Should drainage pipe behind a retaining wall only have holes on the top? I am mid-project in a DIY yard project. I have subbed out a large retaining wall to a civil / wall contractor. It's 220 feet long, between 2-5' in height, and makes 2 90-degree turns. It's built to code with CMU blocks and has an overkill of rebar in it and through the 26" wide and 14" deep footer. i'm in Southern California, so it's a dry climate. I plan to have the face of the wall stuccoed.
The wall just went up this weekend, but hasn't been filled with concrete, yet. That is coming this weekend. Before he comes back on Saturday morning I wanted to get a few things cleared up for my own knowledge and to know what to ask for to make this wall last. The wall has a lot of room behind it now, but will be backfilled with 12" of 3/4 gravel and then compacted and graded soil. No landscape fabric.
My contractor brought in 4″ corrugated pipe with holes on all sides to act as the drain tile at the base of the backside of the wall. I don’t see sock material. I was under the impression that you only wanted the holes on top of a strong PVC pipe so water could easily enter the pipe, but then the continuous bottom of the pipe could run the water out to drainage holes. My local building code does not specify anything other than 4" pipe.
Is it OK for him to use the pipe with holes on all sides or will the water just go in the pipe and run through it and sit below it?

Counterintuitively, you usually want the holes in drainage pipe to point down, not up. This way, water from below can get forced up into the pipe from underneath, which then has a low-resistance path to flow away. If you install a pipe that only has holes on top, the pipe will want to float on top of whatever water is there, until the water level covers the entire pipe.
Water flowing down from above the pipe will only flow into a pipe with upward facing holes if it happens to flow directly down into the holes, which isn't likely. What actually happens is that the water pools in the lowest spot (which is where you should have your drainage pipe), and as that water level rises to the bottom of the pipe, downward-facing holes allow the pipe to carry the water away. If you have upward-facing holes, the pipe can't really do anything until the water level is above the top of the pipe.
It sounds like your contractor has the right plan - a fully perforated pipe, or one with holes on the bottom, is the way to go. Installing a drainage pipe with only holes on the top is usually incorrect.


Epoxy Grout over Cement Grout? I'm re-grouting my shower enclosure.  Original grout is cement based, probably sanded.  Is it advisable to consider an epoxy based grout for the re-grout project, or stick with a cement based at this point?

For starters, you generally don't want to put new grout over old grout.  I won't say it can't be done, but your results may be inconsistent.  Though it takes more time and effort, it's worth it to get rid of the old grout, or at least most of it.  Grouting over old grout means your new grout will be pretty thin, and the old stuff might show through.  Definitely get rid of any loose existing grout, if nothing else.

As far as epoxy grouts go, they aren't for the faint of heart.  They have a shorter working time (they set up faster) and are much less forgiving than conventional grouts.  They're also not easy to remove, should you end up with excess grout somewhere.  Personally, I'd say if you have to ask, epoxy grout is probably not for you.  Obviously, I don't know your skill level, but that's my opinion.  As a non-professional, I personally will stay with the standard cement-type grout.

A few other pointers that people don't always think of:

If your tile has a glossy finish, I wouldn't use sanded grout.  The sand can scratch up and dull the tiles.  If you have the standard 4.25" square wall tiles, they usually self-space to 1/8" which is doable with either sanded or non-sanded grout.
Remove and replace the grout, and then go back and seal it (usually after 48 hours of drying).  Don't use the shower until it's been sealed.
Use caulk instead of grout between the bottom row of tile and the shower pan or tub.  Grout doesn't last long there.  Besides, you need to keep water out, and grout is porous (that's what the sealant is for).
(Very important) You have to reseal grout regularly.  How often depends on the sealant (some will last years, others need redoing every 12 months or so).  A lot of homeowners don't know that, so I bring it up whenever people are asking about tiling and grouting.

Tile work of any kind rewards thorough and meticulous preparation and execution.  You can't slap together a tile job and expect it to turn out looking great.  This isn't an accusation, just a boilerplate disclaimer.


Does facing fiberglass batts matter when installing from attic? I would like to supplement some existing old woolly pellet insulation in my attic using 6" thick fiberglass batts. Since the size I need seems to only come faced, should I:

Face it up (facing the roof, opposite what it would be if I were installing it from the room below on its ceiling) and be able to staple it to joists, or
Face it down and not staple it, or
Peel the paper off?

Face down, if you are in a mostly-heating climate. Vapor barrier goes to the warm side.


Is it possible (and safe) to adapt a 4-prong dryer outlet to a NEMA 6-20? I'm considering an appliance that is 240V 16A 3500 Watt with a NEMA 6-20P plug. Is it possible and safe to create an adapter for this so that it can be plugged into a standard 4-prong 14-30R dryer outlet? The adapter would be a typical 4-prong dryer cord with a NEMA 6-20R receptacle.

Would this be possible? NEMA 14 is hot/hot/neutral/ground. Could this be wired to a 6-20 receptacle that is hot/hot/ground? What is done with the neutral? If possible, would it be unsafe because of the 30A circuit and 20A receptacle (or other reasons)?

EDIT:
To add some more info, the appliance is an an Avantco IC3500 induction cooktop. It is ETL listed and the label on the bottom states that it complies with UL Std 197, which I cannot find details on with respect to amperage.

The answer is it depends on the appliance. As long as the appliance does not expressly forbid using it on a 30A circuit you should be fine. You'll be able to change the plug and put on a 14-30P plug, just ignore the silver terminal (neutral).


Do they make a pull-chain type outlet adapter for garage door openers to plug in to? I have constant power going to both my garage door openers. What I'm trying to do is come up with a way to easily cut power to them without having to get out and climb a small ladder to pull the power cords. I know they make the pull chains for lamp ceiling fixtures, I was just wondering if they made an adapter with a pull chain to put between the garage door power cords and the ceiling outlets. Can anyone help or have a better idea?

Sounds like a job for a light switch if you ask me.  If you don't want to tear up the walls, you can run the wire in some conduit along the ceiling and down the wall, placing the switch in a convenient location.


Fix for sagging gate hitting concrete We have this gate that was installed by the prior owners of the house. It is sagging at the latch side and bottoms out on the concrete.

It seems to me that I need to do a couple things to fix this:

Add a brace to the gate from bottom hinge to top latch. That should help with future sag.
Level the concrete pad a bit.
???

It looks like the hinges weren't put on straight either so it has a natural lean to it. Is it possible to rehang this with the old and new holes being so close together?

Are there any other recommendations?

You could use an Anti Sag Gate Kit.

Installing this will help to pull the corner up but i would rebuild the bottom rail of this gate first.

I would remove the gate from the fence and place it on a flat work surface, loosen up  or remove the screws holding the main frame rails together and use a square to square it up, then use a gate hardware kit to put it all back together (  i would probably still use the cable kit for added support and adjustablity. )


Sealing plywood edge and faces (Shed Floor) I am laying a plywood sheet floor in my shed. I have plywood that is certified for humid conditions rather than wet and the sticker on it also says that the edges and faces should be sealed. It is not pressure treated.

I expect the floor to stay dry as it is not in full exterior conditions. Similarly it is not in direct ground contact and is well ventilated underneath and will rest on pressure treated timber supporting beams. The beams will rest on bricks with a plastic layer between them to stop any water being wicked up from the concrete slab.

I wondered if it is worth sealing the faces and edges of the plywood to protect them if they are exposed to any water and from moisture in the air. I already have water repellent shed and fence coating paint (but it has waxes so not ideal for a floor or for overcoating) and basic multi-surface primer as well as interior wood paing and lots of old interior emulsion. What is good/sufficient for sealing the edges of plywood? I have considered and excluded epoxy sealer as overkill for this job.

Do you need to seal the faces? Not really in the conditions you described. I have worked in a plywood plant and all the product used the same glue. The difference was the quality of veneer and if any holes were plugged , and later filled and sanded. The last step they did spray the edges and put the company logo on the side of the unit.
Painting the surface will be plenty of protection, paint will seal from moisture and mud on shoes and actually provide some wear protection. Sealing the edges won’t hurt but really is not going to make much a difference in your conditions.


What are these small flies in my apartment? I've been having a problem with flies in my apartment that I can't get rid of. They look like fruit flies from, and behave like them too. They are attracted to food and definitely are too small and slow to be a house fly. I have tried the normal trap of apple cider vinegar and some dish soap, but after three attempts I have yet to get rid of them. They aren't even attracted to the trap because there are never any flies in the solution.

What are these flies and what else can I try to get rid of them?

EDIT: apparently they were fruit flies... Or some other fly that is attracted to apple cider vinegar. The last few times I have tried this the traps have been completely empty, but now all of a sudden it is full of flies. Confusing, but I'm glad it's finally working.

Fly-like insects that are persistent, smaller, with slower reactions sound like drain flies.

Have you tried disassembling and cleaning out your kitchen sink trap? The congealed food waste there is one of the most common sources of origin for these pests.


Ecobee 3 with two stage furnace I have an Ecobee 3 and a Keeprite two-stage gas furnace.

The furnace is currently configured to control its own staging system but I'm curious what would be the advantage of reconfiguring to have the Ecobee control the two stage system. Are there any obvious big tradeoffs?

The relevant facts I can think of are:

Keeprite R&D knows more about its manufactured furnace performance profile than Ecobee
Ecobee has sensors across the house and knows about incoming weather systems and upcoming heating requirement changes so it should theoretically be able to do a better job controlling the overall system
I can't find evidence of Ecobee being this smart

Operation with better feedback from the thermostat should always give performance that is as good or better than operation without as much feedback.  The obvious trade-off is that installing more stages of control may mean running extra wire which may not be easy to do.

If you have a two stage Ecobee3 and you can connect it to the furnace and set the furnace for two stage control, then that should be an improvement over the furnace controlling its own staging, which is usually just a timer that runs the furnace at stage 1 for awhile and then switches to stage 2 if that does not satisfy demand.

