What type of dryer best handles long exhaust vents? I have a very long exhaust line (about 5 meters) from the dryer and have issues with moisture staying in it when I do laundry. Since the old dryer broke down, I am now shopping around for a new dryer and want one that will minimize this issue. Are there specific features or specifications of a dryer that I should be looking for?

At 5 meters, your actually well within the allowed length of duct work allowed for a dryer vent (depending on how many bends you have).

  International Residential Code (IRC) 2012

  Section M1502 Clothes Dryer Exhaust

  M1502.4.1 Material and size.
  Exhaust ducts shall have a smooth interior finish and be constructed of metal having a minimum thickness of 0.0157 inches (0.3950 mm) (No. 28 gage). The duct shall be 4 inches (102 mm) nominal in diameter.

  M1502.4.2 Duct installation.
  Exhaust ducts shall be supported at intervals not to exceed 12 feet (3658 mm) and shall be secured in place. The insert end of the duct shall extend into the adjoining duct or fitting in the direction of airflow. Exhaust duct joints shall be sealed in accordance with Section M1601.4.1 and shall be mechanically fastened. Ducts shall not be joined with screws or similar fasteners that protrude more than 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) into the inside of the duct.

  M1502.4.4 Duct length.
  The maximum allowable exhaust duct length shall be determined by one of the methods specified in Section M1502.4.4.1 or M1502.4.4.2.

  M1502.4.4.1 Specified length.
  The maximum length of the exhaust duct shall be 35 feet (10 668 mm) from the connection to the transition duct from the dryer to the outlet terminal. Where fittings are used, the maximum length of the exhaust duct shall be reduced in accordance with Table M1502.4.4.1. The maximum length of the exhaust duct does not include the transition duct.

  M1502.4.4.2 Manufacturer’s instructions.
  The size and maximum length of the exhaust duct shall be determined by the dryer manufacturer’s installation instructions. The code official shall be provided with a copy of the installation instructions for the make and model of the dryer at the concealment inspection. In the absence of fitting equivalent length calculations from the clothes dryer manufacturer, Table M1502.4.4.1 shall be used.

Just make sure you construct the duct with rigid metal and you should be fine.

Moisture in a dryer vent (water) may be caused by a blockage due to lint - make sure the lint trap is clean and using a rigid duct would allow air to flow more freely.


How to tap into a light switch whose junction box is already full? I have a light switch I want to tap into to add another power outlet a few feet away.  I believe this switch's junction box is already too full to accommodate adding new wires.  I think I would have to re-wire things so my new outlet goes to this switch instead of an existing wire, and then have that splice with the new wire in the outlet's junction box.  The only problem is, the existing wires won't reach to the location of the new outlet.  Is there any way to splice a wire behind the wall without using an exposed junction box (with blank wall plate) or is that my only option to be within code?  Is there some other option I haven't considered?

What is the size of the box holding this switch? Is it 1-gang, 2-gang, 3-gang, etc?

Would a deeper box allow the new cable and connections? There are 3-7/8" deep 1-gang boxes with a 23 cu in capacity which is higher capacity than standard.

Alternatively you could replace a 1-gang box with a 2-gang old work box. Of course, this might be aesthetically unpleasing.


How can I lift buckets of mortar to second floor? I need to lift around 100-120 buckets of mortar to level the surface of two slabs (around 20 square meters).

Besides raising each bucket pulling a rope up, is there any other (EASY) way of doing that? I have a pulley but I have nowhere to anchor it. Here are some schematics of the area:

Back side (lower, but harded to bring the buckets all the way around it).

Front side (higher, but easier to mix the cement right in front of it).

If you have a pulley and no way to anchor it overhead, you could always lift from the top, with the pulley attached to the bucket. Of course, you'll need to have an anchor for the rope somewhere on the floor you're at, but it only has to be at the height you want to lift the bucket to.

The resulting load will be half of the bucket that you're lifting. If you REALLY don't have anywhere to tie off to, have a buddy hold the other end of the rope.

Obligatory MS Paint diagram:


Bathroom GFCI question In my apartment bathroom there is a GFCI receptacle with 2 switches on the wall directly to the right when walking in. There is also a receptacle right by the sink. Does the receptacle by the sink need to be GFCI protected or is it protected by the GFCI receptacle closer to the entry of the bathroom?

It does need to be protected there by the sink. It may very well be wired into the LOAD terminals of the other GFCI outlet. It is easy for you to check. Plug a lamp in by the sink and turn it ON. Then press the TEST button on the GFCI outlet. If the lamp goes OFF you know that the outlets are coupled.


How to fix this heavy shelving unit to solid supporting wall? Can someone please advise on the best fixings to use. I want this shelving unit to be hung to a solid brick wall like a kitchen cupboard. It weighs approximately 20kg. The back is longer than under the draws so difficult to fit a bracket at the bottom.

A Z bar hanger may work well. The lower half is fixed to the wall; the upper half is fixed to the object. Caveat: walls are sometimes not a flat plane, but instead have some curve to them. Use a straight edge to confirm your wall is flat where the mounting bar would go. If it isn't then it can be corrected by inserting shims behind the bar. (image credit: http://www.zbarhanger.com)

The bar will carry the weight of the cabinet with no trouble but it may be a good idea to use a few more fasteners directly through the cabinet into the wall, especially in the lower part of the cabinet. These would prevent the bottom of the cabinet being lifted away from the wall, the cabinet being slid sideways, or the cabinet being bumped upward enough to disengage the mounting bar.


Can a single cable type do the following Running from a new 200amp main interior in the attached garage, out a 150 amp breaker into 4/0 cable (4/0-4/0-4/0-2/0 assumed).  The cable will travel about 30 feet inside through raceways and EMT (2in), then travel outside another 50 feet straight run also in EMT (2in).  The EMT will get within 6 inches of the earth at the closest point (about 2 feet of travel), never terminating or touching/buried the earth.

Finally the cable will enter an exterior JBox where it will splice down to 1/0 Cu before re-entering the basement (also in EMT).  Why the 1/0 splice you ask?  I want to future-proof the main run with 4/0 Al so I could go up to 200amp in the future, but I can't use 4/0 into the existing 100A subpanel (the old main).  So the 1/0 Cu is the perfect ampacity intersection between a 150A feeder breaker that can take 4/0 and the 100A subpanel.  So even though it will initially be fused to 150A feeding a 100A panel, I want to size to a day when I replace the 150 feeder and 100a subpanel with 200 all the way (and replace the 1/0 Cu with 2/0 Cu).

Problems:
NEC 338.12(B)(2):  USE cable cannot be use for interior, and must terminate in outdoors enclosure.  -- So this type is a no-go for the interior garage run.

SE and SER:  (Can't run in the EMT at 90C from what I understand.)

Confusing.
Brian

You don't want cable at all here, but individual wires instead

Pulling cable down a conduit is a waste of time/effort (as it's a pain in the rear to pull by all accounts I have heard) and fill space (as the cable's treated as round instead of oval/flat for conduit fill purposes).

Instead, what you want to be using are individual conductors -- the 200A-sized run can be made using 3 4/0 Al XHHW-2 wires for the phases and neutral -- this consumes much less fill than a 4/0-4/0-4/0-2/0 SER cable (529mm2 for the individual wires vs 1135mm2 for the cable) and is cheaper than the cable too, as you can use the EMT as an equipment grounding conductor here.  Given that you can remark wires 4AWG and larger freely to neutrals with a wrap of white electrical tape at the terminals as per NEC 200.6(B), a single 250' spool of 4/0 Al XHHW-2 will get the job done here.

As to that Al to Cu splice...

The Al to Cu splice, by the way, should be made up using 2-port, Al9Cu rated mechanical splice connectors ("Polaris", "Unitap", or equivalent).  These provide a reliable and rugged connection when torqued to specification with a torque wrench, which is a requirement in the NEC nowadays (as per 110.14(D)) in addition to being good installation practice anyway, and are simple to install (compared to split bolts).  You'll also want to use an inch-pound torque wrench on the breaker and panel lugs as well.


Why doesnt my light work at night? I got home a few days ago after being gone for a couple months and I noticed one of the lights (CFL) in my kitchen isn't working late at night. If I try to turn it on after around 10:30 PM it almost certainly won't turn on. I just tried it around 10:45 PM and it turned on at about half brightness for about half a second and then went off. It works fine earlier in the evening, and it's been doing this for the past 4 nights (since I got home). What could be causing this? I don't think it's the temperature, it's about 74f in my house right now (11PM) and it didn't get hotter than 80f today.

First you need to identify if the problem is in the bulb or the fixture. Swap the bulb to another fixture and place a different bulb in this fixture. If the bulb is the problem, replace it.

If the fixture is the problem, I'd start by checking the voltage in the fixture when there's a problem. Then check the voltage at the switch. There could be an arcing wire resulting in the low voltage, and creating a fire risk that you'll want to resolve quickly.

It's also possible that a thermal protection switch inside the fixture is activating and starting to cut power to the light. If that's the issue, and there isn't a problem like insulation covering the fixture, then replacing the fixture is likely the easiest fix.


Is there a wall outlet power meter that I can interface with from a computer? I'm wondering if there is a wall outlet power meter that I can somehow interface with from a computer. I'm aware of all the google power meter products, but those are for an entire house. I'm trying to measure the electricity usage of a single outlet during an experiment without having to physically read the power meter and recording the result. Let me know if I need to explain anything.

If you're willing to do a little modification, you can use a Kill-A-Watt and hook it up to your computer.

Adafruit has a "Tweet-a-Watt" project that interfaces with a Kill-A-Watt and wirelessly sends the power readings to the receiving unit (which they then hooked up to tweet the current readings)

In the Adafruit forums, I found a guy who was trying to read the Kill-A-Watt directly with an Arduino, instead of wirelessly sending the readings. You could use an Arduino and read the measurements directly into a serial console on your computer and save the results to a file that way.


Can a single set of conductors feed utilization equipment *and* a subpanel simultaneously under the NEC? So, let us assume we have a set of conductors (hot/neutral/ground) going off to some piece of utilization equipment.  Can I also run a set of conductors of appropriate ampacity off this circuit to a subpanel, thus making the conductors both a branch circuit and a feeder at the same time, provided their ampacity isn't exceeded by the combined load?  Or can a set of conductors be either a branch or a feeder under the NEC, but never both at once?

