Is laminate flooring easier to install if compared to other flooring materials? Is laminate flooring easier to install if compared to other flooring materials?

It depends on the tools you're using/have, and your skill level with said tools.

I've installed both "click-lock" laminate, and nail down hardwood flooring. Both took about the same amount of time, and used fairly similar installation techniques.  The major difference, was that the hardwood "required" a compressor and flooring nailer/stapler.

Linoleum and other sheet products are fairly easy to install, and don't really require any special tools.

Carpet is also not that difficult, as long as you have the tools and knowledge required to stretch it.

Obviously complex room shapes complicate the installation of each product.


What does it mean to "re-tank" toilet? My contractor included "re-tank" toilet in work that he said he had completed in a list of works to be carried out, but we are still having leaking. What does re-tank mean and how do I know that its been done. I think maybe it hasn't!

I would take it to mean that he either installed a new tank on the toilet bowl, or re-installed the existing tank.

This might be done:

If the tank was damaged in some way.
If the tank was leaking at the tank-bowl union.
To change the look of the toilet, without replacing the entire unit.

It could also mean that he installed a new flush, and/or fill valve assembly.

This might be done:

If the toilet was leaking.
If the toilet was running intermittently.
If the toilet was not flushing properly.

NOTE: There are various types of fill and flush valve assemblies, these are simply two of the more common types.


Easy way of generating a 50-150W load @12V I need to test a battery for its remaining capacity and to do that, I need to generate a constant load to be able to measure how long it can sustain that load.

I tried using a 330W load (290W shoe heater + 85%-ish efficient inverter), but I found out that it couldn't sustain that load for more than half an hour before the voltage was too low. Lower loads seemed to work, though, so I'll need to find a way of creating something that has constant load, but at a lower wattage.

Now, this seems silly-stupid simple, right? Just find something that draws, say 100W and see if that works. Or 50W if that should fail. The problem is, I have a hard time finding anything with a constant power draw in the range 15W-300W. It's impossible to find light bulbs that are not LEDs anymore (1-2W instead of 50W), and my vacuum starts at 350W at the minimum setting. Nothing inbetween.

So I guess I could hack my own? I'm not that great at electro-physics, but I understand it's possible to make some kind of super-basic heater: something with a high resistance causing a lot of thermal heat. I have no idea, though, how to make it work at 12V. Is this something I could hack together?

Alternatively, are there common household appliances that can generate a constant load at 50-150W for hours without inducing mechanical failure of some sort?

Automotive headlamps are the obvious, easy 12V choice, being typically in the 45-55W range (don't get LED headlamps.)

If you ask the right folks you can often get dual-filament bulbs (high/low beam) with one filament broken for free.


Connecting smart switch, identifying neutal wire Im looking to switch out an old rocker switch to a smart switch, but the wiring appears to be unconventional. Two black wires attached to the same screw, and a white wire, which I am trying to determing if it is neutral or not is attached to the bottom screw, and the ground on the opposite screw. Looking at the picture is there a way to see if this is a neutral wire, even though its connected to the switch.

This is a switch loop.  The unpainted whitee and black are always-hot and switched-hot.

You don't have neutral here.  Further, the extra hot wire can't be on this switch.

Notice how the hot and switched-hot on this switch do not have any paint on them.  They were added later, and are a switch loop to a different circuit.  They were installed before NEC 2011 took effect, because that requires neutral on a switch loop. That would be the neutral you need and do not have.

The paint-speckled hot, however, is a dangerous interloper.  It is stealing hot from this circuit, but returning neutral on another circuit, causing that neutral to be overloaded*.

Further, that invasion is totally needless.  There are plenty of wires back there, so some must surely be hot for its own proper circuit.  This needs to be fixed, by a pro if necessary.

Regardless, given the availability of power here, the switch loop might be "flipped", so the power at the lamp is not used by the lamp anymore, and the power comes out of this box.   If that were done, the two extant wires would become switched-hot and neutral, and you would be able to install a smart switch here.


Piping gravity fed condensate line down interior wall into crawlspace then through rim joist to outside Mini split piping and control lines will run up the outside of the house into attic, then to interior Wall units. I can’t run the condensate drain lines on this path without pumps.
The idea is to run them down the interior wall straight into the crawlspace then to outside.
Use 3/4 pex down to crawlspace, then pvc to the outside?
Does this sound ok?
Any concerns?
Thanks!

Could you do it sure , but you will need a pump to go horizontal can’t just dump under the house unless you want other problems and it will be found on an inspection if you want to sell.
If you don’t mind a 45 or steeper slope  to an outside wall that could be done also and would be a better option than under the house in my opinion.
Under the house you are really taking a chance of something as simple as a spider building a nest in the drain line. Any obstructions tend to cause the system to back up.
Regarding backups It’s not just 1 brand several brands I have installed and very high end units I have been called to fix, I see no water in the down pipe but a slight plug in the pipe opening and the water is overflowing inside The machine(s) have been level but the tray is over filled and pouring out (ok more like a dribble, Or the safety shut the machine down) the home owner(s) always want to know why/ not happy hot house.
To date I have seen several spiders , grass clippings and earwigs being the cause and 2 or 3 that the hose curled up and the water made a trap once straightened the problem was gone hence my forcing the drain straight below the Chanel covering.
I am not sure if it is the ridges in the pipe or what make them back up so easily. I have seen it quite often to the point I cut the lines several inches above the ground and tape a rod to the pipe so it stays straight and cannot curl.
In the training classes I have asked and so far no one has given a satisfactory answer other than the ribs.


Consistent way to sand and repaint doors? I have several closet and bedroom doors that are currently varnished/stained, which I want to sand down and paint a semi-gloss white.

Should I do something other than sanding to remove the varnish, such as some kind of stripping chemicals?
Besides working quickly to ensure the coats are completed before the paint dries too much, is there anything I can do to give the doors a consistent finish?
Should I sand down extra on the edges of the doors to ensure they still fit the frames after painting?

Priming the doors will do the most to ensuring your previously stained doors have a consistent, even finish.

I also like to lay a door flat and paint with a roller - makes the job a lot easier because you're not having to mask off each doorway, worry about runs and drips, etc to paint the door while it's hanging.  We didn't have enough space to set each door aside while it dried so we had to wait for each side to dry before we flipped the door over (and was only able to do one at a time), but they turned out really nicely so the extra time spent waiting was worthwhile.


Can you have a 90 degree elbow going upward on drain line? I'm running a drain for a utility sink off of a stack in my basement. I wanted to know if it's ok to have a 90 degree elbow going up then out to the utility sink since when the water drains it's going to have to go back up the 90 degree elbow to the main drain. I've attached a picture.

The drain then runs to the left to a secondary drain line that runs vertical in my basement. Just not sure if you are allowed to drop a 90 degree angle like this since the water would have to go up when I use the utility sink.

No, you should not do that.  As mentioned in a comment, the drain is going to fill up with gunk and clog. Depending on use, you'll find that you have to snake this line quite often.
While traps do hold water, they are limited in the depth of water they can hold.  Traps are also designed in such a way, that normal use stirs up any "sediment" and helps flush it away (self cleaning).

Uniform Plumbing Code
Chapter 10 Traps and Intercepters
1003.0 Traps - Described
1003.1 General Requirements. Each trap, except for
traps within an interceptor or similar device shall be self-cleaning. Traps for bathtubs, showers, lavatories, sinks,
laundry tubs, floor drains, urinals, drinking fountains, dental units, and similar fixtures shall be of standard design,
weight and shall be of ABS, cast brass, cast iron, lead, PP,
PVC, or other approved material.

I'm not sure how far away the vent is for this fixture. If that's 2" pipe, it has to be within 8' of the trap weir.  If it's 1½" pipe, the vent has to be within 6' of the trap weir.


How high should the tops of concrete piers be above grade? I'm about to pour some footings for a covered deck. I'm going to be putting 6x6 posts on top of concrete piers, but before I cut my sauna tubes, how high should my pier project above grade? Is there a minimum height that's pretty much standard, or can I make the top of my pier be right at ground level?

If your posts are pressure treated, you can set the concrete level to grade. If the posts are not pressure treated, I would set the top of concrete at 8" above grade. more would not hurt. Also use metal fasteners that hold the post up off the concrete 1" in either case.


Can static electricity trip GFCI? I live in Europe, so we don't have GFCI exactly, the device is called RCBO but the mode of operation is same. In my flat, the RCBO is the first breaker in the panel, this way it protects whole flat, not just single circuit.
I was redoing the outlets in one room. The room is on it's own circuit, so I have turned off the breaker for this room and verified with mains voltage tester that the circuit is powered off.
When working on the outlets I had cut the cable (all three leads at once) and the GFCI tripped. I have then turned the RCBO back on and the situation did not happen again. When working on the other outlets, or the same one. I have then checked the cable with a multimeter, and there was no voltage between any 2 pairs.
Is it possible that the static electricity caused the GFCI to trip?
The installation is few months old, done to the code, and passed inspection - it was done by certified electrician. All wiring is CYKY 3x2.5 (copper leads, 2.5mm2), main breaker is 16A. The test button on the RCBO works perfectly.
The room has vinyl flooring and I was wearing polyester clothing, hence the idea about static electricity.

The breaker only switches the live, leaving the neutral connected on the load side of the RCBO.
When you cut the neutral and earth at the same time you shorted them together. This can cause enough current to backfeed from the other still live circuits through to the earth to trip the RCBO.
That will be the more likely reason that it tripped.


removing skylight from resin storage shed I have a 10 ft. x 8 ft. Keter Stronghold Resin Storage Shed

The roof panel slides off due to several broken tabs on skylight so I have to remove the old skylight by unsnapping the roof panel.
***How do you unsnap the roof panel from the skylight panel?
I heated the tabs and tried using a screwdriver but have't been able to unsnap these plastic parts from each other. The other option is to break the other skylight tabs holding the roof panels but I dont want to damage the roof panels in the process.

See pages 24 and 33 of the instruction manual. The ridge was installed first, and the roof panels slid in place. You'd need to do the opposite to take them out.


