rewiring everything?  We are closing up the attic floors as we create a master suite in the attic.  Seems like the next few months is my last good chance to rewire anything... but I'd rather just switch out the outlets as the time and money invested on that does not seem worth it.
Thanks!

If the box is grounded by the conduit, you can get self tapping grounding screws and screw one into the hole in the back of the box. Then wrap your ground from your NM cable around the grounding screw and tighten. Use the proper NM to box connector. Make sure you're not in an area that requires conduit.
In my humble opinion, the wiring shown in the lower box should be replaced if you're in a position to do so. It's old and will start breaking up if you mess around with it. As far as the grounding goes, if the box is grounded, you can replace the outlets with self grounding outlets and they will get grounded when screwing them into the box, or you can add a grounding wire to the box and attach it to the outlets.


Why did oiling cause this crank to become dirty? My house has exterior roller shutters operated by a manual crank inside (right pic). But operating it created a lot of squeaking noise from the crank handle so I used a few drops of fine-mechanic oil to lubricate. Problem solved -- but now it's dirty (left pic) and it keeps getting dirty again every time I wipe it clean.

Evidently I should not have used oil here. How can I correct my mistake?

It seems the mix between the combination of plastic tubes (handles) around metal shafts caused the squeaking, but adding oil to that combo creates "dirt" = a very thin black greasy substance that is easily wiped away yet reappears within a day or two (we operate these daily).

I wonder how I can:

remove the oil to stop this problem, and
add something else to prevent it from happening again?

Important update:

I neglected to mention that this is a brand new system; the house was built last summer so there can't be years of dirt. I think it must be a phenomenon about the materials.
Also, the crank doesn't seem to be removable. I can't tell how it's put together but there are no visible screws.

The oil that you applied to the crank joints is doing several things.

Foremost it has eliminated the dryness in the joints that led to the squeaking.
It is flushing out the years worth of wear dust and particulate that collected in the joints from operating them without lubrication.
Oil present on the joints now will be a magnet for new dust and dirt from the area nearby the crank rod, although this is a relatively minor issue.

The primary factor that is leading to the 'dirtyness' is the second point above. So you may want to look into thoroughly cleaning joints with something that can penetrate into the wear areas and flush out all the old crud. This could be achieved by either removing the crank and moving it to a convenient work are or done in place. If you remove the crank you may get effective results by soaking and working the moving parts in a bath of warm soapy water. If done in place you may have luck with using a penetrating type cleaner that comes in a spray can with a nozzle tube. (Note that if you spray in place hold the rod and joint in an old cloth or rag so the spray does not get all over everything else nearby).

Once the joints are nice and clean you have any number of options for lubricating the joints for smooth operation. Using the oil again is an option but it would take a very small amount. A dry lubricant such as a silicon spray may work well if applied right down into the joints with a nozzle tube. The key to the lubrication is to eliminate or significantly reduce the wear on the moving parts.


Pulsating water and banging noise from pipes when hot water is on in the faucet or shower in the bathroom Things I have done:

Replaced faucet, and its shut off valves
Put new shower cartridge (OEM)

Water is coming from the city supply, not well. This issue started happening for the past three weeks and I lived in the house for two years.

When I start the shower (hot water only OR mixing cold water), OR start faucet (hot water only OR mixing cold water) the pressure of hot water suddenly goes down and pipes start banging.

Note I do not run shower or faucet at the same time. This happens sporadically, not consistently, but very frequently. No banging noise or issues in the kitchen. Hot water is supplied by standard hot water heater bought from Home Depot. There are no arrestors in either shower, faucet, or kitchen and never been any.

When I replaced cartridge/faucet, issue went away for 5 days. It came back today after I took a long shower (?)

The noise is super loud and I'm afraid that the banging will literary rip off one of the connections somewhere.

*****UPDATE 12/13 - solution *****

I noticed there was a rust in the faucet aerator when I unscrewed it, and it was a brand new faucet. This prompted me to look at the pipes leading from hot water heater to the shower-- and found few feet line of galvanized pipe (I think that is how it is called?) (along with corroded unnecessary shut off valve in there) connected to the copper. I'm thinking the rust came from that pipe so water was not evenly flowing thus causing the pulse...

I replaced that few feet old pipe run with pex and it solved it! No more pipe banging for the past couple days and flow of the water is even and smooth. Thank you everyone for your input. Hopefully this post will help someone in the future.

