What is the purpose of framing a recessed medicine cabinet? I'm looking to install a medicine cabinet.  It's an inconvenient wall.  It's not load bearing, but it has two studs with power plus a third stud in the middle that we expect to need to cut through to position the cabinet where we want.

All of the tutorials I see include framing the cabinet with 2x3 or some similar material.  However, I cannot seem to find any site explaining why this is done.  It makes sense that it would be done to support the structural integrity of the wall, but I see such framing being done even when no studs are cut to install the cabinet.  This seems odd to me, and makes me wonder what the real purpose of this framing is.

What is the purpose of installing all this framing inside the wall?  I'd  like to know so that whatever framing I do actually achieves the intended goal.

That framing is included for three reasons:  #1 It is there to support the wall board.  The wall board is not strong enough to support itself at its edges or beyond 16". Wherever you find an edge of the finished wall board you should find some kind of framing behind it. This helps the edges of the wall board to butt together nicely.  #2 The framing is there and should be connected to the existing wall framing to support the medicine cabinet.  The wall board is not considered strong enough to support anything on its own.  The medicine cabinet would never hang true and plumb for long, hung from the wall board alone.  That is the job of the framing. #3 Even though this may not be a load bearing wall, once you eliminate one or two of the continuous studs, you have now compromised the integrity of the wall.  Now the finished wall surface may never be able to look really good. It can show buckles and creases because the framing inside the wall is out of alignment, i.e. no longer straight and true. Quality carpenters understand that everything they do and the quality thereof affects the final look and outcome of every project.


Fixing cracks in drywall I'm over at my grandparents house and they have 2 large protruding cracks in what I guess is butt between two drywall pieces. I scraped the crack a bit with a paint scraper and to my surprise pieces of 'plaster' came off and behind it is what seems to be drywall but no tape and no butt.

They said there might have been wallpaper painted over, however that does not seem to be the case as I didn't 'see' any wallpaper in my scraping.

So to continue with the fix I widened the cracks to the point where none of the 'plaster' was falling off. In one location it was slightly less than the width of a piece of drywall tape, and in the other it was slightly more at one part.

I filled the cracks thus far with joint compound with a slight feather, and will most likely sand this so its entirely flat after it finishes drying so what we are left with is a filled crack area with no protrusions. Then I will most likely apply another coat of joint compound this time feathering it out wider so that it is not noticeable.

My question is, after I sand the first and currently drying coat, should I apply tape or mesh (normally I would do this if it were a small no protruding crack and I didn't have to widen it, or if there was a butt)? There is no seam in the drywall behind it, and I think with adequate feather I can hide the crack seams. I suppose if I did have to mesh or tape it on one I would have to use two pieces of mesh side by side to cover the entirety of the area.

Mesh and paper tape are really all about adding strength, which is especially important at seams or wherever the paper bonding surface of the underlying drywall may have torn or weakened.

In this case, if you're sure the underlying drywall is sound, then it means that the entire area of repair will be strong and supported from behind. So, joint compound should get the job done and stay strong. I'd suggest using setting type compound (sometimes referred to as "hot mud") for your first layer since it sets up harder and stronger than the drying type topping compound.


Insulation in the attic I have moisture and a moldy smell in my attic. I had someone come out and open up the eaves and soffets more.  It did seem to help but I still have some smell and some moisture. I have insulation on the floor of the attic and also on the sides, but perhaps not enough on the wall next to my bedroom.

Karen, this type of question has come up several times.  The basic answer to to provide better ventilation and assure there are no water leaks.  Humidity will collect in any attic that is not properly vented. It can condense on rafters, roof sheathing and insulation, then drip. As you are seeing, mildew and mold will result if moisture is trapped.  If the problem does not improve after the venting situation is corrected, then you may have to consider replacing the insulation.   Mold can cause health problems, an air mold spore test may be a good idea. If any toxic molds are present, remediation will be required.  DO NOT ADD any more insulation over the existing insulation until the venting and mold tests are done.


How can I extract more heat from my enclosed wood stove? I recently moved into a house that has a working wood burner/multi fuel. It's the first time I've had a wood burner/stove/multi fuel and I'm unsure how to use it efficiently.

It's unlike conventional stoves that I see (it's all metal with no glass doors).
The heat output has so far been uninspiring and I was hoping it would be better.

So far we've been burning coal and some wood.

I'm looking for some pointers on how to maximise the heat output; should I run it with the doors open or shut? I have 2 vents on the bottom of the doors and something on the flue that turns (which I imagine shuts off the flue/chimney), do I run the top flue/vent wide open?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks :-)

You should definitely run it with the flue open, all that smoke/CO needs to go outside, not in the house. You mentioned two vents on the bottom. Those are likely there to allow you to close the front and allow the fire to still get air. As SqlACID mentioned, spending $100 or so on a reputable chimney sweep to come take a look at it in person would be a good idea; they would be able to help you use it to its best advantage.

I would experiment with closing the front and see what effect it has on the burning rate as well as the heat produced. It is also a good idea to try to move the warmth produced by the stove into the rest of the house, so running a fan to pull that warm air away might also be something to try.

What make/model of stove do you have? I might try googling the make/model to see what comes up on how to best use it.


Calculating current draw for an old freezer I'm trying to calculate the maximum current draw for an old chest freezer, as part of working out the requirements for an emergency generator.

The freezer (a Norfrost) doesn't have any model number visible, but does have this sticker on the compressor:

This suggests it draws 0.6A, so 144W at 240V - but that seems surprising low to me given that a similar new one is rated at 150W, and new appliances are supposed to be much more efficient than old ones.

Can I therefore assume it is correct, or is there something else in there that gives a better clue? Or do I need to get hold of a clamp meter and test it to be sure? Will the startup current be three times that (so 432W)?

I would assume this label to be correct.

The newer freezer may well have a higher maximum rating than the old one but draw this much power not as often or as long as the old freezer, so that the overall power consumption of the new machine might be lower, as expected.


Need advice, Curtains, blinds, Shades? which to use, whats in currently? i need to purchase curtains/blinds or shades for all my windows in my apartment. I have 5 windows - 1 being a bathroom.

Its a small apartment and view outside the window isn't onto the main road but to other apartments..

What would you suggest?

I want a kind of modern look. I will have wooden laminate flooring. and i am thinking of painting the falls a neutral color like magnolia.

ANy ideas really appreciated.

While this question may be ambiguous or style based I will try to give the best answer I can and let more qualified hands cast close votes.

I would recommend sheers. They allow plenty of light in, but obscure the inside of your apartment enough to allow some privacy. In terms or hardware, they are extremely easy to set up, if you have a recessed alcove window, just an expanding dowel rod is needed.  However if not, you will need brackets, this is also true for all blinds and curtains. I find curtains and blinds either bulky or they close out too much light when closed and offer no privacy when open.Sheers are the happy middle. If you want even more privacy then the link shows, a easy to add more is to double the sheer up. The obscuring feature of a  double sheer is compounded and yet still allows ambient light in while providing absolute privacy. However in the bathroom and bedroom, its possible you will still feel more comfortable with a thicker blind in which case a underlying sheer with a solid curtain over it is best. To maximize the sheer, tie back the solid curtain during the day.

In terms of absolute style, which this site isn't about, the cream color of the magnolia and the  brilliant white of the sheers is seen in nearly every home in architectural digest or living magazine. Also white allows you to use varying colors in the room as white nearly goes with everything. All attempts at trying to use heavily colored sheers or drapes have come out looking Victorian and heavy. Plus choosing too bold a color as a big pieve of wall space sets you up for disaster. Depending on the wood color you could very well get away with a cream color sheer.


Are bumps on the inside of a cast iron drain pipe a sign of a problem? I'm replacing a toilet's wax ring in my 1960 US home. With the toilet removed, I noticed ugly-looking bumps on the inside of the cast iron drain pipe:

Here's a closer, more tasty look:

Aside from any coprophobia, are these bumps a sign of a serious problem (e.g. corrosion)?

Yes, that is signs of corrosion and in another 100-150 years, that will result in leaks in that pipe...


Remove Halo recessed fixture completely Older house built in the late 60's.  Trying to remove existing Halo (new work?) recessed fixture completely to  retrofit and extend circuit to one more fixture.  I removed the 4 screws (well there were only 3) and the can comes down about 1/2" to a fairly hard stop that feels metallic in nature.  Any thoughts ?

With the power off, try pushing the can up into the attic. The can should break free of the bracket and only be held in place by the cable. Some of these lights have support ties that attach to the joists. Once the can is free of the bracket, you should be able to look up there and see how the fixture is fastened in place. good luck and stay safe out there.


Is this too many items on a 20 AMP Breaker? I live in a 2 bedroom 2 bath duplex, where we have issues with the lights flickering, often causing mini power surges and at times kicking a breaker.

One 20 ampere circuit supplies

3 receptacles in the living room.
3 receptacles in the dining room.
The lights and the ventilation fan in the kitchen.
1 receptacle in the hall.
3 receptacles in one bedroom.
2 receptacles in another bedroom
2 receptacles in the garage.
Front porch light.
Driveway light.

That's 14 receptacles, a few lights, and a ventilation fan.

Is this too much on one 20 ampere breaker?

Whether or not that's too much depends on what is plugged into the outlets, how often each item is used, and how many items are used together.

That seems like far too many things on one breaker to me. If I was wiring that, I would not have done it that way. Now that it's already like that, fixing it is most likely a big chore. If, and that's a big, unlikely if, you're lucky, you may have more than one wire run coming into the electrical panel to that breaker. In that case, one or more of the runs could be moved to a new breaker (assuming there's room in the panel, and I find it hard to believe there isn't). Working in an electrical panel is dangerous and must be done by an individual that understands what they're doing, be it you or an electrician. Please be careful.

If you're not lucky, there will be one main run coming off of the breaker, and it's split somewhere in an electrical box in your home. If you're so motivated, you can chase this down and find the splits. Then you could fish new wire runs from a new breaker to one of the splits.