Shower floor cracking Our house has a raised corner shower stall in the downstairs bathroom. Just by doing a quick search and going off of looks, I'm pretty sure it's this model:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/38-in-x-38-in-x-78-in-Shower-Kit-in-White-455000/204311534

The floor in the shower has these stick on leaves that covered the majority of it and in the last couple days started to peel off. I've noticed before that the floor feels soft in places and sometimes almost has the sound of creaking wood in others. My original guess was that maybe the base was even framed with 2x4s and filled between. This is what the base looks/feels like. The blue circle is the drain. The brown lines feel like possible the supports as they are were it'll creak, but has the most strength. The areas between the lines are were the floor feels "squishy"/has some give to it. It was most likely installed in like 2006/2007 when the home was renovated, so now I'm almost guessing it might feel that way over water leaking into the base.. but I'm not sure of anything on it.

Originally I thought it was maybe just made to feel soft, but now that the leaves have started to peel off, we see that it appears to have cracked/been cracking before and the owners attempted to patch it with some sort of square white tape? I've marked them in the picture below with the black line around them. I'm not sure that it's leaking and I haven't removed all of the leaves yet to see the rest, but based on the feel and sounds of the base.. I believe there is an issue and I don't know that I trust that tape to be holding out water. What options do I have here to possibly stop any future cracking or water from leaking? Does anyone know why the shower would be making these noises/feel soft, is it accurate to blame water damage? Preferably I'd like to apply some sort of whole-coverage on to the base rather than continuing on with patches here and there.

I went to my local hardware store and tried to find some options. I originally attempted an epoxy coat, but it did like was mentioned and quickly came loose and fell off because of the flexible base underneath. I then went back to try something else. I saw this stand for "Fiber Fix" and they had one called 'Rigid Patch' which goes on soft and hardens "like steel" in UV light in about 10 minutes. Completely waterproof and shown to patch canoes, wheelbarrows, water tanks, etc. I figured it was one of those typical as seen on TV items, but it was on sell and cheap so I figured it was worth trying if it did what it says it can.

http://www.fiberfix.com/products/

They come in a black pouch with a clear film on it. They provide gloves and sandpaper as well for working with it. It's almost like a fabric when you get it out and is black on one side and gold on the other. The black side is what sticks and the gold fades away to clear when it's dry. You basically place it down on a dry, clean surface and then almost like massage it on from the edges in. The bottom black is gooey feeling and so is the gold underneath of the clear plastic. You try to smooth it on so that there aren't any air bubbles and get a complete seal around the outside. Let it sit in the sun for 10-15 minutes (or UV light in general) and it'll harden and the gold will disappear when it's done. I also noticed that it gets slightly hot itself while drying. My frosted shower door is between the base and the nearest window and this window isn't on the sunny side of the house, but it was still done in about that 10 minute time. After it's dry, you peel up the clear plastic from it and it's good to go. It feels like a fabric when putting it on, but is smooth like plastic when done. It completely sealed on around the edges, covered the holes, and actually has attached itself so tightly to the base that it doesn't really have any give where I placed the two patches.

To finish it off, I coated most of the shower base in Flex Seal. I'd never used it either and wasn't sure about it, but it also seems to work great. It does give more of a rubbery feel to everything and it takes a day to cure, but it seems like it worked.


Gas frunace trouble shooting Blower kicks on early and will only run 1 cycle. Have to turn down thermostat and turn it back up again to get furnace to come back on. It is gas.

The fact you have to turn it off or down to reset the unit tells us the unit is having a fault and locking out which requires a reset or a time span to pass before it will run again.

Typically this is due to  the induced draft proving switch, it is a pressure switch that proves the induced draft motor is operating and it is ok to transition to ignition and burners.The switch has a tube that attaches to a barbed port on the induced draft housing.

This port will obstruct fully or partially and require reaming clear to allow sensing the inducer motors operation. The tubing can collect condensation if drooped  and a low spot exists.  The flame sensor also may be dirty, this requires 0000 steel wool to gently wipe it clean. The ignition module can also be going bad though less common to find than the aforementioned issues. If it were going off on a high limit it would require manually resetting the safety device tripped, as they will not auto reset.


Brick fireplace - pulling away from wall I have a brick fireplace that is 8 feet wide by 39.5 inches tall.

The brick is pulling away from the wall.    Attached pictures show what is happening.

I can see the brick was attached to the studs with nails.

One idea is to use a heavy duty jack to push the brick back into place, but wondering how to make the brick adhere to the studs (if it is even possible to safely move the brick using a jack).

Any thoughts on this project would be appreciated.

Thank you,

I would not leave it as is and cover the gap.  I would apply a thick application of  heavy duty heat resistant construction adhesive to the studs that you can reach and then push the brick face back to the studs either by jacking as you mentioned or better in my opinion would be :

Carefully Drill  1/8" holes through the mortar then enlarge to 1/4" directly in line with the studs on each side so they are just big enough for a 1/4 lag bolt. One in the motor just under the second coarse of brick and another about 18 to 24 inches lower. I would then cut two 2x4's just shorter than the distance from the hearth to the bottom of the mantel. drill holes in the 2x4's that match the holes in the motor. Now you can use a lag through the boards with a large/wide washer to slowly suck the entire face back to the studs.

I would pre-drill a pilot hole in the stud with long bit, 3/16?, so your lags can get a started and not bind to much and break. Apply your adhesive and place the 2x4's in place, put the lags in place and use a ratchet to tighten the lags. Start with a lower one and work your way around in circular pattern. Go slowly,  two turns at a time on each of the bottom ones and then the same on the top, slowly drawing the face back to the studs. You will need to use your best judgment to know when to stop, look at the gap, "feel" resistance when you get close. You want to make sure that the adhesive is contacting the back of the bricks. Leave the the 2x4 in place 24 hours for the adhesive to cure. You can then remove the lags and boards, patch the holes with mortar.

AS added insurance i would install a piece of quarter round or some other molding just under the mantle up against the brick. Glue and screw the molding to the mantle so it acts as a stop if the adhesive should fail in the future.

Mind you this i just an idea and i do not know if the whole face will move back without some damage/cracking of the mortar joints. Perhaps the middle will bow if the old fasteners bind? Maybe a 2x4 in the middle if you can line it up with a stud. Or maybe a piece of 5 quarter plywood cut to the size of the brick face and placed between the 2x4's and the brick work.  Again this is all theoretical.

IF you go the leave it in place and cover the gap method i would at least secure it with quarter round molding under the mantal if nothing else.


Voids under drywall tape unavoidable? The usual way to tape a typical butt drywall joint is to put .5 cm of drywall compound over the joint to create a bed of "mud", then add tape, press in to get excess "mud" out, then apply more "mud" over the top of everything.

This all-purpose drywall compound shrinks as it dries because the water evaporates out of it. Does this evaporative shrinking introduce voids under the tape?

This seems especially to be the case for factory edges because they're so significantly tapered that a good deal of drywall compound is required to fill the space. This means there will be a good deal of shrinking if, for instance, drywall compound loses 15% of its volume to evaporation (just an off-the-cuff guess). Tighter joints (cut so that they fit very tightly) won't suffer the same amount of shrinkage (by volume) though there are other problems with not having a good amount of drywall compound in the joint.

Under the tape, you should have no voids. If you do, you likely didn't press it into the bed of mud well enough, or you didn't have enough mud period. The mud acts like glue to the tape (properly applied).

Mud is designed for multiple coats, however. Even if the mud pulls the tape in some, a subsequent coat should fill the gap.


Number of devices supported by one outlet How can I calculate how many devices I can plug in one outlet?

I am living in Europe and have 220V outlets.

Do I have to check the devices' volts or watts or something else entirely?

Check Wikipedia's AC power plugs and sockets and identify the connector and current rating (amps or 'A')for your sockets.

Figure 1. French power socket. Source Wikipedia.

The relationship between power, voltage and current is very simple: \$P = VI \$ where P is power (watts or 'W'), V is voltage (volts or 'V') and I is current (amps or 'A).

For example, if your sockets are capable of 10 A then the maximum power you can draw is given by \$ P = VI = 220 \cdot 10 = 2200~W \$.


Gas Water Heater and Water Shut Off My house and my neighbors' houses are going to have our water shut off from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm this week by our Water and Wastewater District.

I called the manufacturer of the water heater and also the gas provider.  They recommended changing the gas knob to either "OFF" or "PILOT".  They advised that "PILOT" would be better as I wouldn't need to go through the trouble of re-lighting the pilot light.

My question is if I switch the gas knob to "PILOT" do I have to change the water heater thermostat to "PILOT LIGHTING" or can I leave it to its current setting?  I have been reading through the manual and am not sure.

I have a gas water heater from 2006 so the thermostat does not have a vacation setting.

Thanks.

You just need to set it to pilot. Pilot lighting is just the position used to light the pilot.


Replacing patio stones with grass My entire backyard is patio stones which surround the pool. Some are cracking and they are not all the same size. It's a bit of an eyesore.
It is cost and time effective to replace the patio stones on the outer edges of the yard with grass. What is involved in doing so?

Well chances are that below your stones is 5 - 8 inches of gravel. The amount of gravel depends on your climate and if the original patio job was done right. So to properly grow grass you will need to remove almost all that gravel and then fill it with soil. This would be lots of hard labor.

I would probably dig up a bit under one of the patio blocks and see how far down the gravel goes. If they used no gravel you could just remove the patio blocks, top off the soil a bit and plant the seeds. However, it is unlikely they didn't use gravel as your patio would become uneven fast.


Should I Buy Cordless Drill/Driver From USA And Use It In My Country? I want to purchase DeWalt 18V Cordless Drill/Driver from USA where electricity standard is 120V - 60Hz and use it in my country with transformer where standard is 220V-230V - 50Hz but there will be 10Hz of electricity frequency difference. Although people say differently, i would still like to know if such option is worthwhile given i save a lot of money.

What specifications must be transformer to fit cordless drill/driver and remain stable? What other things besides voltage should i take into account?

I would buy part number DW9116220. This is the 220 volt charger for the battery system. Then buy the drill separately and you're good to go.


