Will cutting section of 2x4 reduce strength I have a 2x4 nailed to two other 2x4’s protruding from ceiling. This is used to hold up garage door opener. There is a light socket behind it and I wanting to attaching motion sensor socket to it but I believe 2x4 cross piece will block line of sight of sensor. If I was to cut a section of 2x4 cross piece, would it reduce the strength of 2x4 cross piece as far as it being able to hold up garage door opener?
Any ideas on motion sensor light socket line of sight issue other than moving socket?

1: Yes it will reduce the strength and depending on how you cut it will determine how much and to what catastrophic point it will fail. A Drilled hole for line of sight is one thing a cut out is another.

The following two comments do not directly answer your question but need to be stated. I am not trying to hurt anyone's feelings by posting them just trying to provide some constructive feedback and I am saying ti because someone needs to say something to help you.

2: That protrusion of 2 x 4's from the ceiling down - that is a terrible (atrocious) mounting for a garage door opener installation! The 2 x 4 should be mounted between above the ceiling between the rafters then your metal mounting for the opener should be on the ceiling side mounted to that 2 x 4  - taking up minimal space and would not be such an eye sore. Of course if this part was done right you would not be asking your question here about your motion sensor.

3: I see that free romex wire running down and I am assuming it is rigged to an electrical outlet for the opener or maybe hooked to it directly - I will state this if you are in the USA ..it is a code violation. You should have that fixed and done right too - install an outlet box in the ceiling and plug your opener power cord into it.

I am not trying to be snobby or anything like that .. normally I don't answer this way but in this case I feel compelled to so that perhaps you will make it right and will not have any issues in the future, especially with your wiring .. like perhaps a fire!

EDIT 3-29-2018 Wiring fix:


Tool for straightening a bent metal bar of the gate? Someone's car hit our metal bar gate, so one of the rods is bent as shown in the photo. What kind of a tool can I use to bend this back, so it's straight? Thank you!

Some woodworking clamps are reversable and can act as spreaders, like this model.  I have another style of the "quick grip" clamps that have a mechanical advantage on the grip mechanism and they are reversible.  They can't apply a ton of force, but for that square tubing, you might not need as much as you think as long as the spreader can get a good grip.

The other thing that comes to mind is a common scissor style jack included with cars for emergency tire changes.  You would need a padding material to not scratch the bars, but they can literally apply a ton of force to spread apart the bars.


How can I patch 1"- 2" gaps between coved plaster ceilings and new sheetrock walls? We had to replace some old lath/plaster walls with new sheetrock.  We left the coved portion of the plastered ceiling in place, but where the sheetrock meets the coved ceiling there is a 1" - 2" gap (we left the lath in place in this gap). We have read that using a fiberglass product for these gaps is not recommended (cracks can easily develop).  Paper tape is not wide enough.  How do we properly repair these gaps?

Disclaimer:  We aren't professionals...but want to do a good job.

one to two inches? How thick were the original plaster walls!?

A picture would probably help. What I'd suggest is bridge the transition from the coving to the wall with some crown moulding.


Could a gas pipe obstruction could be causing a reduction in gas pressure to my furnace? I  have a problem with my gas furnace. It is a 3 year old Bryant.

Last Sunday I smelled natural gas and found the smell coming from the PVC furnace exhaust pipe on the side of my house.
The gas company responded and said the furnace had to be tweaked.  My HVAC contractor came the next day and diagnosed the problem as an abrupt drop of pressure from the gas pipe when the furnace went into its second stage of ignition.

When the furnace comes on it initially produces a steady flame but the pressure drops from a  7.5 at 1st stage start up and dropped below .5 a short time later when the furnace burner goes into its second stage.

A  gas company rep came back and tested the meter reporting that the gas meter was delivering a steady 7 pressure reading and that the problem likely lies in the gas pipe from the meter to the furnace in my basement.

Has anybody familiar with gas piping ever heard of a gas pipe obstruction that could cause such a pressure loss.

I am concerned because the furnace will be needed soon and am uncertain as to how to proceed with my HVAC contractor and the gas company blaming each other.

Any suggestions on what is causing this problem or any testing or work needed would be greatly appreciated

Did your HVAC tech disassemble any of the gas supply piping, specifically directly upstream of the furnace control valve/regulator? Any obstruction caused by debris (and yes, this is very possible) is very likely to be at the small orifice(s) associated with the furnace control valve/regulator than at other areas of the gas piping, which have significantly larger bore.

Built-in gas appliances should have a "drip leg" debris/condensate trap just upstream of the appliance:


Can I caulk over cracked grout (shower floor) as a temporary fix? We have an older shower, with 1x1 tiles on the floor. Some of these, the grout has started to crack, and we want to prevent water damage. However, we've exhausted our renovation budget for the year, and won't be able to do a shower replacement until sometime late next year.

As a temporary hack, could we apply a thin layer of caulk to these grout lines? Would this help?

I'd suggest you get a small tub of premixed grout, a float, a sponge, and spend an hour fixing the problem. Be sure to remove any loose grout. (Something as simple as a utility knife will work for this. Wear gloves to avoid skinned knuckles.) If you want an even more durable job, score all of the existing grout along the edge of the tile (so 2 cuts per grout line). You'll go through a few utility knife blades like this. Vacuum thoroughly afterwards. Grout is staggeringly easy. Caulk would take you way longer and be a pain to clean up later.


Is the U bend in my A/C condensation drain needed? Is the U-bend (in 1st picture) necessary?
I'm guessing it's preventing backflow of gas from the drain.

My  A/C (heatpump) is leaking condensation.

BACKGROUND

TESTING:

Disconnected the drain pipe below the "u" and drained into a bucket. NO LEAKING in drain pan for the 36 hours of testing. Bone dry.
Reconnected.  Moved the terminating end from the floor drain to a small pan. It filled 1 pint in about an hour.
With everything hooked up properly, it's probably a pint in 8 hours.  When I originally discovered it (b/c it was overflowing to the floor) it was full. So probably 3 gallons or so.

Drip Pan
This is where water is collecting.
(Yes, that's newspaper in there, attempting to get it dry before one of the tests)

Is the U-bend (in 1st picture) necessary? I'm guessing it's preventing backflow of gas from the drain.

It is required by code to do just what you said. It prevents sewer gas from venting into the A/C and then into the house. You would not want that.

Make sure it is not clogged, but do not remove it.


Hard wiring condensate pump with ground to furnace with only hot / neutral My 1996 oil burning air handler has a hard wired condensate pump for AC that recently died. Newer condensate pumps all seem to plug into the wall via a three prong plug. I do not have an outlet near the furnace (the house is all armored cable), so planed to strip the power cord from the new condensate pump and hard wire it to the furnace as was done with the existing pump. HOWEVER, when I opened up the junction box inside the furnace, there is only a hot and neutral connection (again goes to armored cable to the furnace motor).  Can I connect hot to hot and connect neutral + ground to neutral to complete the circuit? Is there any other process to attach the ground wire from the new pump? It's hard to see but the green wire running to the motor is attached to a screw in the back of the box. Can I attach the ground under the screw too? Thanks!!

Use a pigtail for the ground and a cord grip for the cord

With the power off:

Fit the cord grip (a Cooper/Crouse-Hinds NCG50-50 will do the trick) to a knockout in the box using a matching locknut and run the cut-off cord end through it, then tighten the cord grip down. This provides strain relief and sealing for the cord connection, which is permitted here by NEC 400.7(A) point 7 (preventing the transmission of vibration; in this case, from the pump to the rest of the furnace).
Wire the cord hot to the furnace hot, and the cord neutral to the furnace neutral
Remove the existing wire from the ground screw, and nut it together with a length of bare 12AWG as well as the ground from the cord
Land the length of bare 12AWG (this is a pigtail for the ground) on the existing ground screw in the box
Button it all up and turn the power back on


Can I run data cables in the same cabinet as a service panel? If the power panels inside my home are all enclosed (no exposed live wiring anywhere), am I allowed to route my data cables and coax to a router and (data distribution hardware) housed in the same room and wood back panel in which my power panel resides or do I need to house it separately?

It is situated in a door sized cavity of 2 feet deep with a normal door to close it. There is about 4sqft of open space on the wood back planes on the bottom.

I don't want to do work that an inspector will reject. I read all the codes and the relevant posts on this site, but want an honest opinion, preferably qualified. This is what I read.

Thanks.

In the same decorative wooden cabinet, yes.

In the same conduit, raceway, gutter or service panel, no, unless the entire low voltage circuit, and the involved appliances, are all built to mains wiring standard...

So for instance the Ethernet cable could not run in a power conduit, come out to an RJ14, and go to a computer in the normal way with a commodity ethernet cable, since neither the RJ14 jack nor cable is rated for mains power.

The problem they are concerned with is any random wires in the raceway shorting together, so suddenly there's 240V on your ethernet cable.


How can I fill gaps in wall plates on an uneven backsplash? We're having a new house built, and the kitchen backsplash that was just installed is a tumbled stone, which looks great, but isn't a flat surface. As a result, the wall plates for electrical outlets, switches and phone jacks don't sit quite flush. Is there something that can be done about this, to fill the gaps with some sort of caulking or something, or is this just something I have to accept?

There are insulating gaskets for switches and outlets like these

They would help seal against air leaks, but they might not visually fill the gaps at the edge of a switch plate.

There are also deep beveled switch plates, such as those found here. You could custom grind these down with a dremel-type tool to fit the highs and lows of the surface, but that would be a pretty time consuming task.

While you probably could caulk the gaps, you should be careful to avoid getting any into the box and wiring itself. Also, caulking will make removal of the cover plate a bit more difficult.


Electric water boiler .. how is the system supposed to work? (UK) I'm not from the UK and am used to water being heated on-demand by a gas heater.
Having recently moved to London, the flat has electrical heating and I cannot figure out how I'm supposed to set this electric boiler system.

