After replacing pressure tank water stops completely for several minutes at a time I just installed a new well tank, replaced all with new parts,made sure the air was set on the new tank at 28 as the instructions said to do ,I have a 30/50 switch . Never had this problem until we replaced the tank, the old one was not producing enough water pressure and was over 20 years old. The water stops and after 3 or four minutes it starts back... what can I do now to fix this problem?

Pressure tanks don't develop pressure they hold pressure and the air chamber is there to push the water out of the tank that is stored there reducing the number of on off cycles on the pump providing a more uniform pressure at the taps. It sounds like your pump may be the weak link if your pressure switch is turning on prior to running out of water and it still takes 3-4 minutes to get water, the check valve or foot valve in the pump may be leaking and it takes that long to refill the pipe to the tank, I have seen this more often with jet pumps than submersible pumps but it can happen to both. First verify the pressure switch is turning on where you expect, if it is I believe your next step is checking for a bad check valve/ foot valve if your flow is good once water makes it to the tap.


Why did my plaster walls stop half inch above floor and expose room to wall cavity? My home was built in the 1930s.

I recently pulled up my carpet to get it replaced. When I did this, I noticed that the plaster walls stopped half an inch above the hardwood floor. It looked very deliberate: there was no lath, just a big gaping hole. It opened the room up to the wall cavity. It seems that the gap was only present on exterior walls. Also, the walls are uninsulated.

Is there a reason why this would have been done?

Also, was I wrong to fill the gap with gap filler foam?

Old houses that had interior plaster as a finish had what they called a plaster stop to control depth of the plaster. This was usually a strip of 3/4 wood at bottom of wall and around doors and windows. It looks like this strip was removed but normally it was always left in as a nailing strip for the baseboard. Your application of the foam is good idea.


Roof Safety: Proper way to adjust position of carabiner/lanyard on rope attached at the top of the roof Here's a diagram of a typical harness system:

X
|
|
|
?-C-L-H
|
|
|

X = attachment point
| = rope
C = carabiner
L = shock-absorbing lanyard
H = harness

What's the device called that allows you to slide up and down the rope, but it bites into the rope when you fall?  I've found multiple products that accomplish this, but perhaps one is better than the other:

rope grab
self-retracting lanyard/lifeline
belay device
some sort of knot

Money is mostly unimportant.  I'm more worried about the solution that is least cumbersome and safest.

It's called a rope-grab and is mostly pretty foolproof - they also allow a lot of freedom of movement so you are mostly likely to actualy use them!

See fall protection guide (pdf) for more info


Handling basement water infiltration behind bulkhead My house has two different kinds of foundation, The older part is brick-over-fieldstone. The newer part, dug a bit deeper, is poured concrete.

When that extension was added, they added a cinder-block (and dome poured concrete?) bulkhead to support what was retained of the old back wall, seen below with some cabinets sitting on top of it:

As you can see in the next picture, they retained most of the original (loadbearing) foundation wall, just bracing the lower portion. (The wall behind the cabinets is brick; the opening for pipes is looking at the back of thr right-hand cabinet.)

M question is at the far end of the bulkhead where it meets the new poured-concrete foundation wall. Apparently these were construcred as separate units, and there's a thin gap between them:

And the bottom of this crack (sorry, no pic) is my main water infiltration points, when the ground-water level gets high enough. (The major floods in 2010, for example.)

So: What's the right way to seal this? Just try to stuff hydraulic cement into the crack? Caulking? Expanding foam? Something else?

Or would that endanger the brick foundation behind it? (Note that I've never seen any sign of leakage there, so I suspect the additional foot or two of depth in the new section is what puts it below the high-water line.)

It's a huge undertaking, but the only way to manage water from entering the basement walls is from the exterior. Excavating along the wall to the foundation, applying a petroleum-based sealant to the wall, silt fabric, stone base, perforated drain pipe, more fabric and stone. Backfill with a grade away from the house. I've heard of perimeter drain channels working very well to control water entering basements. This usually entails installing a sump pump as well. I don't put much faith on cement paints (Dryloc) and grouting or plugging the openings from the inside just diverts the water to a different place.


Electrical sub panel grounding I am concerned about improper / unsafe condition(s) that I noted at the house’ s electrical sub panel.  House that was built in mid-late 1960’.  The main panel and the sub panel are older, likely when the house was built.
The 100A main electrical panel’ s back can be seen from the non-finished attached garage, with ground rod into the concrete. The 50A sub panel is inside the house, not at a detached structure.
My main concern is  the lack of a proper grounding bar at the sub panel, whereas only the neutral bar is seen at the sub panel.  All of the house’ s receptacles are 3-prongs and functional.  Can this condition be resolved by installing a ground bar at the sub panel, assuming not replacing the aging panel and sub panel at the present time?

You have invisible grounds

Your building seems to be wired in conduit.  This is a very different wiring system than you're used to with cables.  This uses a conduit pipe laid to various destinations, and then individual wires laid in the pipes.  The individual wires are typically type THW, THHN, THWN or XHHW.

You can tell because a) the wires have writing on them, b) the wire entries look like conduit, and c) colors are atypical of what is found in cables (e.g. blue wire).

New work is often done in PVC conduit, but then, grounds would have been required.  The Zinsco panel certainly suggests it predates PVC conduit.  So my conclusion is this is metal conduit, which is a superior system you should be glad to have.

The Zinsco panels, on the other hand, are a fire looking for a place to happen. I realize the panels are "built-in" and replacing them would be a chore, but at least look into Eaton's retrofit kits for Zinsco panels.

Therefore your ground "wires" are actually in the metal conduit pipe itself.  This is a reliable and superior system.  Do not replace any segments of the metal conduit with PVC.


Why does one burner on my gas stove release no gas, but the rest work fine? I have a thermador gas stovetop, and today it just stopped releasing gas to a single burner.  When I say it stopped, I mean on any other burner I can audibly hear gas released before ignition, but on this one, there is no sound, nothing, and it obviously doesn't ignite.

I have cleaned out the holes on the top piece, but it's pointless, because no gas at all is being released.  Yet, all other burners work fine.

I wondered if each burner has a safety built in, that needs to be reset somehow, that prevents gas from coming out if it previously couldn't ignite (I did find a small piece of debris by the igniter at the beginning, so it's possible it failed a few times when someone used it earlier).  I have unplugged the stove and plugged it back in, but I see no reset button or anything.

The control chip at the knob had burned out.


Cordless drill or impact driver for household projects? Which tool would be best suited for various around the house jobs? I already own a cheap cordless drill and the battery frequently dies.  I need to know which tool is best for hanging light fixtures, TV's, product assembly, and even screwing in fallen fence pickets.

I've got both (both Makita LXT tools). They're very different devices, despite the visual similarity, but at a push both can be used in place of each other. I also own a pillar drill and a mains SDS drill.

But if you've only got one, for general DIY, get a cordless drill (and get a good brand one), as it's a lot better as a driver than an impact driver is as a drill.

Cordless Drills

A drill can drill excellently – not as well as a pillar drill for precision or power (e.g. if you're drilling steel), and not as good as an SDS for concrete / engineering bricks, but pretty well in most circumstances. A good cordless drill should still be ok for smaller holes in steel, and may be ok on brick/concrete depending on your drill, the hole size, and the hardness of your bricks.

It can also drive screws fine in most scenarios, but will struggle with longer screws, e.g. decking. They're usable with sockets, though I don't do enough of that type of work to really say how good it'd be for e.g. car mechanics.

Because the speed is adjustable with trigger pressure, they're great for assembling bolts in flatpack.

Impact drivers

An impact driver excels at driving screws, and drives long screws with ease, and much, much faster than a drill does. Get one if you ever board a loft or do decking, or any other task that involves lots of screws.

It'll drill a hole in plasterboard with ease, and it's passable in wood with smaller bits (you'll need the more expensive hex drill bits), e.g. pilot holes. But it's nowhere near as good as a drill compared to using a drill to drive screws. Don't bother using it for brick or steel.

They're also not good for assembling (some types of) flatpack furniture – they tend to over-tighten bolts, and can over-drive screws, which can lead to putting a screw or bolt through the front surface of furniture (flatpack often has very little leeway for over-driving screws), or cracking the surface of furniture (if it's got a plastic or veneer finish).

Conclusion

My purchasing recommendation would be:

A good cordless drill
SDS drill – if you need it for your brickwork. I'm in the UK so houses are brick, but even still, many houses the bricks are drillable with a cordless drill on hammer setting. Unfortunately, mine are super hard.
Impact driver – nice to have, but less useful; get one the first time you have to drive hundreds of screws.
Pillar drill – great for woodwork & metalwork, but not really a DIY tool for 'household' jobs.

Make sure you buy a good brand if you can afford to – personally, I went Makita, based on what friends and contractor I know use, but having had a cheap one, a good brand really does make a difference.

Buy all your cordless tools from the same set, so they share batteries. I now have ~8 Makita LXT tools (including a handheld hoover – great for keeping the house clean!). You'll save a lot of money and hassle having all your tools share batteries.


How to fix a pedal bin into a kitchen cupboard as a swing-out bin? I want to fix our pedal bin into the kitchen cupboard such that when the cupboard is opened, the bin will pivot out (preferably with lid open) - i.e. imitating a commercial product (just as a random example of the mechanism I'm looking for, not an ad!). (Google has let me down completely; I found a few DIY tutorials on pull-out versions of the general idea, but that just seems too involved besides not being quite what we're looking for.)

Our pedal bin is (I'm guessing) a 50L bin. Commercially available solutions generally offer only around 12L bins, which makes me wonder if the swing-out-bin idea is even feasible with a 50L-sized bin? (And we don't want a new bin, the one we have is perfect at its job. It's just a pain to throw things in it where it's hiding in its cupboard.)

