Removing a switch loop? Recently purchased a home built in 1986.  Just inside the front door, is a three switch panel.  One is for the outside patio light, the second is for an inside entry light as well as a flood light above the outside of the garage.  The third seems to be some sort of "master switch".  It controls all of the outlets in the front room (about 4-5), the overhead light in the kitchen, the light/motor for a ceiling fan, and the exhaust fan over the stove.
I've done a little searching, and I think it's called a switch loop if I'm understanding it correctly, but I don't want it.  The plugs will include the tv/stereo/dvd/etc as well as other things and having it accidentally switched off would be an annoyance.  Is there any way to make each power use point be on it's own?  Also, if it makes a difference, the kitchen light, ceiling fan/light, and stove fan all have their own individual wall switches.  I'm fairly handy and am not afraid to learn how to patch drywall if that kind of work is required.  Also, is this situation even safe?

Well, removing the switch is the easy part. All you have to do is:
1) turn off power to the box
2) you will see two black wires going to different poles of the switch. Unscrew/remove the wires and tie them together using a wire nut
3) turn on the power
Now the circuit will behave identically to the case when the switch is 'ON'
They will still be on the same circuit.

If you want each unit to be controlled by its own switch you have to run the cabling to the switch box:
1) cut out an opening where you want the switch to be and install an electrical box (plastic or metal)
2) run 12-2 (for 20A circuit) or 14-2 (15A circuit) romex from your switch box to the device box (e.g. light)
3) find the black wire of the original cable going into your device and tie it to the black wire going to your switch box using a wire nut
4) in the device box tie the white wire to where the black wire used to be. Tie the other end of the white wire in the switch box to the other terminal of the switch. Wrap a small piece of electric tape on both sides of the white wire to indicate that it is 'hot' (normally white is 'neutral')
5) repeat for every unit.


How do I move a support post for a 4x5 stair landing? The back door of my church has a stair landing above it that is supported by two 4x4 posts. One of the posts is in the path of the door and people are always running into it. I want to move this post over 12 inches to create a clear walkway. The structure above is simply an enclosed stair landing (4' x 5') that attaches to the newer second story. (Picture a 50"x48" rectangle sticking out from the building.) It is made as follows: On the 50" stair side: 2- 2x12x58 beams that sit on the 8" block header of the first story and a 4x4 post on a concrete slab. The other 50" side is 2- 2x12x50 beams that do not attach to the building side but rest on a 4x4 post on a concrete slab. The 48" side next to the building is 1- 2x12x48 attached to the wood frame of the second story. The problem side is 1- 2x12x48 and 1- 2x12x40 that are nailed into the 50" sides and bracketed to the 4x4 posts.
My thought is to bolt a 2x8x66 to the existing outside 2x12x48 with 1/2" lag bolts every 8" and bracket it to the top of a new 4x4. I would also attach a hanger bracket to the building side that is currently NOT supported. Then I would cut off the existing 4x4 that is in the way of the door.
Does this sound like it would work?

In a commercial building, you have a duty of care to your clients.

The only place to get this kind of advice is from an accredited source, such as a professional engineer or architect.


Fix blinking LEDs with a motion sensor (when off) I have bought a new motion sensor for my corridor LEDs. The lights turn on fine with it, however, when the sensor is set to OFF, the lights blink indefinitely (a few times per second) and never actually turn off.

It turns out the sensor has a minimum watt requirement of 40W, and I'm quite certain the LEDs use less than that, so could that be the cause of the issue?

If so, how can I easily raise the wattage of the circuit?

And if that's not it, then what could be causing this?

Thanks in advance!

This is common with sensors that are not listed for use with LED’s
The sensor is drawing a tiny amount of power to power the electronics, this s just enough to cause a glow and sometimes flashing. You have 2 options use higher wattage lamps like you have tried to prove the sensor was working OR find an LED compatible sensor. I use motion sensors that work with LED’s you will find many of the led type need a neutral so they power the electronics with out drawing current through the lamps this is causing the flashing.


Why use AFCI receptacles rather than AFCI breakers? Is there any reason to use an AFCI receptacle rather than replacing the breaker with an AFCI type? It seems that providing protection on the whole circuit makes much more sense than to just one receptacle. Are there areas where AFCI protected circuits are not allowed?

AFCI breakers generally have ground fault protection also, whereas I do not believe AFCI receptacles do. This is sometimes a problem on houses with "shared neutral" circuits (sometimes called Edison Circuits) as the ground fault protection logic will trip the breaker upon application of a load.

There are (or have been, not sure bout 2014 NEC) restrictions on the use of AFCI receptacles: you are/were not allowed to use them unless metal clad conduit was used to protect wiring from the breaker panel to the first receptacle on the circuit (the first receptacle is where you install the AFCI, it protects all downstream receptacles on the circuit).

Please consult a licensed electrician as they should be familiar with local code requirements.


reducing pipe size between well pump and pressure tank! I am replacing my leaking well pressure tank which is sitting next to my well. It has a 1 inch inlet to the tank and a 3/4 line to my house roughly forty feet away. Is there any good reason why I cannot bypass the old pressure tank, put in a reducer and tie on to the line to the house and set the new tank in my cellar where the existing 3/4 line enters the piping system? My well pump is submerged about 80 feet.

That should work fine - in some ways better than the old setup. Ideally you'd maintain 1 inch, but practically speaking it won't make enough difference to notice over that distance.


Do primer + paint products work well? Are primer + paint products as effective as using separate primer and paint

I was quite skeptical about the paint and primer combo's, but Valspar gave me a couple of gals to try out.  I was surprised how well it covered over dark colors.  The down side was that it is not as smooth as regular premium grade paints. It seemed a bit dry going on, but that is because it is very high in clay content.  I decided the best combo was to use it for the first coat and then use regular paint treated with Flowtrol for my finish coat.  The application that I would never use it on is covering new drywall. I still prefer quick drying PVA drywall sealer. The paint/primer combo is too heavy and stays wet too long for new drywall, and is about twice the price of PVA primer.


Is This Wood Still Good? (Water Stained or Rotten) I have an attachment on the side of my house, basically an enclosed porch but could also be a mudroom. One of the doors leads to a deck where the prior owners let the gutter downspout fall out of place, which let water collect on the deck and get into this small room. I'm wondering if the floor is still good (just stained) or rotting. I was planning on finishing the room which includes tiling the floor. Do I need to replace the wood prior to doing this?

It looks like water stains. Take a screwdriver and press it into the surface especially in the groves. If the wood is rotten the screwdriver will dig in. If the wood is sound it will just leave a mark. This is how home inspectors test around suspected areas for rot.


Is it feasible to pull individual conductors out of a 20m CAT3 cable? I am well aware that this is pushing what can be DIY-ed.

I live in a student housing cooperative, and the two houses it comprises have an unused phone network running between them. The network was run through a CAT3 50- or 100-pair cable. The cable has a steel sheath inside, so I am assuming it is a direct burial between the buildings, running between both basements and underneath the pavement beneath the two buildings. The length of the run is probably 20-30 metres, but it's hard to tell because there's no way of knowing where exactly it goes underground.

What I hope to do is pull the individual conductors out of the cable, so that I am left with an empty sheath only. This I intend to use as the conduit for several CAT5e cables to replace the obsolete CAT3 wiring.

I've tried tying the conductors to a stick and pulling really hard, which didn't quite work out. If I pull on only a few conductors at a time, say up to 8 or so, I can pull out a few millimetres worth of conductor before they break from the strain. If I pull a larger number at a time, they only come out by a few millimetres, if at all, and it may be just the insulation stretching rather than the conductors sliding through. However, the conductors are very greasy, which I'm assuming is either to make them waterproof, or was perhaps used to pull them through originally (although it's more likely that this is a direct burial cable). So it seems like I should be able to pull the individual conductors out, pull some string or wire through, and use that to pull new cables through the remaining sheath.

Is doing this feasible at all? Would using an electric winch help, for example? Has anybody done anything similar before? If I can find the mechanical specifications of the cable, could I calculate how feasible it is (based on the maximum pulling force & the length of the cable, for example?)

I understand that the professional solution would be to dig up the cable and replace it.

No, the intelligent (budget-concious) solution in this case is to use the cat3 conductors and any of various schemes to run ethernet over them; starting with the base case that 10Mbit ethernet runs happily on Cat3 wire, and many Cat3 wires are actually fine for 100 Mbit. Those are "free" solutions.

You could put trunking switches on either end and run a bunch of 10 (or 100 if you get lucky) mBit connections in parallel (there will be a lot of pairs - likely 25, so you can run up to 12 wait, you say 50 or 100, so 25-50 - only takes two pair each) for pretty cheap. Except you went and yanked on and broke the wires already.

You can get two-wire "ethernet extenders" that will happily run 40 mBit or more on a single pair. They cost a bit more, usually. Your wire abuse also lowers the odds on those, unfortunately.

Thus, the correct solution for you in this case is to ignore the wire you have been abusing and put a couple of 5 GHz Point-to-Point radios on the buildings where they have a clear line of sight between them.

Or dig a trench and install fiber optic in conduit. That certainly is the "price no object professional approach" and has the benefit of being unaffected by thunderstorms which can wreak havoc with copper inter-building connections. Digging up the old cable is not normally a part of this approach, since it just adds a headache. Calling DigSafe several days before starting is a part of it, though...

When you pull on the wires, you are probably pulling against the telco's strain relief when you snap them. Virtually all "old phone cables" were installed by Ma Bell and she didn't just dump a cable into the ground. Which is to say, yanking the wires out is not going to work.


How can I safely test my (optical) smoke alarm? My landlord has recently reinstalled my smoke alarm. It is labelled on the smoke alarm as an "Optical" type.

The smoke alarm appears to be working - it's powered by both mains electricity and battery - it shows a green status light, and when I push the test button it does indeed beep as expected.

However, being a cautious type, I've tried holding a lighting match 20cm or so below it, then extinguishing it. That generates a small puff of smoke. This doesn't seem to trigger the alarm.

