Mimick Sheetrock “texture” OK so I have a regular drywall house… What I’ve noticed is that when you use joint compound to fix hole etc. the joint compound is incredibly smooth yet the drywall surrounding the patch has a little bit of texture to it…
How does one replicate that standard drywall texture  not orange peel or anything popcorn like, just standard drywall with paint.

Here’s a more recent example that I just finished mudding and sanding ... if I simply just prime and paint it’s going to be noticeable!
Any recommendations??

To get a specific type of texture is one of the toughest jobs.
first you need to hide any marks sometimes This requires fading a patch in over a foot or more. You have a small orifice small pull wet spatter on my gun.
Probably did not help at all. Mud guns have different sizes of orifices this kinda denotes the max size of the detail.
then there is pull back how much mud can enter the area and get picked up by the air stream how heavy or thick it is.
so you have a small orifice with not much pull back or not much mud can flow last it has no shape so it was shot wet this takes time and even then I mis give a trial shot and adjust when I get it close enough I work from the bare center putting dow a slightly heavy coat moving our further away and quick to fade the new and old together.
There are cans of texture if an orange peal and a small job I won’t get my gun dirty I will buy a can but if a heavy spatter or large area its cans don’t do well there, I have only used the cans a few times and don’t remember much variety, to get a good match you need a mud gun and some practice, mud is cheap, I bought an all plastic gun a long time ago it was fairly cheap under 75? But 1 time not cleaning or using hot mud the cheap and even a 300$ gun can be ruined.
Some may try to use a sponge that won’t look right with your existing texture and sometimes if you can’t match that wall just shoot the entire wall with a heavy orange peal.
matching texture is a art I am no artist but after a while you figure out the basics of your gun then it is not as hard. Small , small, wet mud should get you there.


Utility Trailer Wood Floor Installation I have a small utility trailer ta her has a corrugated metal floor. Not sturdy enough to haul my motorcycle so I want to install  a wood floor using 5/4”x 6” treated lumber. My question is what is the proper self tapping screws to attach wood to 1/8” angle iron. Some videos suggest 12-24x1 1/2 inch self tapping screws, but I cannot find those locally at any of the big box stores and have no idea what a comparable screw would work.

I strongly suggest that you upgrade to 2x6 (1.5 x 5.5")  The extra quarter inch makes a big difference.

I would suggest using the hex head screws used to fasten down sheet metal roofing.  You can get them in various lengths.  They take a 3/8" socket.

Self tapping screws are fine for sheet metal -- say up to about 18 ga.  I wouldn't want to use them on something like 1/8" steel.

Drill your holes in the frame before putting the planks in place.  This allows you to drill DOWN instead of up, with no risk of getting metal shavings in your eye.  You still will have to put the screws in from the bottom.

You also may want to put a pair of boards under the motor cycle.  The motor cycle is a point load -- all the weight is on the two tire footprints. This is at most on two planks for each.

I have a 5x10 trailer with 2x6 running crosswise.  I use it to haul up to a ton of trees, but that's well distributed.  I've noticed a certain springiness on the deck, and would want a stronger deck to use to haul my ATV or compact tractor.


How should I attach a slab of soapstone to iron shelf brackets? I have a 1'×3' slab of soapstone that I'm placing on top of my radiator, creating a shelf:

The radiator bears most of the weight, but the stone isn't stable on top of the radiator (the individual pieces of the radiator are rounded at the top, so the stone can wobble up and down).

My plan to solve this is to use iron shelving brackets to keep the stone stable, but I'm not sure of the best way to attach the iron brackets to the stone. My dad suggested a silicon sealant. Is that a good choice for bonding the raw iron to the soapstone? I see on Loctite's website that they don't recommend it for iron, so I wasn't sure.

Edit: Based on some more investigation, some silicon sealants release acetic acid which can corrode metals, but there are also sealants that don't release it (which I think are called "neutral cure"). I'm still investigating how bad the corrosion is/if the neutral cure version is appropriate for stone.

Edit2: Potentially I should use epoxy for this?

If someone with enough rep to create tags thinks it's appropriate, this post should probably be tagged with "iron" and "soapstone".

Use the silicone, contrary to some ideas expressed it does stick well to clean smooth surfaces. So well, in fact, that mechanical scraping is often the only way to remove it once cured (actually there are some chemicals, like dimethyl adipate, that soften cured silicone).

If the brackets are securely mounted to the wall, silicone will grip like hell and hold that slab of stone firmly in place. Don't worry about the acetic acid, it smells a bit but won't hurt the iron. The soapstone might get discolored a bit but the underside shouldn't be a concern.


PVC conduit, service line with siding offset I am updating our service line and moving it to another part of our home, as per request of the energy supplier.  I have installed the new panel and meter socket. However I am unsure how to run the pvc conduit up the side of our home.

The house has an offset line in the siding of three inches in between the first and second story.  Should I cu a groove in the siding on the second story, or use offset fittings?  Or is there another solution?

My first choice: Use standoffs to keep the line clear of the house by enough distance to clear the bump, with straight conduit.

Second choice: Given it's PVC either rent a blanket heater or get creative with boiling water and bend yourself a section (rather like an inchworm) that fits around the bump. Make it rather gentle/sweeping so that it's not too much trouble to get wires through it. You could cobble something with 15 or 22 degree bends and couplings, but PVC is easy enough to bend with heat, and a straight stick that you bend is a lot cheaper than a bunch of pre-bent sweeps and couplings - it's also smoother inside.


Water heater relief valve pipe routing Can the drain pipe from a water heater's temperature / pressure relief valve be plumbed such that some part of it can be higher than the T&P valve itself? Or must the piping always remain below the level of the valve?

T&P valves should always be piped as to not allow any build up of water or debris to occur.
They should also be piped so if there is a minor failure/leak it can be observed and replaced, as well as piped to be close enough to the floor as to prevent scalding if the relief should open under high temp or pressure conditions. Check with local codes for minimum clearance between discharge pipe and floor.
Some jurisdictions allow for piping to floor drain to help prevent damages due to failure.


Is this T&P relief valve discharge pipe installed correctly? I had a plumber install a new water heater the other day, and he said it's up to 2018 (US) code, but I've been wondering if the T&P relief valve discharge pipe really is correct, because it seems to me like discharge pipes shouldn't flow upwards:

The hole in the wall that the discharge pipe goes out of is the one used by the original water heater's pipe, and I don't know why they made it so high - I'm guessing because there's not a lot of room in this corner of my garage and they needed the pipe to go above the water heater.

Illegal. Your photo shows a TPV outlet pipe with a trap.  Last I checked, UPC 608.5 says "No part of such drain pipe shall be trapped ..."
Similarly, IPC (2012) 504.6 (8) Discharge piping serving a TPV shall  "Not be trapped."


Can a CAFCI be double-lugged? I am puzzled by a "double-lugging" of a CAFCI, made by Siemens on a newer residential construction. Work is done by a professional electrical contractor, in Southern California.

Does Siemens allows CAFCI to be double-lugged?

Nope!

Siemens QP breakers, with basically no exceptions, cannot be double-lugged the way you see there.  Fortunately, this is easy to fix.  All you will need is a couple of 12AWG stranded THHN pigtails (one black, one white) and a pair of wirenuts suitable for 3 12AWG wires each, as well as an inch-pound torque screwdriver to set the torque on the breaker lugs properly.  Turn the breaker in question off, unfasten the wires from the lugs, nut each pair (black and black, white and white) together with its corresponding pigtail color, insert the pigtails into the correct lugs (black in the top lug, white in the bottom lug), and torque the lugs back down to the labeled torque values using your torque screwdriver.


Can a toilet get "too old" to the point where it can never be unclogged and must be replaced? We had an issue where a toilet that worked fine since we moved in 6 years ago recently would not flush. I took a plunger to it and snaked from the roof and it helped in that the toilet would slowly drain out (15 seconds) but never give that typical "glug glug glug" one gets from a full flush. I called in a plumber and a week after we last tried, it fully flushed when he tried it. It was a weak flush but it was a full flush. I asked him to snake it anyway since I was already on the hook for a service call and he opted for a 6ft augur. This further increased the flush but it's not as strong as what we are used to.

He told me that best way to fix it is to install a new toilet. He mentioned that as toilets age, the trap "gets full of stuff" "that is like cement". I had a spare toilet we ended up getting stuck with after a renovation that was never used but had been sitting outside and asked (since I had him for an hour anyway) if he could use that but said that because it had been outside, there was too much "stuff" in the trap and it could be worse than the one already in the bathroom.

I'm no plumber but I get the sense that there is nothing from normal use with a city water supply and sewage that should cause a toilet's trap to "age" to the point where it can't be cleaned out to be good as new... especially if it is not yet installed and you can access it from both ends. Should I trust this plumber's opinion?

WHAT?!!! I guess I was just "lucky" with all the 100, 80, 70, 60 & 50 year old toilets I've ever used. That wasn't any plumber, that was a hack liar fraud swindler!

The trap is the water you see in the bottom of the toilet! "I'm sorry sir, your toilet is full of CLEAN, it's a total disaster, the only thing I can do is replace it...do you mind paying $500 for a $100 toilet."

Sorry um, NO. A Real Plumber would know to pull the toilet out & to scrape out the pipe opening to full diameter, vacuum out the bend, clean off the wax seal, ream out the entire toilet's drain line using a snake like a flexible file (not that there would be any encrusted build-up anyway) & pop in a new wax or no-wax seal to get you back to better than new.

And, for $50 more (parts upcharge cost) would re-do the wall valve, supply line & replace everything in & under the tank. Total time, 1-hour & worth every penny.


What's the difference between ETL and UL listed electrical outlets? Which should I purchase? I want to be legal and pass home inspection. I'm in California in the USA, replacing some electrical outlets.
ETL appears to be less-common, but equally recognized:

The main difference between UL and ETL listed products is that ETL doesn’t create its own standards for certification. UL develops standards that are used by other organizations, including ETL.
Both are Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories(NRTLs). They serve as non-governmental labs that operate independently. Additionally, they are recognized by OSHA as being suitable labs to test products based on safety standards.