I still need to deal with the pressure tank tiny leak but this issue has been solved.

this is a common problem called water hammer.  its caused by resonance in the system of pipes that makes up your home water supply system.  this can be caused by trapped air, but can happen without it as well.  you have two solutions:

1)  install an anti-water hammer arrester. its a little doodad that helps to smooth out the pulses so you don't get the resonant waves running through the system.

2)  go through and mechanically fasten the pipes better than they currently are.  unfortunately, as most will be running through finished ceiling and wall cavities, this means cutting holes and patching them.


How to remove block of concrete under old toilet After removing a toilet, I have discovered that there is a block of concrete underneath, which needs to be removed before installing the new toilet.

What is the best way to get rid of it?
Would some sort of sculpting chisel and heavy hammer work?

If the floor tile is going underneath it, it should come up pretty easy. do use a chisel and hammer and crack from the top only if possible. You may be able to separate it from the flooring in one piece by setting the chisel at the floor and wedging up the chunk, but you may dislodge tile while you are at it although it will not be likely, still possible. Best to try from the top only, the vibration may make the whole piece come loose anyway....


Why won't my washer machine motor, gearbox, or inside basket free spin I have a Whirlpool model# LSR8233EQ0 washing machine. Not sure which one of the components in the question title are causing the issue. I've found that it could be any of them.

The machine recently stopped spinning in any cycle. I've had this issue before so I knew it was the motor coupling. I thought, or the guy at the parts store said, that was generally caused by overloading it. Upon taking the load out that it broke on it surely seemed possible.

When I went to remount the motor I noticed it was difficult to spin the shaft with my hands to align it with the water pump. I actually needed to use my pliers. It seemed strange but couldn't remember if that was the case the last time I had to replace one.

Note:
 The motor shaft spun easily, by hand, prior to being attached to the gearbox. I'm not sure if after connecting the motor to the gearbox it's normal for it to give some resistance.

After the job was done I started the machine up and it seemed to be sluggish starting up. It didn't make any obvious noises and seemed to come up to normal speed in a short amount of time.

I began to test it out with the lid open with me activating the lid switch with a screw driver. The problem is when I release the lid switch the motor continues around a seemingly small angle then abruptly stops. This, I know, is not normal. The inside basket should continue to spin freely. I suppose this is where the question get hazy. I've read that it could be a seized bearing between the inner and outer baskets.

I've looked elsewhere on the internet and came with some similar issues dealing with spinning but none exactly like this. Most led to advice dealing with the motor and gearbox and one concerning the baskets but recommended to call a technician for these issues. I have a feeling the cost to repair it would be more than it's worth.

So my question is -
Can this problem be deduced to the gearbox based on the information I've given? How much does a rebuilt gearbox typically cost. Is the gearbox easily replaced (mounting/unmounting)? Can an issue with the motor be 100% ruled out?

Side notes:
I haven't tested the agitation cycle because if it's not the motor I'd prefer not burning it out figuring out there's nothing wrong with it and would like to keep my brand new motor coupling in tact.

Any advice or links to info would be great!

It is normal for resistance to be felt when attempting to rotate the motor driveline attached to the gearbox. Gearboxes have a fair bit of friction and are attached to a rather heavy tub. This machine is equipped with a tub brake that is supposed to engage during the spin cycle if the lid is lifted. The spinning stopping fairly quickly is normal. Continuing to spin indicates the brake has malfunctioned. I'm not sure if you are referring to the wash or spin cycle though. If it was wash cycle, it does sound odd, but I doubt the coupler would be at risk.

When off, the inner tub should be difficult to turn, but it should turn, you are turning the entire drivetrain and motor rotor. It cannot be deduced that there is a problem with the motor or gearbox with the information given, but I think failure of either is unlikely. I'm actually not hearing anything indicating anything is seriously wrong at all.

Since you asked, a new gearbox mail ordered in the US has a list price around $200 plus shipping. I would expect a rebuilt one to be 2/3 to 3/4 of that. Replacement is disassembly of the whole tub/agitator assembly, a fair bit of work.

Interestingly, another person is having difficulty with his Kenmore machine not spinning. It's well known that Kenmore appliances are rebadged name brand appliances. The parts diagrams of his and your machine look remarkably similar, if not identical. Probably an unrelated problem though, it's just curious.


How can I improve air flow in my basement? I have a pretty odd two floor duplex apartment with one of the rooms practically being a basement. I have previously had problems with mold, and in general the air isn't great in the basement. So I was wondering what are the best options to improve the airflow in these rooms? I was thinking of getting a fan to at least get some airflow, because I don't think it would be easy to get any some sort of air intake installed.