Should I reasonably expect that to trigger the alarm? Is there anything else I can do (safely!) to test the alarm?

In case it's relevant, I'm in the UK.

There is a chance that burning something may contaminate the sensors. Several companies make an optical alarm test spray. It is an aerosol can that generally costs less than $10 U.S. It is large enough to last several years worth of monthly tests. It should be available at your local home center or hardware store.


How do I install a fan when the electrical box has 2 white and 2 black and 2 ground wires? I am trying to install a ceiling fan with remote and the problem I am having is that there are 2 black, 2 white and 2 copper(ground) wires.

The first thing I did was to connect the red wire from the fan to the black wire from the box. Then connected the white wire from the fan to the white wire from the box. Next, I connected one of the ground wires to the screw in the box and connected the other ground with the ground wire from the fan and the fan bracket. Lastly, I connected the white wire from the the receiver (for the remote) to the white wire of the fan, the black wire from the receiver to the black wire of the fan, and the blue wire from the receiver to the blue wire of the fan. I put caps over the extra white and black wires.

After this I tried turning the fan on via the remote and the pull-chains, but it did not work. What am I doing wrong?

Usually only the receiver is attached to the mains. One set of receiver wires (usually black/white/bare or green) go to the circuit and another set of receiver wires, often with two hots (black, red or blue) go to fan and light separately, and then white to white and ground to ground.

If there is a receiver, the fans own wires should generally NOT be attached to the mains.


What type of connection is this to my spigot? I am trying to replace an outside spigot. I have found where it comes into the house and I want to replace it with a new one. However, I am not sure how it's connected. I cannot tell if I will be able to unscrew or need to actually cut the copper pipe.

A plumber quoted me $200 to remove it and put a new one on. That seems really high to me.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

That looks to me like a factory-crimped assembly, all part of the frost-free spigot. It's designed to optionally allow a sweat (solder) joint, as you have with the street ell, or a threaded connection.

I'd de-solder the ell and start fresh from the length of pipe in the foreground. You could also clean up and reuse the elbow if your new spigot happens to have the exact same length and configuration.


Spray bottle w/ vinegar solution...eventually makes spray bottle not work...why? I bought two spray bottles intending on using it for cleaning solutions. I filled one with a 50/50 vinegar/water solution for household cleaning. After a few weeks of use, the pumping action on the handle stopped working. I would squeeze the handle on the spray bottle, but the handle would not return to it's original position.

I opened up the mechanism and there is a spring covered by a rubber piece (this fits snugly in a cylinder...forming a mini piston type of mechanism. The rubber forms a nice seal and is what draws the liquid up the tube when the handle releases and pushes the liquid out the nozzle when the handle is depressed. I think the rubber slides along the inside of the cylinder.

So, I'm not sure what is causing the pumping action to not work. The spring and the rubber piece looks fine I think. I don't think the rubber is breaking down...it's hard to tell whether the rough edges on the rubber was "as manufactured" or was caused by the vinegar. Also, when I took it apart, I felt a little something (almost like some sort of lubricant...but not an oily lubricant) on my fingers. Is this what is being compromised?

Since I had two spray bottles, I replaced the handle/sprayer. Sure enough, after a few weeks of using the same solution, the handle stopped pumping!

Anyone else out there with a similar experience?

Vinegar is an acid. It's a mild acid, but it's an acid nonetheless. You might want to find a different brand of spray bottle that is chemical resistant... mine seem to keep working, but I buy them from a janitorial supply store. I know the one time I put a vinegar and water solution in one of my girlfriend's spray bottles, which were artsy and came from a beauty supply store, they suffered random gumming-ups and failures...


Using a non 3-way bulb in a 3-way lamp I bought a lamp that I see needs a 3-way bulb. I don't really know what that means, but I see that the switch turns three times. Is using a regular bulb in it dangerous?

a three way bulb has an extra filament and provides 3 brightness levels, if you use a regular bulb it will work ok, but only give one brightness level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-way_lamp


How should I protect trimmed wires in a push-in connector? I need to reroute the wires to a set of recessed lights. The lights have push-in connectors inside of their junction box.

The wires were cut at the connectors but there are enough extra terminals.

The old wires are trimmed too short to cap or pigtail and I don't want to replace the cans. I'm thinking maybe I paint on liquid electrical tape. Is there a more appropriate way?

Wires can sometimes be worked out of a push-in connector by twisting and pulling. If the clipped wires cannot be removed because they're too short or won't pull out then replace the whole connector with a new push-on or twist connector.

The clipped wires are sure to have relatively sharp edges somewhere. Like any paint, it's easy to get a thick coating of liquid tape on a smooth surface but it's hard to make it build a good thickness on edges.


How can I add more insulation to this roof? We've recently leased an office in a tropical climate and I am trying to figure out the best way to increase the insulation in the building.

So far I've researched:

spray insulation (options are both inside and outside)
adding additional insulation between the steel beams

But still not sure of the best method. There is a steel roof above the thin layer of insulation that is present.

It's in the Philippines where it's an almost constant 22-32 degrees celcius, and we do plan on adding air conditioning, so the insulation is really to try and get the general temperature down to cut down energy costs.

Spray foam insulation is one of the best options for insulating.  It seals very airtight (losses from leaking air can be 40% of your energy bill) and can cover over metal and other materials that can "thermal bridge" and conduct heat from outside.  It is expensive, and is generally applied by a professional which may put it out of your budget.  It is also somewhat flammable and some areas require that it be covered by an ignition resistant material which might be difficult.

Next up would be solid foam panels tightly fit between the trusses.  Third best would be more fiberglass batts like the ones up there already for a greater thickness.  You are trying to increase the air tightness and the total R value.


Would tiling a basement floor provide any effective moisture barrier? I'm about to undertake another basement remodel. With our first, we simply stained the concrete floor. We really liked the look of it. However, it still would bring in moisture at times.

This time, I'm considering tile. Would adding tile in any way help reduce the potential of moisture migrating through the floor? Or should I just assume that grout won't be any type of blocker anyways.

What if I painted the floor with a product like Redgard first? Overkill?

I may also go with vinyl plank flooring...which I assume WOULD act as a barrier.

Depending on your location, basements will emit moisture in some degree or another. The concrete floor may appear dry, but moisture does pass through it and into the room. A tile floor probably wouldn't prevent moisture from reaching the room due to the grout joints. I've heard about heavy duty concrete sealers, but that would prevent bonding of the thinset when its time to tile. I've had very good success installing treated sleepers on top of plastic covered by plywood.


Since neutral is connected to ground how is current kept off of ground? If neutral is connected to ground and current desires ground then I would think it would go to ground.  But my understanding is that it is kept off of ground until it's "upstream" of the breaker box, or unless a malfunctioning device shorts hot to ground.  So what "prevents" the electricity from going to the ground that the neutral is connected to?

Current doesn't want to return to ground, but rather it wants to return to the source.  The ground isn't a great conductor and while it is in parallel with the service, the amount of current returning through the ground is so small it is effectively zero.  However, if you lose your neutral then the ground becomes the only viable return path for the current to get to the source.

I replaced a residential service and the neutral on the service drop broke on the service drop-side of the point of attachment.  The house still had power because the system was grounded and current was taking "plan B" of returning to source through the ground.  Luckily the home owners just purchased the house and hadn't moved in yet.


Can I remove these walls? I'm doing kitchen renovation and want to remove a few walls. Those are on the first floor of a 2 story house(no basement).
I've opened a few of them and did my best to provide all the pictures.
I opened the ceiling and checked how joists run above those walls. Looks like they just run through them a few feet past the walls I'm considering to remove.
1&2 is a small closet. 3&4 is has only 1 wire inside which is going into the slab.
the niche between those walls was supposed to be a built in desk

Can I remove them (Wall 1,2,3,4) and make the back wall flush?
Should I reinforce those joists? For example I can do sistering with a plywood from both sides of them.

Edit:

Wall 1/2 Intersection with trusses:

1 and 2 don't seem structural, because they don't go under the strong points of the truss-joists.
3 and 4 are hard to tell, you're asking me "Is this wall holding something up" I can't see from here.
I would guess probably not structual, but they don't seem to serve any other purpose.


Any ideas for cutting door bottoms on pocket doors? What can I do about pocket doors that are blocked by floor tiles?

Could you cut out the bottom (1/4-1/2 inch) on a pocket door while it is still in the frame?  What tools would you use?  How would you make sure cut is straight?

Hire a Door Trimming Saw.

In the UK HSS stocks them.


attach an IKEA Lillangen cabinet to the wall above tiles I am thinking about buying an IKEA Lillangen cabinet for my bathroom. That one: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50396635/. The assembly instructions are here: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/assembly_instructions/lillangen-wall-cabinet-with-door__AA-2050534-1_pub.pdf).

The bathroom is tiled from the floor to 2m above ground, and I have to leave the tiles and the tile joints undamaged. So we would need to attach the cabinet above the tiles. The tiles are 1cm thick.

Questions:

Will this be possible with the provided top attachment? To me it looks as if the provided top attachment requires a straight wall (see instructions, step 14) so that in my case the cabinet would be slanted like this:

If it will not be possible with the provided attachment, what kind of attachments would work?
The instructions show that the cabinet should also be attached at the bottom (see instructions, step 15). As I said, I am not supposed to damage tiles and tile joints, so what options do I have?

The cabinet will be filled with cleaning agents, so it has to hold some actual weight. The goal is to store the cleaning agents safely away from a young child. Since the child might find the cabinet interesting, it must be stable enough to not bulge when the child tries to shake it from below.

You can use the supplied mounting system if you put a spacer behind the bar that mounts to the wall. ( between the bar and the wall to bring the bar out to the same plane as the tile.)

The spacer will need to be the correct thickness,

I.E. measure how far off the wall the tile sits.

If you do not have a planer or table saw  You may need to sandwich a couple of things to achieve your thickness.

You need to make sure you secure the bar into structure (studs).

You could use double sided tape on the bottom corners to keep it against the tile.


