Covering an above ground pool indefinitely We bought a house with an above ground pool 3 years ago and never opened the pool. We just opened it and the water is brown and about 1/3 full. There's dirt, leaves and just dirty/stained in general.

People say we have to replace our liner. However, we're renting the house out pretty soon. We obviously can't leave it open like that forever. So what we really want to do is close it indefinitely and not waste money on replacing the liner now then replace it again when we get the house back from the tenants.

What are our options?

What you see there is not just water - it's probably already an ecosystem all by itself. If you would examine it, you'll see that there may be thousands of bacterial and other microscopic species there, most of which you wouldn't appreciate living in close proximity with people.

To make sure your new renters aren't killed off by the pool creatures, please make sure it is sealed closed, with no risk of people entering it, falling into it, or otherwise being able to use it. This, of course, assumes that you need it to function as a pool once your renters leave. If you don't care for the pool at all, simply fill it in completely and erase all traces, and you should be good.

Or, you can always make it a fresh, pristine and proper pool, and charge your renters more for the privilege.

But as it stands, it's almost certainly unhealthy, and would constitute a public hazard somewhere.


How can I stop heat loss due to an uninsulated porch? I have an enclosed porch with very little insulation, it is typically very cold in the winter.  However, there is a radiator in the enclosed porch.  I have a gas boiler heating system in the house.

I'm assuming that attempting to heat the cold porch is wasting energy and cooling the water in the radiator and dropping the temperature of the water which is circulated to the other radiators in the house.  I doubt I want to turn off the radiator loop for fear of freezing the pipes due to low winter temperatures.  What is the best way to avoid excessive heat loss in my boiler system?

I considered building a sleeve out of foil bubble insulation to enclose this radiator, which would keep the pipes hot so they don't freeze, but reduce the cooling effect. Additionally, I would probably put foam pipe insulation on the input pipes that run under the floor to the radiator.

You are correct that having a hot radiator on what's effectively a cold space - the porch - is very inefficient and, presuming nobody's on the porch most of the time, wastes a lot of energy.

And you are correct that the hot water going into that radiator is being cooled in the process.

However, it is unlikely that the water is going to any other radiators, but rather it's going back to the boiler to be reheated.  Nevertheless, you are right that stopping water flow to this radiator will save you on your heating bills.

But - if you stop the flow of water through the radiator, no amount of insulation will keep the pipe from freezing, because with no place for the cold water to go, the hot water in the rest of the system WILL NEVER reach the pipe you insulated.  It's just like turning on the hot water in a cold bathroom - the water runs cold for a while even though the hot water is available elsewhere in the house.

On a cold enough day, the stopped pipe with water in it will freeze, no matter how hot the rest of the system.

The best solution to this is to remove the radiator completely.  To accomplish this, you need to trace both the input and output pipes for the radiator in question back to an interior space that doesn't ever drop below freezing.  The entire system will then need to be drained, and the input and output pipes cut off and capped so that the useless radiator can be removed.

EDIT:

Since you're looking for a short-term, this winter solution, here's what you can do for now to minimize the waste.

DO NOT TURN OFF THE RADIATOR
DO turn down the radiator to as low as you can get it without shutting it off.  You don't want it to have a chance of freezing.
Wrap the radiator in blankets to keep in the heat it does generate and conserve energy as much as possible.


Two appliances fried on same circuit after replacing receptacle. Did I screw up? I'm in the US. I recently swapped 6 old receptacles on a single circuit out for the tamper-resistant variety. It was a straightforward process--all the boxes except one had a single cable coming in. The only thing remotely challenging was that two had their bottom halves controlled by a wall switch (I did break off the tabs).

Afterwards, I tested each outlet with a meter--all showed 120V hot-to-neutral (actually more like 123-124V), no hot/neutral reversals, and good ground connections. I plugged everything back in and everything seemed to work, and the switches correctly operated the two outlets they were supposed to.

But then I plugged a circuit analyzer into the unswitched half of one of the switched outlets, put it in "voltage drop" mode, and it immediately sizzled and emitted a puff of smoke and the smell of ozone. It could no longer measure voltage drop after that (it could before), but the other functions still worked and said everything was ok. I wrote it off as a bad meter (it was newish and I'm told they're prone to those sorts of failures), and made arrangements to return it.

But a few days later, I pulled out an old computer tower and plugged it into a different (unswitched) outlet on the same circuit, and its power supply immediately sizzled and died too, before I'd even pushed the power button (the 115V/230V switch was in the correct 115V position). Now, this was a dusty 13-year-old tower that had been on the shelf for a couple months, and it's not shocking that its power supply would fail. But given what happened to the circuit tester, I have to wonder if I screwed something up when I replaced the outlets. But I have to emphasize that all the numbers look good, none of the lamps on the circuit ever flicker or get dim (or bright), and that everything else I've plugged in there, including two laptop computers and a vacuum cleaner, has worked fine.

So, is this just a coincidence? Is there any mistake I could have made that would produce these sorts of symptoms? Any tests I should do?

Details from memory:

Old work used "backstab" connections everywhere except in one spot where two wires had to attach to the same terminal; they'd used both the back slot and the corresponding screw there (box #4 below). I moved everything to the screw terminals, adding a pigtail in box #4 to solve that problem.

Box #1: Half-switched single duplex outlet, single wire bundle plus red wire from switch. Attached black wire to top copper terminal, red wire to bottom copper terminal, and broke off the tab in between. Attached white wire to one of the silver terminals (left tab intact here) and green wire to green terminal.

Box #2: Unswitched double duplex, single wire bundle. Attached incoming black and white wires to top copper/silver terminals of receptacle #1. Ran short lengths of black/white wire from bottom terminals of receptacle #1 to copper/silver terminals of receptacle #2. Old work had ground wire hooking around the ground screw on receptacle #1 and then continuing to the ground screw on #2, with insulation stripped off at the two points of contact. I didn't like this, but didn't have any more wire handy, so left it as it was.

Box #3: Unswitched single duplex, single wire bundle. Very simple. Black to copper, white to silver, green to ground.

Box #4: Switched single duplex, two wire bundles plus red wire from switch. This was the most complex one. Used a wire nut to pigtail the two black wires together with a third short length of black wire, and attached the other end of that to the top copper terminal. Attached the red wire to the bottom copper terminal, and broke of the tab in between. Attached the two white wires to the two silver terminals, leaving the tab intact. I actually don't remember what was happening with the grounds, but I think they were already pigtailed like the hots (but perhaps just twisted together instead of in a wirenut).

Box #5, Unswitched single duplex outlet, single wire bundle. Just like #3.

From your coments it sounds like you wired things correctly , Not sure ablut "voltage drop" meter I always check the ground to neutral vlotage if it is above ~2V most switching supplys will have problems but not usually fry, however if you have 2 seperate circuits could you have ended up with 220 there, I would double check especially your grounds as it sounded like they may be twisted together and not wirenutted, I would also verify white to silver, black to copper and solid grounds, let us know what you find.


Where does the voltage in a circuit go from 120v down to 0v? I've always wondered where precisely the voltage on a circuit drops from 120v down to 0v. It's "somewhere" inside of the load (a lightbulb or whatever), but doesn't exactly make sense, because if it's just "It drops to 0 when there's resistance in the circuit", well, there's resistance in the wire the entire time, and it doesn't drop in uniform fashion throughout that circuit. So I figured I'd draw 2 things.

For the theorists: A picture eliminating the typical load to hide behind as an answer.

And the equivalent for the practitioner: A picture of witnessing someone being shocked and trying to know where it's safe to touch them (if at all) to pull them off the line.

Edit: The guy getting shocked shows voltages listed, but no meter / or where the voltage is tested from. But it's implied that if you saw a hot (120v) wire from an outlet, the voltage is the difference between that wire and ground. The idea of the pictures is to help pinpoint the idea that no one is talking about where exactly the point is that the voltage steps down from 120v to 0v.

Think of voltage as electrical pressure.

It doesn't "go" anywhere. It is the difference in potential between point A and point B. You can never measure voltage at a single point, it is always in comparison to another point. So, if you put both leads of your meter on the same electrical point, as you did with the neutral and the ground since they are terminated on the same electrical point, you read zero. Birds sitting on a high voltage wire are only touching the wire at one point and there is no comparison point for a measurable voltage. So they are not hurt.

We create electricity by creating a difference in potential (voltage) between two points and then allowing the difference to flow (current) through a load (resistance) to create work.

As long as you don't get between those two points, you are safe.

Learn more here for free. Go to the education tab for the open source textbook and lectures.

Good luck in you learning and stay safe!


How to safely install a window AC unit? I have a standard air conditioner.  I have just dropped it into the window and slammed the window closed.  I am just a bit concerned that If there were high winds or an earthquake the unit could drop out of the window.  Is this dangerous?  I live on the third floor so if it fell out of the window it could easily kill somebody.

I looked on youtube and it looks like the standard way to install an AC unit is to just open the window put it in and close the window again.  This seems very minimal.  Any other things to consider?

Measure from the top of the bottom sash to the top of the window casing. Get two pieces of wood about 2" by 2" and long enough to reach from the sash to the top of the casing. Cut them long enough to be a tight fit. With the wood wedged in the a/c unit should be secure. This also works on first floor units where added security is a factor as the window cannot be easily opened from the outside.


Need timber advice for building an outdoor frame to support a roof I am trying to construct the the wooden frame as seen below. The brick pillars and wall exist already.

It's pretty much square with each side measuring about 3.5m
I am planning on using metal brackets to join everything together as I don't feel confident enough to attempt cutting joins. Once complete I plan to put corrugated roof sheets over the top.

My questions are:

What timber would be best suited? I am worried about warping. In South Africa we only seem to get pine.
Should I get the timber shop to cut the pieces exactly to size according to my design, or rather get the pieces a bit longer and cut it myself on site, in case the measurements are slightly off.
Should I try and seal or varnish the wood before assembling?