Will ETL GFCI outlets pass a home inspection for a garage that's apparently required to have GFCI outlets?

This is one of the GFCI "ETL Certified" outlets on Amazon I am considering. $20 for 2.
Other references:

Google search for "etl vs ul"

It appears California leaves recognition of testing labs all the way down to city level, an example of this is the City of Los Angeles, but there should be no issue with ETL for GFCI receptacles.
The National Fire Protection Association (also a private company and owner of the NEC) doesn't specify OSHA NRTL's or name UL or any other testing labs in NFPA70 (the NEC). It says:

110.3(C) Listing. Product testing, evaluation, and listing (product certification) shall be performed by recognized qualified electrical
testing laboratories and shall be in accordance with applicable
product standards recognized as achieving equivalent and effective
safety for equipment installed to comply with this Code.
Informational Note: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) recognizes qualified electrical testing laboratories that
perform evaluations, testing, and certification of certain products to
ensure that they meet the requirements of both the construction and
general industry OSHA electrical standards. If the listing (product
certification) is done under a qualified electrical testing laboratory
program, this listing mark signifies that the tested and certified
product complies with the requirements of one or more appropriate
product safety test standards.

Many Authorities Having Jurisdiction defer recognition by ordinance to labs recognized by OSHA as NRTL's. Not all NRTL's do electrical testing, and not all approvals apply to all countries. For example a UL symbol with the letters AR below it are only approved for use in Argentina, and NSF doesn't test electrical.


Can a loadcenter main breaker be greater than the busbar ampacity? Related to this question (Can a sub-panel have a larger main breaker than the feeder breaker in the main panel?) on having a larger "main" breaker in a subpanel than in the panel feeding it, my question is similar, but has to do with a subpanel "main" breaker larger than the busbar ampacity/panel rating.

In this case, I have a subpanel (no ground/neutral bond) with a 200A panel rating and a 200A breaker in the panel feeding it. Can I install a 225A "main" breaker in the subpanel to act as a shutoff switch for that subpanel or is that prohibited by code since its rating exceeds the rating for the downstream busbar?

The NEC requirement for protection of the panel is straightforward:

  408.36 Overcurrent Protection. In addition to the requirement of 408.30, a panelboard shall be protected by an overcurrent protective device having a rating not greater than that of the panelboard. This overcurrent protective device shall be located within or at any point on the supplyside of the panelboard.

So the panel must be protected by an OCPD at or below it's rating, but that OCPD can be the main or upstream.  As long as the upstream OCPD satisfies this rule, the main breaker does not have to;  a main breaker larger than the panel rating doesn't satisfy the requirement and doesn't protect the panel bus but it's not a violation to have it there serving as a switch / disconnect.

Keep in mind that the NEC also requires that the panel and the main breaker be listed, and used in accordance with it's listing and the manufacturer's instructions.  The combination of a main breaker and panel with a lower rating may violate the manufacturer's instructions.  That of course would vary case by case.


Should I glue down or top nail the first and last row of hardwood engineered flooring? I am stapling down 1/2" engineered prefinished hardwood flooring.  To get started, I need to run a row next to the starting wall, allowing 1/2" for expansion.  Since my pneumatic flooring staple gun, so to it's size and shape, will not allow me to use it on the starter row, I have the choice of top nailing or gluing it down (to the sub floor).  I would prefer to glue it, say with 'liquid nail', rather than to top nail it to avoid filled nail holes that could show if the putty filler color does not match perfectly.  The rest of the floor will be stapled except for the wall pieces on the other side of the room etc.

Is it OK to use the glue down method on the 1st and last row without effecting the hardwood expansion problem? and if so, is 'Liquid Nail' an acceptable glue product for this application.

You have another very viable choice too. There are two parts to this one.

First you arrange the design of the planned for final moldings to include a combination of baseboard and shoe molding that will cover up the flooring expansion gap and then some. Knowing how much additional overlap there will be of the molding over the top edge of the flooring will help you to know how close to the edge of the first flooring strip you can surface nail and not see these nails once all the trim is in place. Since you say that your expansion gap needs to be 1/2" I would suggest that you may want to plan to have the baseboard installed above/after the flooring. Thus you get the thickness of the baseboard plus the shoe molding to cover the expansion gap plus the first row surface nailing.

The second part of this is to realize that there is the old fashioned way that flooring was installed in the days before pneumatic automatic nailers. You can hand nail the leading edge of the first few rows of flooring using the hidden nail technique applicable to your particular type of flooring. Once you get a few rows down the automatic nailer will be able to be used.

When I installed a hardwood floor I had a choice to make as to whether to purchase a pneumatic nailer or to hand nail the whole floor. The project was in a fairly narrow room and when I looked at the percentage of flooring runs that had to be hand nailed anyway I ended up not buying the machine and just did the whole thing the old fashioned way. Although I did use the hardened type of flooring nails that have spiral ridges along the length. These nails will provide more resistance to coming loose over the years as the floor goes through seasonal changes.

I would also tend to suggest it may not be the best idea to glue some of the flooring down to the sub floor. This has two problems. First and foremost is that flooring that is nailed has some flexibility to move when it expands with seasonal changes. If you glue down a part of the flooring you will loose that flexibility and maybe even risk having future buckling in the area of the glued down strips. The second issue is that gluing precludes putting down a material between the flooring and the subfloor such as rosin paper or other material as may be recommended by your flooring manufacturer.


Understand a floorplan of an apartment? I have some questions about the above floor plan of a two-level apartment.

On the second level, is the stair closer to the bigger bedroom or the smaller bedroom? How can you tell from the drawing?

Is the "deck" on the back of the apartment?

Is the front door between the kitchen and the closet?

Does "duplex"here mean that it has two levels?

Thanks!

On the second level, is the stair closer to the bigger bedroom or the smaller bedroom? How can you tell from the drawing?

As you're going up the stairs, you're facing the 10x12 bedroom. The hatching on the left end of the stairs on the lower-level indicates that it's not really part of that level. It also wouldn't make sense for you to have to go through one bedroom to get to the rest of the upstairs.

  Is the "deck" on the back of the apartment?

Yes. The front is at the other end. See the next item.

  Is the front door between the kitchen and the closet?

Yes. It's shown in the open position in the floorplan. I've circled it here:

  Does "duplex" here mean that it has two levels?

A duplex usually means that there are two separate dwelling units in a building; there's probably another identical or mirror-image apartment on the other side of one of the long walls.


How should coax cable enter the house in a harsh climate? In our house, coax cable comes from the utility in a rear alley, then is joined to a separate cable that enters the house on the second floor. Here's a photo:

The black cable on the left comes from the utility; the beige cable on the right enters the house.

This is in a place with a fairly harsh climate: -20℃ in winter to +30℃ in summer is perfectly normal, annual snowfall and rainfall are both plentiful, and we get lots of sunshine, high humidity, low humidity, freezing rain, and thunderstorms. Hurricanes and volcanoes are not a concern.

Is this standard practice for coax cable? More importantly, is it weatherproof?

If not: is it my responsibility to fix, or the cable company's? (I'm in Montreal, Canada, and the cable company is Vidéotron.) The cable from the utility is new, having been replaced in Aug 2017 after a storm. The cable entering the house is not new, but it doesn't appear to be in terrible condition.

I don't think it matters all that much. I can't find a minimum operating temp for coax, but most wires tend to list -20C as their minimum, and that's mostly for bending reasons. So if it got hit in the middle of winter, maybe it might get damaged. Maybe...

As far as weatherproof... What you have in your picture is the grounding block. I have plenty of coax connections exposed to the elements. I've not seen them experience anything bad from it. More modern installs tend to put this inside a plastic box but I had a satellite dish with a block like that and it was fully exposed as well.

If I were you, however, I would check the wire going into the house. My bet is it's RG59. If you're looking to improve this you could

Replace the RG59 with RG6 (quad shield if you can get it). You'll get a better signal, which is important for things like cable modems.
Put it in conduit. PVC electrical conduit is cheap and if you can limit exposure to the elements it's worth the effort.


How do I adhere vinyl sheeting to carpet? We foster puppies on a regular basis and in order to protect the carpet I am looking to cover a section of their room with vinyl sheet flooring where their pen is located.  I thought about vinyl because it is inexpensive and waterproof.

I need to know how to adhere it to the carpet for an extended period of time (6 months) without damaging the carpet when it is removed.  It needs to be fairly secure and I want to prevent the edges from curling up.

Any ideas on how best to adhere the vinyl?  I am also open to other floor covering solutions.

I don't think there's a good answer to your question.  What you want to do is ... poorly thought out.

Get a small section of vinyl and unroll it so that the edges extend beyond the edge of the pen.  Let the pen hold it down.  Anything more is not going to be good for the carpet.


How to deal with Mice coming into the Baby's Room Possible Duplicate:
  How can I get rid of a mouse in my house?

Our first child is due any day now, and we've got a mouse infestation. We noticed it for the first time at my girlfriend's baby shower (lots of cakes and crumbs out), and since then we've started seeing it more frequently. I say "it", but we suspect more than one of them, based on other people's comments.

This was upgraded from "something to deal with" to "major problem" when my girlfriend found mouse droppings in the baby's room. We've put down poison traps in the kitchen, where the thing's been seen most often, but we're wondering what else we can do.

Our principal concern is to keep the mice away from the baby's room (other end of the flat to the kitchen, but it doesn't seem to help). Obviously we'd like them gone completely, but it's terraced accomodation (shared walls), and we can't control our neighbours behaviour.

We're also concerned about leaving poison or traps in the baby room.

If you look carefully the problem may be worse than you estimate.Remove drawers from kitchen cabinets and check inside for droppings.Check the lower shelves of cabinets and any where food is stored.Try to eliminate food sources,crumbs,pet food etc. should be cleaned up and stored in sealed containors.I would contact the property owner and the local health dept.In multi unit dwellings treating one unit doesn't stop the problem.You could try an plug in electronic pest controller although I don't know if they are available in your area.They emit a tone that the pests don't like but people don't hear.It would eliminate chemical exposure to the baby.Keeping the mice out of the babies room is only part of the solution as you may contact the mouse feces and then handle the baby.