Are these screws adequate for securing a 304 stainless steel shelf bracket? I have a bunch of 304 stainless steel shelf L brackets, they are thick brackets, ~6 gauge steel (5mm).  They have 5 holes, long side has 3, and the short side has 2. All are 5mm in diameter, though they came with no fasteners.

The problem is that a screw should be 2 3/4 in (2.75 in) minimum length, to be strong in the stud, correct?  I have plaster and lath walls, and I think they are slightly thicker than standard drywall.

What the hell can I do?
The longest M5 Metric lag is 60mm, (2.3622 inches).

What should I do? How should I secure the the bracket to the stud in the wall?  What about securing the bracket to the shelf?  Keep in mind this is stainless, so that means using fasteners that won't corrode fastening something stainless.

Typically, 1-1/2" (about 40mm) is plenty in a wooden stud (properly piloted). It's rare that I'd go much deeper since you increase the risk of damaging electrical cables, which are centered at about 1-3/4" (45mm). Keep in mind that the holes punched in such brackets give you a clue as to their intended load range. If they were super heavy duty brackets they'd have larger fastener holes.

Three such fasteners will hold a heck of a lot of weight. (For extreme loads, the long side goes on the wall.) Penetrating deeper may increase pullout strength, but if you're loading the shelves that heavily, pullout isn't your primary concern. Crushed plaster and fastener bending will occur first.

I don't know what you'd use into the shelf since I don't know what your shelves are.


Right way to disassemble radiator piping? I have an old house with a radiator system, and am needing to take a radiator out. While some of the radiators in my house have nuts on both ends of the radiator, making it easy to remove, this one only has a nut on one end. On the other end is a straight pipe coming out of the radiator, which threads into a 90-degree elbow, and so on.

There's so much paint on the pipe that I can't tell whether the end connecting to the radiator is threaded or whether it's a part of the radiator itself. Thinking it was likely threaded, I tried holding the elbow still while cranking on the pipe, but it wouldn't budge. Before I get out the sawzall or crank more on the pipe, I thought I'd get others' thoughts on what the right way of going about this is.

Is there a way to disconnect the pipe from the radiator? If I used a sawzall, am I ruining a part of the radiator itself? Or could I sawzall it and somehow get the ends of the cut pipe out of the radiator and the elbow, and then replace the pipe w/a better solution that has a nut? I need to be able to re-install the radiator later in the same location.

What I would do:

Cut the long pipe. Move the radiator, making both cut pieces accessible. Remove and and discard both pieces of the long pipe. Unscrew the elbow-and-tee assembly from the radiator. Replace the short nipple with two short nipples connected by a union. Replace the long pipe with a longer pipe to account for the added length of the added nipple and union.

This will leave you with plumbing projecting from the right side a little more than your current hookup, but it's better than pulling everything apart down to the first union on that line which may be, as you say, two floors below.

When you unscrew the elbow-and-tee assembly from the radiator, the short nipple will probably remain fast to either the elbow-and-tee assembly or the radiator. It doesn't matter which, just leave it, and add the new nipple to the other side of the union.

You may need to separate the elbow from the tee in order to re-assemble the plumbing. If they are too rusted to come apart, consider that buying new ones is not really expensive and is a lot better than gouging your new floor.

Edit: I just realized that you may be able to make the assembly a little shorter by screwing a union directly onto a street elbow. The order of the new parts (left-to-right) will be: new long pipe, tee with cleanout plug, vertical short nipple, new street elbow, new union, horizontal short nipple, radiator.


fire extinguisher selection & sizing for home use With such a bewildering array of fire extinguisher technology available what are the considerations that one would use to select a model? Also, what's a rough sizing guideline?

In addition to an extinguisher does it make sense to own any other fire fighting technology? Obviously, smoke alarms but what else? A fire axe? A fire blanket? A sand pail?

Unless you have a really clear idea what to do with one, leave the fire axes to the folks who do know what they are doing with one.

When in doubt, get out. Stuff can be replaced. Dead people can't. Killing yourself by trying to fight a fire is bad enough - if you manage to kill firefighters who go in looking for you, it's worse. If it's small and you can apply an extinguisher without undue risk to yourself, only then try putting it out. Remember that most people are not "burned to death" in a fire - most are asphyxiated.

I shade a bit larger (5 lb., or 2A, 10BC) on what I think is an OK minimum than @mjohns615, but otherwise agree, pretty much. ABC dry chemical is safe to use on any home fire, so you don't have to figure out which extinguisher to grab when you are probably a bit panicky and time is of the essence. I'd rather have more than I need than less, so long as it's not to the point of absurdity. I think the one in the garage/shop is a 10 lb.

The US A/B/C ratings are for a "size of fire that can be put out" for each of the "types" (A being paper/wood, B being oils/fats/grease, C being electrical) and the B/C rating is nearly always 5x higher than the A rating for dry chemical, since dry combustibles have embers which the other two types of fire don't, so they are prone to relighting themselves.

While terribly old fashioned, if you can make space in your life for it, the bucket of sand can be quite effective, and the fire blanket can also. In the kitchen, a box of baking soda and/or salt can also be useful (as is the lid of the pan for a grease fire, if it's handy and you act quickly.) There are also "class K" extinguishers specifically for kitchen grease fires (what we'd ordinarily consider class B) but that's more of a commercial kitchen application than most home kitchens.

Once you have extinguishers, you need to keep an eye on them - most have a gauge to indicate if there's a leak, and if there is a leak, they need to be serviced (mostly for the initially-more-expensive extinguishers) or replaced (most cheap extinguishers.) Likewise, if the extinguisher is used at all, it needs service or replacement (the valves don't seal once powder has gone through them - also the contents are not all there.) You can do the inpection yourself (most homeowners) or you can hire a company (most businesses) to do annual inspections and servicing as needed. If you have a serviceable extinguisher, have it serviced (when needed) by a specialist company.


How To Stop Hair Going Down Square Shower Drain My shower drain is a 3.5 x 3.5" square with largish holes. I want to keep hair from getting into the septic, so under it I have a round trap that goes in the pipe. This is effective, however it gums up all the time. What I think would be better is if the 3.5x3.5 square had a tight mesh so the hair couldn't get below it. Then that could just be wiped off instead of me having to remove it to get to the round trap.

Thus far I have not seen another 3.5x3.5 piece that could replace it and be more effective. Not that I have looked excessively.

So
- Do you think such a product exists as is ?
- would I be better off glueing or otherwise attaching some mesh over my existing 3.5x3.5 metal piece
- should I do something else ?

See attached images to see what I mean. Thanks!

You may be able to trim a piece of fiberglass screen material then simply press fit it over that grate.

Overlap the sides and fold them under then press the grate back into place. When it gets too scuzzy simply throw it away. If you're hairy like me, though, this might clog up every single day.


Which latch would work with this screen door? I recently bought a used condo, and it has a sliding patio door.  The glass door works fine, but I noticed that the screen door is missing a latch.  Here is a photo:

Considering the holes in the door and the shape of the catch, what kind of latch would I need to replace the missing one?

I found it!  It's an Acorn Latch Kit.  Thanks for the replies.


Why do insulated screwdrivers have a maximum voltage that they're rated for? I have some insulated screwdrivers and the packaging says "Protects from electric shock up to 1,000 volts". But it's not like the insulation can conduct electricity at higher voltages, right?

Wrong.
At some point, any insulation will break down and either begin to conduct or simply flash over.
From Wikipedia:

  Electrical breakdown or dielectric breakdown is when current flows
  through an electrical insulator when the voltage applied across it
  exceeds the breakdown voltage. This results in the insulator becoming
  electrically conductive. Electrical breakdown may be a momentary event
  (as in an electrostatic discharge), or may lead to a continuous arc if
  protective devices fail to interrupt the current in a power circuit.

  Under sufficient electrical stress, electrical breakdown can occur
  within solids, liquids, gases or vacuum. However, the specific
  breakdown mechanisms are different for each kind of dielectric medium.

So, respect the rating on your 'insulated' screwdrivers.


Concrete column/structure behind drywall I have recently moved to a new apartment and I am planning to mount a TV in the living room. The apartment walls are dry lined. Right in the middle of the designated place for the tv, the dry wall seems to have like a seam, but what is strange to me is the sound and vibration less of the drywall at that point. When I tap with my hand the drywall does not vibrate at all, and the sound is like there is a plastered wall behind. This area appears to be 15-20 cm wide from what I can tell.
First of all I am not sure what is behind the drywall at that point:

Is that a concrete column of the apartment?
If so, is it possible  to drill holes? I suspect I need a powerful drill to make a hole there.
Is it safe to install the TV wall bracket? Am I allowed to make holes into it?

The difficulty that I am finding is that I have a stud detector (which usually is not so accurate) and close to this seam it is really not accurate, so I do not know how to proceed here. Any help is very welcome.
Additional info:
The apartment is in Ireland, the development has 4 floors my apartment is in the ground floor. The distance of the seam from the external wall is around 220 cm. While the wall itself is around 7m long. Through its length there is only the innermost edge of this wall that makes the same sound. The walls are dry lined with studs. I have previously mounted stuff on the studs before (not on this wall).
Thank you.

Brick, poured concrete, concrete block are all likely possibilities in a 4-story building.
The solution generally would be the same on all of them: Hammer drill + an appropriate type of fastener. There are a number of different types. One popular one (at least in the US) is Tapcon:

though in this case, I would head over to my local hardware store to see the options first-hand and, if you can find someone there who knows what they are doing, get some advice.
I would consider cutting out a small square of drywall around each fastener location so that you are drilling directly into the brick/concrete/block. Otherwise you may get quite a mess trying to drill through the drywall into the other surface.
Depending on the specifics, sometimes it makes sense to cut out a large section of drywall, attach a piece of wood using appropriate screws and then mount the TV to that wood with wood screws.


How do you finish a polyurethane coat? I'm building a table and finishing it with a high-gloss polyurethane.  I've seen how to apply the poly and what to do between coats, but what do you do after that last coat?  Is it done?  Do you wet sand it with 2000 grit?  Do you wax it?  What will give the best results for smoothness and shine?