I drew the design to scale in SketchUp and I'd be happy to post the file if that would help.

Pine is fine.  I'd treat it with a preservative and I do prefer to do this on the ground on sawhorses.  However depending on the preservative you use, you may have to handle the wood with rubber gloves.  Be sure to read the instructions carefully.

I'd cut the wood myself for sure.  Many times its better to cut by putting the material in place and marking rather than measuring.  Also, it's a rare lumber yard that I'd trust to cut everything accurately.

If you have a good impact driver or drill, I'd recommend using the special screws they make for with the sheet metal hanger brackets, just easier.

Make sure those posts are sturdy enough for the job.

Your drawing does not show a ledger - a board fastened to the wall to which you'll attach the rafters using metal hangers.  The secure attachment of the ledger to the building is very important for safety.  Usually you can't count on anchors into brick because you can't be sure of the strength of the brick.

Your building codes may require that the ledger be attached by bolts or large screws through the brick into the framing on the interior.  If this is too difficult or impractical, you may be able to add posts under the ledger at the wall, so the posts carry the weight of the roof.


One meter (200A service) feeding two main electric panels 100A ea, is it legal? In preparation for a grid tied PV solar installation, we noticed that we have two breaker panels 100A ea fed by one meter. See picture.
In the past the house was two units two meters, but it was rehab to a single unit and the two 100A panels were not upgraded to one 200A but connected to one meter.
The meter box was locked by the utility company, I assume this passed inspection, but, Is it legal?
I fear that the inspection of the solar installation may not pass this time.
This is the closes answer I've found: two load centers on one meter
thanks for your time

Edit:
I am attaching a picture of the meter socket box.

Your problem isn't only "two load centers on one meter", its "two wires in one lug that's not tested for such use"
While having multiple service panels fed in parallel from a single meter is fine, the devil is in the details, and that's where your current setup fails.  Atop the fact that this is a dual 100A meter base to begin with, which means you're overloading the currently in-service meter socket, the definite issue with inspection is that right now, you have two wires connected to the same lug in a way that the lug was never intended for, which is a violation of NEC 110.14(A).
Considering the issue, I would have the existing base changed out for a single 200A meter socket with suitable tap lugs (a Milbank 200A base with a set of Milbank K5022-INT lugs would do the job) or a 200A meter-loadcenter with 2 100A branch breakers in it.


Telephone line color code changes After moving into our house (built in mid-80s), we noticed a blank wall plate right about where you would expect a wall phone jack to be in the kitchen. I opened it up and found a loop of 3 pair telephone wire. I cut into it and hooked up the green and red wires from both sides to keep the loop intact, but had no dial tone. Opening up our other phone jacks, I discovered that the jacks seem to be wired in series, with the incoming pair and outgoing pair altering between red/green and blue/white (see image below). After using the blue/white pair instead of the red/green pair, the jack worked. Is there any reason why this would have been done originally? In particular, is there a reason for me to go back and restore the pattern by switching out the appropriate wires?

As you have found, traditional US household telephone wire contains two pairs of conductors. This was normally used to allow two telephone lines to be brought into the house, each using one pair, with both lines available at all places to ease switching back and forth or to let phones with additional switches (or, later, circuitry) switch between those two lines.

Red/green was usually the primary line, buy it was common for some wall jacks to swap the pairs so a single-blind phone would connect to the other line.

In older buildings, where the phone wiring has been changed repeatedly, the two lines may have gotten cross-connected in ... creative ... ways. Ma Bell was somewhat notorious for sloppy, least-effort solutions.

(Alternatively. rare now, you may also occasionally see the second pair just connected to a transformer. These were used to power the lights in "Princess" phones.)


Which way does air flow into a furnace? Which way does air typically flow in a furnace? Put another way, does the filter usually sit before the incoming cool air reaches the burners or after?

I'm trying to figure out which way the air flow arrow should point on my air filters. There are a lot of web pages that almost answer this question but not quite.

The filter sits between the air return duct and the heat chamber, BEFORE the cool air enters the furnace.

The air flow arrow almost certainly will point at the furnace, not away from it.

If the filter sat after the furnace, there would be potential hazards associated with it, like possibility of fire (hot air hitting a cardboard frame) and release of nasty substances due to overheating.


What is this strange valve/trap from my boiler to condensate pump? I have a condensate pump attached to a valiant combi boiler with the usual pvc pipe turning into it (removed in picture, but works fine going into the point behind the copper pipe here), with the also normal outflow clear pipe also working fine.
Yet I have also this strange (and heavily crystallised) piece running into it from what I think is the overflow pipe of the boiler. What is it? A steam trap? Does it need replacing? Feel like I've googled everything and can't even find something remotely like it.

Actually, that cast iron piece is called an "air gap" which is used so contaminated water of a sewer pipe or drain  will never be drawn up that discharge pipe to contaminate anything above. This is usually how  water cooler is drained so the discharge of water to the drain or sewer discharge pipe could never cause a negative pressure on the drain and pull water up onto the water cooler surface. Google the words "air gap"


Possible to remove truss and add collar ties? I am doing a pretty significant garage renovation and had a couple questions.

I was originally going to just replace the loft (the original wasn't supported on top the stud wall on side which always bothered me), but I've decided to do without the loft and just open up the garage a bit. I had a couple of friends come by with building experience and they've suggested removing the trusses from the garage and just doubling up on the collar ties.

The garage is about 10.5' wide by 26' long. Here are some photos:

This is the old loft, I apologize for the mess and wires in the photo

Here is the garage with no loft, you can see the truss(es) in the photos that I am thinking of removing:

What do you guys think about putting collar ties on every rafter and doubling them up and then removing the truss?

I built a 10'x16' shed with the 13' walls in my backyard and I didn't use any trusses, but my garage is a little bigger so I am not sure if it would negatively affect the structural integrity.

Also, since removing the old loft, the left side (not connected to home) garage stud wall lost a little support, should I add extra support for that in some way?

I made the actual questions bold.

Thanks!

Quoid, do you live in an area subject to heavy snow loading? If you do, DO NOT remove those joists - they're responsible for holding your walls in as your roof exerts downward pressure from the snow's weight. Remove them, and the walls may blow outward as the garage collapses around you.


Mark location of holes with two boards fitted together I made a small cabinet that had a piece of plywood on top of it as part of a display platform for our Christmas tree.  The plywood fastened to the top of the cabinet with screws.  (1st image.)

I drilled holes through the plywood on top, down into the cabinet, then put threaded inserts into the holes in the cabinets.  You can see the holes in the cabinet (which is also plywood).  These holes do not go all the way through the cabinet top and, notice, one is partially in the side of the cabinet, so I do not want to run that all the way through.

Now that Christmas is over, we've realized this cabinet is rather handy and I want to cut another piece of plywood that will fit over this cabinet and extend back, behind the cabinet, to create a display platform for some small items in my wife's antique collection.

I'd like to line the plywood for the new platform over top of the cabinet, just like before, and be able to fasten it in with screws, like I did with the plywood for the platform for the Christmas tree.  Of course, to do that, I need to drill holes in the new plywood that line up with the existing screw holes in the cabinet.  The problem is aligning them and marking the locations when the two parts are joined together and I can't get to the screw holes in the cabinet.

What is the best way to do this?  I can measure them, but I would think there's a better way to do this.  Is there something I can put in the existing holes that will mark the bottom of the plywood for me?  Or us just using a tape measure for distance the best way to make matching holes in a new piece of plywood?

If you were energetic, you'd take some bolts that fit the threaded inserts, cut the heads off, put a point on the remaining threaded rod (chuck the rod in a drill and spin it against a running grinder), screw the pointy threaded rod into the inserts and then press your new panel against the points.

You'll have an exact impression of where to drill the new panel.


Oiling/greasing a garage door My garage door is very loud. I sprayed all of the metal-on-metal moving portions of the garage door (except the Genie screw drive track) with WD-40 as they all have some small degree of rust. This helped quite a bit, but I would like to do more.

I know WD-40 is probably not the right lubricant, so my question is: what is the correct lubricant for the various parts of a garage door, including the screw drive in my Genie garage door opener?

Genie makes a lubricant specifically designed for their screw drive openers.  I used it at my old house and it seemed to work fairly well. You can buy it any major home centers.  I believe they came in packs of 3 tubes and each tube was designed for one lubrication.  I lubricated mine about every 6 months.


How to remove wasp paper from soffit vents and siding Paper wasps built a huge nest under the second-story eave shown below (photo taken looking straight up).  I killed and scraped off the nest, but there is still paper-like residue clinging to the vinyl soffit vents and cement-board siding.

How can I remove the residual wasp paper?

We won't read about your house burning down as a result of using fire, will we? It was my first instinct to suggest fire as an answer, but it's really not a good one. A pressure washer would not be advised, due to water getting in the worst place, insulation!

That leaves high pressure air, from a compressor, as a possible solution. It's certainly less damaging than a pressure washer and will not cause insulation problems either. Combine a stiff brush with the high pressure air flow and you'll have a decent result.


why does grout not stay? I am replacing kitchen ceramic floor tile because the grout is coming out. The inspector says its because it's installed on 1/4 inch plywood instead of minimum 5/8 inch. I asked experienced tile guy who agreed. My problem is I am getting so many conflicting oppinions saying this is not true and just regrout the tile.

The flooring or base below the tile is as important as the tile itself. If the floor flexes the tiles will break or pop loose the grout will crumble and come out. I like to add a cement backer board both glued and screwed to the decking. In the few cases I have used Plywood I also glue and screw it. This only takes a few minutes and it makes the base solid. With a solid base the tile will last longer. Not only by eliminating the cracking but when well laid tile over a solid base has something dropped on there is less chance the tile will break compared to a poor job. 1/4" is way thin even glued and screwed it would not hold up compared to 1/2".  5/8" would be better if using plywood. The best option in my opinion is 1/2" cement board the tile & grout will stick to this better than wood. If you have the floors redone Insist on a construction adhesive or thin set be used with screws to create a solid base the few extra dollars it cost up front will stop problems like you have now from happening in the future.