I have one window in this room, but I don't think it would be easy to turn that into an air intake. There are some ventilation holes just under the window, but they do not seem to do much and I don't think having the window open 24/7 is a good alternative, especially not during the winter.

The apartment I am living in was renovated when I moved in, but as I live in Versailles, France these buildings are probably over a hundred years old. It tends to get very humid as well, especially during the summer which doesn't help.

How can I improve the air flow in this basement?

If it's a really old house, that might actually work to your benefit as old houses usually are not well sealed when compared to new homes which are practically air tight.

There's a couple components to what you are trying to accomplish:

Air circulation - A ceiling fan will probably do the trick for a single room.  If the house is conditioned via forced air, another option might be setting the furnace fan to be always on instead of only on when heating/cooling.  This will help keep the air circulating throughout the house (and through the furnaces filter).
Humidity - If its really bad, a dehumidifier will likely be required.
Fresh air - In all likelihood, you are probably getting a decent amount of fresh air through the cracks in the walls and elsewhere already (seeing as it's an old house).  If you are not, the simplest solution is to open a window ocasionally. If this is not an option (ie: winter) then the furnace fan trick I mentioned in (1) migtht help too.

Some other options are:

Some household plants might also help with the air quality - talk to your local garden center to see if they have any ideas
Air ioniser (or negative ion generator) - I can't backup any claims made by these devices, but some people claim they work well.
Install a small HEPA filter


When choosing lighting fixtures for new construction, should I go integrated or non-integrated CFL? I do facilities maintenance for a company in Boston, and one of our newer buildings (built in 2006) has non-integrated CFL fixtures. I was really surprised when I went to HomeDepot to buy some new bulbs and they were $6 to $10 each.

I buy integrated CFL bulbs for our older buildings and usually get them for 50¢ each.

What's up with that?

A bulb that does not include the ballast with it is 12x more expensive than one that does.

I've also had to replace several of the ballasts in the non-integrated fixtures which were not cheap and a real pain in the neck.

I haven't looked into it much, but I would assume that the non-integrated CFL fixtures are more expensive than traditional, so why would anyone want to use them?

While this is not really a diy type question, I'll give it a go.

First I take integrated as a screw-in self ballasted cfl and a non-integrated is a cfl with 2 or 4 pins made to go in a fixture designed for that lamp.

To answer your first question about new construction, some states have laws saying you have to use the fluorescent ballasted fixtures (for non-integrated cfls) in certain areas.  Residential it's in bathrooms and kitchens and outdoor lights.  I'm not certain about commercial buildings.

All buildings, commercial and resi have to do load calcs (how much wattage a circuit will use).  While resi might not be as important to follow as strictly as commercial because of air conditioning impact and circuits will be more closer to the maximum output of what the wire and breaker are intended to handle.  If you use a recessed can that uses the integrated self ballasted cfls, or a can with a medium edison socket, then this throws all the calculations out the window.

Put in a recessed can or fixture with a medium base, then building maintenance or Harry Homeowner will not care or know what was intended, they will put in the easiest to use.  In resi applications the biggest complaint I hear is when someone is putting on make-up, they would rather have the natural light of an incandescent than a cfl. Then 13 watt cfl becomes a 75 watt reflector lamp and the wattage went up 5 times plus the air conditioning burden just went up as well.  That's a big deal if done that way in a commercial building.

The ballasted fixtures using cfl's are limited on what can go in them.  Usually a 5 watt cfl has the same socket and ballast as a 7 and 9 watt.  A 13 watt does not share it's sockets or ballast with other fixtures.  4 pin tubes are the same.  That is why when it is governed that fluorescents must be used, they will only be accepted with no substitute.  Also fluorescent fixtures are designed to get the maximum light control and output of its lumens.

People that use the screw-in fluorescents use them for retrofitting from incandescent to fluorescent.  Probably the only advantage of using the screw-ins is that if the ballast goes bad it is part of the lamp, not a time consuming chore, depending where the ballast is.  Pricing varies but I would also suggest either trying another source for your lamps or bring in a competitive bid and have them start matching it.  Depending on how many buildings you take care and how many lamps you are responsible for, the big three (Sylvania, GE and Philips) loves working with people in your shoes.