Electrical breakers question Does each hot wire in a double pole breaker carry the breaker's rated amperage or does each wire split the amps? For example, if a double pole breaker  is rated at 50 amps, does each hot wire carry 50 amp protection or 25?

Both conductors can carry the maximum current. However, since it can either be a 240V circuit or a 120/240V circuit, it can seem a bit confusing. At no time will you be able to draw more than the max current, but it is possible to have the maximum current on both conductors.

In all cases, both ungrounded conductors will have to be rated to carry the maximum current.

Also note that the conductors only carry the current drawn by the loads attached. So the conductors will carry anywhere from 0 to the maximum current, depending on the demand of the loads.


Why should an electric heater not be daisy-chained? I bought an electric heater such as this one:

The manual mentions this part:

  The heater should not be connected to adapters or an outlet multiplier.

  The heating device should not be placed below an outlet power socket.

I translated it from Portuguese:

  A escalfeta não deve ser ligada a adaptadores ou fichas triplas.

  O aparelho de aquecimento não deve ser colocado por baixo de uma tomada de
  corrente de posto fixo.

This was probably automatically translated itself since two expressions have no definite meaning ("adaptador" and "tomada de corrente de posto fixo").

I imagine that the first recommendation refers to the practice of "daisy-chaining" outlet multipliers to one another. I have been using it on an extension cord with a multiplier connected to a power outlet. It has been working fine. I'm not sure about the second recommendation.

What do the recommendations mean, and why?

Update with details on volts, amperes, and watts

The power strip (made in Germany) says 3680 W, 16 A, 250 V~. Appliances currently connected are:

the electric heater mentioned above: 230 V, 50 Hz, 70 W
an upright heater:  220-240V, 50 Hz, 2000 W
a laptop: Input 100-240 V~, 1A, Output 14.85V, 3.05A
a USB charger: Input 100-240V, 50-60 Hz, Output 5V, 0.5A
a monitor: Input 100-240V, 0.7A, 50-60Hz, Output 14V, 2.14A
a desktop with a C13 connector: 10A, 250 V~

It seems to me that, for the first recommendation, I should be fine to use all of these at the same time, except for the desktop and the upright heater which both take over 2000 W. Is that correct?

The first recommendation would be related to the amount of current such a device draws. If one uses an outlet multiplier or a power strip, one can add other devices which would increase the power draw, placing the chain in danger of overheating, fire or tripping a circuit breaker. One could argue that the operator can take the responsibility of not connecting other devices into the multiplier. This can be valid, but legal statements such as these "protect" the manufacturer.

My experience with outlet multipliers is that the quality can be suspect. A poorly made one may work fine with today's lower power electronics but have failures when subjected to high currents such as those drawn by heaters.

The second caution follows that heat generated by the heater should be be applied to the power outlet and power cord.

I have a different stand-alone heater which is connected to a power strip. The power strip power cord does not get warm, but the heater cord does get warm. If both levels of heating are engaged on the heater, providing maximum heat, the power strip pops/opens the breaker circuit, terminating power.

This places the responsibility of safe operation on me and I never activate both levels of heat simultaneously.

One could expect that if you observe caution, you can be successful operating your heater in a manner inconsistent with the safety instructions. If you can trust that others in the household will also use appropriate caution, all the better.


Is exposed wire dangerous if neutral is capped? An electrician left this in my attic with the circuit breaker on. You can see my non-contact tester lighting up. All the neutrals are capped, and the three hot wires are sticking straight up, exposed.

Is this dangerous? It was like this about 2 weeks before I crawled into the attic for other reasons and noticed.

The electrician is planning to return in a couple more weeks to complete the kitchen wiring, this is just after the rough-in.

Just a minute. Be careful assuming those are hot wires. Non-contact voltage testers are notoriously over-sensitive and will read the whole box as hot if there's just one wire inducing voltage onto the others. I see that one of the black wires has a cap on it. He may have just disconnected several that he was working on that he didn't want to become hot. It's rare to have several different Hots all in one box. Usually, though not always, there's just one.

I use one of two different  tricks with a tester like that to determine which wires are actually hot in a big cluster of wires.

1, isolation method: You can dampen sympathetic signals by using your free hand to grasp the wire you want to test by its insulation a little further down from the bare end. A finger and thumb is all you need. Hold it away from the other wires and now lay your tester on it again. If it is hot it will still indicate, if it is not a hot wire it should appear dead.

2, Reduce sensitivity: lay your index finger on the opposite side of the tip of the tester when testing individual wires in a box. This usually will give 90% more accurate results and cut way down on false positives.

I know that box looks bad being uncovered and wires splayed out like that, but I still think your electrician left it safer than it appears. He probably thought he would be the next person in the attic, which was a wrong assumption, but I just don't think that he would have left hot wires wide open like that. If still in doubt, you can get a multimeter and test the bare ends of the wires for voltage against the equipment grounding conductors (all bare), or against the neutral.


What happens if I don't replace my water treatment filter? My house has Water Softener (Ionics IQ Series) installed by previous owner. We really haven't replaced the filter diligently, is there any consequence for this? I mean, will it make my drink water bad?

That series was sold with and without a carbon filtering system which makes it a little harder to described. If you have a carbon filtering system (there's is called a "HYgene Bacteriostatic Filter Media" containing Silver Impregnated Activated Carbon) which is the more typically and suggested unless you have well water, the manufacturer suggests replacing the carbon filter every 3-4 years. The carbon is porous and is underneath a few levels of filter media and will hold onto the smaller particles. Also, that series appears to be fairly typical and has a salt tank filter, I highly recommend checking and more than likely filling that up. The salt is fairly cheap in comparison and the system is designed for the homeowner to maintain that themselves. The salt aids in the life of the filtration system, the filter system washes itself out and adds salt as a Regeneration cycle.

The consequences, the regeneration cycle is an attempt to clear the debris and if the media is too old or too much media has been flushed away the regeneration cycle will either stop and your water pressure will drop (would probably take months for you to notice) or the regeneration cycle will happen significantly more frequently wasting your electricity and remaining salt. The less filter media the system has, the more likely it is to get things (bacteria, hard minerals, debris) through which is no worse that not having the filter. The carbon will "bleed" and release the bacteria it was holding onto but that is just what it does and will not typically effect smell or taste for many years past it's prime if it is kept wet (which it is as long as the bypass hasn't been on since you moved in).

The systems themselves are expensive, the filter system look to be < $300 USD with installation. So you may want to look into getting it all fixed up. You'll have to monitor the salt about every 6 months but otherwise it should be maintenance free for at least 3 years.

If you are still concerned, most people install a bypass value system for maintenance of the system (an for heavy gardening, filling up the pool, going on vacation). This series appears to have the bypass installed as part of the unit. The bypass value does exactly what it sounds like, it bypasses the entire unit. Looking at the Manual this unit has a single valve to bypass (Page 5/6 manual using verbage "by-pass"). Sidenote: most home-made/plumber installs for a bypass system will have two valves, one for redirecting the input around the system and one for switching the output from the unit to the bypass.


Do I need to shut off the gas to my water heater, when I shut off the cold water intake to fix a leaking hot water faucet in my basement sink? I need to replace a leaking hot water faucet in my basement laundry sink. To do this I need to shut of the hot water going into that faucet. The only option I see is to turn off the cold water intake to the water heater and then let one or more hot water taps drain the hot water from the tank. So when I do this (shut off the cold water to the water heater) - Do I need to shut off the gas to my water heater, when I shut off the cold water intake to fix a leaking hot water faucet in my basement sink?

It's not a bad idea to turn off the gas while you work on your water system as the water level inside the tank may become unacceptably low, or pressures to high if you shut all the valves off; triggering the T&P relief valve.

You must turn off the gas or power if you have to drain the entire system and the tank.


What size wire should I use for a 60amp subpanel? I am installing a 60 amp subpanel in a workshop in my backyard and I will have 2 - 20 amp services with 4-5 outlets on each and 1 - 15 amp service for lighting. The length from the main panel to the workshop is about 105 feet. I will be using a double pole 60 and GFI circuit breaker in the main panel to a 60 amp pull out on outside of work shop then inside to the subpanel. What would be a good size wire. I may run one saw at a time or a couple of saws.

6AWG copper wire would be the minimum for a 60A subpanel but with a 105ft distance you have too much voltage drop and need to go up to 4AWG copper to keep the voltage drop within acceptable limits (usually 5%).


Portable Air Conditioner Compressor Never Cycles On & Off - Is this normal? I have a portable air conditioner in my bedroom set to 68 degrees. On cooler days it brings the room down to 68 and the compressor shuts off and it runs in fan only mode. Once the temp in the room goes back up, the compressor comes back on and gets the room back to 68 and shuts off and goes to fan only mode again.

When it is 100 degrees out it is unable to cool to 68. The compressor runs and runs and doesn't seem to cycle on and off. It is able to keep the room at 72 which is fine. I assume this is okay as it has been working great. But I thought the compressor had to take a break and cycle on and off to let coils evaporate or something? Is this normal for a portable AC unit compressor to never cycle on hot days?

There is no problem with the unit running continuously without a break. The most wear occurs when the compressor starts up from being off. A unit that is sized to run continuously is actually more efficient than one that cycles on and off.

We have a slightly undersized Carrier central a/c unit (12 SEER) which is 26 years old, but still works as well as could be expected for one that age. The blower fan motor is original and the compressor is original. The original fan in the condensing unit failed and was replaced 2 years ago. On very hot summer days (>100 F) it turns on at say 11:00 am and runs continuously until 5 pm.


Can lost water pressure cause a water heater to leak/rupture? I woke up this morning at 5 am to my water heater making loud noises. It had leaked all over the floor and the bathroom sink had a steady stream of hot water that wouldn't turn off. This water heater is electric and was just purchased in October 2018, so it's about 6 months old. The water pressure through the house was so low the toilet wouldn't flush.
Called the water company at 8:30 am and they said there had been an emergency crew dispatched to a water leak in my area. And at 11:00 am said there was no estimate of completion for repair and they are still working on it.
Could this have cause my water heater to over pressurize? The warranty is covering replacement, I just want to know what happened.