I do not know exactly which Keeprite model you have, but the self-control scheme for a single stage thermostat signal is probably similar no matter the model.  Here is an excerpt from the Keeprite G9MXT installation guide:

  For single_stage thermostats, connect thermostat W to W/W1 at furnace control terminal block. (See Figure 7) For single_stage thermostats, the control will operate for 12 minutes on low heat, then switch to high heat if heat call remains. Setup switch (TT) must be in the factory_shipped OFF position. See Figure 7 and Figure 15 for setup switch information.
  If a two_stage heating thermostat is to be used, move setup switch (TT) to ON position before starting furnace. This overrides built_in control process for selecting high and low fire and allows the two_stage thermostat to select gas heating modes. The W2 from thermostat must be connected to W2 on control terminal block.

The ultimate in precise control is a digital communicating thermostat if your furnace has that capability.


foundation repair: bedrock or not? I have a settling foundation.

I see a couple of ways to repair the foundation; one with hand dug concrete piers about 3 feet deep,  one with steel piers driven to bedrock.

Will concrete be sufficient?

All foundations settle. Problems occur when there is “differential” settlement.

Footing sizes are based on the soil conditions and the load they are trying to support. So, soil that is mush will need to be bigger (wider) to support the same amount of load.

Generally, there is better soil bearing capacity the deeper you go, because the soil on top compressed the soil below. So, if you make the footing wider or deeper, it should stabilize.

Piling is a trickier. Driving piling can 1) shake the surrounding ground (soil) and cause settlement, and 2) stop all settlement while the remaining foundation continues to settle causing additional cracking.

Digging a hole for a concrete pier can 1) cause the surrounding ground to become unstable, and 2) add a significant amount of weight causing the foundation to settle even more.


What could be causing water to drip from the relief valve of my new gas water heater? My old hot water tank met its maker about two or three weeks ago, and since then I have installed a new Kenmore 50 gallon gas water heater to replace it.

The new water heater seems to work fine, I was able to hook up the hot and cold lines with the new fangled compression fittings and special 3/4" to 1/2" couplers (I have a 60 year old house, all the water lines are 1/2"OD copper while the water heater came with 3/4").  Because of the hack job on the copper tubing that was there I just got that flexibile ribbed tubing to go from the existing water lines to the water heater.

Little bit of sweating at the fittings, no leaks though.  Sprayed leak detector on the gas line, no bubbles.  Everything seems good.

Ever since I got the thing the relief valve has been steadily dripping water onto my basement floor.  I have an expansion tank going to it, although it is about 3 or 4 feet away from the water heater for overhead space reasons.  I typically see these installed much closer to the unit itself, never 3 or 4 feet away if this makes a difference at all in how it performs.  It is not leaking there is no rust or any other signs that the bladder inside it is leaking.  When installing these you want to make sure they are on the cold line correct?

So I thought perhaps I have the temperature too hot, it was at B, I have since turned it down to A with no noticeable difference.

Water pressure coming to the house has always been extraordinarily high, but I tightened the pressure regulator enough that it should be well under 80 psi.

It is leaking probably over half a liter of water each day.  Something wrong with what I did, setup, existing issues with the plumbing?  Faulty relief valve?  Is it okay to just install a hose from the relief valve and just have that water drain to the A/C water pump and ignore it?

A few things to check;

Did you place the expansion tank on the cold water side?
Did you pressurize the expansion tank to the same pressure that the
water line is at after the regulator?
Is the expansion tank size rated for the size of your hot water
heater?


Adding exhaust fan to semi-rigid dryer duct I recently moved into a new house purchased by my friend/roommate/landlord. I plan on setting up my electronics workshop in the basement laundry area this weekend. Although there is plenty of space, the windows are sealed-up glass blocks so there is no ventilation other than the exhaust for the gas dryer. Because I'll be doing a lot soldering, I'd really like to come up with a way to vent those fumes to the outside.
My first thought was to tap into the semi-rigid duct running from the gas dryer to the outside. I could add a new duct with an exhaust fan and even rig it up so that opening/closing the vent also acts as power on/off for the fan.
My second thought was that this could be a really bad idea. As far as I know, dryer exhaust leaking into basement could be much worse than solder fumes, and this seems like the sort of thing I should not be DIY'ing, especially in someone else's house.

My question: Is there a way to do this safely? Or should I see about creating a dedicated exhaust?

Bad idea, you should run a separate vent line.

The dryer could overpressurize the duct, preventing your solder fumes from exausting, or could cause gasses from the dryer to flow toward your workbench.  Sure, you could engineer something that works, but the better answer is to isolate the exaust streams.

Dryer ducts can clog, especially at junctions, so you could have it work fine today, but stop working over time /because/ you added turbulence.  Turbulence will increase the amount of dryer dust that is deposited at the site of turbulence.  So joining that line could cause a new problem you don't have now.


What type of wire for subpanel in attached garage? I'm getting ready to add a 60A subpanel in my attached garage, but I'm conflicted about what type of wire to buy. The wire will run exposed in the rafters in the basement, then through the foundation wall, out into the garage(the garage floor is 4ft lower than top of the foundation). I plan on casing the wire in metal conduit once in the garage. The chosen wire size is 6-3, most likely copper since it easily available locally. The entire run will be dry and indoors.

Can I use NM-B wire for this? I'm confused because I will be running it into conduit once in the garage, which results in a double race-way. Is this acceptable, or should I be using a different type of wire?

edit
I chose NM wire because I wanted to avoid hanging conduit in the basement. The ceiling is low, and the rafters are 12" apart, which could make running conduit difficult. I plan on using conduit in the garage up to around 12' high, to avoid any exposed jackets where they may get caught on something. However, If I were to use THHN wire, I could fully enclose the entire run within conduit.

The problem with NM-B and conduit is that you have to treat it as a single round wire the diameter of the largest dimension of the oval (or "round-ish" for 3 conductors and ground) for fill calculations - and, let's face it, it is a giant pain to actually pull. Also, it's a dry-location-only type wire and garages are skirting the edge of that being true.

I'd strongly suggest that you should just run conduit the whole way and then use THWN, XHHW, or the like. It will be better protected, and it may also be cheaper (large NM-B often has a significant premium over 3 or 4 conductors of equivalent conduit-type wiring - and the conduit you will use can be much smaller to run 3-4 AWG 6 conductors than one AWG 6 NM-B.)

4 THWN or 3 THWN and a bare ground (AWG 6) will fit in a 3/4" EMT conduit (per code-compatible fill calculations.) I'm having a bit of trouble tracking down a hard number for the diameter to use for NM-B in AWG 6, but I'm fairly sure it comes out to a much bigger conduit (based on checking the same thing in smaller wires.) You might want to run larger conduit for an easier pull, or stick with smaller conduit for cheaper tooling and conduit, or go with PVC conduit if you decide to go larger than 3/4" so you don't need tooling (at least in the form of benders) though you should be able to rent those pretty cheaply for a day if you wanted to do 1" or 1-1/4" EMT for an easier pull.

A $300 (or rent it for a day) drill option: If you already have a cordless drill (so you can skip the batteries and chargers) you can often get the right-angle drill to go with it for under $100 - might take a bit longer but will get your job done eventually if you'd prefer not to rent, without sinking professional electrician tool money into the big guy without having professional electrician income to offset it. Will also be smaller for an easier fit into your tight joist spaces.


How do I wire mutilple sections of lights with 3 way switches to same power source? I want to wire  four separate sections of lights for my basement from the same breaker.  Three sections will be wired to 3 way switches, and one is a single pole. The previous set up was wired from the panel, to the lights and then to a 3 way switch.  Maintaining this set up, I have wired Section 1 successfully  (14/2 to the lights, 14/3 between lights, 14/2 to switchA and 14/3 to switch B. For the second 3 way switch section, I have 14/3 running ( but not yet connected ) between the 2 switches, and 14/2 from the second switch to the light fixtures and between fixtures. The 3rd 3 way section  was already wired and has a 3 way wire coming into the switch box from a switch at the top of the stairs, and a 14/2 going out to the light fixture. I have not yet wired the single pole section.   How do I connect the other two 3 way switches and the single pole to the power source?

Your problem is that the run from the 3 switch box to the top of the stairs doesn't have enough conductors.  In addition to the hot and two switched you now have, you will need a neutral return for the new single pole section.

You could use conduit here, but there's no sense ripping out the 14/3 that's already installed.  Just run a 14/2 parallel to it as shown.

I'm guessing about which switches must control which lights, but here is a suggested wiring diagram:

B = black, W = white, R = red, where indicated.  Wires not marked in the diagram are all switched, so use whatever conductors are available, and please mark the ends of them with a bit of yellow tape for future maintainers.  And don't forget to hook up the equipment grounding conductors!

I have omitted the details of the lights wiring as you have already done these.

Pay special attention to the connections in section 1 as the neutral wire here is carrying the load for the entire basement.

Late Edit: I just noticed that in an earlier diagram I recommended what is a code violation in most places. Justin W. has long since finished or abandoned this project, but I don't want to mislead anyone else who might read this later.

I have modified the diagram to show which conductors should be parts of a cable, in order to satisfy modern code, balance the current flow in each cable, and avoid inductive heating, magnetic radiation, and excessive line losses.


Using salt to reseal a solder joint? I just had an inspection for a hot water heater that we recently had installed, and while the installation passed, the inspector noted a leak at one of the copper joints in the hot water pipe.  She thought the pipe might have been jostled as the plumbers were getting the water heater installed, causing the joint to loosen.

She then mentioned that using salt on the joint might cause it to reseal itself.  I've searched all over, and can't find anything suggesting this might work.  Has anyone ever heard of this before, and/or tried it?

PS:  I've sent a message to the plumbing company that installed the water heater, so hopefully they'll come out and fix it for not too much money.  Just curious about the salt fix.

What she probably meant was that, over time, a small leak might seal itself due to build-up of "salts" at the leak site. Minerals will precipitate out of the water as it evaporates and build up, salt might be a term used casually to describe the various minerals. I would not rely on this idea, the pipe needs proper repair.


In summer, should attics simply have fans or other ventilation? The house we have in the US south seems to function in this way in summer:

I know nothing about AC/insulation systems but it seems that:

If there was simply airflow through the attic, it would stop the attic being actually warmer than outdoors?

Am I totally wrong?

