Why is there so much metal-clad wiring in my house? My house was built in 1893. I was recently doing some electrical work in the attic, adding some light fixtures. While doing that, I noticed that several of the upstairs outlets were wired with old, worn-looking metal clad wiring. Since I wanted to replace the outlets anyway for style reasons, I replaced this old wiring with new 14/2 NM w/G (Romex) wiring. I also used the same romex for the new lights and switches (fished into interior wall cavities).

In further exploration, I've found this house has a lot of metal-clad wiring. Not only in places where you might want some extra protection, like a long run alongside the chimney or in a crawlspace, but also in places that seem totally straightforward and safe, like first-floor outlets and light switches. And it seems relatively recent (within the last 30 years).

Is there something I'm missing that might require metal-clad wiring in this house?

Bonus question: what's a good way to recycle lots of old metal clad cabling? :)

The flexible armored wire you are seeing is often referred to as AC or BX cable. (BX was a brand name like Romex is for NM) Bx was used extensively prior to 1960ish and is still used today. There are no current code requirements that require this kind of cable in residential construction and it has almost all but been replaced with NM. As you have probably already figured out, BX uses different box connectors, and many of the device boxes you have in place were probably made to terminate BX cable.

Although it is perfectly legal to use, and actually quite safe, it is rarely used because of it's higher cost and relative difficulty to install and terminate. The only caution I would emphasize is the ground conductor in older BX. it was very common not to use a separate ground conductor when using BX, and often when there was a separate ground wire, it was a smaller AWG that the black/white/red current carrying conductors. this was never a problem if the BX armor was properly attached to the metal junction boxes and again properly connected at the panel, thus making a substantial grounding path.

As  far as the bonus question. BX is heavy and probably brings a good price at the metal recycling brokers.  A couple of years ago when junk metal was really hot, a good load would have been worth hundreds of dollars. It was a popular find for junk dealers and the target of theft.


Which is better/safer for cutting concrete slab, hammer drill or angle grinder? I have to cut a 100x500 mm hole in a concrete slab that is about 80-100 mm thick. I think that I have two options to do that:

1) 9" angle grinder with segmented diamond disc: cut the long sides, then chip away the short sides with chisel.

2) Hammer drill with with a large bit making holes close to each other and the just breaking it out with a chisel.

Option 1 is faster, but is more expensive (I also have to buy the disc besides the tool rent) and it looks kind of scary after I saw some kick back results.

Option 2 is cheaper (bits come with the tool rent), but seems to be more time consuming.

Both options will leave a rough finish that will demand for stucco or something.

PS: I can access the slab from the top and the bottom if it matters anything.

The standard approach used by electricians routing large conduits through concrete floors is using a diamond edged hole saw cutting 3 or 4 inch holes. Several of these holes overlapping could do it. Or several holes near each other might suit your purpose. These drills need to be water cooled while drilling. You may be able to rent one.

Alternatively a smaller grinder could score the cutout on both sides, a drill could then break through the webbing left under the scoring and a chisel to finish it off.


Name of tool used to check/make squareness I urgently need to know the name of this tool.
I'm not talking about a try square.

It has for pieces of plastic which have inside corners in them, exactly 90 degrees, a piece of string goes around each plastic corner and you put the the work that you want to be rectangular (all 4 outside corners 90 degrees) inside the corner pieces of the tool, and pull the string to make it very tight.

You can glue the wood together that you are making, put this tool around it and tie off the string, the woodwork will then glue in a perfect rectangle, with every corner at 90 degrees.


Can a GFCI combo and a switch be independently connected to a light and a fan using 14/3 wire? The box on the left in the diagram is a dimmer switch and the box on the right is a GFCI combo switch. The ground wiring is absent from the diagram. How can this wiring be completed to connect the fan and light independently?

With GFCI Protection of Devices
If you want to provide GFCI protection of the fixture, you'd feed the switches from the LOAD side of the GFCI device.

Without GFCI Protection of Devices
If you don't want to provide GFCI protection to the devices, you'd feed the switches from the incoming feeder.

NOTE: I've labeled one of the dimmer terminals as "C" (common), as it looks like you might have a 3-way dimmer. In this case the "C" terminal will be an odd color (likely black), while the other two will be the same color (brass). Unless of course the third terminal in your diagram is green (ground), in which case you should ignore this note and connect the grounding conductor to the green terminal.


Removing Old Deck - how to patch missing aluminum siding I want to tear off the deck and replace it with stairs down to a patio. What stops me is what to do about the "holes" it leaves in the aluminum siding. There will be small holes where the railing attaches to the wall, and a large panel missing where the floor of the deck attaches to the house.

Two questions:

1) What's the most aesthetically pleasing way to patch the holes (e.g. does someone make colored caulk or epoxy that would last a long time that I could just fill them in with?)

2) What to do about the big missing piece of aluminum where the deck attaches. I'm assuming that it's not a good idea to replace the missing aluminum with a piece of vinyl. If it's not a bad idea (to use vinyl), is there any hope of being able to find vinyl or paint vinyl to not stand out as being different from the aluminum? Obviously my goal is to not redo all the siding on the house.

Thanks!

I have used pop rivets to repair aluminum siding in the past. You can see the patch even after painted. In 1 case we were able to remove several panels from the back of a garage and make it look original. The back side of the garage we used smothe hardi plank to cover , it was not even close on the garage but that was an area that was totally out of view and the high visibility Areas looked like there had not been a change.


What are my lighting options for a pole-barn garage? I just added on to my pole-barn garage, it now has 1500 square feet. There is a single flourecent (and door opener) lighting it currently. I would like to add some serious lighting as I work on my cars, and do woodworking in there, unlike the previous owner.

The ceiling height goes from 12-16', is this too short for high bay lighting?

Is there something more economical than high-bay?

I'd probably try for a mix of natural light, fluorescent, and point lights.

The natural light will be the most economical, but obviously fails at night.

The fluorescent lighting should give you enough light for most working conditions.

And the point lights should help for when you need to do detail work or get under the hood of your cars. You can find point lights on articulated arms, that way you can just grab and move the light to wherever you need it. Mounting an arm or two on each pole would probably be enough.


Does new drywall need 2 coats of primer Do I need 2 coats of primer on new drywall? Homeowner is using primer/paint on finish coat. Will the primer/paint suffice, instead of 2nd coat of primer?

This is for all new surface. walls, ceilings & trim.

It really depends on the results you get after the first coat.  The purpose of primer is to lay down a surface that is uniform and consistent in

color, within reason
smoothness
texture
absorption
absence of surface contamination

Because if those things are not uniform, the irregularities will print through when you topcoat.

You can get it to stop printing through if you spam enough coats of topcoat... But since that's primer's job, it's better to resolve it at the primer stage, where you are sure to get it in 1 or 2.


How to Wire Fantech FR100 in-line exhaust, venting two bathrooms with Two TopGreener TDHOS5 Humidity Motion Sensor switches The Fantech FR100 fan requires Neutral & Load. That's easy enough, and the multi-switch diagram shows just a black from each switch.

The TopGreener (really Enerlites) TDHOS5 requires Neutral & Load. There are separate manual switches for a light and fan and sensors for humidity and motion.  The wiring diagram shows a red wire going to the light and a brown wire going to fan.  It is not clear how the neutral is used.

This is new construction so I will run what is necessary.  I expect hot-black and neutral with ground from breaker to switch; black and white conductors to fan and black and white conductors to light (both with grounds). Are the three neutrals pig-tailed at switch box, before the switch?

The installation diagram is not clear: neutral is shown runing off to the opposite direction with no terminus. Just saying.

At the least, I want to wire the fan correctly!

I do want to run the one fan venting two bathrooms with two switches. TopGreener recommended this switch for this use. Lights in each bathroom are independent of each other, controlled by the motion sensor or the manual switch. The fan has a manual switch and a humidity sensor in each bathroom. The joint ventilation scheme is a way to assure fresher air in this end of the house. Also, a remote fan is quieter.

My biggest gripe is the way TopGreener has diagrammed the wiring, as it seems they should be clear(er) in regards to the neutral configuration.

This isn't as hard as it looks

First off -- the TDHOS5 (which is an Enerlites product, by the way) has manual on/off tap-switches for the light and fan built in, so you do not need separate manual switches (in fact, having separate manual switches could be much more confusing than using the tap-switches).

Second, the required wiring for this is actually rather simple -- the humidity-sensor portions of the TDHOS5s are wired in parallel (wired-OR connection), while the motion-sensor portions are wired to independent lights, as in the diagram below.  One caveat is that when you're wire-ORing switches like this, one of the switches effectively needs to be on a switch loop (instead of routing switched hots independently from two boxes to the load) to avoid violating 300.3(B)/310.10(H) about wires in parallel.


Compressor hose line Would having a 20m hose connecting my compressor shed to my workshop be ok? I was planning to have the hose outside the problem is temperature differences at day and night and rain and things like that, and also UV light. Would having it inside these things protect it?

What about these electrical tubes for wires?

Could I use this one??

It's relatively easy to find UV resistant compressor hose from many manufacturers. It's also important to note the "resistant" aspect of the description. Solar UV is quite destructive and I doubt any manufacturer would consider the product to be UV proof.

Encasing your UV resistant hose in a UV opaque tube, conduit, enclosure would substantially reduce the destructive effect of the sun's UV rays. Most compressor hoses are quite durable in all temperatures and you should note that the manufacturer's specifications will include recommended temperatures. Rarely are those figures outside of human habitable levels.

I cannot comment on how to determine if an enclosure selection would be UV opaque, although black colours are usually a better choice than white and other lighter colors. I have personally observed white insulated wiring deteriorate in sunlight over a period of months, while the black insulated equivalent lasted years.

If flexibility is a requirement, one could purchase a (likely expensive) larger diameter UV resistant hose and slide the smaller working compressor hose within.

Even a selection of plumbing grade PVC will provide protection. According to this link of somewhat limited content, a coat of latex paint will increase the UV resistance and lifespan of ordinary PVC pipe.