If it is feasible, what might be the best (by which I mean simplest, cheapest, not requiring buying fancy new bits...) way of going about it? I'd imagine the bin, especially once full, would be too heavy to be hung on the door of the cupboard. Commercial solutions (like the example above) suggest using a rod fixed to the inside of the cupboard which is to carry the weight of the bin, and rotates as the door pulls out the bin? Bearing in mind we have no power tools apart from a simple drill, what would I use for such a rod and its fixings? As for the lid, would you counsel removing the lid from the pedal bin, and fixing it to the inside of the cupboard (as in above example), to close over the bin when it is rotated into the cupboard, or leave it on the bin as is, and have a pull-string pull the lid up as the bin swings out the cupboard?

The bin measures 63 cm high (with lid closed, 59 cm without lid), and approx. 30 cm in diameter. The cupboard is 36cm wide, 49cm deep, 68.5cm high. (I.e. the bin fits inside it comfortably, but there's little space above it to get it open and stuff things inside, which is what's driving me insane! NB We do need the lid to keep the smells down.)

Okay, bear with me here. This may look a bit daunting but as far as the construction goes it's all pretty basic. The precise measurements and movements of things are another story. The depth of the cabinet relative to the width of the can will be important because there must be enough throw between open and closed to make it all work. And the distance the arm can descend has to be long enough to open the lid satisfactorily. The weight of the arm has to be heavy enough in the open position to counter act the mechanism of the can but not be so heavy that it snaps it to and fro harshly. And all this is assuming you have a can that's built like this one and the cabinet it goes in is adequately sized to accommodate all of the parts required to pull this off.

If you have a different kind of can I think the basic concept can be adapted to work for most types. I chose this one because it's actually the trickiest to actuate. If you can't shoe horn a carriage into the existing cabinet around the trash can...this idea might be dead in the water. The depth in particular is critical as it must be great enough to accept the can plus the length of travel the lid requires.

First construct a carriage for your can that rides in and out on some 100lb, full extension, side mount drawer slides like these.
Remove the hinges from your the door of your cabinet and attach it to the front of the carriage so it comes straight out and back instead of swinging aside.

Next attach a bushing and keeper to the cabinet wall. A piece of 1 1/2 pvc would make a good bushing. (seen in blue) Make sure there's enough space between the bushing and the keeper block to allow the arm to pivot.

Now attach a strap of ballistic fabric (cut up an old ratchet strap maybe) to the lid of your can with a rare earth magnet or some other removable means so you can get the can out easily for cleaning. Run the strap to a counter weighted arm. You might have to experiment with the weight so you'll want to be able to add and subtract mass. Lead weights like these would be great.

Attach the arm to the back of the carriage with some sort of articulated knuckle (two eyelets hooked together would work).
If all goes well, when you pull the door/carriage out the weight of the arm will pull down on the strap, opening the lid. As you close it, the arm will be pulled back in and the lid will close itself as its designed to do.

This all may take a bit of trial and error but I believe it's doable for minimal cost out of materials that could be bought at any hardware store and it requires no special tools. If you do get it all to work please post a follow up, I'd love to see pictures of it in action! Cheers.


Laying new tile on subfloor with old plumbing holes, patch needed? Laying floor on a subfloor that has old plumbing holes in 3 places. The biggest one is just 2 inches, the rest are smaller. Otherwise the floor is in excellent condition.

I'm using ditra. Is it necessary to cover up the holes to lay the new tile floor on top. I'm using small porcelain tiles on a mesh matrix.

If it is necessary to cover the holes, would a thin piece of wood veneer do?

Someone will eventually put weight on that point. You want it properly supported. Cut out the piece of subfloor containing the holes and patch a new chunk in such that force is properly transferred to floor joists.

Doing it right the first time is a LOT easier than fixing it later.


I have power at all plugins but when I plug something in it doesn't work an voltages testers goes to 0 I have 119.1 volts at all plugins but when I plug in a light the light does not work and the voltage meter reads 0.

This is a common failure.
First check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker
To reset it turn it off then back on at the breaker itself.
This cycle resets the breaker.
If the same results:
What you are seeing is phantom voltage.
This is voltage created when 2 lines run parallel snd a voltage is induced on the line OR there is a weak connection at a wire possibly just a bit of carbon creating a path of sorts that provides a voltage but no current.
The most common source of a single circuit having this problem is from backstabbed connections usually at receptacles. A backstab is the push in connection. These have a small contact area and can overheat, arc and now a bad connection.
Working from the breaker panel find the last working receptacle or first non working receptacle, the problem will be in one of these 2 locations.
What you are looking for is a black or white wire in most cases that is loose or broken. There may be significant damage to the wire and insulation or you may find nothing and if you put the receptacle back in everything starts working.
If it starts working like this and there are backstabbed connections it will happen again so it is best to move the connections to screw terminals. If your receptacle only has backstabs a new one can be purchased for under 1.50$ in most of the US
A good one for 3-5$ yes there is a difference in quality.
Make sure to do all work with the breaker off to protect yourself. A broken wire or usually a backstab creates this failure in over ~98% of the cases I have seen as an electrician for 40 years with the exact same symptoms.


Differences in capability between cross-cut, plunge, and traditional circular saws? I just purchased a new house that needs a lot of work. I'm looking to purchase my first circular saw. I'm in Europe and like Mafell, but I'm struggling to understand the trade-offs between their:

cross-cut saw
plunge-cut saw
circular saw

They all seem to allow for plunge cuts. They all seem to allow for cross-cuts given the guide rails. What other significant differences in capability to they have?

You're right that you can do plunge cuts with all of them. The plunge cut saw is designed for more precise control of depth and position of such cuts. It's really more of an industry specialty tool.

It's not clear to me what the differences are between the cross cut and circular saws. I would have a look at them in person and see what features they each have. It appears that one of them may have an exhaust port designed to connect a vacuum. It may therefore be more expensive due to features that you don't need.

Nearly all professional carpenters as well as homeowners in my area used basic circular saws. Try to find one with smooth, quiet bearings and a good reputation for quality. If you need to cut cement board siding, purchase one with sealed bearings. If conversation is important, look for one with the automatic brake, which stops the blade fairly quickly after a cut.


How to wire this dimmer switch My metal wall box has line, load, and neutral wires, which I've identified.

My understanding:

Line goes to black on the switch.
Load goes to red on the switch.

Where do I attach the green (ground) wire?

In the back of the box there are two screws securing bare copper wires.

Can I secure the green wire to one of these screws? Is it okay to have two wires under one screw?

The green wire does need to connect to one of the two grounding screws in the box.

To completely comply with code practice, you would only place one wire under each grounding screw, but unfortunately the previous electrician has cut off the ground wires of the existing cables too short to pigtail a wire connector to them. You could try loosening the cable clamp and try to pull the cables far enough into the box to provide a minimal ground conductor length (if careful, you may only need 2-3 inches), wire nut them together, and connect one conductor to one of the grounding screws. (Don't forget to retighten the cable clamp.) Then connect the green wire from the dimmer to the other screw. This arrangement allows the dimmer to be removed without opening the grounding connection to the rest of the circuit.

If neither of the cables has enough slack outside the box to do that, then you should still run the green dimmer wire under one of the two grounding screws, but it's not a best practice.


My washing machine drain is over flowing. So my laundry room looks like a river. When the washer drains water is coming up from the hole in the floor where the drain pipe leads into. If the drain was backed up it should come out where the washer hose meets the pvc pipe correct? Well my land lord is a Crack head. And said he fixed it. But now it's 10 times worse. I can't even find the drain in the basement underneath so I have no clue where the drain pipe even leads. Any direction would be wonderful.

There is a plug below the floor drain. This is why when the washer drains it backs up. Soon it will start backing up when you take a bath.
The reason it got worse is the land lord knocked more debris into the plug and it is draining even more slowly.
A long power snake is the best way to clean these problems as it will get worse with time, drain cleaner may help but I wouldn’t count on it. (I say it will start backing up with a bath, this depends if the bath is on the right side of the plug).


'Painter' stained our expensive beams incorrectly. What are the options for fixing? We have two really big beams (18"x4"x30' and 18"x4"x10', cedar) holding up our vaulted ceiling.  We had a company out who had a painter stain these for us. It was pretty evident right away he didn't know what he was doing, as he applied the stain and wasn't wiping it off. I asked him to wipe it off, which he did, and the color was somewhat close to what we were expecting. I observed him wiping, thought it was ok, and took off.

Came home to find that the color of the beams was so dark they were almost black. At the beginning they are a lighter brown color, but come to find out, he continued to use the same rag for wiping, which was saturated with stain, and rather than wiping it off, it was just spreading it around.

We bought the exact stain as our mantel so that they would match, and now it looks really bad.

What are the options at this point for fixing it? My only thought is having somebody sand them down, but will that work without looking splotchy? Any other ideas?

Have you been in contact with the company that did the original job? I'd certainly say it's their responsibility to fix the problem at no additional cost to you.

As far as the method of fixing the problem, sanding is probably your best option. When I was figuring out how to properly stain test scraps, I made a few mistakes (see this question). Just to check if I could correct mistakes on my actual project, I sanded down the test scraps and re-stained them. Afterwards, I couldn't tell they had been refinished. (Note: I was working with pine - not sure how cedar will react.)

Just make sure whatever sander you use has built in dust collection, or use it in conjunction with a shopvac. You're going to have a lot of dust from the size of those beams.


Electric Meter jumpers I had an electrician come out to install a sub-meter. The city has not sent me a meter box, not sure why this was done out of order, so the electrician could not actually finish the line. This meter only runs a NEMA 14-50.

Can I install jumpers to complete the circuit until I actually receive the meter? What type of jumpers would I need. I'll be pulling ~15amps off this line when in use.

