Running cables for a home theater: inside walls and ceilings or on the surface? I am trying to set-up a home theater in my ill-equipped living room. After spending the last three days watching YouTube videos on routing cables, I did learn a lot, but got into a state of analysis paralysis in which I can't make any decision besides keep looking at more videos. I hope by posting here I can get some good recommendation that push me towards action
I am planning on setting up a 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos configuration with 6 speakers near the front of the room room  (2 surround, 1 center, 1 sub, 2 ceiling reflective atmos placed on top of the two surround) and 4 near the back (the other 2 Atmos actually in the ceiling and the 2 back surround).
I live in the second floor of a 3-floor condo, so obviously there is no attic. And wall and ceiling are fully finished.
I am debating between the two main options of where to put the AV receiver, but the actual issue is how to run the wires:

Put the AV receiver, router and all other components in the back of the room, just under the projector.

PROS: short HDMI run (12 feet) and short Ethernet run
CONS: I need to bring 6 speaker cables to the front of the room.

Unfortunately the straightest path, shown in the first picture, is perpendicular to the direction of the joists and to fish the wire in the ceiling I would have to drill through seven joists, opening seven holes below them, including a big one in the back wall. I would tend to exclude this solution because the patching would be very visible, due to the bad combination of my poor skills and the light texturing of the ceiling .
Other possible options are: using 6 thin speaker wires glued to the ceiling on a straight line (i.e., following the red line but on the surface) or using plastic raceways along the longer route of the irregular perimeter of the ceiling/wall junction.
A last possibility would be running the wires inside the ceiling until the other side of the room (blue line in the second photo), and then go to the front wall from there. The first part of the path is parallel to the joist direction and it is a necessary route to connect the 2 in-ceiling speakers. I would basically carry along the other 6 wires until they get on the other side of the room.

The interesting thing is that on this side, as shown in the second photo, there is a dropped ceiling throughout the whole length, from the front wall to the back wall. One the positive side, the path inside the dropped ceiling to the back wall should be free of joists. However I am not sure what is in there, if I am allowed to run cables through it (a little online research gave me the impression that I could, using CMP rated wires, but not sure if it is also advisable). Also, if I did that, I would need to fish wires from so far below them that, just to start, I would not be sure of what to do to create that initial 90 degree turn with the cables above the real ceiling.

The second option is putting the AV receiver near the screen, in the position occupied in the first photo by the old TV (which, together with the red couch strategically placed in front of the screen, owes its unexpected survival to covid lol). This different setup, actually, won’t change much in terms of wiring issues. The negative is a longer run for HDMI and Ethernet (about 30 feet) and the positive is that only 4 speaker wires instead of 6 need to be brought to the opposite end of the room.

And the options are the same: either running thin speaker wires glued to the ceiling, using plastic raceways, or fishing inside the real ceiling and the dropped ceiling on the other side.
None of these options seems that great. What would you guys do?
Thank you very much for any suggestions you would be kind enough to give me.

This problem is most easily addressed by surface mount wireway. Rather than run exposed cables, you attach a fairly innocuous plastic or metal rectangular cross section wireway/duct/conduit that carries the cables across the ceiling and/or wall in a less obtrusive way than putting them out in the open, but which does not require major surgery to the building to install them. While you evidently don't like the ones you have seen so far, there are many options at many quality and appearance levels, so there may be hope that you can find one you like. Or get all 1970's retro and attach some hollow fake beams to the ceiling.
Where more convenient, there are also similar products made to go on the floor, typically with small ramps on either side so they are less of a tripping hazard.
Adding some sizable crown molding all around would be another approach to create hidden surface wire space along the edges of the ceiling, if that suits your taste better.


Wire nut several wires together I need a wire nut large enough so that I can bundle seven 14 gauge neutral wires together. I am trying to splice it so I can connect it to my new smart wifi leviton light switch.  I don't know which wire nut size to buy.  The boxes say for example: minimum 2#14 gauge - maximum 2#10 gauge.   My question is, can you tell me which wing nut or brand or size to buy so I can group 7 neutral wires together?
None of the sizing chart on the box says the exact words of "ok to bundle seven #14 gauge wires together.  Which one should I use?

You would not bundle seven under one wire nut. I expect someone will amplify my answer with direct code call out. Basically, no more than 4... almost EVER, under any wire nut, and you must use the nut sized for the largest collective wire awg you are using. (not just buy a larger wire nut to stuff more inside of it).

Further, do not exceed the current rating of the breaker and in general having a situation like this begs the question whether it is smart to run another circuit to break up the load and the distribution path. Either way, exceeding 4 is typically not advisable and a fire hazard.

What you would do, is use up to 3 neutrals and a ~6" white jumper, and then 2 more neutrals, and another ~6" jumper, followed by one more wire-nut with 2 neutral and the end of the last jumper. Here you are distributing the wires as even and safely as possible provided it fits safely in the box and the circuit is not overloaded.

The box for the nuts you intend to buy certainly should list a limit on them. If you tell us the gauge (all are 14awg)? And the brands you are looking at it would be easy to lookup their recommended limits. E.g.: https://www.idealind.com/content/pdfs/catalogs/wire-connector-catalog.pdf


Moisture Resistant Drywall unavailable in 5/8 I am getting ready to start all the drywall processes.  Starting with the ceiling, I have trusses 24" on center.  The code here requires type x (so 5/8") firerock on the ceiling.  It is also a common issue where you can't install 1/2" drywall on 24" centers and have to use 5/8" just for that reason.

Well, this is all fine and dandy, except for my bathrooms I planned on 5/8" Moisture Resistant rock for the ceilings and it appears to be unavailble here and only sold in 1/2" thickness.  I will have exhaust fans in the bathroom, but I am not sure if that would warrant just standard 5/8" rock for the ceilings in the bathrooms.  I may be able to find some 5/8 M.R. rock but I'll drive 70 miles for it.  Any thoughts from the other DIY'ers and pros?

Densarmor paperless board comes in 5/8" thicknesses.

I prefer densarmor for moist areas as there's no paper for any mold or mildew to grow on.


What should I do with exposed wires from a yard irrigation manifold? We just had a new backyard put in by a contractor with 20+ years of experience. Overall, he did a very nice job, but apparently the Rain Bird timer that came with our house is a new model and it gave him some trouble when hooking up the new sprinklers/drip. As such, he installed a temporary Rain Bird -- one he knew how to use -- to run the sprinklers for a few days until he got the newer Rain Bird figured out, which he did today.

When he unhooked the older Rain Bird, he left the wires exposed by the manifold in the backyard:

This is how they're hooked up to the manifold in the front (only the brown/white wire is attached, as indicated by the red arrow):

In the walk through today, my wife asked about the wires, and he told her that they're waterproof, and that we should just leave them there.

Aside from the fact that it just looks sloppy, my question is:

Is he telling the truth? Is there really no harm in leaving those wires exposed the way they are?
Is the solution as simple as disconnecting the brown/white wire and discarding the now-unused wires?

I understand that it's difficult for you to give a definitive answer with this limited amount of information, but your input is appreciated.

It looks like the Green or Green/White wire is also hooked up. He used 4 twisted pairs, most commonly used as Ethernet wire (the one that you use for internet on your computer, router, modem, etc.) and is most likely a Category 5 cable. It is a relative cheap cable that has 8 wires, looks like he only needed a few but it is easier and cheaper to use what you have sometimes.

As long as your system works and the wires that are connected aren't getting hot (meaning the wires are too small for the electric load going through them) then you're fine. The connectors to the attached wires look like waterproof ones and sounds like you can trust the contractor on that one.

I'd wait a while to make sure everything works, or ask them to do it if they're coming back already, and cut the unused wires close to/at the sheathing (blue covering in your example) and put some tape around that to ensure you don't trap some water in there.

The unused/exposed wires left alone can/will have some copper corrosion form but they are unused so it's more of an aesthetic concern which you can address.


Trying to change out a ceiling fan need help... 5 wires I'm in an old house. I removed and replaced 2 out of 3 with no problem. I get to the third and there are 5 wires: 2 black, 2 white/cream, and one bare copper wire. I think I have it hooked up right but the breaker flips when I turn power on. What am I doing wrong?

Note sure of how you connected them. If Load if attached to neutral its going to make a short circuit and Breaker flips.

Bare Copper wires is usually earthing. Usually black wire is Load and white wire is Neutral. If Black is joining to black(also white with white) then it represent a serial connection that may be used in some other place using the same switch.


How do I build a headboard for a bed? I need to build a headboard in the next couple of days.

My requirements:

can be attached to the wall, I read something somewhere about French cleat
needs to be attached to the bed, to stop the bed from sliding on the hardwood floor (its very old and needs to be refinished so I'm not worried about scratches).

I have limited access to big tools, since it is winter (no garage) and I have about 2 ft of snow in the backyard. I was planning on getting the cutting done at Home Depot or Rona or wherever.

Any suggestions?

Simple solution.

Materials:

Plywood sheet.
Quilt batting, Upholstery foam, or similar.
Fabric.
Fabric glue.
[Optional] Buttons and heavy thread.

Procedure:

Cut a sheet of plywood to the proper size.  You'll want it to start below where it will bolt to the bed frame (about an inch or so), and extend to your desired height above the bed. and you'll want it the width of the bed.
Round off the top corners (the size of the arc is up to you), for this a jig saw works well.
Drill holes in the plywood to match the bolt pattern of the bed frame.
Cut your batting to the same shape as the plywood (Note: the batting does not have to extend below the top of the mattress (but it can it you like), so it might be shorter than the plywood), a utility knife should work just fine for this.
Attach the batting to the plywood using spray fabric glue.
Wrap the whole thing in fabric, use a stable gun to fasten the fabric to the back of the plywood (make sure you pull the fabric tight, starting from one corner and working your way around).
[Optional: For buttons] If you want to add buttons to the headboard to make 'dimples', it's easier to figure out where you want them before hand and pre-drill two small holes for each button in the plywood before you apply the batting, you can drill the holes after wrapping the fabric but you have to be careful.
[Optional: For buttons] Using a large needle and heavy thread / string, push the needle through one hole in the plywood until it comes out through the face of the headboard (fabric side), loop the thread/string through the button and then feed the needle back through the other small hole in the plywood.
[Optional: For buttons] Pull the thread tight to create the desired 'dimple' depth, and tie it off to hold it.  Repeat this procedure for each button.
Attach the headboard to the frame, and enjoy.