Here's some pictures to get an idea of what's there:
- http://i.imgur.com/6ASWnpS.jpg - the boiler and it's Control Unit (not sure what it's actually called)
- http://i.imgur.com/7OIgZu7.jpg - the Control Unit buttons and text

The control unit has a switch with positions Off and Timed.
There is also a boiler power switch labelled Immersion.

The Immersion switch seems to turn the boiler on, as it starts making water noise when turned on and five minutes later I can get some hot water on the tap.

With the Immersion switch On, changing anything else on the Control Unit doesn't seem to have any effect. Again, when the Immersion switch is Off, there's no hot water, regardless of the Control Unit.

On the top side of the boiler, to the left of the Important label, is a valve which is itself labelled as T&P valve and the label next to it refers to a Temperature and Pressure release valve.
When I turn on the Immersion switch, water starts heating, but about 10 minutes later, water comes out of this T&P valve. It's not dripping, it's actually running, I can't estimate the debit, but it's probably like a half-on tap, which to me seems like a lot.

The Important label says: If the T&P valve is dripping (not running) to 1) Turn off mains water, 2) Open a tap, 3) Hold the valve open until it stops making noise, 4) Turn off tap and mains water back on.

I've tried turning on the Immersion switch, waiting 10 minutes, water would come out of the T&P valve and then I've turned on the shower. The shower was warm, but not boiling hot,  and the water turned to completely cold in about 3 minutes. After this point, the T&P valve still had water running out.

After I turn off the Immersion switch, the valve will stop in a few minutes.

Does anyone know how this thing is supposed to work?

I've not used a system like you have, but I'll give you some information based on what's common for heating systems in the UK.

As you've discovered, the immersion switch immediately switches the heater on. It's usually used as an override when you want water to start heating outside the timed period. (I'd hazard a guess that having the immersion on for 10 minutes won't be long enough to heat sufficient water for a shower).

You'd usually set the heating on timed, but it will take a while to heat up the full tank of water. For example, if you get up at 07:00 and have a shower, you might need to set the timer to come on at 06:00 to give you a tank of hot water ready for when you get up.

It's common to set the timer to come on twice a day, so you get hot water in the morning and again in the evening - though you'd adjust that dependent on your usage pattern. It might take a little experimentation to find out when you need to set the timer to come on to give you the hot water you need.

If the T&P valve is flowing quite an amount of water, it sounds like something is amiss with the system.


2 pole 240v AC circuit breaker wire connections If the neutral is not needed on a 2 pole 240v AC circuit to what should it be connected? My new oven has a black, red, ground, and a white wire. The wire from the circuit breaker has the same 4 wires. It is my understanding the 2 hots, red and black on a 240v 2 pole AC circuit don't need a neutral as the circuit alternates and performs what the neutral would normally do for a single pole circuit. The oven's installation info simply states "do not fuse neutral (white wire)" whatever that means is beyond me. So to what should the white wire connect?

If your oven has a white neutral on its connection block, you must connect it. Follow the instructions. Some of these ranges and ovens (maybe all or the vast preponderance) use 240 V for the main heating elements, but 120 V for controls, lights, and maybe even for smaller heating elements. Hence, a white neutral must be connected.

The admonition to not fuse the neutral does not mean a neutral is not needed. The neutral is connected to the neutral bar in the panel and is not fused there. The reason to not fuse the neutral is to never have a loss of the neutral without the loss of both hots. Loss of neutral can lead to the neutral becoming hot (shock hazard) and could lead to loss of control of the oven.


How much active labor is involved in repointing? I hired a contractor to perform repointing on my old house and opted to pay them by the hour.  I chose this company is because they know how to make the proper softer mortar for antique Chicago bricks.

Over the course of the 3-day job (to do about ~75' long x ~2' high worth of ground-level mortar), the workers had been standing around for about 1/3 of the time at $95/hr x 2, including when they returned to do the cleaning.

When I spoke with the manager, he told me that this is normal, that they have to wait for mortar and cleaning solutions to be ready.

Can anyone corroborate or contradict what amount of downtime is reasonable?

After mortar is mixed it has to 'slake' in the bucket. Slake time is generally 5 to 10 minutes. If you had more than one person working I don't see why they all would be standing around - it only takes one guy to mix the mortar and the rest of the crew can be prepping the wall (removing old mortar, cleaning out the debris from the joints, and wetting the joints so the new mortar doesn't dry too fast) while one is mixing the mortar.

Once the mortar is applied, you'd clean up as much of the mortar that accidentally was spread onto the brick's surface as you could using a damp sponge. You would also shape the joints. The mortar needs to set a bit before you start on this step. One, so it can hold a shape, and two because sponging the mortar before it sets a bit can pull mortar out of the joint. Setting up a little takes time but you can use that time to start prepping the next section of wall.

After cleaning there will still be a haze around the joints. This can be cleaned up, but the mortar needs to set for a bit, otherwise over-spray from the cleaners can make it crumbly. But I wouldn't expect people to sit around waiting for mortar to dry - I'd expect them to tuck point the wall and then return the next day or after a couple of days on another job to clean up any haze around the joints. I wouldn't expect much downtime here either, as I'd work my way down the wall, and by the time I finished the place I started should be softened up enough where I could scrub off the haze.


Does primer lose its bond surface after a period of time? I read somewhere that you should paint a few days after applying primer or the primer may lose its ability to bond with the paint.

Is this true and what happens if you have to wait for a week after applying the primer before you can  paint ?

Yes but in real world sense, no.   Yes it does lose its binding principles due to other molecules/materials interfering with its surface or its surface decaying (at a super super low rate).

Your main enemy is grease, dirt, and dust.   You will have to clean the walls well (use soapy bucket and scruffy sponge, let it dry after cleaning then Windex and paper towels after).   As far as chemically breaking down it does but at a slow rate.  You can tell when it does because it gets shiny and flat looking - takes years.

The other part of it is that newer paints that are quality are paint/primer combos.   You are good if you clean it well after it sits a year.


Is there a way to "dull" new solid exterior stain? I have had to touch up some places on the exterior of my house with solid exterior gloss after installing a new front door and putting on a back deck. But the stain appears so shiney next to the other boards.  Is there anyway to make it look duller?

Use some extra fine grade steel wool and lightly go over it.


Why won't my Central Heating Boiler turn off with Nest thermostat installed? I bought a second hand Nest Thermostat v1 (the European model with heatlink). I installed it and the Thermostat seems to work. The central heating boiler (Vaillant hrPRO CW3 VHR NL CW 3/3) seems to turn on but not off.

Even though it's in Dutch, this is the official manual of the boiler system. Maybe the schemes give some more insights to some people.

I disconnected the old thermostat wires from the "bus" +/- like shown below and connected it to 2/3 on the heatlink as shown on the second image.

After that I removed the old thermostat and connected the wires (t1/t2) on the heatlink to the Nest thermostat.

At first I used a cable between the heatlink and boiler that might have been not thick enough (phone cable) then the boiler showed a Vaillant F49 fault. But after I disabled everything again, used a thicker cable, and did a reset of the boiler, heatlink and Nest the error was gone.

Now it seems that when I enable the three devices. I can enable the boiler by turning the heat up on the Nest thermostat but it won't stop heating anymore when I turn the temperature down on the thermostat.

Did I connect something wrong? Or do I still have to change some wires in the boiler in order to get this to work properly?

Some extra info:

Also, what is the red wire between 3/4 doing in my boiler? Can I remove it? Was it necessary for the old thermostat to work?

Or, do I need to connect the Heatlink and boiler with 7,8 or 9 instead of the "bus +/-"? The manual seems to show something about a manual mode.

I fixed it myself. In the manual (page 18) there is the following image.

As shown on the photo in the question:

From left to right:
The red "bridge cable" is meant to close the circuit in order for the next two (bus +/-) to work. But the bus connectors only work with with an eBus system. Which is not compatible with the Nest Heatlink.

The two wires that are used to connect the boiler to the heat link (the left brown/blue wires) should be connected to the 4/3 connectors instead. So after removing the red bridge cable and connecting the heat link to 4/3 of the boiler, it worked fine.

Disclaimer for those with the same problem: I'm not a electrician, although I did check the solution with one. Try this at your own risk.


What type of tool do I need to remove this screw? As the title says. I need to remove this type of screw, but don't know what tool to use.

Does anyone know where can I get the screwdriver for this?

Looks like you need an 8-point socket. It is hard to tell the size from the picture but it looks small, you will probably need one in 1/4" drive. If you want a driver for it, you can get a 1/4" drive socket drive handle.


Securing Cable when installing old work box I am installing an electrical outlet above a gas fireplace for TV.  I understand that electrical code requires securing the NM cable within 12" of outlet box.  I am curious how one goes about achieving this in a finished wall being that there is really no room to get hand, hammer, drill or screwdriver inside the wall through that box opening.   I am sure this is straightforward for experienced electricians but I have no idea how to go about this.

You're off the hook:

  NEC 334.30(B)(B) Unsupported Cables. Nonmetallic-sheathed cable
  shall be permitted to be unsupported where the cable:
  (1) Is fished between access points through concealed
  spaces in finished buildings or structures and supporting is impracticable.


Help on identifying light socket? (Japanese apartment) Bear with me if I did something wrong. Long story short, I rented a rather cheap old apartment in Japan and the main rooms didn't come equipped with light bulbs. Can anyone help me identify what type of light bulb should I attach on this?

IMHO this is a somewhat low-quality answer just a cut above link-only (which is why it was posted as a comment), and based entirely on "choose the right keywords for a search about an item I know nothing about directly." But since at least two people have requested it as an answer, here it is. I encourage anyone who actually has direct experience of these or who has some in their home to answer.

Appears to be #15-18 here: plugsocketmuseum "Not grounded twist lock socket and plug for mounting on a ceiling. A (lightweight) lamp or pendant connector plug can be attached to the cable. The plug has to be rotated 35º to detach (16). Images 17 and 18 show the components separately."