No, low water pressure would not cause the water heater to leak. BUT, there may have been a sever pressure SPIKE that caused the the leak that the water dept. crew was trying to fix, and that spike may have ALSO damaged your water heater.

You might want to have a peek at all of your other fixtures and water based appliances too. For example your washing machine and dishwasher have cheap little plastic valves that turn on when you do a load, they may have burst as well. But in those cases the tubs will just fill and then drain out the waste lines, so you don't know there is a problem until you go to use them, by then you have run up a huge water and sewer bill.


Window framing gaps and split wood I had a licensed GC install 2 windows. One of them needed a new RO in the stucco wall (single story home southern CA). I agreed to close the wall and do finish work. He was contacted to install windows and frame wall for windows. Now that I'm taking a closer look I have doubts and I'm looking for standards or code references to evaluate his work.

New king studs only have 1 nail toe nailed on the thin edge into the top plate. One of them has split where he nailed.
Jack studs are not fastened to King studs at all and aren't fastened to header and neither to bottom plate.
Cripple studs (cut from original studs) have 1/2 inch gap between the header and sill plate. Nails are visible...this cannot transfer load properly I would assume.
Header nailed to cripple studs with one nail. One of them split out the header pretty bad.
Sill plate not nailed to jack stud on one side. Other spots have 1/2 inch gaps and only use 1 nail.

My concern is that he left too large gaps and loads aren't transferred properly. The window is fastened to the jack stud, but jack stud is not secured by anything but a couple nails from the shop plate.

Also, the contact was time and material. He charged 1 hr before and 1 hr after he was at site. He took excess materials with him (cutoffs, nails, unused lumber) and charged me the total material cost plus 35%. Is that normal?

Can someone tell me what's normal, and what I should do? I've yet to pay him. I feel that I should have the option to keep all materials I purchase or have it deducted. I'm doing other work on the house where I could use them. I also don't think I need to pay an extra hour after the job for his commute (I live in very centralized location).

What is correct here and what should I ask for?
Is he obligated to correct any build problems (we did not get a permit)?

Wow, where to begin...First, “adding” a window is “structural “ and therefore requires a Building Permit. The Code says the “owner of the property is responsible for obtaining all permits”. However, the Code says, “no work shall be completed until plans and specs are approved and a Permit issued.”

So, your contractor could say it’s your responsibility to get the permit, but you could say he should not have started until it was issued and you’re going to apply for a permit next week.

The bigger question is whether the “work” is acceptable. No, it’s not, because it does not meet, 1) minimum nailing requirements in Table R601.3(1) of the IRC, 2) framing requirements of Section R602, 3) no cripple stud (or nonexistent connection) under window sill framing, 4) questionable header size and lack of securing it to the wall.

I see building paper directly fastened to studs, but it appears a plywood or OSB wall sheathing is installed on top of the building paper. If the house is covered in stucco, as you state, the stucco system has a moisture barrier and will trap moisture in the wall sheathing. I’d verify that I’m wrong...or cut out the paper on the studs.

For you, building on an improperly installed base will only lead to future problems. I’d have it fixed before proceeding.


A light fixture with 2 white, 2 black wires, 1 copper. How do I connect this light fixture to a ceiling junction box? (See drawn diagram) I have a problem with this configuration and can't figure it out on my own.

Configurations I've tried:

1: Bulb1 and Bulb2 white and black wires connected to light switch black and white wires. Copper wire connected to junction. I Turn power on, turn switch on, no light.

2: Bulb1 and Bulb2 white and black wires connected to breaker white and black wires. Copper wire connected to junction. Turn on power, lights come on, but switch has no control.

Note: I have tested continuity on the switch, and its wires. There is no problem with the switch. Also the light fixture is brand new. And the light bulbs are tested working fine.

This picture above really simplified things. (took it from another thread)

The easy answer is "Hook it up just like the previous light was hooked up", but I'm assuming that you didn't keep track of the original configuration.

To make it work again, connect both of the lamp white wires to the white wire coming from the circuit breaker panel.

Then connect the black wire from the panel to the black wire leading to the switch.

Then connect the white wire from the switch to both black wires of the lamp.

Then, make sure you mark both ends of that white wire with black (tape, pen, paint, etc) to show that it's a switched hot so someone doesn't confuse it with a neutral some day.


When should you use metal studs? When does it make sense to use metal framing for an interior wall? What are the advantages to traditional wood framing?

Around here they are generally only used in commercial construction or in buildings where flamable building materials like wood are not allowed.  Wood is just much easier to work with generally.

Some advantages of metal over wood:

They don't burn.
They are always straight.
Easier to run electrical through (come with holes, so no drilling needed).

And wood over metal:

Easier to work with (cut, shape, toe nail, etc).
Stronger.  You can't use metal studs for load bearing walls.
While metal is generally cheaper than wood, the extra accessories needed (special boxes, conduit, etc) can make it more expensive.
Wood is generally easier to get - most of the big home shops don't carry steel studs.


Can the wire from the y terminal on thermostat be connected to the c terminal on heater board as pictures show? My nest was installed with no c wire and it lost power. At this point the tech looked at the wiring diagram in a/c unit outside but I do not know what he did. A/c worked but later nest had no power. I had turned off the pilot from furnace. I wonder if this affected.

Then a 2nd tech came and connected the brown wire to c (which was previously not connected) and the yellow wire to C also. Tech did not do anything to outside a/c and I am wondering if he needed to adjust the wiring at outside unit so that a/c works.  Fan works, heater works but a/c does not turn on.

Thanks for any help figuring this out!

[![enter image description here][2]][2]

I agree with @RetiredMasterElectrician that if the repairs were attempted by licensed HVAC contractors, they should have no problem diagnosing and fixing this and should do so free of charge since it will have taken them 3 tries to do so.

If the yellow wire at the control board was previously connected to Y, I have no idea why he would've removed it. That will be your call for cooling (turns on the compressor) and probably why your A/C stopped working (but fan/heat work which are controlled by G and W respectively).

Yellow should be reattached to Y, leave brown connected to C, and everything should function. Do not jumper Rh to Rc. The Nest has an internal jumper when it is required. Plugging into the Rh terminal is appropriate in your case.

Before you had a C wire, the Nest will use the furnace's R/W wires to charge its internal battery. After you turned off the pilot light, it was probably only running on battery and couldn't maintain its charge. Using a C wire should fix that issue and give the Nest constant power.


Unsure why GFCI outlet is showing orange indicator I replaced an old outlet with a new GFCI. Well upon replacing it, it now has an orange light when the one directly below it has something plugged in; also neither outlets are working. I tried to reset it to no avail.  The old outlet had weird wiring with two white cables, one red, and one black plugged in. From my understanding, I connected everything correctly. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

No GFCI is possible here, sorry.

See where the GFCI receptacle is on the ceiling? GFCI receptacles are not allowed on ceilings.  GFCIs must be accessible (to reset), so they're not allowed here.

You have to convert that back to a plain receptacle, and call it quits.  Whoever told you that had to be a GFCI receptacle, must have used that page of NEC to roll a joint.

The plain receptacle should hook up exactly like the old plain receptacle, except I recommend using the higher quality types that use screw-and-clamp rather than the notoriously unreliable backstabs.  (which don't work on #12 wire in any case).

How to get a GFCI anyway - conduit version

Now it looks like the connection between the two pictured receptacles is cable on a cable clamp.  However it looks like the other connection might be conduit (note the red wire) and the Romex cable doesn't look like it's held in a cable clamp.  EMT conduit is common in cinder block and poured ceiling construction, so there's a possibility that Romex cable is actually running in conduit. You could reach up and pull on the Romex cable sheath.  if it has about 1/2" of free play without any real effort, it's in conduit.  Otherwise there'll be a cable clamp right there and it won't move at all.

So if it's in conduit...

Go down to the other receptacle and confirm it's conduit there too, and the same cable.    So...

The GFCI fits in the lower (accessible) receptacle. A plain recep goes in the ceiling.

Tie a pulling string to that Romex cable and pull it out of the wall.  Leave the string.  Now, call around to electrical supply houses and see who will sell you the following by-the-foot, in THWN-2 12 AWG, preferably stranded but solid will do.   Get them 1' longer than the Romex cable (bring with you).

White #12 THWN-2
Red #12 THWN-2
Gray #12 THWN-2
Purple #12 THWN-2, and if they have gray but don't have this, then pick orange, yellow, brown, blue or whatever they have that isn't black or red.
SOLID green or bare #12 THWN-2  (stranded is very nice, but too hard to put on terminal screws, and they don't have screw-and-clamp for grounds).

Purple (or whatever) and gray are going to be hot and neutral in the GFCI protected zone.  You only need one ground wire.

The plan is:

Green or bare wires: go to each other, any steel box case, and both receptacle grounds.
Red wires: go to each other and also to the GFCI LINE hot. Use wire nuts for splicing.
White wires: go to each other and also GFCI LINE neutral.
Purple wires: Go to the GFCI LOAD hot and to the ceiling receptacle.
Gray wires: Go to GFCI LOAD neutral and to the ceiling receptacle.

If you use stranded wire, spend $2 extra on the good receptacles with screw-and-clamp back-wire attachments, and clamp the stranded wires down HARD. Give it a firm pull test.

Attach the purple and gray wires to the plain receptacle, along with a 6" ground pigtail. Do all this at comfortably at the bench.

Then, pull all 5 wires, receptacle attached, from the ceiling downward. Look at that! The ceiling recep is almost done!  Sure is easier to work on the bench.

Now attach all wires as discussed above.

If the lower junction box has another cable with onward wires, decide whether you want them in the GFCI protection zone, and attach both to LINE, or both to LOAD, appropriately.

One more problem.  The upper box is overfull, because they don't have room for 6 wires and a recep and a ground.  So add an extension box, ideally for aesthetics a Legrand Wiremold surface conduit starter box.   You will probably need to do the same thing at the lower box, as GFCIs are too bulky for those simple metal Handy-Boxes.