Replaced toilet valve & tube, turning water back on rumbles I replaced all the parts in my toilet, and now when I go to turn my water back on (not the main valve, but the toilet valve) the pipeline starts to rumble/shake a lot about halfway on. I then turn it back off.

Is this normal? Should I continue to turn it on all the way?

Yes, slowly. There's air in the line making the noise. It will dissipate if you slowly turn the water back on.


What kind of window glazing is this? I need to replace a broken window pane and have been watching several DIY videos on the subject. There are so many glazing types to secure in the windows and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what type of glazing this is and if this is a common easy DIY project.

At a quick guess from a blurry picture, that looks like a double-pane "thermal glass" unit (very common in modern windows) and probably  requires taking the sash it is in (aluminum or vinyl?) out of the windowframe and dissassembling to replace.

Anything involving glazing putty and points almost certainly does not apply here.


Grouding on a incandescent 120 V dimmer The light dimmer of my chandelier broke recently so I went buy a new one (incandescent 120 V 600W). The one that broke was fairly old (sticker on the dimmer mentions 1987).

Since I'm pretty novice about electrical stuff I took a few picture before installing the new one.

As you can see it is sharing the wallbox with a light switch and there was two black wires connected in the wall. The dimmer I bought has a third green wire for grounding. What should I do with this third wire ? For now I capped it and it's working fine but I'm concerned about safety. Shouldn't this be connected somehow ? If so where ? I'm not sure that the wall box itself is grounded.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Since there doesn't appear to be any grounding conductors in the box, and the box appears to be plastic. You've done all you can do, aside from installing a nonmetallic cover plate.

This answer might also be helpful.

If you're concerned about it, consider that it's been operating without a ground since the switch was originally installed.  If you're really concerned, you could install a GFCI breaker to protect the circuit. If you're really really concerned about it, you could install an equipment grounding conductor from the panel to the switch.


Should I lubricate the motor in my power drill? I have a power drill that looks like the picture below. I've had it for years, but recently I noticed that it squeaks when I use it (I only really hear the squeaking while it's winding down, when it's spinning full speed it's too loud to hear anything else). My question is: should I try to lubricate it somehow? Is this an indication that I should get a new drill, or just be kinder to my old one?

The drill you display is for DIY use (as opposed to professional use), so it's designed to be durable enough for years of typical DIY usage. So it has no user-serviceable parts - even its brushes will last for about one hundred hours of motor running and you're not expected to think of what happens to them after that one hundred hours.

That's why you really have two options - either just continue using it or bring it to a service center and prepare to pay a fortune for servicing.

One possible reason of noise is that after mild (thus permissible) wear accumulation it just started to sound differently.


How can I temporarily fix a leaky faucet? I have a house from the late '20's and my hot water leaks in my tub.  I've had it fixed a few times by plumbers and the last one said that to permanently fix it, I'm going to need to replace the whole shebang.

While I'm saving up for that, is there a less permanent option to address the issue?  A rubber stopper?

Other than turning the water off at a location before the faucet, there is no real temporary fix - you either fix it, or you don't.

The problem with really old faucets is finding replacement parts.  I had one from the '70s with a similar issue and I couldn't even get replacement parts. I opted to just replace it.

That being said, replacing it should not be a huge job.  I was able to replace an old 3 handle faucet with a single handle faucet in a couple hours (my first real plmbing project). They make special remodel wall plates specifically for this that allow you to cut a large enough hole in the wall to replace the faucet, and then cover it up with the plate:

If you are able to access the wall behind the shower then it is even easier since you can easily cut and repair a large drywall hole.

If you are handy you can definitely do it yourself, or call in a plumber to do it for you.  I imagine a plumber would make quick work of this.


Wiring pull switch ceiling fan to wall switch This is a slightly different question to one previously asked on this site (see: Changing a pull switch to a hard wired wall switch Ceiling fans).

I would like to wire a ceiling fan with light that is currently pull switch controlled for both the fan and the light. The line running to the fan is on a 15 amp breaker, so I need to use 14 awg wire. Ideally, for the reasons one of the administrators of this site stated in the question I cited above, I would like to use 14/4 awg wire, but I cannot find any electrical house or hardware store that sells 14/4 wire in any length other than a spool of 250 feet. Not needing that size, I have decided to switch to 14-2-2 with ground and do the job that way. I just wanted to confirm that I can use 14-2-2 just as I would the 14/4 (obviously with the exception of the color difference in the wires) wire.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

You can use 14-2-2, no problem. Realistically, you could use 14-3. You will not draw enough current to pose a problem. Same holds for wiring both the fan and light together and using 14-2. That being said, some localities do not allow the use of 14-3 in residential.


Identifying positive and negative speaker wires My house came with 2 wall speakers. There is wiring for both of them. The right and left speakers have 2 wires each.

I'm trying to hook them up to my amp but I have no idea which wire is positive or negative.

They are both copper
Neither wire has a stripe
The insulation for both wires is the same color (gray)
There is no + or - indicator on the insulation

I'm at a loss. I also tried hooking up one speaker and then swapping the wires to see if the sound quality was noticeably different one way or the other. I honestly can't tell, it sounds good either way.

Sorry it's blurry but as you can see the wiring is identical. The insulation as Ecnerwal mentions in his answer is different - one is smooth and one ridged.

Note that the wire doesn't care which is positive and which is negative. Nor do the speakers, really; what matters is that both/all speakers be in phase with each other.

So if the same side of the speaker wire is always hooked to the same terminal at the signal source (amp), and the same side is always hooked to the same terminal of the speakers (even if all the speakers are backwards -- as long as it is all of them), everything will work properly.

(I usually adopt some mnemonic such as "ridged to red", to help remember which convention I've chosen.)


How to “lock” a bathroom door without drilling or spending too much money? I am currently renting an apartment with a few flatmates, but it seems that the keys to the bathroom door have been lost. The owner of the apartment is not open to modifications.
We are trying to find a way to prevent embarrassing accidents on opening the door when someone else is in the bathroom. We are not very concerned with the safety aspect of the locking mechanism or whether it actually even locks the door; a way to prevent such accidents would suffice.
I found Temporary lock for a door, but it seems that the use-case of the asker is different in that question. Also, the suggested solution, which is a door knob lock-out device, is not readily available where I live, and would be expensive to order from outside.
This is how the locking mechanism looks like:

I believe the lost key looks something like this:

I'd be inclined to replace the locking mechanism with a new similar one. Direct replacement. Always change back at end of lease. Who's to know? Not expensive.
Otherwise a notice outside the door - 'Do not disturb', or get used to whistling while engaged...
Or - a length of wood that spans from the door to the opposite wall, or some article of furniture closer
BUT - bear in mind it's not too clever to have a bathroom door that cannot be opened in an emegency, from outside. That's why a lot of folk use the sort of lock with a screwdriver hole on the outside of the door. As a landlord, it's his responsibilty to provide stuff like that - not ony probably fulfilling legal obligations, but sensible ones too.


Can I replace the thermopile with a thermocouple in my water heater, and have it work properly? I'm having a tough time finding a thermopile at Home Depot, and lowes. I can find thermocouples all day long, and I can rig the wiring so I have no loose ends.  However, I know those two units don't generate the same amount of power. If I swap to the thermocouple, will I achieve "desired operation"?

If the thermocouple doesn't generate sufficient power, it won't function properly.  The replacement device has to produce enough power, to hold the circuit closed.


Running only one zone of a multi zone minisplit I picked up a used multi zone mini-split (Yeti YEOD24000, they don't make them anymore, I think they were actually produced by Gree).

The guy I bought it from was running two zones before, I have no idea what length the linesets were.  It was disconnected by an HVAC tech so I'm assuming there is refrigerant in there.  I have the outdoor unit installed along with one of the indoor units.

My question is, can I operate the one unit by itself, without having the other unit installed (the valve is closed on the other zone)?  I will, of course, vacuum the lines first.

Again, I'm not sure of the volume of refrigerant in the system, probably less than the spec as the unit is old.

First I would not be posting about violating the law on a public forum. (EPA fines up to 25k for violating the 608 & 609 regulations)
Yes it is normal to close the high pressure line and pump the refrigerant into the system and close the low pressure valve prior to putting a recovery system on the lines.
A licensed tech can still purchase R22 online the price has really jumped the last few years and will increase until the supply is exhausted no more can be made or imported.
Can a multi zone system function with only 1 zone attached? Possibly , some can some must be connected or at least have a loop it depends on the design.
You understand the system needs to have a vacuum on the line set epa recommends 500 millitor most techs target under 100 and verify no leakage.
Who knows if the system has enough refrigerant to run, most folks do not remove fully functional systems so it is quite possible you only have a couple of lbs when it is a 6 or 8 lb system.


Should I vent 2nd floor bathroom exhaust down? I am looking to install an exhaust fan in a bathroom where one does not already exist.  I've read that it is preferable to run exhaust ducts down instead of up, but does that apply here?  We would be talking about 20-some feet to run an exhaust duct from the 2nd floor ceiling down to the first floor ground level.  The alternative would be to run the exhaust duct up about 5 or 6 feet and out the roof fascia (seems easier to drill through wood fascia than brick wall, but that may be a separate question).  I'm not even sure I can get a duct down through the wall yet, but thought I'd ask before I spend too much time figuring it out.  It's an exterior wall, if that makes any difference.