Good luck with whichever method you chose.


According to NEC 2008 can you use non-metallic boxes in framing that transports environment air? In the Home Owner's electrical test, the term "environmental air" is used.  What does this term mean, and where is it defined? and can you use a non-metallic box?

Also when reading the question do you read that the box is installed inside the duct or in the framing that the duct is in?

No.
Physically Constructed Ducts or Plenums
This would be the actual tube where HVAC air is moved through.
In a physically constructed duct or plenum, there is no wiring allowed unless it is necessary for the direct action upon, or sensing of, the contained air. Even then, nonmetallic boxes are not allowed.
Spaces Used for Environmental Air, Other Than Ducts and Plenums
This might be the area above a drop ceiling, or under a raised floor.
In this case, only specific things are allowed.

Type MI cable.
Type MC cable without an overall nonmetallic covering.
Type AC cable.
Factory assembled multiconductor control or power cable that is specifically listed for the use.
Listed prefabricated cable assemblies of metallic manufactured wiring systems without nonmetallic sheath.
Electrical Metallic Tubing (EMT).
Flexible Metallic Conduit (FMC).
Intermediate Metal Conduit (IMC).
Rigid Metal Conduit (RMC) without an overall nonmetallic covering.
Surface metal raceway, or metal wireway with metal covers, or solid bottom metal cable tray with solid metal covers.

Again, no nonmetallic boxes.
300.22(C)(2) Equipment
This section does not apply, since a junction box is likely not considered "Electrical Equipment" as far as this code section is concerned.

If you'd like to read the actual code verbiage, it can be found in my answer to this question.
This YouTube Video from Mike Holt on the subject, might also be worth watching.


20A Bathroom Circuit including lights/fan, add outlet for 1300w(max) bidet Pretty sure I'm okay here
20A=2400w, 1300w bidet, ~160w fan, ~100w LED lights=~1500w which is less than 80%. Only possible hiccup is it is in a master bath with dual vanity so slight chance my partner and I will be sharing the room and they would be using a hair dryer at the same time I'm flushing.
To make life a bit easier I'd like to tap into the line in the attic prior to where the circuit first connects to the lights/outlets where there is already a junction box and run a new GFCI in parallel rather than extending from the last outlet in line in the bathroom already behind drywall that will likely require drilling through some studs.
This also leaves open the posibility to run a new dedicated circuit for this plug in the future if it ends up becoming a problem.
Anything I'm missing?

Both items are not continual use and even if using a hair dryer while the bidet is heating it may not trip inverse time breakers will handle a brief overload without tripping, it would be similar to my granddaughters using a curling iron and a hair dryer at the same time, every now and then it trips but not enough for me to run another circuit.


Wood Species to replace small bed frame piece Our bed has a piece that's at most 1 inch by 1 inch by about 6 inches. It's permanently screwed to the headboard and then the side rail gets screwed into it.

On one side it's cracked. I want to pick a wood that will resist cracking. I will predrill first of course. Something available at a big box store.

Suggestions, or am I trying to over think this?

For strength, hardwood is far preferable to softwood. Most big box stores have pieces of oak, often in the stair parts section. If nothing else is available, poplar would be preferable to softwood such as pine, fir or spruce.

You are right that you need to predrill to avoid splits.


Integrating hard-wired smoke detectors with fire sprinkler waterflow sensing If you are in a house with interconnected smoke detectors (hardwired or hardwired/battery combo), can you interconnect them with the waterflow switch for a home fire sprinkler system, or do you need to upgrade to a full fire alarm control panel at this point?

(It seems that since most (all?) hardwired smoke detectors use 9V on their interconnect line (as per this and this) relative to the neutral to activate the interconnect circuit, one could make a very simple interconnect setup using a 9V battery, a 9V wall-wart adapter, and a couple of garden-variety Schottky diode rectifiers to provide a 9V supply to the waterflow switch; but would such a contraption violate the fire alarm or fire sprinkler codes?)

I can't speak to the regulatory side of this, other than to say I'd be very surprised if a custom-built circuit like you're describing would pass an inspection just for the fact that it's a non-UL/CSA approved device on a life safety circuit. Being in a private residence at least will relax the requirements compared to a commercial or multi-tenant building, but connecting non-listed circuits and devices is tough in any case.

Rather than using a custom circuit, there are interconnect relays on the market that are designed for doing precisely this type of thing. For example, Kidde has a SM120X module that is designed to interface to external strobes/sirens/etc, as well as accept activation input for the interconnect circuit (using pull stations and rate-of-rise heat detectors as examples).

You should be able to use one of these and hook up your flow sensor in place of the pull station in the diagram above.

To me, it seems there is a low risk of impact:

This device is UL-listed
It's a manufacturer device, designed to interconnect with the manufacturer's own products
In this case, the signal between sprinkler and fire alarm is really a secondary system: if there is smoke, whether the sprinklers have activated or not, a detector should be activated and signal the other alarms anyway. In other words, if this device/connection fails in anyway, it is not critical to safety.


Can an ordinary power drill drill through steel? It's my dad's drill and it's a Bosch. I'm not sure about the model no. etc because the box is missing together with the manual. He's been using it to drill holes in wood to install doors and also walls to hang pictures. I'm not sure if it can drill through steel though provided that if I'm using a drill bit suitable for that purpose (I'm not sure if there's drill bit to drill steel also). The steel that I want to drill is not stainless steel. It's just a 2cm x 6cm rectangle hollow bar and the thickness of the steel is somewhat close to the thickness of a normal kitchen knife (the chef knife as people usually said. not those machete / butcher knife thickness). It's quite rusty too. So can it be done?

Most drill bits sold are "high speed" drill bits intended for a variety of materials including metal (but not concrete, tile, glass or extended use in plaster or plasterboard).

If the bits are fairly sharp, you should be able to use them in the steel, assuming it is not a hardened alloy.  To improve your chances, a bit of oil or cutting fluid at the cutting point will help prevent overheating. Slower is usually better.

The rust probably makes the steel weaker and easier to drill.


will unmodified thinset stick to hardiboard? Will unmodified thinset stick to hardiboard, I want to apply a schluter membrane to it?
I am making an shower

From what I see on their websites FAQ, unmodified is actually recommended, just mix it to be a "fairly fluid consistency".  As far as sticking to hardboard, it will.


Is this wiring safe? Purchased a mid 50's built house last year.  Knew that a switch in one of hallways had a switch that appeared to do nothing... Having done many simple wiring projects (lucky to have done renovation with a friend who was an electrician) that passed building inspection, I thought I'd check this out myself!  I checked receptacles, lights, even looked for possible pump or furnace connections, to no avail.  So I opened the switch box to see if it was maybe disconnected ... and found 5 wires in the box.

The drawing represents what I found.  The switches themselves had only two screws each, both on the same side, with a ground switch at the back. All of the white wires were maretted together.  Note that switch 1 and 2 (and switch two and three) have a jumper between them and that switch two has 4 black wires on a single screw (which is the safety concern I have.)  I am hoping someone here can tell me if:

three wires on a single switch screw is advisable
they have ever seen a set up like this before, and
what the function of switch three might be?

ADDENDUM:  I have been rummaging around in the attic (yes, low and cold) and determined that the feed from the panel enters the switch box as wire D.  The mystery switch goes to a wire that runs the length of the attic to another part of the house with a second attic (there was an addition in the 70's). I believe the solution to the terminal overload is a pigtail (everything in the green circle) that includes the power feed from wire(cable?) D.

Having more than one conductor under a screw is usually illegal and considered unwise. Pigtails would fix that.
It's not uncommon to see a hot chained across multiple switches. ("Jumper" is a better term--"traveler" usually refers to three-way switch wiring.) The only concern there relates to question 1. Again, change it to a pigtail configuration.
We can only guess. You'd normally trace the downstream conductor, but there apparently isn't one.


How to remove junction box that is nailed on? I just bought my first house and I am trying to update some light fixtures in my kitchen. I’m also fairly new to this DIY stuff, so keep that in mind if I’m not using the correct terminology.
When I tried installing the new fixture, I couldn’t get the mount screwed in properly because the junction box blocks the mounting screw from getting in deep. Noting that the junction box is old and damaged, I thought it would be best to just replace the junction box entirely, using an “old work” junction box.
So working the existing junction box, which seems to be made up of particle board, I was able to remove two screws that were bracketed (see the blue arrows) that I thought were holding the box up, but when I attempted to pull the junction box down it wouldn’t give. I then noticed that there are two nails holding the box up as well (see the red arrows), which I can only guess means they are nailed to a joist.
Is there a way to remove this junction box without having to get up in the attic?

The two items that you were thinking are nails are in fact almost 100% sure to be rivets. See yollow circles in the below picture.

Picture Source
These rivets secure some type of metal bracket to this phenolic/bakelite box. The bracket is then either nailed to the adjacent ceiling joist or to a rail that bridges between two joists. Trying to remove this box without entering the area above (if that is even possible) will usually require opening up the ceiling drywall or plaster leading to a much bigger repair job.
It would not be advisable to replace this box with an old work type box that is just secured to the edges of the ceiling drywall. Such box would never been up to handling the installation of a ceiling fan/light fixture. Ceiling lights often get replaced with heavy fixtures like that even if it is not you doing it right now.
Here is a picture of the type of box that you likely have there. The rivets and metal bracket are readily obvious.

Picture Source
Here is yet another almost similar phenolic electrical box with a different style metal bracket riveted to it:

Picture Source


Can I place ventilation ducting on top of joists if there is space? I'm installing a ceiling-mounted extractor fan above a kitchen island.  The problem is with the placement of ventilation ducting in the ceiling: the joists are running in the opposite direction to the only viable wall where the ducting needs to travel towards.

However; in the ceiling there is about a 120mm (4.5 inch) void above the joists before the the floor above.  This gap is easily big enough to fit flat channel ducting so that I can rest the ducting on the joists in a perpendicular fashion.  (see diagram below)

My question is: Is this OK to do?  I haven't seen this done elsewhere.