In fact, while you're at it, why not just run surface conduit down the wall from that box to just above the fume hood?  Then you can plug in the fume hood there instead of having a dopey looking cord draping up to the ceiling.

How to get a GFCI anyway -- Romex in wall version (simple)

Read the conduit version, especially the part about using a surface conduit starter box to cope with the additional cubic inches, and then using actual surface conduit to bring the ceiling receptacle down to a more appropriate place.

Do that thing with the surface conduit. Except continue past the fume hood, to an outlet at a convenient and usable location, and put the GFCI there in a surface conduit junction box.

Then, look at the stuff I said above about extending with red and white for the non-protected wires, and purple/gray for the protected-zone wires.  Do pretty much all that same exact stuff, except in the surface conduit instead of in-wall.  Surface conduit is conduit, after all.

Now, if this location would make it a kitchen countertop receptacle, and the circuit serves other loads besides kitchen countertops, oven fume hoods and clocks, then NEC says you cannot add a kitchen countertop recep on this circuit.  So don't - if necessary use a GFCI deadfront (a blank-face where the receptacle should be).

How to get a GFCI anyway - no surface conduit, please version

Restore the ceiling outlet to a plain receptacle, since that's the endgame there regardless.

Turn off the circuit breaker feeding this recep.

Scour the house for every single receptacle that lost power when  you did that.  Look at the ones where it'd be legal to put a GFCI (not ceiling ones).  Open them up, remove and cap one hot wire, and power the circuit back up.  Test if the ceiling receptacle lost power.

Once you've found a location where that is true, put the GFCI recep at that location, attaching only one cable to the LINE wires, and using that to identify which cable is supply and which is onward.  Once the GFCI powers up, attach the cable to

GFCI anyway, the "I hate fire and cost is no object" version

I'm not sure why you posted a pic of your service panel, since no one asked for that, but since you did... That has two problems.  First, it's an infamous Zinsco "firestarter" panel, and it is beyond redeeming - nobody makes safe breakers for that because the busing itself is also defective.  So the panel needs to go at some point, fairly soon.

And second, nobody makes GFCIs for that.  (A pity; if they made AFCIs it would mitigate some of the issues with the panel).

Once it is replaced with a modern panel e.g. Eaton, Square D, GE, or Siemens -- you will be able to fit a GFCI breaker for that circuit, and you're done.  Get a very large panel. Not only is this panel full, it's double-stuffed.

In the panel department, I'll also mention to the audience that on the off chance this circuit is a MWBC, Zinsco duplex/twin breakers have 2 clips that can be on opposite poles, allowing them to double as 240V or MWBC breakers. Very slick, it's too bad they are also bombs.


Knob and Tube Wiring with AFCI We have a rental house that still has some knob and tube wiring. We did not know about the knob and tube wiring when we bought the house 18 years ago. We didn't know such a thing existed but remember the seller telling us her father was an electrician and updated some of the wiring. Some of the knob and tube has been removed but there is still some in the house. Last year we hired an electrician to remove it but because it is an old house he wasn't sure if he could get all of it out. It ended up he installed AFCI instead and said we should be safe. There is some lose insulation in the attic over the wire. Should we hire someone else to remove the knob and tube wire? Is the AFCI enough of a safety feature that we should not have to remove the knob and tube? thanks for your help!

I maintain 100 year old electrical systems.

Knob & tube is legit. Notice that most of the people telling you it's bad are people who stand to profit from your worry.

Cities and the NFPA are not nearly as worried.

AFCI is a superb way to protect any wiring you're worried about.  I recommend it for aluminum wiring, backstab connections, you name it.  It will prevent arcing/sparking of the sort which makes connections hot and starts fires, not that K&T has a problem with that. Like most electrical work of that age, K&T splices are wildly overbuilt by modern standards: wrapped, soldered and insulated often with two kinds of tape. We use backstabs.

People of that age didn't have our tech, but they were serious about their craft. Nobody had to tell them not to eat Tide pods.

Add GFCI protection to stop even small current leakage from wet wires,  and you are safe as can be. You can even put 3-prong sockets on those receptacles.

One more thing. There was a concern that blown-in insulation packing around knob and tube wire would cause it to overheat. However, the states of Oregon and Washington did an extensive survey on this, and found it to be false. As such, they liberalized their laws to permit blown insulation around knob and tube.


Spark from light switch I just installed a new led switch in a box with two other switches. When I ran power to it and tested the non led switch in the box I received a big spark. I went and turned off power again, removed face plate, and realized the ground from the new switch was wrapped around screw on the switch next to it (the screw for live wire). I fixed the problem and ground wire has a burn mark on it from spark. Just wanted to know if it is safe or should I have an electrician come out to check for and damage or hazards?  Thanks.

Are there "backstab" connections between here and the service panel?  This is just the sort of surge overload tends to damage them and provoke them into later failure.

I would eliminate those and move them either to side screws, or if equipped, screw-to-clamp.


Need help to ID and remove electric outlet cover I Need some help identifying and removing an electrical outlet cover in the kitchen.

I removed the middle screw but the cover is still not coming off, no screws on the sides either.

Loosen the center screw and then pull (or pry if it's stuck) around the edges.  These plug into both outlets and can be fairly tight.

I recommend you shut off power at the service panel before trying this for safety.


what is the proper way to re-roof a home with exposed wood decking all around it ,so that nails will not protrudethrough the decking? What is the proper way to re-roof a home with exposed wood decking all around it, so that nails will not protrude through the decking?

All roofing manufacturers require a certain size fastener (manual or pneumatic) shank size and head size. They also specify the minimum thickness of roof sheathing. This is primarily to resist wind blow off.

Depending on where the installation is located, the minimum thickness of sheathing is either 1/2” or 5/8” (for high wind areas).

You can buy the correct size (shank diameter and head size) and specify “shorts” (1” long) so they don’t penetrate the decking. These “shorts” exceed the roofing manufacturers minimum penetration.

If you use the wrong size fastener, you’ll void the warranty.


How to wire 12V bulbs on a 36V circuit? I have a number of bulbs running off a 36V transformer. 36V bulbs are quite expensive and so I wanted to use 12V automotive bulbs in the circuit.
Has anyone here ever done this?

If I place 3 12V bulbs in series I should be able to make them work, the problem is that when one blows, the other 2 will follow.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
I have dismantled one of the 4 lamp units and I'd like to provide additional information, mainly for future readers that want to address a similar problem.
I made a silly mistake! I thought they were 36V because I was reading from an oxidised base lamp, but it turns out the bulbs are actually 150W 32V
Now it seems this is a "designer transfomer/lamp set for pool illumination". I have only found one company that sells this ODD voltage lamp/transformer. The fact that the bulbs blow out very frequently (only a few hundred hours of operation) makes me think that maybe they are poorly engineered so they can sell more lamps.

The Transformer is 32V 4.7 A 150VA 240-250V 50Hz. I assume it is AC.
The cost of the bulbs are around $30, hence my desire to find an alternative solution.

I thank all the contributors for the useful tips and for reminding me that when they are in series, one will blow and the others will be turned off, which is probably not so bad.

3 12v lamps in series will work 3 x 12 = 36.
There can be additional sets in parallel if your supply is large enough. The wattage for each set of 3 will be the wattage of 1 lamp. Example a 20 watt 12v set of 3 will draw 20 watts at 36v. A second set of 3 in series with each other would draw a total of 40w and a 3rd set the total would be 60w. If 1 of the lamps in a 3 bulb set burns out the other 2 will go out until the bad lamp is replaced in that series circuit. Additional parallel sets would not be affected.


Replacing a hot water heater: tank or tankless? We've lived in this house for 20 years and the hot water heater (tank style) was 2 years old, as was the rest of the house, when we moved in. In the last year or two we've started to have occasions when we run out of hot water. At first we put it down to volume - we have an 18 yo and a 22 yo, so they have showers, and they have friends over, and some mornings we're trying to accomodate 4 or 5 showers. But now it's two showers,or one shower and a load of laundry, and suddenly there's no hot water for dishes. Having read that hot water heaters usually last 10 years, I guess we need to replace this one. We're considering tankless, but:

We're on a well. The water is hard (the kettle scales a lot) and cold
We have electric heat
Our service is 200 A
In the winter, we set the heat back overnight so the house is cool, and warm it up in the morning (right around when showers would be happening)
Here in Ontario, electricity is charged at time-sensitive rates
We don't have natural gas available (we live in the middle of nowhere)
We don't have a propane tank already and don't want one

Is tankless still a sensible option for us? Roughly how much more do they cost - given that we're not taking out a working tank and replacing it just for energy savings, but instead have to buy a new heater, is it not too bad?

And finally, would it be worth it to get someone to clean/flush/repair in some way our 20 year old heater, that we have never done anything to, in order to save the cost of replacing it?

I would check the operation of the heating elements. On my heater, when the lower element burned out, we had a reduced quantity of hot water (basically the top half of the tank). Replacing an element is much cheaper than a whole tank.

Response to comment: I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself unless you are knowledgeable and comfortable with electrical work. That said, I checked mine with an ohmmeter. This page has more details:

http://waterheatertimer.org/How-to-test-water-heater-element.html


At what voltage are "low voltage" junction boxes not appropriate? 120VAC needs a proper, enclosed junction box. Speaker cable, data, and low voltage power are fine with the more open low-voltage boxes. At what voltage are the enclosed boxes required? Do PoE lines (48VDC) need the same boxes as 120VAC? What's the cut-off?

Regulations vary by country/locale.

IEC SELV is < 25 VAC or < 60 VDC.

See IEEE 802.3 POEP Study Group
Safety considerations for POE and POEplus


Replacing a Saddle Valve with a Tee? I want to replace a saddle valve with a sharkbite (Close quarters + HVAC nearby, I really don't want to solder it :) ) slip tee (3/4" x 3/4" x 3/4"), but I can't seem to figure out the right couplers I would need to get the 1/4" copper ice maker line onto the 3/4" tee.

So far I'm thinking about getting the 3/4" slip tee + I already have a 3/4" copper pipe for the ice maker side of the slip tee, but after that I don't know what to put on the end of the 3/4" pipe.