I believe what they mean by plumbing the vent downward is to make sure it has a slight slope so that moisture condensation from venting a shower will not drip water back into fan unit and cause problems.


Using a dimmer on a light plugged in to a receptacle My home is 42 years old. The kitchen lighting consists of 2 48" fluorescent shop lights each plugged into a normal 110v receptable. It uses a standard, 1 way, on/off switch. I want to convert from fluorescent to incandescent and still use the plug. I intend to use a 6 light incandescent vanity bar and low wattage (25w or 40w bulbs). However, since there will not be any other type of fixture being plugged into that receptacle except the incandescent light bar, can I use a dimmer switch without hard wiring the fixture? can I use the plug/receptacle? The circuit uses a 15A circuit breaker. I do not want to violate and electrical building codes.

No, you can't do that. It sounds great until the first time you are short a receptacle and plug in something else - perhaps a vacuum cleaner. And have big problems. Or to give a really bad scenario - your regular receptacle circuits in the kitchen are out but the lighting circuit is working so you move your refrigerator to the "oops, still dimmed" ceiling receptacle on an extension cord until the electrician can get to you...by which time your food has spoiled and your refrigerator ruined.

According to this reference there is a way to do it. But I don't recommend it.

It is usually not that hard to rewire the switch so that it controls a direct (hardwired) lighting fixture instead of a receptacle and change the receptacle to be always on. That is the first step for many people when they buy a house and find that all the light switches control receptacles instead of ceiling fixtures.

It is also very easy (no new wiring involved) to convert a ceiling receptacle to a hardwired light fixture, which would work well for your situation.

But the bigger question is: Why are you switching from fluorescent to incandescent?

You should be switching to LEDs. A LED bulb roughly equivalent to a 40W incandescent (and much brighter than a 25W incandescent) will use around 6W. Plus you'll be replacing incandescent bulbs on a regular basis while the LEDs will last for years. Just make sure you get dimmable LEDs - not all of them are dimmable.

You should also make sure you get enough light. Your 2 48" fluorescent bulbs (if you actually have 2 bulbs in each fixture then the numbers here all get doubled, but I'd actually agree that's more light than you need for a typical kitchen, so I'll stick with the 2 48" bulb scenario) are producing about 2400 lumens each for a total of 4800 lumens. Each 40W incandescent or 6W LED will produce about 450 lumens for a total of 2700 lumens - a little more than half the light. While you may think the current light is too bright, a lot of light is a good thing in a kitchen and the dimmer can give you less light but it can't (obviously) give you more. If you're stuck on screw-in bulbs in a light bar, then something like 12.5W, 75W equivalent, 1100 lumens will do quite nicely. 6 x 1100 = 6600 (more than you have now), total power at full brightness = 6 x 12.5 = 75W (that's less than 2 of your incandescent bulbs) and dimmable so you can lower the light when you want to.

Based on comments, the issue here is more than just making the lights dimmable. There are issues of light quality. Traditional fluorescent "work lights" are relatively poor quality and bother many people due to:

flickering
brightness
color temperature

The flickering can be solved very easily with most other lighting technologies, including incandescent, halogen, LED and even more modern fluorescent fixtures.

The brightness problem can be solved, obviously, with a dimmer. I do recommend a dimmer for this situation as it allows for dim light for those who need it and bright light for more typical users. Working in a relatively dark kitchen is fine when you're pouring a cup of coffee. But if you're working on a Thanksgiving feast with chopping & mixing & cooking & baking & 3 people running around, a bit of extra light is very helpful.

Color temperature, CRI and other qualitative factors of a lighting technology have also been dramatically improved with the latest fluorescent and LED bulbs.

Recommendation:

Convert the plug-in fixture to a hardwired multi-bulb (Edison base) fixture

For the average user, I would pick a reasonable-looking LED fixture (i.e., not screw-in bulbs). In your situation since you have serious concerns about light quality, screw-in bulbs provide total flexibility.

Install a LED-compatible dimmer switch. Even if you don't end up using LED bulbs now (but please try - some of them are really good!), that will allow flexibility for any future user. Check the specs carefully - most LED-compatible dimmers are also compatible with a reasonable load of incandescent lighting as well.
Go to a lighting store or a big box store with a decent lighting department and compare light color/quality of the available options.


How to stabilize half-wall below an interior portal? BACKGROUND: Decided to extend an already existing opening in this non-load bearing wall. With all the electrical and plumbing it's just not worth removing completely. Besides, wife likes the idea of having a family computer desk in the corner, etc.

QUESTION: What is the best way to stabilize this half-wall? I still need to frame out the opening and I'm guessing the drywall will add some rigidity, but I want to make this thing is pretty much rock solid before finishing. Currently it wobbles a little if I shake it hard enough.

(The partial horizontal 2x4s you see in the picture are just temporary supports I put in for cutting out studs and drywall)

First, you'll want to place double studs on either side of your opening (currently you have some on the left but not right, as viewed from the kitchen). Then add horizontal members at the top and bottom of the opening, fastened into those studs. This will add a lot of rigidity by preventing the knee-wall studs from swinging left/right/out. Finally, add some screws through your drywall to the new structural members.

If you're keeping the plumbing/electrical chase in the center, the framing of that will offer some more stability.

Because one side of this wall is in a kitchen, there's also the possibility you'll attach cabinets or other built-ins to this wall. If so, those will add some further rigidity by essentially bracing the wall against the floor.

If those aren't enough, you could add horizontal or diagonal bracing to the wall, or even expand it into a double-stud (wider) wall. Those would be more extreme measures, and I doubt you'll need them.


What could be causing our cedar siding to be warped near the chimney? My wife and I noticed some warping in our cedar siding near the chimney. Any idea what could be causing this and what sort of repair might be needed? Here is a picture:

https://ibb.co/dH4zQF

I will give a bit of an answer on what I see. It looks like the siding is taking on the salts from the masonry cement. The brick gets wet during a rain, the cedar that touches the masonry cement wick up the moisture from the brick which always has minute traces of the salt in it from the cement. Check out efflorescence This is what looks like in on the faced of the siding to a degree. Then it may be just blistered paint.

This is why the question of, "is the chimney added later" If it is, then the masonry cement while it was being built, cannot be cleaned off, and is in direct contact with the wood of the siding. If the chimney was original, there is a good chance, if the builder did it the way it is supposed to, the brick was laid first and the siding was run to the brick, keeping the cement away from the siding, albeit very close still, but still not touching the way a later added chimney would.

As mentioned before, it may only need what a good painter can provide, scraping, cleaning, priming and finish paint. To do it so it does not come back for certain, would require the removal of the siding, a small piece of flashing set to the brick, enough to nail to the subsiding and over the brick just enough to cover what the siding may touch. caulk the flashing to the brick, and caulk the siding to the flashing. Paint it up. Good till the cows come home.

Another way to accomplish that is to cut the siding with a circular saw set to depth so it does it cut ONLY the siding. The cut can be made as close as 1 1/2" from the brick, eliminating the need to replace the siding. The flashing mentioned earlier, now needs to be wide enough to go under the edge of the cut siding, and still reach the brick. After that is set, cover it with a piece of trim thick enough to have the face of the new trim just a little in front of the thickest part of the siding. Perhaps 1" thick...

This has become more than a  bit......

7-9 edit

To elaborate on the comment about the sun on the west side. The sun will draw out the moisture more rapidly on that side and therefore, expedite the depositing of salts on the surface of the siding. It goes like this, the brick gets wet and with that the salts in the brick or masonry cement, in trace amounts get sucked into the end grain of the wood siding. when that occurs, the siding swells which will start hairline cracks in the paint. This allows the moisture to get carried through the grain, and evaporate through the crack in the paint. This helps push the paint off the surface of the siding and make it bubble. The salts traveling with the moisture are deposited behind the paint as well as some leech out through the cracks in the paint too.

This is repeated each time the chimney gets wet from rain or melting snow and compounds the deposits formed the brick. The sun drawing it out on the one side more readily makes it even worse. In masonry, moisture is always seeking equilibrium, as the sun dries out the surface, the remaining moisture within the chimney moves toward the dry area, but since it is drying out faster than the other side....  Well I hope you see the point I am trying to make.


Hvac Fan only blows in 'fan on' mode while heating Our HVAC Fan only blows in 'fan on' mode while heating. In other words the fan will not blow in heat mode if switched to "fan auto". Both fan on and fan auto modes work when cooling. See image below, any ideas?

UPDATE

I also forgot that I had the blower replaced 1 year back and am now wondering if the wiring of that could be the culprit. See this link for information on the original and new blowers.

Normally, when the fan is set to "auto", if the unit enters "heating" mode the burner ignites then a heat sensitive device sends a signal to a relay which turns on the fan. The fan pushes heated air into the plenum and through the ducts but it also removes heat from the combustion chamber, so if the fan does not start or fails during operation, the burner shuts off to prevent overheating, damage, fire, etc.

If your fan is not coming on it could be a bad heat sensing device or a bad relay (the fan motor and power supply seem fine as you state that it works under other circumstances).

You did not state whether or not the burner continues to operate without the fan running, if this is the case you may have an additional problem if your system is designed (as most are) to shut down the burner upon fan failure.


Which of these is ground, neutral and live? I'm installing an electrical fan where a light used to be and the wiring isn't color coded. It looks like the center is a common ground (it was unused in the light) and the sole wire is live (it had a white wire with a black strip) while the rightmost two wires are neutral (they had a white wire attached). Am I correct?

Thank you.

There is no ground here

From the vintage of your wiring, I can tell you that that center bundle has nothing to do with ground, that much is certain!  Instead, what you have here is an incoming mains feed which joins to an outgoing mains feed and a switch loop for the light.  As a result, the left is indeed switched-hot, the center always-hot, and the right neutral, which explains why the center wire group was not connected to the light.


