Intermittent sewage smell from air ducts My home is two stories, 5100 sq feet, and was built in 1990. I have a septic system, radon mitigation, and central forced air.

This has gone on for two winters now, but not before that.

The second story will intermittently smell like sewage (my wife thinks it smells like something died) when the heater kicks on. But the first story and basement don't smell.

When it does smell, it is almost always in the mornings
And it seems to happen only when weather outside is cold and the
heater is on.
The smell goes away after an hour even if the temperature outside
is below freezing.
It does not smell during the summer with the air conditioning.
Mechanical room doesn't seem to smell when this happens.
Attic doesn't smell when this happens.
I have checked the blowers for dead rodents and didn't find any.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is happening?

Does anyone have any ideas as to how to find/fix the problem?

Update

The issue did turn out to be a dry p-trap located in the mechanical room that we have never used and so I forgot about it.

The reason the smell was only on the second floor is because the p-trap was next the blower that serviced the second floor. The first floor blower was further away and so didn't suck in the sewage smell.

Once I put a cap on the drain pipe, no more smell.

Drain pipes have P-traps in them that hold water to seal the drain from sewer gasses that would otherwise waft up out of the drain.

Check your drains (sink and floor) to see if they have water in the traps.

(the smell is probably being moved around by the fan in the heater)


How to (safely) retract and lower a 40' extension ladder? Last time I was using a 40' extension ladder, it was a major challenge to retract it back from being extended and up against a wall. There were two of us and it was seriously scary. Could have gone wrong and crashed, doing damage or worse to nearby building, vehicles and us, due to it size and particularly weight.

Is there a way to do this securely or is it always, for the lack of a better term, a crapshoot?

Your ladder should have a rope and pulley mechanism for extension and retraction. Make sure you understand how it operates to prevent finger injury. Normally it's simply a matter of pulling down on the front rope to raise the ladder. To retract, lift the ladder a few inches using the rope, which allows the retention brackets to release, and lower the ladder extension with the rope.

Walking the bottom out to lay the ladder down isn't a good option. It puts huge torque on the person holding the upper portion of the ladder and risks damage to the building.

A single fairly strong person can safely stand and lower a ladder by simply placing the ladder base against the wall our foundation and walking it up from underneath, or by backing away.

Watch a firefighter do it.


How to fix stinky bathroom sink? It smells like really musty water, but the water itself does not smell or taste bad at all. Only happens when I run the water, so it doesn't make the room smell, just when you fill something up or wash your hands.

I tried drain-o and it didn't do anything and there's GREAT flow so it's not clogged at all anyway.

Only thing that has worked (temporarily) is pouring pretty much everything I could think of into it. Lemon juice, draino, bleach, etc.

I'll echo the comment and say that you should make sure you have a proper P-trap installed under the sink. This trap holds water and provides a seal against sewer gases getting up into the bathroom. Without one, gases will leak in constantly, and will be displaced by water down the drain which can force the gases up into the bathroom even if normally it's not detectable.

I'll also ask if there is a proper vent for this sink. Even with a P-trap, if there's nowhere for back-flowing gases to go, they'll bubble up past the trap.

One more thing it could be is the overflow drain. Depending on the design of sink, the overflow can hold a small amount of water at the bottom where it tees in to the main drain, which can become stagnant. Run water down the drain and you'll force some air up the overflow (to make way for the water coming down), which will have that stagnant smell. To diagnose this, plug the sink and begin filling it; you shouldn't get any musty smell at first because there's no air movement. Once the water level hits the overflow drain, you will start smelling the musty smell for a while because the water is displacing the gas, which wants to rise above the water and so will move up into the bathroom. If this is the problem, you can ameliorate it with some foaming pipe snake; pour it down the overflow drain and it will clean out any caked-on gunk which contributes to the smell, and which may be trapping the water. The real fix is to make sure there's no "damming" effect of construction defects at the bottom of the overflow drain (a lip of porcelain, issues where the overflow meets the metal drain downpipe, etc).