In most cases, if you have done all the right things like sanding and cleaning between coats, you should be done and have an excellent smooth glossy finish. Any further sanding or polishing with any kind of abrasive will dull the finish. Normally urethane does not need a wax. After some use and a good week or two of total cure time, a regular furniture wax like Pledge or Butcher's Wax will help keep the finish clean and shiny. Never use an abrasive polish. If the finish dulls over time, buff it with 220 grit paper and give it a fresh coat of urethane. This should not be required for a long time depending on usage.


How to stop a whistling hot water tap which also has a mind of its own? The hot water tap in my kitchen whistles quite loudly when it is in a certain pressure range -- at very low and high pressures it is fine, but within the sweet spot it whistles away.

It also seems to have a mind of its own, where it will turn itself anti/counter-clockwise (to higher pressure) without me touching it.  It can become quite annoying (and dangerous!) when washing dishes as suddenly the water will become hotter because the hot water tap has turned itself to a higher pressure.

The cold water tap is unaffected by this.

I recently had my hot water system replaced because it was leaking, but this didn't make a lot of difference to the behaviour.

Other than getting a plumber out, is there any way I can figure out why this is happening?

Per Tester101's answer a bit more information

There are two main types of valves - washer and cartridge. In the washer type, the stem of the valve (the part topped by the handle) moves up and down on a thread.  It has a washer at the bottom that, when closed, presses agaisnt the seat of the valve stopping the water. The higher the stem raises the washer, the more water that flows.

In a cartridge type faucet, the stem twists without rising. The water flows through holes in the cartidge and the body of the valve. The more the holes are aligned, the more water flows.

It sounds like you have a washer type. The tension on the stem, which controls how easy it is to turn, is usually controlled by a large nutlike cap that fits over most of the stem. The thin shaft of the stem comes through a hole in the center of this cap.  The cap can usually be adjusted by tightening and this should make the stem slightly harder to turn. It should also prevent the stem from turning on its own due to water pressure. Tighten the cap by turning it clockwise a very small amount.

Occasionally water temperature can change as the washer heats up or cools down. This is usually found on much older washers and faucets, but can often be fixed by opening the stem and changing to a modern washer.


Replacing timer with no neutral wire I bought replacement for my bathroom exhaust fan. Basically what i bought was this:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-50-CFM-Wall-Ceiling-Mount-Roomside-Installation-Bathroom-Exhaust-Fan-ENERGY-STAR-7114-01/206159603
However, the fan (that was replaced by a licensed electrician) keeps cycling on and off. The electrician mentioned that i need to replace the timer switch for the fan.

So i bought this:
https://www.amazon.com/Enerlites-HET06A-White-1-5-10-15-20-30-Countdown-Decorator/dp/B00IB0ZJXE/ref=sr_1_5?crid=B3E1ECT5H6H1&keywords=timer+switch+for+bathroom+fan&qid=1579763344&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sprefix=timer+swit%2Caps%2C292&sr=8-5

However, when i opened the old timer i did not find a neutral wire while this needs a neutral.

Is there a way to have a timer replace the old timer . Without a neutral wire. And fix the problem with the bathroom fan going on and off.

You circuit is wired without bringing the neutral wire to the switch box and so only the HOT wire comes to the switch and the switched wire goes back to the fan.  For a traditional (i.e. dumb) switch, this works fine.

When you try to use a "smart" switch, and your electronic timer switch is such a switch, you have to supply power to the switch itself and that requires a neutral.

Two options:

Rewire the circuit between the fan and the switch to include a
neutral wire.
Fall back to a mechanical timer switch that doesn't
require any power of its own.


How to wire 3 switches and a receptacle in a two-gang box How do you wire a three switch receptacle (all three switches are together in a stacked appearance) with a GFI outlet in a two gang box? There will be a light above the bathroom sink and a fan with a light.

I'll split it up below into three pieces: wiring at the switch box, wiring at the above sink light (at least with it being second in line), and wiring at the fan/light unit in the ceiling. The grey wire throughout is the neutral, the yellow boxes are wire nuts (you'll need more than shown to splice the hots and grounds at each box), and the ground wires are not shown just for simplicity. Make sure to run a ground and tie it together with every device and (if used) every metal box.

I'm assuming that nothing has been wired yet and so this is starting from scratch. For the easiest wiring, you would want to run the initial homerun wire from your panel directly to the switch box.

Fan/Light combo unit wiring: - - - >

Above-sink light wiring: - - - - - - - - - >

Wiring in box: - - >

Power comes in at the switch box. Pigtail off of the hot to feed the GFCI and the common on the switch. Pigtail off of the neutral and connect it to the GFCI. Run your second set of wires between the above-sink light and the box and re-identify them on each end so that you can keep up with which wire powers what. Tie the neutrals together and screw in one wire to each terminal on the switch. (This is where you pick which switch controls which device.) Connect your grounds in the box and you're ready to move on to the above-sink box.

Connect whichever hot that you want to use for the above-sink light to the fixture. Pigtail off of the neutral and connect to the fixture. Run your next set of wires between the fan/light unit in the ceiling and your above-sink box. Remember to re-identify the wires so as to stay consistent and make it all easier on yourself. Connect the grounds and move on.

The same process goes for the fan/light unit in the ceiling. Take one hot and connect it to the light. Take the other hot and connect it to the fan. Finally take your neutral and pigtail off of it to feed both the fan and the light. Connect your grounds, mount your fixtures and devices, and add your switch cover. Now you should be clear to power it all back up.


What's behind my drywall? I live in an apartment in NYC, built in 1973.  I'm trying to mount something to the wall which requires two screws placed 5 inches apart vertically.

I used a stud finder to find a vertical stud in the wall (3 inches across), but when I drilled it went in an inch before encountering a hard surface.  Definitely not wood.  I applied pressure and drilled, and it finally "broke through" in a matter of seconds, and it felt like there was nothing behind that.

I tried screwing in a screw, and it gets to the 1 inch point before making a metallic grinding noise --  I'm assuming what I drilled through was some sort of metal plate.  The screw definitely "threads" (if screwed in, it cannot be screwed out), but it's very loose and unable to be tightened.

So, what is this vertical thing behind my drywall?  How can I mount things to it?

but when I drilled it went in an inch before encountering a hard surface. Definitely not wood. I applied pressure and drilled, and it finally "broke through" in a matter of seconds

This could be bad depending on what you actually drilled through. It might be a good idea to open up the hole enough to see what is there, but do it without drilling and do it carefully.

Why could this be bad? If it was a metal plate installed to protect electrical wires, a wire itself, or if you drilled into a pipe*. You probably can't be sure until you take a look.

I would carefully try to cut a larger hole through the drywall. If you can cut a clean square around the area it will make it easy to fix, as you can cut a square of drywall and use it as a patch for the area you removed. You can possibly replace the square you removed.

You should do this using a drywall knife, or another sharp knife that allows you to make clean and controlled cuts.

If you're not that handy, it might be better to leave it as is, as you don't want to hurt yourself or do more damage.

Once you know what's there, then it's easier to suggest what to do next.


Will I get electrocuted when I am above the first floor of a building? If I touch a faulty knob of any electrical equipment when I am connected to electrical ground, I would get electrocuted.

But my question is will I get electrocuted when I am above the first floor of a building?

e.g.: When I am on the 3rd floor of a building.

You are not safe from electrocution just because you are on the 3rd floor.

Electrical ground can be anything conductive (like the chassis of another grounded appliance you are leaning on). So it doesn't matter where you are but what else you are touching.

To be safe you need to install a ground fault protection device that will shut off the power when it detects that some current doesn't go through the designated return path.


How to get rid of cockroaches? How can we get rid of cockroaches in our house?

Things we already do and have failed in keeping the roaches away:

No uncovered food left outside ever.
The house and bathroom are cleaned everyday with disinfectant.
Sprayed Mortein cockroach spray in all nooks and corners of the house, on door thresholds and drains (this will draw them out and we swat them and clean them away, but another army returns in a day or two)

At the moment my wife is pregnant, and she is willing to go stay at a friend's place for a night to avoid exposure to harsh chemicals. We live in an apartment with no pest control facilities and the only plausible reasoning we got is that maybe the neighbors don't keep their apartment clean - but I am sure there must be something we can do. There are hundreds of other apartments. Otherwise just one pesky neighbor and all apartments would have been infested. Cockroaches are the only problem we have in this unit.

@Mazura is right... you will NEVER get rid of the cockroaches in an apartment.  The best you can hope for is to control them and minimize their presence.

Some years ago, a friend was in your situation and she was unable to move out (the ONLY solution).  So, she packed every nook and cranny she could find with powdered boric acid.  That actually did an amazing job of controlling the problem.

Indeed, the EPA publishes a document that says to blow the powder into the cracks with a hair dryer, and then caulk over.

http://www.epa.gov/ncer/childrenscenters/pdf/pesticidespring07.pdf

You should fully expect, however, that you'll run across some from time to time.


240 dedicated circuit to subpanel I am adding a 240 volt dedicated circuit from main 200 amp surface mounted outdoor service panel. It will be used to power outdoor 50 amp subpanel.  Run is 50 feet and plan to use #6 stranded copper for hot and neutral and #8 for ground.  Plan to use liquidtight flex conduit (gray) exiting main panel into crawl space. It it permissible to use this to continue run exiting house under wooden deck to terminate in subpanel?  Must I use other type of conduit with junction box under home to continue run to terminate in outdoor mounted subpanel. Subpanel is for hot tub which rigid PVC and liquidtight whip will be used from subpanel.

The use of flex in general is usually for short extensions called whips.  From a junction box to a motor per se.  When ran in that manner I believe the Code says "no longer than necessary" but I will need to double check.

In your case it's not the same,  plus it will be under a deck so I think you will be fine.  Just FYI, it will probably be easier to run the wires through PVC conduit instead of flex as flex will bow and twist on long runs.