I note that you seem to have a hook for a potentially heavier pendant fixture beside it.


What could be causing this leak near my chimney? I had a new roof put on in 2010 and had no problems... recently I've noticed that I'm getting water in my house. Its coming down along side where my chimney is and making large bubbles in my walls. We had the roofer come out thinking something was wrong with the flashing. He informed us that everything looked good up on the roof and maybe the water was due to condensation, and the bricks soaking up the rains and therefore coming in. He told us to just scrap the wall but today we had rain and my wall looks worse. I hate to scrap and repair my wall and it continue. Can someone please tell me what it sounds like it could be. I have a cap on the chimney. The roofer did recommend "sealing the brick". I'm lost as to where to go next with this issues.

Without pictures of the roof, and the problem, this is very hard to diagnose accurately but here are a few common things it could be.

1) The Roof could be leaking from somewhere near-by.  A rusty nail head could pop through a shingle etc..  You mention the roof is fairly new, this is unlikely.

2) The leak could be from in side the chimney if it isnt capped.. have you had the inside inspected / do you burn the fireplace?

3) There could be structural damage to the fireplace. Ridge cap could be installed in correctly, there could be a problem with the fascia boards.

I live in the pacific northwest, and have never once heard of someone having to seal their brick fireplace. While its possible, I belive this to also be a waste of your time.  Unless this is a unicorn problem, I belive this problem could be solved with finding the leak, but I would need pictures, or to see it in person to make a better judgement.


How to put a 1ft piece of a 4x4'' post onto existing one without the connection being visible? I have a fence which I would like to raise by 1ft. The posts are 4x4'' pressure treated wood. I would like to cut a new 4x4 post into 1ft pieces and put on top of existing ones.

What's the best way to attach the new 1ft pieces to the existing posts without the hardware used to hold it being visible? I saw a couple of neighbors used caps, angles or ties for that, but it visually sticks out -- metal on wood is too much contrast.

Unless you stain or paint the fence, you will see the joint no matter what since the grain will not line up.

For this type of project I would recommend using a scarf joint.

This provides a much stronger connection than a simple butt joint. You get an increased glue area and the fastener geometry combined with the scarf will prevent the two pieces from bending apart. (You can use dowels or carriage bolts or screws. Dowels would be the least visible.)

A square scarf joint (as pictured) is pretty easy to make and very strong, but if you really want to hide the glue line as much as possible, you can make a diagonal joint.

That's a bit more work, though, especially if you have to do a lot of posts. The square scarf will tolerate a little less cutting precision as well.


Is there a way to adjust the bathtub handle tension? Is there a way to adjust the tension on a stem for a posti-temp valve?  I've taken off the handle and trim, and I don't see any way to adjust the tension.

I have a single turn handle on my bath tub.  It is a posi-temp valve.  The handle is difficult to turn, and I have broken a couple of the plastic handles already.  I'm considering buying a metal handle.  However, the plastic handles should have lasted longer, and it makes me believe the stem on the valve is too difficult to turn.

The stem you speak of is actually connected to the internal cartridge. I believe it may have been over tightened when installed, or it was leaking a bit and some gorilla cranked it down. You will need to remove the bezel trim, and loosen the nut that holds the shaft and cartridge.  There may be two nuts. If you loosen too much, the valve will leak. Some models require a spanner type wrench to loosen.  A good close up pic without the trim would help here. If you can post the exact model number, we may be able to pull up an install detail for ya.


Which glue/grab adhesive type to use with OSB 3 boards and joists for shed + spacing I will be laying 18mm OSB/3 boards on 2 x 4 joists for a garden shed.  I was planning to screw and nail them down using a mix of 50mm decking screws and galvanised nails.  However, quite a few sites/videos recommend gluing the boards down too using a grab adhesive.  However the choice is overwhelming.

What key label/ingredient should I look for when purchasing?  I am in the UK so main consideration is atmospheric damp( the frame will be on blocks with airflow beneath the frame ).  Being a shed( for storage only ), would it be problematic to skip the glue altogether?

The boards are not tongue and groove.  I have read I should leave a gap between the boards for expansion and contract.  Is there a recommended gap?

Adhesive is used for sub-floors in homes to help eliminate squeaking from flex/movement.

Since this is a garden shed i do not know that is necessary. Just use lots of deck screws. If you want to there are several that would be sufficient. Here is link to a page that tested several, You can choose.

I think using 2x4 as floor joists is not a good idea,  I do  not know what size your shed is or how much storage weight it will hold so i cannot advise on joist size.


Can I mount a workbench on triangular shelf brackets over drywall? Building a work bench to a finished drywall using triangle brackets. Bench will be approximately 22' in length and 24" deep. My shop is finished - insulated, drywalled and taped. I like the idea of using the triangle braces but am unsure how to mount them without the exposed studs. This is primarily for a miter saw station, but one end will be used to house other bench top tools i.e. drill press, band saw and sander.

I am just a beginner in woodworking and putting this shop together from scratch is my first order of business. I can use all the direction I can get. Thanks!

The biggest problem with heavily loaded triangle brackets on drywall is that drywall material is not strong enough to resist being crushed by the lower end of the bracket. You will need to support the bracket with harder material.

If you have a hole saw, cut some disks from hardwood or similar material the thickness of the drywall. The exact diameter of the disks is not important but should be about 1" to 2.5".

Make sure the brackets will be aligned with the studs. Mark the positions of the lower fasteners on the wall.

Use the same hole saw to cut openings in the drywall, over the studs, where the lower fasteners would punch thru. Plug the holes with the hardwood disks. Spackle and paint as desired.

The hard plugs will resist the force exerted against the wall by the lower ends of the brackets.

You can also back up the upper fasteners in the same way. This will resist wall damage from anything crashing into the edge of the shelf. It will also make the shelf installation easier.


What to do to sink cabinet so that water won't leak under it I recently had water leak from the pipe connector that connects the faucet and the dishwasher under the kitchen sink. There was a cabinet under the sink, and there was a big hole in the cabinet's bottom (for pipes to go through):

Thus, the water got through the hole to the floor and damaged it. It was kind of hard to detect the leak because it was small and the leaked water got hidden under the cabinet.
My question is that Is there any thing I could do so that if there is water leak, the water will go out of the cabinet and be visible, instead of going underneath it? The goal is just to detect the leak as soon as possible.

Have you ever heard the phrase "Lightning never strikes twice"?
I think you're trying to prepare for an accident that is unlikely to happen again.
Sure, you can re-floor the cupboard, wedge it slightly at the back to ensure it slopes towards you, cut as best you can round the pipes, perhaps keep a fillet as insert round the back of the larger pipe, then gob it all in with silicone, including tanking the edges so the only way water can go is out the cupboard door. Don't use good glue & don't run the silicone underneath except for a couple of stabilising dots, just in case you do ever need it out again.
Then wait to see if it ever happens again. For most people, two leaks in a lifetime would be a fair average… and in two different places, unless they have a poor fix the first time.
As mentioned in comments, you could tie a small piece of cloth round each & see if one shows signs of damp &/or mould… but your cold feed is likely to sweat (condensation will form) in humid weather, so that could be misleading.


Slope floor to create tension in wood My house sits on 42 wood posts. I adjusted at each post to induce a 1/4 % slope (1/4" per 96") for tension 12 years ago. Cold winters cause movements...cracks walls (fixable).
External posts that heave have Styrofoam buried around them to resist frost penetrating down. Internal crawl space heated.
Q: what is best slope to adjust posts now (flat not an option)?

Flat is an option.

I'm not altogether clear on what scheme you think you were following, or what you think it was doing for you, but it sounds suspiciously like something someone dreamed up and presented as fact, with a dubious or non-existant basis in reality. A slope does not "create tension." A load does that.

Buildings on post foundations are made with level floors all the time. If the posts are set properly, the buildings don't "move and crack" either. If your posts are heaving, they were not set properly...


Can I remove the rafter ties from my hand-framed garage roof? Rehabbing my garage wanted to know if it’s OK to remove the Cross braces left to right and front to back  ![

You will not want to remove any of the rafter ties (as you called cross brace).

The rafter ties that span the horizontal distance from rafter tail to rafter tail at the side walls is what defines the triangle base of the rafter tie and its two mating rafters. Without that rafter tie the rafters can try to fold down and push the top of the side walls out. So do not remove these for the sake of your building integrity.

The spacing members that run parallel to and below the roof ridge line is equally important. It provides two main functions first of which is to keep the center top of the end walls straight and the front to back dimension of the building correct. Secondarily it ensures the spacing of the rafter ties and helps keep them directly under their mating pair of rafters. This can really help to keep things aligned if you ever decide to add a ceiling into the garage in the form of plywood or drywall.


How can I repair a shattered clay pot lid? I dropped a clay lid and it broke cleanly in two pieces. Is there a way to glue it back together? I don't mind it that the break will be visible, while the pot looks good too, I mostly use it for practical reasons.

This pot is used in an oven at 200°C for long times (sometimes up to 2 hours), and then washed per hand, sometimes soaked in water. Whatever repair method I use, it should hold in these conditions. It is a rather porous clay/earthenware, I don't know if there is a glue which will work in this situation.

Sorry for the bad lighting, but if you look just below the handle in the second picture (the part which is slightly turned away from the camera), you can see the clay structure better.

White glue (Polyvinyl acetate) will fail in the oven.
So will regular superglue (cyanoacrylates).

However, there are specialty Cyanoacrylate Adhesives that are good up to 250°C (480°F).  Look around, you may be able to find something at a reasonable price.

Epoxies, liquid nails and the like do not seem to me a safe choice to use near food.


PT vs hemlock for garden stair treads I’m building a set of outdoor stairs down a 14 foot drop over 60 feet. I’m going to use 6x6 as the front edge treads and then backfill.

This means the wood will be in contact with the ground. I am aware this will limit its lifetime. My question is whether PT will last significantly longer in this situation than hemlock?