Is it best practice to paint bath walls before before installing vanity, tile and sink? Should I paint the drywall walls, before installing tile, sink and vanity?

Paint first
You will have fewer things to mask/protect and fewer critical edges to deal with and less stuff getting in the way. If you have large areas that you know will never be exposed, you can skip them - or paint them generally (e.g., roller but not brush edges; or primer only) but not worry about getting it "perfect".


What type of ethernet cable do I need for outdoor use? I want to run about 100 meters of Ethernet cable out my attic and down a drainpipe. The cable will be exposed to the elements, and attached to a gigabit switch (indoors) at both ends.

What kind of cable do I need? Can I get a basic Cat5E bulk cable, or does the length and exposure mean I should opt for Cat6? Or is there some other outdoor-rated specification of wiring that I should be using?

You normally want to use outdoor flooded cable (also called gel-filled) as it is designed to weather the elements. I have a few clients who have gone with outdoor flooded & shielded cable as they were worried about interference on the outdoor runs. Also look for UV-resistant cable if it's not going to be buried or otherwise enclosed.

As for Cat 5e versus Cat 6, for home use it probably won't matter as you most likely running 100/1000B-T Ethernet and it will run fine on both Cat 5e or Cat 6. If you want to try to future-proof your cable--or the price difference is negligible--you can go for Cat 6.


How to make 1/4 inch beveled edge on unfinished walnut countertop I had 6ftx4ft black walnut counter top delivered unfinished (for cost savings reason). Please help me find out the best tool to use to make a 1/4 inch beveled edge for this rectangular piece of walnut. The thickness of this wood in 1-3/4 inch. I need to finish all 4 sides with beveled edge (30 deg beveled angle).

The obvious first choice would be a router, as it would do this with precision and ease, but can be expensive. If you were careful, marked, measured and were patient you could use a jack plane for this.


Fitting new dimmer to old wiring but I've got four wires and an earth I'm fitting a new dimmer to a switch that controls a single ceiling bulb. Currently the switch has two red wires attached, one top one bottom. I'm guessing that this is live from circuit box and then live to ceiling rose. The two black wires have been connected together with a small box and the green is attached to the metal fixing embedded in the wall.

The dimmer I've bought says to fit a red and a black to terminals c and l1 respectively. Do I choose any two red and black wires? The instructions mention if there are two wires then put them both into the appropriate terminal on the switch but that seems like it would result in a constant connection between the two live wires.

The instructions for that dimmer switch assume that you only have a "switch loop" wired to the switch.
A "switch loop" brings an always-on Live wire down to the switch and carries the switched Live back up to the light fixture.
In this case, the always-on Live should be Red and the switched Live return should be Black.
The Neutral side of the power connection stays up at the light and is not brought down to the switch.

But what you have there is the always-on Live and its associated Neutral both brought to the switch, and then the switched Live and Neutral sent up to the light.
The Red wires are the Lives and the Black wires are the Neutrals.
There's no way to know for sure just by looking at your picture which of the Reds is always-on and which runs up to the light.
The switched Live should be marked somehow and it's possible that the red tape wrapped around one of the red wires is intended to be that mark.
But in your case it doesn't really matter because your dimmer doesn't care.

Just disconnect the 2 red wires from the old switch and connect them to the 2 terminals on your new dimmer which the instructions tell you to use (C and L1).

Also, as RedGrittyBrick pointed out, your new dimmer has an Earth terminal which your old switch did not.
This terminal must be connected to the green Earth wire in the box using a wire with green/yellow insulation.


Removing painters tape from vinyl tile I'm trying to remove painters tape from a vinyl tile gym floor that someone left on 'way' too long. This floor has a finish on it that is stripped and refinishied once a year. I don't want to damage the finish trying to get the rest of the tape off.

There are a number of adhesive solvents on the market, one of which is named Goo Gone. The "way too long" aspect may result in less than ideal removal rates, however, as the adhesive is like to be excessively dry and may not respond well to the solvent. I expect you'd have ot use a combination of mechanical methods and solvents. The mechanical methods would involve a plastic scraper, not metal, to prevent damage to the tile. A blunt edge as opposed to a sharp one will "snowplow" the old tape and not dig into the tile. Most big box stores and chain hardware stores will carry plastic scrapers. If the ones you find are sharp and not blunt, carefully sand a square edge to it.

You could use a hot air gun, but the temperature control on most models is possibly insufficient. You want to soften the remaining adhesive but not heat the tile in such a way as to damage it. A hair dryer has lower temperatures and may be just the right amount. With the tape "warmed up," it will respond better to the blunt plastic edge.

Another direction involving solvents is to apply the liquid to a rag strip and allow it to soak atop the tape. Using a prickler which looks like a pizza cutter with teeth to puncture the tape may help, but too much pressure will result in tiny dots in the tile, of course.

Extreme conditions would require to construct a series of dams using putty or modeling clay to hold the solvent in place around the tape.

All of the above methods will require varying amounts of elbow grease.


Regarding greases for outdoor connections: Noalox for general use (not necessarily for aluminum)? Dielectric grease for outdoor receptacles? I've googled this already and found many people saying that Noalox is only for copper to aluminum connections.  I know that Noalox stands for "no aluminium oxidation" but brand names often change meaning from their origins over time.  I've also seen people claiming their bottle says it is only for aluminum to copper, while other people say their bottle also says it can be used for copper to copper.

Well, my bottle doesn't say anything about aluminium or copper - it just says it can be used for improving and protecting electrical connections.

Since I am replacing some outdoor outlets and switches that are about 20 years old and mostly rusted to hell, I thought it might be a good idea to put some conductive grease on the contacts for longevity's sake.  (I am already replacing all outdoor wingnuts with weatherproof wingnuts which I think also have some kind of grease inside).

It seems Noalox is the only thing my local Home Depot carries for this purpose (or the employee is ill informed) and I'm on a tight schedule so I can't wait for something like Penetrox E-8 to arrive.  I know there are concerns about Noalox actually potentially reducing connectivity, but my main concerns is simply ambient humidity and condensation causing corrosion in the contacts over time.

My feeling is that Noalox will do a decent job in this regard, and so even if there is a 1-5% cost in connectivity, there is a 100% improvement in anti-corrosive longevity.  Am I wrong?  Anyone else care to weigh in?

A related side question: is it a crazy idea to use dielectric grease on the prongs of an outdoor device that is essentially permanently installed and will be plugged into an outdoor receptacle, potentially for years on end?  Or is there a better grease for this?  Or better nothing at all?

I know there are concerns about non-conductive grease in high voltage applications since they might actually reduce conductivity, but considering most devices are designed for 110V and my mains is actually more like 124V, I don't see that being a huge issue.  Especially since these outdoor devices aren't high amperage.

I have used dielectric grease for years in so many applications. For mains voltages is is primarily a non-conductive corrosion barrier. In that sense, any non-conductive grease will do. Electrically, the original metal-to-metal connection is maintained because corrosion is reduced. You can use it liberally around connection points because it does not conduct.
Noalox sems to contain zinc dust in a plastic grease matrix. I'm not sure how conductive it may be at mains voltages, but I would apply it only at the specific connections.


How can I install a ceiling fan, recessed lights, and receptacles on the same circuit? I believe the configuration in the image below is what I need in order to power a ceiling fan and recessed lights on two separate switches out of a two gang box using the existing cables.

However, what is different from the diagram is that I have a 2 way cable in the switch box that leads to all the outlets in the room, so it will need constant power. How can I achieve this?

If you can run a new power line to one of the outlets, it may be an easy way to re-use the rest of the existing wiring without having to break walls open too much (less than if you run a new wire from the switch to the ceiling boxes).

The feed would essentially come from the outlets, to the switch, then to the lights/fan, and the existing feed would no longer be used.

You might need to cut an access hole below one of the outlets and then fish a line from underneath, or cut a hole on the wall opposite the outlet, or if you're really lucky, one backs onto an unfinished space. It's very hard to say without actually being there.

Some tips:

Try to avoid opening exterior walls, as they have insulation and vapour barrier that makes repair much more complicated.
If you can get at the wire from the opposite side in a closet or similar discreet space, that can make things much easier.
Unless you painted very recently and have leftover paint, even color matching you probably won't get it 100%, and if you just paint over a spot on the wall, this is usually noticeable. Instead, if you paint the whole wall, the fact that adjacent walls (around corners) don't match 100% is not noticeable. Keep this in mind when choosing where to cut (eg, choose smallest walls possible).
It may also be possible to get at the wire somewhere directly:

If outlets cross doorways, there's a good chance the wire runs under the floor, and if it's an unfinished ceiling underneath, you can tap into the wire there.
You might also be able to get at the wire in the wall, but this may be a bit of a guessing game. Non-contact circuit detectors (many stud finders have these) can help. Cut a small hole to inspect before cutting a bigger one to work in.
You'll probably need two junctions to have enough slack. Keep in mind all j-boxes must be permanently accessible, so you may need to add an outlet or blank faceplate to make this work.

Small variation is you could disconnect the outlets from the switch, and keep the circuit you drew for the switches/lights in place exactly as-is. This could be good depending on how you want circuits loaded out (eg, the lights/fan separate from the outlets) and what you have available -- it's very hard to say for certain without being there.


Broken window balance has window stuck I need to order new balances for my window. Embossed in corner pane is  MSCC.
Who is the manufacturer? Dated 02-06.
How do you unstick the bottom window?
Thanks!

I may not be able to tell you who the manufacturer is, for the letters you found on the glass may be the insulated glass manufacturers initials, not the window makers. There should be someplace on the window, a window manufacturers label or something.