Additional research shows that one can purchase specifically-UV-resistant PVC, saving the need for a coat of paint!

One more tidbit. Black polyethylene pipe can be flexible enough if needed and is available in many sizes and is quite UV resistant. Using grey PVC risks the pipe being mistaken for electrical conduit (in the USA) and is contra-indicated, despite its UV resistance.

Black PE pipe would never be mistaken for electrical and is also going to be reasonably priced, unless it is a rarity in your country.


What wood to use for external steps on a metal box-section frame? We've got some rotting wooden outside steps that I want to replace. They're just seven 1 metre-long planks screwed to a metal framework from the underside.
I'd planned to use scaffold boards as once cut to length the size is good, and I figured they'd take a lot of abuse. Also there quite rough so no need to add chicken wire or gripper pads for traction in the wet, maybe.
Lining up in the shop to buy them though I realise that they're not treated, like a lot of external wood tends to be.
How long would they last if I used them in their natural untreated state?  I live in the UK so we have plenty of rain!
Alternatively I could treat/paint them with something?  What products would be recommended?  I'd like them to have a dark stain, rather than paint, if possible.
Or should I be looking at different wood completely?
Part of the appeal of scaffold boards is that they're relatively cheap, of course.

I assume that the scaffold boards are SPF (spruce, pine, or fir). If so, they'll gray out and start to rot within a year, mostly at the contact points with the supports. If you were to seal them well before installation they'd do a bit better, but only by a few years.
Some wood naturally resists rot, such as cedar, redwood, and teak. They should still be sealed, though, to preserve appearance.
Otherwise, treated lumber is generally the most cost-effective. Since you don't need it rated for ground contact, almost any will do. It'll last 10-20 years, depending on various factors relating to moisture.


What Support/Legs would i need for a 2m Solid Oak Computer Desk? I am currently decorating a room which is going to be my office and there is a 2m space for a computer desk. I am thinking of ordering a solid oak worktop to use as the desk (2M X 720 X 40mm ~46kg) and was wondering what sort of legs/support this would need to prevent any sagging? Currently I have two IKEA Alex Desk Drawers for my current desk, would it be possible to use these?
Would there need to be anything in the middle? My monitors are going to be mounted on the wall so there shouldn't be much weight directly in the middle, just my PC on the right hand side.
I   used a sag calculator (does this mean two legs/support either side should be acceptable) :

Edit : picture updated using floating method

You could use side/back ledgers under the "shelf" and add a stiffener of 1x2 oak under the front edge with glue and screws.
You could use a piece of wood on the front edge also if it is unfinished with glue and finish nails.
Also, it looks like you can order with an edging strip.
Consider letting them add a suitable piece of wood to the unsupported edge.


How is this bathroom ventilation fan attached? I'm trying to replace a fan in my bathroom.The old one is a NuTone 668RP.  I've managed to get all of the innards out of the old fan but can't figure out how the housing is attached. I don't see any screws or anything and it seems to be attached from the top. It's a downstairs bathroom so I can't get to the attic.

There's a stud on the "bottom" side (in the photo) but the side is not attached to the stud. I stuck my screwdriver up there and ran it along all four sides. Must be attached to the top somehow.

Okay, I found the same model on Amazon so I'm just going to replace the motor, fan, and light.


advice on grounding lamp and ballast required Greetings to DIY community,

That's my first DIY experience, and I literally have zero experience with electricity. I would appreciate any advice if I am missing or doing something wrong here.

I am trying to wire a Philips TUV 55W PLL lamp with a WH43-UNV-L ballast according to the Fulham datasheet (diagram. 12). I know that this ballast is discontinued for now, but at least I managed to get it at this time.
In addition, I know that this lamp type expects programmed start instead of instant start one.

The documentation states "This ballast case must be grounded".

Let's say I am going to use this type of cord, would attaching "green" wire to the ballast's box would be enough to be "grounded"?

Thank you!

Normally the cord attaches to the fixture or to a multiwire splice that connects to the housing and to the ballast if the ballast has a grounding wire or terminal. If the ballast doesn't have a ground wire or terminal the ballast is just grounded to the fixture housing by it's mounting screws.

The ground wire on the cord usually attaches to a designated (green) screw on the fixture frame. If the ballast has no direct ground connection then you can use a blue (for #14 and #16 wire) stake-on fork on the stranded wire from the cord and attach it directly under the ground screw or you can wrap a short piece of solid green or bare #14 wire around the screw and attach it to the cord by a wire connector.

If the ballast has a ground terminal or wire that connection is not adequate to ground the whole fixture by that ground connection. Normally you would connect a short piece of bare or green #12 or #14 wire to the fixture ground screw, then use a wire connector it to the ground wire on the cord and the wire grounding to the ballast.


How do I use an extension ladder to get onto my roof? I have a two storey house and need to get onto the roof to apply some heat paint on my furnace exhaust pipe before winter.

It looks about 20-22' from the ground to the edge my eaves, so to be safe I figure I need a 28' extension ladder.

The ground around my house is level and there is plenty of room.

How do I correctly position my ladder? Do I need to attach it to my roof somehow so it won't fall over (with me on it)?

Personally, I hate ladders with a passion. :) Heights are best left to birds, squirrels, etc. Having said that...

A ladder stabilizer can often help. This is a bracket that attaches to your ladder. It makes the ladder much more stable when leaned against the house. A nice thing about the ladder stabilizer is it lets you lean the ladder on the wall of your house, NOT against the edge of your gutter, possibly causing damage to the gutters.

Ladder-Max Stand-off Stabilizer

Next, make sure the ground is flat and solid under your ladder's feet. If the ground is not so, I made a wooden wedge to place under one of the feet of my ladder to make sure the ladder will be happily placed. The bottom of that wedge has spikes sticking out of it, so it will not slip on the grass. You can also buy extension ladders with one leg than can be adjusted in length to account for uneven ground.

To climb onto the roof, you want to run the top of the ladder past the roof, so it extends far enough that you can hold on when you step on and off. I'd suggest it should be at least 3 feet past the edge of your gutter, and 4 feet is better. I also have a helper hold onto the bottom of the ladder to stabilize it. A helper is a good idea in general anyway. One thing you don't wish is for the ladder to fall down when you are standing on the roof, leaving you with no way down, and nobody around to put the ladder back in position (or, as my wife might add, to call 911 when necessary.) A picture is worth a thousand words though:

Getting back onto the ladder off the roof is merely a matter of reversing your steps, as you hold onto the top end of the ladder with your hands.

Obey this setback rule: keep the base of the ladder at least 1 foot out from the house for every 3 feet in height. (Yes, many say to use a 1/4 ratio, but I often tend to go for 1/3.) So if the top of the ladder touches the house at 15 feet up, the base wants to be between 4 and 5 feet out. The trick is to not have it at too steep of a pitch, as then it would too easily tip away from the house - a bad thing especially if you are on it. The idea is that when you are standing on the ladder, you always want the center of gravity (of you plus the ladder) to be between the foot of the ladder and the house.

If I have an extension ladder standing on my deck, I'll often screw down a 2x4 cleat outside of the feet. This prevents the feet from moving/slipping out when I am on the ladder. On a grass or dirt footing, the feet of an extension ladder can swivel into what are effectively spikes that can be set firmly into the ground. These prevent the base of the ladder from moving out from under you.

Other rules - don't climb a ladder if you can avoid it when it is windy, or if you are even remotely tired or not completely focused on the matter at hand. If you are very uncomfortable with climbing ladders, money solves all problems here, as you can always hire even small jobs out.

Here are a few links you might find useful:

How to Climb a Ladder Safely

The Right Way to Set Up and Climb a Ladder


MakeWater heater gravity feed I installed a water heater gravity circulation line but it does not circulate. On newer heaters I learned that there may be a flap that prevents siphoning. How do I remove this?
Rheem Model # Prog50-42NRH67PV Manufactured 4/11/2016

I don't think it would be possible to have a device to prevent a typical thermo-siphon arrangement, as the circulation path is the same as the normal path that heated water takes from tank to point of use. If the arrangement is not set up properly then you might not get circulation (i.e. check valve at return line).

Picture stolen shamelessly from the internet.


Ariston boiler with 108 error code I have an Aniston gas boiler. It's displaying error code 108. After Googling I found it's because of the low water pressure. Other forums indicate I should open the water valves underneath until the pressure indicator says 1 or 1.5, however I have opened them all, in different combinations, and nothing works.

Any idea how I can fix this?

Thanks!

The valve that worked was the round blue one underneath (and not the black ones). At first it was hard to turn, but it finally opened and the pressure went back up. Once it got to 1.5 I fully closed it and it now works.


Washer drain and vent pipe I'm remodeling the washer room and have a question bout my drain and vent pipe. I'm buying new units and I want to extend the drain pipe to the back of the washer. Currently it's on the side close to the front of the washer.  The picture shows on the left what it use to be.  Once in a while it would back up and spill out. So with the new units coming and wanting to go 2", I was thinking of breaking the cast iron vent, put in a rubber tee and capping the old 1.5 drain pipe. I'm not going to try and fit it in the wall so it'll exposed. Vent pipe will then go 1.5 up out the roof.
What do you guys think?

It's not going to be that simple. Unless you support the pipe above where you want to put the rubber boot, it's likely going to come crashing down. Depending on what's above, you might be better off cutting the cast iron where you want, and replacing everything above the cut with PVC/ABS. Without knowing more about what's above this, and what else ties into that pipe, there's no way to provide an accurate answer.

I will say that the rubber boot, is likely not the best course of action.

Remove the galvanized pipe.
Use a chain break to cut the cast iron a bit lower than you planned.
Install a Fernco coupling to transition from cast iron to PVC/ABS.
Finish the plumbing in PVC/ABS, including the tee for the standpipe trap arm.
Properly support PVC/ABS plumbing.

Make sure the trap arm for the standpipe is not too long for the size of pipe you're using (2" pipe = 8' max. developed length trap arm 1.5" = 6'). Also make sure the drain has the proper slope.