Exposed Wood Framing Near Firebox I recently purchased a home built in 1973 that has a fireplace with natural stone tile.

There is however, exposed wood framing right outside the firebox which is part of the tile work that was installed. To make this as safe as possible, does putting some cement board and flashing make the most sense to mitigate any safety concerns? Is there a better approach/material to put between the exposed wood and the firebox? We will only use the natural gas logs so the heat will be in a very controlled range.

So the main issue is that the area isn't flat and to make it flat you do not want to chisel out the thinset over the board because the bottom row could loosen.
I would add some primer to the wood, thinset it to as flat as I can then install some metal flashing over that.   If the area is deeper than the picture you could just install some tiles that would go with your setup but I would want them generally out of view.
Also there is building code on combustables near fireplace.   You have to be further than 2" - which this isn't.   I don't think any inspector near me would OK this so you might as well fix it, as you would probably have to when selling house.   Did your home inspector not catch this?


What size wire for my 240 v 50 amp sub panel I am running a 240 v 50 amp sub panel to my pole barn. It is about 125 feet to the barn. I an just running lights on 15 amp circuit and outlets and garage opener's on 20 amp. I figure i might need the rest in the future.

Get a nice BIG panel. Panel spaces are cheap when you're buying the panel, and 50A@240V will support more stuff than you think!
You need to bring over a 4-wire feed.  2 hots + neutral + ground. Must keep neutral and ground separated at the subpanel.
At only 125' you do not need to upsize the wires for voltage drop.
You cannot use NM cable.  If you use UF cable (25" burial depth) you need #6 copper but I don't recommend copper on feeders this large, waste of money.
Any other type of cable or wire, you'll need #8 copper (again not recommended) or #6 aluminum or larger.
Whatever you pick for conductors, ground must be -2 of that (e.g. if you use #2 aluminum then #4 ground).  This is because of your 50A objective.
Direct burial is 24" cover above the top of the wires.
Conduit in the ground is 18" cover above top of conduit.
Rigid Metal Conduit or Intermediate Metal Conduit is 6" cover, except under vehicle pathways it must be 12".


Why won't my new ceiling light turn off? I just replaced a ceiling fan/light combination for a fluorescent light. I noted that the new light only had connectors for white and black wires but not one for the red wire that is coming out of the ceiling box. I attached the white and black wire and left the red wire in the ceiling box. When I turned on the power the light worked immediately but will not turn off.

Can someone tell me what to do?

Ceiling fans are often wired for two power sources, one to the light and one to the fan. There may or may not be a wall switch for either. One standard way to wire this is to use four-conductor cable, with the additional "hot" power coming on the fourth wire. If you had noted how the fan was hooked up before you dismounted it, that would have helped. But, assuming that this was done by someone who had some vague clue about house wiring...

In the US, the color convention is Black for hot, White for neutral, Green (or, sometimes, uninsulated) for safety ground, and Red for "secondary hot", which may be used for different purposes in different situations. For the ceiling fan, they may have used black to power the light and red to power the fan, or the other way around.

So: In your case, where there's only one switch and it used to control the lights, I suspect that it's in the red circuit rather than the black circuit. You could check that by turning the power off again, opening up the switchbox, and seeing how wires are connected there.

Or you could go for the empirical: Turn power off, dismount the fixture, wire the fixture's black to red, cap the now-unused black in the ceiling, close it up, turn power back on, and try the switch. I'm betting that will do the job.

(Personally, I'd hook a meter across red and white and confirm that red is the switched line before re-attaching the light fixture, but I admit I'm a bit paranoid.)


Who can I hire to investigate a possible airflow blockage in my attic? Had a new roof replaced last year, tear off/replace.  Also had a new slider door replacing old one installed last year.  I am noticing what appears to be staining where the ceiling meets the wall. Could replaing the roof may have disturbed the insulation to stop air flow in soffit?  Who do I hire to check this out for me?