Spike in electrical consumption I am a snow bird from North US and go to warm weather in Winter. I winterize my house in the North with only Oil Furnace, and a Fridge on. No other appliance is kept on. For most winters my electric usage ( and the bill) was quite low. This winter however every month it was 3X the normal. I called the Electric Utility. They suggested may be one of the 2 appliances was using a lot of electricity.

Is it possible for a fridge to use 3X more electricity? If yes how do I confirm that? Is there a Test device that will tell how many KWH the appliances are consuming?

Whenever I see a 3x jump in a power bill for an unoccupied house, my first suspicion is that someone is tapping into your house for free (to them) power because they know you are not home. I had a neighbor in Seattle who did this; went to Alaska every summer to mine gold, spent the winters in Seattle working on fishing vessel repair. One summer an RV parked in his driveway while he was gone and I met the owner, who said he was a relative. The relative left at the end of August and when my neighbor returned in September, he saw the huge power bill. He asked me if I had seen anything, I told him about his "relative", it was phony. From that point on he gave me his contact information in Alaska...


Diagnosing a doorbell fault My doorbell recently stopped working, after a decorator painted my hallway.

It is a wired system with a bell transformer beside the consumer unit. There are 2 wired bell units inside the house – one downstairs and one upstairs.

I'm handy with a multimeter but I do not have access to the junction box that connects all the wires together, without ripping all the paper off the wall and needing redecoration. There is only one pair of wires leaving the transformer, and only one pair leading to the switch and each of the two bells – so I know there must be some kind of junction somewhere. It would help if I knew exactly where! These wires are all of different ages and appearances, as they were commissioned at different times, so I know I can't be mistaken in this.

The bells are wired in parallel.

The transformer is working and is generating approximately 14V AC.

Measuring the voltage across the switch, I see the same. Pressing the button, the voltage drop across the switch goes to 0V. However, neither of the bells ring. The switch is of the kind that lights up when it is not being pressed, but it is no longer illuminating, even though there is 14V AC present.

I did manage to persuade someone to press the switch while measuring the voltage across one of the bells. It stayed at 0V.

All the connections seem to be sound.

What should my next steps be? Are there any further practical diagnostic steps I can make, or do I now need to start making holes in stuff looking for the junction box?

Once I find the box I know how to check the resistance of each leg looking for the break. But can I do anything useful without finding it? I have access to a mains cable detector, but does that work with the lower voltages a doorbell works at?

Here are some pictures of the various parts of the system:

Update

I first tested the current drawn by shorting out the switch contacts, using a multimeter. I got 0mA.

Then I found a long length of speaker wire. With the help of a chock block, I traced the continuity between the various parts of my circuit.

I have a good connection from one side of my transformer to one side of the switch.

I have a good connection from the other side of the transformer to one side of both bells, which means they are definitely wired in parallel.

The other side of the bell units are connected to each other as well, confirming they are in parallel.

Unfortunately, the other side of the switch is open circuit to the other side of the bell units.

Sadly, I think this means I need to run a new wire.

Update: Fixed!

Having used a sufficiently long piece of speaker cable, and tracing the open circuit connection to the cable run between the switch and the junction box (whose precise location is still not known) suspicion fell on a newly drilled hole, intended to fix the telephone cable junction box more firmly to the wall.

After digging out the wall behind the junction box sufficiently, we could see the new hole had indeed hit the bell cable and light pressure was sufficient to completely separate the wires - though at first, only one part was visible.

Further digging exposed the other part of the wire, and we were able to reconnect the ends with a chock block.

Putting everything back together I now have two working bells. And the hole was small enough that it could be filled and completely hidden by the junction box for the telephone. Result!

Thanks to everyone for your excellent advice.

If it stopped after painting, then I would guess that it has nothing to do with what's behind the wall. (Unless they were able to get behind the walls themselves) Could be just bad luck, but I'd suggest checking the wiring connections on the bells. Take them off and reconnect them if needed.

Could your system be connected together at the bells?

After the comments below, I've (terribly) tried to draw up what it sounds like it looks like.

My best guess is that there used to be an old transformer that was used for the old bell and button. The contractor that added the new transformer would have removed the old one and used it's box, or wherever it was located, as the junction location to reconnect everything.. Does this sound reasonable? Since you have power to the light switch, but neither bell works, the issue must be between the button and the junction box or between the junction box and your new transformer. It could be a wire that's come loose in the box or something that's interrupted one of those two wires.

You might call the old contractor and ask about this possibility? If they did something like this, they should know where the box was.