Sonoff wired at celling rose UK There is no way of getting a neutral to the wall switch so:

Could this work?

I know they would not work together and it would be use the wall switch or the sonoff but what would happen if both were in the “on” position, would that cause a problem. Don’t want to blow the house up!!

I’m just thinking this way if it was off at the wall switch the light could still be turned on and off via the sonoff.

Sonoff make several different products, if this is their "BASIC WiFi Wireless Smart Switch" it has N,L in and N,L out. It presumably connects L in to L out on receipt of a signal from a remote control.

You show the switches wired in parallel, which should work as you describe:

s1  s2  lamp
--- --- ----
on  on  on
on  off on
off on  on
off off off

It is doubtful the device is designed for use inside a ceiling rose. It may be hard to find space there. The device might be unable to dissipate heat in a confined space. Ideally you'd ask the manufacturer for advice.


GFCI and "normal" outlets When the GFCI outlets lose power, some of my "normal" outlets go out also. When I reset the GFCIs, these "normal" outlets return to power also. Are these "normal" outlets considered grounded?

The "normal" outlets that lose power have been wired to the LOAD terminals (i.e. downstream) of the GFCI -- if they are in a location that requires GFCI protection, this is normal to find.

They are considered equivalent to grounded outlets for shock protection purposes as well; however, without knowing how they are actually wired, we do not know if they are actually grounded or not.


Liquid Sandpaper Sprayer Let's play "good idea; bad idea"

I have a lot of glossy trim to degloss before painting. I have two bottles of "liquid Sandpaper" and a spray nozzle from a different product (which I have flushed with water).

As a faster way to apply the deglooser, can I use the sprayer before wiping the surface?

"Liquid Sand Paper" is a diluted form of the solvent used in gloss paints in the first place, Diethylene glycol monobutyl ether (DEG monobutyl ether). It also contains fine grains of silica (quartz) in suspension. It works by slightly dissolving the surface of the gloss paint and allowing the silica grains to embed themselves in it, which then allows the next layer of paint to adhere.

If you try to volatilize (spray) it, you would not only need high pressure to avoid having the silica clog things up, but it then becomes HIGHLY dangerous to inhale.

Don't try it, that's not what it was designed for.


Can different gauge wiring be used in the same circuit? I am extending a lighting and outlet circuit in a basement. The current setup has the following characteristics

15 amp. circuit breaker (200 amp service)
4 existing lighting fixtures using CFL bulbs (~ 20 W each)
1 existing double duplex outlet box (no regular appliance in use)
14/2 and 14/3 NM cabling (lighting switched, outlets not) throughout
less than 100 ft of cabling so far

I plan on adding three lighting fixtures (for LED spots, less than 20W each) and one duplex outlet. I will tap off one of the existing boxes to get both a switched and a constant hot line.  Additional cabling will be less than 30 ft.

Is there any reason I cannot use 12/2 and 12/3 NM cabling for this project (I happen to have some on hand)?

Is there any practical benefit (e.g., less voltage drop in this small section of line)?
Is there any disadvantage in doing so, other than higher cost of cabling  and the slightly harder handling of thicker wires?

If the cabling were concealed, would the presence of a 12 gauge wire in an outlet box or fixture convey something to an electrician or future DIYer that is misleading based on the existence of unseen 14 gauge wiring upstream?

The OP has a great reason for using 12 ga. wire.  He already has some on hand, so using it is cheaper than going to get new 14 ga. wire.  It's perfectly safe to use it.  Don't worry about confusing future workers.  If they want to add something to the circuit, they will have to go turn off the circuit breaker first, and then they will see they are working with a 15 amp circuit.   Then, if they have any brains / experience at all, they will see that there is 14 gauge wire hooked up to that 15 amp circuit breaker, so they will know not to upgrade it to a 20 amp breaker.  Your plan is perfectly fine.


How to rewire the wall light switches? I have two wall's light switches I am replacing with new ones.

For one of them, there are 5 wires. Two white (capped and not used), two black and a red. This light switch controls one ceiling light.

Another one has 6 wires, 2 red (connected), 2 white (connected) and 2 black (capped and not used.) This light switch controls two ceiling lights.

The new switch I want to replace with has three slots (two gold and one green).

I have looked through tutorials online but they use examples that don't quite fit my scenarios. For the first picture, I placed the two black into the new switch and connect the red into green. But it doesn't work.

For the second picture, I have no idea how to connect the 4 wires into the new switch that takes only 3.

You might want to hit a library and get a book on electrical wiring and round out your knowledge.  You just can't learn solely by asking questions.

Your first switch looks like a straight plain 1-way switch.  It ought to work.  Are you changing the switch because it stopped working?  If so, the problem was not the switch.

Your second switch with the 4 wires surely sounds like a 3-way or 4-way switch. (2-way/3-way in UK English).  WATCH OUT.

Recognize and exclude GROUNDs

First, you have a ground wire on most of these.  That is good for safety.  But it has the side-effect of cluttering up the works and making things seem more complicated than they are.  Grounds are simply a web of wire that goes everywhere. They are never part of any circuit (unless something goes wrong, then they save the day).

Green screws must be ground.  Ground wires are supposed to be bare, green or green/yellow stripe.

It looks like a few places, they used random scraps of wire to be ground wires, and they weren't all green or bare.  A "proper" repair is to replace it with green (or bare but that might short against exposed screws, probably why he changed it).  But given your inexperience, you'd be better off just buying a 5-pack of colored electrical tape and mark them green and call it "good enough".

All grounds connect to each other, always, in a big interconnecting web. Make sure that happens.  After that, forget about it - exclude grounds from your thinking.  We all do.  Look at any of our diagrams, no grounds ever drawn.  Now it gets simpler by one, and that's often a lot.

Changing?  Only focus on the wires ON the switches

You said "there are 5 wires, two unused" -- that is not true.  The two neutrals shoved in the back of the box are not part of the deal when changing a switch, and should be disregarded.  Don't mess with those.  Further, they are not unused, but serve a very important purpose: that book I mentioned will discuss it.

The worst mistake people make is taking apart more stuff than necessary when doing the job.  You learn next to nothing and paint yourself into a corner.  Happens all the time though, we get "I was changing a (1-way) switch, what do I do with the 10 wires coming out of this box?" /facepalm

Watch out for doubled/extra wires

Sometimes you see 2 wires on a single screw terminal, or 1 on the screw and one on the nearby backstab.   This is (mis)using the switch as a junction block also.  They mean to join both wires with each other and the switch too, by using the switch's one terminal as a splice block for 2 wires.  They should pigtail this instead.

You also see this on almost every receptacle, with 2 wires to each side, but that is allowed.

Watch out for 3-way switches.

3-way switches are completely different types of switches, and devilishly tricky. Aside from ground, they have 3 wires:

A single "common" wire with a black screw head
two "messengers" with brass screw heads. They are interchangeable, and so you don't need to distinguish them from each other.

The gotcha (part 1) is that position is useless.  Take any two 3-way switches, and the positions of the three screws (excluding ground) are always different!  So laying them side-by-side and moving one wire at a time to the same position, will not work.

That gotcha (part 2) is that color is also useless.  The third wire changes purpose and should/must use the color correct for that purpose, the remaining two are messengers, so it's a dog's breakfast.  It's normal, but maddening.  I recommend you use the yellow tape in the 5-pack to tag the two messengers.  They are interchangeable, no need to distinguish one from another.

So when changing a 3-way, note which is the common (by screw color), tag the other two, and move the common to the new switch's common, then move the messengers.

4-way switches have only messengers - four of them in two pair - two to the blacks and two to the brass.  Mark them all yellow, but you can tell which are a pair because they go into the same cable or conduit.

Normal switches only have 2 wires

For a plain mechanical switch, they only have 2 wires (besides ground) and those wires are interchangeable on the switch (they have different functions: always-hot and switched-hot).  The switch shorts the two terminals or severs them, that's how a switch works.


If a basement concrete wall is 43 inches tall, is it possible to put in an egress window? My understanding is that the opening of the window must be 44 inches from the floor or lower.  Will it possible to put in a window and meet this requirement without cutting any concrete?  Thanks.

Yes, you can install a code approved "egress opening"...but remember 1) sill from finish floor is 44", but you can raise the floor finish to accommodate the window frame, trim, etc., 2) overall opening must be 5.7 square feet (or 5.0 square feet if window is at grade), 3) minimum width must be 20", 4) minimum height must be 25", and 5) if a window well is required, it must be 9 square feet in area and project a minimum of 3' out. If the window well is more than 44" deep, then a ladder must be provided to the top. (See ICC R-310.1 - 310.2)


Can I mix my own thinset mortar? Can I mix my own thin set to apply fibatape to backerboard?  I have Portland cement and sand.  Forgot to pick up thinset at store

Most better thinset mortars are proprietary polymer-modified recipes which provide bond and flexibility that cement alone doesn't offer. Your home brew will be brittle and unreliable.

You could attempt to add modifiers to your mix, but the outcome will be a gamble. Also, any sand you use should be very fine or you'll have an unworkable grit.


Home Office Space using garage conversion room I am using a room that was once a carport that's now a room as an office.  between the converted room and the rest of the house is a (formerly) exterior window plugged/covered with a drywall layer section on the interior and the side in the room is just a window with the bare drywall behind it.  The drywall "plug" on the interior side is obvious with its outline visibly taped with mud and painted to match the wall.  How can I remove the window plug with the least amount of work/damage? would I just cut the taped outline and pry it out and add some kind of frame for its wall-space? I want to restore the window and use it as a wall-opening between the two rooms, as the air pressure from the HVAC in the converted room needs to be vented back to the rest of the house return flow...?

A picture of the interior as it is now -- and an example from the Internet of what you want it to look like when you're finished -- would be really helpful.  Without that it's hard to suggest all the steps you need to do.
However, to remove the drywall, cut the tape with a utility knife.
It sounds like you need to replace the interior trim.  That's a detailed project for a beginner.  You may want to hire a trim carpenter to help you.