Adding sink fixture to waste stack with existing sink fixture I'm renovating our basement and I have a waste stack with a roughed in sink fixture trap arm. We are putting a wetbar on the other side of this wall probably around 2' to the left of this waste stack through the double stud (this is a load bearing wall). Please see the below picture:

Here's a picture of the wetbar on the other side (waste stack painted white for some reason):

questions:

I don't believe there is a problem drilling through these studs am I correct? I believe code says up to 60%? I live in BC, can anyone confirm this? pipe size is 1 1/2"
Can I direct vent into this waste stack? If so, I will will have to have to either go above or below the existing T fitting, but my problem is I have a deep sink, so I'll probably have to go below the existing T fitting. What do you guys think?
Do I need a cleanout on my wet bar fixture? or can the removable p trap be a sufficient cleanout?

thanks so much!

Eric

Update:

For those that come across this, this is what I ended up doing:

I believe that you are correct. Here is an article that discuss notching and drilling of studs: http://www.familyhandyman.com/walls/drilling-holes-notching-and-boring-holes-in-wood-studs/view-all

  Load Bearing Walls:

  Holes may not exceed 40 percent of the stud’s width (1-3/8 in. maximum in 2x4s; 2-1/4 in. maximum in 2x6s). The exception: Holes up to 60 percent of the stud’s width may be drilled through no more than two consecutive “doubled-up” studs.

While this article is not specific to BC, I believe that it is the same.

Note the limitation of only passing through two doubled-up studs. In you case, to get the new sink to about 2' over from the existing sanitary, you will have to pass through two studs. The first stud is already doubled-up but the second one is not and will need to be doubled-up. That will be as far as you can go.

Yes, can connect the drain of the bar sink into the vertical drain with the top portion acting as a vent for both sinks. The connection can be either above or below the existing as required to fit your new sink.
Most inspectors accept removable p-traps in lieu of cleanouts and is a common practice.


Can drywall be installed over lath? We removed the plaster from several walls because they were friable and bulging, but chose to leave the lath attached to save time/work. We will screw 1/2 inch drywall onto the walls, but upon further consideration are concerned that the lath underneath may cause irregularities in the finished product.  Is this an acceptable practice or should we remove the lath also?

Any imperfections in the wall will be easily visible through the drywall. It will form waves that conform to the surface behind it. When laying out walls in a new build, we make sure every stud has the bow or cup facing the same direction to minimize this. And any stud that is too badly twisted is re-purposed (usually for shorter cripples under windows).

I would recommend taking a long flat surface (either a straight board or a level) and making sure all the walls are flat, both vertically and horizontally. They can be out of level by a bit, but flat is important. If this reveals lots of bulges or cups in the wall, flatten it while it's exposed.

If you find it's not flat and pull the lath, you may still find the studs are not flat. For any studs that have a significant cup in, you can sister a second stud beside it to give a good nailing surface, just be sure it's not on a seam between two sheets of drywall. And if any studs have a significant bow out, you can plane them down slightly (though if you have to remove more than a half inch, I'd sister another stud for structure).

One other consideration, junction boxes for outlets and switches are standardized for installing on studs with drywall, so you'll have an easier time replacing them at the 1/2" depth if you're down to the studs.


Ground fault causing main breaker to trip If there was a ground fault causing severe electric shock, and no gfci protection in place, could it ever reach and trip the main breaker, or would it always trip a regular breaker for that circuit first? I'm aware that this wouldn't provide the adequate protection, as the question is more theoretical than anything else. I'm wondering what is the most likely situation in which this could possibly happen for fiction purposes.

Probably Not
Note: US-centric. Basic principles apply elsewhere but due to different implementation (e.g., whole-house RCD), this may not be the case in some places around the world.
The key is that ground fault and regular breaker trip are two very different things.
Regular Breaker
The basic premise of a regular circuit breaker, whether a main breaker for the feed into a panel (typically between 60A and 200A), a circuit breaker for in the panel for an individual circuit (typically between 15A and 40A) or a circuit breaker built into a device (e.g., a surge protector - not the GFCI type in a hair dryer) is monitoring the total current flowing through on the hot wire to see if it is over the limit.
A regular breaker will trip in two modes:

A lot of current hot to neutral
A lot of current hot to ground ("ground wire", not "the earth beneath your feet" - because it is very unlikely to get a lot of current flowing through you to the earth beneath your feet because you are not a great conductor. Well, maybe if you were Leonard Bernstein.)

A regular breaker will not trip if there is a normal amount of current, even if it is enough to kill an elephant. Or a herd of elephants.
The dramatic quick trip (within 2 seconds of a problem) is from a short-circuit or a near-short-circuit. Examples include turning on a breaker after replacing a receptacle or switch with a bare ground wire touching a hot screw, animals chewing through a cable (hot exposed touching either neutral also exposed or ground or metal conduit), certain modes of receptacle, switch or appliance failure, etc. Technically speaking, in these cases it is possible for any breaker in the sequence (e.g., both the branch circuit and the main feed) to trip. Generally speaking, if the branch circuit is small (e.g., 20A) compared to the main feed (e.g., 100A), the branch circuit will trip first, providing protection to the affected circuit without turning everything else off.
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter - GFCI
A GFCI doesn't look at the total amount of current. It looks at the difference between the hot and neutral or (on a US 240V circuit) between the hot wires. The idea is that all current should go into the hot & neutral wires and no place else. That "else" is "ground". Ground in this instance does not necessarily mean the ground wire. It can mean the earth between your feet. A GFCI does not trip (except if it burns up, but that's not the same) simply because a lot of current flows through it.
A GFCI is primarily for life safety. A small amount of current is enough to kill an elephant - or a person - if the current goes through the heart. One hand on a hot wire, the other hand in a sink full of water, and you've had it. It doesn't take a lot of current (so it doesn't trip the regular breaker) and it doesn't take a lot of time. GFCIs act very fast and with a very low differential in current.
A GFCI will trip in a few modes (using hot/neutral 120V as an example, but similar for 240V):

Current leaks from hot to ground wire. Now hot < neutral.
Current leaks from neutral to ground wire. Now neutral < hot.
A person or animal touches a hot wire - current leaks from hot through person to the physical earth. Now hot < neutral.

The first of these would also cause a regular breaker (circuit or main) to trip. But it will only do so if the total current is large. That happens if there is a real short circuit. Anything short of a real short circuit (where the regular breaker will do the job just fine and the GFCI isn't needed) and the GFCI will catch it and the regular breaker won't.
A GFCI will not trip if all the current in the hot wire matches the neutral wire. Stand totally insulated (thick rubber shoes) and touch one hand to hot and one to neutral and GFCI will not activate. Thanks to the resistance of your body, your regular breaker  won't activate. When someone comes over to your spasming body and touches you, then the GFCI will activate, saving them but probably too late for you (do not try this at home!).
The end result is: Regular breakers (circuit or main) catch a different type of problem than GFCI. Both are important for safety. They are complementary, not redundant.


How big a hole do I have to drill in concrete to embed rebar in it? I have a concrete patio that I'd like to use as the foundation for a CMU wall. I'd like the CMUs to be tied into the patio slab with rebar. I get that the gist is to drill a hole in the slab, put rebar in the hole, and then fill it in with concrete to anchor the rebar into the hole. What size rebar should I use, and how big a hole do I need to drill? If I use 1/2" rebar, can the hole be 5/8"? 3/4"? Does it have to be 1"? etc.

I have been working with and around concrete for 20 years now. One thing is you cannot put cmu block or any other stucture on just a thin concrete pad. You must have a load bearing surface (footer) , and the specs will vary depending on soil type, frost line, and load. Second, if you wanted to dowel in to concrete you must use epoxy to anchor them. If using #4 rebar, i would go slightly larger on the bit (5/8") to allow enough epoxy for bonding and an easier initial fit.


Should I install vapor barrier in a seasonal cottage? I am installing drywall in the bedrooms of a seasonal cottage in northern Ontario.  It is unheated in the winter.  The cottage is insulated with R14 insulation.  Will the installation of a vapour barrier behind the drywall cause mold issues?

Presumably you are going to have heat early/late in the season, when it gets cold at night. If you ever want to heat the cottage in the winter, it's also significantly easier to do now than it is later.

I would install a vapour barrier in this case. It's needed when warm meets cold; in cold climates, on the warm side, to prevent moisture from forming condensation in the insulation. It also helps prevent air flow (drafts) which can otherwise make insulation fairly ineffective. You should have a continuous seal around the building, meaning the vapour barrier should be taped and sealed with acoustic caulk.

Buildingscience.com has some great articles on this, I highly suggest you check it out. For example, this speaks to the purpose and how different wall constructions work: http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/reports/rr-0412-insulations-sheathings-and-vapor-retarders/


Can I put a sanding drum in a routing table and use it like a spindle sander? If I mount something like one of these:

in a router in a router table, have I just created a spindle sander, or are there other differences in how they work? If you've already got a router, what would be the benefit of getting an actual spindle sander vs a kit like this?

A typical spindle sander rotates at between 100 and 2,000 RPM, where a router is much faster 8,000 to 35,000 RPM. So I would say this is probably not the best idea, and could lead to damage to the equipment, injury, and death.


How can I securely hang a hammock on trailer framing? I want to hang a hammock indoors, but my trailer has dry wall ceilings and walls, you know, thin trailer walls. I am scared that it will not be able to hold my weight in the hammock, since I weigh 148 lbs.

Also I believe the wall would be too flimsy to keep the screw in it. Any advice or tips? Or better ways of setting up a hammock to where it won't collapse, or where I don't have to use a screw?

I am afraid a trailer is not structurally able to support a hammock even for a small person. . Not from the ceiling and not from walls.

The  solution is a hammock stand.

These are readily available online.


Install floor tile or tile-board first? We are updating a small basement bathroom.  We agree on the style and materials, but not exactly on the method of installation.  The idea is to put tile down on the floor, and use tile-board for the walls.  Do we install the floor tile first, or the tile-board first?

Thanks for the help!

Floor first.

Tile.  Cut out the the bottom of the drywall so that the tile can sit underneath it.