Thank you!

Addition:  Heres a quick photo:

I'm confused/surprised by the existence of the void, but if you've got the space, then go for it.

The only bit of mathematics to be concerned with is matching the cross section of the various sections of pipe.


Should I ask if wall was inspected for moisture? My Mother lives in a community where the maintenance crew is supposed to maintain the grounds and outside of the condo buildings. I submitted a work order, because some of the wood panels on the outside of the condo were bent outward where they met with the deck. When I found out that the crew nailed the boards down, I asked via email if the wall underneath was inspected for moisture before the boards were nailed (since there were openings where the boards were warped). It has been two weeks, but I haven't received a response. Am I being too picky by asking that? It seems like any professional would have checked.

I agree, checking for the cause of the problem, including moisture in the wall, seems logical. In fact, without checking it could lead to dryrot or mold.

I think I’d email them again and ask if they found dryrot or mold and let them know that if you don’t hear back this time, you’ll take it to the HOA. No response, then I’d ask the HOA.


Added Outlet to a GFI Receptacle covered circuit In my garage I have a single 15 Amp circuit that has 4 receptacles on it. One of the receptacles has a refrigerator and an upright small freezer on it, all are non-self defrosting type. Nothing else is on the other receptacles. The 4 recepts are protected with one of them being a GFCI type.

I put in some shelving and am about to covered one of the recepts so I installed a 5th receptacle about 14 feet down the wall with wire-mold yesterday. Simple 14 ga wire with ground, 14 feet of wire. I simply connected it to the terminals on the 4th receptacle I intend to leave behind the shelving.

Turned the breaker back on after everything was installed correctly and with that 5th receptacle installed the GFCI recept will not reset?  Why would that 14 feet of #14 wired to an added receptacle with no load applied anywhere,(except the two refrig/freezers plugged in), cause the GFCI Receptacle to stay tripped when a 50' extension cord plugged into that 4th recept works just fine?

After reading several of the comments here about how touchy some of these refrigerator and freezers are with GFCI protected circuits my next step will be to unplug the refrigerator and freezer from the circuit and reconnect the added on 5th receptacle and see if that works.. If so I'll simply run a new, dedicated circuit to the refrigerator & freezer location for them to have their own circuit.

Do you think replacing the GFCI receptacle with a regular non-GFCI recept and replacing the breaker with a GFCI breaker would also help so I can leave the refrigerator and freezer plugged into the circuit ? I am a former US NAVY repair electrician so I know how to wire properly.. but I must admit the intricacies of these GFCI recepts have me puzzled .. LOL..

The fridge/freezer are a red herring.  Cable length is a red herring.  These are not the problem.

Here, simple logic applies.  It worked before; you changed it; and now it doesn't work.  I'm sorry, that's inescapable, and it tells us where to look.

Noting your credential, it may be a bit afield of mains wiring in buildings. Mains wiring is weird, that's the only way I can really describe it to an electrical professional.  Different things are done for their own set of reasons.  If you deep-dive into the gory details of the reasons, you eventually find they are well-founded - but until you do, they seem arbitrary and stupid, and it is tempting to ignore them and do what seems right.

In your case, first, go after the forehead-slappers.  Look in both your new box and the box you tapped from (which I assume is not the GFCI) -- and look for anything out of order, but even more, focus on that floppy-doppy bare ground wire touching any of the screws. If you're using backstabs, stop using backstabs, but make sure you haven't left any bare wire sticking out for a ground wire to snag and touch.  Contact between neutral and ground is super-bad.  Normally it's a "silent but deadly, but in the case of GFCI, it will result in instant trip.

One common tactic is, after attaching all the wires to screws, run all the other screws down and wrap tape around the receptacle so it covers all the screws.

Now if you did tap the GFCI device, you are using the LOAD terminals but not correctly.  You must use them for both hot and neutral.  Using LOAD hot and LINE neutral or vice versa is a guaranteed trip.  The nut of what's going on with GFCIs isn't that hard to understand:

Disregard the dashed lines, those are for extra phases on GFCIs equipped for extra phases.  Do note the fact that the GFCI device completely ignores ground.

A GFCI+receptacle combo device is extra hard to understand because it's doing 2 totally unrelated things at once, like a destroyer that's a fleet oiler, or an E-2 that also does Prowler-style SEAD.  What's actually happening is that it's exactly the black box with supply/LINE and protected-zone/LOAD -- except it also has 2 sockets hardwired to the LOAD terminals.  (it still doesn't use ground, but the sockets use ground.)

On the right side, both hot and neutral are in the "protected zone". Most of my work is in conduit, and I intentionally use a different color - brown and gray - for protected-zone hot and neutral. Every load must tap protected-zone hot and neutral together.

Now: you may have a wrong read on the issue with GFCIs and refrigerators and freezers.  It's not that they're "touchy" (by which I read: more likely to trip GFCIs all on their own).  It's that there's a very severe risk of a nuisance GFCI trip for any reason destroying valuable food.   A fridge is no more or less likely to trip a GFCI than any other motorized device.

However, Fridges/Freezers on a well-grounded circuit are not the use-case for GFCI, they are the exact opposite of the use-case.

GFCIs are there to protect humans from accidental shock. The grounded steel chassis of the fridge/freezer already does that.
GFCIs protect where humans are likely to come in contact with AC-energized parts.  All that stuff in a fridge is at the bottom rear, where you can't get within 6' of it if it's installed in kitchen counters
GFCIs protect humans from 2-prong ungrounded equipment. Fridges are well-grounded.

Simply put, Code does not call for protecting fridges with GFCI.  This discussion (uselessness of GFCI and cost of lost food) has been had within NFPA, and they chose to exclude fridges from GFCI requirements. The only way fridges get haled into GFCI is when they are placed in rooms where all receptacles have to be GFCI, and even then, only because you are choosing a cord-and-plug connection for your appliance.

Hardwire it, poof, GFCI requirement goes away.

So, because of the risk of food loss, having a fridge/freezer on GFCI is a bad idea. What's an even worse idea is having the fridge/freezer on a shared circuit with general receptacles.  So yes.  You should definitely run a separate dedicated circuit to power the fridge/freezer.

And since that might require pulling a permit, you should go have a talk with your AHJ (the guy who issues the permits) and ask him if GFCIs are really necessary on receptacles that serve only fridge/freezer.  He may say "That's fine, 1 circuit, 1 socket" -- Because usually these conversations assume ONE refrigerator OR freezer and so require a 1-socket receptacle so you can't plug anything else into that circuit.  So you'd have to have the "I have both" discussion and see whether he'll allow a duplex receptacle or want 2 dedicated circuits with 1-socket receptacles.  If you've got the panel space, Romex is cheap, so why not.

Plan Charlie, is hardwire the fridge-freezer, by having their cords enter a junction box with a quality strain relief, then splicing in the junction box. This means lopping off their sockets, or my preference, go to the electrical supply and get wet-rated cordage of appropriate rating and replace the whole cord, saving the old cord for when you sell it.


Bridging gap between sink and drain pipe Context

After chipping the edge of the bathroom basin of the apartment I'm renting, I've attempted to install a replacement in order to save costs. This is my first plumbing project!

(The original basin)

I speculate that the plumbing here is quite old - the piping is metal and there is a separate cold and hot tap as opposed to a mixer. The apartment complex also appears to be built in the 1970s.

I've managed to turn off the water at the apartment's main, disconnect the supply lines, disconnect the drainage pipe, and pull the basin off. Luckily, the new basin fits in the wall brackets of the original basin!

(The new basin)

My Problem

The new basin sits approximately ~5cm (~2 inches) above the drainage pipe.

(Gap between sink and drain pipe)

What is the most practical solution for me to bridge this gap? Is it better for me to replace the entire drain pipe & sink trap, or is it possible for me to source a pvc adapter that fits perfectly into this gap?

(The drain pipe)

Additionally, the drain pipe looks pretty gangster - there is some string which I assume was acting as a substitute for irregular threading, or to prevent leaking?

(Manky old drain pipe)

You should measure the diameter of the pipe (both inside and outside diameter recommended) and then check if similar plumbing supplies in your area are available. You could even take piece "A" with you when you go shopping around.

What you want to look for is a piece similar to part "A" that comes on two pieces that fit together with a slip joint type of coupling. The following picture is an idea of what you want. The slip joint in the area indicated has a larger diameter so that the upper tail piece from the bottom of the sink can be cut to the right length but still slide in and out of the expanded area for final length adjustment.


Using just cement to plug a narrow channel/hole I know that ideal thing is to use concrete, a mix of cement and aggregate (usually sand and gravel/rocks. However I have a bag of cement that's not going to go to any use, and my aim is just to cover a hole or channel that exists between concrete ground and a fence. The channel is only about 15 cm (6 inches) wide and will most likely not have any weight placed on it. The channel is about half a foot deep, so what I thought of doing is to fill the channel as high as possible with dirt and rocks, and then mix up cement with water just to smoothly cover the surface.

My main aim here is to basically plug the gap were things can fall between the fence and concrete ground, such as rubbish. Will cement and water be satisfactory for this job? I don't have any sand, but I can (if it's advisable) try to mix up some small rocks with the cement, so that the mix will basically be 1 part gravel to one part cement. Or do I even need the gravel? As I said, I'm just trying to plug a hole/channel in the ground, and I intend to fill most of it with medium sized rocks before I apply the cement anyway.

I don't know much about concrete/cement/aggregate. I only know that the cement by itself is useless in most applications because the strength comes from the aggregate, not the cement, which I understand is just a binder. However in this case where I'm just plugging a gap I'm wondering if this is OK.

Portland cement mixed alone (called "slurry") will result in a brittle and soft compound. It may fill the void you're seeking to eliminate, but not with ideal results. It may break up and wear away faster than actual concrete. A 6" channel is more than "just a gap". It's a substantial structure in the end. I wouldn't pour less than 3" thick for strength or you'll have a broken surface in no time.