So I propose this:

Do I have head up ass?

Is this something every other house has and I'm just behind the times? Have I "reinvented the wheel" or ...?

I've noticed anyway, from the attic, the gaps to the outisde walls are just really poor (ie, you can generally "look out" the gaps and see the grass) ... should I perhaps just install massive fans that pump the hot air out those gaps?

(I realize that would be the wrong direction - but my guess is it would be a huge improvement.)

Maybe I'm wrong and it's not actually that hot out there - I'm running out to buy many thermometer devices!

What's the deal on this?

We paid for a solar powered attic fan. It installs near the top of the roof peak and ideally points south (ours is east) and when the attic temperature exceeds 85°F, the fan starts. This presumes that there is sufficient sunshine to power the motor.

Our air conditioning use dropped substantially after the installation. It is still quite hot in the summer in the attic, but not body-killing hot as it usually is.

Because heat rises, you'd want a fan that blows out at the top and pulls cooler air in from below.


To lap or not to lap underlayment over concrete I am installing engineered hardwood flooring over concrete slab below grade in the basement.  The flooring installation instructions mention that if using 6-mil poly underlayment, it should be lapped up the wall, but not touching sheetrock.  However, I'm using a 2-in-one underlayment (vapor barrier as well as a bit of foam cushioning), and the instructions for that don't mention lapping, they say to just cut to the size of the room.  Some other random sources have mentioned lapping 6-mil up so far that it's hidden by the base molding (so it's definitely touching sheetrock).

What's the deal?  From what I understand, all of the barriers are meant to block moisture coming from below.  Lapping makes sense for creating a more complete "seal", but it makes sense that if it touches sheetrock, then condensation could travel from the barrier to the drywall.  The instructions I've seen that say not to lap are implying that rather than blocking the moisture at the edges, this instead gives it some room to evaporate.

Does anybody have a definitive answer?

DO not overlap as it will cause a noticeable uneven floor when walking over the areas. We cut to size and tape where the underlayment meets.

Overlap the wall areas and once flooring is complete prior to baseboard installation, simply cut along the edge (leaving a 1/4"-1/2" overcut) and tuck  the underlayment under the sheetrock.

This allows an overlap of the underlayment edging and does not allow any moisture to touch the sheetrock, preventing an environment where mold can grow.


Laundry dryer's thermal fuse keeps blowing off every few months. What could be the cause? Here is what I have done for my 10 year old LG dryer that resides outdoors:

checked the exhaust pipe and there was good air flow with no lint stuck in it.
checked for continuity between heating element's housing and the wires coming to it - there was no continuity as expected.
measured temperature at the exhaust pipe when dryer was at high heat setting with no clothes in it. It cycled between 61C(141F) and 71C(160F).

So far I have bought two thermal fuses from Amazon.com and both of them died in few months. Here is also a close up picture of thermistor:

What could be the problem and what additional test to perform?

Update #1: Picture of back draft flap. Seems clean to me.

Replace the thermostat also, it should be right there next to the fuse.  Its probably reading a little low, or intermittently failing, so the dryer is getting slightly hotter than is supported and the thermal fuse blows.  Also, while you have the cover open, you can be sure to vacuum the vent and everything making sure there are not restrictions like others have mentioned.  For me, the thermostat solved it after I went through about 5 thermal fuses.


What is the method to seal a concrete roof? We are staying in a home which has a concrete roof. Now we are facing leakage in the roof during rainy seasons. What do we have to do? How do we protect the roof from leaks?

Concrete itself is not waterproof, in fact, it's more like a sponge, so concrete alone is never used to create an impermeable surface. You haven't provided much info - is the roof flat, sloped? What is already up there?  There are tons of different waterproofing methods available.

Going under the assumption that it was properly waterproofed at some point, you need to figure out why it's leaking.   Maybe there is damage to the roof, or maybe there is a drainage problem and water is just building up and finding its way in. Also possible is that the flashing around a vent or access hole has been bent away and water is getting behind it. Either way, you will first need to investigate and resolve the root problem and then fix it in-line with how it was already constructed.  If the roof is tarred, you are not going to put down some other barrier.

You will without a doubt have to go on the roof to check it out. If you're not comfortable with this, its best to call a roofing expert.


How to repair / reinforce deteriorated footings and subsoil below brick & concrete porch My fiancee and I recently moved into a 1922 brick craftsman-style home. The front porch has a ~4" poured concrete floor and large solid concrete railing caps (12"W x 4"D). Brick columns support the roof, and brick posts & balusters support the large railing caps. I mention all this to emphasize this is a lot of heavy material.

When we inspected the home we noticed that this porch's floor and railing caps had some settlement cracks. It also appeared much of the lower brickwork on the porch had been re-pointed. Upon further examination, it was clear that the north side of the porch had sagged about an inch. Someone had clearly placed extra wood spacers between the roof and the corner column to compensate. When I went beneath the porch (it's fully accessible with standing room via the basement), I noticed a few things:

Several temporary support columns and one 8x8" CMU column were added underneath the sagging side of the porch.
The footings beneath the brick go down about 18-24" below grade and this
little room's dirt floor is about 18" lower still.
Someone (not me!) shoveled material out from around and beneath
the footings (hence how I could see where they bottom out).
Tangential, but of note, the original wooden concrete forms for the porch floor were left
intact above head. I guess plywood hadn't yet been invented in 1922 (or
was rare/expensive) so it initially looked like maybe the whole floor
was being supported by 2x4s and 1x4 slats! This wood is not in the
best of shape and I've thought about removing it -- if for no other reason than to have a better attachment point for support columns.

So, it seems that someone may have decided it was a good idea to undermine the footings in this old coal chute/storage room, then--half way through--realized it was causing the porch to sink. They put up some columns and patched up the cracks and walked away. No idea how long ago this may have been. Judging by the condition of the repairs, I'd guess about 4 years ago. It doesn't appear there's been too much (if any) movement since, but it's damn concerning nonetheless.

The question is what to do about the situation. I've batted ideas around with several people but can't come to a definitive consensus.

One camp suggests building a knee wall up from the floor so that it overlaps with the existing footings and connecting them with rebar to arrest  further settling both down and laterally.

Another camp suggests jacking up the corner (I do have a 20-ton screw jack) and incrementally under-girding the footings from below. Then building the knee wall as described above--mostly to avoid potential lateral shifting.

In either case, I plan to add several more concrete columns for "belts and suspenders".

I've been at a stand-still of apprehension. Being new to the town, I don't have a network of trusted contractors. I've had a couple people look at it and, I just didn't get the sense they had a good handle on this situation or enough experience with older buildings. I'd greatly appreciate any insights from those with experience and knowledge to help me move toward fixing this correctly (insofar as that is possible).

Thanks.

PS: The soil here is mostly red clay. Your typical eastern Tennessee type of earth.

PPS: Uploaded a gallery of photos for reference: https://imgur.com/a/0l6X8

It looks like somebody tried to lower the basement floor, going about it in a most dangerous way. With that much dirt removed from beside the foundation is a seriously wrong move, I am glad to see it is still up with not much settling. The cracks you show are minor compared to what I have seen in homes that have simply settled or shifted for one reason or another. You need to have a company come in that specializes in underpinning


What is the best way to remove dried egg from a house? Some troglodytes egg my house anywhere from every 1-6 months, and have been doing so for the last four years. They just did it again tonight, so I have a fresh supply of drying egg to now remove.

My question is:

What is the best way to remove dried egg from a house?

My house is a bungalow with vinyl siding and a lot of glass windows (now all covered in layers of egg in varying states of dryness from previous attacks -- it's so frequent I can't keep up with cleaning it...).

EDIT: While I'm grateful for all the advice, I think this question would ultimately be more useful to everyone if future answers could deal with specific ways to remove egg -- not whether I should clean up the egg or not, or how to catch the miscreants, etc.

Step 1: A pressure washer, done as quickly as possible. They are not expensive, going for about $100 for a basic one that will probably be adequate.

Step 2: A camera system, motion activated, to catch the miscreants when they return. Take them to court.

Step 3: Relax.


How should I connect a new ceiling fan which is controlled by a remote? I am replacing an existing ceiling fan whose light was controlled by a wall switch & fan by the chain.  The new fan is controlled by a remote only, no chains.

There are 4 wires coming from the ceiling electrical box: white, black, pink & bare. There are only 3 wires to the input side of the remote: white, black, & ground.

The wall switch has only 2 wires: black & pink. I know that the wall switch must be "on" to permit the remote/fan to operate.

What wires from the ceiling do I need to connect to the input side of the remote? I already tried connecting the pink to white & black to black without success.  I connected the output side of the remote to the fan per the instructions with the fan.

Connect the white wire to the white wire.

If you want the wall switch to turn off the light/fan, then hook the pink wire in the box to the black wire on your controller. If you want to prevent the switch from turning off the light/fan then connect black to black.

Which ever wire you don't use should be capped with a spare wire nut and wrapped with electrical tape.


How does an external tower style bathtub drain work? I have this style tub drain and can't figure out how it works. Does it simply block the flow of water when lowered? Or is there something more complicated happening?

My tub has stopped draining and when I removed the cylinder from the drain tower it came right out, but this did not affect the stoppage. I wonder if it should be attached to something, but can not see into the tube well enough.

I should add that I had been trying to unblock the drain and used a plunger on it. So there is a possibility that I plunged the clog(s) into a more blocking state, but I suspect that the pressure of the plunger interfered with something mechanical, because the water isn't receding at all, even after some hours.

It's called a "standing waste".  It works just like you say.  The cone at the base of the inner tube seals against a flange and the water must fill the outer tube (attached to your floor) before (over)flowing down the inner tube.  Here's a pic since words are useless for describing this kind of thing.

Here's some in-depth discussion on resolving a clog on one of these.

if you see water in the tube at the same height as in the tub, you should snake down the tube.  If not, the blockage is between the drain and the standing waste and you should snake down the tub drain.

I suspect the blockage is downstream of the standing waste since the plunger was ineffective.  Try sealing the top of the standing waste tube while plunging before resorting to the snake.