Throw some cardboard on top of your tile, sit tile board on tile and put it up.  Pull out cardboard.  Caulk the gap.  You are done and everything looks perfect.


How do I mount a ceiling fan to this fan box? I want to put up some ceiling fans in my house. There are already some fan boxes in the ceiling that were covered with blanking plates (if there were fans there before, I assume the previous owners took them when they moved).

It looks like this kind of box would have originally come with some screws, which I don't have:

http://www.alliedmoulded.com/media/686348/9373-FR.jpg

Here is a drawing where the embossed text can be seen more easily. http://www.alliedmoulded.com/media/941565/9373-FR.pdf

So my questions are:

Is this box intended to have the fan supported with screws going through the two notches in the sides, so that the fan is supported by the joist behind it instead of by the box itself?
The text on the box says "Use #12-14 x 1-1/2 long screws". Can I just buy these screws and use them to mount a ceiling fan to this box? Or would there have been anything special about the original screws?

Yes to both of your questions.

The screws go into the notches/holes at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions in the photo of your box.

The two center holes are just to mount the box itself until a fan is installed.


What is this machine screw? 3.7mm OD, ~32 TPI I have a machine screw from the hardware on an old desk that needs to be replaced (the knob it goes with is slightly stripped so it needs a longer screw to catch when mounted), but it's a really weird size. The outer thread diameter is 3.7mm, and there are somewhere between 30 and 32 threads per inch (it's 1" long but last mm or so of the shaft is missing threads). This doesn't match any standard metric or US size (it's between #6 and #8 and as far as I'm aware there's no #7).

The closest thing I found to a match looking up various thread sizes with a 0.1875 inch British standard cycle, but even if that is what it is then I suspect you will find it extremely difficult to actually buy.


Gap around plumbing in bathroom floor/subfloor We've just put a lot of effort into overhauling our 3rd floor (1890's frame house) including a bathroom. Our carpenter/handyman and plumber thought it was a good idea to leave a lot of clearance in the floor around the claw foot bathtub's plumbing, to give the pipes some play.
I don't like it - especially the gap extending from the cold supply all the way around the drain
I certainly don't want to wait and see if mice will come through. The handyman's attitude is escutcheons cover all. Is that reasonable? If not, what are my best options for a fix - before the tub goes in.

Escutcheons do cover the rough edges around a pipe penetration. But you'll never find an escutcheon that covers the combination of cold pipe and drain pipe. It'll take two, and they may or may not overlap each other well enough to fully cover the rough edges. IMHO this is sub-par workmanship; the tile guy just didn't want to take the time to trim four hexagons to fit neatly (but not necessarily snugly - you'd still need an escutcheon) around the two water pipes and that many again around the drain pipe.
At this point what's done is done, though; modifying the tile could be difficult. It'll require grinding or chipping out some grout and placing a few little tiles. Building support for those tiles in the chasm between the cold water and drain pipes could be tricky. It'll take some creativity and determination to get it done. It might involve fitting some wood backing below the subfloor, or possibly a bit of sheet metal on top of the subfloor.


Cutting side entry hole in main breaker panel All the main breaker boxes I could find had top or bottom feed entry from the service meter can.  Besides being a pain to work with, is there anything wrong with drilling a 2" hole on the side of the panel where my lb box is to enter the panel with main feed wires?

I'm not sure how the wires will bend, but once they do there is plenty of room at the bottom of the panel to go up into the lugs.

The 2" hole will have sharp edges, but after installing the threaded Union and nut, there will be no sharp edges.

You can put a hole in a NEMA-1 enclosure, but if it is a NEMA 3R (raintight, outdoors) the conduit entry must be able to maintain the N-3R rating. The most common fitting is called a Myers Hub. This assures you from dripping water on live parts and that's why KO's are at the bottom and lower sides. Also any sharp edge must be bushed. I'm assuming that's you "threaded union" (not an electrical term).

As far as bending radius of conductors here's a link that may help.
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/bline/Resources/Library/catalogs/meter_mounting_equipment/ring-type_metering/ed-minimumwirebendingspace.pdf

Its Tables 312.6 (A) & (B) of the NEC.

There's also NEC rules for conduit entry and bending radius that is Article 314.28 pretty much the whole thing. It may not be directly relevant but should be looked at for verification.


Honeywell home ventilation system with no c wire for thermostat. How can I substitute the g for the c without blowing a fuse? I'm hoping to get some help with my thermostat problem. We bought our home brand new and it came with a very basic thermostat (non programmable and runs on batteries). I want to upgrade it to a wifi programmable thermostat so I bought a honeywell one. Our home has a honeywell ventilation system that pulls fresh air from the outside and circulates it through the home. As I read the instructions to use the g wire for the c wire it seemed easy enough. I am handy enough that I finished my own basement electrical and all do I figured it can't be too hard.
So I pulled the old thermostat off after labeling the wires. Put in the new wifi one and used the g wire for the c. Went to my furnace and I have wires running all over. Into the furnace from upstairs is just a 4 wire, I have no extras. All wires are connected to the furnace board except the g wire is connected to a wire that runs up to the honeywell ventilation system and then another set of wires returns back to the furnace board.
I figured out which of the return wires is the g wire and attempted to move that to the c wire in the furnace board then out a jumper in between the y and g on the same board. At first I thought this made it work because I was able to setup the wifi thermostat because it was receiving power. I setup the wifi and set the temp and the ac kicked on so I figured I was good to go. About 10 minutes later though the power to the thermostat was gone and I blew the 3amp fuse in the box. I tested it again and sure enough, after 10 minutes the new fuse blew.
can anyone help me understand what is going wrong and what I need to do to fix it so I can use my new thermostat?  I did call the person that installed my system and he didn't seem too thrilled about answering my questions.

I think you're out of luck, since the G wire passes through the ventilation control system.  You have to leave the G wire as a G wire, or remove/bypass the ventilation system. The easiest solution, would be to run a new 5 wire cable. Or don't use a fancy thermostat.

If you follow the G wire through the system, you can get a better picture of what's going on.

When the thermostat energizes the G terminal, the Gt terminal on the ventilation control receives the signal.  The ventilation control does whatever it does, and eventually energizes the Gf terminal. When the Gf terminal is energized on the ventilation control, the furnace receives the signal and starts the blower.

From what I can tell based on the images, this is what the whole system looks like.

On a side note. The installer that left that rats nest of wiring in the furnace, should be ashamed of himself.


Is it possible to control 3 light fixtures with 4 switches? I have an idea how I would like to tackle some wiring I am about to do, but I am having trouble figuring out how to actually wire it all. I was hoping some of you could help me out.

Here's what I want:

I have 3 fixtures, Lights A, B and C.

I have 4 switches, Switches 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Switch 1 turns on/off lights A/B.

Switch 2 turns on/off lights A/B.

Switch 3 turns on/off light C.

Switch 4 turns on/off lights A/B/C.

Is this even possible to accomplish?

This is possible using standard electrical wiring devices!  You will need (in addition to standard electrician's tools and supplies):

Three three-way switches (switches 2, 3, and 4)
A four-way switch such as a Leviton CSB4-15T or equivalent (linking for the sake of those who have never bumped into one, a good home improvement store should have one kicking around somewhere) -- this will be switch 1
A two gang box for switch 4, with a switch + blank two gang faceplate -- one side of this faceplate has the standard switch slot, the other is blank.
And lots of 14/3 NM-B (in addition to 14/2) because you'll need to run multiple travelers

The wiring diagram is as follows:

Dotted lines are neutrals, the rest of the colors are self-explanatory.  Three things:

You will want to use a two-gang box for Switch 4, as the wire fill (eight wires) is too dense for a single gang.  Perhaps you could stash a wiring diagram in there for the sake of anyone who has to fix it later, too?
Keep your travelers consistent: in the diagram, red is up and black is down, always.
Make sure the documentation for this is kept well, otherwise it will give the next electrician who encounters it a bit of a headache.


Filtration system for smoke from oil lamp I like to light a little oil lamp/ candle (lamp size about 2 inches in diameter) in my bedroom. Unfortunately the soot tends to make the wall and cupboards yellow.

Is there a way to install a filtration system over the lamp that can remove the soot and recirculate the filtered air back into the room? Unfortunately the windows are double glazed glass installed on an aluminium frame and it would be a major project to fit a duct through them.

Thanks!

My suggestion is to replace the oil lamp with something electrical that uses LED illumination instead. The reasoning for this suggestion is:

A filtration system for the soot will almost for sure require some type of forced air movement to push the emissions from the oil flame through the filtration system. Most types of passive filter will likely snuff out the flame. A forced air movement would require a fan of some sort that would itself consume more electrical energy than the suggested LED lamp. It would be quieter too.
There are soot collection methods used for some types of oil lamps such as is typical for kerosene lamps. To get something like this to work you would most likely need to replace the current oil lamp with one that comes with a fitting for the lamp chimney and that would require cleaning from time to time.
A replacement lamp that generates less soot would be a pressurized type system such as a mantle type lantern that vaporizes the fuel and allows for more complete burning. These are more complicated to use and can be noisy during use and require frequent pumping.
There is a safety concern when using something with a burning flame in a situation where you may fall asleep. Accidents can happen and the results could be devastating.


How can I determine the precise location of a clog in a drain pipe under ground? I have a drain pipe that goes through my garden, and it's clogged. I've cleared the pipe from a manhole cover, but not 100 %. I also have a special type of water cable that is designed to clear blockages.

The problem is that when the cable stops after 10-15 meters, I don't know where.. I'd like to find out where the block is, so that I can dig down to the pipe and do some brute force.

How can I find the pipe, from under the ground? Use a key finder with high noise, that I can attach to the cable and put it in the pipe? Would this be loud enough so that I can hear it from 0.5-1 meter deep ground?

I appreciate all creative answers here!

To the question - almost certainly impossible to hear any sort of beeper through a meter of soil.