In order of preference I'd probably call these folks:

A trusted handyperson (likely least expensive)
An insulation contractor (likely most knowledgeable, but more expensive)
A building or remodeling contractor (certainly capable, but probably most expensive)

You don't really need any particular credentials. You just need someone with a brain in their head and insurance.


how is a blank wallplate attached to drywall Are blank wall plates normally attached directly to a drywall with screws, or it has to be fixed to electrical box?

There are several ways they're commonly installed, any of which can be considered "normal":

To a standard or old-work electrical box
To a low-voltage bracket or frame
To hollow-wall anchors in the drywall or concrete


Questions regarding my plan for new 50A circuit (with pictures) Overview

Pictures/diagrams at the end. I will pull permits and would like to do this correctly. I will be disconnecting an unused 40A circuit and replacing it with a new 50A circuit to my garage for a NEMA 14-50 electric vehicle (Tesla) charger. The wiring specifications from Tesla say to use a neutral wire for the NEMA 14-50. This circuit will be submetered for time of day rates specific to the electric vehicle only.

Plan

I will remove the 40A double pole breaker, cap that circuit's wires, and install new 50A double pole breakers
I will use 6-gauge THWN wire, attaching ground to ground bar, neutral to neutral bar, one hot to each side of the 50A double pole breaker
The circuit runs to the exterior with LBs at each egress/ingress, passing through PVC conduit and a submeter on its way to the garage
It runs through studs in the garage wall, exiting at the plastic box for a NEMA 14-50 receptacle

Questions:

Do I run individual insulated wires or should all four insulated wires also be sheathed? Relates to my next question regarding the neutral wire. Again this will pass through an exterior raceway so therefore a "wet location." I assume all four are sheathed together.
The wiring diagram for the submeter only has lines drawn for the two hots. I've drawn in how I believe it should be wired. The neutral bypasses everything in the meter, going straight from the neutral bar at the main panel to the NEMA 14-50 receptacle. Is this correct for the neutral?
The ground wires are stripped 3/4", attached from ground bar at main panel to the ground lug (?) in the meter, then again from ground lug in meter to the receptacle. No ground attached to the plastic outlet box. Is this correct for the ground?
I plan to exit the house at LB which goes down into submeter, putting the new submeter next to the existing meter (pictured), then continuing down through the conduit to the garage. If I drill holes through studs inside to do this, do I need bushings?
The exterior PVC conduit will rest on the masonry foundation. Do I need to secure the conduit to the masonry?
Should I use 1" PVC conduit, given 4 6-gauge wires?
What else that I didn't mention will make this easier/safer?

Answering your questions in turn:

You will be using individual wires in the conduit here -- there's no reason here that merits wrestling a fat, annoying cable down a conduit!  All four wires, however, will get pulled through the conduit as a group -- you can suck a string (tie a plastic bag on the end) through the conduit once it's together that you can then use to pull the wires through.
You are fine on the neutral here -- a meter for 120/240V split-phase service doesn't need it.  Simply nut the line and load neutrals together with a suitable wirenut (or a mechanical screw-terminal splice connector) at this point.
Your proposed grounding scheme is also fine given your choice of conduit -- I would suggest running a bare ground wire instead of an insulated one, though, as that saves a bit of space inside the conduit.
Since you are running conduit through the studs instead of a cable, you will not need bushings of any sort to run the conduit through holes in the studs.  I suggest running the exterior conduit above the window, by the way; that way, you don't have to try to fit a conduit behind your gas meter.
You do need to secure the conduit to whatever it is sitting against at 3' intervals, yes.  Strapping to every other stud works if you are running against the siding with studs 16" O/C -- for studs 24" O/C, simply attach a conduit strap to each stud, through the siding.  If you do decide to attach the conduit to the masonry, use masonry anchors or fasteners for the conduit straps, on 3' spacings.
1" is a suitable size for the run you have planned, but PVC may not be the correct material -- you may prefer EMT instead, although you'll want to transition to LFMC for the compound bend at the garage-end of the outdoor run instead of using conduit bodies for that -- either that, or bend EMT or PVC to fit using a conduit bender.
If you're going to do the run over the top of the window, then I'd mount the meter pan so that its bottom edge lines up with the top edge of the window.  That means you can simply run the conduit out the knockout on the left side of the meter pan.