How can I remove a clog in a central vacuum system? We have a central vacuum system in our house:

Somewhere along the line, something got stuck so various rooms do not have suction.

How can I unblock it? Should I try fishing it out, or will that just jam it in further (I don't know what it is in there). I suppose if I got enough line, I could just keep pushing it till it came out the end.

I'm comfortable / competent enough that if I need to cut into the wall and remove that part of the pipe and replace it, I could do that too - though then how do I figure out where the blockage is?

you could reverse the suction by attaching a vacuum cleaner on the port while the system is shut off and see if that loosens the clog


Proper boxe for surface mounting GFCI outlet for a garage/utility space? I'd like to replace the following electrical box, which runs a laundry:

What are good options for surface mount boxes?

It should hold the GFCI securely (not require funky mounting of the tabs, like some rounded covers do, and this octagon box did).
Be suitable for a second GFCI slave (four outlets total)
Look reasonably finished.
Allow for a firm clamp connection for the incoming armored cable sheath, which is the only ground in this case.  The ground needs to "pass through" this box via the box.

I don't really like the look of a standard knockout box with metal cover.  An outdoor box looks more robust and finished, but locally all I can find are in-use covers, which would look weird here.

Note the armored cable above, at least some of it, appears to have a grounding strip.  Note the strip sticks out from one of the clamps.  However everything is apparently so loose, the outlet tester says there is no ground here, or on the next outlet (which is three prong).

I'd use a 4x4 box with a raised cover. You can get the cover in a dual GFI configuration. You say a "GFI slave", I assume you just mean another receptacle on the load side. If so then you can get a cover with one GFI opening and one duplex opening:

Just so you know, there is a near zero chance that that old AC cable can safely be used as a grounding conductor. Older AC cable does not have the required bonding strip.
See here: How should I connect a grounding wire from a device to this box?

Box:


Blower motor lost RPMs after reversal of fan direction My air handler requires a clock wise rotation of the fan motor. After installing a new motor I found it was set in the counter clockwise position. I changed the wires (switched inline connection on fan wiring) for a clockwise rotation and found a great reduction of RPMs compared to those of the counter clockwise rotation. Why would the RPMs drop and how would you resolve the problem and regain the lost RPMs?

The wiring diagram isn't available but the 1/4 hp motor is reversible: yellow connected to brown with orange to purple being clockwise and yellow connected to purple with orange to brown producing counter clockwise rotation. Yellow is the common and is connected to power with a choice of Black wire for Hi speed; Blue wire for Med speed or Red wire for Slow speed. Counter clockwise rotation results in Hi speed yet clockwise (using Black Hi speed wire) seems to be no more than Slow speed. The capacitor connects with 2 brown wires, one having a white stripe and is rated 5.0 mdf 440/370 vac/b; it was purchased with the new/replacement motor. Unknowingly this motor ran for 4 or 5 months in the counter clockwise (wrong) direction. This was discovered while exploring the cause of the evaporator coil freezing-due to improper fan rotation. Thanks for your interest!!

Could be as simple as not moving air effectively when spinning the wrong way, so no load (or small load) on motor. Spin the right way, air is moved, motor slows down, work is done. Try blocking off the intake or output and see if the lack of air movement causes the fan (& motor) to speed up again.


Can a honda iAVR generator safely run a computer? Honda advertises their iAVR generators as producing stable enough power to run a computer.  For example, see "applications" section at https://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/models/em6500.  However, THD, frequency tolerances, etc., aren't listed.
Can anybody here provide measurement-based reasons why or why not it's safe to power sensitive electronics with a honda iAVR generator?

The 'promise' of the iAVR generators is that they CAN power sensitive electronics like computers.  This is why they cost so much more. If you are concerned, I would put a spike filter and UPS in-between the source and the computer load; it wouldn't have to be a big one.  However, the computer has some natural filtering because it uses a an AC to DC power supply which already has filtering on both ends.


Is a 2-prong plug item plugged into a 3-prong surge protector and wall outlet still protected? A standard 3-prong surge protector is plugged into a US 15 amp 3-prong wall outlet.  I want to protect a Christmas light string with a "computer" controller box. The light string only has a 2-prong plug to plug to the surge protector.  Will the light string controller be protected?
Bottom line - is it useless to expect surge protection for a device with only a 2-prong plug?

The surge protector will dump high voltage spikes from hot to the ground and many will drop from hot to neutral, so it would depend on the model, if internally the mov’s or metal oxide varistors are wired hot to neutral you would still have spike protection. If only wired got to ground it will do no good as their is no connection.


What primer and paint should I used for a solid-core wooden front door? I recently purchased a new pre-hung exterior door for my house.  We opted for a solid-core Douglas Fir instead of the fiberglass models as the wooden door was substantially cheaper.  We want to paint it and I'm not sure what kind of primer and paint to use.  What would you recommend?

If it helps, the weather in my area is relatively mild -- temperatures average around the 70's with winter lows reaching the mid 40's and summer highs reaching the 90's.  We get rain and fog during the winter months.

Here's a picture if it helps.

My favorite primer for wood doors is Bins Bullseye, pigmented shellac. This primer bonds well, hides wood grain well and gives a very smooth surface for top coats. If you prefer to stay with a latex product, then Kilz premium is good too.

Remember prep is of the utmost importance for a good finish.  Sand everything and clean it well before applying primer.  On a new piece, I like to lightly sand the first coat of primer. You will feel the difference, trust me.  I like to use two coats of primer, then sand it again very lightly to make it super smooth: 220 grit used lightly is fine.  Clean it well with a tact cloth or very slightly water dampened rag.

Now for the top coat.  Use a premium quality 100% acrylic exterior trim paint. Usually a gloss or semi gloss looks great, but that's a personal preference. Don't skimp on the brush: get a good Purdy Glide, poly/nylon 2½" angled, soft chisel tip.  Apply nice smooth, thin coats, and expect to do three coats for a good solid fill. Start in the panels and work your way out to the rails and stiles.  If you can take the time to remove the door after it is installed, (never remove door from frame before installation!!!!)  lay it flat to paint.  Laying it flat will really help avoid drips and runs.  Pay special attention to the panel corners and details for drips and puddles a few minutes after you apply the paint.  Use long smooth strokes to finish each panel, rail and stile.

BTW, a really good latex 100% acrylic is every bit as durable as an oil based product. Oil based paints are going away and have been compromised greatly in recent years due to VOC laws. I stopped using oil paint several years ago.  The only oil based product I use now is urethane.


How to mitigate and/or repair concrete frets (slab edge wetting) A building engineer made a report of problems with our property. One issue raised was "slab edge wetting" by which the building engineer meant that the concrete slab on which the house is built is being exposed to moisture, which is sucked in via capillary action to distort and weaken the cement. The report recommends there should be a waterproof (plastic) barrier wherever the concrete slab's sides would come into contact with earth.

Has anyone dealt with such a problem before? Is fixing this a simple matter of digging at the edges of the concrete slab where concrete fretting is visible and shoring up the plastic?

Plastic sheets designed for lining foundations have studs that provide ventilation near the concrete:

There are also sheets available that insulate.


Is it safe to cap off live red wire in split receptacle? Ontario, Canada.
Kitchen has a split receptacle with 2 hot wires (black and red). The metal tab on the receptacle (on the side of black/red wires) is broken off. There is a combined 20amp breaker at the electrical panel.

I am trying to install a USB charger receptacle, but it has just neutral, hot and ground terminals.

Is it safe to simply cap off the red wire, tape it up nicely, and push it to the back of the gang box?

I am not comfortable changing the breaker on the electrical panel.

Yes this is fine to do but against code because that plug is required to be split to meet code rules for kitchen counter tops.

CEC 26-712(d)(iii)


What causes gas oven to click but doesn't always ignite? I have a Whirlpool WFG530SOESO range that I purchased new a few years ago. For a little while now it has been hit and miss if the oven works. You can always hear the igniter clicking and smell some gas but it doesn't always ignite and heat up. The clicks go in a burst of 3-4 clicks at a time for 3 or 4 times then the oven ends trying. Sometimes it ignites on the first burst other times I restart it a few times before giving up. What would cause it to ignite sometimes and sometimes not ignite?

The clicking sound is the spark module trying to ignite the gas. You should be able to verify that it is actually sparking. Since the oven does light intermittently check to see if the openings in the burner are blocked.
With a toothpick probe each opening for obstructions. If it continues working erratically it could be gas pressure regulator.


Reinforced concrete drilling: wall plug won't fit First-time driller here, so please bear with me! :)

I was trying to afix a shelf in the wall, and started to drill the holes for its mounting brackets. The wall is reinforced concrete, and I was using a standard 6mm masonry drill bit attached to a hammer-function-enabled machine. I stumbled upon several problems:

1) The drill bit at some point became fixed in the wall and was no longer spinning - only the machine's circular grip was spinning around it. I tightened the grip and continued, but this happened several times.

2) The drill would still not advance, so I ended up using a 4mm bit to go in first, and then followed up with the 6mm one that I needed.

3) Although I used a wall detector to check for pipes/wires before drilling, I was very nervous since the detector seemed to very unreliably beep over the same locations, perhaps because of the metalic reinforcing bars in the concrete. In the absence of (useful) building plans, is there any other way to prevent drilling into pipes or wires?

4) After finishing drilling with the 6mm bit, my wall plug (anchor) did not fit the hole, even when (gently) hammered in; and drilling some more (by applying pressure towards the sides of the hole) to make it a bit wider also did not suffice. Both of these strategies together (hammer+enlarging the hole with same drill bit) had previously worked when I drilled into a softer wall (not sure if that was cellular concrete or drywall)!

5) I reckoned that given the hardness of concrete, I maybe just need to use the next-larger drill bit size, 7mm, to fit the 6mm plug; but my set does not include one (the next up is 8mm), and none of the sets I can see on Amazon include 7mm (for concrete or masonry) either, only for wood!