What size sub panel do I need I need to install a 30 amp 120v RV outlet 140 feet from main box.  I thought I would use a sub panel to allow for a few lights and two 110 outlets.  Can I use a double pole 30 amp breaker with number 4 wire? My thoughts were since I was useing a double pole breaker I could use one hot to feed the rv plug and the other the rest. Thanks DC

To answer your question, the smallest sub panel you can find. You would need to use conduit and correct fittings for running wire. However, I wouldn't buy a sub panel for just one double poll breaker. Instead, since this is a sub panel we're talking about here, I would set up a two or three breaker sub panel. 1 or 2 for the lights and other outlets, and 1 for the RV outlet. For the RV outlet, if it is a 120V outlet, which I think it is, they make up to 50 amp single poll Square-D breakers. Although, you would need a 40 or 30 amp single poll. For the other breaker(s), I would use a 20 amp. Just a suggestion...


How can I remove a switch and terminate a circuit in its place? I have a switch that used to control outdoor lighting.  It no longer does any more and I'd like to just leave it off permanently.  Is there an easy way I can terminate it from within the gang box? Eventually I might want to use it again so I don't want to completely rip out out the wiring/circuit; just leave it off and replace the switch with a faceplate cover.

Turn off the power at the panel for this circuit (flip the circuit
breaker).
Remove the cover plate from the switch.
Test with a non-contact tester to make sure that there is no power
    in the circuit box.

Unscrew the switch.
Remove the two wires from the switch (unscrew or, if they are press
in types, cut them close to the switch)
Straighten the wires and screw a wire nut over the bare end of each
wire.

Wrap electrical tape over the nuts and the wires.
Carefully bend them back into the box.
Put a blank cover over the box.


How can I put a plastic sky-light in a shed roof? I have a large shed with a shallow angled roof made from 9mm OSB board and supported by wooden beams every 3ft approx, and covered with standard shed roofing felt.

I want to put a few sky-lights made from double-walled polycarbonate plastic in the roof (EG 2x6ft)

What would be a good method to do this, and keep it water-tight?

Climate - England so rain, wind, some snow, and on the odd occasion SUN!

Homemade skylights are a bit tough. But, you basically want to have the top & sides under the roofing & the bottom on top of the roofing. Set the panels in a thick bead of caulk, silicone or not & screw down either through the panels or with brackets.

The polycarbonate's channels would be best run horizontal to the pitch rather than downward with it. Membrane tape or even just aluminum tape the sides first then the top. Finally, caulk the roofing down to the sides & top of the panel & do a final caulking at the bottom of the panels to stop any capillary action or ice damming.


Running Wire to Electrical Panel Box I have to run approximately 8-10 home Romex (14/2 and 12/2) wires to Electric panel box.
So, Can I run those wires to the panel box as per the picture, Is this sound ok ?
Is there any limit, I can group maximum no. of wires together ?
More Details : The wires have to run for 10 feet along the joist. so I am planning to run and staple wires parallel to cable wires ( green & black) and run the wires through a 2 inches of hole (1-2 feet away from panel box) and finally pull the wires through behind joists to run into the panel box.
I'll be using wire tie to group them together.
Thank you so much in advance.
Thanks
I know I have to group them together. any maximum limit for grouping ?

Slow down on the hole size, unless using a conduit nipple the inspector will usually call more than 2 cables through a hole bundling (where 2 or more cables are run without spacing) so a massive hole for 8-10 ea 12 or 14 gauge cables just won’t work.
Next more than 3 current carrying conductors will require derating.
Drilling a series of 3/8 -3/4 holes is a better idea for most diy. inspectors don’t allow the proper derating of NM wire and it is easier just to limit the number of cables.
I have won the arguments in the past and even used bushings through a beam to prove the point (a nipple under 24” you don’t have to derate and you can run more)
As for running the wires there are 1 or 2 cable staples 2 cable are longer. Next there are wire stacking “staples” actually a nail that has spaced clips to run the wires along the studs. The cables need to be 1-1/4” back from the face of the studs and above the ceiling joist 1-1/4”


Acrylic bathtub small crack I just found a small crack, about 1 inch, on my acrylic bathtub floor. The tub is a Kohler Devonshire 1357 about 14 years old. Tub looks almost new, crack looks superficial just the acrylic surface. I can’t see it underneath because it’s on the opposite side of my access but the tub has what I believe is a fiberglass backing and I can’t imagine it went through that.

Is this something I should repair with a kit they sell at home improvement store or will the crack expand in the near future and should just look for new tub? Will the repair look descent, it’s a very small crack and doesn’t seem to flex.

Thanks!

I don't know if you checked with Kohler on this but they have a lifetime warranty on acrylic/plastic tub surfaces if you are the original owner. Depending on the nature/cause of the damage you might be able to get it covered despite it's age. If they don't cover it they may still be able to help you with advice on a method of repair. Give it a shot.
Here's a link: https://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/1353553-12.pdf


Can I use two 2x8 beams instead of one 4x8 beam for deck? I am trying to "optimize" materials purchase when building a deck. So I got two questions:

Is two 2x8x16 beams the same as one 4x8x16 beam for deck support? Do I need to bolt / nail them together or just sit them side by side on top of the posts?
If the answer is yes above, I want to buy the ones from Home Depot. But why is there such a difference in price vs. Lowes' 4x8x16?

2x8x16:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Construction-Select-2-in-x-8-in-x-16-ft-Construction-Select-Pressure-Treated-Lumber-549000102081600/206931774

4x8x16:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_209870-10926-209870_0__?storeNumber=2420&selectedLocalStoreBeanArray=[com.lowes.commerce.storelocator.beans.LocatorStoreBean%405cb15cb1]&productId=3184283

If you pair the beams up, you should glue them with construction adhesive. Just nailing or screwing them together won't really distribute the load across both beams. Although; you're probably not planning on hanging or resting anything on just one beam and expecting the other beam to help with the load anyway.

A pair of 2x8 beams are going to be 3" wide (typically 1/4" is planed off each side of dimensioned lumber to give it the finished surface).

A 4x8 beam is going to be 3-1/2" wide. The extra half inch is going to add some strength to the 4x8 beam.

The 4x8 might be more prone to warping than a couple of 2x8's if it's a solid beam (but not if it's a laminated beam).

If this was for indoor use, you could sandwich a strip of plywood between the 2x8 beams and glue (not nail) all three pieces together to create a laminated beam that would be stronger and less prone to warping than the 4x8. But since you're building a deck, the sandwiched plywood would soak up water and be a problem.


Where do I go - plastic faucet seat broken The first picture shows what I started with.
The second shows what I have now.

I'm trying to install a Gerber bath/shower remodeling kit. I've gotten stuck on the seat removal. The seat rim broke off a little bit every time I tried to take it out.  I've tried making a groove with a hot screwdriver - no go. What are my options here?

Drill holes 180 degrees across from each other, you want the holes as large as possible without hitting the brass threads. Now use a large screwdriver or small chisel to unscrew it. If it breaks then just dig out the pieces with a pick. Turn the water on afterwords to blow out any debris.


Talking Thermostat also saying "two sixty four" This has been asked before but there wasn't any solution. To top it off, I'm new and I can't ask the OP if he solved his problem. I may have to call him tonight. He's in the next town over. But let's see if anyone knows what the problem is.

Talking Thermostat VT1001 out of the blue starts saying "two sixty four". We had the fan circulating for a few days and all was well. Then the "two sixty four" started. So I shut the fan off. It's still doing it with the fan off.

Really unnerving when you're the only one in the house. Help!

I don't know what that error code means, but you can reset this unit by pressing and holding both the "Reset" button and the "No" button simultaneously for at least ten seconds, then pressing the "Run" button.  You'll have to reprogram the thermostat.

My next step would be to replace this with a standard programmable thermostat, the talking thermostat is mostly a marketing gimmick, it was promoted to HVAC contractors as a device that would generate calls for routine service and maintenance.


What kind of wheels do I need? I would like to put my 3 ft x 1 ft x 2 ft shelves on wheels. They will be used to hold books in my classroom so they need to be fairly sturdy. However the wood is only 3/4 in thick. What kind of wheels should I use?

Bookshelves are not designed to be trolleys!

They will tear themselves apart if casters are put on the corners.

I would have a 1" plywood deck to be a "chassis" that carries the dynamic forces between the casters.  Fasten the casters to the plywood deck, then fasten the deck to the bookshelf. Normal wood bookshelves are not meant to roll around, and do not have the physical strength needed to sustain the dynamic forces of being rolled around.

If you've ever pushed a cart on casters, and had it jump or stop abruptly when it hits a low spot, doorway threshold, pebble or pavement crack -- then you have met the dynamic forces I mention.  Your generic IKEA tier plywood/engineered-wood bookshelf just can't handle that.

For that matter, you may have a problems with books blowing through the thin back sheet on most bookshelves.  You might replace that with 1/4" luaun plywood and lots of wood screws, and predrill them especially if they're going into engineered wood or particle board.

Casterwise, you want the smallest wheels possible. The problem is, larger wheels mean the center of the wheel is farther inset from the edge, and that means the actual footprint of the wheels is getting smaller and smaller.  1" wheels = 11x23" footprint.  4" wheels = 8"x20" footprint. 8" wheels = 4"x16" footprint.  Too small a footprint makes the bookshelf increasingly "tipsy" when being transported, so instead of stubbing its toe, the bookshelf may fall over.


How to repair porcelain sink? I have a chip and some rust in my porcelain sink.

How do I repair this and is this causing water leaking?

I was thinking to use a wire-brush to brush out the rust and use porcelain paint to repaint the porcelain.

Is that a good idea? Do I need to remove the sink drain?

Thanks

A wire brush is too large for these small spots. You would damage the area around it. You do not have to remove the drain.

First clean the whole area with whatever mild abrasive cleaner you have been using. Scrub carefully with cleaning powder and a soft cloth. Get the abrasive powder out of the rust, then dry with a cloth.

Then put a dab of porcelain paint on it as is. Or try to remove the rust with a very abrasive eraser stick (like we used to use with a typewriter) and then put on the paint. The paint color will not match and will show, but it will look better than the rust and the rust will be stopped for a long time.