A typical concrete mix contains 60 to 80 percent sand and gravel, also
known as an "aggregate." This aggregate compound is more than filler.
It plays an important part in the concrete's composition. The amount
of sand and gravel in a bag of concrete determines the mixture's
strength and texture. In fact, when you remove sand and gravel from
the concrete mixture, it becomes a completely different product.
Sand and gravel in concrete serve several purposes. Because they act
as a filler, they also add more volume to the concrete. More volume
means less air and a stronger product. The size of the gravel also
helps to determine the concrete's strength. Though larger pieces of
gravel produce more friction and make it harder to mix, they also make
a stronger concrete.
source

The bottom line: Find some sand or gravel.  It can't be that rare almost anywhere.


Are water passing valves supposed to be hard to open and close? Is a passing valve like this supposed to be hard to open and close?

The valve is new but it's hard to get open and then get closed. It takes me some force to get it going, but after I do, it slides smoothly. After I apply some force it gives immediately, but then that force has to go somewhere so I end up turning it all the way to closed (or vice versa). I'm worried I might damage the valve or maybe the water pipes.

Is it supposed to be like that? Is there some techniques to open and close this thing so the force I apply is uniform?

That is a ball valve that opens/closes with a 1/4  (90) degree turn and YES they are hard to turn. If you want an easier valve to turn, buy one with a longer handle. Valves that screw in use a mechanical advantage, an action similar to a nut and bolt and are  easier to turn but take longer to open/close. And, remember there is a stop that only allows the valve to turn 90 degrees either way. To make them easier you will have to find one that is easier to turn and replace the existing valve with the easier one.


Does it make sense power-wise to put a smart plug inline with a laser printer? I've seen people recommend putting printers behind a smart plug that can be turned on or off with a phone. Does this make sense power-wise? How much current does a printer in standby draw versus a typical smart plug like a WeMo?

This is really a matter of preference and opinion. In my opinion the amount of current being used is not significant enough to warrant turning them off for short periods of time (10 hours or less). It's always a good idea to shut everything down during long periods like when you're gone for the weekend or vacation.

In my opinion it's healthier to leave electronic equipment on since turning them off and on adds stress to the system. Think of an incandescent light. It burns out when changing state, usually off to on because the element is heating up and cooling off. It's not much different with electronic equipment.

By the way I own three printers a laser, an inkjet and a wide carriage and I really don't see appreciable utility usage.

All that being said, if you are traveling or for some reason you need to turn your stuff on/off from a remote location, it's certainly convenient to have the ability.

Hope this helps.


What could be the source of dirt in attic I've had occasion to get up in the attic of my (new, to me) house recently.  There is what appears to be dirt all over everything up there, with actual accumulation in places.

This is a 2-story 1964 stick built stucco exterior home built over a dirt crawl space.   There is no plastic or anything over top of the dirt.  The walls are completely uninsulated.

The only possible way I can conceive of dirt getting into the attic is stack effect sucking dirt out of the crawlspace and up the inside of the walls where it then settles out in the attic.

Anybody ever heard of something like this or can identify another possible source for dirt in an attic?

Subterranean termites build mud tunnels from dirt that they bring up from the ground. Tunnels going from crawlspace to attic is common. Most termite guys will destroy the tunnels after treating the area and not bother to clean up the dirt. Not saying this is the source (I'm not a termite inspector) but something to consider


Do any home thermostats have an adjustable control range? I am having trouble with AC and need to replace it soon ; so I have been listening to it cycle .I knew it only stayed on a short time but I just found it runs less the 2 minutes ; that is with temperatures above 90 F and high humidity ( think Houston TX). So - on for 90 to 120 seconds , then off 10 to 15 minutes .The set temperature is 76 F and an infrared thermometer shows about everything in the house is close to 76 except the aluminum window frames are about 82 F. So the AC starts about 75 to 100 times a day in hot weather. No wonder the "start" capacitor has been replaced about 4 times in 13 years. The unit is 5 tons and the house is 2500 sq.ft. I plan to replace it with a 4 ton unit ; but my question is can I find a thermostat that will decrease the number of start cycles .  Then instead of the house temperature cycling from 76.2 down to 75.8 F ( an educated guess)  it will cycle from 76.5 down to 75.5 F.

"Swing" is the term you want to look for. Some thermostats allow you to adjust the swing which usually changes when it comes on and turns off.  For example, say the swing is set to 2 degrees and the thermostat is set to 72.  It will then turn on at 73 and cool to 70 (two degrees cooler than set temp) then stop.  Some thermostats might use a number that doesn't directly correlate to degrees, but it works similarly.

If you look at the manual for this thermostat it says:

  TEMPERATURE SWING
  A thermostat works by turning your heating or cooling system on and off whenever the
  room temperature varies a certain number of degrees from the set-point temperature. This
  variation is the “swing.”
  Your system should cycle on about 3 to 6 times per hour. A smaller swing number
  increases the number of cycles, so room temperature is more constant. A larger swing
  number decreases the number of cycles, to save energy in most cases.

It seems that it uses a number from 1 to 9 that doesn't map to degrees.

I just looked at the help page for the smart thermostat I use, and they don't use the word "swing", but instead have a variety of "thresholds" that are adjustable.  So I guess that is another term you can look for.  I highly recommend the Ecobee thermostats, but they are pricy and don't make sense unless you really want high tech.


Must I remove all mortar between tiles before grouting? I'm just getting ready to lay down the grout after successfully tiling our master bathroom. I've been told in no uncertain terms that I must remove the spacers between tiles (or else grouting over them can result in cracking of the grout). That makes sense -- however, I'm also reading on the box that I should "clean the grout joints". They show a tool that appears to be scraping excess mortar from the joints.

Do I need to be worried about scraping down the hardened mortar so that the joints can be completely filled with grout or are they talking about simply removing any loose mortar? Although none of my joints have mortar that rises above the grout, many of the tiles have some sections where the mortar is higher than others. I'm reading elsewhere that it's ideal to get rid of all excess mortar between tiles before it hardens (whoops).

How important is this?

Update:

As of September, 2011, it's been 9 months since I completed this job and things have been solid. I scraped only the areas that were high (close to or slightly above the tile). From this purely anecdotal evidence, it seems logical to conclude that it isn't necessary to be too much of a purist about clearing out all mortar between tiles before laying down your grout.

Update 2:

As of April, 2012 I've found only one tile that may have a slight issue. On one of the center tiles that gets a lot of traffic, I must not have put down a perfectly smooth layer underneath because I can hear an occasional slight shift. The joints along the edge still look great though.

I wouldn't be too concerned unless there's mortar that is raised above the level of the grout - which you've already said there isn't.

Scraping the higher sections to give a reasonable depth of grout would be as far as I'd go.

A lot of adhesives these days are sold as tile cement and grout, though they do tend to be coarser than "pure" grout, so they are basically the same material. However, a pure grout does give a smoother, "cleaner" line.

Floor tile grout also tends to be coarser - I suspect to be able to cope with the higher degree of wear and tear it will receive compared to wall tile grout.


Should I continue my basement subfloor under the stairs? As part of finishing my basement I'll need to rebuild these stairs to account for the higher floor level. The back of this stair case is currently open to the lower basement, but that will be getting closed off. I think I understand the basics of stair construction, but I'm wondering if there's anything wrong with extending the subfloor (3/4" OSB over 1" XPS) all the way under these stairs to have a continuous thermal/moisture barrier? Would it be better to stop the subfloor at the base of the stairs so that the stringers are supported directly by the slab?

Practically speaking, it will be better to keep the integrity of the new floor intact. But the small unsealed gap will probably not be a major concern if you leave them on the slab.  I do have to say, however, a difference of 1 3/4" on the bottom riser does not meet current IRC code. The difference in riser height cannot exceed 3/8 inch. You may be grandfathered since the stairs already exist however. The only way to be compliant is to recut all the stringers adjusting the riser heights to stay within 3/8" max difference at any riser.


What type of screw/bolt has expandable wings behind the wall surface? Do you know what type of screw and bolt this is? Do you know the best way to unscrew it? It attaches my CCTV camera to the ceiling plaster (dry wall).

Those are "Mollys": (hollow wall anchors)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_(fastener)
They don't come out,
the screw comes out (it's long so it comes out slowly), but the anchor part will stay.
It might be possible to drill out the anchor part from the front
Or maybe cut off the arms at the back, remove the nut fold up the stubs and eject the anchor body


Is there a better way to wire this? I'm adding hardwired [edit: and interconnected] smoke detectors and replacing some knob-and-tube wiring. I'm using 14/3 wire on a 15a circuit, and 22 cu in boxes where new boxes are needed. The middle fan is a whole-house fan in the hallway; the others are ceiling fans in bedrooms. The lights are in the hallway and bathroom (I didn't show the bath fan, on the same switch).

The wiring seems overly complex, with the boxes close to full code capacity. Am I missing some more elegant way to route everything??

Not sure if it's code in your area since this is a building code issue but new hard wired smokes must be interconnected. I'd venture to say it is code in most places.

This means you have to feed the smokes at any one, then run 3-wire between them. Typically the red wire is used as the interconnect wire. Some areas have requirements that say the smokes must be on a dedicated circuit, some say they must be on a local lighting circuit. The local requirements on this vary.

I hope you do not mean you are using only 14/3, but a mix of 14/2 and 14/3.

Also, I would NOT put the whole house fan on this general use circuit. No valid reason other than convention and to lessen the load on such a circuit.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by line and load in your diagram. That makes no sense as far as the diagram goes.


Method to catch multiple mice? I have a mouse problem in my house. I have put out mouse traps and they have been mostly successful. Five mice have been caught within a week. My predicament is that there are still mice and I would like a method that I can use to catch multiple mice with the same trap so I don't have to keep checking/setting them all the time.

NOTE: I am open to either fatal/live traps.