Tip: Run conduit then a short piece of flex at the end.  Inside the house transition over to NM-B with a small 6x6 junction box

Addendum:

Code requires nonmetalic flex to be supported at intervals of 3 ft either by straps or wood members and within 12" of the termination points if it is not fished or if the length is <=6ft,

For example under a deck that is accessible would require straps. Through a wall or under a deck not accessible would be ok to not strap.  But as recommend, PVC conduit would be a better choice for longer runs.


How long screws for attaching sill plate to concrete foundation? I need to attach a sill plate to a foundation that does not have anchor bolts. I'd like to use GRK Caliburn screws. The sill plate is 1.5 inches thick. How long should the screws be?
It looks like 2-3/4" is a commonly sold length. Is that sufficient?

Anchor bolts are used to: 1) keep your house from sliding along the concrete foundation, 2) resisting the house from being peeled away from the foundation (like a zipper), or 3) keeping the house tight to the foundation so the house doesn’t float away.

Your house has shear walls that need to be fastened to the foundation. I live in a high wind area so our requirement is 5/8” bolts at 24” on center. Depending on your wind loads, you’ll need sufficient anchor bolts of sufficient diameter to resist winds in your area.

Shear walls keep the house square and upright, but the shear “box” could be tipped over if the corners are not anchored down. In fact, where I live 3” square washers are required to keep the plate from pulling through the head of the anchor bolt. If you live in a seismically active area like Santa Barbara, CA then theses anchors are designed to keep your house anchored to the foundation (and your foundation is designed to resist such seismic forces.)

In high flood areas the wood house could float away without sufficient anchors.

All of these loads (stresses) need to be calculated or you need to use the standard Building Code requirements.
I doubt your “screws” would satisfy any of these stresses. I’d use anchor bolts.


Can I use a 15 amp receptacle on a branch circuit fed by a 30 amp breaker? I will be using a high amp appliance at the end of a  branch circuit, but in between them I have a room connected to it with a 15 amp receptacle.

Am I allowed to do this?

It's only a 20-amp branch circuit if all the wires are 12 AWG or larger.  If there is any 14 AWG wire at all, it's a 15 amp branch circuit.

To get a UL listing for a 15A receptacle, the maker must rate it for 20A of pass-through.  (pass-through is where you use the two screws on the receptacle to continue a circuit, rather than pigtailing.)  The purpose of this rule is to make it legal and safe to do exactly what you are doing.

So, yes.  It will be fine.


Ceiling fan only runs when bare used as hot So I'm trying to wire up my new ceiling fan. I connected the black and blue to the black from ceiling and the white to white and the green from the braces to the bare wire.

However, nothing came on.

I got bored and curious so I connected the blue wire to the bare wire and when I flipped on my breakers, everything worked. That is except the pull chain for the light turns off both the light and fan. And the pull chain for the fan slows the rotation and dims the light.

I know this isn't safe, and I have no intentions of keeping it this way.

My question is do I have faulty wiring in my house, or is the fan faulty?

Yes. You have a ground or neutral that's hot. This is very dangerous and you need to call a professional electrician before someone gets electrocuted.


No place to put base for a ceiling lamp I recently moved to a new house and there are no ceiling lights. I can only see the wires but no place to put a hook for my fixture. Any idea how should I install my lights?

I would scrape off the paint in that circle to see what is there - you might find screws etc

If not then I have used a bradawl in the past to find the joist - usually light fittings are close to joists for support or an extra piece of wood is fitted between two joists to provide support.


Why is there a continuous dripping sound coming from my toilet? There is a dripping sound coming from my toilet. It happens about once a minute constantly. I've eliminated every possibility I could think of:

I put food coloring into the tank and waited 20 minutes. The water in the bowl did not change color. Furthermore it does not exhibit the other sign of a leaking flapper, the tank occasionally refilling.
I observed the refill tube and did not see anything dripping from it.
I turned off the water and the sound continued. After leaving the water off overnight, the sound stopped.
Unlike How to fix dripping sound coming from toilets? this happens pretty much constantly, not just when material is added to the bowl.

Any other ideas? Or problems with my beliefs above?

UPDATE:
As per a comment on the accepted answer, I replaced the fill valve, and the sound went away. That was only three years ago. Now, the sound is back. Fill valves should last longer than three years, right? The new fill valve wasn't even the same brand or style as the old one.

My intuition tells me this is the fill valve, it stopped when the fill line / valve were de-pressured overnight.


How do I form and pour long concrete steps for an exterior staircase? I want to replace some concrete blocks with proper stairs in front of my house. They are wobbly and dangerous. Attached is a photo of what is currently there.

I have been unable to find anything about building a form of this size for stairs. I found lots of stairs tutorials, but they are all using actual stair forms.

Anybody have a good tutorial with visuals for doing this properly?!

There will be a total of 4 steps, roughly 5ft x 3ft each.

You need to construct shuttering (usually timber) to hold the concrete in position while it cures. You'd usually have the shutter that forms the face of the stair "open" to allow concrete under to the lower step.

( This shows the principal )

If you use a stiff mix of concrete, it won't flow under the shutter forming the face of the stairs, but you will have to work harder to compact it to get a good finish. If you do find the occasional air void when you remove the shutter, you can fill in with a cement mix.


Adding a headphone jack to furniture I'd like to screw a headphone jack receptacle to the front of my desk, and have the female adapter of the extension in my laptop (which is hidden in one of the drawers).

I'm unsure what exactly to even Google to find the part(s) that I need to secure the extension to the desk. Any tips?

Perhaps the simplest option is to use a headphone extension cord.  You can secure one end to the desk using a couple of cable ties that form an X over the top of the extension cord end.  Or you could use a screw-mount cable tie, or a normal cable tie along with a cable tie mount.

If cable ties aren't your thing, you could buy a panel mount headphone jack and install it in a small box, such as a mint tin, which you can screw to the desk leg.


Plywood Backed Drywall Equivalent to Studs for Hanging a TV? I need to mount a TV (~35lbs) to a wall without convenient access to a stud, but the wall in question happens to have a layer of 1/4" plywood on the back of the drywall. Possibly worth noting that it's held a ~25lbs iMac just fine for many years now, but I worry the larger TV might be the tipping point. Any thoughts about whether this will work or how I could safely assess it?

If this were 1/2" plywood, I would have no concerns at all. With 1/4", it is a bit iffy. The plywood itself is relatively strong, particularly sandwiched between drywall and studs. The concern I have is whether the screws in the plywood have enough depth to grip well.
What would definitely work, if there is enough space behind the drywall/plywood, is toggle bolts:

This is a randomly selected assortment on Amazon, but you can get them from any hardware store. With drywall there is always a little concern you might hit a weak spot that was previously patched up. With plywood backing, toggle bolts can hold plenty of weight.


What is this round roof vent fan called and how does it work? The following round fan is installed in a residential roof in a house in Pennsylvania.  The roof also has soffit and ridge vents.  The round part of the fan spins, but it is unpowered (by electricity).  So what is this vent or fan called, and what function does it serve that is not served by ridge vents?

They're typically called air turbines or roof vent turbines. They can turn if the outside wind is blowing or if hot air is simply rising through them. They're a type of unpowered exhaust, just with moving parts. Typically you'll have ridge vents OR powered attic fans OR these. The advantage ridge vents have is they have no moving parts.


Can I use LED lighting sources to illuminate my workbench and desk? I have a home-based business and recently moved to a house with a detached garage.  I plan to remodel a part of the garage for my new workshop. I've been looking for lighting options in LED.  I need to develop area-lighting over the workbench and desk.  The ceiling is 60" above the workbench and 64" above the desk. At present, the ceiling is not sheet-rocked so I am able to run wiring
and place fixtures where needed. I also need some close lighting, such as a Architect's adjustable lamp attached to the bench, wall, or a free-standing unit that can be directed toward detail work.  In my past workshop, I had 3 CFL spots in recessed ceiling cans designed for incandescent spots over the bench and a 4-tube CFL on a flexible stand. I just found an online source for GU10 lights, but I don't know much about them.  They are rated to work with 85-265V.  Mine is 115V.  Do these GU10 fixtures wire directly to 115V? My CFL spots were rated at 900lumens and they weren't as bright as Incand. spots, but were acceptable.  I also recently saw an online source for 12x12" LED panels that looked like they might work. Any suggestions or expertise would be greatly appreciated.

Your question is a little broad, but I will interpret it to be something like "Can I use LED lighting sources to illuminate my workbench and desk?"

Yes. While the purchase price of LEDs is still much higher than conventional bulbs or CFLs, the prices are dropping and you often can find sales. There are 75 watt led flood bulbs now available in the $20 range, such as these

They can be used in simple porcelain or plastic lamp sockets in a basement, garage or workroom.

There are also LED retrofit trim baffles for recessed lighting, in the 65+ watt range, such as these

They are often on sale for less than $30.

GU10 units are also available, but they tend to be in lower wattages.

All of the above are designed for 110-120 volt systems.


Does power distribution within a house need individual neutral lines from the circuit breakers? My house has "star connections" (from the central circuit breaker panel box)
for the neutral lines to power different rooms, as is normal.
There is no GFCI to worry about.
Would any problem be created if I shorted all of the house's outlets' neutral
points together externally (e.g., in a ring which would make the current star
ineffective)?
This same question can be posed for the outlets' ground points.  In the end, I'm
trying to understand if there would be any downside to wiring a house from the
beginning with star connections only for the hot lines, using a ground ring
plus a thick neutral ring around the house, but I know that no one does this - Why?
One potential problem I see is that a few rooms might gang up to push neutral
current through part of the neutral ring, so let me assume the ring cable is
thick enough to handle all ganged currents.