Is "14 AWG" NM-B allowed by the newest NEC for new residential construction? Is "14 AWG" NM-B allowed by the newest NEC for new residential construction?

My concern is what the NEC says concerning 14 AWG NM-B for new residential construction. I have been told that the "NEC 2014 & 2017" codes do not allow it for new residential construction. Am just trying to find out for sure.

There is nothing in the NEC that forbids 15A circuits with 14AWG wire in new work

There is nothing in the NEC (2014 or 2017) that forbids the use of 15A circuits wired with 14AWG NM-B for general lighting and receptacles (irrespective of occupancy).  Some localities do amend the Code to require the use of 20A branch circuits (with 12AWG wire, of course) for general lighting and receptacles in some or all occupancies, though, and there are also electricians who do not install 15A branch circuits, preferring to stick to 20A as a point of practice, but neither of these reflect on what the NEC actually says.


Can harmonised and non-harmonised (H and HY) cable be used interchangeably for lighting circuits? If I have been using 6242Y twin and earth cable for regular lighting, can I use 6243YH three core and earth for two-way lighting? I know the H is for harmonised, but I don't know if there are any stipulations in the 18th Edition of the wiring regulations against installing harmonised and non-harmonised cables together.

Not all commonly used UK cables comply with the harmonised standards anyway.
UK flat PVC twin-and-earth (and triple-) cables should comply with BS6004.
I can't see any consistency with major suppliers listing either Y or YH type cables.


Washing Machine Drain direct to drain pipe vs laundry tub Is it better to have a washing machine drain into a laundry tub vs directly into a drain pipe in the wall?  I've always used a laundry tub with a lint sock & catch lots of lint, replacing the sock frequently.  If it goes directly to wall drain, wouldn't it get clogged with lint?  How would you clean it out in the wall?  Asking for someone moving into a new home with hook up directly in wall, instead of a laundry tub.

Lint in drainwater should not clog pipes - it will just be carried along with the water.

Whether it's bad for something further down the line (such as your septic field) will vary depending on things like whether there even is a septic field at the house in question, whether the tank has a filter before the drain field, etc. Generally not an issue if going into a public sewer.

A laundry sink has uses, but is now uncommon as it also takes up extra space. In houses with limited drain capacity, the holding function of a laundry sink can take the high-speed washer output and let it into the drains more slowly without overflows. That's rarely a problem in "modern" house plumbing that's designed to a code which expects washer drains to accommodate typical washer output flows, but can be a big factor in keeping a laundry sink in an older house with less robust plumbing.


How can I make a park bench more sturdy? I purchased a park bench for my patio

But it's a little on the flimsy side and I'm afraid someone is going to throw themselves down on it and it's going to break. In what way can I strengthen the bench and possibly increase the weight capacity? The arms are cast iron and the bench has wooden slats. I was thinking of purchasing thicker wood and having it cut into slats but I'm not sure if that would really be the best way to do it.

One way you may be able to lower the amount of springiness in the seat slats is to add some hardwood strips to the bottom of each slat. These could be attached with sturdy wood screws similar to as shown below. These can be added as long as possible but just short of the current slat mounting to the cast iron frame.


Can I install 72W A19 halogen into a 60W-looking socket? I need to replace the ceiling-fan light-bulbs in my living room in North America, there's a standard-looking 3-light-bulb installation with the fan, and each of the three sockets are only marked "660W 250V", without the designation of what the final appliance accepts.  The prior owner left me with one working CFL and two burned out incandescents (one 40W, another 60W).  The light cover is made from glass, and is tulpan/cone like (looks very similar to http://www.amazon.com/Westinghouse-Lighting-7781400-Three-Light-Ribbed-Glass/dp/B003KQLJJW, and these are probably supposed to be spec'ed for 60W incandescents).

Can I install two A19 72W halogen 100W-incandescent-replacement bulbs to replace the burned out 40W and 60W incandescent light bulbs?  After all, the sockets are marked 660W 250V each — I'd only be using 72W 120V out of them, way below the electrically-advised spec.

If the fan light fixture is newer and meets EPAct05 compliance then there will be a circuit in place to limit the total power to 190W. Exceeding that total wattage should cause the circuit to interrupt the current. I believe the circuit should reset itself when power is removed, load reduced, and power restored.

However, I had one fan light fixture for which I had installed CFLs. The fixture wasn't rated for CFL use and the EPAAct05 prevention device got fried and permanently opened.

EPA Standards for Ceiling Fan Light Kits


Where can I find unusual L-shaped brackets? I had windows installed in my gazebo, but had them installed with the screens on the outside and windows on the inside (for easier cleaning access).  My problem now is that strong winds blow the windows out!  I need some type of l-shaped brackets (72 of them), with a 3/16" short side and a 1" long side, in some shade of brown.  I need to have pre-drilled holes on the 1" side,  over half way toward the long end.  I've looked long and hard, with no success - can someone direct me to a resource for these, or do they not exist?

You could get a length of 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle steel, and manufacture your own.

Start by using a chop saw to cut the angle steel into pieces as wide as you need.

Next cut one side of the L to 3/16". A jig will help you cut the pieces quickly and accurately.

Use another jig to help you drill the holes.  A drill press with a carbide-tipped or cobalt drill bit will be useful for this.

Finally, paint the brackets to the desired color using a quality spray paint designed for metal.


How do I attatch my fence gate hinges I have these hinges

And I want to attach it to my fence but it the holes will miss the cross board.

The bolts they gave me aren't long enough to reach the post.

Should I just get longer bolts and screw it into the post or do I need to attach another cross board for them to attach to?

Use one screw-in lag bolt per hinge that can penetrate to the post for at least one bolt hole
You're wise to realize this now. I learned this one the hard way. Had someone build a gate for me and used the maybe 1.5" bolts that came with it. Over time, the weight of the gate pulled the 2x4 away from the post. I have a drive-in lag bolt there now, but you'll be far better off if you lag bolt it now rather than later.


Partial Outage in Apartment Tonight half my apartment blacked out, the ceiling lights and the plugs on the bedroom and bathroom side of the apartment all were not working. I opened the circuit breaker box and flipped the switch that corresponded to the 5A and 25A (in the description it said "lights") switches. They originally were on "On" and I turned them both "Off", which resulted in my entire apartment becoming completely dark. I turned them back to "On" and the lights came back on, also the previously blacked out lights in the bedroom and bathroom and plugs are all working. My question is how did this happen and should I be concerned? My main concern is that, although the switches I flipped Off and back to On controlled the lights of the whole apartment, why did only part of my apartment go dark? Also, why were the switches set at "On" when I first checked? Sorry if this is confusing, please let me know!

Most circuit breakers have 3 positions: On, Off, & Tripped. To a casual observer, the Tripped position may look like it is still "On". Note that you cannot move directly from Tripped to "On", you must go to "Off" first

https://www.anthonyphc.com/wp-content/uploads/tripped-circuit-breaker.jpg
Should you be concerned: Yes. It could have been a nuisance trip due to a momentary surge, but it could also be a real overcurrent condition. Inspect all the devices on this circuit. Look for frayed cords. If any of the devices are acting weird, replace them. If it happens again, call an electrician.
Did an incandescent bulb on this circuit recently burn out? Rarely, a broken filament will momentarily create a high current path.


What are these wire connectors called? I'm rewiring this device and the board on the device has these white plastic connectors. The existing wires terminate in a sort of metal slug that makes them a snug fit in their slots on the connectors.

What is the name of these terminators/fittings? Are they available at hardware stores?

Based on the feedback I got in the comments, I purchased some pin and socket connectors. They ended up being bigger than the ones already present, but they still fit and work for the intended purpose.


Plumbing - does it matter where I stop cold and hot water pipes? Im putting in a new sink in my bathroom, and in doing that Im moving the sink from one side of the bathroom to the other.  Ive got the pipes on the new side all ready for the new sink.  Im also putting a cap on the end of the old sink pipes.  Its just occurred to me that if I just cap the ends just under the floorboards where the old sink used to be, that there will be a metre or two of pipes that have water in, but going nowhere.  Does this matter?  Is it possible for the water to become stagnant perhaps, or to affect the water supply in any way?  Should I try to cap the pipe as close to the T junction (further away under other floorboards) or does it not matter at all?  It would save me some time not to pull up other floorboards, but I thought I should ask before I leave a few metres of both hot and cold pipes 'live' but going nowhere.  Thanks for any help on this.

It is a very bad idea to have a dead leg in a water supply system. These are unswept by flow and so can grow bacteria. Check with your local residential plumbing code enforcement on how serious a violation it is.


How to level depressed region in plywood subfloor for laminate? In my bedroom, the plywood subfloor has a depressed region near the middle (roughly (roughly 10ft x 10ft). The depression is about 1/2 inch on average, and up to 3/4 in a small area. I want to put down laminate flooring, but am not sure what's the best way to level the depression. I read about leveling compound, but read it may be cheaper to patch with plywood pieces. Could I use 1/4" thick plywood pieces for this? If so, are there additional steps besides nailing it down?

Forgot to mention, this is a second floor condo unit.

First you need to address and fix the sagging issues before proceeding with any thoughts of next steps. Get under the house and see what's going on. If it is not severe (ie. rot/mold) then get proper bracing in there.

After that, you should most certainly be dealing with a much more level floor. As for liquid level vs. replacing the subfloor. It is much more cost effective and ideal in laying fresh particle board on top and have a nice new surface to start with.  Liquid level will work well when no more than 1/4".

  Could I use 1/4" thick plywood pieces for this? If so, are there additional steps besides nailing it down?

I would go with at least 3/8" particle board and as for nails, DO NOT USE any. Screw it all down, or the nails can get loose over time and make the floors squeak.

With that, make sure to screw off all areas that squeak, or you will live to regret it.

Update Based on it is now a Second Floor Condo.
Are both floors your condo and do you know much about history?

I apologize if this type of reply is not allowed. As I will remove this portion or answer in full depending on info to come.