The local sawmill has rough 6x6 hemlock for 550/1000 vs about 20 for a PT 8’. Unless the PT lasts way longer the 40% difference seems worth it?

Any other suggestions on outdoor stairs?

Pressure treated will last significantly longer. Hemlock performs about the same as Southern Pine and its above ground life is significantly less than treated pine’s in ground life. In ground, you can’t expect untreated wood to last more than 3-5 years.

In ground, I think you can reasonably expect pressure treated to last six times longer (even more if you treat with an additional product like copper naphthalate). Given that plus installation costs, pressure treated is clearly the choice.

As far as other options, I think concrete or blocks would be the only other cost effective options.

References

https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/bridges/documents/tdbp/decayres.pdf
https://bct.eco.umass.edu/publications/articles/wood-myths-facts-and-fictions-about-wood/


How can I lay moulding around this ceiling protrusion? We are installing crown moulding in our kitchen.  The ceiling is horizontal so we haven't had much difficulty.  Except for this part:

That sloped part of the wall is the underside of the staircase going to the floor above.  How do we put moulding around that?

One idea would be to just put quarter round between the ceiling and the sloped part.  Quarter round is what was up there before.  That would at least cover the joint between the wall and the ceiling, but the sloped wall might stick out like a sore thumb.

Another would be to frame out the sloped wall so that it's vertical near the ceiling, then install crown moulding around it.  But that seems like it might be kind of bulky, and a lot of work.

Any other, better ideas?

You might not have to create a fully vertical face to apply your crown. Crown molding is usually either 38 or 45 degrees (with some exceptions, so make sure and check) and it looks like the wall angle is greater than that so all you need to do is create a flat spot for the foot of the crown to land on. Here's a drawing:

I wouldn't recommend 1/4 round because it always looks like you're trying to fix a mistake and it shows all the inconsistencies in the wall/ceiling. Hope this helps.


When I set the thermostat to X degrees, is that the temperature at which air is pushed out through the vents? My hunch is that most ac units aren't that sophisticated, and they just pump air that is "cold enough" or "hot enough" and pump it until temperature rises to the specified value. Is that right?

The Thermostat temperature is of the room, at the thermostat. The thermostat has a differential of about 1 or so degrees. Meaning if it is set for 70 deg, it will kick on @ 69 degs., then off @ 70 deg. The actual temperature of the ducts will be something different.

EDIT:
The question is about AC so it is ductwork. Each register is likely to be at a somewhat different temperature & CFM due to duct length, size, how many turns, etc. This is often measured with an anemometer.


Is there any easy way to clear up paint 'dribbles'? This weekend I finished painting the wall tiles in our kitchen - white undercoat then a satin Bordeaux top coat. The next day, I noticed that in one or two places I'd overloaded the roller, and there were unsightly paint runs/drips down a few tiles.

Is there any easy way (other than the obvious 'sand it down and start again') to get rid of them?

It's oil-based paint, if that makes a difference, so it's not completely set hard yet.

Unfortunately I've never been able to find a satisfactory way other than "sand it down and start again".

The only upside is that you should only need to sand down the affected area and repaint that. The paint is new enough that there shouldn't be any difference in the colour and with care you should be able to feather in the patch.

As you are painting over tiles, you might be able to get away without any feathering - just sand all of the affected tile and then when you repaint take care not to touch the adjoining tiles.


How do I identify if a caulk is water-based or solvent-based? I have a new position in a hardware store, and I have customers asking me which caulking materials I have are water-based, and which ones are solvent-based.

This is important for cleanup and tooling, but unfortunately I am unable to provide customers with information regarding which ones are water and solvent based.

I deal primarily with caulking used for sealing and filling cracks in concrete and asphalt in outdoor settings. Is there any general rule I could apply to identify which ones are water/solvent based?

No definitive general rule that I know of.  Back in the day all silicone caulks could not be cleaned up with water, nowadays there are water-cleanup silicon and siliconized caulks.  It always says on the tube if it is water cleanup.  Also, the base doesn't really define how it gets cleaned up either.  GE makes some 100% silicone based caulks that while wet, can be cleaned up with water thanks to some chemical soup they came up with.

Generally, latex and acrylic based caulks should be water cleanup.  Generally, silicone, butyl, (poly)urethane based caulks will not be water clean up. But, as I mentioned, there are exceptions.  You have to read the manufacture's specs.  When it is water clean up, that is a selling point, and will be obvious on the tube.


How to get limescale out of water? I moved into a new place, the tap water here is good except for massive amounts of limescale.

Within a week every pot I have has formed a layer that takes half an hour of scrubbing to get off. It's annihilating my kettle and coffee machine and I don't even want to imagine what it's doing to my washing machine and dishwasher.
Is there an economic way to remove it from my tap water?

The normal answer would be to install a water softener; removing dissolved minerals is exactly what they're designed for.

A reverse-osmosis water filter might also do the job. I don't know whether they're available in sizes large enough to handle washing machines.


Fridge line to standard pipe New fridge with 1/4 inch poly line. Unfortunately the connection at the water line is standard copper pipe (1/2 inch). Tried a few different compression adapters from the local hardware store, the threads don't match up on the main water line, so I'm guessing it's a different type of threading? What would be the adapter sizing I would need? (I Don't want to pay a plumber sixty bucks to come screw on an adapter)

Attempted using 3/8 to 1/4 compression fitting, unable to screw onto pipe, seems appropriate size but threading doesn't match up.

The picture shows a copper pipe with a compression-fit valve attached. The copper pipe is presumably just a straight section of pipe going into your wall box, and the silver-colored thing with a shutoff knob is a valve attached to the pipe. Are you trying to replace the valve or use the threaded output on the valve itself?

If the existing valve simply has the wrong size output to attach your icemaker line, then the adapter you need is one that takes this valve's male end and adapts it to 1/4" male. If the existing output is a little too wide, then most likely your existing valve is 3/8" (typical for faucet supplies). So you'd need a 3/8" Female to 1/4" Male fitting like this one.

(Note that the linked fitting includes a compression nut that you would simply unscrew and discard for your application - you'd just screw the adapter to your existing valve, and then screw the line to the adapter.)

Another options would be to replace the valve with a similar one that attaches to your copper pipe but has the desired 1/4" male output. You'd buy a new valve with a similar compression fitting designed for 1/2" OD pipe. This would attach to your existing copper pipe, but you may need to cut it and polish it with emery cloth to ensure it is smooth and circular, so that the compression fitting can attach properly.


What is 'normal' phantom drain for a US household? I live in a 3,500 sq. ft. house in Minneapolis, MN, my power bills have been extremely high, and I'm trying to track down any sources of phantom drain as I think the draw is inappropriate.
With most everything  than can be powered down, both HVAC systems off, well pump not running, computers shut down, all lights and ceiling fans in the house off (except for the utility room lights), I'm having about a 1,000W constant draw. With a current clamp, I'm reading 2.06A on one phase and 6.36A on the other.
From what I've traced down so far out of the 1kW draw:

50W: Cable Modem, 2x Routers, a few monitors on Standby
40W: Outdoor bug trap
10W: Security Panel
100W: Utility room lights while I was measuring at the panel (motion activated)

This leaves about 800W with no obvious source of where it is going. I will be tracing down each circuit next, the highest current branches being 2x ~1.5A, 2x ~1A, 3 ~0.5A, and 2x ~0.3A.
Is this anywhere in the realm of a normal phantom draw for a house of that size?
Since I'm operating under the assumption that it is not normal, what would be good items to check if I have unplugged everything that can be unplugged and the draw still remains?
Other than TVs in standby and my two refrigerators, what would be good candidates to plug into my kill-a-watt and measure their draws?
Edit
I have measured the standby/resting stable current of everything I have plugged in to an outlet, and came to 340W.
The only remaining things plugged in are permanently wired:

Three light fixtures that turn on when I'm in the utility room measuring current
light fixtures while off
dishwasher while off
furnace/AC 1 while not running
furnace/AC 2 while not running

These probably have some draw while off, but let's be more than generous until I measure them and say 500W total.
This means I have a solid 500W going somewhere, in my house, completely unaccounted for. Nothing I can think of can plausibly be dissipating this much power without a trace.

Older Fridges can draw upwards of 300 W  (while in defrost for example), and can average over 150W even if they are working correctly.  If you've got two of them, that could be your load and could explain the variance (if one were in defrost while measuring).  1KVA "Phantom" load for a 3500 sqft house doesn't seem totally unreasonable.  You've already found 500-700w of draw.  Everyone's circuit breaker idea (in comments above) is good to localize which circuit the phantom drain is attached to.


How do I remove this connector from a solid electrical wire? I'm trying to replace the light above my kitchen table. The junction box seems to have a solid electrical wire. It was connected to the light's stranded wire with this connector here and also wrapped in what looked like sticky black rubber. I peeled off as much of the rubber as possible and then I cut the stranded electrical wire to remove the old light. I tried to pry the connector open by the stranded wires and it looks like it could be gold inside? How do I remove the solid junction box electrical wire from this connector now?
I need to connect the solid wire to my new light fixture which also has a stranded electrical wire. My new light fixture includes the simple plastic wire twist connectors which I know how to use.

These don't get "removed", they get cut off. Snip the copper solid wire at the end of those connectors, strip off the insulation and then use wire nuts or some other approved connector to connect the wires for your new light.


Ceiling Fan Replacement - Wiring Issue I am replacing a ceiling fan in one room and when I took the old one down I found 2 black wires tied together(one of which is hot), one white ground wire, one hot white wire, and one red wire, and a copper ground coming from the ceiling. I only have one switch in the room to operate the light. The fan was wired hot and turned on and off by the pull chain.

I know the red switch wire attaches to the blue wire in the new fan.
I know the two white ground wires connect
I know the green wire in the fan connects to the ground.

I cannot figure out what to do with the remaining three wires. As a side note - disconnecting the fan in here has also caused power going to the other sections of the room on this breaker loose power.