A pipe tracer (with or without camera - there's really no need for one here) can often be rented, or there are inexpensive models that can be had for under $100 (perhaps well under if bought direct from Asia.) You either connect to the pipe if it's metal, or insert something metal (such as your snake) into a plastic pipe, and the pipe tracer will put a radio signal onto the metal part which the detector portion of the tracer can find.

If you know any amateur radio folks, this is an easy cobble from things they already have, and might be enough of an amusing application to interest one in helping you, especially if you supplied a beverage or two.


Where can I find a cover for this external breaker box (1961 SFH in CA)? Just moved into a house built in 1961 (Bay Area, CA) and saw this box on the outside of the house in the back yard.  I'd like to secure it somehow but haven't been able to locate anything that fits from either Home Depot or Lowes.
Any suggestions on where to find the make/model and where to find a replacement?

Uh-oh, it's a Zinsco!
Unfortunately, just buying a new door isn't enough to restore this panel to a serviceable condition, as it's a Zinsco (from the design of the breakers), with its attendant breaker-to-busbar contact issues.  If that wasn't enough, independent testing has shown Zinsco breakers to be both miscalibrated and unreliable, with issues with jamming or simply failing to shut the power off when switched off.  So, I'd have the whole box replaced with something of a current make and model that won't fail in such a way.


Increasing water pressure with pump I live in Karachi, Pakistan. We have underground water tanks and use motors to transfer the amount of water required to overhead tanks that then supply the house.

I get lower pressure in my house's upper section bathrooms. I had the pipes replaced recently so there is not blockage. Its just the natural pressure.

I was wondering if someone could guide me towards the equipment and associated tips on how to install an additional motor to increase the flow.

The usual way I'd hook up a house to a tank or cistern (such as in a low-yield well situation) would be to have a pump going into a pressure system (pressure tank + switch) and then supplying the rest of the house. The pressure tank would normally operate at 40/60psi: When you draw water, you're always pulling from the tank until the pressure drops below 40psi, at which point the pump kicks on and runs until the pressure is 60psi.

This system also shows the supply side coming from the well, but the supply is really irrelevant.

You can also use a jet pump or pretty much any other type of pump as opposed to a submersible so long as it's capable of reaching 60psi. Some people also run at 30/50. Over 80 and you risk toilet tank valves and faucets having trouble/leaking, and too low and it's just not useful (and the pressure switch probably has a low operating limit too).

There are also pressure switches that have a shut-off feature where if the pressure drops below 20psi, they totally switch off because they detect an "out of water" situation. This is a nice cheap way to go as opposed to more expensive electronic shut-off systems, but when they trip they require a manual reset (flipping the little arm on the side).


Simplest solution for hanging 50lb frame with welded hooks I have a 50lb mirror I'd like to hang. It has an iron frame with two hangers welded onto the curved top edge on the back. Here's a close-up of one of them:

The hangers are about 17" apart on center, and the keyhole cutouts are 3/4" wide. The wall is standard drywall, and there happens to be a stud dead-center where I'd like to hang it.

What are the simplest and safest options here? Considerations:

I haven't checked yet but there's no guarantee that the brackets are 100% level, so the solution needs to be able to account for that.
I'd like for the mirror to hang as flush to the wall as possible, minimizing lean-out and gap.
I'm pretty conservative re: hanging weight and would strongly prefer using the stud for support, although I can be convinced otherwise. I saw this (Hillman no-stud hanger) mentioned in another answer and perhaps two of those could work if the result hangs fairly close to the wall, although point #1 could make this very challenging.
Preference is for a minimum of "construction": cutting wood, etc. This technique (spanning plywood) seems to be a good solution, and I can make it happen, but if there's something simpler that is as safe I'd be interested.

My experience with hanging anything close to this heavy is to just use a z-bar, but I don't have that option with this frame.

(Suitably sturdy) Picture hanging wire. Wire between the hangers, put a screw or hook into the stud, hang and adjust.

"100 lb" rated picture hanging wire is easy to find. As is 200 if you want more safety factor...


Should vent directly above furnace be open or closed There is a vent in the duct directly above my furnace.  This is in the air out side, not the return duct.

Is there a reason I should have this duct open?  It was open when I bought the house a few months ago, but this seems like a waste, heating and cooling the basement.

If there is a reason to have it open, should it be open only during certain seasons?  (Open for heating, closed for cooling, etc..)

This is an Amana AMEH800805CX.  (pictured below)

Looks like the supply side.  Most likely previous occupants wanted to add a little heat/AC down there.  Is it adjustable?  If not you can add an adjustable register because you may find that the climate control added there was needed.  Maybe for humidity, etc.


Water heater not as hot when first bought (only 4 years old) even after flushing My water heater is set at the default 120F temperature, I bought it 4 years ago brand new, and I remember for the first 2 years of use I would turn my shower faucet valve (located upstairs) to the middle (90 degrees) for a nice hot shower. Now I must turn the faucet far past the middle (130 degrees, towards the direction of hot) to get the temperature I used to be getting when it was new. I flushed out my tank fully and saw a lot of sediment come out of the hose but it still didn't help the unit perform like new.
I could set the water heater temp to "A" (130F) but the most energy efficient method is to keep it at the default 120F so I rather not do that.
Any ideas?

Like someone else said, run a hot water tap for a while and measure the temp. That's what your WH is supplying.  If at about 120 or so, the WH is doing its job.  If your shower has an automatic mixing valve, the cartridge may need to be replaced.  We had the opposite problem....the mixing valve wouldn't mix enough cold water even on the coldest setting to make the shower tolerable....it was way too hot.   Replacing the mixing cartridge solved the problem.
Bottom line, it's either the WH or a mixing valve (if you have one).


Installing a shelf on a stucco-covered wall We have a wall in the workroom next to our kitchen where we'd like to put a long, shallow shelf. The wall is stucco, and I'm a little concerned about the wall crumbling or cracking around the pilot holes and brackets. Has anyone successfully installed shelves on a stucco wall?

My concerns:

Drilling the pilot holes: I don't want to crack the stucco, and there's a layer of what I think is concrete between the plaster and the studs in most of the walls in this house. I'm thinking a thin masonry bit would work here.
Laying the shelf brackets: Since stucco isn't perfectly flat, the shelf brackets won't be perfectly against the wall. (We're thinking we'll use a bracket like  these.)

I'd agree with the masonry bit (as well, stucco is rough on drill bits anyway) of whatever size is recommended for the wall anchors you're using.

I'd been reluctant to post a response, as I had no idea what do do for the wall without flattening down that section, but I have a completely untested idea --

If the stucco isn't too extreme in its texture, and you're not going to be putting lots of load on the shelf, you might be able to cut a piece of foam to use as backing, and then tighten it to the wall to compress the foam so it's not too bouncy.  You're likely going to want extra (or heavier) bolts for this; there won't be friction against the wall, so the bolts are going to be taking the whole load in sheer.  Also, you won't have the same support against moment.

I was thinking some of the stiffer spray-foam might work, but if you wanted to make it removable without damage (and if you didn't, you'd just flatten the wall), you'd need to add some release agent, which might stain the wall, or go through some hoops to pull this off:

Make a frame the size of the bracket, open on the side against the wall, and an extra hole (see below).
Figure out where you want to mount the bracket.
Tape a plastic bag large enough to full the frame on the end of a can of spray foam.
Stuff the bag in the frame through the hole.
Hold the frame where you want to mount the bracket, and inject the spray foam.
Wait for it to set up.
Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each additional bracket location.

You might be able to do something similar with other products to mold to the wall, but all of the ones I can think of have slower set times which would make it really slow going.


Can I power a separate cooktop and wall oven from a single circuit? I am replacing my 240V electric cooking range with a glass cooktop (with 4 heating plates) and a separate wall oven.  The old cooking range was a plug-in.  The two new appliances (the glass cooktop and wall oven) are meant to be hard wired (not plug-ins).  Can both new appliances be hard wired into the single circuit that was being used for the old cooking range?

Any cooktop and separate oven I had put into the houses I helped build, required a separate circuit for each.


What is involved with replacing floor joists I need to replace 3 joists on the second story of our 2 story + basement 1920s townhouse. The joists are rotted on one side all the way into the cement block wall. There is not enough good wood to sister new joists too. The water problems that caused the rot have been addressed and the subfloor and floor are in good shape despite the 1-1/4" sagging in the floor across the 3 joists.

The area includes a bedroom and a bathroom. The bathroom has recently been remodeled. The area is above the kitchen. We will be eventually remodeling the kitchen and could rip out the ceiling at that point and replace the joists from below, but we would like to be able to continue living in the bedroom and bathroom while the kitchen work is on going.

The house is 18' wide. There are no walls under the rotted joists, but there is a wall perpendicular to the joists between the bedroom and bathroom (this is not in the center of the joists/house and does not appear to be a load bearing wall). There is a load bearing beam in the center of the house in the basement, but it doesn't seem like there is a beam in on the first floor ceiling.

Can we replace joists from below and continue living in the rooms above?

I am assuming that with 1-1/4 of sagging, they will need to jack up the floor over a month plus period, would the kitchen renovation be able to progress while that is happening?

Do they need to get to the basement to support the jacks?

Working from the info you proide:

Back up 6 feet from the wall.
Put a 5 foot chunk of 2x10 against the ceiling spanning the bad joists and good ones on either side.
Put another chunk of wood, 3/4 ply or osb on the floor to protect the floor. (If you have ceramic tile on the floor figure out a way to spread the load.)
Put in 2 teleposts. and take up the slack.  You aren't supporting anything.  You are just keeping the teleposts from falling over.
On a wall far enough from the problem to be stable, put a shelf, about 18" from the ceiling.
Rest a laser level on this shelf.
attach  16" chunks of wood to the 3 bad joists and the good one on either side.  You want to measure the middle of the board, and the ends that are on good joists.  These chunks need to be line of site to the laser level on the shelf.
Affix a cheap ruler to each board.  Record the ruler marks in your notebook.  This is how you are going to check what hapens.
Now, in the basement: Set up a similar support beam and pair of teleposts.  This might be overkill.
Set up a similar shelf and indicator for the joists under the
upstairs telepost.
Tighten the upstairs teleposts enough to get detectable movement on the center indicator.
Go downstairs and see of you are pushing the floor down.  If so,  tighten up the downstairs ones to bring it back up to the original reading.
Back upstairs.  Gradually lift the board, until you have motion on the good joists.  Back off a bit.
Back downstairs.  Check that the floor hasn't pushed down.