How should I make the transition from the 3/4" pipe coming from the tee to the 1/4" ice maker line?

Here is the current situation

Here is your solution/Ans already made up.  It is a Sharkbite tee with a valve cut off and a 1/4" fitting on the tee.

Link to item at Lowes:  Sharkbite Tee with 1/4" fitting and valve


How to wire two switches to control bathroom fan/light combo (only two 12/2 cables in receptacle)? My bathroom has a light/fan combo fixture. The wall receptacle previously had:

Single pole switch to control the light (on/off)
Single pole switch to control the fan (on/off)
Mechanical timer switch for the fan

There are only two 12/2 cables coming into the box (I assume one for fan, one for light). I removed the old switches because I just wanted to replace with a new rocker switch for the light and a new timer for the fan (no longer 2 switches for fan). I believe the two fan switches before were tied together to you could either leave the fan on/off with one switch or set a timer for it with another. Unfortunately, I didn't pay close enough attention to how it was wired before and am at a loss for how to wire this correctly.
Here is a picture of the wires in the receptacle:

I want to connect a single pole switch for the light on the right side (has a ground nut and two brass nuts) and an Eaton 9590AW 5-Button Preset Minute Timer for the fan (has a green ground wire, a red wire, and a black wire sticking out of the back). The timer supposedly does not need a neutral wire.
Any input on how I should wire this? When I just try to wire the timer switch to the cable on the left and the light switch to the cable on the right, I get no power to the fixture. When I try combining wires with pigtails, sometimes I can get light to operate but either the fan is always on or the fan has no power. I cannot seem to figure out how to wire the light and the fan separately so that I can use the timer feature for the fan.

Each of these cables is a switch loop. In theory, the taped white (red or blue) is the always-hot wire and the black wire is the switched-hot. However, it could be the reverse. There are two easy ways to tell:

Open up the fan and light and see which wire is connected to another black (= always hot) and which is connected to the fan or light (= switched hot)
With all the wires carefully separated, turn the breaker back on and see which wires show hot with a non-contact tester.

Once you know which wires are always hot and which wires are switched hot:

For a standard "both screws are the same, nothing fancy" light switch, connect one insulated wire to one screw, the other insulated wire to the other screw, bare ground to the green screw and done.
For the timer:

Connect (wire nut) bare ground to green
Connect (wire nut) always-hot wire to black
Connect (wire nut) switched-hot wire to red


How do I find whether I got the right AC? Recently i bought AC (LG

  LS-Q18HNZA

) 2020 series. Somehow i feel i got cheated due to the below reasons.

There is no printing "New 2020 series" on the indoor unit box.
There is not stickers related to 2020 series on the indoor unit.
The remote does not contain 4-in-1 button.

How do i check whether i got the 2020 series product.

The labeling on the box and the unit not having "2020 series" doesn't mean a thing, that an advertising thing. The remote being different could be a clue. Run it by your installer. Also, get the serial numbers, not the model numbers, off of the units and get with customer service and have them check the records. Verify the warranty cards.


Are these brick walls properly constructed? I'm looking into buying an apartment and I'm visiting some locations. During one of my visits I saw this exterior wall of a future apartment building:

I'm not an expert but it does not look good to me.

I have two questions:

Are those walls badly built?
What guidelines must be followed when building brick walls?

Here are some more photos of this work (click through for a larger version):

In the aeronautical industry, we have this saying "If it looks ugly, it flies ugly" which has proven out in that aerodynamic design needs certain sleek lines and cobbled together garbage just doesn't have what it takes.

Same goes for the building industry. Despite the cosmetics of Stucco and the willingness to absolve the builder because it "doesn't look pretty", if a non-load-bearing wall is this foul, you can be certain that little or even less care was taken on the structural elements of the building.

This is why a 6.5 earthquake in a country with strict building standards can be fairly annoying but in another with unreinforced masonry and no standards, ends up killing 30,000-40,000 people, both areas having the same population density.

Poorly designed, non-loadbearing walls will just shear off the building and fall into the street in a quake.


Can I just cap the red wire from a dual switch to install a ceiling fan without a light? I am replacing a ceiling light with a ceiling fan NO light. There is a dual switch at the wall to accommodate a ceiling fan with a light. There are 4 wires at the ceiling ground, red, black and white. My question is, can I use the ground, black and white wires for the fan and is it safe to just cap the red wire with a nut?

Nope, can't do it.

Code absolutely requires a wall switch in the room that works.

There's a variance that lets you have that wall switch operate a receptacle, and then you're supposed to plug in a floor lamp and leave it switched on 24x7 at the lamp (or just remove the switch knob; that's what I do).  However no, you can't have only lights which must be operated at the lamp, with a phone, what have you.

You'll either need a different fan, a light kit for this fan, a ceiling light elsewhere in the room, or the switch must operate a receptacle.  (there aren't Code police who go around checking to see if you actually plug a lamp into it lol.  But you will certainly have problems when you sell the house; it'll get redflagged and you'll have to fix it, right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the property sale).


When is a fence considered light weight and how do you chose if you need a heavy or a light fence? I have two other related posts regarding fences (if you are curious) . I am now trying to decide what kind of base I should implement for my fence...

Here is what I am trying to build

I would like to use one of these

but I am reading that these are used for light weight fences
The question is: is my fence built like below a heavy one? (it will span 12' and it will be made of cedar boards (1x-2 or 3 or 4-6x8')
How do you decide when you need a heavy or a light weight fence?

There is no specific definition of what 'lightweight' would mean for a fence. But, in general, one could probably argue that a fence that is mostly decorative is lightweight. A 3' high vinyl post and rail fence would be lightweight.

An 8' wood privacy fence would not.

You might be able to use these, but I'd want them sunk into concrete so that you have a solid enough base to with stand the horizontal loads the fence in the picture would be exposed to due to wind.


How is this light switch wired? Where is the ground? This picture is from a new building. It is not a 3-way light.

there are three black wires coming out from the wall. One runs directly to the light switch. Two get connected in the blue connector, and then one runs to the switch.

I can see the white neutral at the back.

Where is the ground?
And why are there three black wires?

I would like to replace this switch with a smart switch that requires neutral and ground connections.

I see two ground screws on the metal junction box, and grond wires being affixed to both of them.  Since there are three MC cables entering the box, either those screws support 2 ground wires per screw, or there is an invisible wire nut.


Drill bit sizing for pilot hole The directions call for the pilot hole to be drilled with a 5/16, but I don't have one. What’s the next size or closest to a 5/16 drill bit?

Let's break this down into math.

The next size down from x/16 is x/32. 5/16 converts to 10/32. Assuming your bit set is that granular, the next larger size is 11/32, and the next smallest size is 9/32. Those aren't necessarily common sizes, however.

The next size up in x/16 would be 6/16, which is 3/8. The next size down is 4/16, or 1/4.

My ultimate suggestion is even easier to remember. Take the item you need to put into the hole and hold the bit over it, so it covers the item. If you're putting in an anchor of some sort, the bit should totally cover the item. if not, go up one step in your bit set until you find one that does. If you're trying to put a screw in, find a bit that covers the shaft of the screw, but still leaves the threads visible.


White mold in the attic? I've got an 1890s house in London. We started getting some penetrative damp through some of the upstairs walls so I've had a look in the attic to check if there's anything going on up there.

It looks like all the rafters have got white mold on them, though the internet's say it could be efflorescence. I'm guessing that me replacing the insulation in the ceiling joists a few years ago has contributed to this.

Luckily I have one window in the attic, but it's a small window and a large attic, and it's currently winter and quite rainy.

All my Google searches are turning up damp companies who surprisingly don't respond to phone calls or emails so I ask the more trusted stackexchange: what should I do, if anything, about the attic?

I had 2 builders come out to survey and both pointed out that I had recently reinsulated the loft. The issue was that there was no ventilation in the loft so the damp air was trapped up there by the new lovely fat insulation I had installed. The solution was to install roof vents to allow some airflow in the loft.
It cost me about £1500 to get this done but that included some remedial work to the chimney to try and address a penetrating damp issue in one of the bedrooms.
It's been about 6 months and I was told it would take some time to clear up so I'll recheck it again in the new year.


What are the pros and cons of aluminum coils versus copper coils in an electric hvac unit? Why? What Are the pros and cons of aluminum coils versus copper coils in an electric hvac unit?

1: Aluminum

Pro is cheaper,

Con does not conduct heat transfer as well as other materials like Copper.

2: Copper

Pro - Transfers heat effectively - much better than aluminum.

Con- Costs much more than aluminum..


Prevent *minor* leak from kitchen faucet base I noticed a small amount of mold (or mildew) on the dry wall under my kitchen sink.  I don't know how long it's been there, or how long it's taken it to get there, but I cleaned it up with some disinfecting clorox wipes.  Is it possible some tiny amount of water go through the part where my faucet meets the counter top?  If so, is there anything I can put there to stop it?  See photo.
Thanks!

Caulk may work to some extent, but silicone is soft and doesn't withstand movement terribly well. I'd check whether there's a seal missing at that location. Maybe it was installed in the wrong position.
If not, I'd install a thin rubber or silicone washer. This would mean disconnecting the faucet supply lines and removing the mounting nut, but it will result in a more reliable seal than caulk.
Otherwise, definitely use pure silicone caulk and not latex, which won't bond as well and tends to harden over time, which will result in cracking and failure.


Furnace came on when it shouldn't have I happened to be down in the basement a short while ago and heard the furnace turn on and off after just a few seconds. About a minute later it came on and this time it stayed on for about 15 seconds and then it shut off. This has happened before due to a dirty flame sensor, so I assumed it is probably due for a cleaning again. But, I went upstairs and checked the thermostat and it's set to heat at 73 degrees, and it's showing the air temp is 74 degrees! I'm pretty sure it normally has to drop down to 71 before the heat comes on, yet something triggered it somehow. Could this be a faulty thermostat, and if so could this explain the start and quick stop too?