It sounds like this is an EV submeter. My guess is that adding a jumper is the equivalent of bypassing the meter, which means you'd be stealing power from the utility. I don't think they'd take too kindly to that.

However, if this meter is fed from your primary meter (which is possible, and what I have, albeit in a very different setup) then you could jump it by taking the wires and splicing them with a screw-down terminal, the same as the neutral (white wires) has been done.

It would simply be as if you didn't have a submeter. It helps that the wires are color coded nicely too. Red to red, black to black, leave the green as is...


What alternatives to R20 bulbs can I use? When we bought our house, the lighting fixtures in the ceiling came with R20 bulbs. I know nothing about lighting so I figured that only R20 bulbs are compatible with our fixtures. But I'm realizing that may not be the case.

So what are kinds of bulbs can I use that are interchangeable with R20 bulbs?

More specifically, I'm interested in Philips' Hue bulbs

Are any bulbs from that line compatible with lighting fixtures that accept R20 bulbs?

These would be the equivalent of an R20 flood lamp:

R20 is simply a lamp size and style designation.
R for reflector lamp.
20 for 20 eights of an inch, or 20/8", or 2.5" in diameter.

Just know, standard "A-lamps" will fit similarly to R20 lamps. It's just R lamps are reflector and will concentrate the light basically in one direction, while A lamps glow all around. The design of the fixture will determine what lamps will work best.


GFCI Breaker in Main Panel 5 Outlets in bedroom on the same breaker. None of them are GFI outlets. Outlet 1 works, Outlet 2 is a switch controlled outlet. Switch works the bottom half of outlet and it works, top half is power and it doesn't work. Other 3 outlets are dead. Any suggestions?

I would be looking at the switched outlet.
If your 1,2,switch are from the closest to your panel I would go to the switched outlet first as it is quite common for a failed backstab to have this problem at the last working outlet or first non working.
you know the switch is getting power and if backstabs are used switches are normally fed by a pigtail.
When the switched outlets other side is fed by a back stab that would be the most likely place, if not there the switch box would be my next check.

If you pull the outlet out and everything starts working the wires need to be moved from the backstabs to the screws. If the outlet has been damaged (melted from arcing) replace it.


Safety cover for exposed brick exhaust inside a bedroom My husband and I just purchased a 95 year old Dutch Colonial with an old brick stack now being used to exhaust the gas furnace. The brick is exposed in one of the upstairs bedrooms which currently belongs to our oldest son who is disabled with autism. We are concerned for safety with both our two year old son and our oldest who is six. We are trying to cover the brick with something to prevent injury in case of a fall. We tried industrial Velcro attached to the brick and to thick yoga mat material but the adhesive on the velcro came off within 24 hours as the brick heated and cooled. What can we cover the brick with? It's two sides of the exhaust stack, each side is roughly six foot high and sixteen inches from corner to where it meets the wall. [We only need half the height covered]
Is there something that is safe to put over the warming brick that could pad it? Furthermore, is there a way to insulate it so that it stops overheating our son's room with extra radiant heat? Our top priority here is safety padding, but the heat barrier would be a plus.

For a longer term solution it might be worth considering two investigations.

Look at building out the wall around the exposed brick in the room. This could be built to sit a couple of inches (4 - 5 cm) away from the brick to create a dead air space behind the wall to isolate the room from the temperature variations of the bricks. Such wall structure with its "studs", however that is configured, offers a lot more options for installing safety measures.
Look into see if it would be possible to retrofit the chimney with an inserted double or triple wall stainless steel flue liner. The easiest case is one that would fit within the existing flue of the brick chimney. More invasive rework involves removing the brick chimney down to some level and replacing the stack with the rigid style multi-wall stainless steel stack that is supported with a new wood structure then sheathed appropriately for interior or exterior surfaces.


How should I install a hoist given that the walls and ceiling are made of concrete? I have this hoist, of the engine-lifting variety, which is designed to be installed below a pipe or beam. I do not have any load bearing pipes or beams. What I have are a poured concrete ceiling (9" thick, rebar reinforced) and two cinder block walls meeting at a right angle. The hoist will be supporting static loads of 200-600 pounds very close to the wall. This leaves me three options:

Attach the hoist to the ceiling. Requires:

metal plate(s) to provide vertical bolt holes outside the footprint of the hoist
vertical concrete anchors with high tension strength
very good hammer drill

Attach the hoist to angle brackets attached to one wall. Requires:

very strong angle brackets
horizontal cinder block anchors with high tension strength and high shear strength
decent hammer drill

Install a load bearing pipe at an angle between the two walls.

45 degree pipe flanges
horizontal cinder block anchors with high shear strength
decent hammer drill

1.1 worries me because the plate will be separated from the ceiling by at least the thickness of the bolt heads connecting the hoist to the plate

1.3 worries me because I might hit rebar and need a much better drill and bit set than I have

1.2 and 2.2 worry me because I've never done load bearing construction with significantly tensioned concrete anchors, and my usual habit of a 10x safety margin is hard to accomplish here

2.1 worries me because of additional points of failure

2.2 and 3.2 worry me because of the thin walls of a cinder block

3.1 is something I've never seen before

So, my question becomes, which of these is the best option, and would require the least hard to find hardware and tools?

PS: The bolt holes in the hoist housing for the pipe brackets are sadly not reachable from below while the hoist is assembled, and the hoist can't be re-assembled if the housing is bolted to the ceiling first. This eliminates the "easy" option of bolting the housing to the ceiling then installing the mechanical parts in it. I am sending an email to the designer of the hoist with this as a potential design change for their future products.

My vote is for option 3.  I've never seen angled pipe flanges either, but you could make a couple for this purpose out of 1-ft lengths of pressure-treated 2x6 with a pipe-sized 45-degree hole drilled in each.  Then anchor those to the walls vertically.  That would give you the added advantage of spreading your anchors out a bit in the cinderblock, rather than having 3 or 4 smallish anchors on a 2" radius or whatever.

I don't like option 1 just because you probably don't accurately know the strength of the concrete ceiling either locally or across its span, and that option's failure mode could be disastrous.  Not to mention the likelihood (as you mentioned) of hitting steel and needing to rent a core drill and use it upside down on the ceiling.  Not fun at all.

My main concern with option 2 is the tension load the bracket anchors are going to see.  These blocks are very strong in compression (and by extension any anchors used in them are strong in shear), but not strong at all in tension (and by extension anchors don't resist pullout forces).


Our top floor is finished/heated. How to prevent ice dams? I'm in snowy Minneapolis, living in a 3-story house built in 1886. The top floor is fully-finished and heated, and there's no attic.

We've been getting crazy ice dams this year, but not previous years. The ice dams form right where the 2nd and 3rd floor meet. Fortunately I haven't noticed any leaks yet. But I'm worried, and don't know what to do since all the floors are heated.

1/3: This is taken from a 2nd story window.

2/3: Here's the outside. Apologies it doesn't show the whole roof.

3/3: This old real estate listing photo is taken from inside the top/3rd floor. The center-left window below is the top-center window above.

Since the floors are all heated, how can I prevent ice dams? Thank you!

The only way to prevent ice dams is to prevent the heat from transferring from the inside space through the ceiling and heating the underside of the roof.  If The heat in the indoor Space  transfers to the underside of the roof it melts the snow  which interns runs down to the eaves and then re-freezes causing ice dams. The only way to prevent heat transference to the roof is proper installation.


How to close large holes left in basement concrete floor after remove a coal furnace After the removal of a coal furnace in my basement, I was left with two huge holes in the concrete basement floor. Both holes are seeping water onto the basement floor, especially when it rains. How do I repair these holes to stop the water. I've been told to drill thru the concrete floor & run a perforated pipe "across" the floor to allow water to flow in sump pump. The house is old & I'm scared of more holes in concrete floor in order to lay pipe and concerned w/drilling across the floor. But, I've got to stop water pouring out of the holes & get them dry & closed. What to do?

I'd only initially agree with the recommendation you received & that's what most suckers go with. But, if the holes are leaking during & after a rain. Then, you've got outdoor surface problems that would much better address the problem & would be permanent repairs that are eternally free to operate never a future concern, like going away on vacation. Then, the holes can be filled with hydraulic cement.

Plus, your home won't continue to be damaged by the water. Overwhelmingly, this issue comes from gutter downspouts that feed into underground drains. The reason for this is because the underground drains create a void against the house & any water that backs up, gathers & saturates that or those areas enters & collects in that void to then drop by gravity to the lowest point. You may find the problem disappears tomorrow, after you call a Plumber in to clear your underground drains.

Otherwise or if you don't have underground drains, you'd need to re-grade the ground around the house (can cost less or the same as the basement's bad idea) to ensure that water runs away from the house rather than toward it. You want to pitch the ground away for 6-feet & even sculpt the ground with natural gullies to direct excess water completely off of the property as quickly as possible.


Can I move a joist a few inches left without the ceiling falling on my head? The ceiling above the stairs in my house (1950s, Minnesota) is too low.
I want to remove the offending joist (the one that's vertical in the picture), cut back the adjacent joists (horizontal) a few inches, then move the joist over and reinstall it.
The stairs go up to the right of the picture. The wall on the left is exterior, as is the wall in the background (obviously, since it has a window).
If I do this work without putting up structural supports, just letting the studs "float" for the hour or two while I reinstall the beam, will the ceiling fall on my head?

Edit: The floor above is a walk-in closet. Directly above the double joist is the front edge of the "box" that forms the bottom of this little shelving alcove in the closet. The floor above that is the attic which is unused/unfinished, just insulation, and is accessed through a trapdoor on the opposite side of the house.