I'd like to see a real world example of this, but I don't think one could/would exist.

If you had a piece of equipment that required a 30 ampere circuit, for example.  If you tapped a panel off that circuit, then you'd have to increase the size of the circuit, and/or follow the tap rules. The tap rules require overcurrent protection where the tap conductors terminate, so you'd need overcurrent protection at the new panel and the equipment.

So basically, the branch circuit conductors would become a feeder, and tap conductors would be used to tap the feeder.

So no, I'm going to say you cannot tap branch circuit conductors. Maybe if it was a 15 or 20 ampere branch circuit, but what would be the point of that?


How to repair a ceiling after removing glued on polystyrene covings? I had polystyrene covings in my apartment, and have removed them simply by ripping them off. Right now there's still glue left in many places on the ceiling, and in other places some of the plaster came off. See attached picture.

How can I restore the ceiling? It's a ceiling with quite a rough texture.

This will need to be done by scraping off the old glue with a paint scraper whether it be a straight blade

Or one with a curved blade

The straight blade, is typically pushed to scrape, the curved or hook type is pulled.

I prefer the hook type since in my opinion the control is better. The straight type can go in too far and gouge the drywall and make the repair more difficult.

In either case, use the scraper of choice to remove the glue left behind. The texture is a gypsum product, easily removed by scraping, so not much effort should be needed, and it won't be difficult to get to the paper facing of the drywall. There is no need to go that far, but as long as the paper is not torn through to the gypsum core, not a problem if the surface gets roughened by the action.

When repairing texture, I usually sand around the repair area to feather in the new material. This also helps in filling in the areas where the drywall was removed down t the paper. The smooth area around the damage will be easier to repair using joint compound.

Fill the places that are recessed so they are filled level with the surrounding area. Let dry, sand the next day so it is matching the surrounding area.

Prime the places that were repaired if you choose too. There are folk who think it is best to prime, others who think it does not matter. On the ceiling, to me it does not matter, durability will not be an issue.

Next step will take some getting used too. Also before all this is started, you should put down floor protection and mask off the walls and anything below the areas you need to repair. It will be a dusty mess. It will get all over you, since all of it is overhead.
You will need a can of spray texture to match your ceiling, which looks like a very heavy orange peel.

It needs practice, read the instructions on the can and it will tell you how to use it.

All pictures courtesy Home Depot


Old house w/ 2 black wires replacing light switch with motion sensor switch single pole 4 wires House is 80 years old. 2 black wires in switch box and no ground. Trying to replace single pole light switch with motion sensor light switch that works with incandescent,LED, and florecent bulbs.  Currently using LED bulbs.

Problem: The GE motion sensor switch has 4 wires. Red (load), black (hot), white (neutral)' and green ground. The instructions give no information on how to connect the four wires on the sensor to the 2 in the light switch box.

If the switch box ONLY has the two black wires in it, then its just a switch leg, with the main wiring run in the ceiling above the light fixture. Without additional wiring installing this device in this location may not be possible.


Putting a GFCI on another GFCIs LOAD I have two GFCIs, can I connect the second GFCI on the first GFCIs LOAD? I know I can connect them in parallel, but  I'm curious what this would do.

There's no point

First, a GFCI receptacle can protect regular receptacles downstream (that's why there are LOAD terminals on them downstream).  Second, connecting two GFCIs in series creates a race condition if a ground fault is placed downstream of the 2nd GFCI -- it's indeterminate which one trips (it's even possible for both to trip on the same fault, as Tyson points out in his comment).  Third, modern GFCIs require power to reset, so you'd have to reset them in order when they do both trip.  All in all, it's a needless pain in the arse that's best avoided.


How to use the ground wire in 2 prong plugs I bought a new monitor and it comes with a thick power plug but I noticed there's a ground wire dangling but sheathed with hard clear plastic but basically it looks like the image below:

What is the purpose of the ground wire? How should I use it? do I plug the wire in the grounding hole of the socket?

That cord is meant to plug into a Japanese outlet.  In Japan, it's common to have two-prong sockets with a separate grounding screw below for devices that need it.
The outlet it was desinged to plug into looks something like this:

To use your monitor in the US, simply replace that cord with a standard US computer monitor cord, an IEC C13 - NEMA 5.  They're very inexpensive.


Wood fence posts in clay I'm installing a wooden fence around my back yard using prebuilt cedar panels and 10 ft (3+ m) 4x4 pressure treated posts buried 3 1/2 to 4ft (1+ m) deep. The posts are packed in with pea gravel to allow for drainage.
Most of the post holes I've dug go through 2 ft (60 cm) or so of hard clay before hitting a softer sandy soil. On one corner of the lot however, the hard clay continues down the full 4 ft. I placed a few feet of water in a hole to try to loosen the soil for digging (which helped greatly), but after 48 hrs the water level had only gone down a few inches.
What can I do to get these post holes to drain properly?

Your other option is to fit a short concrete post, and bolt the wooden post to it. It's more expensive, but the concrete won't rot when the hole fills with water.
Around here they're often called a 'grandfather' but apparently the official name is a 'repair spur'


Using a sealant to stop a toilet tank leak The toilet tank is leaking through the bolts, but the bolts are so rusted I can't remove them. I can't afford a plumber right now, but would like to stop using bucket-fulls of water to flush. My husband wants to use a sealant to stop the leaking. Is this feasible?

You can cut the bolts off with a mini hacksaw. The rubber washers inside the tank are shot, and that's what's causing your leak. You can fix it for $10.

Turn off water (I think you're already here).
Flush and sop up the remaining water in the tank with a sponge (or use a shop vac if you have one).
Cut off the bolts and remove them.
Replace with new bolts and washers.
Refill tank and check for leaks.

Mini hacksaw: https://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-mini-hacksaw-65341.html

Tank bolts: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Keeney-2-Pack-Bolts/1001094052


How do you cut threads in plastic coated steel pipe? I'm doing a home improvement project, and I want to bury 10' of 1/2" pipe.  I've been to the city and understand the codes to do this legal.  In my area, buried pipe has to be either plastic coated or buried within a protective plastic pipe (typically PVC).   I've got a couple of pieces of pipe that will need to be cut and threaded.

My local big box hardware store (no names mentioned) sell the coated pipe but refuse to cut threads on their expensive Rigid pipe threading machines.  They claim the coated pipe clogs up their threading machines, have a nice day.

I was looking at using a ratcheting pipe threader tool, but I notice from the Rigid catalog that they recommend a different die set for coated pipe?  ref: dies here and ratchet handles here.  That reference shows part # 51897 for 1/2 inch "high speed for plastic coated pipe".

The whole threading of plastic coated pipe sounds odd to me.  I don't understand why plain 'ol pipe threading dies don't just cut right thru the stuff.  Anybody know any details here?

If I'm careful with plain 'ol dies for black iron pipe work on the coated stuff?

Many thanks...

I spent hundreds of hours on a Rigid pipe threading machine and used the same dies for black iron, galvanized, and green coated iron gas pipe. The only issue was the green coated pipe is slightly larger on the O.D. (due only to the coating) so is a bit difficult to get the threads started. With the machine, I could grind a bit of the coating off by levering the dies open a bit, to get the thread started. With hand dies you may have to use a different method to scrape a bit of the coating off the end of the pipe, maybe just use a sharp knife or a file. Once the dies bite they will grind right through the coating, no clogging.

The official response will still be "follow the manufacturer's instructions", but I think you will be fine.


Light bulb sockets in ceiling fan damaged due to corrosion or arcing: Can clean to repair or must replace? My ceiling fan has 3 light bulb sockets of roughly candelabra bulb size E12
For many years the lights have been unreliable even with new bulbs, frequently flickering on and off spontaneously or when I try to adjust and reset the bulb position.
The socket base contact and the bulb base both show signs of arcing or corrosion damage on some of them

Although others seem fine
Is this normal? Do I have the wrong bulb type or size? Are the sockets faulty? Can this be repaired both on the bulb and in the socket?
I'm using 40W 120V candelabra bulbs which are burning hot to the touch after just a minute or few of turning the light on.
Given the size of the socket / bulb base, there isn't much room to manoeuvre any tool or cleaning pad inside the socket, or do I need to replace the sockets? I'm not sure the lamp fixture is easy to disassemble, there is very little room to reach tools inside the metal housing.

Sockets of that type are readily available as lamp components, sold by competent hardware stores and lighting supply stores.
Don't continue running it - that's a mistake given that you know it's defective.  Swap the socket for a good one.
Most likely the entire luminaire is an accessory that attaches to the fan hub, so it could come off and be serviced on a bench, or taken in to a lighting supply to be repaired.   Note the ventilation holes at the top of the bulb housing; use them to see inside, or if necessary send down a screwdriver.  Don't be surprised if the socket is screwed down onto a "hickey" (threaded hollow tube about 1/2" diameter, common in lamp construction).
If the bulb is getting excessively hot, it may be a cheap foreign job, or it may be an obsolete type called an "incandescent" which is basically an electric campfire that also makes some light.  Getting modern bulbs should take care of that.


Light bulb stays on regardless of switch position? I have three porcelain lamp-holders that I want to install in my apartment.

I installed one without a problem in my den area, and it works with the light switch. I connected black to a brass screw, and white to a silver screw. I left the ground in the ceiling, as there was no place for it on the lamp-holder.

My problem is with the bedroom

which has the following wiring setup:

I have tried to do the same as the den, connecting 1x black wire to a brass screw, and 1x white wire to a silver screw. I left the other black wire capped, and left the red alone. The problem is, the light stays on all the time - regardless of the light switch position. I have tried both an LED bulb, and an incandescent bulb. Both stay on constantly. I have tried stripping the red wire and using it in place of the black wire, and the light did not turn on. There are no other switches that control this light.

All wires are capped back to their original states (as depicted in the photo).

Why does my light stay on constantly?