Sorry for the long and rather incoherent question, but I hope that someone can advise on how to best proceed despite my beginner mistakes!

Measure the drill bit. Measure the wall plug. Adjust one or the other until they are the same size. If you drill a  6mm hole a 6mm plug will go into it, it's just physics! Make sure you blow out any dust in the hole and as mentioned above, make sure the hole is slightly deeper than your fastener length.


Can I use an exhaust fan instead of a hood in the kitchen? Can I install a ceiling-mounted exhaust fan (350 CFM) over my kitchen island, with 48-inch gas range, rather than a hood?  If so, can you recommend an exhaust fan?

A 48 inch gas range sounds large to me and 350 CFM may not be enough. Many people have up to 1000 CFM for smaller ranges and cooktops.

A hood will help collect the cooking fumes while the aperture of an exhaust fan is not as large.

Real kitchen hoods have grease collection mechanisms and are designed to be easy to clean. An exhaust fan will not.

Don't forget to provide a way to replace the air you remove or it will be as effective as a clogged vacuum cleaner.


Diagonal Cut-in Brace Removal? I am working on renovating my dining room and while tearing out drywall I found a diagonal cut-in brace which is running from the front of the house along side an exterior wall.

I am trying to remove the wall so the entry door and the dining room entrance is a flat wall.

Here is a picture of what currently exists:

Can I cut the bottom of the cut-in brace or is there another way that I could frame out the front section to keep the added support for the exterior wall?

That brace is almost certainly not needed. Diagonal lumber braces are an outdated method from back when walls were sheathed with individual boards, and not with modern structural sheet goods. Also, modern, sheathed and engineered truss roofs provide substantial diagonal bracing where it didn't exist with hand-framed rafter and board roofs. You don't say what era your home is from, but I'd guess at least 1980s from the style.

I can't see what your wall sheathing is, but I can see that we're not talking about a major end wall or other area where we'd expect horizontal loading. If the roof structure depends on that short-angle brace in any way the building has other issues, but I doubt that's the case.

There's my $.02, which is all you can expect from a random guy on the internet. If you want certainty, pay an engineer to stop by.


How can I remove a stuck overhead light fixture? I recently decided that it's time to install some less hideous lighting in my apartment. Since it's an apartment, my options are limited because I must be able to restore whatever is there now if I move. I got a track lighting set and figured out everything I need to do, but now I'm stuck-- literally.

This is the fixture. It has 3 bulbs, and several screws to hold it on the ceiling. However, I have unscrewed every screw you can see including the central piece, and several screws that are hidden by the fiberglass, and yet the fixture remains completely stuck to the ceiling. I've tried tapping it with a hammer and sticking a butter knife between the ceiling and the fixture; no dice. All the screws are loose; there is no weight held up by them, suggesting something else is gripping the fixture.

I've seen posts on the internet that suggest some fixtures get glued in place by aggressive paint. I suspect that may have happened here, but I am hesitant to aggressively pry the fixture because it is so incredibly stuck. It feels like it's attached to a steel I-beam or something! I am afraid it might be attached to something other than the paint.

Random facts about the apartment:

Built in the 60's
I am not sure if it's plaster or drywall (unfortunately)

My current plan is to get a putty knife and a variety of paint solvents, and try getting the paint off. I heard that mineral oil might work, but I am not sure if that is a good idea. I'm afraid to damage things by using the wrong solvents.

Update: All the hardware stores are closed today/tomorrow so I won't get to try the great tips until Tuesday.

Looking at the geometry, it can only be paint holding it up.  I would stay away from any solvents.

I would add a second putty knife, with a stiff blade.  Use a slightly larger (wider to distribute the force of the lifting blade) putty knife against the ceiling (and under the lip of the fixture).  Put the stiffer, skinny blade between the wide blade and the fixture.  Pry up slightly, all around the   circumference of the fixture.  You will break it loose.

The prybar is overkill (in the photo), but illustrates how to protect the underlying drywall.  (Guess what happens if you use the prybar alone. Ask me why I know :-O)

Good plan by Christos regarding leaving the new fixture, though I believe you will succeed removing the original.


connecting bulk propane to generator I live in a rural area and have a ~125 gallon propane tank on a concrete slab that is serviced by a mobile propane delivery company. We use it for hot water, the gas range, and our forced air heating system rarely since we primarily rely on the abundant wood. This is my outside tank:

Also because we're in a rural mountain town we lose electricity sometimes. We have a gas/propane duel-fuel generator connected to our house with a generator transfer / interrupt panel. We have a 30lb propane tank and maybe ~20 gallons of gasoline hanging around.

The propane tank and connection I use for running the generator:

I was wondering what it would take to connect my larger tank to my generator. I'm fine with having a propane-plumber do it, but I'd still like to know the pieces involved. Fundamentally I don't want to end up in a situation where I'm out of propane for my generator while still having 100 gallons 15 feet away.

I would suggest that you fit a second regulator to the supply from the large tank. This may sensibly require a larger pipe or the use of a different "tap" on the tank if there is one.

You should fit isolation valves so that you have full control over what is supplied when.

The second regulator is to avoid any restriction of the supply to either house or generator. You may well have to have some spark arrest devices by code depending on area and common sense suggests you should have them anyway.


How is 240v derived from 120/208v feed My apartment house feed is 120/208v 4 wire (plus ground) wye connected.
Apartments have 120/240v service.
I can't see how the 240v circuit is derived from 120/208.
I'd welcome an answer or a link!

It isn't.
120/240V is a 240V single phase supply, center tapped to produce a "split phase" with 120V between either side to neutral, and 240V between the two hot lines.
120/208V is two phases from a three-phase supply.  There is 120V from either phase to neutral, and 208V between the phases.


Can a Dryer with a 4" exhaust safely vent through a 3" pipe? During some home-improvement, we need put in some new dryer venting. The most aesthetically pleasing option is to have a 90deg turn out of the dryer, then into a 3" pipe that goes for 9 feet. There is another option that would have a 90 degree turn, vertical for 4 feet, another 90 degree turn and then 9 feet out through a 4" pipe.

We have received different advice from different technicians, some who say that the 3" pipe isn't a problem, and that it is preferable since it avoids the second right angle and the vertical distance. A different technician told us that going through a 3" pipe is definitely not good, and even though it is more corners and distance, the second option is preferable (still under 25 feet of piping, even taking corners into account).

The main question is on the impact of a 3" pipe. Should this be avoided at all costs, and if put in there is a good chance that it will lead to dryer damage/reduced lifespan? Or is it manageable, and worth the tradeoff for shorter overall exhaust pipes?

3" and 9' with an early elbow is a mild disaster. 3" ducting gives just over half the cross sectional area of 4".

You're constricting and complicating airflow, which can lead to clogging.

4" would be preferable, even with the extra turn.


Toilet Tank slow leak, have all new parts, tried all troubleshooting...help! Just installed the Fluidmaster 400ARHRK (http://www.fluidmaster.com/our-products/toilet-fill-valves-toilet-parts/400arhrkp10-performaxr-all-in-one-toilet-repair-kit.html) and we still have a slow leak of about 1/2" in the tank. Can't figure it out. The water in the tank drops about 1/2" maybe every hour or so. The tank refills to the proper level. Then it will drop again 1/2". Repeat.

You can see the discrepancy in the water level in the photo below, the tank has lost water about 1/2".

When I shut off the water supply to the tank the tank looses more water but doesn't empty.

There are no leaks onto the floor, on the outside of the tank or anything like that.

There is plenty of slack in the the flapper chain. Flapper fits snugly. The kit came with a new rubber gasket as well.

I saw this on another forum, which is what we are experiencing: "If it drains down to a certain point and stops, then you have the small refill tube stuck too far down into the overflow pipe." But in our case the refill tube sits above the overflow pipe - see photo below.

We don't see any pieces of the old flapper or any "debris" that could be stuck somewhere to cause the tank to lose water. We are thinking of disassembling and starting over but can't see that helping.

Any ideas??

Not sure if this makes any difference, I turned off the water supply from the house to the tank this morning and at lunch the tank is totally dry. Does this help me at all?

So I know the water is leaking into the bowl and not the floor/outside the tank.

Should I still do the dye test? Will that pinpoint where the leak is occurring (flapper, overflow pipe, seal beneath flapper)? Or does the dye test just show you it's leaking into the bowl (which I already know)?

They sell a seal of sorts I see that you put on top of the thing that the flapper lid (I think) closes down on that is supposed to maybe help flapper leaks. Should I get this?

I just know if I will be able to determine from where the leak is occurring...?

If your tank is constantly leaking water, but you've not found it anywhere, then it is nigh on certain that it's going into the toilet bowl. Tester101's tip of putting food colouring into the tank and seeing if it appears in the bowl will likely confirm this.

The issue is then to find exactly where the leak is. Either your flapper isn't closing properly, there's a leaky joint where the overflow pipe connects (just below the flapper), or the seal between the flapper apparatus and the tank isn't watertight.

I would hazard a guess at it being the seal between the flapper apparatus and the tank, probably due to either under-tightening or over-tightening when installing the new flush. Over-tightening is perhaps the more likely - it shouldn't be tightened too much or you will distort the rubber seal.


How can I add/alter wiring inside single-brick walls? Our house is full-brick. Double-brick on the exterior walls and single-brick for every internal wall. It was built in 1979 (I guess they liked to do things properly then).

We've only ever had the opportunity once of adding new electrical items to the single-brick walls (like a heated towel rail, new light switch and powerpoint), when we were renovating as the electrican had to chase a huge chunk out of the wall, lay the cables, and then the hole was filled back up and painted over. That's a pretty major operation.

Is there any other way that we can add or modify the electrical items inside a single brick wall? We now want to run CAT5 and we've got all the external walls done, but not the internals.

I highly recommend using Wiremold for this kind of project, but it depends on the aesthetics that you are going for. 1/2" EMT when bent properly gives a really neat look on exposed brick. Using a pipe bender takes a bit of skill and practice, but can be an art form on it's own.