Try searching "mouse bucket trap". There's a ton of different variations, so I'm not going to go into too much detail. But basically it's a bucket, a ramp, some peanut butter, and a rotating mechanism.

If you want to kill the mice, put some antifreeze (or other poison) in the bucket. If you're looking for less lethal, leave the bucket empty, or put in some wood chips or similar.

Notice that I said "less lethal". If you leave mice in the bucket too long, they will get hungry. And mice have no qualms about going cannibal.


Switch with 2 black, 2 white, 2 ground and 1 red wire connected to ceiling light and a receptacle? I am living in a condo and the owner has asked me to replace a switch from a dimmer to single pole to operate a ceiling fan.  Upon inspection the ceiling fan has one 14/2 cable coming in with a black and white.  The light switch as one 14/2 and one 14/3 coming in.  There is a plug on the circuit that has one 14/2 wire coming into it.  I am unable to determine where the 14/3 red wire goes.  Its not in the ceiling box or the receptacle box.  The light wasn't working when I took possession so I am totally stumped.

The 2 white wires were coupled and the black wire when connected to the switch work the receptacle but the light (now a ceiling fan) doesn't work.

I'm completely stumped.  Any help would be appreciated.  enter image description here

Given not being able to find the other end of the cable, we can only guess on the probabilities.

Scenario 1 (most common): /3 to fan

In this scenario, the /2 cable is power supply to the switch box, and the /3 cable goes onward to the fan to allow separate control of fan and light.  There are also combination dimmers/fan speed controllers that can go in a 1-gang switch box; that would allow separate dimming of the fan and light.   This is typically done by builders when they fit a fan-rated junction box in the ceiling.

Absence of this /3 cable does raise a question of whether that junction box is actually fan-rated. A lamp-only box is simply too flimsy to cope with the dynamic (including wobble) forces from a fan, and the box will slowly tear out of the ceiling.

Scenario 2: /3 from switched receptacle + light

In this scenario, power (always-hot and neutral) comes from the /3 cable, which is sourced at a receptacle (whichever one the builder thought was the best choice for a lamp to be near)  The extra wire (conventionally, red) is switched-hot, goes back to one of the receptacle sockets.  It's intended for that socket to be switched by the switch.

Separately from all this, the /2 cable goes up to the ceiling junction box.

This arrangement allows you to either have both a plug-in and overhead light.  Or if the ceiling box is fan-rated, to have 2-switch control of a plain fan-only in the ceiling and a lamp-only on the receptacle.

However, there's a problem.  You are not allowed to put dimmers on receptacles.*   So if there was a dimmer here before, either there was an overhead light, or someone was naughty, or there is/was a weird receptacle somwehere in the room.

Regardless, this possibility is your best hope.

3: /2 is supply/onward power.  /3 is onward/supply and switched.

In this scenario, the black and white in the /3 is supply always-hot and neutral, and the /2 is onward always-hot and neutral.  Or possibly, the reverse, it doesn't really matter in this scenario.

The red wire goes only to a split receptacle  as described above (or rarely, a lamp, but then there would be /3 at the lamp).

This case would imply that whoever ran the /2 to the ceiling box didn't bring it into this switch box at all.  Either they are insane, or they brought it to the switched receptacle which you have yet to discover.

They might go to the receptacle instead of the switch if it were easier to fish. Very often, American homes are built with no overhead light at all, only a switched receptacle and the homeowner is expected to plug in a floor lamp.  This is a hokey arrangement**, so many homeowners retrofit an overhead light.  Since it's a retrofit, they run the wires where easiest, which may be a receptacle.

To efficiently test

I believe the white wires are in fact neutral, so leave them connected.  That leaves 3 hot wires: black/2, black/3 and red/3.  So there are 3 tests possible, capping one and connecting the others.

I would start by unhooking and capping all three and seeing what in the house loses power. It goes witout saying that any wire changes are done with breaker off.   You will need to check every socket in every receptacle (i.e. Both of them) in the room, as well as some receptacles elsewhere.  If any outlets outside this room lose power, that indicates scenario 3.

If one socket in this room loses power, that strongly indicates that socket is the other end of the /3 cable.

Next I would connect black/2 to red/3, capping black/3. I expect nothing will power up, but if anything does, that is of concern.

If nothing powered up, and there was a dead socket in the room, I'd try connecting red and black from the /3 cable and capping black/2.  If that socket powers up, that suggests scenario 2 or 3.

Next I would splice the two blacks together, capping the red.  See what regains power.  If it's the lamp, that strongly suggests scenario 2.

In scenario 2, you would get a double switch, black/3 to common, black/2 to one switch and red to the other.

* Some appliances respond to dimming in a manner that could be called "fiery".  If you really, really have your heart set on dimming a receptacle, they make very special sockets and plugs: the socket will only accept special plugs you put on your lamps.  Those plugs also work in standard sockets.

** done by builders so cheap they think saving $20 is significant


Replacing hoses in spa manifold Im replacing a damaged spa manifold.  The hoses in my spa are numbered.  But does it matter how you put the hoses back in the new manifold.  Because there are 6 hoses that are difficult to reach and I will probably lose the order when I cut them.

It doesn't matter where the lines connect to the manifold. Also I extend the lines and loop them so they are easier to work with.
I have had to replace hundreds of manafolds


Plastic Breaker Panel Enclosure Are there any plastic circuit breaker panel enclosure? What brand have them?

Won't it be better if panel enclosure are plastic instead of metal?

What material would be best, resin? fiberglass? polycarbonate? molded plasic? What are other plastic materials?

I would encourage you to Google zinsco panel failures or federal pacific panel failures just look at the images and you will see why I don't believe they are available. Anyone that has replaced a panel from a failure will tell you the only thing that prevented the home from burning was the sheet metal enclosure. This is not just these 2 panels brands but even the big boys like square D, siemens and cuttler hammer. I had a big 3 phase burn holes in a buss on 2 legs and this was only a 30 amp breaker in a panel full of 100+ amp breakers. Bad things happen all the time even with top of the line equipment.  Would you trust your home to a plastic panel after looking at a few of these images?
Yes some of the parts are plastic but as you will see in many of the failures the plastic is gone but the enclosure is intact.


Toggle bolt stuck in the ceiling with mounting plate I bought 3 LED flat panel ceiling lights from Costco.  2 panels installed perfectly. One one panel, 3 toggle bolts are installed perfectly, but 1 toggle bolt is stuck and I cannot screw it into the ceiling with about 1/2 inch gap.

The toggle bolt seems to get loose and cannot grab the ceiling and I cannot screw it into the ceiling.

I am wondering what I should do?  Unscrew it and try again?  It took me a while to make the toggle bolt into the ceiling, so my intention is to get it done by keep trying.

Any suggestions?

Update: I can push the bolt all the way to ceiling, so it does not hit a frame.

To either screw it in or out you need to maintain tension on it to keep the toggle wing from spinning.

Pull down on your plate with light pressure until the wing stops spinning.

As it gets snug you can release the extra pressure.

Good luck!


Chewed-through ground-fault cord Over the winter, my dog chewed through the power cord on an a/c window unit. I was going to just add a new plug as the cord is still long enough.  I sliced into the wire and found 3 wires (ground, neutral, and hot) and wire braided throughout the cord. I assume this is part of the ground-fault protection, but I don't know how it affects rewiring it. I attempted to open the existing plug to investigate, but it's molded plastic and I haven't been able to get into it. Do I have to use a ground-fault plug or can I just use the 3 wires and wire in a new 3 prong plug? Thanks in advance.

I would assume the braid is just for strength.  Ground fault relies on detecting current leaks between hot and neutral.

However, if the existing plug is a GFCI plug, then it is advisable to replace it with a comparable part.  Alternatively, you could replace the outlet with a GFCI outlet, or even a GFCI breaker. This would provide the same level of protection with a standard plug.


How should I adjust warped balcony door frame? I'm living in an older apartment building, and I've noticed that I'm losing a fair amount of heat due to a gap in my balcony doors. Specifically, the sliding glass door fails to form a seal with the frame at the top.

What's the best way to solve this? The sliding door itself doesn't appear to have any aligning mechanism that I can use. The only thing I can think of is filling the slot for the most part, and then adding some weather seal that it can push against.

It's hard to see from the photos, but sliding doors are typically leveled (or fit to their stationary counterparts) by turning screw or cam adjusters controlling the height of the two wheels on which they roll.

Look for plastic plugs covering screw access holes near the bottom of the door, and use an appropriately-sized screwdriver to adjust them. It may be helpful to have someone lift pressure off the door while you do so.


Is it ok to blow hot air under the floor? I have two story house and downstairs is always colder. Head feels fine but feet are cold and you can feel cold coming from the floor.
The house have no basement but is built on a concrete slab. The living room is on 2 inch raised floor. I have one opening and was able to see that the raised floor have perfect passages from one side to the other. There aren't any fire breakers. I realized that I could somehow direct hot air from some of the duct and make the floor warm.
Is something like this feasible or is there something that just do that or similar?
I found air radiant floor heating but that's inside concrete.

While this should work, I'd be worried about losses, including 1/2 the heat going down to the slab instead of up to the floor.
A simpler solution would be to insulate. If that involves ripping up the floor then it would probably not make sense. But you may be able to blow in insulation through the same holes where you are thinking of blowing in hot air, or possibly cut a few holes in hidden places - e.g., inside closets - where the fixup afterwards doesn't have to look perfect.
If you do end up blowing air under the floor, make sure that you have an easy way to turn it off in the summer - you really don't want air conditioning under your feet!


I have an old house (100 yrs) up off the ground and in the past year the wood floors have began to sag where the boards meet I think my house is about 1oo years old, I have lived in it for 15 years and just in the last year the wood floor has started to sag or bouncy where the boards meet. I thought it was in the traffic area, but it's in other areas too.