Odd that you said you had a white wire that was hot. Both white wires should be neutral and have no voltage. Seems to me wires would go like this: connect all black wires together. That will run hot all the time to the fan as well as sending power downstream.   Next tie all white wires together. That will provide neutral to the fan as well as pass neutral downstream. Ideally there would be a bare copper wire coming from the hot side and another to continue downstream. The red to blue should switch the light, providing that blue is the correct one for the light.


What size pipe should be used when converting from single to double Bathroom Sink? Our bathroom had an optional double sink in the main bathroom from when the house was built (before we lived in it). Based off of water temp alone I'm guessing that the toilet & sink are on the same set of lines. Water pressure doesn't change when the toilet is flushed but the sink does get significantly warmer while the toilet tank is refilling. I'd like to convert the single to a double sink. My question is what sized lines are needed to make sure that everything has the needed pressure? This is a newer construction house (early 2000's) with pretty good water pressure throughout.

As country handyman says, if the're already supplying enough you don't need to change them.

However, if you're seeing a temp increase when you flush, then you ARE losing pressure, and the hot is making up for it, unbalancing your temperature.

I'll wager a guess that the pipe is currently 1/4 inch and that the toilet is fed before the sink.  If that's the case, then when the toilet is running there is less water flow available to the sink and/or shower (assuming it's on the same line too).

So if you're opening up the bathroom walls anyway, you can do two things here to deal with this:

Reroute the cold so that it goes to the sink first and then the toilet.  (Or better, shower, then sink, then toilet)
Increase your pipe diameter to the bathroom and split off 1/4 inch lines for each fixture.

In my own case when I remodeled, I replaced the 1/4" galvanized line to the bathroom with 1/2" PEX, and used 1/2 : 1/4 T junctions to split off feeds for the toilet and sink in that order, then reduced the line to 1/4 for the bath/shower.

Now we can run the sink and flush and the shower temp/pressure doesn't change, BUT we also put in a temperature regulating fixture, so... YMMV


How do I prevent my gable vents from clogging with ice? This is the first time I have seen this happen in my 6+ years of owning my home. It is an older home (45+ years), but has gable vents on both ends (facing east and west). It has always vented well in winter as I've never had too much issues with ice dams.

Last year I re-roofed and also put on soffet/fascia. Since it vented well enough, we did not put a ridge vent on.

My bathroom fan vents up through the attic, but comes out through the wall a little ways underneath the west gable vent.

Recently (the last week and half) we had single digit and even below zero weather. The bathroom fan vent seems to work fine with no issue, but with the cold weather (plus some blowing snow a couple times the last few nights) I now have both gable vents clogged up.

What gives? My immediate question is to find out how in the world do I clean these out? Second, how do I prevent this from happening another time around?

I have to wonder if the bathroom vent is really "fine" or if it's failed in some manner so that it vents out of the bathroom, into the attic (rather than out of the bathroom, through the attic and out of the wall) - that would certainly add a lot of water vapor to the attic...which would be one way to clog up the vents.


Need help diagnosing if there is a leak in my shower threshold I had my shower remodeled about 3 years ago and recently have started to notice some issues in the grout around the threshold. There appears to be some mineral deposits at the base of the threshold on the shower side as well as the other.
There are some other discolorations and cracks in the grout which are only around the threshold. If this was normal wear I would expect to see it everywhere in the shower, not just around the threshold.
Is this a sign of a bigger issue like water getting into the threshold or is this normal?

The best way to confirm if your shower basin has leaks around the tile is to plug the drain. Remove the grate and install a stopper of the appropriate diameter. It must be 100% plugged. Next fill the basin with water. It is easier to use 5 gallon buckets filled from another water source. Fill the basin to just below the curb. Mark the water height with tape and/or marker.
Wait awhile and check if the water level has dropped. If it hasn't let it stay over night and recheck. If no noticeable change in water level there are no leaks in the grout or joints.
I would suggest re-grouting those joints that have missing grout and any others that have loose grout.


Shared water supply with combi boiler but shower hot water pressure extremely low Have a shared water supply (live in a maisonette) with combi boiler but shower (thermostatic mixer) hot water pressure extremely low, how can we remedy it?
Replace it with an electric one?

check if the shower head is clogged with limestone
check if the mixer is clogged (usually only hot supply gets clogged)
check that the combi isn't clogged: get a bucket, get a watch, weight it empty, go to another tap (served by the same boiler), open hot water at maximum heat and maximum flow, fill the bucket for exactly 60 seconds. If the bucket gained less than 6 kilos, the combi heat exchanger got clogged and you have to call the assistance. You'll have to pay about £150 to clean it up.
In winter hot water flow is usually reduced due to reduced mains temperature. (But usually it shouldn't be too noticeable)

...
Little late: I didn't looked at the time the question was made


Why are there cracks all over my upper floor ceilings and walls? We bought a townhome in 2012 and we moved in. The walls were OK, no cracks except an oblique one near the vent in the bedroom. In the summer of 2014 the association decided to replace the roof. After that we started having some cracks which we thought were due to the roof that was changed. We decided to fix them ourselves and started working on them in the winter of 2014. By March some of them cracked again on the same spot. We contacted the association to send someone to take a look because we wanted to make sure there is not a structural problem before we fix everything. It took all 2015 to convince them to send someone and in the spring of 2016 they finally sent an engineer who took forever to create the report and the report said we have truss uplift. At this point the whole house had cracks, in the master bedroom I could see every sheet of drywall where it separated from the others.The association just installed some baffles in the attic and sent a company to fix the walls in October 2016. Now we have new cracks and they say they talked to some contractors and is due to humidity and they won't do anything.They completely dismissed the engineer's report although they choose the engineer.  Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
I attached some pictures.
Update: The pictures are no1: wall-ceiling joint in the bathroom, no2 :wall-wall joint in the master bedroom closet and no3 is below a window in the second bedroom.
Update 2: From what I know we used to have mushroom vents and they changed them for ridge vents.

This is very very common in my area as I live in a part of the Midwest that can have 60 days straight of 10-20 F in the winter and 60 days straight around 100 F in the summer.   I have bought more than a few houses with the issue before - on purpose.  Because what looks like some major structural issues going on, it is really no big deal other than the cracks in the drywall.  I know it is a big deal to you because you shouldn't have to deal with issues you didn't cause.

Why the issue just appeared had little to nothing to do with the new roof and a lot to do with the new ventilation and insulation the attic area got.  One of two things or both certainly happened:

The attic had a lot of loose insulation before and they got rid of a lot of this to increase ventilation.  It is very likely that your attic was full to very full of insulation before.
The attic did not have a great thermal barrier and they added something to create a break from the house.

There are a variety of reasons why they may have done this.  There could have been condensation/mold issues due to lack of ventilation or they could have determined that there was a considerable amount of heat loss so they wanted to redo the attic.

Most likely though the roofing company did what they usually do or made the change based on making money.  The architect/engineer that designed it originally allowed the drywall crews to nail/screw directly into the trusses at the corners.  Any architect working on a project like this would be all over this as it is a huge aesthetic thing.  It likely that the architect planned on keeping the attic "warm".  The fact is it was working just fine for a long time and someone changed it.   The roofing company should be on the hook for this period.  They probably got all kinds of money installing baffles and mushrooms and whatever, so that there was "new" insulation.

Let's talk about what is going on.  The bottom of your trusses are below insulation.  They are conditioned and dry.  They stay the same.  The top of your trusses are above the insulation.  Now that the ventilation is "better" they get even more cold air and moisture in the winter.  So they are sucking in water and elongate during cold seasons.  As they elongate they push down on the truss bottom plate on each side.  The bottom plate is stretched and bows up in the middle.  Given that your drywall was installed the same throughout your house I would guess that your biggest cracks are in the middle of the truss.  Also the vertical cracks you are getting are for the same reason - movement.  Albeit some more flexible mud and keeping your home at more consistent humidity levels would probably fix those.

Just know that seasonally your truss will pull up the highest during the winter and flatten back out during the summer.  This will just keep on happening every year with some years being worse than others.

So how do you fix your cracks for good?

Have the attic reinsulated.  Meaning less airflow and ventilation and more insulation.  If there was a ventilation related issue that they fixed there should be pictures to back it up.  You don't just change something that was working fine.  Housing systems are very unique.
Have all of the ceiling drywall redone.  Basically you would need to install the ceiling drywall and not attach it to the trusses anywhere within 12-20" from each wall.  This will allow the corners the ability to move with the trusses.
My drywall guys never screw within a foot as it is but this was not common practice until the past 10-15 years.

Installing truss backing angles everywhere would fix your issue.  This is just a messy alternative but what needs to be done.

The last choice I offer is just to install some crown molding.  However you can't just install the crown molding using the traditional method or you will be back on here next winter asking "how do I fix a big gap at the top of my crown molding?"  What you need to do is install a wedge around the entire ceiling and attach this wedge only to the trusses.  This actually doesn't add much install time to the project as the crown molding goes up super easy and is firmly secure.  And it will move up and down with the top of the ceiling all year long.


Dirty Dishwasher water flows back into dishwasher Attached a video demonstrating the symptom, and pictures of the setup.  Video starts just before the Drain Cycle ends.  Once it ends, air slowly enters from the disposal-end, pushing all the water from the top of the high loop back down into the dishwasher.  It rests near the bottom, where the water level ends up inside the dishwasher.  Shouldn't this not happen?

Video example

This is exactly what an air gap is supposed to prevent. This is something that sits on the edge of the sink, and lies between the dishwasher and disposal, but I don't see one in your setup. This ensures that any backflow pressure won't go all the way back to the dishwasher. You can buy one at any home improvement store, but installing it might be annoying.