Those joists carry dead/live loads of the closet floor, any walls resting on it and that transfer loads, foot of any attic stairs etc.. There is also a load transferring from the studs you mention via a bottom plate (not visible) onto the joists.
If you remove the joists during work, you have to support the flooring and bottom plate that rests on the joists.
You also have to check what's loading the double rim joist there. What exactely is resting on it?
Even if the load is minimal, supporting the joists will also prevent any temporary deformation that could crack your wall finishings or separate fastened members.
Work on one joist at a time, while supporting the others.
Building a support is easier than you think. If the load is entirely on the perimeter of the space above, you don't have to support the flooring itself (between the existing joists), but you still have to support the bottom plate on which the aforementioned studs are resting.
With support along the perimeter of the space you can remove the joists, cut them, and re-insert them. Again, it's important to check what's loading the double rim joist that shall be move back: stair stringers, wall studs, just flooring etc...?
To provide support you could use two or three vertical 2x6 or 2x4 over the width of the stair case, resting on a flat 2x4/2x6 pressing up against another flat 2x4/2x6. You can cut the verticals slightly over-length (by 1/8") and jam them in until they provide support. Or get a 20ton bottle jack lift.


New mini split ac on existing Spa disconnect I'm installing the mini split and wiring it to the disconnect they had for a spa which is now long gone.

They wired a 110 gfci off the disconnect which I'm not touching.

Coming in from the main panel is a 3 wire line, black, red and neutral.

The neutral is connected together at the neutral bar in the box, the ground for the GFCI is connected to a screw to the box.  My mini split only asks for 2 hot wires and a ground.  Should the ground go to the neutral?  Picture of the box attached.

The yellow on the left is the new wiring, the black on the left is the gfci and the right is the line in.

You either need to run a ground or get rid of the outlet

Right now, the GFCI hooked to the disconnect in your picture effectively bootlegs ground off of neutral, and the disconnect box itself is grounded via its neutral as well.  This means you either need to run a ground wire (10AWG copper will do) from this disconnect back to the main panel or the grounding electrode conductor system (by any path you can manage), or re-run the feed to this disconnect with a new cable (12/3 W/G will do since this is now a 20A circuit through and through, even).

Of course, you can also remove the GFCI and its feed, and then simply nut off the white in your cable to the mini-split as unused, landing the bare wire on the existing ground lug.  This technically abuses a white wire as a ground, but given that it's not also performing the function of a neutral at that point and that it runs directly back to the main panel, it's not going to be a major issue, practically speaking.  Of course, if you're going through this work, you could just remove this disconnect altogether given that it seems to be in a rather odd/useless place, replacing it with a simple junction box and a new run of 12/3 from the j-box to the main panel.


Toilet leaking, possibly related to loose screws? Pools of water have started to appear next to the base of my toilet. There are two screws near the base of the toilet. One of them is totally loose (see photo) - it just spins and I can waggle it around and it doesn't seem like there's anything vaguely near for it to screw into. I'm not sure what it is meant to screw into. Other information:

It might not be the loose screws that cause the water to pool - the cistern gets a lot of condensation  - perhaps the water is then dripping off there to the floor. I've tried to confirm isn't not this by using a towel to 'catch' the condensation and water still appeared on the floor, but it's not a perfect test.
When I flush the toilet, water doesn't come out of the screw holes or anywhere else.
The toilet does not rock when pushed.
I can't figure out what the toilet brand is so can't look up a manual etc. On the inside of the cistern lid it says "L34" but have not been able to use that to find the brand.

Verify that the condensation is or isn't the cause of the water pooling at the toilet base, first. Placing a paper sheet under the tank will show if the water is dripping.
Also check that the supply hose at both ends are not leaking. Make sure the vale is seat tightly by tightening the nut at the bottom (outside) of the tank.
Also check that the tank is secure to the bowl. Tighten the (2) nuts on the underside of the tank.
I found using a flashlight helps locate any leaks around the bowl and tank. If none are found chances are the leak is due to the wax ring not sealing and you'll need to pull the toilet and install a new ring.
You may want to remove the toilet anyway to re-attach the brass bolt that has come loose. The toilet flange may have broken where the bolt is placed.


Green grass streaks over septic tank field I've noticed in my yard where the septic tank is that there are two rows of green streaks of grass going in a single direction for about 20 yards or so.
Is this a sign for concern or normal for a septic field?
Thanks for any advice on this issue.
– Mike

Erma Bombeck, humorist who wrote several very funny books, one was entitled: "The grass  is always greener over the septic tank". So unless you have surfacing effluent, bad odors, floating grass, just consider it free fertilizer.


How can I reduce the thickness of a board except in one narrow area? Due to some trim work, I need to shave off several 1 in x 3 in x8 feet boards.
I need to shave off the 1 in thickness by 3/8 inches EXCEPT for a rectangular of 1 in x 7 feet, with one side shared with the board.  In other words, I need to shave off in a U shape three sides of the board.  This is so it would fit into some door jambs.
 ________
|        |
|        |
|       _|
|      | |
|      | |
|      | |
|      | |
|      |_|
|        |
|        |
|________|

        _
 ______|_|
|________|

What is the best and safest tool to achieve this, even if somewhat time consuming?  Would a wood router do this, and if so should I get plunge or fixed-base?
I'd prefer avoid using a table saw due to various factors including cost.

If I had to do this, I'd just plane down the entire boards on a thickness planer, cut a 3/8" x 1" x 7' board and glue it back in the desired place.  If you don't have a thickness planer, maybe a friend does or maybe a mill shop in your area would do it very inexpensively. A 18 ga nailer with 3/4 nails could be used to hold the 1x7 in place while the glue dried, or even a bunch of small screws.
I know I'm not answering the question you asked, just suggesting an alternate approach.


Closed household sewage system I was told my sewage system was closed because of a dirty water sump (the sump is sealed). I now have my tubs and sinks gurgling when toilet flushed. How to repair? Thanks

If things gurgle when the toilet is flushed, it sounds like it is improperly vented. Or NOT vented or "closed".

To repair it, you need to have venting added in the right places to allow air pressure equalization.

Hire a reputable plumbing contractor if you need it repaired or learn a whole lot about plumbing.

Good Luck!


What would a circuit labeled "Heat Trace" be used for? I have just purchased a brand new (just built) upmarket apartment and having been looking through the circuit board and have come across a circuit labeled 'Heat Trace'

I do not understand what 'Heat Trace' is.

The hot-water system is Gas, the Air-con has its own circuits as do the in-floor heating and heated towel racks. There is no pool or other device that heats anything.

'Heat Trace' is a subject of replenishing the rate of 'Heat Loss' taking place from the hot surfaces to be kept heated for the specific needs at required temperatures. These heat loss surfaces are generally 'thermally insulated' to reduce the rate of heat loss taking place, and this prevents around 80% to 85% heat loss rate occurring. 'Heat Trace' function is to replenish the 15% to 20% rate of heat loss taking place; the effective drop in temperature from the heated thermally insulated and 'heat traced' surface is zero. Applications for 'heat trace' in Commercial / residential buildings would include, but not limited to are: Prevent water pipe from freezing in sub-zero climates; to maintain domestic hot water pipes at above 60 deg.C to prevent formation of dangerous bacteria such as Legionella; in a centralized hot water distribution piping network to maintain water temperature during no-flow condition such as during night time, ensuring instant or quick flow of hot water to taps, and prevent wastage of cold water flowing through hot water taps; comfort floor heating during winters; heat trace gas pipelines to prevent condensation of gas in the lines. It is also used prevent condensation taking place at locations such as freezer doors to prevent ice formation.

For industrial application, heat trace of pipelines, vessels and tanks is carried out for handling difficult fluids having high viscosity, high pour point temperatures to prevent solidification and plugging of lines. Also for prevention of condensation.

Heat Trace is carried out by means of Electrical Heating cables of low watt density, by Steam and hot circulating fluids. For commercial applications, Electric Heat Trace is generally carried out. As the electrical heating cable or the Steam tubes or heated fluid tubes are fixed to the Pipe surface and runs along its length, like tracing the cable or tube along the pipe length has been termed as 'heat tracing' and hence called 'heat race'.

If you search on the Net for 'Electric Heat Tracing', you would find lots of information from many of the manufacturers of heat Trace cables.


How do I wire a switch with 9 wires in the box? I have an odd wiring situation at one of my switches, and like a rookie took it all apart before taking a picture.

I have 9 wires running into the box, 3 white, 3 black and 3 ground.The switch is a standard two-way that controls a light in the basement. This appears to be the start of the line, with another switch (controlling a different light) and an outlet further down the line.

What's odd, is that one of the lines (BW pair) are both hot. As such, I can't figure out how this switch needs to be connected. Any thoughts?

Any thoughts?

Plainly something is messed up.

I have many times taken apart a switch and discovered that the previous homeowner was creative in their choices. A recent one: white was hot and black was neutral, ground was open, the switch was wired to interrupt the neutral, the white wire from the lamp was connected to the black wire from the wall, and there were two reds, one of which was hot and one was neutral. Oh, and everything was held together with tape, and the wires were all three inches long. Nightmarish. It took me probably an hour to figure out what everything was and correctly label everything so that I could safely change the light fixture. It will take you longer than that in this situation, so be patient.

If something is messed up step one is assume nothing.  Or rather, assume that whoever created this mess knew nothing about electrical code and that everything is about to catch on fire. Proceed carefully and methodically, forming hypotheses, testing them, and recording your results.

It sounds like you've started sensibly: determine which are the hots, and, equally importantly, which breakers control the hots. It might be two different breakers, and they might be 240 V apart from each other as a result.

It is particularly important to figure out if one of your two hots is switched somewhere else. I have occasionally wired up circuits where the black wire is "always on", the white wire -- recoloured red with tape -- is switched somewhere else.

Also, be on the lookout for other errors. Is one of the circuits switched on the neutral, for example?  Again, assume that it is wrong until you prove that it is right.