What you are seeing there is the light end of a new-style switch loop.  The two blacks should stay nutted together (one's the incoming hot and the other goes out to the switch), and your light fixture should be wired red-to-brass and white-to-silver.  The reason it didn't work when you tried the red wire the first time is likely because you didn't nut the black wires back together, so there was no power to the switch.  As to why it stayed on all the time initially -- the black wire you chose the first time around was the hot feed coming in, so you wired the switch out of the circuit, rendering it useless.


How much of this wood molding has to be completely replaced? I'm trying to get a sense of how much work is needed to fix this. Is there a way to fix it just cosmetically or do I need to replace only the damaged pieces? If so, where does one get these and what other materials are needed to do the job? If I hire someone, what kind of person should it be?

Depends on what your goal is: saving money, saving time, easy repair for you to do, good enough vs. historically accurate, etc.

The trim is quite square, so replacing it will be low labor, and therefore cheaper if you have someone else do it (interior/trim carpenter). Pry it off carefully, measure new boards, cut, a few pins and a little glue, and you're ready for finishing. In the bottom picture, the trim is starting to show a gap in the mitre anyway (at the opposite end from the damage)--so if you want it to look perfect, it's worth it to pull it all off. You could also go with a different trim look if you wanted.
You could probably get away with filling all of that with wood putty or (preferably) epoxy and smoothing it out. There are a ton of guides about how to do this available on YouTube/etc.; here's one on This Old House. This is more highly-skilled work (IMHO) than simply pulling the board out and cutting a new one to match, but it is less invasive.
Another option is to round or champfer the trim in that area. This is clearly a place where wear occurs, so why make it perfect just to have it banged up again? Take a plane and match the angle of the damage. You'll still have to fill the damage on the face of the trim. Obviously this will change the aesthetic, but sometimes there is a design element from nearby woodwork that you can emulate.

(You do any of these yourself, but unless you've got skill and experience it's likely to look...like you did it yourself. Which may be fine, but if you want a perfect home, this isn't a great place to start learning as it looks like it's a public, visible spot.)

Whichever way you go, the hard step will be matching that patina. It could be quite tricky and eat up much more budget than the actual carpentry--depending on how perfect you want it. If you're planning on repainting the trim anyway, of course, this is already part of the project--but don't underestimate the effort to match what looks like an old stain.


Can I glue the shower escutcheon onto a fiberglass shower stall? I am replacing a gold shower escutcheon with a chrome one. As I removed the old escutcheon both bolts attaching it to the fiberglass shower stall snapped.
I am currently trying to drill into the bolts  to hopefully remove them. However, this is not going well.
As I am drilling I'm wondering about the possibility of just gluing the new escutcheon to the shower stall. I'm quite sure that this would work, but I wonder how difficult the new escutcheon would be to remove should I need to replace the cartridge down the road.
Any advice?

Yeah, glue's a bad choice for exactly the reason you noted...
If you can't get the bolts extracted and replaced with a decent brass or stainless steel that won't corrode, I'd suggest having a helper hold the escutcheon in place while you caulk around it. Then, make a bridge of tape (i.e. not touching the caulk) to hold it in place while the caulk sets up. Once the caulk has hit its minimum cure time (preferable to wait 24 hours or until the max cure time listed on the tube), peel the tape off.
When the time comes, you should be able to scrape off all the old caulk with a razor blade to have a nice clean surface to do it all over again.


My cold water tank, has one inch of brown sludge at the bottom, what should I do For the first time ever I have looked properly at my cold water tank. It has one inch of brown sludge at the bottom, what should I do. I assume this is the tank that provides the water hot/cold to everything except the main kitchen taps. (But is not involved in the radiators, that is in another tank in the loft ?). The water itself appears clear but it cannot be right for then to be brown sludge.

(I have also checked the feed/expansion tank used by the central heating, and this is looks murkier, but doesnt have an inch of sludge at the bottom)

I assume I have it the right way round, the cold-water tank has alot more connectins than the feed-expansion tank.

Where would It come from and how can I get rid of it ?

It is hard to say what the sludge is without examining it.  If light is able to get in and if the water stagnates alot instead of flowing, it could be organic.  If that is the case, I would boost the chlorine level.  Also, a water softener would reduce the mineral content of the water, which would reduce all sludge, organic or not.  Also, check the pH of your water to make sure it is not too acidic or basic.  If so report to your water supplier utility.  My understanding is they are supposed to provide neutral pH water.  If they don't remedy, add appropriate chemicals to neutralize pH.

If you can detach and remove tank, do so.  Once detached, If you can get a filler brush in there go ahead and brush off the bottom.  Get some vinegar and baking soda or any commercial grade non-toxic solvent (Puriclean or Milton) in there and agitate the tank.  Back wash several times with hot water and repeat procedure  until all sludge is gone.

For in situ situations, here are how different people did it at this forum:

If you can get the end of a hosepipe through the inlet, with a high pressure spray fitting on the end, just wiggle and poke it around and then mop out the residue with a rag/hand pump.

or

a stick with a ball of cloth on the end then lots of rinsing.

or

by putting a little sharp sand in plus some water and sloshing it all about


Kitchen cabinets - what thickness and type of backer board should be used? When using a backer board for installation of cabinets, usually, at 34", 54"and 84", what thickness and type of backer board should be used?  The walls in this old building remodel is plaster and lathe board and the location of the studs would make using a backer board preferred. Thank you.

You have to remove the plaster & lathe to do "backer boards" as they go between the studs & are typically 2x4's or 2x6's. If you're leaving the plaster & lathe then you're talking more about a Ledger or Hanging Board that gets screwed to the studs & just sits on the face of the lathed plaster.

These are typically just 1x6's or 3/4" plywood strips & should be shimmed to straighten & flatten the wall for the cabinets. You'll need to fill the end cabinets' gaps if using this method or skin the cabinet sides & scribe those to the wall.

However, you really shouldn't need either & you should be able to hit 2 studs for each larger cabinet's top & bottom. Use Beefy Coarse Thread Deck or Wood Screws, not drywall screws. In the case of small 12" wide type cabinets, they will be screwed to the bigger cabinets & supported solely by them.

Molly bolts, Mushroom-Heads or Spreading Anchors can be used just to suck them against the wall. Screw everything loosely to start with & then shim the cabinets to perfection beside the screws before sinking them. Use an impact driver if possible, this will sink the screws better & avoid chewing up screw heads.


Wall Mount TV to Drywall with Backing (Without Studs) I've been a very long time lurker on this forum and decided to jump in and post my first question!
I'm a total newbie with DIY and live in a condo. I've been trying to mount my 55" tv that weighs around 45lbs to the drywall without studs. I purchased Toggler SnapToggle bolts but to my surprise, I noticed some sort of backing behind the drywall - possibly plywood?
I haven't seen anything before where there is some sort of backing behind the drywall. I've pretty much wasted my time drilling 8 holes using my 1/2" drill bit as there is not enough clearance for me to use the SnapToggle bolts. I can't get the anchor to pivot behind all of this drywall and plywood.
I'm not sure how the plywood is attached to the wall as I don't see any bolts so I'm not sure how to properly mount my tv. Also, is it possible to "re-use" the 8 holes I already drilled? My wall is shared between my living room and bathroom.
I've also attached some images showing the drywall and backing.
Appreciate it!

Not terribly common, but common enough. There are a couple or more reasons for this configuration. My main understanding is that attached Condos are between Commercial and Residential construction, but not purely one.
The plywood could be satisfying a Durability Requirement from the Commercial side, while the Fire Resistance of both is satisfied by the Drywall. It could also be a poor attempt at blocking for wrongly hung drywall. Though lame, it's literally light-years beyond the entirety of "expert" and "professional" drywall installers.
Concerning your Snap Toggles, I'd nip the plastic head off the end and use the legs to splay them right. Or, a straightened paper clip could coax the toggle to toggle correctly. BUT, pictures 1 and 3 look like you're drilled into studs and your Snap Toggles would only ever work in just picture 2's openness.
If all of that fails, then I think your best bet is the good old Hollow Wall Anchor pictured below. It's a bit weaker than a Wing Toggle but can work perfectly well in all of your pictures' situations. Here's a video to explain that you need LONGS instead of shorts and how they operate. How To Use Hollow Wall Anchors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNFv65-QTPI


Plumbing garbage disposal Clogged disposal, used draino, didn't work.
Can I pour vinegar or baking soda in disposal, or will it have a chemical reaction?
Other side of sink is draining fine.

With the disposal off look at the bottom, some models have a socket that will accept an allen key and allow you to rotate the shredding disk manually to clear clogs. If not you can do it from the top with either a special purpose wrench or a couple of pieces of broomstick.

Inside the disposal is a rotating plate, with two cutter mounted on opposite sides. You lower the wrench, or two stout (something that won't break) pieces of wood down through the throat, then rotate it so it contacts the cutters. That allows you to rotate the disk by hand until it's unstuck. Once it's turning freely you can remove the tool and run the disposal to finish it.

All of this is assuming you didn't get something that shouldn't be in a disposal stuck. If you filled it with horse hair or iron filings you'll need either a new disposal, a plumber, or both.


Can combing bent evaporator coil fins damage it? I have recently purchased a new AC. I opened it to clean air filters and found that an entire row of fins were bent. I asked the manufacturer about this and they said that it won't affect the performance or life of the AC.
They say that this is normal and most of their new ACs have their fins bent like this.
I'm thinking of combing them to make them straight again. Will this damage the evaporator coil?

You could follow the manufacturer's advice - they tend to know what they are talking about...

But if you insist on trying to straighten those bent fins, then use something that will not poke a hole in any of the tubes and go gently.

I have done this for similar heat exchangers with that type of fin and it is possible. Also for heat exchangers which have loops of wire, go slowly and carefully.


Ceiling junction box not hooked up to switch? I recently moved into a new place. The master bedroom has a unused junction box in the ceiling and a wall switch that is definitely hooked up to one wall outlet (both top and bottom). I figured, a ceiling fixture would be best overall for the room, so I bought and installed a basic ceiling light fixture.

I was assuming the switch was also connected to the ceiling. Do I have any possible ways to remedy the situation (while still using a ceiling fixture)?