Is blown-in insulation appropriate for on the foundation block in a crawlspace? Our home has blown-in insulation on the foundation block in the crawlspace. I've never seen this before. The other homes in the area I've seen had foam board glued to the wall.  There doesn't appear to be a vapor barrier between the block and the insulation, so I'm worried about it holding moisture. Is the blown-in stuff acceptable?

I live in Middle Tennessee where we have a lot of humidity and 90-100 degree temps through summer.  In the winter we have several periods of freezing weather with a few snows.

Since it's vented outside, the humidity level in the crawlspace is generally going to be equal to the humidity level outside. You should not have any vapor barrier on the walls, as this will actually prevent drying and hold the moisture in (though because it's vented, it will still eventually equalize).

What you should have though, is a vapor barrier and insulation on the roof of the crawlspace, before the subfloor of the floor above. This is an area where cold (air in the crawlspace) meets hot (from the conditioned room above), and so there needs to be a thermal break (insulation) and a vapor barrier on the warm side of the insulation.

I suspect the insulation in the crawlspace itself is just to help slow the temperature changes in the crawlspace, because that's about all it's doing. Considering it's open to the outside, it will eventually get to the outside temperature. Expecting it to add any insulation value to your living space is about the same as leaving your front door wide open and expecting the insulation in the rest of your house to keep you warm.


How do we prevent air in the water lines from our well? We receive our water from a spring fed well. There is approximately 125 feet of pipe from house to spring house. We have obvious air in our line. We have replaced 2 check valves and foot valve as well as checked for obvious leaks in house. The pump does not run continuously. Pressure is maintained in our pressure tank. Water sprays from the faucet when turned on and pipes rattle loudly when toilet is flushed. How do we find leak without digging up 125 feet of pipe.

Assuming you have a shallow well pump.  I would start looking from the pump to your well. This is where you will get air sucked into the water without having a water leak.  Tighten all the hose clamps, you may need to add thread sealant to primer plug or any threaded fittings.


What are these spongy/soft spots on my hardwood floor? The house I recently bought has hardwood floors, but I've noticed that some spots are spongy when I walk over them. There is visible downward flex in certain spots to an observer of someone walking across the room. I took a coin and tapped across the floor, and the spongy spots have a hollow sound.

What is the cause of this, and is there a remedy without tearing out the whole floor?

I suspect the previous answer will rarely apply to the problem as reported by OP. Most likely the floor isn't "solid" hardwood (ie - it's probably not 2-3cm thick floorboards laid directly over joists that have sagged).

I've often seen what OP describes on "click-lock" flooring, where interlocking 6-10mm thick panels are used to "tile" the area. The panels are usually laminate rather than "real wood", but according to that Wikipedia link it's often called floating wood tile in the US, and some artificial composites are so good you might think they're real wood anyway. Whatever - the problem can apply (though less commonly) even with real "wood strip flooring", as it's often called in the UK.

The American name itself suggests where the problem lies. These "secondary" floor coverings are supposed to float, meaning they should not actually be fixed to the flat surface underneath. In the UK, most modern building have 8' x 4' chipboard sheets screwed into the joists, and the "floating" floor lays directly on these sheets.

Actual floorboards (generally older buildings in the UK) are usually lengths of softwood about 6" wide spanning the entire room. If a floating floor is laid on these, they're normally covered first with a layer of thin (4-6mm) plywood sheets, to get the required flat surface for the floating floor.

With these types of flooring, it's essential the entire top covering is actually able to float - whether it's real wood or a composite material, temperature and humidity changes over time are likely to cause expansion. The hollow/spongy patches aren't caused by sagging. The floor is trying to expand, but is being pinched at the edges because there's not an adequate expansion gap where the floor meets the walls, so it buckles upwards.

Because "click-lock" flooring looks easy, people often do it themselves - or employ an incompetent handyman who does a job that looks good until he's been paid, but causes problems later.

In every case I've seen, the solution involves taking off the skirting boards (apparently called base or mop boards in US/Canada). The floating floor is supposed to go under the bottom of the skirting, but still have about a 1cm gap between the flooring panels and the actual wall. If there's no gap, chisel one out. If the flooring panels were actually butting hard against the front edge of the skirting, saw/chisel the bottom of the skirting so it can go under. Then just re-fix the skirting.

Sometimes the "pinch points" may not actually be at the skirting/wall. You may have a fitted kitchen, for example, where the base units are solidly fixed to the underlying "subfloor". But the same basic principle applies. There will probably be quadrant (scotia) strips covering the vertical/horizontal join. Prise/chisel these off to check whether the floating floor is being trapped against something under there - if so, just adapt the remedy outlined above.


Can I split a 120v outlet off a 240v air conditioner circuit? I have a 30amp 240v line running to my central  A/C unit. And I want to install an 20 amp 120v outlet next to it to run an air compressor unit. Is this possible and how is done?

No. The National Electrical Code does not allow line to neutral loads on a 240 volt line.

Besides that the line to the air conditioner will not have a neutral for the 120 volt line anyway. If you cheat and use the equipment ground that is another very dangerous code violation.

Just run a new wire. It is not worth you and your family's safety to save a few dollars.

Good luck and stay safe!


How can I fix a wall mounted towel hanger A towel hanger fastened with a drywall fastener has been ripped out of the wall.
How can I repair the hole and reattach the towel hanger?

If you are flexible about the location that the towel bar is mounted then there is a relatively easy path to getting this repaired. There are two main steps involved with this. If you really want to keep the towel hanger in the same location then there is another way you could repair it in place but it involves more work. It's not really hard to do but takes longer to patch it up.

Remounting the towel hanger

Find and loosen the screw or hex head set screw that allows the mounting bracket part of the towel hanger to be removed from the decorative outer shell.
Remove the old molly bolt screw from the bracket and discard the old fastener.
Locate a stud in the wall where you can accept having the towel bar mounted. (A stud finder tool can be handy for this but you can also use a magnet to find screws or nails that hold the drywall to the studs knowing that there is a stud behind the screw).
Mount the bracket at the new location over the stud. Use screws long enough to penetrate the drywall and about 1" into the stud. This would likely be a screw of length 1.5. to 1.75". Some brackets take 1 screw and some 2 or three. Note that it will be best to predrill pilot holes for the screws. They will go in easier and prevent splitting the stud.
Remount the towel bar itself onto the bracket and tighten the screw / hex set screw that secures the towel bar to the bracket.

Patching the old hole

The hole can be easily patched using one of the popular small patch repair kits that you can purchase at the big box store. These have a stickon plastic or metal grid or web piece that has adhesive on the back. Peel off the backer and paste it onto the wall surface centered over the old hole.
Follow directions with the kit to apply successive layers of drywall mud over the patch and feather it out for about 6 - 8 inches on each side of the repair site. Depending on how nice you can apply each coat of the drywall compound it may or may not be necessary to sand between coats. After the feathered out coats are dry you can sand the surface smooth.
Since the present wall is textured you will want to apply some texture in the patch area. There are available spray cans if texture material that you can purchase at the big box store. These will sputter out a coating of material similar to drywall mud to leave a texture on the wall area. When using these spray cans it is advisable to practice first on some scrap plywood, cardboard or similar material to get the hang of applying the texture material.
After the texture has dried then prime the rework area with a good quality wall primer paint.
Finally you can repaint the patch area with paint to match the rest of the wall area. If the wall area where the patch is located is relatively small you may want to consider repainting that whole surface from corner to corner and top to bottom. The repainting will be much less noticeable that way.

Repairing in existing location

You would start by marking and then cutting out the damaged drywall area in a rectangular area about 2.5" x 4". Use an inexpensive hand drywall hole cutter saw for this.
Acquire a piece of pine 1x3 that is about 8 to 9 inches long. (That size of board will be just narrower than the width of the hole you have cut out). Attach a drywall screw partway into the center of one flat face of this piece of board and then tie a long string to that drywall screw.
Fit the wood piece into the hole in the wall. Lower it in so that the whole thing goes in the wall behind the hole with the length of the board inline with the long dimension of your hole. Use the string to pull the board up against the inside face of the wall and then you can use the drywall screw as a handle to hold the board in place.
Install some drywall screws through the existing drywall about 1/2 inch from the hole and into the 1x3 pine board. I would use two screws side by side above and below the hole. Use a hand screw driver to install the screws because easy does it. When the screws approach the almost in state finish off with them just dimpling the surface of the drywall and not tearing through the paper. (Too easy to mess this up with a power driver in this case).
When the board is installed you can remove the string and the handle screw.
After this you need a small piece of drywall that will just fit in the hole and back up against the wood board behind it. If you do not have some drywall pieces laying around they sell smallish 2 foot by 2 foot pieces at big box stores.
Screw the small piece of drywall in place using two drywall screws. Stay away from putting screws in the center are.
Patch over this hole. You can do this with a medium sized stick on drywall patch repair kit and follow the steps I mentioned above including the texture and painting.
Once the hole is all patched up you can remount the towel bar bracket as described before with regular type screws. The screws will go into center area of that 1x3 board instead of over a stud. This repair will secure the towel bracket for all but the very most aggressive treatment of the towel hanger.

Good Luck.


Need help adding fan to existing 3-way switch setup I'm including a diagram, because it is difficult to describe all of the things going on here. I have 2 sets of 3-way switches on either side of a room. 1 set operates some can lights with a switch on one side of the room and a dimmer on the other side. The other set has a switch on either side of the room and looks like it was once wired up to a fan. I'm attempting to add a new fan, but i'm not sure how to wire it up with the existing setup. The new fan has no light and comes with a wall switch that just has the hot, neutral, and ground. It looks like this:

From what I can tell the is a line coming into the middle of the box, then each 3-way is wired up from there up to the ceiling. In the ceiling where the new fan should be, I have 2 of the 3-wire (white,black, and red) cables. Here is my diagram of the switches on the hot side (I've excluded the grounds for the sake of simplicity):

So, question #1 is: Can I use this fan switch with the existing setup?

And question #2: How would I go about this?

If the fan is controlled by a 3-way switch, you'll have to replace either of the switches with another 3-way switch.  Unless you eliminate one of the 3-way switches, you can't install a single pole switch.

If you want to install a fan speed control switch in this scenario, you'll have to find one that can be wired as a 3-way switch (not sure if it exists).