I really don't like the idea of channeling into brick (or block) because:

It never looks the same again, even when you paint it
It weakens interior walls, which might be more prone to crumbling / falling in an earthquake prone region than they otherwise would.

500 series Wiremold should be all you need to do the job.


What gauge wire for irrigation pump? I have dug an irrigation well (40 feet), and installed this pump: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005X53JC8

It has the following description:  Red Lion RJS-75-PREM Shallow Well Jet Pump, Cast Iron, 1-HP 24-GPM

The pump did not come with a power cord, and therefore I'll need to wire up a cord and plug to the pressure switch.

What gauge wire does this pump take?

I current have wired up a computer cable, I'm guessing the individual strands in there are maybe 16 or 18 gauge (no idea, really).  I noticed that the chord gets pretty warm when the pump is running.

Should I go with a lower/thicker gauge?

Thank you in advance!

To run it at 120v you'll need to have a 25 or 30A breaker and #10cu wire. Typical would be 10/2 cable.

Don't forget everything on the circuit would need to be rated 30a, the breaker can be 25 or 30a.


Can I DIY fix the broken main feeder support cable? After trimming the old tree, we found out that the steel cable supporting the main feeder lines is broken:

Must have been like that for years. The actual feeder wires are fine, the electricity is on. The steel cable seem not to be really connected to any electrical part, so I assume its function is only to hold the wires.
Question: is this something I can fix myself, i.e. by simply clamping them together? Or it requires welding? Or full cable replacement?

You can see right there where the steel cable is bonded to the lighter colored of the three service entrance wires.
Yeah, you lost a neutral.   This is when we get out the big font and say
This is a power outage. Call your power company NOW.
Normally these arise as “Hey, my appliances keep blowing up”... or “I measured 84 volts on an outlet” “check your other ones” “Oh, this one is 148 volts”.
But the funny thing about lost neutrals is people can take quite some time to realize they have the problem.
But yes, that wire is electrically “hot” - well, it’s near ground voltage if everything is working... but if you go up there and try to rejoin it, you’ll end up with one wire in your left hand and the other wire in your right hand, and the neutral current will try to go through you.
Of course, you said “feeder”.  That is a word with a specific meaning: it means a cable after the meter going between panels.  So supposedly you would have a house and a pole barn or something, and an overhead line feeding a subpanel out there.  But that would be 4 wires (with messenger as ground), not 3 as we see in this photo.
The specific name for this cable is “service drop”.
And the service drop is in the power company’s bailiwick, so they will fix it for free in almost every case.


Can I connect an indoor timer to lights split to 3 circuit breakers? Currently the lights in the store turn on from 3 separate  circuit breakers, I have to flip each circuit breaker to turn on each light zone. I would like to connect an indoor timer that will turn on all the lights from all 3 breakers at once.

How do I connect it?

Either 3 timers, one on each circuit, or one timer, controlling 3 relays, one relay on each circuit. The timer and relay control can be on a 4th circuit, or on one of the three circuits if there is capacity available.

Whatever device does the switching needs to be adequate to handle switching the load - that is, the relay contacts must be rated to carry as much (or more) current and voltage as is being switched on. One advantage of using relays is that the timer contact only needs to be sized for controlling the relay coils, generally a much smaller load.


How do I fix a squeaky carpeted floor given that scored screws don't help? My flooring--second story, carpeted--squeaks.  I tried the scored screws solution answered in this question.  I covered the entire room and adjacent hallway with scored screws on all the joists, every 6 inches, per the instructions.  After the fix, the squeak still exists, but walking around the room/hallway, the squeak now seems to be more localized--specifically, the sound emanates from the edge where the wall meets the floor.  I can walk in the middle or the side of the room and the sound still comes from the edge.

How do I fix (or verify) the cause the squeak?  I'm happy to provide more info; but I'm not even sure how to proceed to gather more information.

Squeaking usually comes from two places:

Joists.  Loose, overloaded, damaged, braced improperly, not even.  Fix is usually lateral support using crosses.
Plywood.  Poor quality, warped/damaged, not thick enough, not glued down, not screwed properly or enough, pattern not well thought out (edges should be on joists or supports).  Usually have to pull them up to figure out the issue.

In your case you don't want to open up first story ceiling so you need to pull up a couple pieces in high-squeak areas.  Figure out what the issue is.  If the joists aren't even (note that I didn't say level) the boards will eventually squeak.  If there is no cross-bracing then the joists certainly have movement which itself can cause a squeak but also loosen screws or make screw holes bigger over time.  These are just common examples.  You can keep adding fancy screws every inch but you don't know the root cause yet.


How little space is possible between the stove and the hood Most of the ranges I look at in the professional area...Wolf, Thermador, Miele etc. mention that 30" is the minimum height from cook top to hood...the space I have currently is about 27 1/2" and I cannot change the height without major construction.  This is for a 30" range and hood (300 CFM)...do you foresee issues with this?  Thank you!

I'd be more concerned about maximum distance to get enough effective airflow. For minimum I'd recommend tallest pot plus 6"-8" so that you can take the lid off and stir without the hood getting in the way.


How do I determine whether a permit is required for a new gas line? I would like to have an exterior gas line installed (for a grill) and an exterior frost-proof faucet (so it's closer to my garden). I had a plumber come out and his quote came back "Any permit by owner". How do I find out if I need to pull a permit? Is the plumber trying to get me to pull a "work by owner" permit (which honestly I think I could do). Does this seem reasonable? I would probably honestly do the work myself except I'm too busy and I've never done natural gas work before.

You would need to find out who the authority having jurisdiction is. Often time, it is the city, county, or township where you are located. In some cases, it might be the state as well (in MN for electrical, for example).

The wording is a little ambiguous, however. They could mean:

You (the owner) pull the permit, but put down that the contractor is doing the work. This is not unheard of and probably fine. The contractor may be small and not want to deal with pulling the permit. This will then also indicate to you whether they are (or need to be) licensed to work where you are.
They want you to pull a permit as if you as the owner were performing the work. Do not do this. In this case, if something goes wrong with the job, you would be the one responsible for it. For example, after the work is done, the inspection reveals some issues that needs to be addressed. Do you think the contractor will not come and fix it if they've already been paid? Probably not. This scenario could also lead to issues when you sell the house.


What type of cleaner should be used to remove "hand sludge" from a varnished wood railing? You know what I'm talking about, right? That dark grey sludge that builds up on hand rails over the years? I inherited a case of sludgy hand-rails when I bought my first house and I'd like to clean them.

I've tried using lemon oil-based polish and lots of scrubbing. It helps to an extent, but only on lightly trafficked parts of the rails.

Can anyone recommend a cleaner that will help dissolve this junk but not harm (and preferably protect) the varnished wood?

I would suggest turpentine and 0000 steel wool, alternating with paper towel first.  If not clean enough, Proceed to the ammonia treatment described by 0A0D.  The oil step also sounded good.


Tips and advice for installing a chimney cap? I have an older wood-burning fireplace that is missing a chimney cap.  I'd like to install one prior to rain season here in California but would still like the ability to use the fireplace now and then (with the cap on).

I was originally thinking that this is a fairly simple DIY project but another post suggested that this can/should be done by a professional. I'm not sure if this was because the other post involved a Gas fireplace or not.

I have a couple questions:

What information is needed to purchase an appropriately sized chimney cap? I found a checklist here but wasn't sure if more info was needed.
Is chimney cap installation widely accepted as a task best left to professionals?

For a typical masonry chimney installing a chimney cap is something you can tackle yourself. However, do not try to fabricate a cap yourself. A chimney cap is not something that you want to make at home. The cap you purchase should come with the proper fasteners which will usually be screws that are pointed on the ends to penetrate the flue liner that is exposed at the very top of your chimney. Some caps have a flue built in that requires a cable to run down the length of the chimney. Unless there is a problem with your fireplace I would not use one like that. The materials used to construct the cap are important. Don't buy one that could rust and consider a finish that will never need repainted.

While you are up there take the time to inspect your chimney inside and out. Look for any areas that are missing mortar. Check the inside for shiny black covering or cracks. Make sure there are no missing bricks and the top of the chimney properly sheds water. Any of these issues and I recommend brining in a professional.


How to fix washing machine door handle A door handle on my Bosch washing machine is broken and I am trying to replace it. I have bought a replacement handle, but swapping the two is not as easy as I hoped it would be.

It consists of 2 parts, small one (part A) that goes through the hole in the door frame and the handle itself. I am able to fit it with the broken handle, because the part of the handle that the metal pin goes into is broken therefore I am able to move it enough to put the small part though the square plastic bit in it. Top metal pin I don't have, and I hope handle would still be functional without it.

What I tried to do with the new handle is:

put the bottom metal pin into the handle (pin slides out of the frame easily)
put the small plastic hook into the door frame (part A)
put the handle (with the pin) into the frame
connect the small part (A) with the handle (put the back hook into the handle)

Part A

Frame with the pin in, with no part A nor handle

Part A in the frame, marked spot is what goes into the handle hole

Part A in the handle, you can see where the handle is broken at the bottom so the pin does not stay in place

Is the 1 - 4 method above correct?

Do I maybe need to take the whole door frame apart to fix the handle?

I am suspicious your fix will not work unless you fix this (arrow).

Your handle is meant to have a top and bottom pin.  Those transmit the pull forces equally to the top and bottom of the door.  Your top pin is gone and the plastic there has cracked.

If you have the handle with only the bottom pin it will pull asymmetrically and pull the top forward.  It will not stay.  If you substitute some sort of top pin (a bolt with a nut would probably work) the problem is that the plastic of the frame is cracked and the bolt will pull loose or worsen the crack with use of the handle.