In a multi-zone mini-split setup, how do you heat heat rooms without an evaporator? I recently asked for recommendations for multi-zone heating in a small home (intended for college students).  The responses overwhelmingly recommended multi-zone mini split systems.  I fully agree, my question here is about how to implement this.  If you disagree, please direct comments to the thread below.

Efficient whole house heating on a budget. Electric baseboard?.

Here is the situation.  I've plugged the home into a few online calculators which estimate heating and cooling load requirements between 30,000 and 32,000 BTU's.  Obviously these calculators are making the assumption of free airflow.  The rough layout of the house is something like this

              Floor 1                     Floor2

          -/ -------------            ----------------
          |  |           |            |              |
          |       LR     |            |      BR2     |
          |  |___________|            |_/ ___________|
          |Ξ |           |            |Ξ  |    BR3   |
          |Ξ \    BR1    |            |Ξ  /__________|
          |Ξ |___________|            |Ξ  /   BATH   |
          |Ξ         | BR|            |Ξ  |__________|
          |          /___|            |/ _|          |
          |     KIT      |            |      BR4     |
          |              /            |              |
          |______________|            |______________|

There is a basement as well, open.  As long as I can keep it above 50 to protect the pipes, I'm not too concerned.

The smallest evaporator I have seen for these systems is 9000BTU.  Way to large for a bedroom, but four of them is also borderline too large for the entire home.  Unless of course, I can get proper airflow.  One of the things I have considered is a series of vents between various rooms, such as between BR3 and the bathroom or BR4 and the kitchen.  Something else I considered is open transom's above all the doors.

Any thoughts or better ideas?  I worry about the rear of the first floor not getting enough heat.  I guess a 5 zone system is an option as well.

9000 btu is not two large for a bedroom, I have a 12000, and 8000 on 1 split. For 2 bedrooms, Mitsubishi makes 6000 btu so smaller units are out there for small bedrooms.

With a mini split used for both heat and cooling I would go larger based on experience. A mini split with an inverter controlled compressor will only run as hard as is needed. If the unit is two small it will go into defrost more often and during that time the temp drops so I think a bit oversized actually helps for heating.
  I like a zone in each bedroom and depending on size 1 for the kitchen dining area and one for the family room. In my case it was cheaper for multiple compressors, allowing shorter line sets and feeders for power, so that should be investigated also.

I think your sizing chart is off a bit, I currently have a small 3 Bd Rm house and live in climate zone 2. If I turn all the rooms on at 68f and do not run my pellet stove my units can barely keep up on a cold day low 30’s.  the house is well insulated, floors walls and ceiling. Double Pane windows and all. My systems total 48000 btu but the summer it can really freeze us out if we turn it down and that is with temps +100

Oops almost forgot how to heat without an inside unit in a room. In my bathrooms we leave the doors open, when the bathroom is in use the exhaust fan is on pulling conditioned air into the bathrooms.
If I do not have a inside unit to a room it is usually a room that is open next to a room that is conditioned. Like kitchen/dining area where I try and have the air flow directed to the other room. In the case of not having a spare bedroom having its own inside unit we normally leave that door open and used a fan to blow air into it. Today each BdRm on my home has its own unit. I purchased compressors that were inverter controlled with the max taps I would need and added the other 2 rooms later allowing me to stagger some of the cost and not have to purchase a new compressor when I added the new zones.
Hope this helps.


How to touch up surface painted with airless sprayer I painted a steel door with an airless sprayer - the finish looked wonderful! Unfortunately I scratched the door while re-installing it on the hinges. Now the question is how to address the scratch. If I brush paint over it, presumably it will stick out like a sore thumb? Do I have to sand around the scratch and "spot re-spray"? Or do I have to spray the full door again?

---- EDIT ----
I tried to brush with Purdy XL brush and the red paint with some Floetrol:

In the top left you can see some brush marks, and near the lock you can see a big "dip" where the old paint has been sanded through (it's a brand new door - it's not like there were 20 years of paint on it, so I'm kind of surprised the first layers of red paint are so thick). I'm in the "it looks good enough" camp, but I'm still trying to get a consensus out how you'd do it "right". I don't think spraying instead of brushing would have helped with the hard edges of old paint layer?

28 years of experience as a painter .. what works best is a light sanding and then a very light dusting of the enamel spray paint .  May require 2 light coats ..  it is tricky and you will have to be very light handed with this so you don't create a noticeable " patched "area.  Good Luck!