Once you know that the power is shut off completely, put a piece of tape on every wire and number them so that you can record your findings. Do not trust your memory; it is very easy to be distracted.

Check each ground to see if it is open (not connected back to the panel) or closed. Do this by obtaining a known good hot wire, like from an extension cord plugged into a working, correct outlet that you've tested with an outlet tester. If there is a voltage between the known hot and the ground then the ground is closed, if not, then it is open.

If you have three open grounds then you have a problem; your safety system is put together wrong. Solve that problem.

The closed ground is probably the one that goes back to the panel. Not guaranteed; it could be attached to a pipe somewhere or some such nonsense. (Remember, the person who got you in this mess was a bozo who doesn't wire things correctly.)  But this is evidence that the wires with the closed ground are the wires from the panel.

Regardless, attach all the grounds together. Now you at least know that the grounds are good.

Next, identify which wires are really hot and really neutral -- it sounds like you are well on your way here already. Again, figure out which ones are open and closed. Remember, there might be no potential difference between two hots. Test every wire against a known ground to determine if it is a closed hot, and the rest test against a known hot to determine if they are closed or open neutrals.

Now, for your situation where there is allegedly a white hot wire. If that is the case, first of all, label the wire correctly by wrapping black, blue or red tape around the wire to warn future generations that this is hot.  Next, figure out where the other end of that wire is so that you can see if that thing is miswired.

How do you figure out where the other end of a wire is? First, make sure there is no power to it. You can do this with a continuity tester; you can buy one, or build one yourself out of a flashlight and some scrap wire easily enough.  This will let you identify where all the wires you've not yet identified actually go to.

Suppose you suspect that a black wire goes to a light fixture. Take apart the light fixture and find what looks like the other end of the black wire. Join the light fixture end of the black wire to a second piece of wire, and run the end of that second piece of wire to the box. Now disassemble a flashlight, hook up one end of the circuit to the battery, the other to the bulb, you see how this goes I'm sure, and see if you can turn on the light. If you can, then your hypothesis is correct; you have found two ends of the same black wire.

Keep doing that until you have correctly identified every wire in the box. At that point it should be straightforward to correctly label the wires if any are mislabeled, and rewire the box. Once you do, test the heck out of everything that is attached to that box to make sure that there aren't similar oddities downstream.


Replacing 2 dimmer switches, breaker keeps tripping? I'm trying to replace 2 dimmer switches with 2 regular switches, each dimmer switch controls 2 pot lights.

Each dimmer switch has 2 black wires as well as a green wire which seems to be ground but I'm not sure (the green wires both connect to each other with a bare copper wire, see pics).

I have the first switch replaced and working just fine with a 3 pole switch (green went to hole labelled COM and black wires went to each end). However when connecting the second switch in the same fashion the breaker trips immediately when turning it back on. What did I do wrong?

Edit:

From what I can see, this is how it was wired before:

Switch 1 = S1, Switch 2 = S2

S1 "Off" side black is in a pigtail with S2 "On" side black (which has 2 wires from the wall connected to it as well).

S1 "On" side black goes into the wall.

S2 "Off" side black goes into the wall.

Greens are pigtailed together with bare copper.

This is how it's wired now with only S2 connected and working:

Green is going to COM.

Black that was on Off side is going to Off side.

Black that was on On side is going to On side.

Trying to do the same thing on the other switch as well trips the breaker.

Congratulations, you've created a short-circuit.  You've connected the ungrounded (hot) conductor directly to ground through the switch.

the reason the second switch caused the breaker to trip, is because it was toggled in the "correct" orientation.  If the other switch had been toggled, it to would have tripped the breaker.

What you need is a single pole switch, not a 3-way.  Then you'll connect the green wire to the green grounding screw, and the hot wires to the other brass colored screws.


How can I find a replacement screw/bolt? I have a cast iron Christmas tree stand and I need to replace the screws/bolts. Where can I get them and/or how can I determine the thread so that I can check at a hardware store?

Most hardware stores have thread to test if there the right thread.
So your better of taking the stand or bolts  to the hardware and test it on the threads
When you find the right thread the packets are marked with the size an thread of tho bolt.
If you can't find the right thread ask a worker there to help you.


Which type of vertical window shades are the most durable? I am looking into purchasing vertical window shades.  I hear vinyl will warp with heat, but I also hear fabric isn't as durable as vinyl. Not sure why fabric is much more expensive than vinyl though.

Which is more durable in the long term, Vinyl or fabric?

I have vinyl in my new (to me) home (the blinds are probably as old as the house, about 30 years old), and my parents have had weighted cloth blind slats in their roughly 20-year-old home. Both have generally stood up pretty well, but depending on exactly what you expect them to withstand, they have different strengths and weaknesses.

Cloth:

Generally more flexible, so it won't crack or split when folded.
Better tensile strength; resists tearing.
Machine-washable (sometimes; often they'll wrinkle easily, but can be ironed out).
Cloth slats use metal weights at the bottom to keep them straight. These things cause all kinds of headaches, mostly by falling out or tearing the stitching of the pocket that holds them.
Cloth slats are almost always flat; even curving the ends generally does not cause a curve along the entire slat. This increases the gap between slats when the blinds are fully closed.
Cloth slats will attract pet hair; if you have cats or long-haired dogs, you will be forever trying to get the hair back off the bottom of each slat.
Cloth slats also attract pet claws, and will show damage from being scratched very quickly.
Cloth absorbs liquid, so spills will stain them.
UV tolerance depends on the exact material used. Any way you slice it, off-white colors are generally best as UV-bleaching won't change the color that much.
Most cloth slats are somewhat translucent, so light will get through even with the blinds closed.

Vinyl:

The slat itself is heavier, so there usually isn't a need to weight each slat.
More rigid form than cloth allows for the slightly-curved design that blocks light best.
Generally spill-tolerant (vinyl like most plastics is partial to red dyes, so if your kid spills cherry Kool-Aid on the blinds, get after that pretty quickly)
Doesn't attract pet hair, and claws don't make much impression.
Most vinyl is completely opaque, so vinyl slats will block virtually all light that would shine through.
More prone to shearing (tearing/splitting), especially with age.
Crease marks (from where the plastic was bent beyond the elastic limit) are permanent.
Hand-wash only with a damp rag; you can't just take them down and throw them in a clothes washer.
Will show puncture-type damage like chew marks more clearly than cloth.
Heat can more easily warp them, especially if they're not left hanging completely vertically (e.g. gathered behind a tie rod)
Generally a little more prone to sun-fading than most cloth.


Can anyone ID this pipe? We're digging footers for a guest house and came across this pipe. It's buried about 12" down, it's orange and about 1" diameter and has raised ridges running lengthwise (you can see them as black lines in the photo). The pipe had quite a bit of water in it that drained out, but nothing under pressure. We checked all the sprinkler systems zones (it's an older system) and it's not connected. I've never seen this kind of pipe before. It's an older property (main house is 150 years old) but this pipe is way away from the main house, near the property line, with no logical start or finish. Any ideas?

It looks to me like ribbed HDPE conduit used in directional boring.  Orange is the color that is traditionally used for telecom applications.  I'm guessing that this is either a fiber-optic back haul cable or an area trunk line, and the water that leaked out was due to a bad conduit seal somewhere.  Assuming that your phone is still working, I'd call either the "call before you dig" locator service that didn't flag it or local telecom utilities to see if it belongs to any of them.


What tool can I use to cut this heavy wire? I recently had a 40 ft blue spruce tree removed from my front yard.  I dug a hole in that area to put a new tree but noticed there is a solid metal wire inside of this hole.

Maybe this wire was the wrap around the bottom of the old blue spruce?  In either case I tried using cutters, knife, shovel anything and these things do not cut. Is there a strong tool to cut these metal wires out?

Here is a picture of them, they went from gray / silver in color to almost brown probably because they are now exposed:

A bolt cutter or hack saw will make quick work of it, as would an abrasive blade in a circular saw or angle grinder. It appears to be soft iron judging by the rust.


Installing an acrylic glass pane as a one-sided shower cabinet - feasibility & tools I'm moving into a new place at the end of month. It's in the attic of a tenement building, and all the wall (and ceilings) are drywall.

My first project is the bathroom: The bathtub doubles as a shower. Since it is a bit squeezed in between the slope roof and the sink, no shower cabinet has been installed. The former tenants installed a triangular curtain and supposedly showered while squatting down. See the picture for more details.

I am planning to both install a shower head on the ceiling (this is another question) and a one-sided shower cabinet in order to prevent the area around the sink from getting drenched every time I take a shower.

The bathtub is 75 cm (2'6") wide and there's 187.5 cm (6'3") space between tub and ceiling. The sink exactly does not clip the space above the tub, so I could install a cabinet directly at the edge of the tub. See the following image (I apologize for the rather crude drawing):

While I would prefer installing a pre-constructed cabinet made from glass, two issues prevent this:

There is a recess between the bathtub/sink/toilet and the actual drywall, which likely houses the drainage etc. This recess is about 120 cm (4') high from the ground (only 66 cm (2'2") above the tub) and 29 cm (almost 1') deep. Installing a heavy glass pane relying only on these 66 cm for support could be rather unsafe. Also, the recess would reduce the effectiveness of any single-pane cabin.

As already mentioned, the walls are all drywall - I'd rather not try to mount anything heavy on them - thus, no glass pane, again.

Therefore, I am planning on using acrylic glass (most likely 5 mm thick), which would allow me to make the cuts which are necessary in order to fit the recess. U-shaped plastic profiles would be glued to the tiles and the edge of the tub, in order to keep the pane roughly in place, then I'd secure the pane all around using silicone. Most likely the pane will not reach all the way to the ceiling and thus have to be fixated using a retainer (which is available for purchase at my local hardware store).