Fixing cracked structural plastic is not easy.  You cannot just glue it together because the forces on that area will (again) crack thru the joint.  You would need to reinforce it with some overlay.  Before I embarked on that I might see if there were a dead washing machine of the same make at the washing machine junkyard, and take the whole door off of that.  You might be able to fix the cracked plastic with a layer of epoxy over fiberglass mesh to reinforce over the crack but you need to make sure that the fix does not bulk it up such that it cannot clear other things in its path when you close it.


60 year old steel drain pipe I was wondering if Any one knew whether there is an effective way to clean out the steel drain pipe from my bathroom sink. Also, the fitting where it attaches to the main stack (cast iron) is badly corroded & leaking. My bathroom sink is presently not draining. Do I snake or put in new pipe. Are the cast iron fittings difficult to work with?

If the existing cast iron is already corroded to the point that it is leaking, you need to fix it. The simplest way is to cut out the corroded portion and re-pipe it in plastic. See how best to cut & tie into cast iron.

When re-piping, you can keep it to just the cast iron portion or you can also re-pipe the sink's drain arm at the same time. Doing both at the same time may be easier depending on the layout of your plumbing.

Regardless of how much you re-pipe, you may still need to cleanout the drain to remove the clog as it could be located further downstream (or within the sink's arm itself if you re-use the existing) The best way to clean out a clogged drain is to snake it. See how to use a plumber's snake.

Keep in mind that if your drain lines are very corroded, the act of using a snake has the potential to puncture further holes as the pipe’s wall will be thin. Also, using clog removal chemicals can also be risky with the added safety concerns of leaking chemicals.


Insulate my windows with fiberglass? I have some windows that I want to insulate at night during the winter. I have energy star windows, thermal drapes, and cellular blinds and those plastic window film kit things, but I want to reduce my heating costs even more.
So here's my idea. What if I took a bunch of fiberglass or mineral wool insulation, wrapped it in a bunch of plastic, and shoved that in between the window and blinds at night, possibly filling in gaps between the plastic and the the window frame with other material, and possibly secured on the inside end by a board or something? Then I would probably take it out during the day.
I'm wondering

whether you think this would significantly affect heat loss through
the window,
whether it would cause any condensation problems,
and about any unintended consequences I might be missing.

Fit shutters, been “standard” on chalets in Switzerland for over 200 years.
You could make the shutters perform even better by making them with an insulation layer as well. Fitted well that would start to get closer to the r value of the wall.


How to find LED Christmas lights that look more like traditional incandescent bulbs? We just bought some LED Christmas lights that are labeled 'warm white', but when we hook them up they look ugly in the light they emit and seem very blue in their color to me. The specific kind I got are "Holiday Time LED Mini Light Set 50 count" UPC 7-64878-78510-9.

I'd like to find some LED lights that look much more like traditional incandescent bulbs in the spectrum they emit.  I do not mind paying a premium, does such a product exist today?

Led lamp color is measured in kelvins.  Warm White is 2700 kelvins or 27K.  This is 'supposed' to be equal to incandescent table lamps.  Next is 30k which supposed to be equal to halogen.  Next is cool white which in LED's can range from 39k to 45k.  The next is 50k and then 65k.  The higher the number the bluer the white is.  It sounds like you want 27k.

The bad part of this is on Christmas or string lights, they are made so cheaply that they probably don't put any of this on the packaging.  Another thing about cheaper LED's is even when the color is listed on the package, the color will change from batch to batch.

Click here for Google search on warm white Christmas lights and maybe you can find something more suitable for you.


Water heater flush yielded almost no sediment I did a water heater flush by turning off my heat down to the pilot light only and setting it to pilot instead of on, let it sit overnight. I then opened the stock drain valve and let it drain until it was just trickling a tiny bit. The trickling went on for hours it seems and didn’t stop after approximately two hours that I waited. Almost no sediment came out except for a small 4mm chunk. This doesn’t seem right for a water heater that hasn’t been flushed in about 7 or 8 years if not 9 years when it was first installed. Does a slow trickle plus very little sediment mean there is a big chunk that won’t come out?  It was flushing at a really fast rate for a while, to where the hose was being almost fully utilized. I stuck a wire up the drain valve after removing the twist part, but it didn’t cause any more sediment to come out, and it didn’t feel like there was anything blocking it.

The pic shows the sediment after it broke apart when I picked it up.

In addition to the answers above, I have backflushed mine by hooking up a washing machine hose (double female) and turning the water on and off.  I am on a well and I have a good filter system, so I rarely have much-unsuspended junk in my water.  Home Depot has a scope (Ryobi?) that allows you to look into the water tank through the lower element hole.  It has many uses, like you can do your own colonoscopy!  Lol!


My dehumidifier doesn't seem to be working, but my indoor humidity is around 22%. Is this normal? A pest control company suggested that I get a dehumidifier to try to get rid of the silverfish bugs I've had in my room. I bought a cheap dehumidifier off of Amazon and a humidity monitor, but the dehumidifier pulled out like 1 fl oz of water out in the first 2-3 days total, and now that water is all evaporated.

Now it's not really even circulating air. But my indoor humidity is 20-22% which the monitor says is low, and it went down to 16% today. Is it just that the dehumidifier is crappy, or can it just not pull moisture out of the air at these levels of moisture?

Take my advice with a grain of salt – I live on an extremely humid island – but my dehumidifier can be set not to work below certain relative humidities, and those are 40%, 60%, and 80%. A quick googling turns up a number of sites that suggest 40%-50% as the ideal range for health and comfort.

It may depend on where you live (Arizona?), but the 16%-22% you're seeing strikes me as very low. If that's what humidity is like throughout your house, even without the dehumidifier, I think it's safe to say you don't need one. I would wager that they don't really make consumer dehumidifiers that can remove moisture too far below that.


How to patch siding half covered by electrical panel When I had solar panels installed, they removed an old electrical box, leaving a hole in the siding. For no apparent reason, they installed the new electrical panel over half of the hole they left. I'm not sure how to fix this.

It looks like I could cut a section of matching composite siding, screw that in and caulk around it with silicone on the exposed sides, but since half of the hole is behind the electrical panel, it looks like I'd also need to caulk the top and sides of the electrical panel to prevent water from dripping down into the opening. Is this the right approach for solving this problem?
Update:
Here are some additional photos.

It doesn't appear that any wires go into the house from the back of the panel. If you look carefully, it looks like there's a gap in the siding that goes all the way to the soffit. I'm not sure what that's about. Would I need to caulk that as well?

That looks like T1-11 you should be able to clean the caulk out and install a new piece. I don’t like leaving voids because wood destroying insects may find a way in and make it home.
They probably put the panel there because it feeds the inside panel using the same opening.
Some lumber stores have partial sheets of T1-11. I would get a piece and match the pattern, if that is a seam just to the right I would cut that 1” piece out. Slip the new one in and caulk top and bottom. I would expect screws to be the best attachment method.
So clean out the caulk, remove the small strip, install new section and caulk the box and seams. Prime and paint to match.


How can I fireproof a room? I have a need to build a room that is resonably fire resistant. I have played around the thought of adding fire resistant panels underneath the dry wall, but if they heat up too much, they themselves with catch anything behind them on fire. The room is in the basement, so the floor is on the foundation but the ceiling and the three internal walls are shared with other rooms. The house is made or brick. I would go as far as to destroying the three walls and putting in concrete with re-bar, but the ceiling is my main concern.

I need a room to contain a device that is capable of internally heating itself to 3000 kelvin. I do not expect the room it get that hot, however, if the device malfunctioned it would get pretty hot, as the room is 20x20x12.AND the longest this room would be unchecked during the operation of the device is around 20 min.(this goes without saying that if the fire burned through the room, my home fire alarm would alert the fire dept.)

Can this be done, and if so, how?
Clarification: I need this to be fire PROOF not super resistant, resistant is not enough. I know it can be done by turning my basement into a furnace, but I was hoping there was a slightly simpler solution.

I personally wouldn't recommend that you put this inside your house.  If you really have something that gets that hot, I'd be looking into building a separate structure away from the main building.  This was actually pretty typical in early America -- the kitchens of large homes were in an outbuilding, so should there be a fire, it only burned down the kitchen.

I'm no expert on fire resistance, but I'd look to instructions on how to build a brick barbeque.  (normally, they're made from more than one layer of brick, with a special 'fire brick' on the inside).  If you used two walls, and left a void in between, you could fill it with vermiculite or perlite, which are the typical filling for fire safes.

I would avoid steel in the construction, especially in the roof, as repeated heating would cause it to sag; I'd probably use wood, with the assumption that if there were a disaster, the roof could be replaced.


How do I replace my faucet with these connectors? My laundry tub has been leaking for weeks...sometimes at 3 gallons a day. I bought a new faucet to install but these co

Well, while we wait for the question to be completed... those things pictured are plumbing tees on your water lines, presumably in your basement.  The technology is this "new" plastic called PEX.

But that is all besides the point - Normally your supply lines run up into your cabinet and to a local shutoff valve.  The sink faucet normally connects to the shutoff valve.  If your laundry sink is in the open, then you should trace the line to the faucet.  Looking for some valve.  If you don't find one, curse at the plumber, and plan on cutting one into this line close to the sink, after you shutoff your main.

Plumbers that do PEX often have specialized tools which are more that homeowners want to invest in.  Ask at the store for simpler connectors.


How can I fix a floor joist that has separated from the cross beam? I have just 1 beam that is no longer in the notch that is supposed to rest in on the crossbeam. The house is 100 years old. Would it be a safe option to install a floor jack to bring the beam back up to where it had been? The floor is bouncy due to this. The joist is in an area where there is a lot of foot traffic.

As stated in everybody's comments, this is not a place to go blindly.

For the joist to "slip out of" its notch, something else has probably moved. This can lead to a house-sized game of "Jenga®" where the players (being you and anybody else in the house) can be crushed by the falling timbers.

Hire yourself a civil/structural consulting engineer, preferably one that really understands old wooden houses if yours is (as it sounds like it might be) a post and beam (P&B) structure. Those working for new P&B companies might be your best bet, and if they are not, they will usually know someone who does do work with old P&B houses, in most cases.