Why isn't my mini fridge getting cold? I recently got a mini fridge from my neighbor. He said he didn't want it because it wasn't keeping his food cold. I examined it and it is a brand new mini refrigerator in good condition except for the fact that the cooling system isn't working. Its a Black & Decker brand and is probably like 2x2 feet. Is there any way that I can fix this myself, or is it not worth the effort?

"...a brand new mini refrigerator in good condition except...". Such a deal. The cooling system in these low cost mini fridges is the main part of the things. It is almost a sure bet that any replacement parts to repair the compressor or evaporator will cost as much or more than a new unit at a high volume retail outlet. I would recommend not even spending the time trying to troubleshoot it. Maybe you may do good in talking your neighbor into taking the unit back so you do not end up with the hassle of disposing of the thing.


How to prevent bolts from rusting and sticking in the toilet tank? Inspired by this problem.

If I somehow succeed in removing the rusted bolts and replace them with new ones, how can I prevent the new bolts from rusting and getting stuck too? (Other than removing the tank every x months/years just to clean the bolts.)

E.g. in the bike repair videos they always grease the bolts before reinserting them, I was asking myself if this would work for the toilet tank as well. Since I did not find any mention of this anywhere, I imagine this would be a bad idea (maybe because the grease would allow the water to leak around the bolts?), but I would be interested in your opinions, or maybe if someone has tried it, what were the experiences.

The best solution is to purchase a new set of bolts that are made of stainless steel or brass. Both will not rust the same way that a iron or steel bolt will. They will cost a little bit more but will pay back in the long term.

My experience has been that the brass bolts after years can sometimes build up their own kind of corrosion that can make it difficult to remove the nuts. This seems to be related to  the water chemistry and to some degree if there is a micro leak by the bolt. Stainless steel bolts are the best in my experience and I have been very happy with the toilet repairs where I have used them.


How can I maintain the water level in a toilet bowl during extended periods of disuse? I've got a toilet in an area that isn't used very often.  How can I add a slow leak to the tank or otherwise arrange to keep the water in the bowl from drying up?  I'm looking for an option that requires little to no maintenance on my part, and doesn't require any special action by someone who uses the toilet as a toilet (so, eliminating evaporation by floating a layer of oil on top isn't an option).

Seriously I think this could use some technology. The idea would be to fix up an auto-flush mechanism that would simply flush the toilet once a week or so. If this was done the user flush mechanism could simply be an electronic push button to trigger the weekly flush now.

If this was done with a small microcontroller board (i.e. Arduino for example) connected up to a mechanism that would "flip the flapper" there could be some interesting things done.

When manually tripped via the switch restart the weekly auto flush timer.
Using the manual trip method during the day would sync the next auto flush a weeks time also during the day so that it does not flush when when you are sleeping at night.
Manual flush is just a simple push button.
Microcontroller can log the number of flushes per month and provide data on the amount if water used.
You can add a moisture sensor on the floor next to the toilet to have the microcontroller alert for possible leaking.


Which RadonAway fan is this? I am replacing my RadonAway fan which has seemingly burnt out. However, the sticker on the current fan identifying the part number is self-contradictory:

It's marked as an RP265, but part number 23032-1 is the RP260 while 23033-1 is the RP265. Since there is a difference in flow rate, I want to make sure I purchase the correct one -- which one should I buy?

I spoke to the manufacturer this morning and they confirmed that a small number of units went out with the incorrect part number but with the correct model number. So this is the RP265.


Is it OK to use powdered graphite to lubricate a garage door opener? I am about due to lubricate my garage door opener and related parts, and while I have some silicone lubricant, I was wondering if I could be doing better.

The can I have says it's good for all parts (springs, tracks, rollers, chain and screws), but lately, I've heard about powdered graphite as a highly effective lubricant, and was wondering, since it's safe for extreme temps and bonds to a variety of materials, if it would be safe to use on any or all parts of my garage door system?

Powered graphite will be very messy.  I still recommend spray on white lithium grease or garage door lube from PB Blaster.  Both products are great for the chain, rollers, and roller channels.  Never use WD 40 or any type of oils.


Basement (re)finishing insulation question I started a job and my wife is looking to string me up if I don't start finishing it soon.

We bought our 50 y/o rancher in PA with a "finished" basement, aka, drop ceiling, paneling on 3 walls (4th is drywall) in the created family room and drywall ceiling and walls in 2 created bedrooms. There's also an unfinished laundry room.

Anywho, one day our tub drain leaked a bit and dripped water on the drop ceiling, and I am not a fan of drop ceiling or paneling, so I decided to rip it all out and put drywall up to match the rest. The issue is when I took the paneling down I found 1" rigid foam behind it. After peeling that away I found a stud wall BEHIND it and rolled insulation between the studs. Now, the foam was taped, but the paneling was nailed through it and it stops at the bottom of the joists, leaving the cavities uninsulated.

Do I just drywall over the foam (drive drywall screws through the foam to get to the studs)?
Do I toss the foam and install drywall over just the rolled?
Do I toss the rolled and install the foam between the studs instead?
Do I strip all of the insulation out and reinstall the foam over the studs without the rolled behind it?
Do I remove all and try to wiggle the foam behind the studs (barely more than 1" gap bet concrete wall and stud, so not likely)?
Do I rip it all out and start fresh (really don't want to do this).

The basement is generally dry, but I have 2 sumps that get work in heavy downpours and a dehumidifier that gets work in the summer. My mom's moving in and I have to get this done before that happens. Thanks in advance.

This is what I did in my house near Butler, Pa. I installed 4X8 sheets of pink/blue styrofoam  panels directly onto the concrete block and taped the joints with 3" wide aluminum tape. Next I studded the walls with 2X4's using a bottom plate bolted to the concrete floor using 3/8"X3" Red Head anchors. (not the kind that you set with a hammer). I screwed the top plate to the joists with 3" dry wall screws.  I insulated the walls with R11 fiberglass insulation with the vapor barrier. Last, I drywalled over the studs. (hire someone to do the drywall). This has worked for me, but some people say I should have left a gap between the block and the finished wall. This is the 2nd time I have done this and it has done a good job for me. One thing I want to say is that My sump pump worked hard when it rained and I had a contractor check the pipes for the rain gutters and down spouts. The contractor that built did a bad job and used SDS pipe which smashed and the joints came apart, allowing that water to dump into the french drain and into the basements sump pump. That pipe was replaced as necessary with sch 35. Now the sump pump runs much less.  This is what I did and I am happy with it. Good luck and stay safe


Why does my halogen T-4 desk lamp not light up the bulb completely? I know I could just drop 100 bucks or less if I went LED for a new desk lamp but if anyone can help me figure out what's wrong I'd appreciate it. It was also my dad's lamp and he has since passed so it sort of feels like a piece of him in my office, so I admit to some sentimental attachment here. It it were any other lamp, I'd probably have replaced it.
Some time ago the T-4 style bulb died. I can see a filament just floating around broken inside the bulb so I knew it was shot. Up to that time, the lamp worked flawlessly. I'd never had to change the bulb over the course of probably 10 years of ownership, it was original to the lamp.

I purchased a package of T4 bulbs from Amazon. The lamp specifies 50W so that is what I ordered. When the bulbs came in I swapped one in and it just did nothing. I thought maybe it was defective so I tried another and another. Nothing. I RMA'd them thinking I'd been juked by a bad batch or a shady merchant. Ordered another pack from a different vendor and this time the bulb filaments glow but the bulb does not light up.

This lamp did used to have a sort of "slow burn" to get to full brightness but it seems to be not be getting any brighter as I wait and I'm fearful if there's some kind of mismatch here that the bulb will pop / blow out. The lamp has two brightness settings and I get the same result on both settings except the low is lower red glow.
Label on the bulb packaging says 50W T-4. I have to believe there's something wrong with the lamp? What are the odds I'd gotten two bad batches of T-4 bulbs from totally different vendors?
Am I just ordering the wrong bulbs? (Amazon Product Link)
Thanks for any help / suggestions.

The bulbs in the link say 120 Volt. Your lamp says use 12V 50W. I think you just got the wrong bulbs.


Can I connect a black wire to one breaker and a red to another from the same circuit? One of my breakers tripped last week and wouldn't reset so it needs to be replaced. This is a double breaker with a black and red wire.
The switch with the black wire is the one that won't reset.

I have an unused single breaker with one black wire.

My plan is to simply swap the black wires until I can replace the breaker.

Will this work or burn down my house? I think this counts as two circuits sharing a neutral? It's a temporary solution either way.

Yes this is a zinco and will probably kill me. We're working on replacing the whole thing.

I'm not a professional but I've pretty much rewired half of this house.

I have a good understanding of how not to kill myself messing with my breaker.

EDIT: So I ended up trying to pigtail with the one above it, and it tripped. Seems I still have a short. I'm reading up on ways to troubleshoot and will take another shot at the pigtail until I can buy a new breaker, panel, house, etc. THANK YOU!

No, no, no! You would be upsizing the breaker.

The breaker that has failed is a 15A breaker. The wire going to it is on a 15A breaker for a reason.

The breaker you propose to move to is a 20A. That will compromise its protection because it'll allow 20A on a hot wire only made for 15A.  Don't do that.

But there's an even bigger risk

On a shared-neutral circuit (its proper name is Multi-Wire Branch Circuit or MWBC), the two "hots" must be on opposite poles.  There must be 240V between them. If there is, then neutral will handle only differential current.  However, if they are on the same pole, there will be 0V between them, and that means neutral handles the sum of currents.  I.e. On a 20A MWBC, neutral would be handling 40A.

Now on these Zinsco style breakers, they clip onto two parallel rails. These are funny ducks. These are "double-stuff" breakers, two independent breakers crammed into one space, and again, the lack of handle-tie gives this away.  ThreePhaseEel says they are locked into 2-pole (opposite pole) mode, which does make them suitable for MWBCs.