If it's a rental, some places will not install overhead fixtures in the bedrooms. There's a couple of ways to play this

Add a surface mount box extender from the existing ceiling box and surface mount wire conduit. Run this to a surface mount switch on the wall and you're set.
Buy some lamp cord, an outlet, and electrical staples that fit said cord. This is not code, but I've taken the cord, run it to where I need to mount the fixture (in my case, into the ceiling), wired it up, stapled it to the wall to keep it out of the way and plugged it into the switched outlet. Because you have both a plug and switch, it's not terribly unsafe (I had a ceiling fan I put in an apartment this way). It's not kosher without a box, tho.


How to tighten/fix ice-maker's drainage tube connector? On the back of our fridge is a drainage tube (I assume it's for the ice maker; correct me if i'm wrong). Whenever water drains out of it, it leaks. I've identified that the source of the problem is a sort of coupler in the middle of the tube. (I'm not sure what it's called)

I've fiddled with it a little bit but I can't seem to get it to stop leaking. Is there a trick to tighten it? Or should I buy a new one? (If so, anyone know where I can get one?)

We know them as "John Guest" (The Brand Name) fittings and they are prone to leaking as its only an o-ring sealing the fitting to the pipe, if the pipe has a scratch on it or isn't fully inserted it can leak.

They also can be fitted with a collar clamp that holds the release mech ( the red part in this fitting) from accidentally being pushed down and releasing the pipe from the fitting.

You can also get brass fitting for use with "John Guest" pipe, you can see them at the offical website.


What are some tips for tamping gravel? I'm packing medium-sized gravel (1.5"-minus crushed rock) in to holes, to provide a stable base for pier blocks in clay-rich soil. There are 30 holes, roughly 24" diameter, 18" deep.

I have a 10" x 10" hand tamper, but my carpenter friend said that would only work well on smaller rock. He suggested using a 4" x 4".

I have been tamping & tamping, and now my joints hurt, and I have a lot more tamping to do. Maybe my technique could be improved? Maybe I don't need to tamp as thoroughly as I have been.

I tried googling for tamping info, and mostly I came up with tips for making espresso. And every site that mentions tamping gravel just says "step 5: tamp gravel" and gives no further details.

Manual tamping is hard labor. Consider it gym time. You'll want to add a few inches, maybe wetten it slightly, and start pounding. Repeat until you get to the top.

Alternatively, rent a power tamper and save yourself a lot of time and aches and pains.


Outdoor light fixture not working I am a newbie with anything electrical so please forgive my ignorance. All of a sudden, my front porch light fixture stopped working. Changing the light bulb didn’t work so I’m trying to figure out if it’s the fixture, the switch or the wiring. I tried installing a new fixture but got a pop and flash and it didn’t work (it’s possible I connected it wrong since I was having trouble getting the wires connected with the wire nuts). So I just put the old fixture back in for now (nothing looks corroded on the fixture).

The box that contains the switch for the exterior light also contains a 3 way switch for my foyer light. The only thing i noticed on the switch is that the ground wasn’t connected- is that an issue? I just replaced the switch (hot, neutral and ground) and bought a multimeter. When I test between the hot and the ground on the new switch, I’m getting 120V. When I test between what I believe to be the neutral and the ground when switch is off I get 0...when switch is on, it reads 120V. When I test between the neutral and the hot, I’m always seeing 0V. I thought this was odd- isn’t there supposed to be voltage when touching the probes to the neutral and hot? Can someone clarify this for me? Thanks in advance. Should I turn off the breaker, pull off the fixture outside and flip the breaker back on and test the wires outside to see if it’s making it outside?

My obligatory "get well-rounded knowledge" statement: the scenic way is to find an accessible-feeling book on the subject and read it through. Google is dangerous, that will leave you with swiss cheese knowledge. It only answers questions, and you need a well-rounded primer to know which questions to ask.

Anyway you are on the right track.  Your measurements at the switch are valuable, and normal.  The reason the readings surprise you (especially re: neutral) is that switches don't use neutral. That wire is not neutral.  They connect (or don't) two wire functions: always-hot, and switched-hot.  Neutral is not in play on a switch, unless it's a modern smart switch.

Voltage will always be zero (ish) across a switch with a broken lamp.  If the switch is on, the two terminals are both 120V.  If off, always-hot is 120V and switched-hot is unconnected/isolated becuse the lamp is broken, so no voltage between them.  If the lamp was working, it would pull the switched-hot line toward neutral, so you'd see 120V across the open (gapped) switch.

Powering back up to check the voltage across the bare wires outside is a reasonable next step, just be careful.  120V across them would indicate a fixture fault, 0V would reveal a wiring fault.

* most authorities think changing a light switch, receptacle or light fixture is too small a job to justify pulling a permit, so I interpret that as "too small to justify hiring an electrician", hence, handyman.


What is the correct way to seal/flash coolant lines through T1-11 siding? Our contractor installed an AC compressor and did a poor job of it.
He ran the AC coolant lines through the middle of the wall and then just squirted some expanding foam into the hole, like so:

(Click images for larger views.)

What is the correct way to flash and/or seal this opening?

Around here, the way its usually done on T1-11 sided houses is to pass the lines underneath, in the crawl space and through a vent, like so:

But I guess that's not an option in this case?

Depends on where the indoor unit is that he had to connect to, in comparison of where the other were in your neighbors house.
The important thing is, the tech did slope the pipe down and out of the wall at a heck of a good angle. The only problem I really see is the type of sealant he used as a finish, unless the plan was to come back, carve off the excess foam and use that as a backer for a good brand od polyurethane caulk to finish sealing the hole where the pipe goes into the wall.

The foam does a great job of insulating around the pipe in the wall, in an otherwise difficult area to seal.

If the tech never comes back, all that is needed now is as mentioned before, is to clean the foam back enough to leave a small recess, say 1/4", not a "dished out" 1/4" but a clean, flat recess that has the edge of the cut exposed, not covered by a skin of foam, so the caulk bonds to the siding, not foam that will degrade over time by exposure. If a little more is removed than the 1/4" I spec'd, no biggy, it is just more caulk, and it will be a little less flexible.

Use tape to cover areas you do not want caulked, poly caulk is contrary, but it cleans up with paint thinner... Still messy when not prepared for it.


Reducing pipe size on Booster pump My potable water pipe is half in throughout. The booster pump I would like to install is 1 inch. Can I add two reducers to accommodate this pump and would this cause any problems as such?

Firstly my issue is very low water pressure to my residence.The municipality delivers the potable water via half inch copper and the rest of the pipe throughout the house Is also half inch.I am contemplating installing a BOOSTER PUMP (not as yet purchased) which has 1 inch inlet and outlet openings.The question is can install a reducer on both the inlet and outlet of the pump to connect the existing half inch which I currently have in the home to the 1 inch NTP threaded inlet and outlets on the pump?Do you see any issues arising from this connection I.E use of the reducers?

You can reduce the output size with few problems except limiting the flow, pushing into a pressure tank will be better on the pump unless a variable frequency drive is used. Limiting the input can cause severe cavitation and damage the impeller and housing in a short period of time.

Normally a smaller size pump will cost less and have smaller ports, even using a 1/2” pump may have issues if your draw is larger than the supply this can cause a neighbors faucet when opened to suck air in.

In my area for systems that can not provide enough water we usually install a large tank like 500 gallons and put the booster on the out put of that tank, a simple float valve at the top of the tank stops the incoming water when the tank is full just like a toilet tank valve. I was thinking of a ball on a lever not a modern fluid master.

Size the tank based on several hours or daily water usage.


Tile to tongue & groove paneling transition and window casings As part of my complete master bedroom remodel I'm completely redoing the "jacuzzi room".
The current jacuzzi has a wood surround and is completely not water proof as water gets in between the tub and the surround and leaks down into the downstairs ceiling.

My plan was to cement board & RedGard the jacuzzi surround and floor and tile over it. The walls and ceiling I plan on completely covering with 1x6 knotty pine tongue & groove paneling. To complicate things further, I am also having 2 giant windows installed on both exterior walls surrounding the jacuzzi.

I'm having trouble envisioning how to properly transition between the tongue & groove and tile as well as what to do with the window casings.
In terms of the vertical transition, I imagined simply cutting off on the "boundaries" of the groove and having the remaining hanging over the tile (see here). I'm not sure what to do where the tile butts up to the T&G horizontally. Any ideas here would be appreciated.

The next layer of complication is what to do with the window casings. I would like to use basic 2.5" casing, however considering the tile and T&G would be different depths I wouldn't be able to nicely cover up the unfinished edges. Should I install the casings first and then tile and T&G around it?
Any input is highly appreciated!

I’d recommend gutting the walls down to the studs and building directly off of them.  This will make all of your transitions easier. You can hang 1/4” backer board for the tile and use a Schlueter edge to finish them off really nicely. Your tile surface will be the same thickness as the paneling, so nothing fancy needed there.  Not to mention, you won’t have to do all the crazy math needed to get your tiled area to the right dimension for the top side of the groove to overlap, just install each material in the layout that makes it look the best.
As for the casing, if you go this route you can use standard install methods as if you were going over drywall. If you’re worried the casing won’t lay down nicely, you have 2 options.  The easiest would be to to put a 1/2” shim strip around the windows that won’t extend past the edge of the casing. Then, put your casing on and do the paneling and tiles right up to the casing.  If you’re worried about cut edges, you can rabbet out 1/4” of the back side of the outer edge of the casing to make up for the difference in thicknesses and do your walls before finishing off with the casing.
The benefit of the extra demo doesn’t just end at the ease of the transitions.  You’re looking at adding a large amount of additional dead weight to this room regardless of how you do this. By getting rid of all that drywall, you’ll be keeping the loads a lot closer to what they are now.  This might not be of any consequence now, or even over the next couple of years.  But eventually, all of that additional dead load can lead to excessive settlement of the structure.


Can I replace a floor joist cross-brace with two horizontal pieces of blocking in the same spot? I am doing some remodeling and want to run a 6-inch HVAC (kitchen exhaust hood) duct through the floor joists. There is one section where the path is impeded by a standard floor joist cross-brace. Can I replace that one cross-brace with two horizontal pieces of blocking between the floor joists? Should I use one at the top by the subfloor and another one at the bottom? How thick should they be? Would 2 by 10 work?

Floor joists are 2x10 on 16-inch centers.