You probably have a boiler that heats water (or steam) and then pumps it through the house to radiators or baseboards. The boiler needs to keep the water heated to a certain temperature so that when the thermostat calls for heat, the boiler can pump the water (at the design temperature) through the house.

So, the boiler will "kick on" from time to time to heat the water.

Also, some boilers can heat your potable hot water too (through a heat exchanger). It could be "kicking on" to heat your hot water.


Painting over paint with rust spots coming through I recently sanded down two beams to remove the rust and then painted over them with a "rust inhibitor" and then two coats of a basic ceiling paint.

However there are now numerous rust spots coming through. I could sand them down again, de-rust them again and paint over again, but I fear that if I missed spots last time I'll miss spots again. So...

Should I use a chemical de-ruster
Can I paint over the current paint with something like Zinsser's Bulls Eye 1-2-3

NASA's Kennedy Space Center is located on the Florida coast, unlike the Soviet complex located on desert steppe.  As such they have the most advanced anti-corrosion laboratory on earth.

You've found "bronze tier" doesn't work.  That's no surprise, emulsion (latex) paints don't stand a chance against rust.

"Gold tier" is what NASA says: the best process (and the only one that really, really works) is to sandblast to SSPC-SP10 near-white metal* and then a 2-part zinc chromate primer (that yellow-green primer you see on unfinished airplanes and locomotives) then finish to suit.

My "silver tier" has worked pretty well for me: aggressive mechanical removal (i.e. a 5" grinder with a knotted wirewheel in it).  Then I use (specifically) Rustoleum 7769 Rusty Metal Primer.  I don't know what it is about Rustoleum, but when all you can do is aggressively wirebrush, it outperforms the industrial primers I have tried. This is an alkyd, not an emulsion (latex). It will stink and be hard to clean up.  I typically brush it.

What's the matter with sanding?  Sanding can equal wirebrushing only if the surface is very smooth.  If it is at all uneven, sanding misses depressions and between/around high spots. Sanding is often a last resort of "I'm sanding because I don't have a proper wire wheel".

Honestly, since you are painting steel, I would follow with an alkyd (oil) paint (Rustoleum's paint lines are alright).  I would never paint steel with an emulsion paint.  I have seen this done, and by "seen" I mean "spent dozens of hours removing the failed coating".

Obtaining alkyd paint can be tricky.  There are different types of paint for different markets, and different government regulation in each market - marine, aircraft, industrial, automotive, hobby. "Architectural coatings" is the bailiwick of house paint.  Different categories have very different environmental standards ("VOC" mainly). Because emulsion paint works so well on houses, and so much of this paint is used, architectural VOC standards call for such low VOC that only emulsion paints can comply.  Fortunately most sensible governments provide exceptions for cases like yours.

However, all your usual stores - lumber supply, home improvement big-box stores and hardware stores - 99% of their stock these days is VOC-compliant house paint.  Finding an oil-based alkyd can take some looking, and paint manufacturers use tricky marketing that can be very confusing. I check the instructions for what to use for thinner or cleanup: if it says water, it's emulsion.


Composite Shims & Liquid Nails I used Timberwolf Composite Shims with Liquid Nails Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive and Liquid Nails Subfloor Adhesive. I didn't read the Liquid Nails instructions, until after I used the products (...brilliant...) and they recommend not using them with plastic, vinyl or composite lumber.

I've contacted Liquid Nails and I'm awaiting their reply.

The shims are made out of HDPE (milk jugs) and cellulose (wood fiber).

Are the shims safe to use with Liquid Nails? Has anyone used composite shims with Liquid Nails? Will they react/weaken? What should I expect?

I received replies from both companies.

Liquid Nails wrote, "They will not react per say but there is a good chance they will not adhere properly. Unfortunately there is nothing that we can recommend for HDPE because nothing will adhere."

True Line Mold, the manufacturers of Timberwolf Composite Shims replied, "What we have found with Liquid Nails and Elmers Glue-All Max is that they will adhere to the shims, but require a longer cure time to completely set-up. Thus why I believe the Liquid Nails states not recommended for use with plastic, vinyl or composite lumber because most applications do not allow for an extended cure time. You should not see any degradation in the shims, it may simply be a case of the adhesive not being as strong of a bond as you desire provided on the cure time."


Does clear silicone sealer damage stone? I purchased some ice breaking mats. They are supposed to be attached to steps using clear silicone. I am worried that the clear silicone will damage the steps when removing the mats. The steps are made of blue stone. Please explain what affect the silicone has on the blue stone steps. How difficult is removal of the silicone? Thanks.

The silicone will penetrate into the micro fissures on the surface of the stone. It will also be rather hard to get off once you attempt to remove the mats. You can get most of the silicon bead off with a sharp putty knife and/or a razor blade type window scraper. However the part that has penetrated down into the surface fissures will be nearly impossible to scrape off. You can try using a course steel wool pad that has been soaked in mineral spirits to attempt to scrub off the remaining silicon residue.

If you are ultimately concerned about the ability to cleanly remove all the silicon from the stone after the ice breaking pads have done their tour of duty then you should run some experiments before any mat installation is attempted. See if you can find any of the surplus stone material that was left over after building the steps or work on an out of view section of the actual step itself. Apply some of the candidate silicon and let it set up good for 4-5 days or so, Then attempt to remove the dried silicon and see if it is possible to remove it and all the residue.


Rusted garbage disposal resurrection The outer case is not rusted, and once the reset button is pushed it will "hum", so pretty sure it's just rusted where the blades are, and not a motor issue. (I hardly ever used it over the course of 12 years).
Can a garbage disposal that has been rusted over for years be "cleared" using Naval Jelly rust remover?

I think the acid in the Naval Jelly might corrode through the basin, I think it's some metal that really doesn't tolerate corrosives such as drain opener AT ALL and makes a huge caustic mess if you try it.  Ask me how I know this.
With the power off, just try to get it moving with the garbage disposal wrench, which is just a 1/4" hex key with an offset to make it less knuckle busting.

It goes in the bottom of the disposal under the sink and turns the motor shaft directly.  Try moving it in both directions.  It might help to spray some WD-40 into the drain, it's hard to direct but just stick the straw down there and spray it all around.
There's also a wrench that's made to go in from the drain

you could try that as well.

If you get it moving, just rotate it with the wrench some, rinse some water through, and repeat (literally rinse and repeat) until you don't feel any resistance.  Then you can turn the power back on and see if it will run with just water.
If it will run with just water, turn off the water, immediately pour a cup of vegetable oil in there, and turn it off immediately.  The cooking oil is not a bad improvised solvent.  It won't harden and clog up the pipes.
Then you could try some more aggressive stuff like eggshells or ice cubes.  If it gets through that, declare it fixed.
If it doesn't, I'd probably just replace it.


How would I mount opposing knobs on a bifold door? This is for a bifold door. I want to have front and back knobs using the same screw.
I can’t recall what this assembly is called nor the screw name.

I don't ever recall seeing a "kit" for this. When I've had to do it, I just got the two knobs and cut the head off one of the screws. If the screws that came with the knobs were too short, then I got a longer screw and cut the head off. There are double threaded studs out there but they are usually too big for what you want to do.


Ordering new windows for old house... Wall thickness? I'm rehabbing a structure from the 1850's.  As you can imagine, nothing is square, level or plumb.  The walls were originally plaster on top of true 2x4's.

I've brought the house down to the studs, and am going back with exterior sheathing (0.5") on top of true 2x4's (4.0") plus drywall inside (0.5").
That gives me an actual wall thickness of 5.0".

That tells me I should order my new windows for a wall depth of 5.0"

Problem is, the walls are not straight or consistent.  Should I order windows with a little extra?  Like 5.5"?  I had experience doing this to my first house, which was also from the 1850's, and it took me forever to get the interior trim around the windows right.  I had to cut shims, and wedges, because the walls were wavy.  It was a huge pain.

Specifically: If my wall has a nominal thickness of 5.0", what is a sane amount of expected deviation?  Maybe 0.25"?  Should I order windows for a wall depth of 5.25" and just shim out the interior trim?

The sanest thing is to order new construction flanged windows that are a bit smaller than the rough opening. Then you integrate the flange with the WRB that you're installing over the new sheathing (right?) and bob's your uncle. On the inside, you can cover up the lack of square-ness with new drywall or wood window boxes, shimmed to be square with the window, not the rough opening.

Since you're taking this house down to the studs and redoing the exterior sheathing, let me mention that you have a golden opportunity to add extra insulation outboard of the new sheathing. The marginal cost will be fairly low, especially if you're doing the work yourself and buy reclaimed foam.

Resources:

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-install-rigid-foam-sheathing
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/video-how-install-rigid-foam-insulation-outside-house
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/calculating-minimum-thickness-rigid-foam-sheathing


Low voltage circuits inside mains conduit I have a situation (USA) where there's no practical alternative except run some low voltage wiring in the same conduit as 120/240V power.

The good news is, my situation calls for using entirely mains-type cable (THWN-2, 12/3 NM, etc.) for the low voltage stuff, and all the hardware will be enclosed in junction boxes listed for mains electrical service.

It's for relay circuits; the relay coil is tapped for 24V or 240V (I'm using the 24V tap) and the 120-24V transformer is obviously insulated for 120V (though it is not made to have 120V across its secondary).

What do I need to do in order for this to be allowable and safe?

This is a case where what ordinarily would be a Class 2 control circuit is redesignated as a Class 1 control circuit, as per Exception 2 to 725.130(A):

  Exception No.2: Class 2 and Class 3 circuits shall be
  permitted to be reclassified and installed as Class 1 circuits
  if the Class 2 and Class 3 markings required in 725.124 are
  eliminated and the entire circuit is installed using the wiring methods and materials in accordance with Part II,
  Class 1 circuits.

Once that is out of the way, 725.46 applies (allowing the use of Chapter 3 wiring methods as you are doing), but 725.48(B)(1) also applies:

  (1) In a Cable, Enclosure, or Raceway. Class 1 circuits
  and power-supply circuits shall be permitted to occupy the
  same cable, enclosure, or raceway only where the equipment powered is functionally associated.