How should I prepare the base of a small paver brick retaining wall Am building a low retaining wall which will rise 7" above the soil line.
I am using 8" x 4" extra paver bricks from a recently constructed walkway.
The wall will measure 48" long with 24" sides

How deep of a crushed stone base should I lay as a foundation for this small wall?
I plan to use construction adhesive to bond these bricks together

Should the bottom course of bricks be below the soil line?

A good starting point would be to plan on burying one course on a minimum of four inches of compacted gravel. The buried blocks don't buy you much stability in that configuration but they will help keep the wall from sliding forward and prevent the ground washing out underneath the wall, which is unsightly.

The gravel base must provide enough drainage to prevent your wall from becoming a bathtub. Barring truly epic monsoons or snow melts a modest depth should suffice. The base, by the way, should be twice the thickness of the wall. I doubt that's an issue since a ditch narrower than 8" would be a real hassle to shovel or tamp down stone in.

That basic plan should be modified by the local frost line, soil composition, and common sense. If an extra couple inches will get you below the frost line that's good insurance against heaving. If going below the frost line means digging an extra two feet that's a good reason to stop early and have a beer. Remember, you never get perfect compaction even with a machine. An exceptionally deep base that's 90% compacted will still settle a couple of inches.


In San Francisco, I’m building stairs with a top landing. How big should the landing be? In San Francisco, We’re planning to build exterior back stairs from the second floor going to ground floor (about 61” elevation which is about 7-8 steps).  With a 32” door opening outward toward the stairs, what dimensions should the landing be?  I imagine there needs to be clearance so the width of the door plus some.  I read in some places require the width of the door plus 18”.  What is the minimum in SF?  Or what SHOULD be the extra clearance be?

You need a 36" minimum deep landing, regardless of the door size. The width of the landing should be at least 36", but no narrower than the stair. Also, if your deck door is an egress door, the landing can't be more than 1 1/2" below the interior floor elevation.


Outlet not working before/after replacement There is a room in my house that has three outlets. For the longest time, I knew that one of them was causing an issue where it would just suddenly stop working. me being a procrastinator however, I never got around to fixing it.(please wait to scold me after I get a solution.

I had a roommate move in about 2 months ago and they have their tv plugged into said out. well just last night it stopped working. No burnt smell, no tripped breaker and no GCFI. I told him to plug into the next closest outlet and i would get a new outlet from the store and replace it in the AM.

Well the next closest outlet also produced no electricity. The one on the opposite side of the room however has power.

So I ended up picking up two new outlets just in case and started this morning changing out the one furthest from the TV(not the one the tv was originally plugged into.) After hooking the wires up Black to bronze, white to silver and stripped ground to green, i still have no power on That outlet.

Can someone tell me what could be causing this? my theory is that the problem with the one by the TV could be stopping the flow of electricity to the other outlet(I'm not an electrician and have very limited experience with the craft.) I have installed several new outlets in my house before this, so i know enough to know how to do that properly.

Little fun fact, in a stroke of sheer stupidity, I curiously touched the white terminal to the ground terminal with a pair of spaced needle nose pliers, which gave me electricity to the lamp i had plugged in to test(again scold me for my stupidity later.)

Should i go ahead and try replacing the other outlet or what?

No one I know of can tell you exactly what's happening. From a troubleshooting aspect, your problem is probably a disconnected or loose wire. It can be either a neutral or hot wire.

The procedure to find the wire is to first find the circuit(s) that are having the problem. Then check for power at the breaker and check the neutral and ground at the buss for loose connections (warning this would require you to pull the cover off the panel and expose live conductors). Once you have established that the problem is not in the panel then you need to pull each device and fixtures on the circuit and examine them for loose connections. Also look for burn marks or damaged components. Make sure every splice is secure and making a sound electrical and mechanical connection.

If your residence was wired by someone who used the push in back wire connection on the receptacles, remove them and reconnect to the screw lugs on the receptacle. You can probably go on youtube for the proper way to make a connection.

Remember you are looking for a loose or disconnected conductor so the problem may not be at the receptacle not working, but somewhere downstream of the problem. If all of this seems a little overwhelming, then you should consider to bring in a service electrician to assist you in finding the problem.

I should also mention that if you are removing covers and pulling components you can be exposing yourself to live parts and there is a risk of electrical shock or burn. So make sure everything is dead inside the boxes before pulling devices out for inspection.