Usually the HVAC subs knock them out and leave them out, but if you place something like a 1X4 or heavier between the 2 joists at the bottom, it would stabilize the movement of joist deflection. Make sure it is a tight fit.


Can you tell me if Neutral wire is burned? We have checked all the outlets and light switches and they all work.
The power went out in three rooms and breaker did not trip. We took pictures of the breaker wires and noticed this one wire looked discolored. Do you think this maybe the reason the power is out? Does the wire look burned?

To me it looks like the wire may have been loose in the past and retorqued notice the gouge in the wire a torque driver was not used to do that much damage to the wire. Since you are having flickering or lights / circuits out and you have checked the panel it is time to find the problem. If you have other outlets or lights on that circuit that are working the problem will be at the last working outlet or device or the first non working one.

The most common cause is a back stab connection being used, these are when 14 awg wire is used and just pushed in to make the connection ( not under a screw or clamp), the next place is broken wires at a connection or 1 wire pulling out of a wire nut. I listed them in the order I find them in over the years. The big problems with back stabs is they may look fine on the outside but with a failed connection there is usually some deformation of the plastic and or insulation but you may have to look close. When you find the problem if the insulation is intact cut the arc marked wire back to good copper, this is enough as only the loose connection area was heated not the entire wire.

There is a small chance the problem could be a bad breaker, or panel and an even smaller chance it is a very old MWBC that did not have handle ties and the 2 breakers got separated and put on the same leg. To see if it is a MWBC trace that white wire back to the cable coming into the box. If there is only a black you are done. If there is a black and red (the most common hot colors) trace the black and red back to their breakers. They should be next to each other and by today’s code have handle ties, or a single handle, many years ago they just had to be in adjacent slots. If this is true the panel wiring is correct. If the breakers are separated someone messed up and they need to be together a handle tie or double pole breaker is the safe way to go.

Go back and find the source of the problem it usually is the last working outlet or device or the first non working outlet or device.  And it could be the white or hot wire at those locations.


Cut 45 degree angle iron Hey how do I cut 45 degree angle iron to join them, I used my chop saw but they dont fit? I can send some pictures of the cuts

Well, If you were intending to weld them together you have a few choices.

Cut them as close as you can with the chop saw and then grind each joint into the appropriate fit for the 90 degree corner.
Mark with a angle square and cut with a hand hacksaw. Touch up if necessary with minor grinding.
Use a power hack saw that has an angle clamp to hold the stock accurately and make the cut.

When welding it will be necessary to clamp the parts carefully before applying the arc and rod to start the weld bead. Expect the heating and cooling to make the parts move around some so the clamping has to be solid.

If you were just intending to make nice butted corners and be fastening the angle irons to some other surface such as a work bench edge then you will want to confine the cutting of the ends to the most accurate cut process would be the hand cutting or the power hacksaw.


Water is pouring out of our Aprilaire humidifier We had an Aprilaire humidifier (600 model) installed in a new house 2.9 years ago.  About a year ago, the humidifier began leaking water all over the basement floor.  This has happened 3 times with 3 visits from a heating a cooling company tech to fix the problem.  We just had the biggest flood yesterday - water was literally pouring out of the I think the front of the humidifier.  I need to know what to ask the h/c technician who will come again to fix the problem.  Doesn't it seem that there is broken part that should be replaced to stop this from happening?  I know nothing about humidifiers and neither does my husband and we're about ready to toss it out.  Any tips would be appreciated.

Here is a diagram of that model from Aprilaire. The drain tube (#9 in the diagram) might be clogged. Look on page 11 section 9 for further instructions about the drain tube. Also, check the main water outlet where the tube connects to the bottom of the pan to make sure drainage isn't restricted. Check the pipe that the drain tube is connected to. It could be clogged as well.


How to disconnect shower tray from drainage pipe? I'm trying to disconnect the shower tray from the drainage pipe but the white plastic bit that looks like it could be screwed off seems stuck tight:

I'm not sure I can apply the torque needed to unscrew it both because of how stuck it seems and also because there isn't a lot of room to work with:

Out of interest here is what the drainage hole looks like on the shower tray:

And here is the whole shower tray:

Overall my goal is to lift out the shower tray and this is the only thing stopping me from doing that.  I will be putting the shower tray back in and will need to reconnect it again afterwards.

Should I cut through the brown pipe at the point where the white screw on bit currently sits and then get a new connector?  What tool should I use for this?  What part would I need to reconnect it?

Or is there a tool that someone would recommend to apply the torque needed in such a tiny space?

All advice welcome.

I have used a strap-wrench to undo that type of connector.

In your case there is very limited access but it would be worth an attempt.

It can be difficult if some people have previously applied a sealant - which are not normally needed as there is usually a rubber gasket.


Why were the ground wires in my light boxes either cut off or tucked away unused? I live in a home built in 2006 in Delaware. There are a mixture of plastic and metal boxes for light fixtures throughout the house. I am in the process of replacing builder grade lights with better finishes.
Every single box I come to the ground wire for the fixture has been snipped to the base, and the ground wire from the cable is either curled up in the box or snipped back to the sheath cut. The metal boxes have ground screws with nothing attached to them,  Is there a reason for this or is it just bad work / laziness? It literally takes 30 seconds to connect the two wires much shorter time than tucking and trimming them in my opinion.
I am by no means an electrician, just looking for some education on this subject. I only ask because the plumbing work done here was also shoddy, missing putty, unglued joints, overflow on tub not connected... a real winner lol. Thanks in advance!

You hit it with lazy.
Code requires metal fixtures to be grounded so not doing this is both lazy and a code violation.
I don’t understand why some snip unused grounds for plastic fixtures possibly lazy again because it is faster to snip than tuck it back in the box.
I always tuck them in the box if not used but I have found many that snip.


Is this water stain from rust or (other) minerals I have a 2nd floor hot-mopped deck with grouted slate tile placed on top of it. During rain, water comes out between the hot mop and tile layers and runs down the side of my home, leaving stains on the siding and windows.

One contractor who took a look at this thinks it's rust and indicative of something below the deck rusting out, ie: a much larger problem. Another contractor (the one who put in the hot mop) believes that the water deposits are from the slate tile and are more mineral deposits from the slate leeching out rather than rust.

Is there a way to determine if this is rust or mineral without finding the source of it?

Note if it helps that I've scraped off the deposits on the glass with a razor blade a few times, they used to be thicker. It's easy to scrape off and get a powder form.

Well I think that the best way to determine that is that you ask yourself is there any iron or steel elements which could corrode? If you built the house (bought it new etc.) you should know that. Also you can check design blueprints to check this out. Also check if metal is detraining which means rust. From what I see in the pictures this doesn't look like rust. Anyway if none of this is helpful or isn’t helpful enough notify me so we will try to find different approach.


How to level this area of my garage? I have an area of my garage that is lower and sloping towards the house. When the car is wet or covered in snow, it melts and runs down into this area in front of the stairs and makes a mess. Ripping out and replacing the slab is not possible right now. Is there a product I can apply directly over this concrete to prevent this from happening? I would need to raise it quite a bit on that side. Thank you.

I have the identical problem. It wouldn't be practical to try and alter the slope. You'd need a significant quantity of material, it would need to be expertly applied, and it will have a tendency to pop loose over time.

I plan on cutting in several trough drains in strategic locations. They'll be something like this:

I'll rent a concrete saw, make the cuts, dig down 6" or so below the slab and install pea gravel (to slightly increase drainage capacity), then set and anchor the drain kit. This will allow small amounts of water to collect and percolate into the soil inside the garage, which should mostly remain thawed.

I plan on oversizing the cutouts a bit so I can anchor the drains in new concrete. I'll then epoxy the entire floor.

In your case, I'd probably install the drain crossways right through that deeper puddle. This will serve to intercept flowing water as well as drain any that manages to get around to the back side. It'll also keep the drain away from vehicle traffic. They're designed for it, but your anchoring would have to be done very well.


How do I remove black rings on a wood kitchen top formed by a tin can? At our house we have a wood kitchen-top. We had placed on it a tin can (a typical cookies can), and probably because of some water sitting there, a black ring has been formed where the tin touched the wood. However, the tin does not show any signs of rust.

The kitchen-top appears to be made of hardwood pieces glued together, and only on the top and sides there is some kind of finishing, which has worn off at some places.

The main question is how to remove the ring. Some questions to which the answers would help are also: what is the stain exactly? how can we tell what finishing it has? can I sand it and patch it locally?

The whitening near the ring has been created by using household cleaning material because initially we thought it was rust sitting on top of the wood. We also thought it was a water stain and tried the iron-and-cloth solution, but that didn't work either.

I would like to avoid sanding the whole bench for the hassle that involves as well as the fact that I don't think I'm qualified for that.

Some images:

full ring:

partial close up:

Oxalic acid, either in crystal form or as part of a pressure treated deck cleaner/brightner will chemically dissolve the stain.  If you use the crystals, use all normal precautions for acids (eye, hand, clothing).  You can sparingly apply with a small nylon artists brush.  Try 5 min increments (5 on, wipe off, 10 on, wipe off) until the stain starts to disappear.

Once stain disappears, neutralize wood with borax diluted in water or bicarbonate of soda in water.

Replace color with dyes or pigment stains.  I like Transtint for its ability to be blended and mixed with either water or alcohol. If you don't like the color direction, you can use bleach and start over.

Once happy with the color, seal it in with a dewaxed shellac.  Then top coat with your favorite polyurethane.  You may be able to blend the areas by shooting spray poly through a circular mask (5" hole in a 12x12 piece of cardboard, held 5-10 inches away from the floor) which will give you a graduated spray.  Practice first.


Can I paint my floor in two stages with epoxy? We just redid our basement floor and I am considering epoxy paint (with texture flakes) for the floor.  I prefer not to move everything out again for this process, so I'm considering moving everything left, paint, then everything right and finishing.  Of course, I will wait for it to cure.

Question is, can I do half the floor and come back after curing and to the rest without making a big mess of the transition line?  Will there be any adhesion issue at the line? And as a bonus - how best to do the transition line?