The window, since the ballast has broken on one side has in essence, has tilted to one side, even though it may not be obvious. The ballast is trying to lift one side and the window, being quite heavy is wanting to stay closed on the other side.

To counter effect what the window is wanting to do, you need to push up on only the side the ballast is broke, and pull down on the side the ballast is working. Of course you need to push up harder than you are holding down the other side, or it won't work. Depending on how bad it is jammed, you may only need to push up on the upper corner where the frame (sash) around the glass give an edge to push up by. You may also need to pull down hard on the ballast side to set the window down all the way, so you can then try the other things I mentioned earlier.


Furnace turns off power to the thermostat When my natural gas furnace is running for a while and it gets too hot, the limit switch turns off the burner.  When it does this, the power also gets cut to my thermostat. This causes the thermostat to run on the backup battery.  Is this normal, or is there a problem with the wiring?

The thermostat has been replaced more than once. Recently when the power got cut to it, it registered the house temperature at 1 degree. This caused the furnace to heat continuously until I reset the whole system.  This is dangerous.

I Had a tech in, and he says it is normal for the power to be cut, and he again wants me to replace the thermostat.  Why would it be normal for the furnace to cut power to the thermostat?

The furnace is a International Comfort Pro NTC6100GFA1, and the thermostat is White Rogers (Emerson) 1F85-0477.

Limits are only designed to open when there's a problem, so the first step here is to find out what the problem is and fix it.

The most common cause for a high limit to continually trip, is a dirty or improperly installed return air filter. Make sure you change the filter regularly, and that you're using one with a similar density to the one recommended by the manufacturer's documentation.

Restricted return and supply ducts can also reduce air flow through the system, which can lead to the furnace overheating. Make sure all return air vents are clean an unobstructed by furniture and other obstructions.  Also make sure that all supply registers are open, and unobstructed.

Check the blower compartment for dust/dirt/debris.  It's not common for the blower to get dirty, but it does happen from time to time. This is especially common, when a furnace is run without a filter, or with an improperly fitted filter.

A dirty blocked up evaporator coil, could also cause restrictions. If the unit has an evaporator coil fitted, you'll want to inspect it to insure it's not dirty.

If there's still trouble, you can check the blower motor and capacitor. Though this is only recommended if you have the proper tools and knowledge to do it. Otherwise you'll want to get an HVAC technician to handle it.

Unless you've recently changed the blower, there's not likely any problem with the way it's installed.

With all that being said.  Some furnaces are actually designed to remove power from the thermostat, in the case that a limit opens.  Obviously this design predates fancy WiFi thermostats, which require constant power to operate.  Back in the olden days, when a thermostat simply acted as a temperature switch, interrupting the signal to the thermostat was an effective solution.

Based on the schematic, it looks like the unit is controlled by the integrated furnace control module (IFC). It looks like the IFC has a separate limit circuit that it monitors, so I'm not sure that it would cut power to the thermostat if there was a problem.  In any case, the thermostat should not be damaged by losing power. I suspect there's more to this, and I haven't been able to find any service bulletins that describe this behavior.

I'd likely start by contacting the manufacturer directly. If that doesn't provide any clues, I'd contact a different local HVAC company to come have a look.  If there's an installers sticker on the unit (or you know who installed it), and the installation company is different than the company you've been dealing with. I'd contact the company that installed the unit, as they should be quite familiar with the equipment.

Unfortunately it's difficult to troubleshoot these types of problems through the internet, especially when I'm not familiar with the equipment.


What is the protective plate on a door lock called? Some doors have this plate that guards the latch mechanism.
For some reason my search-fu is failing, I found tons of diagrams of lock and door parts but I can't find that plate.
What is that called?

Some doors have this plate that guards the latch mechanism.

You have one answer in that sentence,  Guard and latch, just reverse them to "Latch Guard".
It is called many things,
A  "latch shield"
Or "Door latch guard"
Or "Latch protector".
To name a few.


Makeshift Junction Box Cover I'm about to cover up some junction boxes in my ceiling, they need a cover and I got the wrong size at the store.

I have some metal flashing laying around from working on my roof would this be safe to use if I cut it to size and screw it on?

Don't knock yourself out making a special trip, but do go get correct, listed box covers eventually when you get a chance.  Homebrew covers are not legal.     Most of the covers I use are on the order of a dollar, so I don't worry too much about keeping a few in stock.


Leaving basement forms on permanently I am having an addition built on my home with ~600 square foot basement underneath.  Because one of the basement foundation walls is very near (~1 foot) from the original home foundation, the concrete contractor is planning to leave the basement form on that outer wall (and cutting the top of the form off).  I believe this is because it is too difficult to get into that small space to disconnect all of the links that hold the forms together.  The original home's foundation is a slab and the forms are wood.
Is this acceptable/standard practice?  What other possible solutions are there?

Sounds like a hack-job approach to me.
That wall could be built from concrete blocks (aka CMUs or concrete masonry units), with bond-block rows and reinforcing steel, and grouted full, making it effectively solid, without abandoning forms in place - or rather, the forms would be the block wall.
Of course, poured concrete contractors and masons are not usually the same people, so this would not be a solution a concrete contractor would be liable to think of.
Alternatively, a form never intended to be removed and not made of wood that will rot - the insulated concrete form or ICF. Two sheets of styrofoam tied together.
But your pictures imply that this is a done deal.
If termites are a problem in your area, they may find that form tasty.


What are the two pipes coming out of the back of my outside air conditioner? On the back of my air conditioner there are two pipes: One is covered with insulation and one is bare pipe.  What is the purpose of these pipes?

A/C Refrigerant Line Set

Those are the refrigerant lines (what I would call Freon lines) that feed the condenser (the thing outside; half of a split system. The other half is the coil inside your furnace's plenum chamber).

The big one (cold) is the suction line. The small one is the liquid line (hot; no need for insulation). Both of these lines run all the way back to your coil.

Picture


How do I hook up sink to offset drain I have an IKEA cabinet that is going to have a sink in it. On the bottom, there is a drawer, for pulling out the garbage can, etc.  As you can see from:

the drain line doesn't line up with the centerline of the sink.  From this second photo:

You can see that the drawer is at the same height as the drain.  This prevents simply putting the P-trap at the same height as the drain and using a 45 on the drain to get over to the P-trap.

My question is, how do connect from the drain to the sink, given that the drain does not line up directly and the moving shelf would be in the way.

Also, it would be nice to have some sort of cleanout (maybe with a wye??) where the drain comes out of the wall so that I can clean out the pipes with minimal amount of turns.

What you want to do is run the p-trap parallel to the back wall within the space between the wall and the back of the drawer.

If there is adequate space, start with a wye directly onto the pipe as it comes out of the wall with a line cleanout glued into the end of the wye (if there isn't enough space, use a 45 elbow). Use a fitting 45 or regular 45 elbow (again, depending on the available space) into the side outlet of the wye, then a short piece of pipe and the p-trap. Now you can go vertical along the back wall, then use two 90 elbows to offset to the sink's tail piece.


What's the best way to attach a hook to the back of my metal gutters? What's the best way to attach a hook to the back of my metal gutters? The hooks will be holding some Christmas lights.

They sell clips like this

at the Home Depot, which can either clip under your singles or to the gutters.

Not sure how well they work yet, I picked up a box and plan on giving them a try this year.


Will combining roof venting systems cause short cycling? I'm looking into buying a new house here in Wisconsin that has soffit vents, ridge vents and some additional static roof vents installed.  However, when the home inspector came through he said that combining ridge vents and roof/static vents is a problem because it can cause the air to short cycle and the attic won't vent properly, leaving moisture trapped.  He said ideally you should have one intake system (the soffit vents) and one outtake system (the ridge vents).

The builder told me that the reason the static/roof vents were added was because the carpenter had made a mistake cutting holes for the trusses (or something like that, I'm not a handyman so didn't totally understand) and to fix it they just decided to add these roof/static vents over the holes, thinking that it would simply improve venting for the attic.

My question is, is the home inspector right and I should be asking for the roof/static vents to be removed/closed, or is it fine to leave them in?

Inspector's report (ignore stuff about baffles):

Your inspector is correct.  Air should enter at the soffit, and exit at either roof vents or a ridge vent.  With the current setup air could be entering either the soffit vents or the roof vents, and exiting either the roof vents or the ridge vent.  Since your soffits are covered with insulation (because there are no baffles), I'd guess that air is entering the roof vents and exiting the ridge vent.  This means only the air near the top of the roof is cycling, which can lead to problems with the roof including a shortened roof life.

In my house there were originally roof vents in the roof above my garage. When they did a reroof they switched to a ridge vent, and as you can see they covered over the old roof vent openings.

On a side note: Inspectors are hired by you, and work for you.  They have no reason to lie or mislead you, since they will not gain in any way from it.   In fact, you can probably trust an inspector more than a random person on the internet. Seeing how you paid the inspector for advice, while I'm doing this for free.


Bathroom remodel done well, not quite I recently completed renovation of my bathroom. I expanded the space, changed plumbing and ripped out and rebuilt almost everything.

One thing I did not know then but I know now is that I needed a city permit to do all those changes. And I m not a licences contractor so I had no idea about those rules and regulations.

My question is what do I do next? How do I get permit now that work is complete?

If you go to apply for a permit for work you already did, you might get one of any number of reactions, ranging from, "just pay us our fee and go away" to "an inspector will be out next Thursday to make sure everything visible looks fine (and just pay us our fee)" to "you need to rip out all the finish materials so our inspector can look at the plumbing and electrical work, and then hire a licensed professional to do the repairs (and also, just pay us our fee)".

If you decide not to go this route and just enjoy your new bathroom without telling anybody (oops too late, now it's on the internet), then the consequences will be that you'll have to disclose the un-permitted work if and when you sell your house, and your homeowner's insurance may not pay to fix any damage cause by your work that you file a claim about, should such a situation arise. Otherwise, relax and enjoy your new bathroom--assuming it was done well and to your satisfaction!