Old Craftsman Table Saw Additional Load as Blade is Raised I have an old used Craftsman table saw. It works fine most of the time, but will start to seize up when cutting boards when the blade is raised more than an inch and a quarter. My assumption was that as the blade rose the path of the center of the blades rotation would stay a fairly constant distance from the motor. However, as the blade rises, the tension on drive belt keep increasing and is adding load to the motor. I'm concerned I'm missing a part that keeps the correct tension or would correct the path of the blade relative to the motor or is this functioning as designed.

Is this one of the old Sears models where the motor hangs off the back on a hinge? The weight of the motor supplies the tension. It is possible that the hinge is frozen allowing the belt to over tension. Ideally the motor should be free to move as the blade is raised and lowered. The pivot bolt should be tight enough to prevent lateral movement (left to right). It should be loose enough that you can raise the motor by hand. The belt tension is determined by the weight of the motor. I have seen people even hang scrap metal (window weights were popular) on to the motor to increase tension as the belt ages and begins to slip under load.


How to fence corners on a lot that is not square? I'm interested in installing a wood privacy fence myself. I've watched a bunch of tutorials and feel pretty confident with the process except for one thing. Everything I've seen talks about squaring up the corners, however, my lot is not square.  How do you do corners that are less than 90 degrees (corners B or D) or more than 90 degrees (corners A or C)? I'm also a little stumped about what to do with corner C. Would the post go on the outside of the fence?

Update: Thanks everyone for your input. There were a lot of comments about building a fence on the easement. The permit was previously approved even with the fence going over the easement.  However, I've reached out the utility companies and they said I might not be able to put the fence on the easement but they were going to review my plat of survey and maybe come do a site visit. So, I called my village permitting department  and they said that it's my property so I can put the fence there regardless of what the utility companies say. That response seems a little strange to me, so I'm not sure what the outcome will be. My backdoor neighbor already has a fence along the back of my lot so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I would consider using their fence instead of building my own, but it's a two rail split rail fence and won't really do a good job at keeping the dog in.

Any code I'm aware of doesn't allow permanent structure to block easement. And by privacy you are speaking of stockade style fencing? Just want to be clear.
But your questions: Place post C on the outside or two on the inside if you insist  with each placed flush with end of that section of fence.
For acute angles use scrap to shim angles, or one post per side of angle as close to end of fencing.
For ease of installation and aesthetics, unless there is a particular reason you need a complex corner, I would eliminate post (corner) C completely and consider fencing the angle from B to D. If C is the 10' clearance then set B and D farther away from that corner and don't sweat the minimal real estate lost.


What is a solid beginner 3D modeling software to use to replace paper and pen for home projects? I like to make home projects, for example building a bed or a loft or a soundproof room. I also want to design my own house to build. Currently I do the old paper and pen method, but this is limited. I'm finally considering learning some basic 3D modeling.

What is a good easy 3D modeling software with a low learning curve to use for this type of thing? I am an expert in photoshop so I am very competent with computers, I just don't have the time to spend many hours learning 3D modeling software - it's actually faster to use paper and pen the old way than spend all that time learning the software. So, I'm hoping to use a 3D software that will give me greater benefit and flexibility on home projects and home design while not spending too much time learning the software itself.

In addition in the longer term I want to learn building personal projects like designing inventions for a 3D printer etc.

Free or paid software are open. Whichever is best for my utility. Which software should I start with?

I've used sketchup for making plans and blender for 3D modeling.


How should this microwave shelf be stabilized? My first post here.

I've spent some time making a little shelf for my microwave oven. I'd estimate that it weighs around 15 Kgs.

I made a plywood shelf with 4 wall brackets supporting it. The edge brackets have cross members and the middle brackets are plain L clamps. Here are two pictures.

The screws which fit the whole thing onto the wall are 2" masonry screws fixed with fischer wall plugs. Each clamp has two screws that fix it onto the wall and two screws that hold it to the body of the shelf. These are 1" self boring screws.

Since the whole thing is like a cantilever arrangement, there is a bit of play when I open and close the microwave. Apart from that, it feels stable. Also, I initially used 1" screws to fix the thing onto the wall and it wasn't enough. Because of this, I'm still not totally confident about it.

I'd appreciate any comments on how I can strengthen it and how I can check whether it'll be strong enough.

My kitchen is quite small so putting something like this gives me valuable space.

Heavy duty shelf brackets - supposed support 1000lbs (450kg !)


Is there such a thing as a combination floor nailer and finish nailer? Last time I installed engineered hardwood, the subfloor was concrete and I floated the floor. For my current project, there's a plywood subfloor so I'd like to nail it down. However I don't have a flooring nailer. They seem quite expensive for a single-purpose tool, and while I could rent one, I'd prefer to own a multipurpose tool I'll be able to use for more than just flooring installation. So now I'm wondering if there are any models that can act as both a flooring nailer and a finish nailer--for example, with the use of a 45 degree adapter for flooring use or something. Do any such a combination tools exist? And if so, are they any good?

Or is this a terrible idea and I should just bite the bullet and rent a flooring nailer?

I'm not aware of any 45 adapters and other nail guns can not drive the special nails used for hardwood floors. Also, the floor nailers are set up to actually smack the wood tight before driving the nail. I would strongly suggest renting the tool, one of those items that is well worth the cost.


Simple test RFI tests for fluorescent bulb replacement I am interested in testing RFI originating from LED T8 replacement bulbs, which are seated in troffers.  Original ballasts have been removed from the troopers.  Is there a simple test that can be performed without special test equipment?  The goal is not necessarily gain a quantitive measurement, but to understand if and what frequency bands are impacted.

The issue is not critical (yet), however, I would like to know if there are simple / inexpensive methods to test.   I am seeking tests that can be performed with equipment under $100.   I would think that the most important spectrum to guard are  the cellular and wifi bands: a UBNT Nanostation might be repurposed.

A FM radio tuned to a weak station may indicate if there is interference, and tuning it to a frequency with no station may also work as detector. Muting must be switched off. An AM radio can likewise detect interference in lower frequency ranges.

LED bulbs/lights often are a big source of problems concerning RFI. Due to the pulse width modulation in the LED power supply, a wide frequency range is emitted if no filters are used in the LED electronic. There are cheap LED bulbs with a simple RC- network as power supply resulting in less interference, but they flicker - visible by quickly moving a finger or pen up and down in front of them.

When shopping LED bulbs, a RFI test can be performed with the radio (and earphones as antenna) that comes with many smart phones, but a muting switch is often missing.
When purchased via Internet, LED bulbs can be tested at home and sent back if they fail.


Electrical (3way switch and wire but single pole) I had a load bearing wall removed, to make a long story short, I forgot to take pictures of the wiring and now I’m stuck in a jam.

Had a ceiling fan that was fed from a 3way switch but there was only one switch. Power source was coming into the switch box, then 3 way wire was used to feed the ceiling fan and 2 other wall outlets all from the ceiling fan box.  Where it gets confusing is that the hot (black) and common (white) fed power directly to the outlets (wall plugs) and the red wire was tied to the white and black wires of the light fixture.

My problem is that I can’t remember the wiring inside the switch box where the power source connects to the switch and the 3 way wire.  Any help here would be beyond appreciated.
Thanks folks.

You are calling it 3-way switch wiring.  Actually, it is simply 3-wire wiring and has nothing to do with 3-way switches.  This type of wire is used in all cases 3 conductors +ground are needed.

3-way switches just happen to be one of them.

In this case, the cable is carrying 3 wires besides ground:

Neutral, white  (needed by supply, fan and onward circuits)
Always-hot (needed by supply, switch and onward circuits)
Switched-hot (needed by switch and fan)

The preferred color code, where available, is black for always-hot and red for switched-hot.

I prefer to re-mark wires with tape to color code them.  By luck, all the cables already have the preferred colors. If it were me, I would remark the hot wire on the fan with red tape, then fit a red and black pigtail on the two switch terminals.  Then it becomes a simple matter of matching up color to color!

Pigtailing the red on the switch may seem a little silly, but it's easy to grasp.

One more thing.  Since 2011, anytime you wire a switch where the power comes into the lamp, you must use that 3-wire cable.  Red and black for the switch. White is reserved for neutral for future smart switches.


Installing new light fixture with two sets of wires I just moved into this house and there was no light fixture above the sink. Thankfully, they left the wires! So I bought a pendant to hang here. One set of wires is obviously for this light, and the other set is for a light tied to the same switch. Am I correct in assuming that the set with the orange ground wire is for the new fixture?

Also, do I need to cap the unused wires here or should I do something else?

The last guy left you exactly what you need.

Notice the orange wire and 2 whites hanging down extra low. Those are the 2 things you attach to.

The lamp surely has a black hot wire.  Re-mark it with orange electrical tape.  Then off you go!  Done.  There is no ground wire.

The upper tier of wires doesn't need to be capped off. They are already capped off.  Push them back into the top of the box and never touch them again.  It's your house and you can do as you please, but messing with those is the path of pain, unless you know more about electrical than I do.

"I can see plainly that this wire is black and that wire is orange" does not qualify :) Wires in electrical are not color coded very well. Normally we don't even have this primordial color code, but since this particular installation is in the conduit wiring method, this applies:

grounds: steel conduit or junction box, or wires bare, green, or yellow/green
Neutrals: white or gray
Hots: all others, colors selected to clarify/distinguish often by function, but there's no mandatory standard.  Must be consistent within the same building.
...although, nobody with any style uses black for switched-hot.  Black is usually always-hot, and switched-hot is anything else.  One guess what your lamp does if you connect it to always-hot :)

All grounds go together.  All neutrals do not. Neutrals that are separated, are separated for a reason.

You can wire a ground to the ground screw site inside that junction box if you really want to.  I wouldn't bother.  The ground screw site takes a #10-32 screw, and they sell a bag of ten adorable green ground screws for a dollar.


Fixing part of interior door jamb/frame The bottom portion of my door jamb/frame to a bedroom was rotting, so in a pinch I remove the rotting portion (because of the terrible smell, and my kids were starting to pull at it). How can I fix this portion without replacing the entire frame on this side?