Fascinating question. Definitely not to code, but conceptually:

Neutral carries power. On a 120V (US) circuit, neutral carries as much power as hot. So that gives rise to the first "rule": Neutral wires must be sized to match the hot wires. That normally means: 14 AWG (or larger) for both hot and neutral on a 15A circuit, 12 AWG (or larger) for both hot and neutral on a 20A circuit, etc. In theory, multiple circuits could therefore share a neutral, provided the one neutral was large enough for all the hots put together. So if you have 2 x 15A then you could have 2 separate 14 AWG hots and 1 combined 10 AWG neutral. The neutral size would rapidly increase as you add more circuits - to the point where you would need a neutral the same size as your service entrance neutral snaking throughout the house. That would be a tough wire to run (thick and hard to bend) and not cheap.
There is actually a combination already in use: Multi Wire Branch Circuit. An MWBC uses one neutral for two hots. But the key is that the two hots are on opposite legs, so the neutral actually gets the difference instead of the sum. A 15A MWBC maxed out will have 15A on each hot and no current at all on the neutral! That means the same 14 AWG can be used for the hots and the neutral.
Neutral must never break. In an ordinary circuit, that is no big deal. The other failsafes (grounding, GFCI, other design aspects) mean that if the neutral breaks (but not the hot) then your risk is generally minimal. But that risk is enough that an MWBC must have the neutral connected in a way that working on one part of the circuit won't affect the neutral for the rest of the circuit. If you have one giant neutral for everything, that could get really messy.
Common Maintenance Shutoff - An MWBC must be set up so that if part of the circuit is turned off for maintenance, the entire circuit is shut off. That is to prevent power on the "on" part of the circuit (the other hot) returning through the shared neutral and zapping the person working with the "off" part of the circuit. A whole-house shared neutral would therefore mean everything off any time you work on any circuit.
Magnetism, heating, etc. - I honestly don't understand this part. But basically code generally requires that all wires in a circuit be together and have (nominally) equal current running through them, or be widely separated (e.g., some old knob & tube). Otherwise some funny things can happen that can be major fire hazards. A whole house shared neutral would have this problem unless it was bundled with all wires everywhere - which of course would more than balance any savings of the shared neutral. @Harper has a detailed explanation of this item in Why does a transformer work on AC but not DC?.


How do prevent door from swinging open I have hinges that look like the below photo on a bedroom door. I saw some guides online suggesting you can bend the hinge to prevent the door from swinging open by itself, but I couldn’t even figure out how to remove the pins from these hinges.

So, three questions.

What type of hinge is this?
How do I remove the hinge pins?
Most importantly, how might I adjust this, to prevent the door always swining open?

It is a ball tip hinge. It is removed by placing a screwdriver under the "ball" but above the hinge leaf and driving it with a hammer in an upward fashion. This one looks in pretty good shape so it come out fairly easy. I have seen these kind be very difficult though. Once the pin starts out, that will expose the top of the pin that goes in the hinge leaf itself and a new inside corner to place the screwdriver to finish drive the pin upward.

Again it may be tough, but it will come out.

I would check the door for plumb with a level in both directions. On the face of the jamb, and on the face of the wall. In my experiences if the jamb or wall is out of plumb by more than 1/4" overall the door will open or close on its own, depending on which way the wall or jamb is out.

The proper way to correct it is removing and salvaging the trim resetting the door, and reinstalling the trim and repaint. Bending the pin a bit may do it, only because it is creating more friction against the movement of the door.

If the door only swings open a little, it may be "hinge bound" where the jamb and the door are meeting each other, whether it is from paint build up or improper installation of the door, leaving no gap at the hinge side. I check this by watching the hinges very closly while the door is closing and if the hinges move in the slightest, that hinge needs attention to get a gap there so it binds no more.


Ceiling fan light dims I have a Harbor Breeze ceiling fan and light kit.  When I turn on the light, it starts out bright, but then in a second it dims.  It doesn't turn off, it just dims.  What could be causing this to happen?

One of the current limiting methods required by the U.S. is similar to a dimmer the current is limited by controlling an SCR and this has the effect of dimming. This may be the cause.


What is causing the vibrations through my water pipes after flushing the toilet? I am getting vibration through my pipes after flushing, it is also very slow & I am finding cement pellets at the bottom of the pan

Could be that the float/valve is causing this. If you flush the toilet and hold down the float, then let go when the tank is full (you might have to pull up on the float to close the valve quickly), do the pipes vibrate? If not, replace the valve assembly. If there is still vibration I'm not sure what else could cause this (except if the tank value didn't close all the way) because there's no other active valve in the system at that time. For just $5, replace the valve assembly.


Is it practical to have a wooden floor installed in an apt in India? I own a house in India. It is on the 3rd floor of an apartment.

The floor of the apartment is all concrete with tiles on it.

Having lived in the US for a few years now, I have come to like the feel of wooden floors.

Is it at all possible for me to have wooden flooring laid out in the apt in India?

Note: The temperature there is about 35-42 degrees centigrade (95-108 degrees Fahrenheit).

Humidity is more likely to be a problem than temperature - constant high temperature is OK, it's temperature changes that are an issue.

Hardwood floors are nice and warm when it's cold - you might want a think about why cold stone tiles are popular there


Is wiring exposed to air a problem? I have a round junction box protruding from an exterior wall. It had a fixture on it with a circular cover, but I've replaced it with a fixture that has a rectangular box which I would guess is supposed to be tight to a wall (see photo).
The area where this is installed is covered, but there is free airflow into the junction box and I can see the wires if I poke my head back there.
Are there any risks to having this wiring exposed in this way?

That needs to be closed up. Use a round to rectangle box adapter.

Image from amazon, no endorsement implied, it was just the first one to come up and I'm being lazy.


Why is my new home only sheathed with rigid material at some locations? So today after a few weeks I went to go follow up on the progress of my tract home being built. Things are coming along well. One concern though I have that I found random was that there's about 60 or so feet of random non-OSB sheathed walls around the house. They just put some plastic coroplast feeling type of plastic against the framing and nailed Dupont Tyvek to it. I find this weird.
Wouldn't the whole house have the OSB? I have attached some pictures below. If this is a California code thing or something please let me now but its a little concerning. One of the areas they put the plastic was behind our heads in the master bedroom. Someone can just literally punch a hole through the house if they wanted to. I really hope they don't do this to save a couple hundred bucks on some wood. I would have paid the damn difference.
Any advice or if I should be concerned please let me know. I found this in four spots on the house listed below:

Master bedroom, directly behind my headrest of the bed 8 feet

Outside wall of entire garage - 20 or so feet

about 6 feet right behind the 3.0 ton AC connections near our rear sliding door.

about 8 feet in my spare bedroom external wall

The rest of the house seems sturdy with strong plywood or OSB on the 2x6 studs but this seems like a security issue as well as a strength issue.
Please check out the images:

Why not ask the builder about the lack of OSB sheathing in those places?
We have lived for 42 years in Dallas, Texas in a 1970 build tract house which has no serious sheathing anywhere. The studs are sheathed in an insubstantial fiberboard (dark brown in color) with aluminum foil on the outside.
The corners are 45 deg angle braced with 1" x 4" boards let in to the studs. Yet the house seems structurally stable. A custom builder from California told me once that stud construction as practiced in the US is far above the minimum required for structural soundness.
EDIT
Impression from the pictures is absolutely 1st quality construction. Exterior studs 2x6 on 16" centers? Is there to be an exterior access tankless water heater in the metal box in the first picture or is that for the electric service panel?
I would bet the builder would have a good reason for leaving off the OSB in those selected locations. Ask them and tell us what they say.


How do I make seams in vinyl flooring look good? and thank you for all the help so far! This place is great!

Can you help with this?

I really blew it when I cut my vinyl floor in the kitchen. So to "fix" it I made cuts along the grout lines in the vinyl. After that I made pieces from the remnant that fit "pretty" well. Not perfect, but close.

I still have a few "triangles" to fit into place as you can see in the pictures.

Any suggestions on how to best make this all look good? there are some gaps between the seams...

How can I fill in the seam gaps?
How can I then make the seams strong?
Any wise advice on how to make this look good?

OK, first obvious question:  Where did all the corners go?  Did they get cut off?  Is this sheet goods or adhesive tiles of some type? I think it is sheet goods from the pics.

Until I get a bit more info, here are a couple of ideas for ya. Short of starting from scratch, go ahead and glue down the flooring as you have it in the pics. If you have any extra scraps, cut some small triangles and glue them in with an over-cut procedure to assure no gaps in the solid color joint.   Cut away some of the "grout" in the offending joint so you have at least an 1/8th inch gap, 1/4 inch would be better. After gluing and rolling the vinyl , let it cure a few hours, maybe a day.

Next: Get a quart of premixed synthetic grout in a matching color to the grout lines in the flooring. Apply the grout to the gaps with a plastic putty knife, wiping away excess from vinyl with a damp sponge. Try to get a nice even layer of grout into the gaps. It is important to get the synthetic adhesive style grout designed to be used with vinyl tile or CVT. This type of grout will stick better in a thin coat and does not need sealing later.  After about 20 minutes clean all excess grout and haze from the vinyl. Be careful not to disturb the grout lines. After the grout has dried, finish cleaning any haze from the area with a damp sponge.  Good Luck


How do I attach the framing of a shorter wall to a higher wall above concrete? Back again with another framing question that I simply haven't been able to answer.

For Reference:

Gray - Concrete
Pink - XPS Insulation
Darker Browns - Existing Wood
Light Brown w/ Dashes - new wall placement)

The concrete foundation on one side of my house steps up as the outside grade rises. Above the concrete is the exterior load-bearing wall. My idea (to conserve additional space), was to frame knee-wall height non-bearing walls along these walls. I have seen this done in other houses and would provide me with useful space.

My questions is: How do I properly attach these new lower walls to the upper walls in a way that will meet code, or do I need to approach this differently?

As I understand your question, you do not want to run the inside wall all the way to the ceiling so that you can keep the wall space above the new knee walls. If so you will certainly want to cap the space at the top of the knee wall to leave a good grounding for a finished surface. One way that you can do this is to attach a 2x2 to the inside of the exterior wall and then bridge across from the exterior wall and the top of the knee wall. The bridging plank can be cut to width from a standard sized plank such as a 2x10 or 2x12. Installation in this manner will both support the top of your knee wall and cover the gap between the two walls.

In terms of finishing you could choose to cover this area with drywall or a nice looking board that you would finish to suit your needs.