Actually, this leads me to two connected questions (I have never worked with acrylic glass before): How do I best cut the pane (tools & what to watch out for during the process) - and would it even be sturdy enough to not to wobble all the time?

ps: If the whole idea is nuts and/or I overlooked some mayor detail, please tell me so.

Main problem

Plexiglass and lexan are different from glass:

They are much more flexible for a given thickness.
They scratch very easily.
They don't break casually.

Of the two, lexan is tougher form.

Because of the greater flexibility, you probably don't want to use the "minimalist metal" designs favoured by the glass shower door set.  You probably want to do things to make the material stiffer.

In particular, the sheet will want to twist.  The ones secured to the tub and ceiling won't be a problem, but the door is attached only by the hinges.  This panel can twist, one corner going in, other going out.  You need to make the door more rigid.

Both lexan and plexiglass are easily glued.   I think that 2" wide strips glued to the face would make it much stiffer.  You might want to buy some scraps of 1/16" lexan and do a scale mockup of your door.

If you use lexan for making the mounts to attach to the walls/ceiling/tub, there is no reason to use the same colour.

Locally our plastic cut goods wholesalers will cut to your spec.  They will also sell you scraps at very low prices.  Buy a box of scraps first, and learn to work with it.  You will want to know now to glue, and polish edges.

Here's a guide for doing lexan:  https://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/blog/uncategorized/how-to-glue-polycarbonate/

(My examples use lexan, because it's usually cheaper than plexiglass, but working with any of these is quite similar.)

Additional considerations.

Is there an additional place in the house to bathe?  If not, then you have to always have a usable bathtub for some block of time every day.  I did a kichen reno.  Washing dishes in the laundry room was a nuisance.  I swore my next kitchen would have two sinks just because of this.

In view of the considerations below, you may want to try to figure out how to put a shower somewhere else in the house before making a mess in your present bathroom, even if it's a $200 plastic stall rigged inside the mudroom entrance.  (Useful later with kids and dogs)

It also appears that your bath shares the room with the laundry.  Is there another possible laundry location?

Water damage potential

Your photo looks like a different tile is above, substantially higher than the 66 cm marked.  If it is actually dryall or cermalite or some panel product you need to address this too.

The ledge on the recess is going to have standing water on it after every shower, much more than gathers there during a bath.  Unless that tiling was VERY well done, you may have future problems.

While tile is very waterproof grout isn't.  Water will move through the grout and into the substrate.  If that substrate is cement backer board, and was properly sealed, you are golden.  I'm not sure how you find out.  If the tile was done with adhesive instead of mortar, especially the more recent low VOC adhesives, water will gradually remove it's sticking power.

Prevention:

Verify the silicon seal at corners.
Reapply grout seal.  I'd use several coats on that ledge.  Put a yearly reminder in your calendar program to redo it periodically.

That said:  At age 15 in the 60's I tiled our bath at home using non-low VOC adhesive directly onto non-water resistant drywall.  It was used daily for the next 15 years before needing to be redone.  Nothing is forever.

Future repairs

Is there access to the space under that ledge from the other side?  If not, then how do you plan to replace the faucets when the time comes.  As a general rule, put in access panels for the connection of utility plumbing to fashion.  Someone is going to want to change something at some time.  If for no other reason than you can no longer get the parts to keep it from dripping.  If you are going to have to wreck the tile work to fix plumbing, then you may want to do it now when its all under control and you can plan for it.

Alternate solution:

They make track shower curtains that are hung from the ceiling.  A half track of one of these, combined with the diagonal curtain at the wall, and a shower on hose attached to the present water supply may be a workable solution.


How can I soften the clicking sound of a light switch I am renovating my house. The contractor has rewired my house and installed rocker switches for my lighting. The big button looks good. But flipping the switch produces a loud snapping sound. Short of replacing those switches, is there a way to soften the audible click whenever I flip the wall switch?

Not really.  Your option is pretty much replace the switch with a quieter one.  Switches are $2 to $5.

Since SE archives questions, I'll mention that some switches are loud because they are special switches rated to switch high current - in that case, don't downgrade.


Intermittent Flickering LED Strips I have 10 separate LED strips behind a dropped ceiling feature. Each seems to have its own driver and none appear to be connected to each other except via the same power source and switch. Two that aren't even adjacent to each other will suddenly begin to flicker simultaneously after many hours. Switching the lights off and back on stops the flickering for awhile but the same two sets simultaneously start flickering again eventually. Any ideas how to stop this problem?

The input voltage to the driver must be the same as the voltage required by the driver. If not, the voltage variation can cause flicker or flashing. The driver should have a sticker or imprint showing the voltage requirements. Also, if you have 10 connected to the same power source it may be causing the voltage to drop just enough to cause the flickering. Use a meter to check the voltage at the point just before entering the drivers. If the voltage is correct, the drivers may be going out. I do a lot of work for hotels and electronics tend to go out at the same time if they were installed at the same time.


Is it possible to get sand and gravel back from concrete pieces? I have concrete pieces 10 cm to 10 cm (C60 recipe with 1 water : 3.3 Portland composite cement : 14.4 gravel 0-16 mm with fibre glass reenforcement) which are not especially designed to remain underwater (but will have the usual concrete resistence against water). Will they resolve into a bucket of water within 4 weeks?

I started the process and after some days some pieces have cracks and even fell apart, but I'm not sure if that's just the glass fibre expanding.

I suspect this to work since something has to happen concrete which isn't mixed to remain when constantly under water when put into water permanently and can't imagine anything else than it falling into it's original ingredients (except the concrete having lost it's chemical reaction potential and being dissolved into water).

I realize that it's a lot of effort. It's more of an experiment.

Concrete doesn't "dry", it cures in a chemical reaction.  So introducing it to water will not reverse that process.  This should be evident from the vast uses of concrete in constant contact with water.


How to wire a switch to a plug in I am currently planning out a lighted fountain to give as a gift later this year. It will be a flat back wall with water trickling down the face, side lit with LED strips behind frosted plexiglass.

The water feature will be fed by a low power pump located in the fountain, and the LED lighting has a ballast that goes to a plug. Both of these would require a receptacle, and are limited by the length of the cord.

What I would like to do, is have a double rocker type light switch, with the switches hardwired to control the pump and lights respectively, with a wall plugin feeding the power for the light switch.

How would I go about doing this, or am I really just looking at more work than it is worth?

Let's do the math.  You are building an appliance that runs on mains electrical supply.  It will be a water feature. And you're giving it to someone else.

Do you own a copy of the UL White Book? Do you know how to do this safely?  Will it have a GFCI cord?

Rethink this thing in low-voltage

LED lights are readily available in 12 volts DC (the understatement of the century - read on).  Pumps are readily available in 12 volts DC.  This is a low voltage that is inherently safe from electrical shock risk.  It's exactly what you should be using around a water feature.

I can, without worry for your safety, advise you to try it yourself: hold a 9 volt battery with one finger on each terminal; not even a tingle.

Because of the low voltage, it is reasonably safe for you to "hard-wire" this stuff yourself, making your own internal wiring connections to feed the lights and the pump.  You can use wire nuts, terminal blocks, solder - whatever seems to fit.  Still, insulate the wires - a short causing heat and fire is one of the few ways 12 volts DC can be dangerous.

If you want to "dim" the LED lights, there is inexpensive off-the-shelf tech to do that, called a PWM dimmer.  If you want multicolor lights, they make RGB and RGBW lights that are run by a multi-channel dimmer called a controller, where you can dial any color you want.   If you want to get into some programming, they even make individually addressible LED lights where you can program a different color and brightness for each LED.  All this tech is insanely cheap.

Seriously, while this may be a safety scold, the real reason artists should work in 12 volts DC is the breathtaking options available to you as a designer - all dirt cheap!  Anything you see in Las Vegas with lighting, you can do that if you're willing to climb the learning curve. Plain lighting is easy.

Back to safety

The way you safe this is by powering the works from a "wall wart power supply" that is UL-listed.  The UL listing is your liability shield. It's vanishingly unlikely to fail-deadly because it's properly designed, under the watchful eye of UL.  As such, this is a liability shield for you -  you did your part by selecting a certified-safe appliance.

The supply plugs directly into the wall, and everything past it is low voltage.  You can use an on-off switch on the low-voltage side if you like.  Further, the on/off switch is something you could build right into the water feature.

When (and when not) to use Chinese junk

China makes a lot of really, really cheap junk.  It starts on a website called Alibaba where it's sold in bulk for pennies.  From there, it's sold on AliExpress (Alibaba, in single quantities), eBay, and the noxious Amazon Marketplace - the vast majority of listings on Amazon.

A "UL Listing" means it went to a third-party testing lab (UL) and was torture tested for safety compliance, and gets a UL stamp and 7-digit file number.  This cheap Chinese stuff never has any of that.  It has entirely faked marks such as CE, CCC, FCC or RoHS, if it has any marks at all.

Anything sold "at retail" in the US is supposed to be properly UL listed. (note that several labs are legitimate substitutes for UL: CSA or ETL are the most common; again there will be a ~7 digit file number.)

For anything that touches mains voltage, you MUST use listed/approved appliances - either because NEC or the UL White Book requires it, or for your own liability.

However, once you're on the low-voltage DC side, these rules can be flexed a bit.  First, I'd use listed wires and switches - for switches you can either use switches intended for mains from Home Depot or Grainger, automotive gear from the auto supply, or electronics-tier switches from Mouser, Digi-Key or McMaster-Carr.

For dimmers, controllers, LED lights, Raspberry Pi's for controlling LED lights, I wouldn't worry too much about UL listing; in fact, since these are components, there wouldn't be one.  Though UL has a "component" listing mark called ЯU; that's for people building appliances they want UL-listed.  UL won't torture test the components since they're already approved.