Good luck


Electric Range Keeps Blowing its Fuse I have a brand new electric range that I am having a problem with and would appreciate some insights so that I can determine whether its the appliance or my electricity is at fault.

When I turn on 2 or more burners on the stove-top or 1 burner and the oven, I can feel the plug getting extremely hot and the range will just shut off after some time. After opening the plug, I see the fuse is blown. I replaced the fuse and the same thing happened again. When having only 1 burner on then everything is fine.

I've done lots of reading but I am still unable to understand why is this happening.

The range's plug is rated 250V and fitted with a 13A fuse. It is plugged into a wall socket. I have checked the main circuit breaker (100 AMP MAX - 30 AMP for each switch), when turning off one specific switch only the wall socket used by my range is turned off, so no other appliances are loaded on the same circuit.

With that said, what could be causing this? Is it my circuit not having sufficient power for the range? But if this was the issue then, according to stuff I read, the circuit breaker switch should trip not the plug's fuse get blown.

When opening the plug, I see the wire going to the right side pin fried but others are fine.

Appreciate if someone can provide some info.

EDIT:
Thanks to gbulmer now I see it is wired incorrectly! I will rewire it correctly but I have a side question. Could the incorrect wiring done damage to the appliance or not?

As gbulmer pointed out, the plug is wired incorrectly.
That plug is damaged, I would replace it.
Trim back any damaged wire (with burnt insulation) and make sure the earth wire has the most slack (so it is disconnected last if the cable is pulled out of the plug).
A typical electric hob ring can need 1.7 kW. Two of those would overload a 13A circuit.
I would check the rating of the electric range. High current appliances of that sort are normally connected directly to a dedicated 20A or 32A circuit using a switched wiring box, not plugged into a normal ring-main using a normal 13A plug. If the 13A fuse is overheating or blowing it suggests the range is overloading the socket. I would consult an electrician.

In my home, I have a 32A circuit that feeds the separate electric oven and electric hob (4 rings) - each is connected through a switch as shown above (one labelled "hob", the other "oven"). Your "range" probably needs a dedicated circuit and isolating switch.


Fridge works for 2 months if I unplug it for 2 hours My fridge quits working after a couple months. The only fix seems to be unplugging it for a few hours then plugging it back in.

It is not iced over.

I have replaced the main control board.

I have replaced the compressor inverter board.

Each fix fixes it for 2 months (presumably because it involves removing power for a decent amount of time). Then it quits cooling again.

It is a Kenmore Elite all digital. No defrost timer (part of main control board). Temp gauges read out current temp on digital display (that's actually how I know it's stopping cooling as these readings creep up).

Side-by-side or top/bottom?

When this happens do you get high temp on refrigerator, freezer or both?

Some side-by-side refrigerators have a vent between the two sections which can ice up - in which case my guess is you would see different effects on each side. A couple of hours might be enough for that to melt and then everything works fine for a while.


Extend Clean Out Pipe and Fill Hole with Cement I have a cleanup pipe in my basement that has access through a hole in the floor.  The top of the clean pipe is about 6" below floor level.  It seems that the bottom of the hole is just dirt.

The hole is covered by a irrigation cover that is usually found in a lawn.  I suspect the builder showed up with the concrete to pour the floor and realized that they clean out pipe was below floor level.  Rather than hold pouring the floor to extend the pipe, they improvised.

During prolonged rains (greater than a couple of days), the water rises out of this hole and onto the floor.  However, the hole is always damp.

There is also a musty smell.

It is a walkout basement so there is not a lot of water pressure on the floor.  This hole is on the opposite wall of the walkout.  So if the water continues to come in after the fix, then the next step will be to add tile on the outside of the house.  BUT, that will be costly as I will have to breakup a driveway.

With the goal of preventing water from coming into the house and getting rid of the musty smell I am inclined to extend the clean out pipe to floor level (or above), then fill the hole with cement.  To protect the pipe from being kicked I will build some shelves in this corner.

Here are my questions:

Is this a good idea?  Or is there something else I should consider?
Any tips on extending the clean out pipe?  For instance, is the standard size sufficient for cleaning out when it is extended, or should I also expand out to a larger pipe so the access is easier.
Is there a particular cement or technique that will be less likely to allow water to seep up through the crack where the new cement meets the old cement?  And where the new cement meets the pipe?