Was it ok to add an outlet on a home run in the attic? I had the following setup for a room, running on 15A breaker with 12/2

I wanted to add an outlet in the attic above this room so I did this:

There was enough slack in the wire, so I added the outlet in a plastic (blue) junction box and outlet using the existing wire from the breaker.

Should I have done it the way depicted in the image below? (Add yellow line)

The reason I didn't is because the junction box labeled '1' would have been overstuffed with wires, not to mention that I would have had to run an extra wire.

But I can't help but think I was supposed to do it this way.

Is what I did fine? I realize I should have asked prior...

What you did is just fine. That is what any experienced electrician would have done.

If all of the wire in the entire circuit is #12 you could change your breaker to a 20 amp breaker for more capacity. If any of it is #14 you have to stick with the 15 amp breaker.

The previous setup is a waste of wire. They could have put one junction box in the middle of the room and dropped to each box OR they could have hit one box and then daisy chain to the other three boxes through the studs if the room only had one door.

There are many ways to get the job done and sometimes it is just a personal preference.

Your setup is fine though.
Good luck!


Can I run CAT5/6 cables parallel to electrical cables? I am building a new house and am planning to hardwire network cables into each room.

Can I run CAT5/6 cables parallel to electrical wires without introducing any general safety issues or losing much in connection quality?

Wiring runs for up to 25 metres from patch panel and distribution board in garage to rooms.

My research indicates that is should be fine if they are in separate conduits or if the CAT cables are shielded.

While a shielded Cat5/6 cable is designed to protect itself from outside interferance, it isn't recommended to run them side-by-side to your electrical wiring.  Typical is to run electrical down one stud and the Cat5/6 down a different stud.  Basically do the same as you would for telco.


Prehung Door Question Rookie door hanger here.  I'm trying to hang a prehung door in my opening.  It's a standard 2x4 framing, the door is a standard 2x4 prehung door here:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Masonite-Classics-6-panel-Single-Prehung-Interior-Door-Common-30-in-x-80-in-Actual-31-5-in-x-81-5-in/1000061087

I've got everything up for the one side and just went to put the other side up and the pieces do not meet.  The framing is about 1/4 too wide for the door jamb?  I'm not sure what I did wrong.  The framing is 2x4's and the drywall that goes up to the edge like it should is 5/8 inch.  What did I do wrong?

The standard jamb is 4.5 inches and is based on an assumption of .5 drywall on each side (.5 dw + 3.5 stud + .5 dw).

When a different thickness of finish material is being used, custom jambs can be ordered or constructed onsite. If you use standard prehungs with conventional widths, you need to create a jamb extender.

The simplest way is to install the jamb flush with the finish material on one side and attach the extender to the other side. You can use a trim strip, such as a flat lattice piece or other thin material around .25 inch thick. It can be glued and tacked to the edge of the jamb.

While you could try to get the extender exactly flush with the edge of the existing jamb, such joints are rarely exact and tend to leave a seam, even if filled. Most finish carpenters do not try to do exact aligns, but use a reveal, a slight offset that looks intended. In this case, move the extender trim about .125 (1/8th inch) away from the door opening, toward the drywall. Glue and tack. Once painted it will add a detail that enhances rahter than looking like a fix of a mistake.


Power Supply change for ceiling fan controler I currently have a 110v ceiling fan with a speed control switch. Is it possible to change the power supply to 220v? If possible, do I need to change the control switch only? Thanks.

The motor would need to have been manufactured to allow for the voltage change, which is not common for household ceiling fans. If it was, it would be labeled for that inside where you make the connections.
If your idea is that the fan will use less energy at 220V, that is a false notion. The current will be lower but with the higher voltage, the power (kW) will remain the same.