Most houses built 100 years ago use wooden posts or hollow iron pipes to carry the weight of the main support beam. Over time the columns rust or rot usually at the bottom. Many were not set on footings, but on a large flat rock that was later buried in dirt. Inspect the posts for evidence of rust. Tapping lightly with a screwdriver may produce a difference in tone where the post is thinner. Poking wooden posts with a screwdriver may show evidence of dryrot or insect damage. Any posts that are damaged must be replaced.


Duck tape versus electrical tape My grandson has autism and has chewed up the cord to the computer. The wires are not cut but the insulation is gone.

Can I use duck tape till I get a new cord?

Electrical tape is designed not to conduct electricity.  Common duct tape is under no such design requirement, and shouldn't be used for anything electrical.


Plumbing - Particles / Debris In Faucets and Toilets - Water Softener Going Bad? I had a hot water heater replaced in my house.  Shortly thereafter, I noticed that the water flow in one of my faucets near the heater was very low.  I wasn't sure, what to make of it, so I had the plumber check it out.

He took off the screen and there was a lot of fine grained debris - roughly the consistency of very fine sand.  It was varying between a dark brown and a red/orange brown.  The plumber said it is the resin in my water softener and that I need to replace the softener.  He didn't seem to understand why it happens - he said they just go bad.  He told me it would eventually clog my pipes and they would have to be blown out to clear them.I thought it was odd that this happened starting when he replaced the water heater.

I would like to confirm his assessment and understand why this is happening.  The water softener is a cabinet style.  The previous owners were a couple that had been living alone in their house for years after their children moved out.  I have 7 members in my family, so I'm wondering if the regeneration cycle has something to do with it.

On a side note, we have also noticed a strong salty taste in the water from time to time.

I would greatly appreciate any insight into this.  I can post pictures of anything if necessary.  Thanks!

No disrespect to you or your plumber, but I would be suspicious of any person who is able to predict the demise of an appliance by reading mineral andiron deposits in an aerator screen. It is common after replacing a water heating tank (or doing any work on the plumbing) for debris such as hard water minerals, silt and bits of metal and rust to break free and "go with the flow" (as it were). Their final resting place is the faucets aerator screen. Of course, my assessment is based on what information you posted. If you could include the model and how long it has been in use I could offer a more insightful answer.


What's the normal duty cycle of a refrigerator compressor? I recently bought a house and it came with a fridge. It's a GE model GSH25JSXSS  side by side. I think it's fairly new because the seller's agent told the seller to replace her appliances with stainless steel ones so it will show better.
Anyway, it works, keeps food cold and ice frozen, but I find the compressor is on an awful lot of the time.

I figure maybe nowadays the compressors are really low power consuming (I don't see the lights dim when the compressor starts up) so they run longer. Is this the case or is there something wrong with my fridge? I don't see any leaks in the door seam with the frame. Not sure what else it could be.

This may be normal.  According to the manual.


Hanging kitchen cabinets on 2x3s I'm renovating my kitchen.  The current cabinets were screwed into 2x2s and in some cases directly into a cinder block wall.  I'm not a fan - it makes it difficult to run my electrical.  However, framing the wall with 2x4s will push the wall out just enough where it makes the refrigerator opening awkward.  Not impossible, just close enough to a window where opening the refrigerator would be awkward.
Any issue (other than code requiring 2x4s?) with using 2x3s to frame the wall?  It is not load bearing (for the house; obviously it will bear the load of the cabinets plus contents).  The 1" saved on the depth of the wall will really help.  To be clear, I'm not exactly sure how much it will save me as I haven't demo'd the existing kitchen yet to confirm the exact size of the lumber currently used; I'm basing it off of what I can barely see through a hole under my sink.  but I know it is not 2x4s.
Regardless, if 2x3s are just fine it will save me some space.  I plan on using blocking between the studs to make hanging the cabinets easier.

No code issues at all.   In fact using 2x3s for interior non-load bearing walls is a staple of "cheaper" construction.
However yours being next to a cinderblock wall negates the cheap aspect (cheap because when you are in a house with 2x3 walls, they often seem "shaky").   I would just make sure the 2x3s are of high quality because when you start getting into smaller dimensional lumber you can get some warpage that makes getting a straight wall up harder.
If that inch is helping you that much you have good reasoning to use 2x3 and given good/straight lumber you wouldn't notice a difference.  I will also say if hanging cabinets it is a good idea to run many cross braces in the framing to help support.   If you run two lines with the board flipped at strategic locations, installing cabinets a breeze.


Installing Basement Subfloor over 30-year-old Vinyl I'm going to install a basement subfloor. I have 2 rooms that had vinyl squares glued down - a bathroom and laundry room. Can I lay down rigid XPS insulation and plywood directly over the vinyl and not have to worry about the vinyl adding a little bit of slope in the doorway? It's really, really thin. I think not but I want to make sure.

mj

Vinyl is a material that takes millennia to degrade. It is waterproof and is resilient enough to .walk on comfortably. It would be wise to leave the vinyl and build directly on top of it. Typically, when installing a floor in a concrete basement a vapor/moisture barrier is installed to keep the materials above it dry.  Can you clarify why the vinyl would add to the slope (of the floor?)? Are you concerned with the floor being raised enough to interfere with the door bottom? If so, it is relatively simple to trim the door bottom.


Adding corrugated plastic panels adjacent to existing roof I have a 30 x 15 stick built shed with composition shingles over 1/2" sheathing. I would like to take 12 lineal feet off the end, remove the roofing and sheathing and install corrugated plastic to turn it into a greenhouse. How do I make that joint between the remaining composition roof and the corrugated plastic weatherproof?

Thanks

This is what I'm going to try. Any comments would be appreciated.

I'd think you'd abut the two roofing types and overlay a flashing, lapping onto each 6 inches or more. The outcome would be similar to any hip or ridge.


How can I avoid wiring when drilling into walls? i'm going to drill into a wall interior and avoid the wires immedietly above the socket and horizontally near it below If I remember my dad told me that wires are normally found travelling vertically above and below the socket. The socket is near the floor should I worry about any horizontally running wires either side?

Wires 'NORMALLY' travel down into the socket; however if the sockets are daisy chained (and an outlet most likely will be) in other words you will have more than one socket on a circuit; you will have wires traveling horizontally to the next outlet. I said normally - because you never know how those wires were stretched across the space etc.. unless you physically saw them before the dry wall was fastened.

You can use a stud finder with a wire detector to determine where wires are (~ $40) - to some extent they work.
There are non-contact voltage detectors that might find it for you.
Then Of course there is a product advertised on TV that will allow your android or iPhone to see through the wall .. the wires, the pipes and whatever. While not cheap it is probably the best tool you could use.

1: Smartphone-sensor-lets-you-peer-right-through-wall

2: 3d-sensor-walabot-vayyar


Can I hang cabinets and shelves on metal studs? I recently moved into a high rise apartment and need to hang some cabinets. The cabinets themselves weight about 20lbs and I'm thinking the stuff stored inside them will be around 40lbs.

I know I need to mount these into the studs which I've been told should be metal since it is a high rise, but I'm not sure how to double check this?

I went to Home Depot and bought a pack of 2" metal stud screws, which is what I was recommended by the person working there. I just want to double check that this is ok and will actually support the amount of weight (~60lbs). I know that I need to drill a pilot hole before putting the screw through but is there anything else I should be aware of when hanging these shelves? In terms of metal studs, as I have never mounted anything using metal studs.

This is the cabinet I am trying to mount, I have a single like this one and also a double which is two of these attached to each other and are all mounted using a suspension rail.

From my research, it seems like snap toggles are highly recommended, and for your situation with metal studs, I think they would work since the approximate weight you are estimating is 60 lbs. Snaptoggles (aka toggle straps aka toggler bolts) claim to hold over 200 lbs in 1/2" drywall.

I have yet to use them myself, so it would be cool if another member here can comment on them.

How did your project work out? Did you mount your cabinets? I am looking for similar info as I also just moved into a high-rise building and my apartment wall has metal studs, so I researching solutions to mount my tv.


Basement Subfloor for Moisture Problems I have a slight moisture problem in the basement. During really torrential rainstorms of 5+ inches of rain, sometimes water seeps up though the concrete floor in the basement. I'm looking at installing floating vinyl and am looking at these two subfloors:

http://retail.armtec.com/en-ca/Products/Subfloor-Options/Platon-Subfloor.aspx
http://www.cosella-dorken.com/bvf-ca-en/products/foundation_residential/floor/products/fl.php

Here's my question: I don't understand how these products work!  Right now with the bare concrete whenever the water shows up, its open air and it dries out on it's own.  Carpet won't work because wet carpet-yuk.  And Sheet Vinyl I fear would trap any mostire, ruin the adhesive and develop some unseen problem that will grow over time.

I can't wrap my head around these products.  They come recommended by others in the same situation, but their statements seem contradictory. "creates a waterproof barrier" "so the moisture evaporates instead of being trapped"  how can the moisture safely be allowed to evaporate out, while being trapped beneath a water proof barrier?

Please explain to me how these work! Thanks!

Concrete is porous, so as much as it allows water to seep in, it will also allow it to seep back out when the surrounding ground dries. If you are seeing so much water that opening the door allows it to run out, then I would recommend a sump pump and a perimeter drain to catch and remove the water before it gets into the basement.


Can I share the dishwasher or other appliance lines from adjacent room lines? I've read the posts by Tim and Mitch posted in Sept. I'm remodeling the kitchen with all new wiring. I've never had a dishwasher, but will at some point. I only have enough space for a 24"er, so probably not a huge draw. There's a sink to the right. To the left is a 6" space with a hinged door. I had planned on placing the dishwasher appliance receptacle in there for quick access. Being that it's within 6ft of water I had planned on a GFCI. I am short on available lines in my 100 Amp box, so I was wondering if I could tap into a new line from the adjacent living room? That line is already GFCI, 20A/120V, 12-GA with four outlets in the lvg room, one receptacle on the front porch, and one in the attic only to plug in a short length of of roof de-icer cable. These outlets are rarely used.
  I was also wondering about using that same living room line, or another nearby low usage line (furnace), to share with the kitchen gas stove and overhead exhaust filter?