Here are some pictures of the incident:

That bottom 2x4 is dry, it's just discolored from the water.

If the bottom of the jamb is loose, shim behind it and fasten with a long screw. (Use the gap of the door to set the amount of shimming. If the screw draws the jamb in too much, back the screw out and push the shims in further.)

Then, get a chunk of wood matching the jamb. I'm guessing 4-1/2" x 3/4" thick, by a few inches tall. Cut the new piece approximately to size. Don't kill yourself getting it perfect, because you'll use wood filler to cover any gap. Shim the stud behind to leave about a 1" gap. (In other words, make it so your replacement piece is set back 1/4" from the existing jamb when you put it in place.)

Make a series of thick (1/4" or so) beads of polyurethane construction adhesive (Loctite PL Premium 10 fl. oz. Polyurethane Construction Adhesive is fairly thick and would be suitable. Most of the "liquid nails" I've used are too runny) and press your replacement piece into the glue. Get it level with the existing jamb and let the glue set. Check the reveal when the door is closed. (Stick some business cards in to maintain the gap if it's a bit tight.) A day hence, start the process of filling the gap (just about any wood filler will do) and caulking the edges where the new piece meets the casing.

If you had to have the stop going to the floor, a chunk of that could be nailed on, but I probably wouldn't bother.

Cautionary note about the PL glue... don't get it on your hands or the adjoining carpet. If you get squeeze-out when you're putting your new piece in, just let it dry and cut it later with a utility knife.


Venting a bathroom fan to the attic I was reading the posts on why it is NOT a good idea to vent a bathroom fan to the attic.  I agree, but is it against most code to do this?  Can someone point me to the code?

Shouldn't the person who was hired to inspect the home before we bought it have noticed this and had the owner fix it?  This was not even noted on his report.

The Code says it cannot be vented into the attic or crawl space. (See ICC M1507, 2017 edition.)


Will this moisture problem persist after drywall is installed? we remodeled a trailer home recently, removed the aluminum siding, put up osb in place of the siding, then used the Lowes brand of house wrap. we installed new vinyl siding over that without using any of the thin fan board insulation that some people use.. on the inside, we are replacing drywall in areas where we took out or modified for new windows. we have waited for a week or so before placing the drywall and we noticed moisture between the insulation and the osb, question is, has this occurred mainly because the drywall was left off for several days while it is cold outside and warm on the inside of the house? we are hoping that the fact we didn't use that thin fan board insulation behind the vinyl is the reason for this problem. can anyone relate to this or know if I have a problem that will continue even with the drywall installed?

You need vapour barrier (the plastic you put up before drywall) and air barrier.

To count as an air barrier you stop air flow by using sheathing tape on:

OSB joints and edges
Vapour Barrier (this is most common)
Tyvek Housewrap seams (becoming more common)

Some people think that you only need a vapour barrier or that the vapour barrier is also an air barrier. This is not true. You can make it an air barrier by sealing the joints and seams with tape and mastic, but otherwise it is only to stop Vapour Diffusion and not Air Flow.

Long story short: you had condensation because you did not have a proper vapour barrier, air barrier, or both. Since you seem to have a VB built in to your insulation, all you need to do is tape the seams and seal the edges at the top and bottom plate to make an air barrier.


What are the best options for rock, for french drains? I'm installing a sump pump and a bit of drain, in a clay soil basement that happens to have a spring.  It is silty fine clay that has a habit of migrating with water and clogging everything.

What are the best drain rock types for this situation?  Road base?  Pea gravel?  River rock?  Crushed rocks?  Can you supply references to tests or building science on this answer?

In this case it is possible to flush the area every few years with clean water, as it is possible for the gravel to reach the basement grade level.  The hope is to dry out the soil in summer to reduce rust on the pipe and tree root growth.

Here's the temporary utility pump, used to lower the water level:

That's a pain, but I think the standard advice for outdoor french drains applies. 3/4-inch minus rock and def filter or landscape fabric (not the plastic kind, the woven kind). But from a quick bit of browsing, you might want to layer filter fabric down first then rock then a socked pipe (keep the sediment from even getting to the rock, like an outside french drain.

You are going to get some sediment in your sump bin. Just make it large enough to justify the work and perhaps be able to get a secondary backup sump in there comfortably (either a battery back up or water).

Not quite the building code information you were seeking, but it does sound a lot like you would benefit from thinking this is an outside drain in clay soil.

https://www.ndspro.com/french-drain-installation


bathroom switch and outlet my house is 43 years old and has a 15 amp gfci outlet and a switch to a light in a double gang box.  When I bought the house, nothing was said, but now i heard the code has change to 20 amp gfci.  does the gfci also have to be separate in a single gang box as well? What is the rule for preexisting homes before NEC codes change

Codes are usually enforced only when work is newly done or significantly upgraded. You are almost never legally required to upgrade old work to modern code, though sometimes it's desirable for safety, convenience, or sellability.

Assuming you're not having trouble with the existing setup, and you have the proper GFCI and overcurrent protection, there is no reason to change. When you build your next bathroom, they'll dedicate a 20A circuit just to outlets, so you can your hair dryer and curling iron at the same time!


What is the best way to protect a burnished concrete floor during construction? I am doing a new build. The floor is burnished concrete done by High Trowel finish during concrete pour. I need to protect the floor afterwards.
What is the best way to protect a burnished concrete floor during construction?
Any ideas?

Plywood. Lay down some sheets and connect them together to stop them shifting if you want to keep them there for a significant period.


Why would my dimmer switch only dim lights about halfway? I have a 3-way Lutron dimmer switch installed at the end of a 4-way circuit in my home (there are three switches controlling the lights to our 1st floor staircase, 1 downstairs and 2 upstairs). I don't know anything about circuits or switches; I just follow directions. That said, I'm pretty confident it's wired correctly.

I have read online (on this question, in fact) that for a 4-way circuit you need to install a 3-way dimmer switch on one of the ends. I've tried both ends (one of the answers to the above question claims it matters, though the top-rated answer asserts it doesn't), but either way the switch works but only dims lights to about 50% when the dimmer is all the way down. All the other dimmers I've installed in the house take lights down smoothly to pretty much 0% when the dimmer is all the way down, so I don't think this is working like it's supposed to.

Am I making some simple mistake? Is this a fundamental limitation of putting a 3-way dimmer switch on a 4-way circuit? Does it have anything to do with the number of lights on the circuit, or the distance between the switches (like I said, they're above and below a staircase). Or do I most likely just have a defective dimmer switch?

In case it matters, one other potentially relevant piece of information: most of the bulbs on the switch are dimmable LEDs, but there is one incandescent bulb in the middle (replaced a recessed can light with a pendant light). Not sure if that could be responsible for screwing everything up.

Most new dimmers rated for CFL/LED use have an adjustable low-point setting. Check and see where yours is set.

Refer to the "Dimming Range Adjustment" section of the instructions here: http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/cb/cb27dfa7-40a6-4788-9112-c2a619a4b2e0.pdf


Installing American countertop oven in Europe - Converter Trouble I'm having some difficulty with a counter-top oven that I purchased in the US and shipped to the Netherlands. The oven itself is 120~V 60Hz and 1500W. I did some research and discovered that here the voltage level is 220V...

When I tried to determine if we needed a converter, the information I found led me to believe that I couldn't just get a normal converter because the wattage level needed for the oven is just too high. I was wondering if anyone knew a way to MacGyver it to work before I have to send it back?

I'm assuming I'll just have to get a European-based counter-top oven instead of going through the whole conversion process but if there's a way of figuring it out without sending a whole big appliance back, it would be great!

Yes.  First, that was a very foolish thing to do... though I'd make an exception for certain built-in ovens whose guts are mainly 240V but have a small amount of 120V conntrols.

The simple fact is: The machinery which turns electricity into heat is very simple, which means heaters are inexpensive.

And one more thing: American heaters are crippled. You may notice it is 1500 watts, not a surprise. Every US heating appliance is 1500W - toaster ovens, hair dryers, curlers, heater-fans, kettles, microwaves, plug-in wall heaters, you name it. If it has a NEMA 5-15 plug, it's 1500W because that is the practical capacity of a 15A 120V circuit.

In Europe they don't have that problem.  Their sockets support up to 2x what ours do, and so their heat-based appliances are bigger when that would make a better appliance.  If you really wanted to ship appliances across oceans, you'd be fitting Europlugs or BS 1363's in your US kitchen.  (which is possible, by the way).

So.  Simply buy a European version of what you want. Done.  As for the 120V unit, stick it on Euro Craigslist.  Some expat may be permanently returning to the US and be willing to throw it in their container.  Given how inherently inexpensive heating appliances are, I wouldn't ship it in a box.

OK, so you Really, Really Want that 120V appliance

On UK construction sites, they use 110V for big contractor-grade power tools.  They use a special transformer which gives them 110v "center grounded" so each hot is only 55 volts from earth.  That makes the tools much safer than 240V tools.  US heat-based appliances will cheerfully run on that, as the transformers are plenty big.  So get one of those transformers and you're all set. And it has resale value.

One last thing to try

If the heater is very bespoke specialty, i.e. actually built by hand in a western country, then the manufacturer may have a phone number they answer.  Ask them if they market this unit internationally.  Ask them if there's a procedure to convert it from 120V to 240V.  Worst thing they'll say is "no", best thing they can say is "Rearrange some jumpers".


sanding old plaster wall texture to prepare for mudding Should I sand/grind old plaster texture before skim-coating?  If so, what is the best tool to use? The goal is to prepare for new smooth walls.

I assume you have a textured surface.  If so, yes sanding the peaks down a bit will help later on with the skim coat, because less skim coat will be required to fill in the uneven spots.

But there are things to consider.

Plaster dust gets everywhere, so sanding creates a big mess
Plaster is very hard, so it is hard or harder to sand that straight mud or joint compound
Plaster may contain asbestos if it is old, so you might want to test first before sanding

I would start with 120 grit paper and then move to 220 grit for finishing  Since plaster is hard, if you are not getting anywhere with the 120 , move to a 60 or 80 grit if necessary.