How can I conceal interior camera wiring? I'm trying to install 4 cameras, but from other people's place it look not that good that cable can be seen along the wall. is there anyway to hide it? its going to be from left wall to all the way to end of right side of wall and go all the way to ceiling. any ideas?

Like any wiring, you need to learn to put it in the walls/ceiling if you don't want to see it.

This generally involves drilling holes in the wall/ceiling at minimum, and may also involve some larger holes and drywall repair. How difficult or easy it is depends on the specific construction details of the building and where you have access.

It almost always involves some amount of surface repair and repainting.


What materials and spacing should I use for ceiling joists/strapping in this conversion? I have an old two bay garage that's 28'x50', that I would like to convert into a home. One thing I'm trying to figure out is how to do the ceiling. The ceiling is held up by metal joists approximately 12" high. The ceilings are 13' high and I would like to drywall them. I plan on spray foaming the roof prior to installing drywall. The bottom of the joists have a gap where I could run a bolt or toggle type fastener through. What should I use for studding and spacing?

I'm assuming since this question is over a year old you've probably found the help you need, but i'm here so here's my answer.

The framing should be a consistent 16 inches from center to center of each board, if your rafters don't allow for this sort of layout the MAX i'd suggest would be about 18-20 inches, any more than that and you'll run the risk of the drywall sagging. Make sure to run a perimeter strap all the way around to secure the outside edge of the drywall as well as give a place for any trim or molding to attach to. Another tip I'd suggest is to use a chalk box to line your rafter framing and drive a longer screw through all layers for added security. As for the insulation avenue, spray foaming will do a nice job however there's a lot of risks if done improperly. Inside and outside temps MUST BE over 65 degrees, any colder and the foam WILL NOT CURE properly and off gas indefinitely causing  very substantial health risks. If you spray it yourself make sure to rent an outside air respirator and full faced mask, fumes are no joke, they'll beat you up in a hurry, and unfortunately most manufacturers imply on the product that a dust mask and eye wear are sufficient, but its no where close. I'd suggest rock wool, slightly cheaper per square foot, a comparable r value, plus the added bonus of being able to dry out if ever dampened (foam traps moisture)

Save yourself the back ache and rent the drywall lift, most home improvement centers and building supply company have them available you need only ask, the prices are usually very reasonable however if you've ever hung 5/8 rock over head before, even one piece, you'll know the price is very worth it!!

hope this helps and happy building!!


How can I install a window air conditioner in a metal window frame? I'm trying to install a window unit air conditioner, but most of the installation instructions don't seem to work with this window configuration.

A little bit about the setup:  The apartment is the 5th floor of a pre-war walkup building that has gone through various renovations, but none that have made it too modern.  The window is about 30" wide, and is a metal frame.

There are two issues that make it hard to install a window AC unit:

The window sill is made out of metal, so I can't nail or screw anything into it
The base of the window has a thin (about 1/4") piece of metal jutting out of the buttom that's 2" high in the interior and 1.5" high in the exterior.  This means I can't rest any part of the air conditioner on the sill - it ends up just resting on that piece of metal.

Most of the AC units I've looked at have brackets that get nailed into the window sill, and also require that they can sit flat against a ledge to fall into the brackets.  Some examples of the instructions for the units for sale in my area are here:

http://manuals.frigidaire.com/prodinfo_pdf/Edison/2020211a1131en.pdf

http://www.lg.com/us/support-product/lg-LW6012ER#

Looking at my neighbors' apartments, it looks like their units have been there for decades, and some are propped up on things like phone books or 2x4s.  I'm hoping to find a safer solution than that, so I don't accidentally drop a 50 pound AC unit 5 stories.  I tinkered with it yesterday (using the LG unit), and the best I could come up with was wedging the AC in at an angle and closing the window, but that didn't seem safe or stable, and left a hole to the outside because the curtains weren't flush with the window.

Is it possible to install a window air conditioner in this setup, and how would I go about doing it?

Since it sounds like it might be difficult for you to get to a lumberyard to build your own solution, you might be better off using a pre-made product.  AC-Safe, makes Universal Air Conditioner Supports that might be useful in your situation.