[Edit] I found out this is a backwater valve that prevents sewer water from backing into my house.  There is a riser kit for this valve, but this value is 15 years old and the riser kit for my old backwater value is not longer available.  The company uses the same part numbers for the new and old parts (even tho they are not compatible, so it will be difficult to find an old riser kit).

Water is very sneaky. It will always find the path of least resistance. To fix this problem you need to first find the actual source. You may have exterior sewage draining back into your house. A licensed plumber can use a dye in different areas and that dye will show up in your clean out pipe. If it does then you know where it came from and where to begin fixing the problem. If it does not, then you know that it is simply water from outside. Remember, that pipe was put there for a reason. Sealing it may cause more problems in the long run.


Treehouse ladder - 12ft and corrosion resistant from pressure treated wood? I'm designing an elevated deck/swingset combo and am trying to figure out how I'm going to build the ladder.

But I've got a couple of challenges. One is that the main posts will be ground-contact rated pressure-treated wood, which from what I read corrodes basically all metal except stainless steel.

Another is that most ladder rungs I've found you need to weld in place, and I don't have welding equipment or training.

This is my first shot at a ladder design (safety cage is planned but not pictured):

Deck height is 12ft.

I've been looking up hardware to build this but having a bit of trouble. A stainless steel ladder rung mount would be nice but I can't find it. Basically I just need a ladder I can attach to this pressure treated frame.

Anyone have any ideas?

For ground contact, besides the corrosion problem, there are general strength and stability issues potentially lurking.

Solutions include creating a concrete base, such as (from here):

Or pouring your own concrete base and incorporating post standoffs such as (from here)

Another issue is for whom is the ladder intended?  If it is teenagers, then your layout is probably adequate for all but the least athletic.  Otherwise, the ladder should extend above the deck for hand holds.


Would my Lighting diagram work? Hi, i was just wanting some people to take a loot at this diagram i threw together to see if this system would work? and if so do i need to put each area that i tie the main 12/2 together in a box of some kind?

Wiring

This is what your wiring diagram should look like.

Notice the black wire is used to feed the switch, while the white wire is markered and used to feed the light from the switch.  This is because the black wire going to the switch will always be hot, but the white wire "returning" from the switch is only hot when the switch is in the ON position. The white "switched" wire can be marked simply by wrapping a bit of black electrical tape at each end of the wire.

All the grounding conductors are tied together, and connected to the box (if a metal box is used).

Box Fill Calculations

According to section 314.16 of the National Electrical Code (NEC), you'll have to count each conductor that enters the box once, all the grounds as one, any luminaire studs, hickeys, or fixture straps as one, each single yoke device is 2, and internal clamps are 1. Once you have this number, you'll multiply it by the value in Table 314.16(B) according to the largest conductor used. This will give you the total minimum box size, in cubic inches (cubic centimeters).

Ceiling Fixture Boxes

For each ceiling fixture box (excluding the last), the box fill will be as follows:

3 12/2 cables connected to box = 6 (13.5cu.in.).
All grounding conductors = 1 (2.25cu.in).
A luminaire stud, hickey or strap (to support the light) = 1 (2.25cu.in.).
Fixture wires less than 14 AWG = 0 (see 314.16(B)(1)ex 1.).
Total Box Fill = 8 (18cu.in.).

Assuming you'll be using 12 AWG wires, Table 314.16(A) tells us you'll need a 4" x 2 1/8" round/octagonal box for the first 3 boxes (or a box at least 18 cubic inches).

The last fixture box fill will be as follows:

2 12/2 cables connected to box = 4 (9cu.in.).
All grounding conductors = 1 (2.25cu.in).
A luminaire stud, hickey or strap (to support the light) = 1 (2.25cu.in).
Fixture wires less than 14 AWG = 0 (see 314.16(B)(1)ex 1.).
Total Box Fill = 6 (13.5cu.in.).

So you'll need at least a 4" x 1 1/2" round/octagonal box, for the last box.

Switch Boxes

1 12/2 cable connected to box = 2 (4.5cu.in.).
All grounding conductors = 1 (2.25cu.in.).
Switch = 2 (4.5cu.in.).
Total Box Fill = 5 (11.25cu.in.).

This means you'll be able to use any device box larger than 11.25 cubic inches, for the switches.

Final Diagram

While 12 AWG wire may be a bit overkill for this installation; if that's the size wire you have, there is no problems using it.

According to section 300.15 of the National Electrical Code, all junctions must be made in a box or conduit body. Section 314.29, adds that the box must be "accessible without removing any part of the building".