Can I use a normal 240v weatherproof on/off switch for an electric fence cut out? A normal mains switch can be much cheaper and you could have a light to show when its on

If it switches the mains power supply to the fence charger, yes, of course.

If you are using it to switch the energized fence wire, no of course not - that's generally tens of kilovolts, and far exceeds the rating of the switch.


How to apply wallpaper over styrofoam? I live in an attic, and the head part of my bed is in a corner where the roof slope, an outer wall and the wall to the neighbour's unheated attic meet. After a few winters of waking up to the feeling of the roof slope sucking the warmth out of me, I got a pack of polystyrol inner wall insulation. Unlike traditional styrofoam, it is a homogenous foam on the inside, similar to polyurethane foam. On the outside, it has a matte finish with a very fine paint-like structure.

I nailed the plates to the wall, right over the existing structured wallpaper. Then I filled the seams and the nail heads with acrylic caulk. Now I'd like to give it a finished look.

I feel adventurous enough to try a wallpaper. I have never applied wallpaper before, but it seems that the new cellulose-fleece-backed type is very easy to work with.

The problem is that the Internet tells me that regular wallpaper glue won't stick to regular styrofoam. I didn't find information specific to the glue for cellulose-backed wallpaper, or about this finished styrofoam. I also found the information that wallpaper can be applied to styrofoam in the following order:

a layer of styrofoam glue, left to dry out
a layer of underwallpaper soaked in normal wallpaper glue
a layer of standard wallpaper, applied in the standard soak-in-glue method

This information came from the site of Henkel, manufacturers of styrofoam glue which costs 7 Euros per kg, an amount which only suffices for 1-2 square meters of wall.

Before I pay for glue two times as expensive as the styrofoam below it and three times as expensive as the wallpaper above it, I'd like to know:

Is a base layer of styrofoam glue the only way to get wallpaper to hold to the styrofoam?
Do I really need an underpaper layer if I am using a cellulose-fleece wallpaper as opposed to a standard one? Does it help hold the real wallpaper to the styrofoam, or is it just to give a nicer look?
All articles I read agree that it is possible to paint over styrofoam using regular water-based inner wall paint. Could I paint over the styrofoam and apply wallpaper to the paint? It would cost three times less than the styrofoam glue.

This is what the caulked styrofoam looks like right now:

You should not do this.  Foam insulation (EPS, XPS, etc.) needs to be covered with drywall in order to protect it (extend the amount of time before it melts) from fire. Otherwise you are risk of being exposed to toxic fumes and melting foam should you ever have a fire. Imagine molten foam dripping from your ceiling onto you - not a situation you want to find yourself in.

The correct "solution" is to drywall on top of the foam (using furring strips, or long screws into the studs), mud/tape the drywall, prime, and then apply wall paper using standard wall paper adhesives.


Why would a speaker make a clicking noise after ~1 hour even when disconnected? I recently purchased a pair of Swan T-200c speakers. They sound amazing, but after roughly an hour of use they emit a clicking noise that increasing in volume. This persists after I unplug the audio connection from my laptop, so at this point I've assumed the problem is with the speakers themselves.

The company that sold them to me offered to replace but also suggested a few things to try first. I have so far:

Purchased a much nicer power strip, one with power filtration (my old strips were 10+ years old and from before my undergrad days, read: not great).
Moved my setup away from my normal desktop area where I was nearby the tv and washer and dryer into a room where it's the only set of electronics other than the lamp above me.
Monkeyed with the positioning.
Made sure all the cords are fully in.
Fiddled with the switches on the back of the master speaker.

The only thing I havent tried was putting a ferrite core around my power leads. The power cords themselves seem reasonably shielded so I'm not sure how much this would help.

I did just get a copy of the owners manual (new product, distributor just received it from manufacturer), but I havent taken a deep dive into it.

I am at the limit of my knowledge. Is there anything else someone can suggest or do you think it's time I spent the money to send it back. I'd hate to give up an otherwise excellent set of speakers if I can adjust something at home.

The speaker's transformer should clean any dirty power you might have. A gross under/over voltage in your home (more than +/- ~10% of nominal) would probably be evident in that you'd have equipment failing left and right; send 'em back to China.

It could be some Bluetooth funny business going on, or a bad DAC, I'm not sure. But if you cut the power and it still crackles, you definitely got a lemon.


was in attic for an hour without mask. could this cause issue? my bathroom fan was dropping water so i went up to the attic and applied fiberglass insulation to the bare metal vent pipt from the fan out to the roof.

i was up in the attic for an hour wearing short sleeve t-shirts and no mask.
When i came down, i started coughing (4~5 times an hour) and my arm felt very itch even after shower.

I did some research and learned that i should have been wearing long sleeve to protect my skin and wear dust mask to get protection from fiberglass.
All similar posts online were about being exposed 10 minutes or less.

Should i go see a doctor?

Fiberglass can be bad for the lungs: http://www.lung.org/healthy-air/home/resources/fiberglass.html

However, for it to be a real issue, one needs a lot of exposure...typically someone that works with it daily as part of their job.

The amount of contact a typical homeowner would be exposed to in their lifetime is not likely something to lose too much sleep over.

For future reference, however, a cheap 3M dust mask is a good idea the next time you're up in the attic.

Odds are you are coughing due to dust in the attic more than the fiberglass.


connecting a 2-wire (red, blue) ceiling light to a 3-wire (red, black, green) ceiling power source In Sydney Australia, how do I connect a 2-wire (red, blue) ceiling light to a 3-wire (red, black, green) ceiling power source?

See Australia: Which wire is hot / active and which is neutral? for some more details, but basically:

Hot: Red -> Red
Neutral: Blue -> Black
Ground: Green

Typically, if you have a fixture that does not have a separate ground wire then there will be a screw attachment point on the fixture to connect the ground wire.


What made these holes in my 2x4 stud? I'm framing up a basement, and one of the 2x4 studs I bought had these curious holes in them, presumably made by an insect.  The insect didn't appear to be still around, and the damage done to the stud is minor, so I'm not concerned about that.
Still, I wondered what this was, and if it's ever a problem.  None of the other studs have this problem.  Pictures below. For scale, The nail pictures is about an inch long, and fully fits in some of the holes.
[]

Those appear to be some sort of insect-related holes that were almost certainly there when the board was sawn.  I'm sure they are long gone as the kiln-drying or other processing will kill any bugs in the wood.


How can I dog-proof a chain link fence? I have a dog who has recently discovered that she can squeeze under a portion of the chain-link fence we installed in order to keep her on our property.

Is there any effective, but reasonably attractive way I can reinforce the bottom of the fence?  I attempted to tent-peg that section of fence down to the ground, but as I discovered this morning, she can just easily push the steel pegs I used out.

I can't really afford to mess around with any ineffective solutions; I live right next to an elementary school, and as I discovered this morning it takes less than 5 minutes to go from her going missing to me receiving a hefty fine, despite her being a very friendly/well tempered German Shepherd/Rottweiler cross.

The best solution is to add a dig-out guard to your fence or dog run:

Head to the home improvement store and pick up some galvanized sheet metal about 2 feet wide (corrugated or straight is fine; the stuff they use for roofing and sheathing outbuildings is perfect)
With snips, a hacksaw or a Sawzall, cut the metal to workable lengths, maybe 3-4'. If it's corrugated, you want the curves to be perpendicular to the long dimension of each piece, so that when it goes into the ground the curves are vertical. You may, for appearances, paint the "top" edge of the metal a pleasing color of oil-based enamel; then it just looks like edging. But, being galvanized, the metal will be weather-resistant.
Use a shovel (as straight-bladed as possible) to cut down through the topsoil at least a foot and a half (or as deep as possible) along the line of the chain-link fence. You shouldn't have to really dig much; just push down and then wiggle the shovel to widen the cut.
With a block of wood and a rubber mallet, pound the sheet metal down into the cut you made until there's about 6" of the sheet metal remaining above ground. Press any loose earth/grass down firmly against the sheet metal on both sides. Repeat around the entire length of the fence.
With a drill and a metal-cutting bit, drill two holes a couple inches down from the top of the metal and on opposite sides of your chain links, at regular intervals along each piece and where two pieces meet (each set of holes should probably be no more than the width of your dog's shoulders or the maximum diameter of his body).
With linesman's pliers, cut a length of annealed wire, pass it through the holes from the inside of the fenced area, then twist it into place around a chain-link wire on the outside (bored dogs will chew, and you don't want them chewing on metal wire).
Annealed wire will rust over a period of years if given the opportunity (the idea is usually that it's cheap to replace); you can mitigate this with a shot of clear acrylic or polyurethane spray, or you can just keep an eye on the wires and replace them. They do make galvanized wire specifically for use with chain-link, but it's stiffer stuff for a given gauge and so is harder to work with.

You now have an anchored piece of metal that the dog will have to dig more than a foot down to get under (or will hit impenetrable rock before he gets there), that is attached firmly to the chain-link so the dog won't be able to squeeze between them. This should be far more effective than your tent stakes at preventing him getting under the fence.


What is this attachment that is connected to my home's main water line? I woke up yesterday morning to water spraying out of the bottom of this attachment. After having a mini panic attack I shut the main off. I waited about 30 mins before turning the main back on and the water stopped spraying out and everything appears to be fine now. Is this some kind of back-flow preventer or pressure regulator? Can someone explain to me what the purpose of this attachment is?

Edit Here are some more photos of the setup.

Looks like a valve installed to tap off of your main line for an irrigation system, then either abandoned or never used. The part on the far left is a knurled knob with a slot in it, probably designed for using a special "keyed" handle so that it could not be accidentally turned off and have your landscaping die. The seals likely failed from never being used, then managed to re-seal when you turned off the pressure. Expect it to fail again now, sooner than later. You should have it replaced or removed if you are never going to use it.