For sections that stick out the most, you may be able to scrape them off as opposed to sanding.

A power sander will be quicker than manunaly sanding with a standard block or pole  drywall sander.  I know some of the power sanders for drywall have vacuum attachments which may be wise to rent one to keep the dust down.

Also, with this type of job definately wear mask and tape off other areas of the house prior to sanding.  I usually try to leave windows open for fresh air because it gets really dusty.


fitting a smaller range when we bought our house, it had a very used 40" gas range. now that range has died. replacing with a new 40" range is very pricey ($2k+), and our cooking needs don't justify the size anyhow.

i'm looking for ideas on how to fit a smaller range. i would imagine that extending the counter top and cabinets would be a pretty extensive change. we've found we can get a 36" range for around 1/2 the cost. would it be feasible to add some sort of storage along side the smaller range to fill in the space?

thanks. i know this is an open-ended question with no specific answer, i'm just looking for ideas.

Shop around, if you can wait a bit - folks remodel and put them on craigslist somewhat regularly; or look more seriously at having the range you have repaired, if you have not (unclear how far you went down that road before declaring it dead) as it may cost less than anything else, even if it feels expensive. For most ranges, a good rebuilder can not only restore function, but also remove most of the "very used" look and feel. Ask to see examples of their work. You may need to look to a larger city you'd have to drive to in order  to find one, but appliance rebuilders are out there.

The problem with "adding storage" is that you are only looking at 4" less width, so by the time you put in a couple of cabinet sides you've got a space that can be handy for cookie sheets, but not much else - if you don't extend the countertop over it, it looks weird (and collects crud, spills, grease etc), and if you do, it still looks weird, unless you can actually get a full-on match (possible with some stone and solid surface materials, and a good contractor - but it may cost you enough to make the replacement stove at 40" look like a better way to spend your money.)


New light switch has blue, black, and white wires. Wall has black, white, and ground. Can I make it work? I bought a new light switch that is supposed to allow me to automate my lights easier. Here is what it looks like:

It has blue, black, and white wires. Coming out of my wall, however, I only have a white, black, and ground. The instructions say that I need two white wires or else the switch won't work:

Do I need to have a major rewire operation done to get this light to work? Any suggestions or ideas?

You'll need to run a grounded (neutral) conductor into the box. It sounds like the power is supplied to the fixture, and only a switch loop is run to the switch. You'll have to run a 3 conductor cable with ground (14/3 or 12/3), from the fixture to the switch.  If there is conduit between the fixture box and the switch box, you can simply pull an additional conductor.


Why doesn't my replacement lighting work after my old fixture died? I live in a pretty old condo in MA, and the living room track lighting stopped working. New bulbs didn't help, but the second set of lights on the same outlet worked fine. Replacing the bulbs and cleaning the fixtures didn't help either.

This weekend, I decided it was time to replace the lights, but this is my first electrical DIY project. I pulled down the old lights, hung the new set connected all the wiring, and turned the circuit back on. No dice: same as with the old set, the new ones don't light up.

A voltage tester shows power at the switch (a dimmer), and power throughout the track.

Any ideas why I still don't have any light?

EDIT:
I tried with a CFL, rather than LED bulb, and the CFL flashes. Also tried with an incandescent, which didn't turn on at all. Suggestions?

It sounds like you have a fixture controlled by a conventional dimmer and are using CFL non-dimmable bulbs.

Standard dimmers were designed for incandescent bulbs. Many CFL and LED bulbs are non-dimmable. Some are dimmable, but only work with special dimmers designed for their electronic circuitry (conventional bulbs have no circuitry, only simple filaments). Some CFL or LED (not many) will work with a standard dimmer.

First you need to make sure the bulbs are dimmable, and then that you have a compatible dimmer.

In general, CFL and LED bulb packages indicate whether they are dimmable or not. If it does not say dimmable, it is probably not. Dimmers also indicate whether they are intended for CFL and/or LED bulbs. Again, if it doesn't mention CFL or LED, it is probably not compatible, unless you have bulbs that specifically say works with standard (or conventional) dimmers.

Check the fixture by using an incandescent bulb. If it works, either go with incandescent, find CFL or LED bulbs that work with standard dimmers or swap out the dimmer.

If the incandescent doesn't work, you have a wiring problem or a defective fixture.


Add a 30A 126V outlet for M/H (temp) plug in! What to add a 30A 126V outlet in the garage to plug in motorhome sometimes.  Will 12-2 grounded wire work? Or what should I use? Thanks JR

The 30A 120V RV receptacle is a rather unique thing.  Since is it 30A, you absolutely must use 10 AWG wire and a 30A breaker.

However many RV owners can make do with 20A.  A breaker trip is a thing to be avoided. They simply use an adapter/cheater cable to get to a NEMA 5-20 plug.  They plug this into a NEMA 5-20 receptacle, which you will find familiar-looking.   This requires a 20A breaker and 12 AWG wire.   And yes, you can use it for other stuff the rest of the time, or even, at the same time.

NEMA 5-20 Receptacle.  20A, 120V.

As isherwood points out, load is an issue.  Some RVs have less than 20A of fixed load, and are equipped with the 30A receptacle only because that was the standard for RVs.  Others may be built to pull over 20A, and on those, you'll need to be careful not to activate too many heating and/or cooking appliances.  Of course, plug-in loads can always push you over.  You can plug a power monitor like a "Kill-a-Watt" in between wall and RV to determine what you're pulling.  My Kill-a-Watt will helpfully beep if load is over 15A.  Really caught me by surprise, I didn't know they had audio.


Air drying wood: whole dead limbs I've been toying with the idea of replacing part of our stair railing and the newel post and replacing the newel post with a natural limb.

I recently had to take down a limb from our Madrona tree. It was about 12' long, of which I'd like to use about 6' of it. It is about 5" in diameter and appears to have been dead for a while. There was a bit of rot on the ends and where a few of the knots were from old branches.

The question: If I decide to use this, how long to I have to let it air dry? Or, rather, what are the concerns if I don't let it fully air dry before installing and sealing?

I'm not installing it tomorrow, but I'd like to have it done by spring. But if I go with the 'rule of thumb' of 1 year per 1" of wood, I can't finish this project until 2018. Can I give it a few months, sand, install and then just assume I may lose a bit of height over time that I'd need to fill in with some trim and then maybe give it a year before sealing (a year assuming it will then dry a lot faster being in a conditioned space).

Don't try to seal wet wood because the wood needs to be dry to soak up the sealer.  Make your own small kiln with a dehumidifier.


Does a portable fan work for drying the bathroom? If a bathroom has no windows and doesn't get completely dry after a shower (neither do the towels, and the ceiling starts to grow black spots of mold), can a regular fan dry everything after the shower?
Which of these is more efficient? (forget about the other rooms that will get more humid)

Placing the fan in the doorway, pointing to the outside the bathroom.
Placing the fan in the doorway, pointing to the inside, oscillating.
Placing the fan inside the bathroom, far from the doorway, pointing the doorway.

Why is the exhaust fan better than a direct wind into the surfaces? When we want to dry our hair, we point a blow dryer to it, and not a "humidity sucker".

You need a dehumidifier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehumidifier
If there is no way to blow the humid air out, run it thru a dehumidifier.  You can keep it in the bathroom running on a timer or roll it into the shower to run after you wash up, and let the collected water go down the drain.


Are these books still up to code? Hi I reference these books a lot since and for probably way too long. Are they still up to code
B&d guide to home wiring - copyright 2005
Tauton’s by Rex cauldwell - copyright 2002

No, the NEC is revised every 3 years, at very least GFCI, AFCI, and service disconnect requirements will be out of date.


Do the electrical codes have a solution to extend a cable that is short? There is an existing wire that was feeding a vanity light on a wall close to the light switch. I want to re-purpose it to feed a string of three LED lights and obviously the wire is to short to reach to the nearest LED pot light.
It is going to be a pain to pull this cable out and replace it with a longer one
What can be done to extend it using a safe and compliant with the electrical code solution?
This is a NMD 14/2 electrical cable, 15 AMP circuit, feeds light bulbs (LED)
Specs here of the wire I'm using:
https://www.rona.ca/en/wire-nmd90-14-2-47174851-1798029

There are some splicing methods permitted inside walls, but ordinary wire nuts are not.
The usual solution is to use a junction box, with or without anything else in the box. For example, if your cable goes to a light fixture and you want to replace it with another light fixture a few feet away, connect the old & new cables with wire nuts inside the existing box, cover it with a blank plate, and run the new cable to a new box where you want it. The cover plate has to be accessible, but it can be painted or wallpapered to match your wall or ceiling, or hidden behind a picture. It just needs to be accessible without any special tools (except a screwdriver to remove the usual two screws holding it onto the box).


How do I find the switch plates behind the plasterboard walls? We were having a house built and the builders have gone bankrupt so we have been left to finish everything off ourselves.
The plasterboard walls have been put in and the wires are behind the walls for the electrical sockets etc but they haven't been pulled through externally.
Can anyone tell me how we locate these wires?
We know that we can use a stud finder to locate the beams etc but not sure how to find the switch plates for the plugs etc.  Someone suggested we use a magnet and pass it along the wall and we've tried this with a very strong magnet but it didn't work.
We really don't want to start knocking holes in the plasterboard unless we're sure that the switch plates will be behind it and we have about 70 to locate.
Any help would be appreciated - thank you.

I'd use a toner-tracer designed for locating telecommunications wires. Remove each breaker, hook up to the bare wires, and use the tracer to find the first segment.  Pull it, and lather rinse repeat to the end of each run.

These are also called "fox and hound" units.


How would I start to repair this Shurflo 2901-0213 water pump? I've been given a sailboat which is in a significant level of disrepair. Hooray, projects!

The problem I'm currently facing is that there's no water pressure, even when I turn on the switch that gives power to the water pump.

I took a multimeter to the wires that feed into my water pump, and I seem to be getting 12 volts there. That then leaves the problem somewhere past those wires. I'm pretty clueless on how to run it down, though.