Temporary (multi-hour) voltage drop that seems instigated by running an appliance? I have a 15 amp circuit that runs to the laundry room and has on it:

An indoor receptacle with a lamp plugged into it
An indoor receptacle with an exercise bike plugged into it
An indoor receptacle with a gas dryer and gas washer plugged into it
An outdoor receptacle that rarely has anything plugged into it
A motion sensor light on the exterior of the garage

This setup has worked without any issues since we've owned the house (~7 years) and the outdoor receptacle was installed off this circuit by a professional electrician about 5 years ago and is in a hefty outdoor box under an eave with appropriate caulking, etc.

A few weeks ago the washer cut out mid-way through a wash. Using a multi-meter I measured a severe voltage drop across the hot and neutral, which reported ~60v. The lamp would turn on but it was very dim. We ended up using an extension cord to reach an outlet on the other side of the garage, which is on a different circuit, and completed the laundry.

What is odd is that the next day the circuit that was reporting ~60v was now back to 120v. The laundry machine would run again and we did a load without issue. The lamp was back to full brightness. I checked all three indoor receptacles for any loose connections, but they all seemed good. Nevertheless, I replaced all three. I also checked the motion sensor light and the connections were tight, there was no moisture or other issues with the junction box the light was installed on, etc. (I did not replace the light, but reconnected everything and put it back the way it was.)

The next weekend when we did another load of laundry the same problem happened: midway through the wash the washer cut out. This time the voltage reported ~40v, for whatever that's worth. Again, we used the extension cord and did several loads of laundry. I checked the circuit a few more times throughout the day and the same problem persisted - ~40v reported from hot to neutral and a dim lamp. The next day, however, the circuit was back to reporting 120v across the hot and neutral, the lamp shone brightly, the washing machine would turn on with the previously faulty outlet.

What is going on here? My questions:

It seems that the voltage drop happens only when using the washer, but it doesn't happen right when the wash starts, but midway through the cycle. But if it was the washer that was causing the problems, why does it work on another circuit?
Why does the voltage drop happen and persist for several hours and then miraculously resolve itself? I would expect that if the drop was due to a load on the circuit that once the load was disconnected or off the voltage drop would repair itself. If the drop was due to a loose connection or faulty wiring then the issue wouldn't resolve itself until that loose connection or faulty wiring was addressed.
Is there anything else I can try before calling a professional electrician? (I'm not comfortable mucking around at the service panel. Also, I'm too old / not interested in crawling up in the attic. I'd rather pay someone to do that, lol.) And what is the electrician going to be looking for? I worry this is going to be a very expensive repair since I (perhaps incorrectly) presume they're going to need to spend significant time trying to track down what, exactly, is the issue.

Thanks

The issue was with the breaker at the service panel.

I replaced the breaker with a new one and since then we've not had any voltage drops.


Kitchen sink overflow pipe too long? Some plumbing work was recently done in my building, and as part of this they changed some pipes under the sink. Ever since I have noticed that the drains tend to smell, particularly when draining the water from it.

There is a main bowl on the left (see pictures below), and a small bowl on the right, and an overflow drain runs out of the main sink, joining the outlet for the small bowl underneath the sinks. I have noticed that the pipe going from the overflow to the drain (A) has a low point below the level at which it drains, which I think means water and dirt will pool and sit in this low point rather than draining freely.

Is this likely to be the cause of the smell, and should I just shorten this pipe so that the flow is uninterrupted (so that the lowest point is the outlet end)?

There would certainly be no problem shortening the flexible pipe some so that it does not collect water at its low point. Before cutting though make sure you comprehend the type of fitting used to join that pipe to the right side sink drain basket. (There may be a need to have new parts if a portion is not re-usable).

It is not possible to tell from your picture if there is a properly installed P-trap in the main drain line. Note that the P-trap also keeps some water to seal the drain off so that sewer gas does not come up into the sink. If that trap is installed incorrectly or of there is not a properly installed vent pipe on the down flow side of the trap there is a possibility that the bad smell that you are experiencing may not come from the overflow pipe.

So I would first suggest to shorten the overflow pipe and then clean/sanitize the drain system, including the overflow pipe. Then you can re-evaluate to see if there is still a bad odor in the drains. If so you would then need to have the apartment folks come back and correct the possible trap problems.


How can I connect my 30 amp electric dryer to a 50 amp plug? I bought a used electric dryer and the connection that came with it says it's 30amp.  I also have an old school plug in my wall that doesn't go with the connection provided.  My current plug has 3 equal lengths that  are like this

 |
\ /

But the one that comes with it is almost the same but has an L shape on the top plug that looks something like this

 L
\ /

So I assumed that I had to find a new connection that looked like this

 |
\ /

with 30 amps.
Which I had no luck with.

So the man at home depot gives me a 50 amp connection that is also an 8 gauge.  It seems like the one that came with a dryer is a 10 gauge, not sure if it makes a difference.  So I came home and thought I'd take a look at the breaker.  The breaker is 30amps for the dryer, the plug on the wall says 50amps and the dryer says 120/280V- 23A and it also says 120/240V-26A.  So what do I do next? How can I fix this problem? Mind you, I have never dealt with anything like this before and I am also a woman lol. I recently purchased a brand spanking new Samsung gas dryer but the new apartment complex we moved into doesn't have a gas line so I am stuck using an electric dryer that I bought at a yard sale today for $50.

You have an incorrect receptacle installed at your apartment. Some genius just replaced the existing 30A dryer receptacle with the incorrect 50A range receptacle for some reason rather than doing it right.

You only real option is to get the landlord/super/etc to have the receptacle replaced with the proper 30A dryer receptacle. The cord you have on the dryer is correct, albeit the old style 3-prong version.


What can I do with old locks? I replaced my doorknob locks and deadbolts when moving into my new house. I have the original locks still, but don't know what to do with them. It seems unlikely that anyone would want to use them, especially as part of a private sale or exchange as they wouldn't be able to trust that I don't have a copy of the key. Similarly, I wouldn't expect a donation center like Goodwill to accept them either. However, they're still useful locks and seem like something too valuable to simply discard.

What is typically done with the previous locks after replacing them?

Make sure they are complete

Both knobs, core assembly, latches (latches are not standard/universal), and the screws.

The screws that hold the latch on are not nearly as important, and one can subsitute a plain old wood screw or drywall screw.

Worn out ones, straight into recycle bin or trash, it is metal, they will separate it out with magnets or eddy currents.

Once I verify it is complete, I  throw each knob or deadbolt (complete) into a gallon Ziploc and then throw the Ziplocs into a box.  And then, the keys.  If you have enough keys, throw one in each Ziploc.

Then the kaboodle either goes on eBay or to the Habitat for Humanity store.    Because that's where people go when they want lock sets, not Goodwill.  Also Goodwill won't get that this is a set, HfH will.


Is there a leak or no leak? The faucet in the kitchen with cold water starts up somewhat warm and then turns cold. The hot water is hot right away.  I used to wait a little bit before it turns hot.  A spot in my tiled floor is a little warm. The water meter does not indicate that I have a leak. One plumber told me I have a leak, while another plumber told me that I don't. I live in the Dallas area. We had pretty cold winter. Do I worry about this and get the opinion of a third plumber?

There is nothing about this condition that by itself suggests a leak.  Common causes are your cold water pipes run near heating ducts or the furnace, or water from your hot water heater expanding back into the cold supply.

Likewise, a warm spot on your floor could be from ducting, a light below, the sun hitting it through a window, etc.

If there is a leak, sooner or later you will see signs of water - drips, stains on the drywall.  If you do don't see any of these, I wouldn't worry.


Skirting board filler chipping off We’re about to paint our skirting board with black gloss paint but some of the filler is chipping off in places.
Should we remove the areas of filling that are chipping off and refill those only or should we try to remove all of the filling and completely redo from scratch? What is the best product to fill with?
And do we need to sand down the original gloss paint before painting over with new black gloss?

Are you trying to achieve a perfect seam or just looking to hide the gap?
You can fill it with paintable caulk/silicone and proceed with painting.
Yes, gloss paint needs to be scuffed up so that new paint can adhere properly unless you are applying an oil-based paint.
If you want to turn this painting project into a painful multi-day renovation then remove the skirting, sand or scrape down the protruding paint from both the wall and skirting, patch the wall with mud, sand, prime, re-attach the skirting, apply paintable caulk or silicone, and finally paint the skirting and wall.


What could cause washing machine drum to bang against housing during spin cycle after a repair? I just replaced the agitator cam and cogs and drive block in my Whirlpool top loading washing machine.  I put everything back together exactly according to directions and now the outer drum seems to be banging against the metal housing.  If it was doing this before, it wasn't near this bad.  The old drive block was badly rusted and a lot of jerking had to be done to get the inner tub out.  The suspension and counter balance springs aren't broken and look alright, and the suspension pads look good as well.  Could I have stretched and ruined the springs by jerking to get the tub out?  What other things could I check?

I discovered that one of the 3 suspension pads was indeed broken, and replaced.  Also, I had previously had to replace the drive block which was rusted out, and in trying to jerk the basket loose from it, had caused the skate plate to rest out of place.  This caused one or two of the plastic "feet" of the outer tub to be resting on top of the skate place which caused the dreadful banging against the side of the cabinet.  Once the skate plate was returned to it's proper place, and the suspension pads replaced, the washer runs smoothly once again.


What type of plywood to use for a general purpose workbench? I would like to build a workbench for my garage. Having minimal experience, I would like to try this: https://www.familyhandyman.com/workshop/workbench/how-to-build-a-workbench-super-simple-50-bench/view-all

The project calls for using 0.5in 4x8ft plywood. I know nothing about lumber and its properties. I see some options in Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pine-Plywood-Common-23-32-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-0-688-in-x-48-in-x-96-in-799397/202677224
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sande-Plywood-Common-1-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-0-472-in-x-48-in-x-96-in-454532/100017950
http://www.homedepot.com/p/PureBond-3-4-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Maple-Plywood-263012/100548908
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Columbia-Forest-Products-3-4-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-PureBond-Red-Oak-Plywood-FSC-Certified-332733/202887464

Can you suggest which one of these would be ideal for this? I don't plan to do anything special (no woodworking, metal work, etc). Just small house projects and/or general purpose usage. I would like to stain the workbench later on. I live in the Northern California region so temperatures range from 40-110F. Thanks.