The meta-answer is that this is a DIY site, and probably 90% or more of what people ask about here requires a permit that is never obtained. Virtually every house has or will have major un-permitted work done on it during some state of its lifecycle. Don't let it keep you up at night.


Installing a sliding patio door...why does the entire frame have to be square, level and plumb? It has been raining cats and dogs for two days (fall wet season). I am looking at my newly installed but but not sealed patio door that is not screwed, not plumb-ed and not leveled and I am trying to understand why you need the entire door to be level plumb and square.

From what I understand the fixed door does not care much unless there is too much tension or pressure on it which could make it crack in time

The sliding door is more sensitive to level and plumb and square issues since:

-if will not close (if it is not parallel with the vertical side that it rests against, when closed)
-it will wear and tear the track if the track is not level

The door gets shims and it has around 1/4" space all around excepting the bottom side. The shims are used to fix it in position and to make it square and plumb but there is little tension that is transmitted from the structure to the door from the adjacent walls.

So my question is, why do you have to be so careful to make the entire frame square and plumb/level on all the edges ?

Edit: here is an example, exaggerated for the sake of argument

Out of square doors/door frames either do not close (if really bad) or seal properly; a 1/4" can create a significant gap in between the door and weather stripping allowing significant heat/AC loss.

Out of plumb doors either open or close from gravity which is simply annoying.


Is there an easy way to make a square hole in plaster/brick to put an electrical outlet box in? I am about to fix a few new sockets, I can run the cables down the back of some built in cupboards, but would rather not use surface mounted sockets.

I do not have a SDS drill, just a standard hammer drill.

A Fein Multimaster tool (or some knockoffs) work great for this type of work.  You have the ability to use a blade where you can 'stab' the wall and get nice clean lines and corners.

I would make sure they can handle brick though.  I believe they can with a good blade.


rotten egg smell in cold water only bathroom sink of new home I live in a brand new home. Since we moved in (Nov 2015) there is a rotten egg smell in just one of the bathroom sinks and just from the cold water. It used to be now and then. Now it is 90% of the time I get that smell in the cold water. What can I do?
The builder sent a plumber out who basically cleaned out the top of the drain and said it should go away. I was doubtful and it has never gone away and is now more the norm for the cold water in that faucet. Help!

We had this same problem. The smell was only coming from our kitchen sink, and only for a few seconds after the water was turned on.  No other faucet in the house had smelly water, so I was quite certain it wasn’t from water heater issues. We tried draining some water from the water heater just in case, but no sediment came out and no smell. Since the smell only lasted a few seconds at the faucet, I figured the smell had to be building up somewhere between the water heater and the offending sink.

What I eventually noticed was that the braided pipes leading to the hot and cold had subtle horizontal “S” curves in them where smelly gas could get trapped, like how a toilet is shaped so sewer gas doesn’t come back up. I figured that when the water hadn’t been run in awhile, the gas would build up in the upper curve. Then the water would push the gas out when it was turned on. So I replaced the braided pipes with shorter ones that didn’t crate that “S” curve. We have been smell free ever since.


Routing cables under the house with raised perimeter foundation Rather a simple question, I want to route some cables under the house with a raised perimeter foundation.

The question is, how should I pass the cables I'm routing from under the house into the wall up above?

This is the closest resemblance to my foundation (from my untrained eye)

Drill up into the wall
Drill on an angle
You could try and dill up from underneath at just the right angle. Though this might be difficult, since you may not have much room to work and getting the proper angle could be impossible.

Use a flexible bit
In some situations, there might be enough room available to get a flexible bit into position from below. Though again, space may be limited making it difficult.

Drill down
The more appropriate way to accomplish this task, is to drill from the top down. Start by cutting an access hole in the wall. About the size of an electrical box will do. This might be convenient, if you're installing a receptacle or something in the area. If you're not installing a device, cut the hole large enough to give yourself plenty of room to work. Patching a large hole in drywall is just as easy as patching a small one (sometimes easier).
Once you have the hole, use a flexible drill bit to drill down through the bottom plate. Use and alignment tool, to make sure the bit is in the proper position.

Flexible drill bit placement tool

Flexible drill bit

Man using a flexible drill bit


What is this metal pole in my backyard? Can someone help identify this old metal pole in the backyard? It's very tall and seems to have a a hookup for water supply. The house was built in the 1940s and is located in the California East Bay hills

.

I really like "what is this old thing left from a previous time" questions.
This is just a guess, but here it is.

https://www.rockridgewindmills.com/photo-video-gallery/early-california-windmill-photos/#rockridgewindmills-1/0/Redwood_Windmill_Water_Tower.jpg
What you have left was once the center pole from a water pumping windmill.  You must imagine the windmill and the wood frame, and the water tank that was once filled by this windmill.  But a windmill and a water tank in the Bay area seems right, from when this was still an agricultural area.


How should I properly connect outdoor string lights to power outlet? I got this string light from Costco and I am currently using a heavy duty outdoor extension cord to connect it temporarily.
The outdoor power outlet is around 10 ft away from where the string lights need to be plugged in.
What would be the best way to connect it permanently?

It depends if you don't mind eventually (see below) drilling some of the brick's mortar in a few spots.
You'll need Wire Clips or Cable Clamps. You may also find the Copper version in the right Plumbing Aisle of a big box store to be most attractive and longest lived. If possible, paint your screws and washers (if any are used) or only use stainless steel screws and washers.
I presume you'll drape the extension cord over the gutter's downspout and run behind that to the outlet. If not, then you'll need more clips/clamps.
There are Adhesive Clips/Clamps (usually in the Seasonal Aisle) and I would start with those until you decide on final routing and looping. But fortunately, your outlet box accommodates a cord while being securely shut...so that's a great start.
And yes, I would and you can use the outlet box's screws for 2 clips/clamps...I would use both on one side. I'd suggest using the left plug and the right side's screws or the converse. To keep the extension cord fairly relaxed and happy in its quite low drop from the outlet box before the upturn toward the gutter.
If the cord is too stiff for the outlet box to close or to stay plugged-in. Then, using a bar or bracket from the Plumbing Aisle or Hardware Aisle with the 2 bottom screws may be needed for that taming.
And then, plan on coiling and mounting any extra extension cord to the eave's underside, for the cleanest look.


Need to know where to connect my C wire I had the extra wire in the wires run from my thermostat to my A/C, but the old thermostat did not need the C wire, so it was cut and stuff on both ends.  While installing the new thermostat I realized that a C wire is needed, so I pulled out the stuff wire in the wall and attached it to the C on the thermostat.  Went down stairs, opened the A/C unit and found that there isn't a C connection on the board.  There is a W, R and G and it appears the Y goes out to the A/C compressor outside.  My question is, am I able to cut one of the wires from the transformer on the 24v side that I think is the common side, it's grounded, and simply use a wire nut to connect everything back together while splicing in the wire that was unused, now making it the C wire?  here is a picture.   I was going to cut 1 of the 3 blue wires.  It's hard to see in the pic, but there are 3 square terminals on the blue side that 3 wires attach to.  Please help and thank you =)
http://i.imgur.com/Hk0US7J.jpg

side note, only terminals on the a/c board are W, R and G.  The yellow wire doesn't even attach to the board, but connects to another wire that looks like it runs out to my a/c compressor outside.

The wire that is connected to the Y wire, and runs out to the condensing unit, should be in a cable with another wire.  That other wire should attach to the "common" side of the transformer. Find that wire, and attach your new C wire to it.


Shower gets colder during use, already replaced cartridge, what else could it be? Recently purchased a house built in 2006. The shower gets colder as time passes and requires constant adjustment of the valve in order to maintain temperature. I replaced the cartridge in the valve with a brand new one, and the problem persists. What else could it be?

I have heard it can have something to do with hot water recirculating pumps as well, which I do have installed.

EDIT:
I know I'm not running out of hot water because I can use the adjacent faucet right after the shower and get hot water.

Depending on the type of valves you have, it may be that the washers on the hot side are expanding as the warm water heats them, closing the valve slightly, and the reverse is happening on the cold side.  If that's the case, and you don't want to live with it, then the only solution I can think of is to replace the type of valve to one that is explicitly designed to avoid this behavior.

If it happens more towards the end of the shower, rather than the beginning, then it may be that you're running out of hot water.  The easy solution there is to turn up the temperature on the hot water tank so that you use less of it during your shower, and space out activities that use a lot of hot water.


Why is this box constantly tripping? After some heavy rain in Cornwall electricity does not work in the barns. This trip box

seems at fault, though it costs 100+GBP to replace it I'm told. Can anyone give me more information on what this is?

The advice given in the other answers is good: begin by assuming that the safety system is operating correctly. Find the fault, and hire an electrician to do so if you cannot. Only if you have evidence that there is no fault should you assume that the safety system is broken.

However, it is important to understand what this safety system is for, how it works, and what it does and does not protect.

There are a number of commonly-encountered electrical safety devices found in private residences; the three most common are:

ground fault protection. That's probably what this device is.
overcurrent protection. It is possible that this device also provides overcurrent protection, but not all ground fault protectors do.
arc fault protection. It is unlikely that this device is an arc fault protector.

Each solves a different problem, and you cannot rely on a device that solves one problem to solve the other unless the device is specifically designed to do the functions of two different kinds of protection.

The purpose of a ground fault protector is to prevent any current from going from hot to ground through a person, or, in the case of your barn, livestock and so on. Ground fault protection works by monitoring the current on the hot and the current on the neutral. Imagine that electricity is water; a ground fault protection device verifies that the same amount of water is going down the drain as is coming out of the faucet. If the drain is draining less than the faucet is producing, the water has to be going somewhere unexpected. If the ground fault protector detects that the difference between the hot and the neutral currents is more than, say, 30 milliAmps in your case, the hot is turned off by the box tripping.