Shurflo has a parts list (PDF) so if you know what's busted you can order individual pieces.

How can I diagnose this? I have lots of time but little in the way of financial resources. I also have little background knowledge but I'm keen to learn.

Book recommendations are more than welcome if you know any. I don't really know what this kind of repair is called, tho.

There isn't much to go on but I'll give it a shot. You say you switch the pump on and don't get water pressure. Given that you're trying to diagnose using a multimeter, I will assume the motor does not run. Between the leads to the unit and the motor there is a pressure switch (#1 on the parts diagram). It could have failed.

More likely though is that the motor has failed. The motor will probably cost more than a replacement unit. (I was a yacht mechanic for 10 years and have tossed out more dead water pressure pumps than I can recall. No one makes a really good unit.)

If the motor runs when you switch it on then there isn't much you can diagnose with a multimeter. Open up the unit and look at the valve assembly. There is probably dirt holding open one or more of the valves or one or more are dried out and don't seat well enough to function properly. A rebuild kit (new valves) will fix it if the problem is from bad valves. Otherwise save yourself a lot of grief and replace it.


Is there a minimum, NEC-compliant distance that an electrical outlet can be off the floor in my home? If I am able to lower an electrical box by a few inches, I will have enough wire to avoid having to use a junction box to splice a nick I made in the insulation of the neutral wire.  It's only a three-foot wall section and will be the only electrical outlet there, so it won't look too odd being slightly lower than the others in the room.

I've Googled this a bit, but all I see are lengthy discussion threads where people are simply not sure.  Is there anyone who has the straight answer on this?

I wasn't able to find anything that limited the height of receptacles, in fact, they can even be in the floor.

  210.52 Dwelling Unit Receptacle Outlets.

  (3) Floor Receptacles. Receptacle outlets in ﬂoors shall not be counted as part of the required number of receptacle outlets unless
  located within 450 mm (18 in.) of the wall.

I think typically they're between 16 - 18", but it doesn't look like there are any hard set rules on this for general purpose receptacles (at least as far as NEC is concerned).

Mike Holt says...

  No. There is no NEC requirement on the height of wall-mounted
  receptacles in residential, commercial, or industrial facilities,
  but….

Source

He then goes on to talk about the American Disabilities Act (ADA) and other building code organizations rules.


Filling gap between pipe and wall- creating a fire stop I got my condo inspected and the inspector said I had a fire hazard as there’s a gap between the pipe of my kitchen sink and the wall (an open space). I need to fill that hole then use a fire barrier sealant. How do I fill that hole/gap? What do I need to use?

Thanks!

Home improvement stores generally carry the correct caulking for a fire stop. It is Fire-Barrier caulk or Fire-Stop, it is usually color coded so the inspector will know you used the correct one.

Check building codes in your area to know which one to use most are rated for 4 hours. Be careful if you order it off the internet because if the color is wrong you fail, even if it meets the local code.

For the gap there is also expanded foam that you can use, just make sure its rated and meets local codes.


Is this a gas shutoff valve We are adding a ceiling in our basement (64 year old house) and can not locate a obvious shutoff valve. They recently removed the meter from within the house and put one outside, and it has a shutout valve beside the meter. I also have noticed shutoff valves farther down the pipe inside (30 feet) in front of the furnace and water heater. I am just curious if this elbow (pictured) and the nubby on the side is a shutoff valve and if i should create an access port for it.

No, that's not a valve. It looks like a drain, as might be useful if the fitting had been installed in a fire sprinkler or steam line, or functionally just an odd-ball tee fitting.


What's the best way to flash this difficult corner above a roof in stucco? How should I flash this tricky corner:

This is at the junction of a 2 story section and 1 story lower flat roof, done in foam.  The flashing was installed about 20 years ago, the wall below rotted and became a termite nest for various reasons, perhaps including the flashing.

This is the twin of the flashing at the opposite corner. There's no evidence of rot there, but then again, the first corner's problems were not in evidence prior to removal of stucco:

Further back showing the junction of the 1 story addition.  The major water originated in a window just above here, now fixed:

The water encouraged termites, who had probably decades to chew at the corner.  This is what it looked just after removing the stucco.  As is typical, none of this showed from the outside, the stucco shell showed no unusual cracks or problems:

Flashing just prior to first removal of stucco.  It was removed because of the crack you see:

And an overview of the good corner, twin of the bad corner:

Cement is porous, not waterproof, it acts like a sponge and will hold water. It also allows water vapor to pass through so condensation does not build up in walls. Tarpaper also allows water vapor to pass as well but not water itself. Tyvek has the same properties too. The point I am making here is the tarpaper is your waterproofing layer and the stucco or any other masonry surface like brick, only provides protection for the tarpaper. If the tarpaper is not layered right or flashing is not installed properly you will get what you have now. The flashing prevents water from getting behind changes in plane, like a roof (sorry for the obvious). The mention about the paper going up to the top of the new extended flashing, is to treat the tarpaper install like there is no flashing there at all so the watershed properties of the tarpaper stay intact where the flashing and its "turnout" end.


How do I determine what size Generator I need? What are the number of factors and considerations to be taken into account before sizing a prime rated generator ??

You'll have to decide what you want to run (Refrigerator, furnace, TV, air conditioning, etc.). Then you'll have to determine how much power each item requires.

To determine how much power each item uses, you can use an estimate like this one provided by Energy.gov

  TYPICAL WATTAGES OF VARIOUS APPLIANCES

  Aquarium = 50–1210 Watts
  Clock radio = 10
  Coffee maker = 900–1200
  Clothes washer = 350–500
  Clothes dryer = 1800–5000
  Dishwasher = 1200–2400 (using the drying feature greatly increases energy consumption)
  Dehumidifier = 785
  Electric blanket (Single/Double) = 60 / 100
  Fans
  Ceiling = 65–175
  Window = 55–250
  Furnace = 750
  Whole house = 240–750
  Hair dryer = 1200–1875
  Heater (portable) = 750–1500
  Clothes iron = 1000–1800
  Microwave oven = 750–1100
  Personal computer
  CPU - awake / asleep = 120 / 30 or less
  Monitor - awake / asleep = 150 / 30 or less
  Laptop = 50
  Radio (stereo) = 70–400
  Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet) = 725
  Televisions (color)

  19" = 65–110
  27" = 113
  36" = 133
  53" - 61" Projection = 170
  Flat screen = 120

  Toaster = 800–1400
  Toaster oven = 1225
  VCR/DVD = 17–21 / 20–25
  Vacuum cleaner = 1000–1440
  Water heater (40 gallon) = 4500–5500
  Water pump (deep well) = 250–1100
  Water bed (with heater, no cover) = 120–380

You could also check the nameplate of each device, which should either list wattage directly or provide enough information for you to calculate it. If you have to calculate wattage from the nameplate, Ohm's law will be your friend.

Watts (P) = Volts (V or E) x current (A or I)


Do I need to add the ground wires to plastic retro fitting lights? light fixtureso I am adding recessed lighting in the kitchen (about 6). these retro fit lights do not go in a metal casing. It actually has its own casing. either way its all plastic except with a few metal parts like screws and whatever is holding the screw.

I am using 14-2 wire which is black,white,ground. these lights I am installing will not touch anything metal in the ceiling, so it will be its own bare metal part.

is it still important to attach the ground wire to the LED lights metal case looking thing. or should I just entangle the ground wires together and call it a day

I have some panel lights similar to these. The fixture cases are plastic and don't need to be grounded since you couldn't anyway.

Additionally, they are powered by low voltage DC so again don't need to be grounded.

The power supplies for the ones I have only have two wires feeding them, a hot wire and a neutral. No ground, since they are also all plastic.


framing for ground level deck I'm planning to build a ground level deck, approximately 8ft x 10ft long. I'm going to use deck concrete blocks for footing, e.g. :

I want to place 4 of those in the corners and probably two-three in the middle on left and right sides:

A       B
X-------X

X-------X

X-------X

X-------X
D       C

My question is about framing: would it be OK to use 2x6 boards, or it is too weak and I should rather pick 2x8 instead ?

Thanks.

You say 8' x 10' deck.

The code requires a deck to support 40 lbs. per square foot. (ICC Table 301.5.) So, live load plus dead load (about 6 lbs. per square foot) equals 46 lbs. per square foot total load MINIMUM.

If the joists/beams are 4' apart, the ones on the edges will need to support 92 lbs. per linear foot and the middle beam will need to support 184 lbs. per linear foot.

A 2x6 spanning 10' can support about 60 lbs. per linear foot. A 2x8 can support 140 lbs. per linear foot.

I'd use 1 - 2x8 on the edges and 2 - 2x8's in the middle.

Now, make sure they're fastened to the posts to support 500 lbs. at the corners and 1000 at the middle beam. (Usually we like to place the beams on top of the posts and then just use a clip to keep the beam from moving off the post.)

Also, if it's more than 30" off the ground, the deck will need guardrails and if it's adjacent to the house, it'll need lateral resistance attachments to the house.

By the way, 2x6 decking can barely span 4'. It will feel springy when walking on it. You could run the beams the other direction, add one more set of concrete footings, and use 2x6 beams (spanning 8', which will support 90 lbs. per linear foot.). Then, the decking will only span about 3'-3". Much stiffer.


Sizing up a battery bank for max continuous power draw EDIT: on hold while I check conditions

@Harper pointed to the fact that my battery is rated to draw 165A continuously for an hour, which should cover the needs of my inverter when my vacuum starts up. I do sometime have to switch over to a backup battery, and I need to verify this hasn't somehow interfered with the measurements. In the worst case, it might mean that the measurements were made using a 136Ah AGM battery from Sunwind with a rating of 67Ah with C=1 - about half that of the Concorde.

Still, the points on wire thickness might be relevant ... I usually employ really thick (35mm2 - 70mm2) jumper cable wires and the length between the inverter and battery is less than a metre, but in this case I have just relied on the cables supplied with the inverter, which are far from thick: maybe 2,5mm2.

I have a single 12V battery (a 305Ah Concorde Sun Xtender 2580L) feeding the power needs of my off-grid cabin. This has worked well, but I recently got a 2000W inverter which introduced a new problem: power surge and continuous high-power delivery.