The system requires you to screw the platform into the window sill (which may or may not be possible in your situation), then simply rests against the outside of the building to support the A\C unit.

I've also seen brackets that mount to the bottom of A\C unit itself, and offer support against the outside of the building (but I was unable to find an example online. I think Thermwell makes them).


How can I reposition a soldered copper 90-degree fitting I have a 90 coming out of my wall in my utility room to turn the copper down the wall.  I would like to swing it up as I have a taller softener.  Do I need to disassemble and start over or might I have success simply heating the joint and swinging it up?

You can indeed desolder fittings. However, as BMitch points out, you'll have to remove the fitting, clean it, and solder it in again.

If you heat the solder up enough, the fitting should slip right off.  If it doesn't come off easily, it's not hot enough. Try to spread the heat around, so you heat the joint evenly.

You'll want to use a pair of pliers, to remove the hot fitting. Do not touch it with your hand.


2 light switches controlling one light fixture? In my family room I have a light fixture. There are two light switches controlling this fixture. Yesterday I decided I want to get rid of the ugly brown switches, and change these to light. I have done other electrical things around the house. It was originally wired so each switch will turn on and off, one was not dependent on another. So I went out to the store and bought a normal light switch, but I realized that one wire (bright red) doesn't have a screw. So I just put a wire cap on it (on both switches) and closed it back up. So, then I turn on the circuit breaker, and one of the switches has to be on, in order for the other to work. Then I go back to the hardware store and I buy a Tri-Pole switch. Both of these switches had a red screw, and 2 other screws for each other wire. So I install both of these again, and the switch was super inconsistent with turning on and off, all wiring was tight. Is there a different type of switch I should buy? Do any of you have good wiring diagrams for me? Explanations?
I greatly appreciate any help. Thanks!

You need a "three-way switch".

The red wire is called a "traveller".

Searching for these terms will find suitable wiring diagrams.


Pilot in gas water heater still goes out after replacing thermocouple The pilot in my gas water heater (Aquamax 205) has been going out sporadically over the last 2 weeks. Yesterday, I replaced the thermocouple with a universal thermocouple and cleaned out the dust and soot from the burner area.

After installation, I also did the detergent test to make sure the gas connections are secure and not leaking.

I lighted the pilot and it appeared to work fine. A few hours later, I checked the pilot and it was out, so I relighted it. I got up this morning and checked it again and the pilot was out again.

The water heater was working really well with no issues before this happened.

What could be causing this?

Edit:
I relighted the pilot on Sunday morning and monitored it throughout the day. The last time the hot water was used was at around 8PM on Sunday and it was still working properly.

This morning (Monday) the pilot was out again and I relighted it.

Edit 2:
Tonight, I checked the pilot and it was still lit. However, after 2 people took showers at the same time (which probably cause the burner to kick in), the pilot went out. I am not sure whether it went out when the burner was trying to light up or when the burner turned off. After relighting the pilot again, the burner started up.

I reinstalled the pilot and cleaned out the burner and related assemblies and the pilot was only going out in the morning.

The issue turned out to be because we are still on a low-pressure gas system, which is susceptible to condensation and water seeping into the natural gas service pipes. The guys from my gas distributor pumped all the water out of the pipes and it's been fine since.


Do I use mud or spackle after removing a popcorn ceiling? After removing popcorn ceiling, I need to cover some torn drywall paper and cover some taped areas. Should I use mud or spackle? Can someone recommend a product?

The ceiling now looks like unpainted drywall with mud in areas. I had to peel off small areas of tape, but there's more tape underneath so the seams are all still covered.

Do I have to apply spackle or mud  3 times, or can I just spackle the damaged drywall areas (pre-treated with Gardz) with a very thin skim coat, coat with Gardz again, and then apply primer followed by paint?