At this point you have the good part of the joists level with the rest of the ceiling, and the load isn't bending the lower floor out of shape.

Now you can cut the bad joist back to good wood, or at around 4 feet.
use an angle grinder and take off the ends of nails and screws poking into where the joist was.
Clean out the hole.
Insert new chunk of joist.  If you haven't addressed the problem that caused the rot, use pressure treated wood.

At this point I'm of two minds.  You need to splice the new chunk to the old chunk.  My gut level feeling is that I want a 6 foot chunk lapping the joint on both sides.  There's going to be significant stress on the fasteners.  I think I would use both glue and 2.5 inch x 5/15 lag bolts.

This is where you should consult someone wiser than I am.  I'm not sure how many bolts you should use or what the spacing should be.  Without a consultant I would put two rows of bolts 8 inches apart, alternately 1 inch and 2 inches from the edge.  Bolts from the other side have the opposite alternation and are offset 4 inches so that in the middle joist there are no bolts closer than 4 inches, and no two adjacent bolts are on the same grain line.

At this point you should be able to take down the teleposts and not have anything move much.

Caveats:  I've not done this.  I am not a professional.


How to cut many shallow grooves on the side of a square aluminium tube? I would like to craft a slatted ventilation panel/grill like this:

The frame will be made of square aluminium tubes (25 mm side, 3 mm thick). The slanting panes will be cut of 4 mm thick aluminium sheet.

The main challenge here is to affix the panes to the frame in a nice, regular fashion. My intention is to cut shallow (0.5-1.0 mm deep) grooves on the tube sides, apply some metal epoxy (e.g. JB Weld) and slide the panes in the grooves:

The whole point of the grooves would be to direct/hold the panes in the right position while the epoxy hardens.

How do I cut the grooves?

Is there some artful tool that could save me from tedious and error-prone work with a hacksaw and file?

I believe this can be done in a home-shop environment using a table saw with a carbide tipped blade. I cut 25 mm square aluminum tube often enough without harming the saw. The swarf is a bit of a mess, as one might expect.

The challenge here is to properly index the cuts. As you require 4 mm slots, it means two passes for each slot, along with the need to index for each individual slot.

I think the best approach would be to construct a sled with the required angle and create a stop-block that is secured to the angled portion of the sled with indexed holes into which you'd thread a bolt or screw for more precision.

The requirement for two passes would be managed by a shim on the stop block. One pass for the main cut, insert the shim and make a second pass for the correct width, then relocate the stop block

From Lumberjocks.com:

The photo represents a simple, flexible saw sled for angle cuts. The indexing stop block could be attached to a longer piece of wood on the right side in the image. Alternatively, one could make the right block indexed to the sled or to the hold-down clamp.

This isn't necessarily the only answer, and is expected to be used as a starting point for expanding one's thought process to reach the goal.


Elevating a water heater to avoid damage during flooding I have read another thread concerning the elevation of electric water heaters but nothing seemed to address my particular situation:  I live on a barrier island and it floods here every couple of years during hurricane season.  Water has been in my garage as high as chest deep, though the usual flood is no more than a foot deep. The house is built on pilings.  I have a 12 foot ceiling in the garage downstairs.

My water heater is currently located in a walk-in attic upstairs but the thought of having water above my living spaces makes me very uneasy.  I want to move the heater downstairs into the garage and build a 5 feet tall platform for it out of pressure treated lumber:  4 X 4s for the legs; 2 X 4s for the platform deck.  I would secure the legs of the platform to the concrete floor with 90° braces so it doesn't float off. While the garage is not heated, I've never seen it get below 50°F inside in the winter; nor above 80°F in the summer.  Outside temps vary from about 12° to as much as 100°, though either extreme is very rare.

Does anybody have any thoughts about this?  Something I haven't thought about?  My plumber estimates moving the current heater will run about $275-300, assuming I build the platform.

In Dallas many houses have water heaters in the attic. This frees up usable space in the living areas, but I have heard from someone in water damage remediation of virtually total loss of a demi-mansion due to the simultaneous failure of multiple  electric water heaters while the family was on vacation.

We have lived in our single story tract house for 40 years and had two different gas fired tank water heaters fail. This caused significant damage even though we were home both times. Our heater is not in the attic but in a service closet on the living floor in the middle of the house.

Thirteen years ago I changed to a tankless heater and feel much more comfortable. I put the tankless heater in the same location as the old tank and if it would leak catastrophically it would cause some damage, but the service life of these tankless heaters is much longer than a tank, and I think the tankless give more warning of impending failure.

In your situation you could consider putting a tankless heater on an outside wall of the outside of the house near where the current tank is. These outside tankless heaters do not need a flue through the attic and roof and if they leak the water runs down the outside wall.

One limitation of modern tankless gas fired heaters is that they require 120 V AC power to operate the controls (and a small heater on the outside models) so if the line power is out, you have no hot water (unless you have a backup generator). We have a first generation Bosch tankless (which has a standing pilot light--yikes!), but it does not require line power so we would have hot water even if the power is out. We have had winter outages of some extent in Dallas--ice storms bring down power lines, but when we replace our existing heater it will be with a modern tankless requiring line power.

EDIT

The major drawbacks of a tankless water heater (besides cost, they cost significantly more than a tank) are:

The tankless have a much larger burner (200 kBTU/h or more vs ~ 40 kBTU/h for a 40 gal tank) and this may require a larger gas pipe, although this may be only from a place already in the house, i.e., the existing buried gas line from the meter to the house is probably sufficient.
The tankless will not supply the volume of hot water that a tank will--until the tank is depleted.
The tankless has more complicated controls which cannot be expected to be as robust as the simpler controls for a tank and will cost more to repair.

I recently talked to a builder who built a small subdivision of 40 or so houses. He offered a tankless water heater hung on an outside wall as an option and few if any purchasers took it. He selected it for his own house and he loves it. Unlimited hot water no matter how many house guests.


How to keep a bathroom door slightly ajar, without adjusting a doorstop I have a bathroom door whose frame is not plumb, so if the door is left slightly ajar, it swings fully open by itself. I want to be able to leave the door slightly ajar (about 4 inches / 10 cm) without having to manually adjust a doorstop or other device, just by using the door knob to leave it in the set position. I also want to be able to leave the door fully closed or fully open. It would be similar in concept to how car doors can stop in the half-open position.

Does such a device exist, that can hold a door slightly ajar?

I could kludge something out of a coat hanger wire and a nail between the top of the door and the door frame (see diagram below), but it wouldn't look great. Maybe there is a similar professional-looking product that I can install.

I've heard of that in such cases you can pop one of the hinge pins out, wack the hinge pin with a hammer to give it a slight bend and pop it back in. The slight bend will keep the door from going close all the way with being manually shut.


How do I hang drywall where the wood is uneven? I need to hang some drywall; my ceiling has a couple spots of uneven-ness. There's a few spots that are about 1/4" out of whack and another spot where joists+hanger are a little less than 1/2" down.

It's a normal sized room and the spots that are either bulging or sunken are all located in the same area. I am wondering if that warrants furring out the ceiling or will the drywall flex enough where there's a half an inch level difference?

Went through this recently myself.

I'd try to limit the joist-to-joist out-of-flatness to 1/8" or less.  If it's an obvious part of the ceiling, try for 1/16".

Get a long straightedge and a pile of drywall shims.  High joists are pretty easy: add shims to bring them down to flat with the others.  Low joists require you to build up the adjacent joists gradually over a few joists to meet that 1/8" (or 1/16").

I attach the shims with staples, but many people like to glue ceiling wallboard in place, to prevent dimples at the screws/nails in the future. If this includes you, then the shims should also be securely glued.

Once you get the drywall up you can somewhat correct ridges and valleys with a repeated skim coats of joint compound.  However, it's difficult, messy, and much easier to fix the framing first.

36" Drywall Shims: (menards.com)


How do I diagnose an occasionally leaking dishwasher? We are remodeling our kitchen, part of which will be replacing the vinyl flooring.  When pulling out the vinyl and 1/4" plywood I found many water stains which appear to have started under my dishwasher.

I've run the dishwasher every day and once was able to get it to leak a small puddle of water.  Is there a proper way to determine where the leak is coming from?  Is it possible to put some sort of pan under the dishwasher in case this happens in the future?

Several places I can think of, but the best way I can think of to narrow it down is to look for water damage on the dishwasher itself.

Check the seal around the door. In my own kitchen, I'll be gutting and expecting to replace a lot of floor boards myself because the dishwasher feet were adjusted too long and were causing it to be crushed by the counter top. The sides of the dishwasher bowed out, losing the seal with the door gasket, and allowing water to escape.

Check the supply line connections. Look for any signs of moisture at the shutoff and where it connects to the dishwasher.

Check the drain connections, again, at the dishwasher (including around any pump) and where it connects to the DWV system.

If a visual inspection of the dishwasher itself doesn't reveal anything, put a few pieces of newspaper under the dishwasher and run it through a cycle to locate the final spot of the drip (which could travel far from the leak itself). But make sure the newspaper is clear of any electrical connections and stays away from any hot motors (you don't want a short or fire), and take the newspaper out after your test.


Do double-pole breakers allow the rated current or twice that amount? We are installing 2 double pole 40 amp breakers for an electric tankless hot water heater, into our 200 amp panel. Is that going to use 80 amps or 160 amps?

Assuming you are in the USA, this will allow up to 80 amps @ 240 volts, out of the 200 amps available.


How can I electrically test an RJ45 plug? I live in a dorm and there's a RJ45 connector on the wall, which is connected to a router somewhere in the building (which I do not have access to). Supposing I do not know the exact hardware equipment connected to the other side, but knowing the following facts:

when connecting a RJ45 connector to the plug, I can often see sparks, which is odd to me;
the equipment has a bad reputation (frequent hardware issues).