Do an experiment on a slab of anything of similar roughness -- a chunk of garage floor would do.
Make a virtue out of a necessity:

Make the edge at a logical division of the space, and change colours of paint, or change colours of glitter at the transition. If you want to be fancy, make it a zig-zag or Peano curve
Mask shapes onto the floor.  Stack the stuff on the shapes.  Move stuff back, Do rest of floor.
Apply the glitter as a secondary cover mixed with a clear coat.  Apply it with a stencil in blocks. The pattern of glitter distracts from the seam.
Instead of left/right, move everything to the edge, measure the maximum distance from the edge of the room.  Mark a rectangle with that distance from all the walls.  Do the centre.  Now move everything into the centre and do the edge.  Can be really cool if you change colours of paint.  (Buy one additional colour, and mix it into all the remaining paint.  So if you did the center in light green, buying a can of dark blue would make the remaining paint dark green-blue.  Yellow + blue grey = brown.

If you want to have more fun, use a stencil, and lay down patterns of the edge colour as a second coat on the centre area.


Should the neutral and earth bars be connected in this situation? This is in Guatemala, in a semi-rural area, so there are no codes as such to be followed. Also local electricians are mainly DIYers like me, so I haven't gotten much consistent help there.

I have the power connected to a meter on a post by the property edge, this was done by the power company and has the earth (copper bar) and neutral connected inside a small box in the post. There is a 50 amp breaker on the hot wire. From this post, there is a 22 meter run of #6 cable to the house, neutral and hot wires only. This is going underground, and can't be changed easily. At the house there is a panel with slots for four breakers only, which will do as it's a small weekend house.

I plan to connect a copper bar earth at the house, my question is should the earth bar be connected to the neutral bar? The panel has an aluminium jumper to connect the two, if I should. I have read that in the US sub panels must not have the earth & neutral connected, I'm not sure if this counts as a sub panel or not.

It's a single 120v supply, i.e. two wires only, but I want to put earthed sockets in the house. The earth from the house panel will be 20 meters away from the earth at the power supply post, if that makes a difference.

Thank you for your attention.

Better idea -- move that 50A breaker to the box, and put a non-fused safety switch at the pole

What you can do instead of having the redundant neutral/ground bonds at the pole and the house is:

Have the utility cut the power
Move the 50A breaker to the box on the house as it'll be the house main breaker.  Remove the box from the pole.
Put a 2 pole, non-fused, outdoor type (NEMA 3R enclosure) safety switch (UL98 listed, with a minimum fault current rating of 10,000A and a minimum working current rating of 50A) in place of the box on the pole that had the 50A breaker there.  Siemens, GE, Square-D, and Eaton all make quite suitable units, although they won't exactly be cheap.
Land the hots on one pole of the safety switch, and the neutrals on the neutral/grounding block in the safety switch.  Torque all connections to spec, and make sure that any grounding electrode wires at the pole that went into the old box go into the neutral/grounding block on the safety switch.  You will need to make sure this block is bonded to the enclosure as well.
Put a "METER DISCONNECT -- NOT SERVICE EQUIPMENT" label on the safety switch (inside cover is good, but don't put it over the existing labeling there).
Have the utility turn the power back on

This is a hot sequence meter disconnect as per NEC 230.82(3), and provides the best of both worlds:

You can cut off power to your house completely at the pole, allowing you to work on the box on the house safely
The neutral-ground bond, though, can still live at the house, allowing that to be the main panel, and allowing you to safely use the existing ungrounded feed from the pole.


Main Breaker Gets tripped every 1-2 hours but last longer in the night Our home is located in India. We have an individual circuit breakers for all the 7 rooms in our home. And wrapping them whole is the main breaker. Earlier there used to be short circuit in certain rooms due to water leakage. When short-circuit occurred, everything thing else worked if turned of the individual breaker corresponding to that branch where short-circuit originated. But now we have a different problem.

Even after switching off all the individual circuit breakers corresponding to each branch, the main breaker is getting tripped. Electrician told us that it was due to ground-fault. He opened up a few switch boxes and found out that termite had eaten some portions of the wire, which resulted in neutral wire coming in contact with the ground wire. They identified 3-4 switch boxes and we completely rewired it. Even ceiling fans were given extra rubber bushes at the support. But after a week since they left, the issue is persisting. Earlier, where the ground-fault problem was identified, the main breaker used to never turn on even when the individual circuit breakers were turned off. Now, the same issue persists but now we get 1-2 hours of electricity before the main breaker trips.

One another observation I have made in the current scenario is that, if I try to switch on the main breaker right after it got turned off with all the circuit breaks in off mode, it will get tripped right away. But if I do it after 10-15 minutes, it stay on for another 1-2 hours. And in the night, if we are lucky, we get 5-6 hours gap before it gets tripped!

I would be glad if somebody can help to put possible reasons why this is occurring. We had already brought in electrician 3 times already!

Edit:
I turned all the knobs to phase 2 and it is working okay for the past one week. What could be the possible reason that it doesn't work in Phase 1 and 3?

Here is quick picture of our electricity distribution panel with the individual circuit breaker and main breaker:

When an appliance has an internal shorting or arcing fault, or electrical wiring has is shorting hot or neutral to ground, that is called a "ground fault".

You have a "Whole-house RCD" - aka GFCI - it looks for current leakage from ground faults. SOP in Europe-influenced electrical installations is to fit a 30-35ma (milliamp) RCD that protects the whole house.  The goal is to protect the house from arcing fires; 30ma can kill you.   This unit is typically combined with the main circuit breaker.

Beyond the whole-house RCD, you then have branch circuits with circuit breakers. Most of them will be one size such as 13 amp or 16 amp. Take note of that.

North American practice is to protect each branch circuit with its own GFCI (RCD) device (breaker).  The goal here is personnel protection, so only bathrooms, kitchens etc., and a lower detection threshold of 8ma.

My suggestion is to do the American thing - and replace one of your branch circuit breakers with an 8ma personnel-grade RCD, of the amperage rating of most of your branch circuit breakers.  This will have a lower threshold than the main, so it "should" trip sooner.  If the problem is on that branch, the trips will mostly now occur on this breaker.  If that branch circuit is not the problem, then swap the breaker to another branch circuit, and try it again.  Eventually you will narrow it to a single branch.

Then unplug all the appliances and test again.  If that does not clear the problem, then disassemble all the junction boxes in that branch and look at the wiring.   If unplugging the appliances does clear it, then return one appliance a day and when the problem returns, that's the one.  Have the appliance serviced.

This method won't work for the few odd-sized breakers you may have for stove, water heater, air conditioning, etc.  Simply switch those off for a day (when feasible) and see if the problem goes away when they are off.


Should my furnace closet have this huge duct opening into the unconditioned vented attic? So my interior furnace closet has a huge duct in it that connects the closet to the unconditioned vented attic right above it. Needless to say, this is a huge air leak into the conditioned part of the house and a major source of air infiltration into the house, especially today when there were 60 MPH winds. I'm no HVAC tech, but this seems highly problematic. If it's a duct designed to pull in outside combustion and dilution air, it represents a gaping hole in the conditioned thermal envelope, as the furnace closet is not even remotely insulated from the rest of the conditioned space.

The furnace is a huge 125,000 BTU model that's grossly oversized for the house's 1,100 square foot interior. Is that why it requires this huge duct to pull in outside air? There's such a volume of air coming down through that duct into the house when the furnace isn't running that I think it's even passing through the furnace filter and through the return air plenum which is right below the furnace.

What are my options here? Am I stuck with adding weatherstripping to the furnace door and sealing up air leaks from the furnace closet into the rest of the house? The return air plenum itself is a big air leak...

All right, I found a manual for a nearly-identical unit and cross-referenced what it says with applicable sections of the 2012 International Fuel Gas Code. Now I feel like I have a much better idea of what's going on.

The huge duct is supplying input air for combustion and dilution through the attic, which is code-approved and is sized correctly. There's a hole in the ceiling of the furnace room that I didn't even notice; it's for the output air. It all corresponds perfectly to this illustration in the code:

The alternative is to get the air partially or wholly from inside the conditioned space as long as the building envelope's tightness isn't 0.4 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of pressure or better, which my house most certainly is not (that's Passivehaus-level!). In this case, I would need 50 cubic feet of interior airspace per 1000 BTUs of all interior gas-fired appliances. The furnace draws 125k (waaaay too high), and the gas range is capable of drawing 54k when the oven and all the burners are firing. So the worst-case scenario is that I need 8950 cubic feet (or 1118 square feet) of interior space when all these appliances are in use. I don't have that; the whole interior is only 1100 square feet, and I can't even count bedrooms and bathrooms that have doors, reducing the amount of square footage I can use for combustion air purposes to 650, or 5200 cubic feet, or a maximum of 104,000 BTUs worth of gas drawn by interior gas appliances. Even downsizing the furnace, I will still likely exceed that, and the deficit will get worse as I air-seal the building envelope.

So I have to keep the existing setup, which is all kosher with the code and perfectly safe. And I'll never get carbon monoxide poisoning. So that's good.

The question becomes how to offset the energy penalty of having two huge penetrations into the conditioned space where outside air can flow. I'm thinking that my best option is going to be separating the furnace closet from the rest of the house as much as I can. There are huge holes and thermal bypasses which I'll be sealing up, and if possible, I'm going to add insulation to the stud bays separating the furnace closet from the rest of the house. In essence, I'll turn it into a mini-unconditioned-space within the conditioned space.


How can I replace failing ballasts in recessed CFL housings if I don't have access to the attic? I have a set of recessed CFL (4-pin) lights and a few of the ballasts are failing (CFLs fail to start randomly, even after replacing them with new sets).

They are NHPSIC-626ELAT, CFL (4-pin) fixtures.