How to fix the metal part of socket? (I first apologize for my lack of knowledge on correct names and terms.)
The other day, I wanted to change a light bulb and the inside metal part of the socket came undone with the bulb. How can I fix it back in its place?
(a maybe-relevant info: the socket is ceramic)

That can't be fixed, but it can be replaced.
That ring snapped off the piece in the right side of your photo, it connects the threaded metal on the base of the bulb to one of the wire leads.  There's no practical and reliable way to repair that thin formed sheet metal.  Don't be fooled if you assemble it and it kind of works if you wiggle the bulb.  The loose connection would be dangerous.
But you can probably find a replacement socket assembly that will work.  Lamp and fixture repair parts are available at big box and hardware stores.  Sockets, pull chain switches, etc., are mostly generic - you don't have to match the original make and model like you do with auto parts.  You just have to find one that's the same size and has the same attachment to the fixture, often just spring clips.
In the future, you can buy silicone lubricant made just for bulbs / sockets, a very light coating of that stuff will prevent this from happening.  Just be careful not to get it on the glass or plastic, your fingers, your clothes, etc., it stains.  Just a little bit on the threads of the socket or on the threads of the base of the bulb.


Replacing receiver on a ceiling fan, but receiver has fewer wires than the fan I moved into a place with two fans controlled by one remote, which has been annoying. I bought the Hampton Bay Universal Thermostatic Ceiling Fan Remote Control and am trying to replace the existing receiver with the new one. The problem I'm running into is that the ceiling fan has more wires than the new receiver.

Wiring: Original Fan -> Original Receiver

Yellow -> Yellow (labeled "Motor 1")
White -> White (labeled "Light")
Red -> Red (labeled "Motor 2")
Gray -> Gray (labeled "Motor 3")
Blue -> Blue (not labeled)

https://imgur.com/a/V3betxw

Wiring: New Receiver

White (labeled "Motor N")
Black (labeled "Motor L")
Blue (labeled "For Light")

How should I safely and correctly wire the new receiver with three wires to the existing ceiling fan with five wires? Thanks in advance.

I think the key is:

Motor 1
Motor 2
Motor 3

My hunch is that the old fan - and the remote controller - used separate connections for high/medium/slow speed of the fan. The new universal controller uses a single connection (line/neutral) with some sort of controller adjusting the current/voltage/waveform/whatever to appropriately adjust the fan speed. These two methods of control are likely incompatible. There is a small chance that one of the wires (either Motor 1 or Motor 3 - whichever one is "full speed") on the fan could be used with the new remote, but I wouldn't count on it working reliably & efficiently.


What wood protection should I use for a kids swing set in the desert sun? I recently acquired this kids play-set which is all plastic except for the wood bars on the climbing net - see below:

I've read the answer to this question but am still unsure about what I should use to protect the wood. The set is about 5 years old and the wood is very dry and has small cracks. There will be kids climbing on it (obviously) and it's going to sit out in the Arizona sun all day long. What would you recommend I use to treat or seal these wood pieces and how long after treatment is it safe for kids to use?

A small can of deck sealant should suffice.  Follow manufacturer instructions, applying with a 1" trim brush.


How to fix a rocking toilet? Hello I am fairly new to the the whole DIY stuffs and since I don't live in that house anymore I do not have a picture of the problem. I did search online for the issue but all of them has the American toilet model (which has the out pipe under the toilet) which is different that mine and I already have a solution to fix it.

The actual problem I am facing is the screws aren't helps and the material which places the toilet in place is now dissolved or missing. I would like to know are there any kind of fills or material (other than cement) which I can use to fill the gap of the toilet and the ground to hold it firm. I thought of Gypsum Plaster but found out they are not good for moist area. Hope I conveyed the problem somewhat comprehensively. English isn't my first language so apologies for the clarity.

Edit

This is roughly what I meant by the different design, as you can see the outflow pipe in attached with a sort of wall mount.

Judging by the photo the toilet is bolted to the floor with two bolts, one on each side of the toilet. That is what holds the toilet in place not some caulk or material. If the floor is just slightly off, ( not flat ) then toilet wedges will help to keep it from rocking.

Photo source from the Lowe's link. You can find them online or at other home improvement stores.

The wedges ( one or two ) are installed on one side, rock the toilet to see how it rocking then place the wedges in the void when the toilet is rocked all the way forward. I like to put them on the side less visible. Once you determine where they need to go loosen the bolts just slightly and snug the wedges in place and then tighten down the bolts so that the wedges are pinch in place. ( you can put a dab of caulk on them before you slip them in.)

Once the the bolts are tightened down you trim off the part of the wedge that sticking out and caulk around the base of the toilet.

If the unevenness of the  floor is significant then you need to remove the toilet and take steps to level the floor. I do not know what the floor is made of so i can advise on that.


Secure subfloor underwall between joists I jumped to quickly into cutting out subfloor in my bathroom and I am now trying to figure out how resolve the issue and get the new plywood in place and secured properly.

I cut the sub floor to as close as I could to the wall but that leave me with a gap just over 4" from the joist. I have completed access from below but I don't want to have to rip up anything on the opposite side of the wall.

My thoughts are to just pick up a 2x6 and lay it even with the floor to have somewhere to anchor the board. I am just not sure if that is the best way.

I will attempt to post a picture from below.

https://goo.gl/photos/hTJBbEiASHbKxr28A

EDIT:

I let the photo lull me into a sense that the OP had more access to the joists than what is actually accessible. I did indicate what I think the answer is, in the final sentence of my final answer as an option...

You obviously can't leave plywood cantilevered out in space like that, and there's no way to butt one piece of plywood up against another in open air and have it support a load. The gap is also too big to sister the existing joist with a 2x4 and create a lip to support the plywood.

So I believe your only viable option is to use metal joist hangers and install short perpendicular joists between the two existing prefab joists. My first instinct was to suggest 2x6's for this, but I looked at an online joist load calculator and it exposed my tendency to overbuild. 2x4's are probably fine. (example:  http://www.awc.org/codes-standards/calculators-software/spancalc). I'd put them on standard 16" centers so you don't get any sag in the plywood subfloor. Then you could lay a strip of plywood down across those new joists, and the new joists will support everything.

You might have to work a little to tap/pound the ears on the joist hangers between the left joist and the subfloor above it, or find hangers designed to be mounted to a flat surface without a top ledge.

The only other options that would work would seem to involve demo work on the wall above the left joist.

ORIGINAL ANSWER:

If I'm seeing that picture correctly, you have full open access to everything from above and below.

You want to set the cutting depth on a circular saw so that it just barely cuts through the plywood, and do a rip cut from above, straight down the middle of the joist/truss on the left (do NOT notch into the top of that truss). Then tear up the plywood, and lay new plywood down spanning both joists.

Another option might be to create short joists between the existing ones, perpendicular to them.


Dead outlet in basement for a cube freezer About two months ago, I purchased an Igloo cube freezer for my basement. I plugged it into a standard 120V grounded outlet and it turned on and ran apparently normally for a three weeks before I found that the freezer had turned off and all of the food had spoiled.

I quickly realized that there was no power to the outlet. Upon inspecting my circuit breaker panel, there were no tripped breakers. I eventually got around to cutting power to the whole house - I wasn't sure what individual breaker the outlet was on - and I replaced the outlet. I noticed that the old outlet was a little beat up, with the plastic around the ground broken off. I figured that the outlet was old or had become defective over time.

Well, the freezer ran fine for about a week, and now the new outlet is dead. No response from anything else plugged into the outlet and again no individual circuit breakers are tripped. I'm at a loss as to why this has occurred. I will likely kill the power to the house again and pull the outlet, however I'm not sure what else I can do to troubleshoot. (I have a multimeter, and can try that tonight. When troubleshooting it before, I couldn't find it and plugged in an extension cord work light to test, with no result.)

It is possible that you have a bad outlet before the freezer. Many times contractors use the push in connectors on the back of the outlets called "stabs" (I think they should be outlawed). These knife edge connections don't do well with loads like freezers because they draw a large starting current. Start by checking the outlets close to the one that powers your freezer since you just replaced that outlet. There are usually several outlets on the same circuit the problem could originate from a working outlet that the load side stabs failed. I work my way back to the first working outlet on that breaker check it, then check the next one that is dead. It has been this almost 100% of the time. I have repaired well over a hundred over the years Only 1 or 2 had loose wires at the breaker and there one that the outlet was covered with sheet rock. If you don't find it you may need to hire an electrician that has a through the wall scanner to find breaks behind the walls with a tool like a Greenlee CS800 but these are expensive and not something a home owner would use very often.


Caulking for transom glass I am remodeling a transom on a bedroom door. Here is the opening:

I plan to put 1/4", brownish tempered glass inside from the POV of the camera, against a 1/2" door stop (can be seen on right and top but haven't yet installed on the bottom) and then put some skinny molding to seal with little nails.

But I thought I should also use a bead of caulk around the glass, between it and the opening to reduce the impact of reverberation. Which type of caulking product should I use?

I wouldn't use caulk. It's going to be difficult to get everything in place without inadvertent squeeze out and other minor catastrophes. Get some glazing tape or simply some double-sided high density foam tape in the appropriate size. Ideally it would be slightly narrower than your stops and set to the outside so that you don't see it once the glass is installed.

Run that down your stops, press the glass in place, and you're good to go. I would consider putting it on both sides of a glass actually. This will  reduce the chance of vibration noise even more and also reduce the chance that you'll crack your glass when installing your stops.