The most relevant NEC section is:

  210.23(A)(2) (2)Utilization Equipment Fastened in Place. The total rating of utilization equipment fastened in place, other than luminaires, shall not exceed 50 percent of the branch-circuit ampere rating where lighting units, cord-and-plug-connected utilization equipment not fastened in place, or both, are also supplied.

Roof icer plus dishwasher sounds like a bad combination.  Putting all your fixed items together (e.g. furnace) is reasonable.


Why wouldn't a 130 volt BR 40 bulb work in my recessed light fixture? Background:

I noticed that light bulbs in our house burn out too frequently. We don't get even 1/4 the life-span that is advertised. This is frustrating.

Some ten years ago when CFL's came, I tried them and was disappointed completely. The cost was much more than the regular ones and the life-span did not change much either.

When I asked a Home Depot associate he said, it is likely that our house has Voltage spikes and that is contributing to the low life of bulbs. Sounds like a reasonable explanation. He suggested I try 130 volt bulbs. I think the bulbs are lasting longer.

Question:

When I plugged in a regular 130 volt bulb into a recessed light socket (this has Br-30 or Br-40 bulbs) I noticed that the bulb won't light. When I used the same bulb in a regular light socket, it will come on.

When I tried 120 volt Br-30 bulb the recessed light socket, it came ON. This suggests the socket is working.

Can someone explain why this could be.

Could someone recommend a 130 volt Br-30 / Br-40 bulb.

I wonder if the bulb is not seating properly in the fixture, possible because of its shape. Are your new 130-volt bulbs wider or shallower than the originals? I've had that problem with some CFL bulbs, where they wouldn't screw in far enough to make electrical contact.

If this is the issue, you might be able to see slight scratching on the sides of the new bulbs where they are rubbing against the edge of the fixture.


Header size and support for 10 foot window I'm putting in a large 10 foot window in a sunroom on a non load bearing wall.  The entire wall is being replaced.  I was planning to  put in a header with joist hangers attached to the 2x12s in the picture and supported with 2x4s on the side.   Is a double 2x6 sufficient and would not sag?  How much support in terms of 2x4s would be needed on the sides?  I clearly haven't done a lot of framing and just want to make sure I get this correct.  I'm trying to maximize the window size for the opening.  The bottom of the window will be supported by normal stud spacing on top of concrete.

A header of that size should be double 2x10, or at least 2x8. Sag is a concern (you don't want your windows to bind), but lateral stability is also. Walls like that tend to flex a lot in the wind and when doors are closed, creating pressure bursts. You don't want the thing bouncing and rattling the windows. You can see the flex in a 10' 2x6 just by leaning on it. That gives you an idea of what gravity will do over time.
Single trimmer studs are probably fine since you're not carrying overhead load. Double would be more appropriate for a header of that length if you have room.
There's really no point to joist hangers if you have supporting studs below. They're for carrying load, which there shouldn't be on the 2x12s unless they're intended to be beams themselves. I doubt they are. Face nail or toenail the header in wherever you can.
These suggestions are not gleaned from load tables or specific building codes, but from experience building in heavily-regulated jurisdictions. If you want to meet code (and not just achieve the intent of the code) you'll probably need to get someone on site.


Automatic A-B 240 V switch My house is 150' long.  The breaker box is at one end and the AC units are at the other end.
I have a well pump at the same end of the house as the AC units are.
I do not want to buy 8 ga uf-b underground to power the pump, when I already have 6 or 8 run and powering the AC.
I would like to tap into the AC 220 V power.
Is there a switch that would always power the AC unit when it wanted it?  The pump could  use the power ONLY if the AC wasn't busy cooling my house.
From a comment:
The pump is 3HP, 230V, max amp 17.0. Coming from the 40A breaker is a probable 6/2 cable. The AC nameplate data is 208-230V 1 ph, 60 hz, compressor 208/230V, 1ph, 60 hz, 11.1 RLA, 58.3 LRA, fan motor 208/230V, 1 ph, 60 hz, 1/12 hp, 0.60 FLA. Min Circuit amps 14.5, max fuse 20 amp, max ckt-brkr 20a.

There's no need for fancy-pants stuff here, a subpanel will do the job just fine

Since you have fat wire (6/2, although 8/2 would work just as well) running to the existing condensor, what I would do is install a subpanel in place of the existing (presumably fused) A/C disconnect and put breakers for the A/C and well pump in that, instead of rigging up some goofy switching arrangement.

The cheapest option here would be a "spa panel" sized enclosure (while you can put a larger subpanel in here, the restriction to 240VAC only imposed by not having a neutral at this location severely crimps its utility) -- an Eaton BR48L125RP will do the trick here and for not much money, either.  You will not need any accessory ground bars -- leave the existing bar bonded to the enclosure (or bond it if it did not ship that way) as it will be your ground bar due to the lack of a neutral here.

Once you've turned off the breaker for the A/C, undone all the wires, removed the existing A/C disconnect box, and mounted the new subpanel with the existing cables fed into it via knockouts, you can then wire up the incoming cable with the white and black to the two incoming hot lugs on the subpanel, and the ground to the big lug on the terminal (ground) bar.

From there, you can then fit a BR220 for the A/C (replacing what I presume must be 20A fuses in the existing disconnect and serving as the air conditioner's disconnecting means) and a BR240 (to handle the starting current as per the pump manufacturer and NEC 430.52(C)) for the well pump circuit, which will need to be wired using 10/2 cable out to the pressure switch and from there to the control box.  The hot wires to the existing air conditioner condenser get landed on the lugs of one breaker, while the black and white (hot) wires of the 10/2 cable for the well pump get landed on the lugs of the other breaker, and the bare ground wires go to the terminal bar screws.  From there, you can wire up the well pump circuitry (pressure switch, control box, well pump) as per the manufacturer's directions.  Don't forget to torque the terminal screws on the breakers and subpanel to the manufacturer's specs using an inch-pound torque wrench or screwdriver, as well!


How to install Trex decking board as top rail? I like to install the Trex decking boards on top railing like this

The goal is not showing screws on top. So I must screw in from the bottom through the top Universal Rail. But what is the "recommended or standard" method here? I could use any regular screw to fasten it from the bottom up. But I am wondering if there is a certain screw types (maybe provided in the box) to tighten between the top Universal Rail and the board.

I am looking for someone who has done exactly the photo.

Thanks.

First, make sure you get the right plank type.  Trex (and some other brands) have planks designed specifically for use as decking.  These have a fastening system that involves hidden grooves, which won't be hidden if you use it for a top rail.  See: http://www.trex.com/products/accessory-hardware/.

There are special screws for composite decking, but they often contain multiple threads designed to have the right thread in the right material when you fasten down through the composite board.  So verify the designed usage if you use these.

The planks are heavy and you aren't really trying to secure them against "falling up" or being pulled off.  The screws in this application are mainly to keep the planks from sliding.  You don't need massive holding strength on each screw, which is good because these composite boards have little structural strength.  The material crumbles and breaks easily.  Once screwed in, a small amount of prying force will pull the planks off, either stripping the screw hole or leaving hunks of material behind around the screws.

So to your question of what kind of screw to use.  Several things are important:

You need exterior grade screws, either stainless steel or specially coated.
The composite material doesn't compress like wood; pressure just makes it fall apart.  So it isn't good to use normal wood screws, which have a thick, wedge-shaped thread.  You need either:

a thread that is coarse and thin, more like a knife that causes minimal displacement of the material, like this style:

Or use one that taps a thread, like this style:

Both styles are often advertised as not requiring a pilot hole, but I wouldn't trust that.  I would still pre-drill a pilot hole.  Also, don't screw much more than about half way into the composite plank.  The pressure of the displaced material can cause the top surface to protrude if the tip of the screw is too close, or even push out a plug of surface material.


removal of subfloor for exterior wall This wall is an exterior wall and has 2 layers of flooring, with the wall sitting on top of the floor. I want to remove the flooring and install advantack t&G.I would like to leave the bottom layer an inch or so off the wall, but would like to remove the top layer along the edge of the wall 2x4. Any thoughts on the idea, or tool to use?

In order to cut a layer of the floor out flush with the bottom plate of the wall, one good tool for the job would be a Rockwell Sonicrafter


Removing blacktop/asphalt pad I have what used to be a basketball court in my backyard. Its roughly 20x20 feet. I've already removed and sold the basketball hoop. On the end where the hoop was theres concrete piling sunk below the ground level.

The asphalt is breaking apart on its own in some places. Under the asphalt is a stone/sand mix, its a lot like what I'd put under stone block in other masonry projects.

How in the heck do I remove this pad?

Is it as simple (and backbreaking!) as digging up the asphalt and underlayment and replacing it with topsoil?

Are there any alternatives? I had considered just breaking up the asphalt but not removing it then building a raised garden bed on top of it. The idea being the broken up asphalt would drain. Of course thats still work since I have to build and fill the raised bed.

I seriously doubt the previous owner followed code, but what would the 'standard' way be to build one of these pads? Are there any other surprises waiting for me?

How do I remove the concrete piling for the hoop? Dig it out? Jackhammer?

As i get older and less ambitious to tackle tough jobs like your facing by hand, I take a little trip to my friendly "Rent Me" store for my favorite little Kabota backhoe/loader. Half day rates here are about $65 and I can do more in 2 or 3 hours with a good tractor than 2 men can do in a day by hand, and my back feels great afterwards!  lol The other nice thing about using a little loader is that you can easily transport or load your spoils, and if you have your new material handy, you can move that around also. How do you intend to dispose of the old asphalt and gravel?  You may also consider making a few calls to small excavation contractors in the area. you may be able to hire a machine with operator  and a truck to haul it all away for $70 to $100 an hour. A job that size would only take a couple of hours and the spoils would be gone as well.


Can I have an electric dryer, a washer, furnace, and gas water heater all in one laundry room? Can I have an electric dryer, a washer, furnace, and gas water heater all in one laundry room?