I had figured out that my setup would be fine, since I only needed this inverter for ten minutes or so during a weekend (powering a 220V 1400 Watt vacuum cleaner), but this failed to work: as soon as the vacuum powers up, the shown voltage on the inverter drops from 12.3V to 9.3V. I take this as a sign that a single battery is unable to sustain such a high load. What I'd like to know is this:

How can I know how "big" a battery bank I need to sustain X Watts in continuous power draw? Is there some indication in the battery specs that will help me in finding the numbers, or are people just using some heuristic, like "max power of a battery bank is approx 2x its numeric rating in Ah"?

P.S. Feel free to talk to me in Volts, Ampere hours and Watts. I can do the math :)

I spent way too long thinking I was going off-grid and then didn't, as the system cost to do what I needed and the grid connection cost crossed paths when the power company had a slow-down in new connections and got suddenly reasonable...

305 Ah battery is going to have a C/20 rate of 15 amps, for roughly 183 watts on a 12V system. C/20 is the discharge rate over a 20 hour period and is typically how the "305 Ah" is rated in the first place (you get more Ah capacity discharging slower and less discharging faster - and the Ah tends to drop from rated capacity as the system ages.)

A good "rule of thumb" on (lead/acid) battery bank size to support a certain draw is to stick at or below the C/20 rate. If your inverter supports multiple input voltages, I would strongly suggest going to a higher voltage (24, 36 or 48V) since maintaining a battery bank charged in parallel is much more prone to problems than a series string.

Or, get a different vacuum, or a non-electric sweeper. You don't provide details about your vacuum cleaner, but many are quite high Amperage draw at 120V (or 240V), which will be more than 10 times (or 20 times) as much draw at 12V (inverters are not 100% efficient.) That will result in a very significant increase in the size of the battery bank you need. Alternatively, you fire up a generator for 15 minutes once a week to meet your 10 minutes once a week of high power draw, and haul fuel for it, and maintain it.


Do ceiling roses need to be moved when earthing lights? I was advised by a letting agent that lights in my house all needed earthing in order to let it. I agreed and paid for their contractor to do the work. I later discovered that all the ceiling roses had been moved several inches across the ceilings leaving unsightly patches of poor plastering and, according to the tenant, holes in the ceilings.
The reason given when I queried this was that the wiring was encased in metal conduits and it was a big job. I don't understand from that why it was absolutely necessary to cut new holes and move the roses.
Could the job have been completed without moving the ceiling roses? If so what  would an electrician have needed to do and would it have cost a lot more?

Do ceiling roses need to be moved when earthing lights?

In general, no.

  lights in my house all needed earthing

I'm surprised that your UK house had no earth wires in the lighting circuit. So far as I know it has been standard since at least 1966 (14th Edition).

In addition, so far as I know, many or most ceiling or pendant lights have no exposed conductive parts and no extraneous conductive parts. There is often nothing exposed below the ceiling that can be earthed even if you wanted to.

  Could the job have been completed without moving the ceiling roses?

Yes.

I know of no compelling reason to change the location of the ceiling roses.

  If so what would an electrician have needed to do

My guess is that there was a problem with the condition and resistance/continuity of the existing conduit used as an earth (more properly called a circuit protective conductor or CPC nowadays).

Running a new earth wire through a conduit can be troublesome and many electricians might not be willing to attempt it. It seems plausible that the electrician abandoned the use of the old conduit and ran new twin and earth (T&E) cable alongside without taking the time to remove any of the existing conduit.

This might have made it difficult to run the new wiring to the places occupied by the now-disused conduit or by fittings associated with it.

  and would it have cost a lot more?

If my guesses above are right, it would have taken more time to remove the ends of existing conduit and properly deal with the associated old wiring.

We don't know exactly what the electrician did or what other options were available to them. Having a letting agent act as a middleman may have meant there was no opportunity for you and the electrician to discuss options.

This work doesn't seem to have properly met your needs. Note that I am not a qualified electrician - you might like to get an independent assessment from a reputable firm.

I suspect your main concern is the poor quality of the visible remedial work. If so, it might be best to focus on that.

The quality of the workmanship on the repair to the ceiling is certainly very poor. I would say that is unacceptable. I think you have reasonable grounds to complain to the letting agents about the work carried out by their contractor.


Can I use the same junction box for two appliances? Complete noob here.

I'm finishing building my kitchen and the last part - the wiring of electrical oven and glass cooking plates, is presenting me with some challenges.

I am located in Germany.

The oven comes out with a 3 pronged cable (I guess active, neutral and ground?).

The cookers were sold to me with no cable.

There is one junction box at the intended spot in the kitchen, with 5 cable grips, which is definitely 3 phase.

I'm wondering what's the best course of action with both the oven and the cooking plates.

My thoughts so far:

Is there a way to connect the cooking plates to the same junction box as the oven somehow, without blowing things up?
If not, should I just connect them to a nearby socket with a cable ending with a regular socket plug?
What about the oven (single phase cables) vs the junction box (3 phase)?

Note: the sockets seem to have ground clips here - see picture below.

Get a mm and check the voltage between the wires (phases).

Ignore the green/yellow for this.

If the black is neutral (likely) then the voltage between any of the other 3 and the neutral should be around 380V.

Between any 2 phases (brown, gray, blue) should give you 230V.

So, as the load on phases should be balanced, I suggest you get a competent electrician to check and connect this for you. That way (s)he can check which appliances are on which phase.

I had an issue with my hob.. puled the oven out to clean it and a wire popped out for the hob. Not thinking I put it back (blue to blue)... Massive bang and off to buy another hob :) happy days... Made sure of the voltages before connecting the new one...


How do I make a spider farm in my kitchen to eat flies in the house? I am planning on making an area set aside in the kitchen to breed and grow spiders to kill flies in the kitchen. This is completely theoretical right now, just something I am pondering, so I don't really have all the details fleshed out. What I am planning to do is to make this triangular box so that it will fit in the corner of the kitchen. Then, I will coat the bottom of the box with whatever flies are attracted to (I think it was vinegar?). Finally, I'll need to get some spiders, I probably have a couple of them crawling around the house. However, I am not sure what to use as the lid of the spider farm so that no spiders or baby spiders will escape while also letting flies and vinegar get in. Any ideas? Also, do you think my spider farm idea is effective for getting rid of flies or as stupid as it sounds?

I'm not an entomologist, but...this isn't going to work. My non-expert intuition here is that spiders don't want to live in a box, and they especially don't want to live with other spiders in a box. Also, if you're going to the trouble of luring flies into a box, maybe just put some fly paper in there? Sometimes simpler is better.
P.S. The expression is "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," but actual non-metaphorical flies seem pretty crazy about dog poop, so I don't think they're too fussy.
P.P.S. Please don't put dog poop in your spider farm.


How can find out the right paint to handle this unpainted gap? I have recently got someone to fix the fencing of a deck. As you can see circled in the attached photo, there are some surface area not covered by the green paint.

I have no idea of either the name or the code of the green colour.

How can I fix this problem?

There are two problems:

Matching the original color

This generally involves finding some documentation - which you say you don't have - of the original paint. That is not at all unusual. But if you could find that original color then you could go to a paint store and they could mix up a small container to match the same basic specification. Paint stores only stock a few colors (like "white"). Everything else is mixed to order. However, mixing is not entirely perfect, especially with a small batch (less room for error in the proportions of different colors), and there are also variations between paint manufacturers, so that two nominally identical colors from different manufacturers may appear slightly different.

Matching the current color

Paint color (and fabric color and carpet color, etc.) changes over time due to weathering and other factors. So what you often want to do is match the current color because what you are really trying to do is make everything - old and new - look the same.

The usual way to match a paint color is to take a sample to a paint store, where they can scan it and then produce a paint to match it. That is easy if you have any removable painted pieces - whether chips starting to peel off or a piece of lumber that can be temporarily removed from the rest of the structure. If that is not the case then you are left with the final option:

Paint Color Chips/Samples/Fan Decks

A professional painter will walk into your house with something like this:

and let you pick the new colors for all your rooms.

Buying a fan deck for one little job doesn't make sense. But many paint stores will have samples or color chips or individual pages from these decks available for customers to take home, whether to match an existing paint color or to help pick a new paint color for any reason at all.*

With the picture of your existing paint, pick up a range of chips that seem to be close, then go home and see what is closest - a typical digital picture does not show exactly the same colors as the real object.

With any of these possible solutions, keep in mind that paint looks different wet vs. dry. On the one hand, it may not look quite right initially but when dry look like a very good match, but the reverse is also possible. But for a small area like this, "close enough" is probably "good enough" until you feel like repainting everything at one time.

*My wife (fiance at the time) wanted to tell her bridesmaids what color to use for their dresses. We went to Home Depot and picked out some sample color chips. (All kind of looked the same to me...)


Main Line into House 1" OD Copper, what fitting The main line coming into my house is 7/8 inch copper, .99 OD. I can't find any 7/8 fittings other than a reducer to 3/4. Seems like a 1 inch fitting would be to big, whats on there now is tight fitting as you'd expect from any matching size pipe/fitting. The main shutoff valve needs to be replaced and I don't want to torque it as much as it would take to remove the current one. Currently it has a 7/8 to 1.25 FIP, 1.25 to 1 hex nipple, 1 inch regular port valve. Pretty sure the valve is the original 40 yr old.
Edit: Title updated

In the US, copper "refrigeration" tubing is measured by the O.D. whereas copper pipe sizes are nominal (in other words sized by nomenclature where nothing actually measures to the named size). There is no 7/8" pipe, but there is 1" OD tubing.
It would be very odd to have a copper tubing main line, but odder things have happened. I suspect that, if indeed you are working with tubing, it is a repair that someone cobbled together at that section (rather than the entire main being tubing) because they had some 1" OD tubing on-hand.
It is unclear exactly what your question is, but somebody already converted your tube to FIP (at least on one side) so you should use that; on the other side get a 1" compression fitting to convert to pipe thread as well.