Note that a ground fault protector provides no protection against electrocution from a hot-to-neutral connection through a person! In that case you are simply an electrical resistance like any other light bulb, and the ground fault protection will not detect the problem. If you somehow manage to touch both the hot and neutral wires of a ground-fault-protected circuit without 30 mA of the current going to ground, the device will not trip.

If your box is tripping frequently because of a ground fault then either (1) something is miswired; you have two hots sharing a neutral for example. (See below.) Or (2) something is draining current from hot to ground somewhere in the system; if you get between the hot leak and the ground, you're going to be the path to ground. Find it and fix it before that happens.

The fact that it happens more when things are wet is a sign that this is a ground fault. Something is draining current from hot to ground, but it is a good enough insulator to not trip the box when it is dry.

A ground fault protector does not protect against fires. There are two ways that electrical fires typically start: either the current is too high for a sustained period, and the wires heat up enough to burn the walls, or the current is too high for a split second, an arc is produced by the electrical outlet / the frayed lamp cord / the loose connection / whatever, and the arc makes sparks that light something on fire.

Ground fault protectors do not protect against either fire-causing failure. It is entirely possible for an electrical system to be way over-current but the current is still equal on both the hot and the neutral. And arcs might be so fast that the ground fault protector does not have time to trip before the current imbalance is restored.

Overcurrent protection by contrast typically monitors the current on the hot only. If the current on the hot exceeds some threshhold, the current is interrupted. Overcurrent protection does not protect against ground faults; if you have a 30 amp breaker and you are draining one amp of current to ground via your body, the 30 amp breaker cares not a bit. The point of the overcurrent protector is to prevent a short circuit from raising the current on the hot to the point where it could start a fire in the walls; it takes way less current than that to kill someone.

Overcurrent protection also does not monitor current on the neutral. The current on the neutral and the current on the hot are supposed to be equal -- recall our water analogy. But imagine you had two faucets pouring into one drain. The current on the two hots might be below 30 amps, but the combined current on the neutral might be higher. Just because the neutral doesn't have voltage on it does not mean it does not have current. It can still get hot enough to burn. Never share a neutral between two hots; that's an "Edison circuit" and they are not safe. (And they will not work with a GFCI, obviously, since the currents on the hot and the neutral are almost never equal if any current is flowing.)

Similarly, arc fault protection does not protect against you being the path to ground for a low-but-deadly current, or sustained high currents; it protects against transient high currents producing arcs that could set nearby paper or carpet or mouse nests or whatever on fire.


Can I drain two clothes washers into a shared two-inch pipe? I am installing a second washing machine in a different part of the house and want to connect the two washers to the same drain(2 inch pipe). The current washer is in the basement with basic setup of vertical 2" pipe drain about 3 feet above concrete floor going down to trap about one foot from floor.
I want to install a second washer drain going through the main floor to the basement, across the basement ceiling about 20 feet, down basement wall about 8 feet to meet up with the first washer drain.  Both washers connecting through y-joint or t-joint would be emptying through the same p-trap.  Is that okay?

See the attached diagram.  It doesn't sound that you can meet these requirements.


What is a "wet edge" and how do I maintain one? I'm about to polyurethane my floors, and all the instructions I've come across (including the ones on the can) say to "maintain a wet edge".
What is a wet edge and how can I maintain it?

To elaborate a little more. When you apply a finish like poly or even paint, it doesn't just instantly go from a liquid to a solid after an hour or whatever the dry time is for the product.

When it's exposed to air it slowly starts to solidify. As this happens the physical properties of the finish change. Most importantly it's workability changes. If you brush on a section of poly and it goes on smoothly it will eventually level itself out so that there are no brush marks.

In the middle of your project the phone rings and you step away for 10 minutes. In that time the finish has begun to set up. If you try and continue the job by brushing where you left off as your brush goes over the partially dried finish it can gouge it leaving brush marks or possibly lift it off completely in some spots.

Most finishes don't like to be over worked because doing so compromises their ability to level and possibly their adhesion. Your brush should only go over an area that was recently brushed or allowed to fully dry if you can't finish what you started.

To paraphrase what Les said and Chris Cudmore said Wet on wet > Wet on Dry > Wet on partially dry. You can minimize the effect of banding when doing wet over dry by feathering the new finish over the old a bit.


Possible wiring configurations for isolated dishwasher location (satisfying 2014 NEC) The key wiring requirements in the 2014 NEC seem to assume dishwasher placement in a cabinet space adjacent to the kitchen sink. For example, the placement of the GFCI receptacle, for use with a cord-and-plug dishwasher installation, cannot be directly behind the dishwasher but must be in the adjacent cabinet 'bay'.

So my question is: what wiring/installation configurations are possible for a dishwasher location that does not have any adjacent cabinet spaces. In my case, the oven/range in on one side and the cabinets/counter terminate on the other side.
Sketch of isolated dishwasher bay:

I'm trying to satisfy 2014 NEC, specifically:

GFCI protection (readily accessible)
Disconnect (cord-and-plug or switched for hardwired installs)

Some things I've considered but have not come to any conclusion on:
 - I'm wondering of a switch (disconnect for a hardwired dishwasher install) would be kosher underneath the countertop overhang, but outside of any cabinetry enclosure. If not, perhaps in the back of the upper cabinetry?
 - Also, are there any aesthetically good wiring options that comply with 2014 NEC that would allow cord-and-plug installation with a GFCI outlet? I am not interested in passing the cord-and-plug through a hole in the dishwasher bay and into the visible kitchen space. And I can't think of an acceptable way to do more of the wiring in the basement floor joists, below the dishwasher.

The "disconnecting means" rule doesn't apply to you

Keep in mind there's only one NEC which covers everything from homes to assembly plants to nuclear power stations, and a lot of the rules are actually intended for industrial settings.  The rule in 422.32 that says there must be a disconnecting means within sight of the appliance, and I have never seen that applicable to anything in a residence, wood shop notwithstanding.

First, the disconnecting means requirement is totally irrelevant to a cord-and-plug connected appliance.
Second, in a single-family home, your main breaker suffices as the disconnecting means (422.34c).
Third, good chance the dishwasher doesn't have a motor more than 1/8 horsepower, so would be exempted.

The rule is about planned maintenance in an industrial setting.  Maintainers are sloppy about doing LockOut/TagOut procedures, so Code now requires a shutoff within line-of-sight of the machine.  That way Bubba can turn his head and see the maintainer's cart and feet sticking out of the machine, and know not to turn it on; rather than guess at what's happening on the third floor. The rule also forces you (factory owner) to put local disconnects near machines, which makes LockOut/TagOut easier to do and more likely to be done.

A proper disconnecting means.  Note dual lock positions, lower to keep out curious fingers, upper for LockOut/TagOut.

NEC does not require GFCI Receptacles at all.

It's a common mistake to read NEC, see a requirement for GFCI protection, and interpret that in your mind as "a GFCI receptacle, you know, the ones with the TEST and RESET buttons".  There is no such requirement.  NEC does not care how or where your GFCI protection is derived - from a subpanel, breaker, deadface, the LOAD terminals off a GFCI receptacle elsewhere, they do not specify or care.

Likewise, it's common for people to get fixated on "You only have GFCI protection at a receptacle if I can see the TEST and RESET buttons", and likewise, totally untrue.

The reason this works is that almost any GFCI device has a set of terminals marked LOAD.  These are meant to accept a hot and neutral wire from other outlets, and it will provide GFCI protection for those outlets.

So you have wide choice here.

You can have a subpanel (with GFCI main breaker) for all your kitchen/bathroom/garage/basement loads.
You can put a GFCI breaker in the panel for that circuit.
You can put a GFCI deadface anywhere you please.  This is in the form-factor of a GFCI receptacle, but lacks any sockets.
You can put a GFCI receptacle anywhere you please, and feed this load off its LOAD terminals.  Many service panels have a receptacle just a couple inches from the panel, often installed as a convenience for the electrician while he wires the home or facility.  That is a great  place for a GFCI receptacle that feeds other loads.   Regardless of where you put it, you have to be realistic about how much other load your users will put into it.  A receptacle in the kitchen is at risk of having a microwave or panini grill plugged into it; most kitchen appliances which make heat use 1500W of power.  (that's in the US.)

Deadface GFCI.


Help needed on thermostat wiring with Ecobee and Fast-Stat 5000 I'm trying to replace existing Honeywell controller for my furnace with Ecobee 3. The Honeywell controller does not use a C wire, however there are a black wire and blue wire in the wall behind the controller. From furnace board it seems to me the black wire is C wire so I use it in Ecobee wiring. Unfortunately Ecobee starts with wiring error message.
Attached are wiring on Ecobee, furnace board and furnace diagram. I also noticed there is "Fast-Stat Common Maker Thermostat Wire Extender" installed in the furnace.
Update:
From what I can see, the brown wire connects thermostat and furnace. It is split into white and red, and then fed into Fast-Stat 5000 transformer.

↑ Furnace wiring

↑ Furnace wiring with Fast-Stat 5000

↑ Brown wire that goes to the thermostat

↑ Furnace diagram

↑ Ecobee wiring

↑ Honeywell wiring (previous working thermostat)

↑ FAST-STAT 5000 Diagram

↑ Fast-Stat 5000 sender behind the wall

The Fast Stat device consists of two boxes, one located at your furnace and the other located at your thermostat location.  They connect to each other using your existing two-wire thermostat cable, and they provide 6-wire connections between furnace and stat.  You need to read the Fast-Stat documentation and make sure that the furnace and Ecobee are each connected to the Fast-Stat in a way that meets the needs of all three devices ... i.e. the furnace, the Fast-Stat and the Ecobee.
None of your photos shows the thermostat half of the Fast-Stat.  It might be buried inside the wall.  You need to find it, and you need to figure out which color wires are being used with it to correspond to the Ecobee's needs.
They have a web site with instruction manuals available for download.
If you have specific questions about how to apply the Fast-Stat installation instructions to your particular furnace, you can follow up here.  But I think it's probably already installed correctly ... you just have to find the other end and map out the colors.