Basically, my electric dryer is on the far outside wall. Almost literally against it, the dryer vent thing on the back goes to a vent on the wall that's literally right there where the dryer is. Pretty close.

Next to the dryer is my washing machine. Then next to the washing machine is my gas water heater. After that, is my furnace.

Is there any issue with this sort of set up? They're all basically side by side, none of them touching each other or anything like that. There's a decent amount of space between them. They're just all in a row down the same wall.

Only issue I can see is where the makeup air comes from. The washer doesn't matter, but if the dryer, furnace, and water heater all turn on at the same time, they each need air input. Putting everything in one room can cause an issue where it's easier to suck air through the output of another appliance than suck air from inside the house, and that can leave carbon monoxide inside the house.

The input air can come from inside the house (in which case there should be some sort of vent in the door or something), or outside (in which case you should be able to see the vent.)

I would also highly suggest installing a carbon monoxide alarm somewhere in the home if not already present, and testing it if it exists already. This is general advice whenever gas appliances are in use.


4 prong dryer cord connected to a new 4 prong wall outlet, the old wall outlet was a 3 prong with only 3 wires. now the dryer won't heat but works i have a dryer that has a 4 prong cord and the wall outlet was a 3 prong. I replaced the wall outlet with a 4 prong and the dryer works but will not heat did I wire it wrong or what could be the problem,

It's two separate problems, based on your description.

One leg of "hot" not connected

Now I must admit, I leapt to the assumption that you replaced a large 3-prong NEMA 10 socket with a 4-prong NEMA 14, and that the previous socket was wired correctly (as correctly as a NEMA 10 can be).

The "dryer spins, no heat" symptom indicates that neutral is connected (to something), the right one of the two hots is connected, but the other hot is not connected.  So I would carefully check the wiring connections at the socket.  Also if your are able, check that there is 120V between each hot and neutral.

Now, there is one other place for this to go wrong, but it has nothing to do with installing a dryer.  Sometimes a very clever person replaces the wide 2-pole dryer breaker that takes 2 spaces, with a "double-stuff" breaker that takes one space.  That doesn't work, it will test out 120V on each hot lead, but they are the same pole, not opposing, so 0V between them instead of 240V. They need a quadplex.

The missing ground

Moving to a NEMA 14 style connector is a leap forward for safety, because the old NEMA 10 came with officially approved instructions to bootleg ground from neutral.  The problem with bootlegging is, if anything went wrong with the neutral wire, It would definitely, positively, electrify the chassis of the dryer.

As you have wired this, that won't happen.  However, if the dryer develops a certain type of ground fault, that can electrify the chassis of the dryer. Which is why we want to see a real ground there.

Usually people say "oh, noes, that means running a new cable from the panel"... Actually, no.  You can retrofit just a ground wire.  And you don't need to go back to the service panel, any of these will suffice:

a large appliance or junction box that has #10 AWG or larger ground wire going back to the panel
any junction box connected with non-flexible metal conduit back to the panel
anywhere along the grounding electrode system, the bare metal wires going from your main panel to your ground pipes or rods


Is it possible to Strengthen I-Joist? I have an unfinished two-story detached garage and (if possible) I would like to make the structure more resilient by going a step beyond the basic/minimum building code safety standards for my area (presuming it makes good sense to do so). Is it possible to make structural improvements to the I-Joist being used between the first floor garage area and the second floor studio apartment area above?

Current installation is 14-inch TJI 210 16-inches apart (on center) with about a 20 foot span.  I need to run 4-inch sewer line through the I-Joists. The PDF document I reference below shows where those 4-5 inch holes can be cut into the I-Joist.  Will this weaken the I-Joists far into the future (20-30 years)? Can I (or should I) do something to strengthen the I-Joist in locations where the 4-inch sewer line will be passing through the I-Joists?

Patching the I-Joist appears to restore the integrity of the I-Joists, but can the same principles be used to strengthen the I-Joists as well?

TJI® JOIST SPECIFIER’S GUIDE
Featuring Trus Joist® TJI® Joists for Floor and Roof Applications http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/woodproducts/document-library/tj-4000

BTW, I am not trying to make the building resistant to a meteor crash with withstand a MOAB (Mother-Of-All-Bombs), but I do want to make smart improvements and retrofits beyond the basic building code safety requirements.

Page 9 of the specification guide you linked describes Allowable Holes.  If you comply with that specification then you are not considered to have weakened the joist.  If you violate that specification then you would need new sealed engineering prints to stay compliant.

If you just want to increase rigidity or load-bearing capacity there are a number of common practices:

"Sistering" joists: I.e., running an identical joist alongside an existing joist.
Reducing the unsupported span of joists.  E.g., most simply, by adding a load-bearing post under a joist span.
Upgrading joists.  E.g., replacing existing members with joists having higher specified capacities.  Or adding supported joists under the existing ones.

You would need an engineer to quantify the effects of any of these reinforcements.  Some of these are very implementation-specific.  For example, depending on the construction, sistering might provide much more support when the sistered joists are cross-bolted in a particular way.


bathroom junction box has more wires than expected I want to install a new light over the bathroom vanity. I removed the cover plate of the existing fixture. Looking at the instructions for installation I was expecting one black wire, one white wire and a ground wire. Instead I found the following:

I'm assuming I can attach the black wire from the new fixture to "1", the white wire from the new fixture to "2", and the ground wire from the fixture to the screw on the junction box at "3".

Am I correct?

You are almost right

The solo black wire is indeed the switched hot for this circuit and the junction of all white wires is indeed your neutral.  However, you shouldn't tap ground at the box screw, but in the wirenut with the bare wires in it (in the back of the box) -- the box ground screw isn't intended for two wires at once.

P.S. the other junction (one white and rest black) is where the always-hot is -- the white wire in it carries the always-hot to the switch in an old-style switch loop configuration.


How do I remove these ceiling diffuser flaps? I need to move this diffuser away from the wall and can't figure out how to take out the flaps that are installed.  They don't have any screws on the inside that I can see.  Is there a trick to getting these out?

You need to access that section from the attic and pull the screws then the assembly will drop down. You have an older damper from the days when they were not made to be removed so that ~1’ section of pipe with the damper needs to be removed. I am guessing at the 1’ but you can see the screws that connect the 90 to the damper. These are the screws that need to be removed. I think I see 3 total and there are usually 3-4.


My AC blows warm air I am renting, and my previous AC unit sounded like a diesel generator so the maintenance team replaced it with a new one.  It is the Garrison Air Conditioner, Through the Wall, 14,000 BTU, 230/208 Volts, Cool Only.  I called maintenance the other day because it was running for 2 days straight and the temperature in the apartment was sitting around 78 degrees for the room with the AC and .  They instructed me to turn off the energy saver mode and to turn the desired temperature to 62 degrees (the lowest the unit will go).

Cold air (62 degrees) does come out occasionally, but it is generally 75 degrees.  It has been in the high 80's outside the past few days, and I have also noticed at night it does a much better and consistent job of cooling, and I do not think it is a coincidence that when the temperature outside drops, the AC is is cooling better.

Is there something wrong with my AC? The previous place I lived, when I set the AC, it would take a few hours at most to hit the right temperature, but this one takes 8 hours to drop 2 degrees in a 1 bedroom apartment.

GARRISON 2498545

The image below from the amazon link.

The area in red box is where air from your room is drawn into the unit. It passes over the supercooled coil and exits back into your room through the top vents. Do not obstruct air flow into the unit. Set mode to cool,energy saver off, temperature to lowest 62, fan to high.

And if there is a setting or manual method fir opening a vent to let outside air into the home close it. Amazon page describing this unit photo below.

Take note of the feature called air exchange. This would be a feature allowing the option of introducing fresh outside air into your home during the cooling cycle. Obviously you want that off on very warm days.

If all of that still does not give you lots of continuous cool air there us something wrong with the unit and it needs to be serviced by a qualified ac technician


How can I join boards for table legs? I'm working on building a table, and I'm trying to find some lumber to use for the legs. I've found some 3" x 3" x 3' lumber nearby, which is more or less exactly what I need, however it's relatively expensive.

By that I mean, it's about twice as expensive (per board foot) compared to buying several 1" x 3" boards.

My question is, is there some method of joining three 1" x 3" boards together (I am aware that this will give me a 2.25" x 2.5" result, instead of the 2.5" x 2.5" or a nominally 3" x 3" piece of lumber, but this is acceptable) such that they will be sufficiently strong for the legs of a table (assuming I am going to taper them)?

Or, should I just go ahead and buy the more expensive solid pieces of wood?

There is a way to create such a composite timber. Actually, all other things being equal (the species, cut and quality of the wood), a built up sandwich is actually stronger than a solid piece of wood.

This is done by laminating the three boards together. A generous layer of wood glue, such as Titebond II, is spread over one face of one of the boards. The next board is placed over this and a second spread of glue is placed on the face of board 2. Finally board three is placed on top.

The boards are aligned and clamped in numerous places along their length. If you are able to clamp them to a very firm perfectly flat surface (such as the platform of a table saw) even better.  You need to make sure that there is no bow or twist in the clamped boards.

Once the glue dries (at least 24 hours) you can then trim the ends.

The newel post on the stair rail shown in this question and answer is made up from 3 1x3 oak boards laminated in the manner described.

Unless the table will bear an extremely heavy load or the taper is very extreme (or the wood you are using is balsa), a laminated 2.5 inch leg should be more than sufficient.


Do I need to do anything for my external spigots during a short hard freeze? Like the questioner in Do I need to do anything to protect my pool during a rare freeze? I live in central florida and its going to be a hard freeze tonight. Do I need to let the spigots drip or cover them for a short period of time? It is much less water volume than a pool, but there is also much less exposure since it goes right into a cinder block wall.

A short freeze should not be a big deal for your area.  I just bought some of the spigot covers for mine.  I live in Virginia and have a bit colder temps than you do.  Normally we have no problems with our area either.  I just covered them to make sure.