Option 1 or 2. The plans themselves call for 1/2" plywood, and it's a general purpose workbench with good supports underneath, so 3/4" is overkill. Option 2 is a bit nicer of those 2, but again, it's a workbench, so you don't need super fancy. If you do plan on staining, pine does not generally take stain very well, so in that case you'd want option 2.

A fifth option, if you have any kind of hardwood dealer near you (search google for "hardwood" and ignore any flooring stores), is to get 1/2" Baltic birch plywood. This is the staple for shop furniture in many shops, given its nice look and low price tag; it also takes stain and other finishes nicely. It may cost more than the pine ply you linked (but may not!), but should cost less than the other 1/2" ply you linked.


AEG “micromat_combi 635” halts with error E14. What to do? My AEG MICROMAT_COMBI 635 often halts with a beep and an error E14. I then need to temporarily unplug it from the mains power. I remember this annoying error occurring since years (it first made me stop programming its preference keys, and later I even gave up setting the clock), but recently it even started to occur after plugging in the machine, making it useless.

Searches on the web indicate it might have something to do with a cooling flap which opens when using the appliance as a microwave. Someone even wrote that AEG claimed that the main circuit board needed replacement, but that spares are no longer available. Some say it's a broken stepper motor.

The English aeg-electrolux.com website doesn't seem to mention this product, but the German and Dutch versions actually offer a self-care, which indicates:

  Problem with air-valve motor or switch. These should be replaced by technicians.

Can I fix it myself?

Indeed†, it's a malfunction of some air valve (also called a damper mechanism), either a motor or a switch. The motor drives a plastic white wheel, which is shaped as to trigger a switch at some positions. The plastic wheel also drives a pole that opens an outlet that is visible from within the oven, next to its internal light.

Click images to enlarge

The motor is not a stepper motor; mine is labelled:

  Synchronous motor GM-16-24RT3
  230/240V 50/60Hz 2.5/2W 5/6 R.P.M. C.W.
  Nakagawa Shanghai China

Google finds a lot of hits searching for GM-16-24RT3, 8996619164990 or 76X5609. Prices range from €42 to a whopping €150; some websites even show different prices for the very same motor, branded for AEG or Zanussi... The turn table and stirrer use similar motors, but it seems they differ in rotating speed (not too important for the air valve, I'd say) and for the D-shape axle.

On normal behaviour, when plugging in the mains power, you should hear a soft click. That's a relay switching on the 110/220 volts power for the motor. The motor should then run immediately, until the appliance can safely tell that the air valve is in its closed position. Also, the motor will run to open the valve whenever the microwave is used, or to close it when the appliance is switched off after using it as a microwave. If the expected position is not found within 60 seconds, then you'll get the E14 error. (A normal full round from closed, to open, to closed, takes about 12 seconds.)

In my case sometimes the motor started running right away, sometimes did not run at all, but also often the motor seemed to be switched on only after about 20-30 seconds after plugging in the power. In all cases I could hear some relay click (but there's quite of few of those) as soon as I plugged in the mains power. However, after repairing, it now always runs right away. So in retrospect I assume the motor should have started turning right away before repairing as well.

Getting the motor

First of all: there's some big capacitors inside the housing, that might cause electric shocks long after you disconnected the main power. Beware.

There's no need to remove the front panel. Even more: the front panel cannot be removed without removing the cover first. Once the cover is removed, you'll have access to the motor anyhow. So leave the front panel in place.

Seen from above, the plastic wheel should turn clockwise. Due to its internal gears, one cannot move it manually, but applying a little force (just a little!) might make it start running. To ensure the motor is causing the problem one might want to see if it gets power (110/220 volts), or play with the switch a bit. One might feel some light vibrations as well. (I only noticed vibrations when I took the motor out of the appliance and connected it to the mains power using some wires.)

Opening the motor

I found it impossible to bend back the little clamps that keep the motor's cover in place, but with some force I could simply flip it open with a screwdriver.

It should be fairly easy to remove all gears, incuding the middle gear with its magnet. The latter was stuck in my motor and the first time took some extra force to take it out. But really, one should only have to overcome the magnetic force, nothing else. None of the gears are somehow fixed. There are no springs inside. :-)

In my case the internals of the motor (especially the middle gear with its magnet) were just a bit sticky. This caused the motor to not get to run at all, or just taking too long to start running. I cleaned it up a bit, and applied some new grease.

Reassembling the motor

An electrical motor that runs on AC power can often randomly run in two directions, while this one should only turn clockwise. When starting to run in the wrong direction it should be blocked, which will make it change its direction. To achieve this, the second gear has some notch that can rotate by itself (limited by the little plastic pin next to the axis of the second gear), and can block the first gear (with the magnet) if rotating into the wrong direction. This rotating notch and the second gear are "attached" to one another using some grease, which makes them rotate together unless somehow blocked. So: don't remove the grease from the second gear!

When reassembling, ensure that the second gear is in a position that makes this mechanism work: when the electrical contacts are at the bottom, the little notch of the second gear should be on the right. (This will make the little plastic pin next to the axis of the second gear fall between the two legs on the other side of the notch.) You might need to turn the first gear (with the magnet) a bit to ensure the second gear fits:

After assembling the first and second gears, ensure that the first gear can only be rotated counter-clockwise. Rotating it clockwise makes the second gear go counter-clockwise, which should make the notch of that second gear move in front of the notch on the first gear, and hence block it. Rotating the first gear counter-clockwise makes the second gear rotate clockwise, and hence the notch of the second gear will move out of the way just a bit. (Given the magnet, rotating the first gear will feel a bit weird.)

After closing the motor I did not need to tighten the clamps any better. Once the motor is in place in the appliance, there's no way the cover could get loose anyway.

† As I don't have some blog where I can post this, and as many other websites don't allow for images, I have decided to post my experiences as a self-answered question. I originally posted on ApplianceWiz, but that site is about to die. On that site (repeated here for search engines) someone responded: I just have the same error with a THOMSON microwave oven [...] So I opened my oven and I saw the motor you've described. I hope someone finds it useful one day.


Why won't my oven open its gas valve? I have an old O'keefe and Merrit Oven that is not lighting.  I tried contacting a local mechanic but he refused to work on it because he called it an antique.  Unfortunately they simply don't seem to make ovens of this configuration any more (24" wide by 48" tall gas double) so i would like to fix it rather than have to rebuild some or all of my kitchen to get a new one in.

The oven is probably from the late 70's as that is when the house was built.

Here are the symptoms.

1) Pilot light is on
2) Pilot light is adjustable via adjustment screw
3) I hear a click when I turn the dial that should turn the oven on (sounds normal?)
4) I do not hear any gas flowing from main burner when the oven is "on"
5) Attempting to light the burner manually while oven is in on position does not work.

My assumption here is that it is a gas flow issue because if it was just the igniter then i would assume my manual lighting approach would work.

Any suggestions are welcome.  and here are some pics (both from the bottom oven/broiler side)

1) Pilot light is on

If the pilot light ignites and stays lit, then it cannot be a gas supply issue, the same supply line would feed the pilot light and the main burner, it has to. But the pilot light has a device called a "thermocouple"  which has a sensor that sits IN the flame and generates a small voltage when it is heated up that serves two functions;
A) It signals the pilot light gas valve to turn off if the pilot light is NOT keeping it hot (meaning it was snuffed out by a guts of wind or spilled liquid or something), and
B) It signals the oven burner gas supply valve that the pilot light is lit, ready to ignite the burner.

If the thermocouple is old / corroded / malfunctioning, but is still giving ENOUGH output for the PILOT valve, but not enough for the MAIN valve, or the main valve is malfunctioning and/or not getting the voltage from the thermocouple, then you will get the exact symptoms you are describing. Your knob is signalling the main valve to turn on, which is the clicking you hear, but the main valve is not responding because it is not seeing the signal telling it that the pilot light is there to igniote it, so as a safety measure, it will not allow gas to go through.

As mentioned earlier, DIY novices and gas ovens are not compatible because the result of mistakes can be deadly. I would keep trying to find a repairman that will work on your stove. But keep in mind, they may ALREADY know that it's a bad valve and they know there are no replacements available for old Okeefe an Merrit ovens.


Have a wire leftover- where does it go Replacing stack W/D with 4 PRONG/WIRE- my new dryer has 3 wire terminals--where do I connect the fourth wire?

You must use 4-wire plugs and sockets.
3-wire was outlawed nearly 30 years ago, but you know how it is: somebody moved into a new house 25 years ago, they complained to the builder that their dryer is 3-prong so the builder changed the socket (illegally) to 3-prong to close the sale, because the building is the builder's bailiwick.  Then they buy a new dryer 20 years ago, and the installer sees a 3-prong outlets so changes the dryer plug to 3-prong because the appliance is the shop's bailiwick. 5 years later somebody else buys the house and tries to move in with their 4-prong dryer so they change the cord.  Round and round we go!  3-prong outlets are spreading like a cancer despite being outlawed.
So you need to get a 4-wire dryer cord - feel free to salvage it off the old dryer.
Then, on the dryer, there'll be a "bonding strap" that connects the chassis of the dryer to NEUTRAL (say what!? That's bootlegging!) That bonding strap must be removed.  Neutral and ground must be isolated, and hooked up to 2 different wires on the 4-prong cord.


Do screwdrivers come in standard sizes? I'm looking at getting a set of small Phillips head screw drivers for disassembling electronics, and I was wondering how the size of screwdrivers are measured? I know screws come in standard sizes (M1, M2, M3 ...) Is the screw head part of that standard size, or does it have another sizing scheme?

The heads of screws typically do come in standardised sizes. However the sizing scheme differs from the the standard screw sizes.

For example Philips head screwdrivers typically come in PH0, PH1, PH2, and PH3 sizes. Though smaller (e.g. PH000) and larger sizes exist.

Similarly other heads such as Torx, PoziDriv and flat head screws have standardised sizes using similar naming schemes (e.g. PZ1, PZ2 for PoziDriv).