Still reading open neutral after restoring power to lights and outlets We recently plugged a space heater into an outlet in our son’s bedroom and only ran it at night. At some point, all of the lights and outlets in the room except one outlet on the opposite wall stopped working. No breakers were tripped. I shut down every breaker and even the main before restoring them one by one, and it resolved nothing.
I located the circuit for the outlet that the heater was plugged into. One plug in tester said I had a reversed hot neutral, the other said open neutral. A multimeter showed no voltage at the outlet, but the touch tester revealed there was power in the wire behind it. I shut off the breaker and replaced the outlet the heater had been attached to (using wire screws and not the stab backs). It was the last thing on the circuit with only one set of wires in the wall. When I turned the breaker back on, three lights in the hall and the light in an adjacent closet stopped working. There are no GFCI’s on the circuit.
I methodically opened every outlet and switch in the room (6 outlets and two separate light/switch combos). I pulled the stab back connections, pushed them in firmly, checked  and tightened every pigtail wire nut, and didn’t find anything obviously wrong. I flipped the breaker back on and all of the lights started working again. The outlets are now working also, but still show an open neutral.
The only weird thing I saw was one outlet with wires in all 4 stab connections and an additional set tied into the side screws (so three pairs of wire on this one outlet. I’m assuming it’s switched, but it is behind furniture so not used.  I did not pull the fixtures because I’m short and weak and they are heavy.
So in summary, everything is working, but I’ve still got an open neutral somewhere. Any ideas?  It appear that this one 15 amp breaker controls 5 lights, 5 switches, and 6 outlets. I did not pull wiring for the three lights that went out after I changed the outlet. They all work now too.

You found a classic case of why backstabs are considered  bad news by many electricians.
When you pulled the receptacles out the connection was temporarily reconnected and the lighting is working again. As we don’t know if everything was proper to start with but is functioning now I can tell you this will normally happen again and eventually burn the wire off at the weak point.
I would suggest checking each receptacle working back towards the supply or service and if one shows properly connected and the next one away shows wrong the problem is one of those 2 points and a device can be connecting ground and neutral down stream making them work or many other reasons.
If you plan to continue using a space heater I would suggest moving to the screw connectors or pigtails as this usually happens again with a heavy load.
The point of failure is at the last working or first non working receptacle or splice.
If this bedroom has a common wall with another don’t forget there could be a receptacle on the other side of the wall in that circuit.


Can I use Zinsser BIN over latex? My contractor inadvertently painted my plywood subfloor with latex wall paint instead of the Zinsser BIN shellac based primer I bought for it to seal in dog odor.

Now what do I do? Should I just wait a few days for the latex to totally dry and then paint over it with the BIN shellac sealant? Will the BIN still seal well since it will be going over paint instead of into the pores of the wood?

Or must I strip the paint before applying the Zinsser BIN?

You can definitely Zinsser over latex - just did it last week.  Now will the Zinsser after latex not cover up the smell as much.  I am not sure and not really sure anyone could say for sure but I would rather have it directly on the wood.  Latex will sit and Zinsser will work its way in more.


Wired new outdoor sconce, won't turn on I have two outdoor wall sconces, which are rusting and falling apart. I replaced ONE of them so far, and left the other as-is.

The old one I replaced, there were two sets of wires coming out of the side of the garage powering two independently powered bulbs in the wall sconce (two sets of white, two sets of black, two grounds), while the new ones just use one set of wiring to power both bulbs.

Since I only needed one set of wires, I put caps on the individual wires for the set I wasn't using, and tucked them back into the junction box, and wired up the new set.

Now NEITHER wall sconce will turn on (not the old one, not the new one).

I made sure to change the bulbs just in case
I made sure the breaker was back on
I made sure the light switch was on
All of the other lights on the same circuit (garage light) are working

I suspect that I cannot have one set of wires disconnected like I have, and that both sets need to complete the circuit.

My question is, is it safe to wire the unused black and white wires together to complete the circuit? If so, do I need to include the ground wire?

It sounds like you've wired the second sconce directly up to the first sconce and capped off the power source.  They should all be wired in parallel: blacks and whites capped together by color grounds tied off together as well.  Check out this great link on wall-mounted-lighting.  The picture is the most relevant.  Note that the wires of the same color are all connected.

In the future, go straight for the multi-meter when the wiring doesn't make sense, test it carefully with the switch ON and the breaker closed.  Mark the wires, draw a diagram, and fix it on paper (verifying that you haven't created a short), then implement it in the fixture.  As always, be careful and good luck.


What else can I use to clean glass windows? I have a job scheduled that involves getting a house ready to sell. The customer wants it cleaned and polished as she is putting it on the market. It's a 3 story 1950's era house that has a lot of glass windows and doors (a lot). The windows are original single-pane casement. Every one has mullions that divide the pane into single panes (about 12" x 12"). I have to clean every window. What is the fastest way to accomplish this? I've heard newspaper can be substituted for paper towels?

Black ink newspapers work but they are messy and difficult.

If you have a lot of glass to do, duplicate how the professionals do it. They use dishwashing liquid solution (not an ammonia based glass cleaner like *%$dex). They use a soft absorbent scrubber (you could use a soft sponge mop maybe?), then they use a good quality squeegee to remove the grimy liquid from the glass. Follow that up with a quick dry rag wipe of the edges and corners.

You might think about blasting all the windows with a water stream first, to remove as much loose dirt from the sashes and mullions as you can.


Is there a sure way to know a PVC joint is glued right? I made some PVC joints that will be buried, since they won't be easily accessible I would like to make sure they are perfect.

When I glued them I used primer and glue, but I had to "twist" the pipe a bit to fit the elbow (it was an "almost" 45° bend). Now, some 5 days later, it is holding well under full pressure and no water seems to be leaking anywhere, but because of the force fit on the elbow I'm still worried.

I think that if it is still holding so far it should hold for good, is it true?

I'm not sure I completely understand what you mean by "twist."  You mention a 45 degree bend.  Is that the bend of the elbow?  Why was a "twist" required?

At any rate, if it is holding, it will probably be fine under static loads even if installation was not perfect.  However, a bad joint will typically only reveal itself under more extreme dynamic loads.  Pressure spikes typically occur due to air in the line or water hammer.  An acceptance test generally requires applying 150% of design pressure to the line and checking for leaks (that is, hyrdostatic water pressure, not air pressure....  applying compressed air to the line could be quite dangerous if anything fails).  I assume you have no way to do that.

So, the best you can hope for is that your installation was adequate and followed correct procedure.  At a minimum that would involve, deburring and beveling the pipe edge, applying sufficient amounts of cement to the pipe and fitting, ensuring the pipe is seated completely and uniformly in the fitting (fusion of the pipe and fitting typically only occurs right at the tightest portion of the fitting....  elsewhere, there is simply a mechanical bond that is weaker).


What architectural roofing feature is this? First off, let me say that this question will stray from the residential side of home improvement, but I'm wondering if there's anyone who may be familiar with the following architectural feature at the storefront-side of this commercial building's roof?

I'm considering re-roofing the building but am curious about the function and even the name of this big stucco-block thing just hanging off the front of the roof. Can it be easily removed or is it part of the architecture?

The building feature that you have indicated in your picture is designed in this case to provide an overhang over the front sidewalk. In this case the overhang provides cover during rainy conditions for persons coming to and leaving the business. Similar style overhangs such as this are also used for:

adding a false front to the building to make it look like a bigger building that it really is.
hiding unattractive heating and cooling equipment that may be mounted on the roof of the building so that it is not visible from the front.
Producing a prominent space to display the business name.

Often overhangs like this are built out from the face of the building and not tied into the original flat roof structure of the building. In these cases it is a lot easier to re-roof the original structure of the building and then separately address the roofing of the overhang unit and any flashing that deals with diverting water from the overhang onto the original roof.

In cases where an overhang like this is built up quite a bit higher than the original roof then it may be tied into framing that attaches into the original roof and cantilevers over the edge. This can make for a much more complex job in re-roofing the building.

As far as removal it will depend on a number of factors some of which include:

If the owner of the building wants to eliminate the overhang.
Need to evaluate if this overhang was added onto the original building structure after the fact.
If the overhang framing is integral to the original roof structure it could be a big added job to remove the cantilever framing and patch the original front roof edge.
The type of construction used for the overhang can be a driving factor for removal. For a plain wood facade it can be easier to remove than something covered in stucco as you indicated that this one is finished with.


What is causing my electric problems? So I have power going into junction box into attic 12g/20A.

It fed a light switch, the light switch was chained to microwave outlet.  Also in that junction box and connected to the light switch line was the light.

The line to the light switch and the line from light switch to microwave outlet were aluminum.  This setup has worked since I bought the house - I did run copper to junction about 3 years ago.

So microwave just doesn't work right all of a sudden a few days ago - it has symptoms of low voltage to the point where clock wasn't even functioning right.

I go up in attic and everything seems clean and tight.  [Note voltmeter is at a job and haven't had access to it so I will see what kind of power I am getting tonight hopefully]
Grounds are tied to metal box and each other, everything is under the purple AL rated caps.

I gave up troubleshooting so snipped aluminum line in half that ran from light switch to the microwave outlet and directly ran the microwave outlet to the junction box.  Boom everything working fine.

Two days later, exact same issue.  It almost sounds like something is loose at the outlet but have tried switching outlets and have triple checked all my connections.  Is there a chance that the AL wiring is having issues?  Any thoughts on what might be the cause?  I am going to run a copper line tonight for it but this will bug the crap out of me if I can't actually figure out the cause.  Going on 4-5 hours for one outlet definitely record for me.

Addendum:  Installed new outlet, hit it with voltmeter and was get 120V - very clean.  Microwave worked for 2 days - 20+ times.  Boom late last night, stops working.  Of course voltmeter at a job again...  Is there any reason my lights would work fine but microwave outlet not when they are both branched from same junction power other than a loose connection?  Starting to think that the AL wiring is faulty.

Hit this with a voltage meter and everything was fine over time.  [More than willing to hear comments on possible troubleshooting.]

The outlet basically worked intermittently.  Even when it didn't work I was getting 120v continuously.  However while scoping the circuit I found the probably issue.  The wiring was ran down a wall and pulled up to the outlet.  When it was pulled up it was bent sharply across a nail.

I simply took out that section of the circuit and replaced with copper. (without bending it across the nail)

It was really frustrating but interesting too because 99% of the time this situation is due to a loose connection and funny that a severely kinked cable can cause same issue.