Can I infer the equipment might have some electrical issues, or is it very unlikely/impossible?
Is there a way to test such issues on the RJ45 plug?

Generally if it was just an RJ45 for data it should not spark. However there is a standard to allow power over ethernet to power certain devices on it. Thats about the only reason i could imagine it sparking. You can buy cheaply meters that test rj45 cables or if you have a multimeter you can test point to point or round trip by joining cores together


Is my bedroom wired as a multi-wire branch circuit or in tandem? In my bedroom (14 gauge copper wiring-15 amp breakers) It takes two circuit breakers to shut it off including the switch. Is this tandem or MWBC and if possible could you explain the difference? Just trying to understand the difference.

To make it a little clearer tandem breakers are on the same leg. MWBC are on opposite legs. Voltage measurements on tandem hot to hot the voltage is 0. The voltage on MWBC hot to hot is 240v.


Stop heat loss through unused chimney duct We had a 10 inch diameter metal chimney duct running from the basement to the roof.  After replacing the furnace with a direct vent one it was no longer used. Cue more renovations and the section on the first floor was removed.  After a new roof was installed that removed the chimney assembly and all we have left is a section hidden behind a wall on the second floor.

Our problem is that there is heat loss going on.  Enough so that snow melts on the roof right under where the old chimney enters the attic.  I went up to the attic and stuffed the chimney duct with fibreglass and tried to cap and seal it but this has only diminished, not removed, the problem.

If I broke through the drywall to expose the only section of chimney duct left on the second floor what is the most efficient way to seal the area after removing the duct?

I could cut out some Styrofoam SM or similar impervious insulation and spray foam around the edges at the top and bottom.

Any suggestions?

It sounds like you have a convective loop, in which case the reason why the fiberglass insulation was not as effective as you would have liked is because fiberglass is air-permeable. Since you have access to the duct itself, try sealing it off with a section of fitted and caulked insulation foam board or something. Doesn't matter where in the duct you do it; the important part is to stop the movement of air to break the loop.


How can I stop my basement from filling with water? I have my house in a sloped area ,it has  problems of water seeping inside the basement area which gets filled up to 1 to 2 feet height what may be the solution for this .... i have tried all water proofing things,need to get a solution.

In many ways this is an easier problem to solve on a sloped area than a flat one.

First - waterproofing products applied to the inside of the basement are almost never an effective solution. The pressure of exterior water eventually pops them off the inside wall. On the outside they can work.

So, the solution is in two general forms - one is directing surface water away from the house (this involves making sure that the ground on the upslope side (actually, on all sides, including the upslope side) of the house slopes AWAY from the house for at least 10 feet/3 meters) so that water running on the surface of the ground is carried away from and around the house, not into it.

The other is to provide a drain to carry water away from the basement and out to a lower portion of the slope below basement level. The BEST (but most involved, generally) place to put such a drain is around the outside of the basement, below basement floor level. That involves digging up all around the house to place the drain (and anyone building a new house should remember that "when the foundation is being placed, this will only cost you the price of the pipe, since the hole is dug anyway.") Obviously a large project, also obviously the most effective solution. Water cannot get into the basement if it's carried away by a pipe before it can build up against the basement walls. You can also add a waterproofing membrane to the outside of the walls if you go this route, since the walls will be exposed, and you can additionally add a "drainage sheet" outside the waterproofing membrane to help get water down to the drain pipe. In most cases simply having the drain pipe and backfilling with stone or gravel should be adequate, since the stone or gravel provides the drainage path to the pipe, and the pipe means theres no way for water to build up against the side of the foundation.

If you cannot manage to dig a drain all the way around the house, you should at least run one from the low side, below basement floor level, out to a lower point on the slope where it can drain by gravity. You can knock a hole in the basement floor and install a sump for this to connect to, or not, depending on the water flow pattern in the basement. While there are plenty of people (such as the ones on a flat site who have little choice in the matter) who simply put in a sump and a sump pump, and pump the water out, if you have a slope available I'd strongly suggest the use of a naturally-sloped drain pipe to remove the water by gravity, without power or anything mechanical involved.


What's the name of this connector? I have a ceiling light fixture with four bulbs and a fan. A while back, two of the bulbs stopped working, but the bulbs themselves were not broken, as putting them into another lamp showed the bulbs were working fine.

Today I finally decided to open the fixture and see if this is something I can fix.

I opened the box, and even though I don't understand the circuit, I noticed that one of the cables was pinched (is this the right term?) like so:

I think it is likely the cable is broken inside, so it would be a good idea to replace the connection and see if this fixes the problem.

As you can see in the picture, the cable is attached to the male part of a connector, while the female part leads to another cable.

I wasn't able to open the connector, so I might need to buy a new one. Does anybody know the name of this connector so I can find it in my local electronic shop?

Here's a front view of the connector in question.

Looks a little like a bullet connector / terminal.

If you have access to the other end of the connector that you think is broken, you could disconnect it & test the wire to see if it's really broken using a multimeter (set to ohms / resistance), or test it in place with the power off. Maybe that wire's not the problem, there are a lot of other electronics in there too.

Most light fixtures just use cheap wire nuts to twist two wires together, you could just cut & strip both ends of the wire and use a wire nut.

PS Don't forget to check why it was pinched & don't do it again.


Replacing a dimmer switch with normal light switch (picture) Today, I wanted to replace a dimmer with a normal switch for my dining room lights.  When I pulled the dimmer out of the wall, all 3 wires just fell right off of their connections.  I'm surprised the house didn't burn down years ago...

Anyways, whoever installed this did a terrible job and I'm now left with 9 wires sticking out of the wall.

3 white wires bound together
3 ground/copper wires bound together and connected to the dimmer's green wire
with a metal "staple"
3 black wires in which I do not know where they
go.

I removed the wire nut off of the white wires so I was able to see which direction they are going.  2 white wires coming from the left, 1 white wire to the right, same with the black wires.

Now, I've been trying to read up on which wires go where, but I'm stumped at this point.  I know I will have to wire nut all of the white wires together, and of course run the green to the switch ground.

Where do the wires go?  Do I need to use a 3 way switch even though I only have a single switch to control a single light at this point?

Thanks!

The simplest thing to do is to turn the breaker on and figure out which black wire is supplying the current. (This is arguably one of the more dangerous approaches, but it is safe if you follow precautions like have someone guarding the wires so they are not touched while the power is on.) Use a multimeter and test the voltage between the ground wire and every other wire. Exactly one black wire should have 120 volts on it.

If not, stop and report back here.

Once you identify which black wire is hot, turn the breaker off.

Then wire nut all of the whites together. Wire the "hot" black wire you identified to one other black wire. Turn the breaker on. Note if the ceiling light came on. If not, turn the breaker off, hook up the other black wire to the hot black wire and turn the breaker on. Note if the ceiling light came on. Turn off the breaker.

Now you know: 1. which black wire is the "hot" wire, and 2. which black wire goes to the ceiling fixture, and 3. your "other" black wire, which probably provides power to another switch or outlet.

You should wirenut the "hot" wire and the "other" wire together with a short scrap of black wire to create a pigtail. Connect the pigtail to the switch. Connect the black fixture wire to the other side of the switch. And your whites should already be wire nutted together from before. So just hook up the ground wire to the switch, and you're done!


Sump Pump float above or below the French Drain level I recently bought a house that has a French drain that drains into my sump pump.  We have had a lot of water this year and my sump pump pumps out the water every 2 minutes.  My float is set below the French drain level so the pit never gets over half full.  Is it correct to have the float level be set below the French Drain?

Doesn't sound like a French drain (which typically describes gravity-driven drains that daylight away from the foundation) so much as a conventional drain tile loop connected to your sump  pail.

Most sump pump floats only let the water get halfway up the pail's height or so. I wouldn't want it getting much fuller than that, personally. If you let the water level get above the drain inlet, the entire drain loop is now full of water. You have essentially no margin for error before your basement floods.

I've had cases where my float stuck and the water level got very close to the top of the slab. Because so much water is now present throughout the drain system, the pump has to run for 10 minutes or more to catch up. That's an uncomfortable situation to be in.


Can I use 12AWG for my grounding pigtails of 14AWG? I can only find 12AWG grounding pigtails at my local hardware store but I wanted the pigtails for the 14AWG wire that I'm running right now.

I assume it shouldn't be an issue because I'm not carrying electricity through it.

Assuming you mean pigtails for use inside an electrical box, yes using 12AWG is fine. 12 is heavier gauge than 14, so generally wherever you use 14 you can use 12.

But you can also just make your own pigtails using a cut of wire from your roll of 14. It's not necessary to buy pre-cut pigtails. And since you can use 14 gauge you probably should, especially for pigtails where the lighter gauge will be easier to fold and tuck into the box.


Plumber connected shower and toilet drain weirdly, now toilet backs up into shower My plumber attached my shower area drain and the WC (water closet, i.e. toilet) drain through a single pipe and installed a P-trap at shower drain. The level of the P-trap is such that when we flush the WC some of its water runs into the shower area drain P-trap and it starts emitting a foul smell in the bathroom.

I believe he has installed these drains with a T-joint instead of a Y-joint and level of pipe is not correct as water runs backwards to the shower drain.

Is there any solution to it without damaging the bathroom tiles and floor?

From your description it doesn't sound like you are actually seeing sewer waste water emitting from the shower drain, but you do smell sewer gas in the shower area.  Most likely you have a drain ventilation problem.  When the toilet is flushed, the water entering the drain displaces the air that's already in the drain pipe.  If the pipe doesn't have sufficient ventilation it will push the stinky air out of the easiest opening  (your shower drain).