Is there a way to get to the ballast without going through the attic (there is no access in my house)?
I am thinking about replacing the CFLs with LED retrofits, but either way I have to either replace the ballast or bypass it.

new-work Halo cans are adjustable to accommodate different ceiling height. Remove the reflector trim and the lamp. Then remove the three sheet metal screws from near the bottom of the can. Slowly work the can down and out. There is enough slack in the  jacketed cable to let the can hang about six inches below the ceiling. Reach through the hole and unclip the face of the junction box to expose the wiring. With power off you should be able to disconnect the 120VAC. If you want to see how these are wired before you pull the can, go to Home Depot and look at a bare new-work fluorescent can. Anyway, look at the armored wires going from the can to the junction box and make sure the ends inside the box are detached, whether you have to cut them or just remove wire nuts. Then take slip joint pliers and squeeze the end of the cable lock to free the armored section from the junction box and remove and discard the can. Buy a new Edison base Halo H-7ICAT assembly and remove the can portion from the frame as described above. You'll have to cut the push connectors off the end of the wires. Strip 5/8" of insulation off the ends of the wires and reinsert throught the hole in the side of the old junction box until the anchor locks. Attach the can wires to 120VAC, bypassing the ballast, which should be completely disconnected. Replace the metal cover on junction box, reinsert can through the ceiling hole, align screw holes, adjust can height to ceiling thickness, and insert screws. If you want, you can push new insulation through the ceiling hole before reinserting the can. You can also caulk the cracks between the ceiling surface and the edge of the can to make it airtight. Once that's done, remove the socket holder and shield inside the can, attach the Edison base LED pigtail that comes in the LED retrofit kits, install the LED kit and you're done.

I've had to install a bunch of these where I had no attic access. Works great and you don't have to cut the ceiling.


Changing out receptacle that is controlled by a light switch Help Please! This is the first time I am attempting any electrical project. I changed out old receptacles with new ones in our master bedroom. I used Leviton standard outlets 15A-125V.

Question #1: How come some of the receptacles have 2 white, 2 black and one ground wire, while others have only 1 white and one black wire?

Question #2: The switch to the bedroom controls the ceiling light and the bottom plug of the outlet next to the bed. Now that the new outlet is installed, the switch no longer controls the bottom plug, Why? I wired it exactly like the old one. I did not do any work on the switch. Please help me understand!

Because you didn't look at the old receptacle to see if any tabs were broken off.

You should break off tabs in the new receptacle exactly as you find them in the old receptacle.

Breaking off the tab changes the meaning of the two screws. Instead of "two screws that connect to the same thing and can be used for supplying power onward to other receptacles", it now means "each socket in this receptacle is being fed power separately by a different wire, and each socket gets only one screw".  This is used for splitting receptacles for lamp control, and a few other uses.

I have no idea if the old receptacle broke tab off the hot side (brass), the neutral side (silver) or both.  You will need to trash-dive the old socket and have a look. Breaking the hot side is the most common.  But if neutral had been broken/split before, and you fail to split it now, it creates a "silent but deadly" failure mode that will be revealed only by a fire or GFCI trip.


I need to Improve drainage in croncrete I have greyhound kennels. Built them brand new the concreter was a moron and the fall is everyway except towards the drains, I was wondering If it's oossoble to cut a small trench to squeegee water into so it has a chance to get to the drains it would be 12 m long approx 50mm wide and I would say 25mm deep,

Yes, you can cut concrete.  You could hire someone with a concrete saw to do the work, or you can buy a masonry blade for a standard circular saw.  Make sure you wear goggles and a mask to keep concrete dust and chips out of your eyes and lungs.   It is noisy (and slow) so please wear ear plugs also.

You will have to make sure the trench slopes towards the drain, of course.

If you have a blade that works in dry or wet, there will be less dust if you can cut it wet or dampened.  You can use a standard electric circular saw if the concrete is dampened, but make sure it is grounded properly for safety.  If you need to cut through standing water, use a gas powered saw (you can rent these).

This is an example of a good masonry blade, available from many sources.


Replacement deck beam equivalence I have to replace the main beam in a deck at my house. The deck is 10 x 23 and the beam is 6 feet from the wall with the other side of the deck supported from the wall. The deck joists are sistered to the floor joists with lag bolts (about 3 feet of sistered joist section). As per the above there is 4 feet of cantilevered joist going past the beam and 5 feet of cantilevered beam that connects to another beam.

The beam span is 18' and the original beam is a 13.5 x 6.75 glulam. It failed due to dry-wood termites and water causing the laminated sections to separate right over the column connector. I think that a previous owner may have had a plant right over the beam where it joins the column and when watered steady stream of water ended up on the corner of the beam. It never sagged in the center. The deck is ~35 years old and was built with the house. For good measure I am also replacing the posts, joists (many are pretty rotten) and deck boards (which where still there after 35 years so very rotten).

Anyways this size (13.5 x 6.75) while available and not terribly expensive (~$400) would be very hard to get into position to lift into place (lifting wouldn't be that hard). The issue is that the back of the house is situated over a very steep hill (practically a cliff) and not accessible by heavy equipment.

A few alternatives I am considering.

Making a built up beam using 3 2x14's and a 3x14 (13.25 x 7) how would I calculate if this is equivalent to the 13.5 x 6.75.
Adding an extra post (the soil is very hard but I could hit bedrock or a huge boulder within 24" or so).

I am mainly am looking for input on number 1 above.

Download a free pdf Wood Deck Construction Guide from the American Wood Council. It is based on current codes and standards and can help with all aspects of wood deck construction in the absence of specific direction from your local AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction).

It will not address engineered construction members (like laminated beams) though...


What is a "solar-ready" air conditioner? I've been looking into having solar panels installed.  My understanding is that the solar panels connect to a breaker in the breaker panel, and so you have both the main breaker (from the power company) and the solar breaker feeding power into the buses of the panel, and from there the power flows to all the circuits in the house, just like normal.  This all makes sense to me.
However, I noticed that my air conditioner has a sticker which says "SunSource Solar Ready," and "This equipment is suitable for powering with a secondary (solar) source circuit."
What does this mean, exactly?  I looked up "SunSource Solar Ready", but the page for it is really quite content-free.
Is there some benefit to using this "solar ready" feature when I get solar installed?  Or should I just get it installed the "normal" way, as if I did not have a "solar ready" air conditioner?

You paid a higher cost to have an AC with the built-in breaker circuit to handle the output from a small solar system.  The built-in breaker limits the size of the solar system that you can install for your house.  I would look at it as a Marketing pitch.

Is there some benefit to using this "solar ready" feature when I get solar installed? Or should I just get it installed the "normal" way, as if I did not have a "solar ready" air conditioner?

When going solar, if the size of the system doesn't exceed the 16-panels limitation, You have one breaker panel you don't have to install. That's the bottom line.
Why the limitation?  The solar size is restricted by the size of the circuit your AC is on.  If solar is connected at the main breaker, the size is limited by your service input and other minor considerations.
Another consideration is how convenient is it to route the solar power to the AC verses the location of the Main Breaker box.


Two device handy box (683) I have a raco double two device gang box in one of my rooms. I found that a couple of those holes are stripped. Is it better to trying to tap it at 6/32 again, go to the next size which is 8/32 (tremendous difficulty finding 8/32 screws that are painted white or maybe i have to paint them) Or replace the box? What would you suggest?

I'm kind of confused as to why the box does not have a plaster ring on the box. Generally we used to retap to an 8/32 since the 6/32 is stirpped I don't think you would be able to retap. Probably wouldn't hurt to try. You can order trim screws with painted heads but you would probably have to order from an electrical wholesaler or a specialist like Fastenal and you probably would have to order a bulk amount. Last ditch if you can find a #8 or #10 metal screw with a trim painted head we have used them from time to time. I would cut off the point before installing so it wouldn't puncture the insulation of any wire.


uncontrollable heating in multi unit apt I have a 6 unit 2 story apt bldg which has only one basement furnace controlled by one thermostat from the first  floor apt #1. The duct work has dampers to each unit. the problem is that the temp in unit #1 dictates how hot or cold the rest of the apts are. Is there anything that can be done to even out the heating?

The simple answer is to set the fan to on instead of auto. This will help even out the temperature during off cycles. Using the dampers in the duct system close off the damper to the apartment with the thermostat 50% and make adjustments to all the other apartments accordingly. Keep notes on how the dampers are set because this will likely be a seasonal change that has to be done when switching from heating to cooling.

Adding a multi sensor thermostat like an ecobee as mentioned in the comments will also help. But it won't eliminate the problem. You need to balance the air flow into each apartment. If the apartments that are normally cold are suddenly the apartments that are comfortable then the ones that were comfortable will suddenly be too warm. Try getting it sorted out with dampers and possibly adding multi sensor thermostat. The downside of an ecobee is that you have to change the batteries periodically in the remote sensors tekmar makes some hardwire versions but then you need to run a wire to each sensor. Changing batteries in a single dwelling home isn't such a problem but in a rental it becomes problematic.

There isn't much else in the way of a simple fix you can do that I'm aware of.

Side note

In my region multiple-unit dwellings require fire separation in between every apartment. If one duct system is used then fire dampers need to be installed at all fire barriers. I don't know if this applies to you but be careful when dealing with multiple dwelling homes.


Air vent on the wall big gap Hi I have a huge gap between my air vent and to my wall and I can’t screw jt into the wall because there is brick there. Is there a way I can seal it and paint it... thanks

Get a 1x2 or just some molding from your home store and make a frame and attach it to the wall. Then slide the vent up against it and caulk it a paintable caulk. Then paint it to match the wall or the trim, whatever floats your boat. Good luck.


How precise do I need to be when ordering a custom exterior door? I want a new exterior door. I went to Lowe's, and the Jeld-Wens there had the hinges at the wrong heights for my jamb. They told me to measure my heights and they would custom order.
I've measured my hinge heights as well as I can, but I'm a little suspicious that my measurements are precise enough that the new door will fit perfectly. On the other hand, if door manufacturers always place them to the nearest 1/8" (say), then maybe I'm all right.
I measure (the tops of) my hinges at 6 3/4", 37 1/2", and 68 1/2". That makes the distance between the middle and top 30.75", and the middle and bottom 31". That seems a little odd to me.

That's a valid concern.  1/8" is a lot with this kind of thing. I'd want 1/16" precision or better. I'd expect that if you give them locations to 1/32" (not that difficult even with a standard tape measure) you'd be ok.
I would order a door without hinge mortises (or just buy a standard slab) and do that part myself. If you just buy a slab you can temporarily screw the hinges on, verify height and operation, mark the hinge locations and do the mortising work.
Depending on your hinge style, that may just involve shallow cross-cuts and a little chisel work, without any corner shaping. If you do want to fit round-leaved hinges, a Forstner bit would do a nice job there to get the radii cut.