Wire connection between ballast and lamp socket I want to connect wires from ballast WH43-UNV-L to socket 2g11 (1100-VS VERTICAL SNAP-IN OR TWO HOLE MOUNT).

Here is the fulham connection diagram for my type of ballast and my type of lamp:

My ballast have 4 red and 1 yellow wires.

Would it be OK if I connect wires according to the following picture?

UPD1:

If I understand right about "siamesed" holes, connection should look like below.
Red wires should be joined before inserting into the last available hole.

Appreciate any help! Thank you.

No.  You need to wire the lamps according to the diagram.  What you propose does not match the diagram.

On the yellow, the diagram says you must split the yellow wire to power both filament terminals on one "end" of the bulb.

On the red, you must join 3 wires then split them to power both filament terminals on the other end.

This splitting will take extra wires and wire-nuts. Use #18 solid wire rated 600V.  If you have spare length of ballast wire, you can use a little bit of that.

This particular lampholder seems to have 3 holes per "side".  Note that 2 of those holes are "siamesed".  That is telling you they are interconnected to each other/ the same thing. Only connect to one of them.


Vernier caliper jaws shape purpose I'm curious why this particular shape of jaws on digital caliper like this one has.

I mean the tapered pointy ends of the outer and inner jaws. The different shapes of the inner jaws one having a step.

The jaws have a knife edge for measuring the distance between two holes, which is needed when measuring the distance between hole centres.

If the jaws didn't have a knife-edge tip, the width of the tip would hold the caliper away from the hole at two points and the measurement would be wrong.

A - knife edge on inside jaws for measuring inside holes
B - recess to give clearance and define measuring surface
C - ditto
D - rectangular edge for measuring flat (or convex) surfaces. This edge is usually lapped flat, an expensive precision operation that cannot be easily performed up against an internal corner, hence the recessed corner.
E - knife edge for measuring in holes (or similar surfaces that are concave in one dimension) or where access is limited.

The recesses for clearance are found on other tools where you need to prevent sharp corners (or burrs) on the object from contacting a radiussed inner corner on the measuring tool.

Note the recess in the corner of this engineer's square

There are a wide range of jaw shapes available for specialised purposes.

Source - Mitutoyo

The most common jaw shape is probably a compromise that is useful in a wide range of situations.


Why does my water heater stop heating when some outlets don't have power? I just bought a house 2 months ago. The water heater has been working fine until now. We experienced some receptacles in our kitchen coming in and out (meaning they'd work and then quit, work and then quit, all without tripping the breaker) and in the same day the hot water heater stops producing hot water.

I've checked everything I know to check (elements, thermostat, etc, with my ohms meter and an electricity testing pen) but,I'm by no means an electrician and am at a loss for what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Reading your description of the problem, the first thing I think of is a dropped phase or possibly a neutral. So I would start by checking out the panelboard. Look for breakers that are turned on and not reading any voltage on the load side, including the 2 pole breakers and the main.

It may be a faulty breaker, a failure at the meter, or a utility problem. Since you admit you don't have much electrical experience, you may be uncomfortable about opening and inspecting a panel. You will also need to have at least a voltmeter. So I would suggest you bring in someone with experience to help troubleshoot your problem. you can also have the utility company check out there side of the meter.

The most important thing is to stay safe.


Window AC unit in my house Okay, so i'm dying in a Texas Heat Wave and trying to figure out what to do. My Central AC unit went down and it's 1,500 to fix, and i don't have that.
I have an old AC Unit from my old house, and i was wondering if i could do this.

Picture:

Black lines is the house itself, blue lines are the "entry room", which is a Bar that leads to the outside world, red is the garrage that connects to the Bar (but not the house).

There are no windows except sliding glass windows.

My idea is to put my AC unit in the doorway with the back facing into the Bar and hang a sheet over the AC so the hot air goes into the Bar, and the cool air goes into the house.

Will this work?

I also don't want to burn out my old ac unit.

This would be completely and fundamentally unworkable. Air conditioners must be installed so that heat is pumped to the outside of the structure.

The entry room would become excessively hot and humid. Remember, water vapor condensed on the cooling coils of the unit is conducted to the outside of the a/c unit where some is re-vaporized and some drips as liquid. This heat and humidity could damage the walls of the entry room.

The temperature in the entry room would be much higher than the ambient outdoor temperature and this would greatly reduce the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle of the a/c. And there would be heat flow through the wall of the entry room back into cooled space.


Electrical wiring problem in panel when using 220 volt log splitter I have had this electrical panel for 15 years with no problems.  I have six 110v circuits and one 220v circuit.  One of my 110v circuits to several outlets suddenly went dead but did not trip the circuit breaker.  Now, when I plug in my log splitter into my 220v circuit it just hums,  but the dead 110v circuit comes alive.

Could this be caused by bad circuit breakers on either my 220v or 110v circuit?  Please advise.

With multiple dead outlets on each side you have lost a leg as I said so there will not be power on the odd or even breakers under load with no load there may still be a conductive path creating some voltage at an outlet but no ability to support a load. When you turn on a 240 device the power is being delivered to the the bad leg through this device or log splitter. All the odd breakers are connected to 1 leg and all the even are connected to the other leg for single pole. The supply to the panel from the main has a problem. It could be the breaker in the service panel that feeds the sub or 1 wire connecting the breaker to the panel or someplace in between so all the breakers on the odd or even side (L1 or L2 will be dead). Check at the service panel for 120 to neutral on each then 240 across the 2 then check the sub the same way. If you see 240 at the service connection but not at the sub and the connections look good the feeder wire has a break someplace in between.


How should I install a bathroom exhaust fan in a 2nd floor bathroom? I would like to install a bathroom exhaust fan in my 2nd floor bathroom, due to moisture issues. There is no existing fan, only a light fixture. There are two exterior walls in this room and the attic above is finished.

I have considered venting straight out through the wall to the exterior, but I am unsure if that is the best option because this would mean I'd have to open up a large portion of the ceiling.

You can either vent straight out or through your roof.  I don't know exactly what is above your fan but I will assume it is finished space and you are venting through the side.

In order (and note giving advice without pictures):

Figure out which way the joists are running above the bathroom.  You will be venting out which ever way you can run parallel to the joists.
You will want your fan somewhere in between the shower and the center of the room.  Traditionally the fan placement is about 1-2 feet outside of the shower area.  I am not sure what other things are in your bathroom but figure out where you want the fan.
Use a stud finder (I like the magnetic ones) to figure out where the joists are.  Cut out test hole to inspect and eventually cut out a square of drywall big enough to install the fan in between the joists.  Not trying to be a downer here but this is a bit of luck.  You don't know what is in the ceiling.  If there is some plumbing, major electric or ducts, you might have to make several cuts.
Once you have your fan placement (you have looked up into the joists knowing that you can run a 4 inch pipe to exterior) you can start removing more drywall.  You will need to remove a strip of drywall (at the joists) from fan to exterior wall, a small strip (foot wide) from fan to electric wall, and then another strip around your current light switch.  To give exacts we will need to see pictures.
Figure out what circuit you are tapping into and what it is rated for.  If it is 15A then you can use 14-3 wire and 20A you must use 12-3 wire.
Install fan in ceiling.
Run electric from switch to fan.  (Turn off electrical source first)
Wire fan.
Wire switch.  (I am assuming you will have to replace electrical box for something bigger so you would be in essence rewiring everything there - take a picture before you tear it apart)
Cut hole for exterior venting.
Run duct from fan to exterior - it should be sloped very slight down.
Cap exterior venting on outside with appropriate cap.
Insulate around venting and exterior wall.
Drywall, mud/tape, paint.  Really every other step could be done in a couple hours given you have the materials.  This is really the most time consuming part.

Let me know if you have questions or if I skipped something.


Why is my washing machine making this sound? I have uploaded a short video of my washing machine's spin cycle.  It sounds like there is something scraping and the drum isn't moving very fast.  Any ideas as to what this could be?  Would it be worth my time to take the thing apart?

Likely a failed transmission (I was going to go with bearing before I heard the video) and likely costs more to fix than getting a new washer (almost certainly costs more to fix than getting a clean, working used washer.) But, if you like to look, look up the "tricks" to getting into your model of washer (the last one I tore down had "places you shoved a putty-knife" that unlatched the cover) - there's usually something non-obvious like that, but the internet has largely circumvented these "trade secrets of the appliance repair trade" if you look hard enough.

It's also helpful to look for "common problems" or just problems and your model number.


How can I convert a 220v lighting circuit to 110v? My electrician wired a single bulb light fixture with 220vac instead of 110vac.There are two 110 vac wires and the Ground.How can i reduce this to 110vac at the fixture?

Note: This assumes you are in the US or an area that follows US electrical standards. If you are someplace else then this may be totally incorrect.

You need to connect hot, neutral, ground. Currently you have a second hot instead of neutral.

The catch is that this requires moving a wire at the panel. Assuming you have "normal" wiring, you should have white for neutral, green or bare wire for ground and some other color, usually black, for hot.

If the cable from the panel to the fixture is black/white/green-or-bare then you need to move white from a hot connection to the neutral bar. WARNING: If you have never worked inside a breaker panel before then this is probably NOT a good idea to do yourself.

If the cable from the panel is black/red/green-or-bare (i.e., designed for a 240V circuit with no neutral) then the cable should be switched to one that includes a white wire.

If the cable from the panel is black/red/white/green-or-bare (like for a stove or dryer or other circuit) then you should already have neutral in the cable (the white wire) and either the wires were connected wrong at the panel or at the fixture - should have white to neutral on both ends.

My personal recommendation (I am not an electrician) is to hire an electrician to do this. But probably a different electrician because while it should be "you messed up, you fix it", I would worry that if they messed up on such a basic thing that they really can't be trusted to fix it properly. In particular, the comment someone else made about "connect to one 110 VAC and ground" is a bit scary: Doing that would make the light work properly, but would absolutely violate code and would not be safe. If your "electrician" decided to do a quick fix like that then I'd be really worried...