How do I fill holes around a newly fitted ceiling light socket? I'm replacing a ceiling light that when fitted will leave gaps / holes in the ceiling where the existing socket hole is.  The previous light was bigger and had a sensible amount of room for the wiring to be comfortably housed.
The new fitting is effectively the shape of a polo mint about 200cm diameter and about 30cm thick.  In other words very awkward to mount and doesn't cover the previous hole.
I have two problems.  The hole in the ceiling and the recess in the light fitting means it's the wiring is going to be pretty cramped by the time its fitted but the biggest issue is how do I fill the hole so I can make a decent finish.
Hope someone can help??

You could use something like this. They come in various sizes and styles, can be painted and are usually held in place with a little glue or drywall screws.

Something like this is much more decorative.


What is a good way to cat-proof (or child-proof) kitchen cabinets? Our 6-month-old kitten has figured out how to reliably open kitchen cabinets at floor-level, by standing on his hind legs and grabbing the knob.

What are some good ways to make it harder for him to get these doors open wide enough for him to walk in and sit in our cake pans, play with our onions, etc.?

I haven't looked into the options for child-proofing much yet, but I am under the impression that many options are a pain to install.  I'm particularly looking for:

Something that works (of course)
Preferably not a huge pain to install
Minimal risk of damaging the cabinets during installation
If possible, minimal (adult) human annoyance when opening the cabinets.

While writing this post, I watched our kitten figure out how to open a cabinet with a kitchen chair blocking it, by prying repeatedly until the chair gets bumped far enough away to open the door a few inches.  Then he sat on the chair, opened the cabinet above it, and pulled out a box of envelopes.

There are inexpensive child safety latches that can be placed out of sight in the interior of your cabinet. They are also easy to install and only leave a few small screw holes when removed. Some may use adhesive instead of screws, but they might be less dependable.

Such a latch consists of a bendable plastic rod with a blunt hook on one side, and is situated on the inside of the drawer or cabinet. The hook catches on part of the drawer or door and prevents opening unless the rod is bent downward simultaneously to disengage the hook.

These latches successfully prevent cats as well as children from opening cabinets more than one or two inches.

Links

For pictures and advice: Picture / Video / Pictures of installation

Some alternatives are discussed here.


Can 304 (stainless steel) rust? This ball valve is stamped with 304.
304 is supposed to be stainless steel.
Does 304 mean stainless steel? will it rust?
It isn't used yet, how come there is already rust inside?
If i use it, will i expect more rusts?

304 will rust, to an extent. It's not shocking or surprising. Plenty of examples if you do an image search - in my case, personal experience.
However, my best guess on that very isolated spot is that it may have had a speck of regular carbon steel from the manufacturing process, which rusted there.


When tiling a floor must I start in the middle of the room? I am tiling a small bathroom ~45sq ft. The book I am referencing suggested starting the tile in the center of the room to prevent laying any tiny fractions of tile near one side of the room. I'm working with 12x24" tiles and it looks like I might be better suited with starting the tiles at the door threshold. Is the start at the middle idea just a guideline that I can go ahead and break?

The two things (starting in the middle and avoiding slivers) are NOT related.

You can start in the middle and end up with idiotic cuts on both edges - or you can start in the corner and not do that...

What you SHOULD do is measure enough that you know where to put the SENSIBLE cuts on the edges, regardless if you are starting at a wall, corner, or the middle of the floor. When starting in a corner or at a wall, your very first tile might well be a cut tile. By planning, you know what cuts you are making and can place the whole and cut tiles as you like. In your case, the first two-and-a bit tiles at the door should probably be cut so that there's not a large gap at the threshold (or you need to get the door molding cut so they can slide under it.) Depending how the (invisible) far wall (opposite the door) comes out, you might want to take enough off the "door" tiles that the wall parallel to the door does not have what looks to be a 1-1/2" slice running along it.

The main argument I've seen for starting in the middle is to avoid following an irregular wall - but you can do the same thing by striking a chalk-line where the first grout line from the wall would be, and pre-cutting all the tiles for that wall if it's irregular (or if they will be half or 1/3 tiles so the far wall isn't slivers - which you'll know because you measure it.)

Based on your pictures, I'd choose the "not centered" approach, since the visible far wall is decidedly not slivers that way, but that's purely an opinion call, not "right" or "wrong."


How to increase flow to upper water outlets If I open one of the large faucets on the lower floor, I get almost no flow in the upper showers.

All the pipes 3/4" from the meter to every outlet. If I increase the size of the section of pipe that distributes the water to the other pipes will that result in an increased flow?

This section is about 5 meters long and has 4 derivations.

That's normal in every house everywhere.

If someone's in the shower, don't open the faucet!  That's a basic rule of cohabiting a house with anyone.

If you really want to engineer your way around that, you'll need flow restrictors on every faucet, and a temperature compensating blending valve on the shower.   How much flow does that faucet need?  You may be thinking "the absolute maximum possible", well, then, OK, you can't use it at the same time as other faucets, because it's taking it all, as you intend.

Since you've made all the pipes huge, the limiting factor is now the water supply coming in from the city.

The difference in bar pressure is explained by the difference in height between floors. 0.5 bar is the weight of a column of water 16'9" tall or about 5 metres.


14/3 Wire + Double Pole Breaker, Two 120v Circuits? I would appreciate any help or guidance. I'm in Canada and renovating what used to be the laundry room in my older house. I had originally planned on adding an outlet from one of the existing receptacles as part of the renovations. At the panel, a double pole 15 amp breaker with 14/3 wire is clearly labeled and dedicated to the room in question. The panel was upgraded within the last 30 years or so by a professional electrician and there is modern wire running from all breakers.

The 14/3 from the panel ends at the first receptacle in the room, where it runs into the outlet box along with 14/2 wire from a light switch. The red hot wire from the 14/3 is connected directly to the receptacle line, and the black is pigtailed together with black from the 14/2 wire and doesn't connect to this receptacle at all. The white neutrals are pigtailed together, and then feed into the appropriate line on the receptacle. This receptacle was used for a washing machine when the wiring was upgraded, and this is the only reason I can think of why maybe a separate hot wire was reserved for use here?

There are 3 other receptacles currently in this room as well, they are all wired as follows: They each have two separate runs of older NMD-3 12/2 wire that come down from the ceiling (currently hidden by drywall) and run parallel down stud bay into each outlet box. The hots and neutrals are pigtailed together, then connect to the lines on the receptacle. There are no wires connected to the load side of any of the plugs.

I'm familiar with running 12/2 and 14/2 to outlets and thought I had a basic understanding of typical wiring but what I've encountered here has me confused and intrigued. My first thought is that this was a type of multiwire branch circuit but it doesn't seem to fit with what I've read on those either. Is the double pole breaker being used to serve the room lights+plugs and also the washer plug as 2 separate 120v circuits? Why would 14/3 and a double breaker be used instead of just 14/2 and single pole breakers? Why the two runs of 12/2 into the other receptacles? Can I safely use 14/2 to add another outlet from the unused load side of the first plug that previously served the washer?

Thanks again for any help or clarification you can provide.

Well it IS a MWBC. It just happens to be one that serves one outlet on the one side, and (presumably you've checked that the other outlets do actually turn off when the breaker does) the remainder of the outlets and the lights from the other half. It still economizes the wire from the panel to the room (one 14/3 rather than 2 14/2's.)

The older 12Ga wire presumably just means that the older outlet wiring that was not changed out was done with 12/2, and might have been on a 20A circuit at that time. Since it's more than large enough for 15A, that's perfectly safe in the current arrangement. Likely the two runs of wire are in, and on to the next device in the chain.

Personally, I find the combining of outlets and lights to be a thing I object to (since I don't like getting left in the dark, and fixed lights almost never trip a circuit breaker, while outlets get whatever plugged into them until they do) but electrical codes in both of our countries don't care about that.


single-stage or multi-stage Heatpump I wanted to buy a super efficient multi-stage or atleast 2 stage heat pump and got three quotes but then another contractor came in and refused to quote or install that, saying upstairs master would never get cool enough, and I needed single-stage (american standard silver 16 he recommended). It's a brick 1948 colonial with recent insulation but poor duct work.
Someone asked this or very similar 7 months ago-- the comments were useful but varied and I wonder if anyone one has any other thoughts - is there a test that can be done to see? Currently have a 35 yr old furnace and 25 year old air conditioner and upstairs master is marginal in summer- I try shutting vents off downstairs sometimes and that helps.

There really is no cure for inadequate duct work that involves making use of the existing ducts.  If one looks at the fine print of super efficient systems, there is always a qualification that the units must be installed correctly to achieve the rated performance.  Good duct work is a big part of correct installation.  If the duct work is marginally bad, adding an inline booster fan to push more airflow where it is needed might work, but that kind of solution reduces both efficiency and reliability.

Ductless mini-splits are sometimes a good option where existing ducts are not usable.  Some mini-splits offer the highest efficiencies available and they also are equipped with inverters that provide variable capacity control that adjusts on the fly.  Also, different models of the indoor portion of mini-splits are available to satisfy different situations.


How should I trim this door? The above door is set in a double stud wall. On the left side of the door is a skim coated stud that sits about 1" out from the door frame and on the right side the double thick wall sits 4.5" out.  On left, top and right side there is at most 2" of space between the door frame and adjacent wall/ceiling.  What would I use as trim for this door?

Im thinking about just using a 1x4 stained and cut to fit so it will sit flush with the stud on the left and butt up again the ceiling and double thick wall on the right, would that look silly?

EDIT

I did some more research and it looks like another option would be to fur out the left and top to be even with the double stud wall and add an extension jamb.  Then, trim the door normally.  What should I know about installing extension jambs?  Should they be flush with the existing jamb or offset?

Left side

Right side

I agree with Trevor on this statement of his - which was my thought before I read his answer.

"The ultimate solution would have been to bring it all forward so the door was registered to the wall with the light switch, and pad the post on the left to bring the corner out to match. "

After that then I would have simply used dry wall on the interior side of the bathroom to make it look like it was simply a reason for that floor plan - like maybe a pipe was there or the wall had a load bearing beam back there anything to keep it from standing out as an OOPS.

Then it would be just as Trevor said the visual side that will be noticed looks like it should look, and the side that would need tidying up would be hidden for the most part.