Can I remove my vent covers without disconnecting the duct? I have an old house with flexible duct work in the ceiling. There is mold in at least one. Can I remove the vent covers to clean or will that disconnect the duct work in the attic from the vent cover/diffuser?

I would get rid of duct work.  Install new duct work or at the very least clean the crap out of old duct work with mold products and bleach (but then again do you want the chemicals pushing through your house).

I would install rigid duct if possible.  If your flex got mold and you didn't "fix" the issue of why it got mold then your new flex will probably get mold too.  I would then wrap your rigid duct in plastic then insulation.

And just to your answer.  Yes unscrew your vent cover, it won't hurt anything.


Do you need skirt boards on the stairs? My stairs are flush with the drywall right now. Will this cause me issues down the road?

You don't have to install skirt boards.  Just like you don't have to install any molding in your house.

However there is a difference here compared to your normal baseboards.

you are usually moving with more force on stairs.
you are closer to the walls when on stairs.  You don't usually walk next to walls in your house much except for hallways.
if you damaged the bottom area of a wall by kicking it, well that is a pretty easy fix.  The drywall next to the stairs will not be as easy to patch and you may notice it a lot more.
you are often carrying things up and down the steps.  These nick this area and also cause your feet to hit the walls.
and then if you have baseboards already they look much better than when they meet a stair skirt.

Note that this is highly dependent on what function the stairs play and the overall finishes in the house.  If you are doing a high end house it is ludicrous to skip stair skirts.  On the other end if you have stairs going to an unfinished basement, generally not needed.


Questions about subfloor prepping for LVP This is my first time installing LVP. The subfloor in this doublewide, for the most part, is in good condition but I have questions about a few areas in the subfloor that I am unsure how to handle.
First pic is a section 4 feet by 4 inches.
Looks like the board was put there to fill a gap for reasons unknown. There's no other "patch" jobs anywhere else. It's not level and it's tilted toward the wall. I am thinking that I will rip that board up to see why it was installed like that and fix it, possibly just sanding it down and putting it back?

This is a gap in the marriage wall that runs half the length
the trailer, it's over an inch deep. Can I fill it with floor patch?
 This is the marriage wall in the other half of the trailer. This metal strip is wavy and uneven, with sharp pieces where it folded back on itself. Any advice about what to do here? Can I just put the LVP over it?
This section runs about 4" x 4". I'm thinking self leveler here. I appreciate any and all advice.

You will most likely need to a mix of fixes. At the edge where the piece is tilted you may simply fill that with a trowel grade floor leveler. If I am thinking correctly, that is subfloor only, not an underlayment you can pull up. The walls are sitting on the floor you see now. Modulars are built as light as possible for towing to the building site so quite possibly if you pull up the floor, you will expose the insulation and floor joists.
The gap in the first picture will definitely need sanding, and perhaps over a large enough area to lower the other side too, but take no more than 1/8" or less off of the surfaces or you will weaken the subfloor too much.
The gap in the 3rd picture can be filled with floor patch as you suspect. If the floor is thick enough it may be able to span over the gap with no filler, but it would be better to fill it.
Typically each maker of laminate floor has their own "flatness" recommendations. It runs from 1/8" over a 5" span to 3/16" over an 8' span and anything in between. Your last picture with the level "ramped up" to measure the end is not the intent of checking for flatness. The straightedge or level used as a straightedge need to be "balanced" over a hump or depression and the ends are checked over humps or the middle is checked over depressions. The way I see the edge at 1/2", may in reality only 1/4...
So again, sanding will be your help on some of the fixes, but do not go down to far. If there is still a dip or ridge that is too high following the before mention guideline, use trowel grade floor leveler to finish the task.


Washing Machine super loud noise at the start I currently have front loader washing machine(samsung WF-JT254) and suddenly it started to start making super loud noise when I use it. I tried to record the sound I am getting when I record it on my phone, though its much much louder for real compared to watchin it on a video
https://streamable.com/vgwuid
I would like to seek advice on what should I do with it, I am planning to hire a guy to fix but I need to get your thought if its worth fixing or better to buy a new one. But when I tested it, I think its still usable the only problem is the noise. Note when I tried 'drain' it did the same loud noise.

It sounds like the pump stalling because it has a sock stuck in it.
IF you feel competent to look up 'how to remove back from xyz appliance' and do it, you can.
The worst that happens is water on the floor and you started the job for the tech.
Remember to unplug before you start.
If you're not mechanically able then don't use it and wait for the tech.
Loud noises mean something is hitting/impinging where it shouldn't.
This is 'homeowner experience' not 'repair tech knowledge,' FWIW


How can I reliably determine whether a wall is load-bearing? I remodeling my kitchen and opened up the entrance to kitchen to be more “open concept”.  An inspector has asked me to determine if the wall is a load bearing wall.

I need to “verify” but not sure what they mean. Do I verify myself? Ask an engineer for proof that it is or isn’t? I’m not sure.

Here’s a picture of what I’m talking about. I removed the plaster. And accidentally removed some 2X4’s in the picture below but not everything. I believe it’s called a “pony wall” but not sure.

I would try calling the inspector and ask him  what he wants as far as verification.  It seems like he would want verification that it is NOT load bearing. Did he see the wall after you took the drywall off?   If he looked at it after the drywall is off and saw the joist ends, he should know whether it is okay or not.


Trying to find this brand We have an original kitchen faucet in our 1940s home. The connection is very difficult to find, but this symbol is on the gooseneck (seems like the gooseneck is not original) so I want to see if this company makes them still.


Finish before hanging units and tiling I have a company working with us in fitting a new kitchen. When they removed the old tiles, the plasterboard was damaged. They fitted new plasterboard. Should they have done anything to the new plasterboard to finish it before hanging cabinets? Also I am getting the backsplash tiled and in a couple of areas (as shown in picture with my hand) there is a considerable gap between worktop and plasterboard. How on earth does that get tiled without having to try fill the gaps with sealant/ silicone?

The walls should have the seams taped and then primed, especially where tile will be installed. The area where your hand is inserted looks like the drywall needs to be shimmed out or refitted to be even with the worktop, unless it's the worktop that's not straight, unlikely.


replacing ceiling fan The fixture has three white wires tied together and one black.  The new fan has a black, blue, white, and green.  Bmage description here]2]2
Success!  Thanks everyone!

This is a switch loop setup

What we see here is an old-style switch loop.  While the three white wires you see bundled together at the fan box are indeed neutral, the white wire from the switch isn't one of them -- it instead gets bundled in with the always-hot wires in the fan box to provide power to the switch.  The black wire from the switch then carries power back to become the black wire going to the fan.

So, presuming you've checked to make sure the box can take the load:

Wire white on the fan to the bundle of white wires.
Wire black and blue on the fan to the lone black wire.
Nut off the grounds on the fan
Button it all up and turn the power back on
Enjoy your new fan


Electrical outlet above HVAC air return, within same wall cavity Q: Is an outlet above the HVAC air return considered within the environmental air space?
We need to move the HVAC air return in one of our rooms, and there is an existing electrical outlet in the most convenient spot. Rather than remove the electrical outlet, I was thinking about just moving it up a foot or so to make room for the new air return grill, as shown here:

My understanding based on NEC is that the space between the studs through which the air will be flowing from the grill to the furnace is covered by 300.22(C) "Other Space Used for Environmental Air". What I can't figure out is whether the same rules apply if the outlet is located above the HVAC air return. Theoretically, the air flow would be downward from the grill, so it would not flow past the outlet; however, there is no barrier within the space between the studs to separate the outlet from the HVAC air flow.
Clarifying Edit: The return air is not enclosed in a duct; this is an old (1920s) house, and it just uses the stud bays for the air return.

The air space is just that if the wires are within the air space in any way they need to be plenum rated power wiring even low voltage requires the plenum rating.
the only way around this Is to enclose the wiring or isolate from the environmental air source OR use plenum rated cables.
In your case if I understand it correctly the vent would be above the receptacle but in the same air space no isolation.
A electrical fire in this case could spread more easily without plenum rated cables and the toxicity, burn rate of standard cables vs plenum rated is the reason air spaces need to be isolated or plenum cable’s used.


changing 60 amp outlet to two 30 amp outlets? I have a small brewery in my basement that currently plugs into an outlet (I don't know the name of) on a 60 Amp 240 vac GFCI breaker, wire is 6 AWG. I want to upgrade my system with one that has two L6-30 plugs, not the same as I have now. Is this as simple as taking out the old outlet and replacing it with two of the new outlets or do the new outlets need to be on separate 30 amp breakers? I only have 1 empty spot in my panel. When I searched for an answer to this I found something similar involving wall ovens but seemed specific to them.

Depending a great deal on EXACTLY what you have now and how it's wired:
Possibly you could replace your current 60A outlet with a sub-panel and put two 30A breakers in the sub-panel for your two 30A outlets. That will only be the case if what you have now has 4 separate wires feeding it (Hot, Hot, Neutral, Ground - also known as L1, L2, N, G) or 3 wires plus a continuous metallic conduit which acts as ground.
If this is an old installation without a separate grounding conductor, you can replace the cable you have now with a cable with 4 wires, 4 wires in plastic conduit, or 3 wires in metal conduit (the metal conduit acts as ground) and still place a sub-panel. In that case you might want to consider using a larger size of wire and a larger breaker to feed it, to allow for future expansion, if your service / main box will support that.


What to do with floor drains in basement? I'm looking to finish my basement, the house was built in 2005. There is a storage area (it will remain unfinished) with the water heater, hvac, sump pump and storage. There are two floor drains, that are in the family area that I plan on carpeting or tiling.

Should I have the drains relocated to the storage area, covered, or something else?

The house has never had a problem with floods or odors (yet).
Any ideas or steps to take?
Thanks, Jake

I would stain the concrete or tile it and leave the drains there. I don't think carpet belongs in basements. You are just asking for trouble like mold, mildew, etc.

Good luck!