As far as your 12 volt "wall-wart" power supply, that touches mains, so it must be UL-listed. These can be had from Mouser, Digi-Key, Galco or Grainger.

Total up all the amps or watts from the pump and various LEDs (no need to count dimmers), and make sure the power supply is bigger than that.


Two Hall lights, one switch interestingly wired with diagram Remodeling my bathroom which, has now spilled into the hallway. I intend to leave the electrical configured the same as it has been so I drew up how it was wired before dismantling it. Only now, I'm not 100% sure I drew it up correctly in my notes as far as the hall lights and switch are configured.
See the attached diagram - Does the switch wiring to the hall lights make sense?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pdPZeA9_Oi-rYKF0LQrkVhmVpo4DmJJ2/view?usp=sharing
The line coming into hall light one is a shared neutral that branches off to an office, the switch and lights described have always been on the same circuit that is apart from the office

I'm not an electrician, and I'm not familiar with the National Electrical Code, so this answer may contain inaccuracies.
Everything seems to make sense, but I see some potential problems.
In this diagram, all of the black wire nuts are always-hots. So are all of the black wires, except for the one coming from hall light #1. The white wire nuts in the upper boxes, and all of the wires connected to them, are neutrals. The white wire nut in the switch box, and all of the wires connected to it, are switched-hots. Each of the hall lights is connected to one switched-hot and one neutral, just like you want. All of the other cables exiting the diagram carry one always-hot and one neutral.
Here are the potential problems that I've noticed:
First, on hall light #1, the black wire is connected to neutral and the white wire is connected to switched-hot. It's probably supposed to be the other way around. If the light fixture has an Edison socket and it's wired the wrong way around, then the hot wire will be connected to the easy-to-touch part of the socket instead of the hard-to-touch part, which increases the risk of electrocution.
Second, the hot wires form a loop: the black wire in the upper left box connects to the switch box, where it connects to the upper right box, where it connects back to the upper left box. I believe that's a code violation, but I'm not able to find a source for that.
Third, the hot path and the neutral path for hall light #2 are different: the hot wire goes through the switch box, whereas the neutral wire goes through the cable that directly connects the two upper boxes. This will cause those wires to produce a stronger magnetic field than usual whenever those lights are turned on. If you have any audio equipment in your home, it may pick up that magnetic field and make an unpleasant noise (mains hum). If you don't have any audio equipment and you don't plan to get any, then mains hum won't be a problem for you. However, A. I. Breveleri pointed out in a comment on this answer that these magnetic fields can also cause inductive heating in nearby metal objects.
(When a wire carries a current, that wire will always produce a magnetic field. However, if you have two wires right next to each other carrying the same amount of current in opposite directions, then their magnetic fields will mostly cancel out. That's one of the reasons why hot and neutral wires are usually run right next to each other.)


Why does humidity change suddenly when my fridge's compressor turns on/off? I'm building a curing chamber in an old fridge, and I've started by capturing some data on the fridge's performance:

I'm really unclear on what's happening when the compressor changes state. When the compressor turns on, immediately the relative humidity drops by 20%, before beginning a slow climb. When the compressor turns off, the immediately the relative humidity rises by 20%, before beginning a slow fall.

The slow climb and slow fall make sense to me: I believe this is consistent with the fact that air at higher temperatures can accommodate a higher quantity of water per unit volume -- so assuming we have a fixed total amount of water in the air is constant, relative humidity will fall slowly as temperature rises, and rise slowly as temperature falls.

What I don't understand are the dramatic 20% jumps that occur right when the compressor changes state. Can someone help me understand what's going on? (The behavior is consistent with a substantial quantity of water being immediately sequestered from the air when the compressor turns on, and released back into the air when the compressor turns off, but I'm unclear on whether this is what's happening, or why.)

The frost free feature of the fridge requires the cooling coils to defrost, while the moisture on the coils is changing from solid ice to water and draining into a tray under the compartment the humidity increases, there are several methods employed to do this but that is the reason for the high humidity. The water usually drains into a pan that sits on top of the compressor, the compressor is quite warm when running and the moisture from inside the fridge is evaporated and the next time you open the door the humid air enters and the cycle starts over. I hope this helps on the why but that's what is going on.


Drilling not going further I am pretty new to DIY, bough a IKEA fixya drill. I am trying to drill into wall but at a certain point stop. I cannot push further no matter how hard I try. I have to give up which ends up looking the wall bad. Why i can't force more into wall or any wall for that matter.

Do not force the drill any further

There is a reason you can't drill any further into the wall, and you need to be sure what that reason is before you continue drilling. Some possibilities include:

If there is electrical or water piping behind the drywall, plates are sometimes placed over the stud to prevent people from drilling through and hitting the cable or pipe. These plates are not always installed if the cable / pipe is run through the middle of the stud, but should be if it's run closer to one side. If you hit one of these plates, they did their job; you'll need to change where you're drilling. Patch the hole you've already made.
You may have hit a metal water or sewer pipe that was not protected by a plate. If you stopped drilling soon enough, no damage may have been done. Do not continue drilling in this case; patch the hole and move to a new location.
You may have brick or concrete behind the drywall. Typically there'd be furring strips (1x2" strips of wood, just to serve as a place to attach screws for the drywall) between the drywall and brick. In this case, you could get a different drill and/or bit and attach a masonry screw; plastic wall anchors or toggle bolts could also work depending on what you're hanging. Or you could move so that you're drilling into one of those furring strips.
You may be drilling into a stud. Normally, I wouldn't suggest this as a potential cause, but you mentioned you're new to DIY, so you may not realize that's what it is. Your drill should be able to handle drilling into studs with no problems, so I doubt this is the case, but I'm not familiar with IKEA drills. Did you use a stud finder before drilling?

Figuring out which of these options it may be can be difficult, but look at where your bathrooms and sinks are; where your outlets are (upstairs and down, too); what materials your house is made of and when it was built. Those can all be clues as to what's behind the walls.


Running outside wiring for RV plug Can I enclose the wiring inside PVC that is for electric?

It will run on the outside of a garage. I am running 50 amp 120 volt wiring for my RV hookup from the breaker box to the end of the garage on the outside with the proper size wire (8 gauge) 22ft.

Yes, PVC is made for this purpose. If it is an area exposed to vehicular traffic and could be struck by a car you should consider schedule 80 PVC.

Otherwise, schedule 40 is the standard for outdoor electrical.

A 50 amp RV plug should probably be 240 volts though.

Good luck and stay safe!


Which cutting style avionic snips do I choose if I have to choose just one? Avionic snips (aka compound-action snips) come in three cutting styles - straight cutting, left cutting and right cutting. I plan to work with roofing corrugated steel and have no idea in advance what cuts exactly I'll have to do. Buying all three styles seems an overkill.

I guess straight cutting won't very versatile if I have to make some tight curve cut, so I have to choose between left cutting and right cutting.

Which style do I choose if I have to choose exactly one style without knowing the exact cutting patterns in advance?

Right snips are the most often used and it is possible to use only them, but if you want a neat and professional finish I would advise getting both right- and left-cutting, considering they are not that expensive for a decent set.

If you are a beginner with corrugated it may be worth getting offset snips if you're planning on cutting the length of sheets. If you are only doing penetrations or trimming corners etc. non-offset ones are the easiest to learn.


Washing greasy/contaminated construction textiles I'm collecting greasy/contaminated construction textiles (shirts, rags etc) in a dedicated bucket and not with general laundry. Is there a recommended general (meaning it works with most types of contaminants) treatment for such textiles before they are safe to put in a regular washer? Like soak it in some chemical to release the gunk.

I would wash them in a bucket or tub with plenty of detergent and water as hot as the garments can take. Then rinse them with a hose onto grass or soil. Check to see if grease is removed before putting in the regular washer.


Modern replacement for in-room electric storage heaters (Stiebel Eltron ETS) My house is outfitted with in-room electric storage heaters (installed in late 90s). The model is Stiebel Eltron ETS 208 (and 308). Those hail from the age where night-time electricity rate was relatively low, so they "accumulate" energy overnight and then release it over the course of the day.

One of the heater units has just started sparking and burning inside (not sure whether due to shortage or something else) - we were lucky to be home and cut power immediately to stop the fire/smoke. Given that the units are ~20 years old, it might be a good sign we have to replace them.

Question: what would you recommend as a replacement for such units? My understanding is that this "smart" electricity usage is no longer relevant, as the rate is the same for night and day, so maybe the new standard for such heaters might be vastly simpler... Recommendations are very welcome.

UPDATE: Closing the loop. I've ended up picking a plain vanilla baseboard heater (more specifically, Dimplex 60" 2,500W one). It is yet to be seen if it has any notable effect on my power bill. One interesting thing about it is that it supports some kind of wireless control protocol called CONNEX. There aren't too many thermostats that support it but there are still some. If I like what I see with it and end up using similar model to replace the remaining ETS heaters, I will most probably get such multi-zone thermostat as well.

Electric heaters are cheap.

You can get a 2000w electric heater for like $50.  If storage heaters make no sense right now, don't get one, and buy a plain electric heater instead -- it's not like you're making a huge capital investment.

Or consider heat pumps

If you want to make a capital investment, and storage isn't a requirement for you, you can consider heat pumps.  They are much more efficient than thermal heaters, since they are only moving heat, not creating it.   However, they shut down in very cold weather, so heat pumps need auxiliary heaters, usually electric.  If that is a millivolt gas system, the house will heat without electricity.

The usual objection is people don't want to ruin their ceiling with bulky ducts.  The answer to that is the "mini-split" (surely there must be a noun here), which is a heat pump with one outside unit and several "registers" which can be controlled separately.

Storage heat pumps are also possible, but hard

This uses two variations on common heat pumps.  The idea is that if the heat is being interchanged with media that is closer to the desired temperature, the heat pump is vastly more efficient.