Considering that you have relay control wiring being run with the circuits they are powering, I do not believe you will have any trouble meeting that requirement.


What can happen if someone doesn't get a building permit for a renovation? What are the possible repercussions if someone doesn't get a building permit when doing a renovation? I have heard many people I know say they never got a building permit to get "x" done and they have never had any issues.

NOTE: I'm not talking about a new building construction but rather getting work done on an existing residential building. Wisconsin would be the state to use as a location reference.

This varies greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.  It also depends on what kind of work and how much.

In many locations, minor electrical work, in-kind plumbing replacement, interior construction that does not change the overall footprint or the number or types of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc, (such as the building of a closet in an existing room) need no permit. However, some locales may require new installations to come up to a newer code level than those that they replace. You really need to check with your local building department to see what is allowed without permit and when permits are required.

Failure to get a permit for work that requires one could result in a stop work order if the building authority learns of the project.  It also could result in the property not having a valid certificate of occupancy, which could make selling the property difficult.  It also might compromise your relationship with your lender. Finally, it may put your insurance coverage at risk if a claim is based on the work done in violation of permit regulation.

Often if work is not done based on a permit, it can later be corrected by filing a new application, submitting plans and paying a penalty in addition to the regular fees.  But there is a risk that the plans will not meet the standards when the permit is eventually filed, and may fail, requiring a redo.

Your best bet is to check and see what is required before starting on a renovation. Then you can make an informed decision.


Can I rescue leaning concrete forms? I'm adding to my deck. I marked off 6 holes, and dug them about 30" deep. Then I set tubes in, letting them extend about 8" above ground. I put a couple inches of rock in the bottom. I made sure the tubes were level. I mixed concrete and filled the tubes while tapping concrete. I had back filled aroind tubes first. We had heavy rain that night and now I have 3 tubes that are leaning about 1/4" to the inside of new deck. The deck is about 5 feet off ground. Can I save these or do I need to destroy these footings and start over? I have about 140 pounds of concrete in each tube. I set 6 tubes for a 10 x 12 deck. I live in the St. Louis area.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've seen pros pour posts that were worse than that, and it didn't rain!  lol.  Don't think you're in bad shape.  You can certainly use them.  Try packing the downward leaning side hard with a dirt tamp, you just might get that 1/4" back. Don't be afraid to use the pull and grunt method. Brute strength. Being only 30" deep, you may be able to force them back to plumb and compact the voided side with a tamp and some fill.


Trying to hook up 2 new lights and 1 outlet We are trying to get two vanity lights and one plug in hooked up in our living room which were not there before. We have the power turned off of course, and then when we turned it on, the lights went on. Then we tried to flick the switch off and the circuit breaker is tripped.

Why is the circuit being tripped?

Power is coming from another outlet in the same room, it was just connected to that one for power; is it possible that that breaker switch may be on overload?

What you've probably done is wire the white and black on either side of the switch, like this:

And when you close the switch, you're creating a short.

What you need to do is wire both blacks to the switch, using the switch to interrupt power to the lights, and wire nut the whites together, creating an always on return path:


How to fix a warped parquet floor? Less than one year ago my parquet floor was sanded and about 50% of it was replaced with new wood strips, sealed, and then buffed. Now, if my lovely cats happen to knock over their water and it spills on the floor, I end up with a few warped strips.

It makes sense that water seeping into wood would warp it but shouldn't there be some resilience to this?
Any suggestions on how to repair the warped strips?

I was thinking of something like mineral oil and a dumbbell.

You can try whatever to the board that is warped.  If it works great, if it doesn't you are back to square one.  Mineral oil plus dumbbell may work, but it is a factor of the amount of space that is there below the wood.  I seriously doubt you are going to condense the water logged wood.  So your objective would just be to have the wood flat on the surface.

Your other option if the wood is just bulging is to sand it down.  Often for small areas this has a decent chance of working.

If you want your hardwood floor to be a bit more resistant to water than you need to hit it with a few coats of polyurethane.  With cats this seems like a no brainer to me since if they piss it will soak into the floor (and possibly smell like cat pee forever).


What rooms or loads require AFCI protection? Do I need AFCI for dedicated circuits like sump pumps, furnaces, microwave, refrigerator etc.

Yes, you need AFCI protection

As of the 2017 NEC, AFCI protection has been extended to all 15 and 20A, 120V branch circuit outlets in all dwelling unit locations.  This includes dedicated appliances such as furnaces and dishwashers, and even smoke detector circuits.  The only exception present is for a fire alarm control panel for a protected-premises fire alarm system (i.e. with separate detectors, "brain box"/fire alarm control panel, and sounders) under NFPA 72.


HVAC automatic damper in zoned system We have a 4 ton Carrier gas pack for our 1996 sq ft house.  A 2 zone system was installed when the unit was installed in 2015.  It has 2 thermostats and automatic dampers.  We have only had great results.  We are selling the home and the buyer's home inspector felt it was not working correctly because both thermostats control the unit (duh!).  They are concerned the dampers are not working correctly.  My question is if one zone is calling air, will some air flow still come out of the vents of the zone that is not calling air?  We do not have a problem with temperature control and feel it is working well.  I know that our unit is more than is needed for our ranch style home.  I am pretty sure there is a bypass damper as well.  Thoughts?

1 It sounds like it was installed according to standard engineering practices.
2 This type of installation is usual and customary practice by today's standards.
3 Sounds like the home inspector is out of his depth.
4 Have the original installed write a letter to the above effect.  That should do it.
1 These type of dampers are fairly tight.  They are gasketed.  You should see very little air movement in the area not calling.


What is this next to the kitchen bar sink? What is this next to the sink?!

It looks like my glass/ bottle washer. Is there a knob that turns the hot water on? Mine only had hot water ran the sink until hot set the glass on the wash push the button it would go for 20~ seconds great for rinsing home brew bottles out, those I had to hold the bottle in place because I lost the holder.


How far apart should timber joists be for an MDF floor? Background

I am starting my first serious DIY project - converting our garage into a playroom for the kids.  The garage floor is concrete.

My plan is to run timber (Sawn Kiln Dried Timber (L)3000 x (W)75 x (T)47mm - B&Q) joists across the concrete floor.  Then put down an MDF floor, put down carpet mat and carpet. I am going to fill the gaps between the joists with floor insulation (Jablite Flooring Polyboard).

Question

I don't want the floor to sag between joists, but I don't want to go overkill with the number of joists.

What factors should I take into account when working out how many joists to put down?  In other words how much of a gap should I leave between joists?

The standard flooring material is OSB, not MDF.  MDF doesn't have enough strength to support a floor load.  I can't remember if it's 3/4" or 5/8" OSB, so someone will hopefully chime in with that spec.

Typical spacing for joists is 19.2" (just under 3/8ths, there's usually a black diamond on tape measures for this point).  It corresponds to 5 joists per 8' span.

Note that if the joists will lay directly on concrete, you need pressure treated to prevent moisture damage.  And when nailing into pressure treated wood, you need galvanized nails to avoid a chemical reaction that would eat through the nail.


Can I make a raised flowerbed against my siding? I want to make a slightly raised flowerbed at the front of my house. The flowerbed would be about 9 inches high and made out of landscaping blocks for the front edge/wall. The issue is that it would be directly against the vinyl siding. Will this cause a problem? Is there a way I can do this properly by putting some type of plastic sheet between the dirt and the siding?

You can rot your siding wall, or you can change your plan.
With vinyl siding, IT probably won't rot, but the sheathing & framing behind it surely will.
You either need airspace (not a plastic sheet and dirt) between the bed and your siding, or you need to replace your sheathing & framing with something that won't rot. Building a flowerbed with two sides, one of which is NOT touching the house wall and has enough gap for ventilation, drainage, and debris removal is far more likely to succeed.
Other options (assuming you have normal non-rotting foundation above ground level and below the siding) would be to push (dig) the flowerbed down below the siding level, or else relocate it entirely and hang some flower boxes off the house if you want flowers there.
If you really want the bed raised and against the house, you can raise the foundation or lower the yard (the latter would probably cost less.)


how to fix jammed integrated dishwasher door? It seems something has happened to my dishwasher so I can now only open the door halfway, before it starts jamming.

The wooden facia on the front of the door is unaligned by a centimeter or two, meaning the facia jams against the surrounding cupboard units

If I peek through the gap between the facia and the dishwasher front, I can see some sort of metal bracket, but I dont know how to remove or realign the facia.

Any ideas please? Sorry if its a bad description, its kinda a weird problem which happened while I was away from home for a week

If it was moved out of alignment, you should be able to move it back into the correct alignment to allow you to open the dishwasher door again.

If you cannot get a decent grip on the door sides to force it, you can try using a glass suction cup to get a hold of it and force it back into position.


How can I replace a Delta 1400 shower valve cartridge? I have a delta 1400 shower valve that I had to replace. The existing one was full of sediment. When I put everything back together water just comes out the tub spout as if the valve wasn't there. When I look at valve/cartridge there is an ever so small gap between the metal casing in the wall and the cartridge. I assume this is why I am having water come out below, even though I don't quiet understand why it is full pressure. Is there a trick to getting this cartridge back into place? I've pushed it in quiet hard and it won't go any further. This is what I am working with.

Ok, I found the problem. Answering it in hopes that it helps someone else someday... The cartridge I bought in the store was in fact the wrong piece. While the white part that is further away from the wall was the correct type the blue part was model UPG 7 vs UPG 2. It looks almost the same but the intake parts are slightly offset.


How can I fix a chipped acrylic tub? I dropped something on my Kohler white acrylic tub while installing CBU and it took off a small chip from the corner. What is the best option for fixing this?

Here's a picture of the chip:

I would suggest a 2-part white epoxy putty. You will need to clean/prep the area then knead the putty per the mfgr. instructions. Don't use the fast-setting variety, you need time to shape the repair to match the tub (shape using knife, file, planer, sandpaper, etc.) It won't be an invisible repair but it will stick, be waterproof, and be hard when cured.