Wiring through an ethernet wall plate I need to 'fish' a cable through two Ethernet wall sockets. I have one in my living room and another one in my bedroom. I want to put an Ethernet cable between them. How do i do that?

If the ethernet wall sockets exist, and have wires connected to them, where do those wires go? Since the common layout of an ethernet wiring system is to have all wires going to a central point with a switch, or patch-panel and switch, the simple solution to connecting bedroom and living room is to connect the existing wires at the central location (plug a patch cable in between "bedroom" and "living room") or (depending on what you actually need) just put a switch there if one is not already there and plug all the cables into it (so everything is connected.) Normally the only place you need an isolated wire is from the WAN (connection to the outside world) to the WAN port on your router - everything on the LAN (your local network in the house) can be connected to a switch so that it is all interconnected.

Otherwise what you need to do depends greatly on whether or not you have conduit connected to the boxes that the ethernet is in, and the physical relationship of the rooms and ethernet wall plates in the rooms, and the type of construction of the walls.


How can I stop a toilet seat from rapidly loosening? The seat on my toilet always works itself loose.  It has plastic thumb-screw-style nuts that tighten on to bolts on the underside of the toilet.  The left nut works itself loose over the course of a few days of normal use.  I can tighten it again but a few days later, the seat is back to wiggling around from the loose connection.

How do I get this arrangement to stay tight?

Nylon is self-lubricating. Even when tight it's very slippery against itself. You'll need to increase friction.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but you could apply some PTFE (Teflon) plumbing tape to the bolt threads. Even though PTFE is used as a lubricant, it'll thicken the thread diameter and create resistance to movement. Wrap 3-5 layers on the threads where the nut will rest, in the direction the nut tightens (clockwise from the end of the bolt).

You could also replace the nuts with brass or aluminum. They'll grab the bolt more aggressively. Be sure to use soft washers against the porcelain surface to prevent damage.

One other thing that can help is to reduce slide movement of the seat on the bowl. Install rubber washers under the seat bolts to create some grip.


Hot water turning cold in pipe at branch line I'm experiencing a problem where I'm getting hot water out of one bathroom sink (the closest to the water heater), but luke warm water at best in all other places. I crawled under the house to follow the pipes, and I found that the branch line leading to kitchen is barely hot, whereas right before that branch on the hot water pipe, it was too hot to hold onto.
What could be causing this? Thinking it might be a pressure issue I turned off the water heater, drained the tank, refilled and reheated it, but the same problem persists. If it was just one faucet causing the problem I can see how it might be a bad mixing valve, but how is it that I just have one reliable hot tap, and the others are barely warm? We just had our water heater replaced earlier this year, so it's not even a year old. The hot line coming out of the tank is definitely hot.

Failing back flow preventers in a shower or kitchen thermostat faucet could be the reason. At that faucet, the cold water could be pushed into the hot water pipes, since the cold water normally has a slightly higher pressure.
The back flow preventers are upstream of the mixing area which is upstream of the opening valve, i.e. this effect is significant even if the faucet is not in use. In a normal non - thermostat faucet, the mixing area is downstream of the opening valves.
The hot water back flow preventer is usually the first to fail due to higher temperature.


ITE Imperial breaker box panel When I bought my house, the cover and door on the breaker box was missing. I've searched everywhere, what can I do?

Imperial hasn't been around since the late 1970s, so finding a replacement panel cover is likely going to be either very difficult or impossible.  You could check to see if a Siemens distributor can source them (they ended up with Imperial's assets through a series of acquisitions), but that would be a long shot.  The best option is likely going to be replacing the panel.


Extending an existing deck I am thinking about extending my existing deck, 10 ft wide by 18 ft long and replacing the deck boards with composite decking.   I would like to know how far can I extend the deck width without adding another beam at the end of the joists?

Currently, the 10 ft joists are connected to a ledger on one end, while the other ends are set on a beam supported by 4 posts.  How far can the joists be extended (cantilevered) past the beam, 3ft, 4ft?

If the joists can be cantilevered, can I extend the existing 10 ft joists with another 2x8? Or, do I have to replace all the joists with new 2x8's of a length equal to the deck width?

Thank you.

The rule, at least here in the US, is a cantilever can extend no more than 1/3 the supported length (so, you could go ~3 feet further). Personally, I try to keep cantilevers no more than 2 feet, regardless of total supported length: while it might be OK structurally, it will likely sag the further you go, and can feel bouncy.

To do the best job, get some 12 foot 2x8s and sister them with the existing joists (run them the entire length, nailing with galvanized nails at the top and bottom every 16 inches). Then put a double joist hanger at the ledger against the house.

One of the critical things with a deck cantilever is how you attach the railing posts at the end of the cantilever. You will be nailing a 2x8 rim joist at the end to finish the deck, but you need to make sure the posts for your railing are tied in securely to the joists, and not just the rim joist. The method can vary depending on whether your existing railing posts are notched into the decking or fastened to the outside of the deck.


Outside flood light problem A two light outdoor flood light fixture has stopped working.  I have replaced the bulbs, checked the circuit breaker, the GFI, the switch (including bypassing the switch).  I have also checked for electricity inside the box to which the fixture is attached.  No current is present in the box, even with the switch on.  Any additional suggestions to try?

It sounds like you have a fault between the switch and the fixture. Search for nearby junction boxes to see if there's a bad connection somewhere. Do what you can to trace the line, especially if it goes up to an attic or down to an exposed basement. You should also check if the problem is a faulty hot (no current from the hot to a known good ground) or a fault neutral (no continuity between the neutral and a known good ground) to narrow your search. If you can't find the fault, you'll need to run a new line from the switch to the fixture.


Dripping Sound from inside toilet tank Ok so i've googled and have read

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ask-toh/troubleshoot-dripping-toilet
Why is there a continuous dripping sound coming from my toilet?

To stop the dripping sound I usually need to flush and 'jiggle' the flush handle.

Total plumbing noob and I'm also renting.

Going on vacation for a couple weeks soon.
My noob question
Is there any chance at all of flooding from a slow drip like this?

Will let landlord know but based on past experience expect a month or so before any maintenance is done.

Most likely the flapper not making a good seal like was previously said here.  But I would recommend turning off the water main if possible when you leave for extended periods.  That's what I do.


Remote Garage Door Opener I live in a condo, we have a shared garage but our own automatic garage door openers.  My garage door opens and closes with the button inside the garage hard wired on the wall.  But, my remote opener stopped working.  I just had a new battery put in hoping that was the issue.  It's still not opening the garage door.  Is it possible to get the circuit board inside replaced?

You might not have to replace the door opener circuit. Genie, for instance, sells a conversion kit that sits inline with your wall panel. The unit has its own radio receiver and works with any Genie compatible remote (which are easy to find). I've used these on some off-brand openers where the remotes died and replacements were impossible to find. They work great.


B-Vent Flue Condensation We have had a water spot appear and not go away in our master bath. After looking around I found out that the flue pipe, B-Vent, is dripping with condensation when the furnace is running.

I have changed the heat cycle on the thermostat to a slow cycle so it stays on and off longer to hopefully allow the flue to heat enough to get the gas out.

I also took a look at the rain cap to see if it looked good. It did but I also noticed it seemed to be bottlenecking the gas badly. When I lifted it up, a lot more steam pushed out.

So my question is, could a too restrictive rain cap cause condensation on furnace flue pipes? Should I replace it with a more open one?

UPDATE: Changing the thermostat to slow cycle helped dramatically but there is still a small wet spot. Going to try a new rain cap.

To answer your question I suppose it could although I have never seen it.  I doubt your vent cap is too restrictive unless you have or have had in the recent past a bad sooting problem.  I rather suspect the B-vent is not being kept warm enough.  It has to be in a warm space basically all the way to its termination. No drafts.  No cold spots.  Warm.  It should be run straight up or nearly straight up.  And as short as possible and the very least number of bends.  Bends are a killer.  Happy Venting.  P.


Dishwasher won't drain So yesterday I noticed as the dishwasher got to the drain cycle, it was making a buzzing sound but I wasn't hearing any water go down the drain as I normally do.

I do notice that right when it starts to drain, I hear a small amount of water getting through, but not what I expect.

So far I have drained the dishwasher by hand and cleaned the screen and got any pieces of food but nothing really large seemed blocking.

I have not yet taken the pump housing out, that will be today but I'm wondering if there is something coming through, it may just mean a clog in the hose?

Not sure if someone has had the same situation, but cleaning out a clogged hose is going to be a bit easier than dealing with the pump.

Hopefully can save myself some time!

I had similar problem. Removed the vent cap next to faucet on sink,turned dishwasher on & clog came out from the dishwasher vent..along with water! So be ready with towel.


When to replace a toilet's wax ring? I just bought a new house that was built three months ago. I unfortunately flushed something big down the toilet and had to take the toilet apart, turn it upside down, and fish it out. When I was finished I simply placed the toilet back and bolted it down. Well now my father is telling me you have to replace the bees wax every time you take the toilet off. Is that true? I can't imagine you have to replace the wax if its only three months old.

You only have to replace the wax ring if the toilet leaks. It's wise to replace it whenever you remove the toilet, though. It's not a matter of age, but the fact that a wax ring is intended to be a single-use item. They squish into place when you set a toilet, and that can't happen very well more than once.

It's certainly possible that you achieved a satisfactory seal when you reinstalled the toilet. If you're willing to wait and see, and take the risk of (potentially smelly) water damage to your floor, go with it.