Regardless, Code now requires MWBCs be on breakers which are either 2-pole with tied handles (or handle-tied with a listed factory handle tie, but on this panel, that'll be a unicorn).  The reason MWBCs require tied handles is they must have common maintenance shutoff so you don't measure out a circuit, find the breaker that turns it off, disconnect the neutral and get nailed by the other half of the circuit.  A side-effect of this handle-tie requirement is it forces the sub-circuits onto opposite poles.

Don't overthink it, though

The easiest way to solve a "dead breaker, full panel" problem is to take the now-dead circuit and add it to another circuit.  So now one breaker is powering 2 former circuits.  Choose the breaker so they are the same size, obviously.

You do the splice with a wire-nut and a pigtail.  Join the 2 hots and a pigtail in a wire nut, land the pigtail on the breaker.

You must still be careful with MWBCs, and don't accidentally wire the two MWBC sides on the same pole.  However, if you excuse the Ghostbusters references, we can "cross the streams" by putting both MWBC hots together on the same single breaker.  Normally "that would be bad" (both hots are on the same pole), but since they're coming off the same (say 15A) single breaker, the summed current can't exceed 15A and the neutral can handle that.  So we're OK.

Oh, but that panel

Aside from this being dangerous...

... also, that is a "Rule of Six" or split-bus panel.  This means your house has no main Main breaker.  "Rule of Six" means "up to six" breakers in the Upper Section (the top 7 spaces) are, collectively, your main breaker, and you must turn off all 6 to deenergize your house.  In your case, 5. Those top 3 breakers are 2-pole, note the factory handle-ties.  For "Rule of Six" purposes, a handle-tied breaker counts as one throw action.

Below that is another section of the panel called the "lighting section" where all the ordinary loads are expected to be.  This section is effectively a subpanel, and it is fed from the bottom 60A breaker in the "Main Breakers" section.  You can see the fat feed wires.   Anyway, one easy option here is to fit a real subpanel adjacent to this panel, with modern breakers, and move all the "subpanel" circuits over to that real subpanel.  Then you can have real 2-pole breakers on your MWBCs or ones with handle-ties.


How can I remove this stuck nut on my riding mower? I am attempting to repair a shattered housing mandrel on my Husqvarna riding mower. I have it largely disassembled however I am facing a common problem: a stuck nut on a piece that is moving. The only leverage I can get is with the tool on the nut and the blade below. I have done some reading and seen suggestions on heating the nut but I do not have an acetylene torch handy so I'm looking for good advise. I am familiar with some of the more obvious techniques; such as whats proposed here: How to loosen a nut when bolt and nut move together?

Any advise?

See the holes through the pulley face?  Insert the heftiest screwdriver, steel rod, or what-have-you which fits and rest that against the biggest thing below it which does not turn.  Use that to prevent the pulley from turning.  Probably, you'll have to dedicate one hand to that while loosening.
Look carefully at the exposed thread.  The photo is not clear enough for me to be sure, but it looks like it might be reverse threaded.  So to loosen, apply force clockwise (as seen looking down the bolt).  Unless it turns out to be conventionally threaded, then counterclockwise loosens.
A ratchet and socket set like this will last decades.  3/8 inch drive is a good compromise between cost and durability/strength.  I still frequently use my Sears Craftsman hand tools accumulated in the 1970s and 1980s. The few failures I have had were cheerfully replaced (for free) years after I bought them.

For a nut so far down the shaft as that, a deep socket is called for.  Those can be purchased individually at larger stores.  Or sets of deep sockets at most stores, though that might be spending a lot of money for items you may never use.

If the nut was tightened well, the ratchet handle probably will not provide sufficient torque.  Simply extend its length by slipping a pipe over the handle, or attach Vice Grips, channel locks, etc. to increase lever arm—and therefore torque with the same pressure.

It could well be a two person job to initially loosen the nut—one to prevent the pulley from turning and one turning the socket handle with one hand and providing counter-torque on the socket with the other hand.  Counter-torque is often needed when the socket does not provide enough stability to keep the socket aligned with the nut.


Renovating bathroom, do I need to add a moisture barrier over insulation I'm renovating my bathroom, and I have to rip out the entire bathtub and surround, so I decided to add insulation to both the external wall and the internal long edge of the bathtub surround - see diagram:

.

My question is, do I need to add a moisture barrier inside the walls on either the external or internal walls? I am using Schluter Kerdi board for the tub surround, I read that because this is waterproof the moisture barrier is not required - however I would probably add it if in doubt just to be 100% safe, but I wouldn't want to introduce a new problem (for example, moisture being trapped between the two waterproof surfaces.

EDIT: My external walls are not currently insulated, and I would be adding insulation to the internal wall really just for soundproofing.

Kerdi is waterproof so you do not add additional barriers because as you stated, you don't want to trap moisture. Just make sure to follow all the directions and tips for successfully installing the Kerdi board.


Tidy up walls when moving out of a rented room I am moving out of a rented room in a week, and they are going to charge me £150 to repaint the white walls.

More importantly, I look a hook off the wall (one of the command stick-on ones) and it made a hole in the wall:

Any idea how I can fix this myself? I have no idea how much they would charge me. Would normal filler work?

Also if I took a sample of the paint into a DIY store do you think I could touch up the walls myself with a paint brush? I did spill red wine down one, so that is quite a big area...

You can seal the raw drywall facing paper with wall primer, then skim it with joint compound or spackle using a taping knife. Let it dry and lightly sand it gently with a block.

To fix the paint you'll probably need to paint entire walls. It's unlikely that you'll get a match of color and sheen that won't be noticeable, even if you feather and blend it well. You can probably find a suitable match using the hundreds of paint chips available at most paint stores. Bring a few home and compare in the room's natural light. Slight changes in color are often undetectable at corners, where the light dramatically changes the hue anyway.


Can I put holes in every floor joist? I have a detached workshop (30'L x 25'W) with two levels.  The second level is mainly (only?) for storage (floor is 3/4" plywood and can be seen in the picture).  The floor joists of the second floor are 2x8's separated by 24" and are made of 3 pieces: 4' section at each end with a 16' section in the middle.  Each end comes off the wall as shown in the picture.
I want to run 1/2" EMT down the middle of the shop to power my lights.  Can I put a 1" hole in the center of every 16' 2x8?

Drilling a hole in a 2x8 joist would not be a problem, the building codes have guidelines and you could drill holes big enough for 1/2" conduit within those guidelines.  However, your roof is not regular joist and rafter construction, you have trusses which are engineered and manufactured and there are no general rules for drilling and notching them.  You'd have to consult the manufacturer or engineer.  (In fact I think you'd have to check about whether it's suitable for storage, those mending plates in the bottom chord make me think not - but that's a different question.)
Even if it was joists - did you think about how you'd thread sections of EMT through the holes you drilled? It's pretty tricky, it has some flex and you can oversize the holes some to gain some wiggle room, but still.  You  have 10' sticks of EMT and trusses 2' apart on centers ... think about that a minute.  Believe me, you don't want to do that, it would be the hardest possible way to do the job.
There are a number of better alternatives for routing the EMT.  You could run it on top of the bottom chord of the trusses, or hang it from the vertical or angled members.  I think my preference would be to mount the boxes on the bottom face of the angled members of the trusses, that would give you easy access to the wiring inside and with hangers, it would be easy to support and little to no conduit bending.


Trying to wire ceiling fan with separate light/fan switch Trying to wire a manual ceiling fan/light combo.
Image 1 is the current light switch:   Not sure why there are 2 black wires.  There is only 1 black wire coming from the ceiling, but it is connected with a red wire... Both hot I assume? See figure 3...
Image 3 is the new fan/light fixture.  Blue and black wires on the right are fan and light as I recall. The black wire is connected with a red wire.  Both hot?
Image 2 is the new dual single pole switch to separate the fan and light power.
Can anyone tell me how or if this can be wired?
Thanks!

The black wire going through the "hole" in the back of the switch, the always hot, should be connected to the black screws.If there is a metal link between the two black screws, then only one connection is needed. If no link, then you need to jump the two black screws. The black wire on the screw on the old switch and the red wire on the old switch get connected to the two screws, silver or brass, on the new switch. The ground wire gets connected to the green screw.


What type of product can I use to hang wall art on bare wood that won't damage the wall? I have an "outdoor office" with bare wood interior walls. I'd like to hang some wall art but I'm concerned about damaging the wood and/or leaving a lot of holes that I would have to patch later (and would look unappealing since I don't want to paint).

Is there a type of product I can use to hang stuff that does NOT require piercing the wood surface?

Two approaches come to mind:

Thin nail picture hooks

These use very sharp, very thin hardened nails that can be removed leaving a hole so small it is nearly invisible, even in finished wood. If it were noticeable, it could be concealed with touch up wax. Various weight load sizes are available. The sizes that have the thinnest nails can hold at least 20 lbs. each, more if pairs of hooks are used.

Removable hooks

These are glue on devices in which the glue strip can be pulled to remove, supposedly doing no harm to the finish of the wall.  These hangers are limited to loads no greater than 5 lbs., but the use of two hangers would increase that load.

 Images and links are for illustration only, not an endorsement of goods or sources


How do I fix laminate flooring that's begun to rise in the middle? We have laminate flooring in our kitchen/lounge and over the winter (which are cold and damp here in New Zealand) the flooring has begun to rise up in a couple of places. It was fitted by the previous owner and it appeared that they had left enough gap around the edge for expansion, but it turns out they didn't. Is there a solution to fix this without having to take most of it up and shorten/reshape a lot of bits?

One option we've had suggested is to get a dehumidifier in there to take the moisture out, but that doesn't seem like a long-term fix!

Depending on the layout, you might be able to fix this without taking up any of the flooring.  Here in the US at least, laminate flooring is usually installed in a floating manner, where the individual laminate boards are not attached to the subfloor at all and the entire floor is free to expand and contract (assuming it's not bound up at the edges).  The expansion gap around the perimeter of the room is hidden under a baseboard and some variety of quarter-round or shoe molding.

If your floor is buckling because its expansion gap isn't big enough, you should be able to remove that shoe molding and baseboard and cut the edges to increase the gap without pulling up the flooring.  I'd recommend an oscillating multifunction tool for this as it will let you cut very close to the wall, unlike a circular saw.  Here's a cheap one from Harbor Freight.