First, some heat pumps interchange not with air, but with a fluid of some kind.  Ground-sourced heat pumps interchange their heat with underground coolant loops cooled/warmed with earth deep underground, which tends to be of moderate temperature.  This can also be done with well water.  Large facility heat pumps interchange heat with facility service water, which is pumped around the facility.  The service water is cooled or warmed at a central boiler room.

With a storage heat pump system, you have a storage tank of a good thermal storage fluid (like water) which you preheat or pre-chill using cheap evening power.  Then by day, your heat pump draws efficiently from this tank.

These systems are not common, or not cheap.


What framing do I need to build a garage with 13 ft walls to store a boat? The garage door has to be 12x12ft and I need at least 12in of space between the top of my door opening and the ceiling. What changes do I need to make to the traditional framing techniques to support this wall height? Do I need to jump up to 2x6 studs or will multiple rows of horizontal blocking suffice?

The most important question here is, 'do you have a building plan?" Building a structure with 13 to 14 foot walls and a 12 foot door is quite a reach for an inexperienced DIYer. You should start by selecting a set of building plans at your local lumber yard or maybe online. There are a lot more considerations than what size studs you should be using. You are going to need a foundation detail to support the added weight of this large building.  The wall details will most likely be 2X6, fire breaks, and 1/2" to 5/8" sheathing, ground built then lifted into place. Your design may use roof trusses or rafters with collar ties, and substantial posts and headers for a 12 foot door.

A building of this size is most definitely going to require a building permit. To get this permit, they will need to see your blueprints or plans.

With all that said, I personally would not build 14 foot walls with 2X4's. I would use 2X6's 16"OC, horizontal stiffeners 48" OC, 5/8 CDX sheithing, double 2X6 plates(upper & lower) and an engineered truss roof. Door headers minimum of 4X12 @ 12 feet, preferably a LAM.


Winter water supply for a cabin Our summer cabin in central Ontario has water supplied from a well. The line is well buried except where it enters the cabin - the cabin is on blocks above ground level and the line is exposed for the 2 or 3 feet under the cabin.

Currently it's protected using a "remote valve" - the cutoff on the supply line is a valve well below ground level with a long rod that runs up into the cabin where you can open it to drain back to the well during the winter. There's also one of those electric heater cords on the exposed section of the line, but we've never used it and I don't even know if it works.

What do I need to do to winterize that connection?  I assume you simply can't pile dirt around it because it will eventually freeze, and I don't trust the heater cord (power goes out all the time). What's the typical solution here?

I suggest you build a well insulated box around the pipe from the ground to the floor of the cabin, then open the box to the cabin interior by replacing the floor over the box with a grille.

The box should be made of masonry or other rot-resistant material. The bottom of the box should be set about a foot or so below ground level for a better seal. I'm picturing a box that is about as wide as it is high.

The top of the box should not be strongly attached to the cabin floor because seasonal freezing and thawing may cause the box to move slightly. Instead, the top of the box should be sealed to the cabin floor with flexible insulating material. For example, a flexible gasket can be made with chicken wire, polyethylene sheet, and fiberglass batting.

Now, cold air is heavier than warm, so you have to keep the box from just filling up with freezing air. How you do this will depend on how the cabin is heated, how airtight the cabin usually is, whether the cabin is kept above freezing at night, etc.

If you can construct a chimney-like structure inside the cabin that is either warmer than the room (because it is near the stove) or colder than the room (because it is against an outside wall) and connect its bottom to the pipe box, that should provide sufficient draft to displace the frigid air.

Of course this solution depends on the cabin being heated in winter. If the cabin is allowed to freeze then you already have the best plan in place with that remote valve.


Where would I install a bonding screw in this panel? Im trying to help my grand father and believe I need a bonding screw installed. (he has neutrals and grounds on the same bar)

Can anyone please indicate where it goes on the main panel?

If you could highlight the location on my attached picture, that would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

You should be good to go already

According to the diagram on the labels inside the cabinet proper, the furthest-right screw position on the neutral intertie bar is where the bonding screw goes, and it appears to be already populated in your photos, as it should be.


Joist size calculation for attic loft conversion I'm familiar with the concept of sistering ceiling joists to make them appropriate to hold a live load as a floor, but I've found the various joist calculators and tables either wrong or confusing. I'm in British Columbia so I'm hoping to get an answer specific to our residential code.
I currently have 2x4's every 16" on centre for a span of 12ft. Here's the PDF for BC's structural code. If I'm reading it correctly, I believe I'd need 2x8" joists at "select structural"  grade for northern species. I might be able to use spruce 2 grade considering that this is a sistering application and the existing 2x4s will be glued and nailed to the new joists - I'll confirm with a structural engineer at some point. Can anyone confirm that I've read the tables correctly?

I don’t know anything about metric, but I’ll try.
The “Tables” you refer to have footnotes that are not available. I’ll assume the footnotes qualify the loading, etc. Because the Tables indicate “Maximum Spans for Floor Joists” I’ll assume they’ve added a dead load factor and live load factor.
I don’t know why you’d want to use “Northern Species” or “Spruce”, when you live in the middle of Douglas Fir Larch country. However, I’ll try to answer your questions.
So, Douglas Fir Larch grade Select Structural 2x8’s at 16” on center spanning 12’ can support 40 lbs. per square foot (psf) live load plus 10 psf easily.
Likewise, your Table says Northern Species (whatever that is) 83x 400 can support a floor load spanning only 2.41 m. with a grade of Select Structural.
Likewise, your Table says Spruce can only span 2.85 m. with a grade of Select Structural.
So why not use Douglas Fir Larch. It’s probably what’s in your local lumber yard.


Light fixture on new condo wiring question Ok so my wife and I bought our first condo. It was built over 100 years ago but has some modern renovations and some early 90s renovations.
There were two light fixtures we hated so we shut the breakers down and took down the two of them and saw the wiring. One was straightforward it had a live controlled by the light switch. A respective neutral, a earth/ground connected to the bracket and some extra two black live wire tied together and and a blue and red live tied together not hooked up to anything and not controlled by the light switch that I assume are part of some whole house connection I heard about that is sometimes done with electrical wiring.
Here is a picture of the easier to understand fixture, this is in my dining room. The live wire controlled by the switch has a blue cap:

However the other fixture is confusing. This one is in my main entryway Foyer and when we bought the condo we actually noticed and our inspector noticed that the light connected to this fixture just didn't work. Also there was a switch nearby that appeared to not control anything so the inspector noted that we should replace the bulb and if that didn't work call an electrician.

Anyways obviously replacing the bulb didn't work and when I took the light down I saw that live was connected to live (blue and two black), neutral was connected to neutral and what appeared to be earth was connected to another live wire that was by itself and blue. I tested these with a non-contact tester and a multimeter. I can't seem to shut any of the wires off without using a breaker.
Here is the picture I am actually asking a question about:

I need to know what I am dealing with here. If someone can't help me a bit online how much can I expect to pay an electrician for this kind of work? Additionally I would like to note the inspection report got it wrong he must of misnoted on the report it is actually the right lightswitch not the left I can't figure out what it does.
I can throw a fixture up there and connect it to the stand alone live wire but then that fixture I think would always be on. Maybe I could get a smart fixture or something but I still want to understand what I am dealing with not just blindly install a fixture. Also the old fixture wasn't working so likely was installed wrong or broken anyways.
After comments clarifications:

I live in Chicago.
One of the fixtures was so damaged there was no putting it back once I took it off. It was on it's last legs and basically fell apart. Luckly how things were connected is in my memory.
I got the pictures of the Switch.

I want to install a 30 dollar IKEA NYMANE LED light in the Foyer. I want to install a Hunter ceiling fan in the Dining room. The NYMANE is easy to install I could probably install it in the Dining room if I wanted it to go there the problem is I want it in the Foyer. The Ceiling fan is a bit tricky cause I am not sure what my fixtures would support. I have a standard crossbar I took out of both fixtures...
Does a standard crossbar support a ceiling fan?

We ended up hiring an electrician. For the Foyer he ran a new switch wire and setup the wall outlets that were controlled by that switch to remain always live. So now that switch only controls that light.
For the fan since we didn't have a fan supporting box installed it needed to be reinforced with tapping screws then assembled to the wire I indicated.
The switch that does nothing still does nothing we left that as is.


Is the max current draw of wall outlets reported in RMS or peak? In the United States, the voltage of typical wall outlets is 120 Vac (RMS). Maximum current draw is 15 A or 20 A. Is this "maximum" expressed in terms of RMS or peak? The "maximum" seems to imply peak.

Extension to this question: If I plug multiple devices into a power strip with a 15 A fuse, should I be worried about the total peak current or total RMS current of the devices?

Like Brian said, it's measured in RMS.

For the extension: RMS again.  For fast-blow fuses, the current rating is the maximum current guaranteed at which the fuse will not blow.  But the fuse won't immediately blow at 15.1A -- the time vs. current graphs are provided for most fuses.  Here's an example:

As we can see, a 15A fuse is guaranteed not to blow at 15A.  As the current increases, the time it takes for the fuse to blow decreases.  A 15A fuse may take a minute to blow at 20A, but 0.3 seconds to blow at 30A.

Even though your 15Arms current is actually over 21A peak, the time that it goes above the 15A rating (~4ms per half cycle) is not sufficient to blow the fuse.  Due to the fuse's thermal inertia you may want to derate the curve a bit, but at 15Arms you should be fine.


What's the formal name for this type of flashing used in stucco homes? And what does it take to replace rusted portions? I have taken an image of the flashing material:

I call it: edge metal, J-channel flashing, L-metal flashing. Comes in many types of metals, thickness and thicknesses, (and is commonly custom made.)

Yes, it’s very difficult to repair/replace.