Could someone explain these wiring diagram symbols please? This is for a bathroom ceiling fan.

I recognise the pull cord switch. It's the two middle symbols I'm not sure about.

The square one on the right. Is that just a switch? Something like this: https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-13a-double-pole-switched-fused-connection-unit-white/86116
The round one on the left. Is that a three way junction box? What's with the spiral symbol between Ls and N?

I'd be very grateful if someone could provide links to appropriate components that would match those two parts.

2 is your lamp's ceiling rose.   A standard 3/3/2 splice won't quite be enough because both always-hot and switched-hot are being carried onward to the fan, it's unusual for both to be carried onward at once.

2b is your lamp.


How long do I need to wait before painting an interior PT plywood floor? I recently had my basement floor replaced due to termite infestation.  The floor is concrete and the floor joists are made of pressure treated wood.  The contractor removed the carpeting and pressed wood and replaced it with pressure treated plywood.  The plywood was laid down 6 weeks ago.  I have been running a fan, heater and dehumidifier in my daylight basement and opening windows.    I would like to paint the floor as soon as possible as I am concerned about the harmful effects of the pressure treatment but have received varied answers as to how long I must wait.  Some say 2 weeks, and some say 6 months.  Please advise.

Recommendations vary because conditions vary. Here are the primary factors:

Initial lumber moisture content
Concrete moisture content (ongoing; dependent on ground conditions and the presence or absence of vapor barriers below)
Indoor temperature and humidity level
Effectiveness of drying mechanisms (dehumidifier, fans, etc.)

The point is that no one can give you a number. You'll have to either rely on look and feel assessment or use sensor hardware to measure moisture content. Also, follow the paint manufacturer's instructions. Some coatings are more tolerant of substrate moisture than others.


How to repair chipped tile edges on an external facing corner? I've got these problems in an apartment that has been rented out.

No tile trim was ever used and it shows!

What's the best way of repairing this short of replacing all the tiles? Can I put some metal trim on this to hide the damage and prevent further damage?

I'm guessing that they bevelled the edges in order to meet flush like that.

PS: just bought this aluminium trim and will try it. Just stick with silicone and tape it down until it's cured

Edit: Result looking good.  Tape is just temporary!

Yeah metal trim is probably the best way. if you're cheap there's aluminium angle that can be glued on using bathroom silicone caulk.

For a slightly better look get a strip of stainless-steel bent 95 degrees along the length (so the angle is 85 degrees). and glue that on in the same way.


how to drill through two different materials I installed blinds in my kitchen.

I put the screws into the wall. The wall was plaster and inside it was a thin metal sheet.

The screws were 1/8 inches. So I drilled two holes of 1/8 inches through the plaster and metal and screwed both screws in.

I noticed that one of the screws didnt become tight as I screwed it in.
So I drilled a 3/16 inches hole through the plaster and metal (through the metal I didnt have a 3/16 inches metal drill bit, I made do...) put a screw plastic cap in - with a lot of trouble, beraly fit - and screwed the screw into the plastic screw cap.

So just to reiterate, one screw is holding to the metal material (I sincerely hope) through a 1/8 inches hole. The other screw, is holding to the plaster and metal though a 3/16 inches hole (and a plastic cap).

Is this arragement, is it something that makes sense?

Thanks.

What you need to use is a fastener called a "toggle bolt". They come in small sizes (1/8 inch, screw diameter) up to 1/4 inch. Depending on the weight of your item the larger the toggle the more it can support. A toggle bolt is a threaded machine screw that uses a pair of spring loaded wings (anchors) as a nut. Mark the location for the hole and use a slot head screw driver to bore through the dry wall. I'm guessing that the metal you encountered is most likely the lathing for the plaster (or stucco?) wall. Either way,try to make an oversized opening into the bay of the wall. Put the toggle screw through the item and thread toggle wings onto threads. Push the two wings together and wiggle them into the wall opening. The wings will expand behind the drywall. All that's left is to tighten the screwhead. Finito.


Online landscape design I have some guys coming in two weeks to pull the shrubs in the flowerbed in front of our house and replace them with others.  The problem is that I have no idea what I should put in.  Is there an online application (free) where I can mock up ideas to see what they would look like?  Preferably one that allows head-on views more than from-above views.

The best program for this is Google Sketchup. Why? Because the purpose of it is to easily let you draw in 3D, meaning a perspective view, rather than the view from above.

There is a free version. There is also a professional version which I use, but most homeowners do not need that.
♠
Depending on your ability, it can be very easy or slightly challenging. However, I would give it a try. It's a lot of fun.

Since you are concentrating on a bed in front of your house, or a foundation planting, you will want to draw in your house. This does not have to be exact. However, I would put in the length of the house and correctly locate the windows and doors at the least.

After you select plants, which are called components, you can adjust their size.

I hope this is helpful. Here is the link. Sketchup


Why are homes wired using solid wire rather than stranded? If stranded wire can carry more power for a given wire gauge, why are homes typically wired using solid?

If solid wire is less expensive to make, that provides a compelling reason why solid is used, but if an electrician or homeowner wanted to use stranded, is there any reason not to?

For this question I am mainly referring to legs of U.S. home wiring for 15 and 20 amp breakers carrying 120 volts on a single phase.

A few reasons:

Stranded wire is more expensive to make.
At a given wire gauge, stranded is going to be larger than solid wire (it's the cross-sectional area of conductor that counts and there are going to be some air gaps between conductors with stranded).  This could make a big difference if you have several cables in a limited space like an electrical box.
The main advantage of stranded is that it's more flexible.  You generally don't need this in home wiring because it's all put in place once and hidden behind walls/floors/ceilings.
When you screw a solid wire into a switch or receptacle, you can tell if it's secure.  I could see individual strands coming loose as you fold wires back into an electrical box.

More information in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire#Solid_versus_stranded


Why is there still power to my oven after the breaker trips? Just moved into a new house that had a new oven when we moved in. After the first use the breaker trips but there's still power to the unit. Is the source of this a faulty breaker?

What size is the breaker? An electric stove will normally be supplied by 240 V through a 40-A double pole common trip breaker. If the range is still getting some power, but the oven is not heating then it could be that one leg is tripped and the other is not.

Do all the surface burners heat at full heat. I am sure that these are supplied at 240 V so if you turned them each on singly to high and they all work, then you are getting 240 V to the range. If you turn them all to high at the same time and the breaker does not trip, then I would say the oven is malfunctioning (shorting). Does the broiler work?


Halogen torchiere standing lamp Do they make halogen torchiere-type standing lamps anymore? I can't seem to find them anywhere, while 5-10 years ago they were quite common. The amount of light they throw off was so superior even to big incandescent lamps, not to mention wimpy CFLs. And they had a nice dimmer type operation.

I think they stopped making them because they kept catching on fire.

Google search: "Halogen Lamp Fire Hazard"


Size of 240v service panel breaker I’m adding a sub-panel to my house about 30 feet from the service panel.  There will be two 240 volt circuits in the sub-panel.  One will be a 240 v - 20 amp circuit and the other a 240v 30 amp circuit.  What size breaker should I use in the service panel to power the sub-panel?

The line running from the main service panel will be a #8/3 w/ground stranded.  At the subpanel one of the circuits will be powering an A/C unit with 240v which calls for a 20amp line.  That 20 amp line runs about 10' from the subpanel to the A/C unit and is a #10/2 w/ground solid.  The other circuit in the subpanel, will be running about 75' under the house to an outdoor sauna which requires a 240v 30amps.  That line is a #10/3 w/a ground solid.  I'm planning on splitting the line at the sauna to accommodate a 120volt for a light in the sauna.
Here is a picture of the service panel;

The red, black pair is currently powering the A/C.  They will be removed and replaced with the aforementioned 8/2 line to the subpanel.

Nope. You can't run that cable through that conduit.

8/3 "underground Romex" as you call it, actually UF-B cable, is not permitted in that conduit because the cable is too large for the conduit.  So are most cables.   You are actually better off running the type that is already there, THWN-2 individual wires.  You will need 1 white and 2 of black or a color. Your existing ground wire is fine and may be reused, if it is 10 AWG.

Romex in conduit (which will not fit) is good for 40A.  THWN wires are allowed 50A.

Supply breaker ampacity is decided by the cable.

10 AWG wire - 30A
8 AWG NM or UF cable - 40A
8 AWG THWN wire in conduit - 50A
6 AWG NM or UF cable - 60A
6 AWG THWN wire in conduit - 70A

If the subpanel is main-lug, the breaker also can't be larger than the busing on the subpanel, however that won't be a problem if you listen to my "think big" advice above...

Don't scrimp on subpanel size

Install the biggest subpanel you can possibly stand to get.  Panel spaces are cheap.  Running out of spaces in a panel later is an expensive, frustrating problem.

If you aim to scrimp, then a) skip the main breaker. Your subpanel does not need it if it's in the same building.  And b) use aluminum wire, replacing #8Cu with #6Al... or #6Cu with #4Al. Aluminum wire is actually preferred at these large sizes. The subpanel input lugs will be aluminum!


Move rangehood fan inline I have one of these rangehoods, the fan is built in directly above the filters so its noisy as hell when you run it.

I don't really want to spend $1K+ on a new "silent" rangehood, I was wondering if anyone can see any issues with buying an inline fan and moving it up into the ceiling to sit halfway along the vent, hopefully reducing the noise in the kitchen considerably.

Note: It's only venting steam / smells, etc. Cooktop is electric.

Grease isn't any more of a concern than it is now if the existing traps remain in place. If it was, the original fan would also be in jeopardy.

Airflow isn't really a concern, either. The original fan can probably be easily removed (and the new one connected to its power supply). Even if it can't, it won't reduce flow much, especially if it spins passively.

There's no need for a super-turbo-jet-fan. Anything that claims to move as much air as the original is suitable, and the fact that it's remote should significantly reduce noise.

I'm with you on the noise thing. I don't understand why remote fans aren't the default. My new "low sones" bath fan buzzes like a chainsaw half the time.

Go for it.