If your working some large areas or going over taped seams then your choice should be the mud. It goes on smooth and is very easy to sand. Spackle is great for small holes but not really good for this much work.
As far as how many times do you need to apply the mud that depends on what you're trying to fix. If you're covering a new taped seam then plan on three times: with a 4", 6" and 12" knife. Torn paper and nicks one or two coats. Mud does shrink so touch ups might be necessary. Good luck.
Use a good quality paint with the primer added to it.


How do I make pavers stop shifting when I walk on them? Disclaimer: I have no clue what I'm doing

Over the weekend, I replaced our mulch bed with some rock and a small paver path to our yard:

I laid a thin layer of paver sand under the path, and scrubbed in some sand between the pavers. I sprayed a mist of water a few times over an hour or two to get the sand wet so it would settle. The paver sand doesn't seem to be strong enough though? When I walk on the path, the pavers still shift slightly (enough to make the sand dislodge from the cracks) and I have to refill with more sand, wet, let dry, test again.

Can I use something more rigid? Is there a trick to getting these to stay firmly in place?

Sounds like you need a firmer subbase under your sand to spread the load across a wider area.

I would follow the same procedure as for laying a wider area such as a patio.
It seems like a lot of effort for a small area like the one you have but unless the ground underneath is already very hard and level, the pavers are going to settle unevenly and/or slide horizontally.

Lay a subbase made from a mix of aggregate sizes several inches thick. This type of aggregate locks together nicely and spreads the load across a wider area so no single paver sinks more than the others.
Compact using a plate compacter (tamping down with a large piece of timber or a cinder block would be ok for small areas).
Excavate around the edges and bed the edge pavers in concrete. This prevents the edges of the subbase and sand from crumbling away. Make sure to "haunch" correctly, as shown in this great resource for paving projects.
Lay an inch or so of sharp sand on top and level it off.
Finally, lay the rest of the pavers.


Can I put roof sheathing on vertically instead of horizontally? I would like to put my roof sheathing on vertical instead of horizontal. It will be an 18 by 12 patio. Rafters are 2 x 6; 16 in on center. It will be 1/2" in plywood which will be visible from below

If it is plywood you are using, it will be difficult to nail into by hand. The plywood is more stable across the joists rather than with the joists. When you run the plywood with the joists and try to nail into it between rafters the plywood will give so much the nails will hardly take if you are driving them by hand. I would not do it this way. It sounds like you are doing this to minimize the exposed joints. This should be a minor concern compared all the nails poking through as mentioned before. A layer of decorative material down first, like T-111 or something similar, then your plywood, will give the underside a nice look without a great cost, and if you gauge your nail length, there will be no nail points popping through.

If you use OSB, the direction you lay that material does not matter, it is structurally stable in either direction. But then you will have nail points all over the place still on the underside.


How much gap to leave between basement concrete floor and bottom of drywall board? We have a dry basement with a concrete floor.  When putting on the wall boards, how much (if any) gap should there be between the concrete floor and the bottom of the board?   The boards are 3/8 inch, I was thinking about using a scrap piece drywall on the ground and then resting the board on top of it while installing, and then pulling it out when finished.

Drywall should definitely not touch concrete as moisture will wick (ie flow up the surface as in a candle/lamp wick) into the drywall and encourage mold growth.

3/8" should be sufficient - your prop up plan is not only appropriate, but a common technique used by drywallers.


Unable to get bolt out of door I'm unable to get the bolt out of a door. For a couple days before it was sticky, and you could push in the bolt on the inside of the door frame to functionality "reset" it  so that the lock would turn.

Unfortunately it's jammed inside of the door frame and I'm unable to get it out.

I've removed the lock coverings and am using a screwdriver to turn the inside mechanism but it doesn't seem to be catching anything and I don't feel any movement of the deadbolt itself. The only thing that is moving is the little tab above the cylinder.

If you are saying the bolt is extended into the frame and won't retract, try pulling the hinge pins and removing the door by "opening" the door on the hinge side.


Best way to attach MDF Casing to So I purchased some of This Here MDF Casing. And am trying to determine that best way to attach it to my raw lumber frame.

The basic choices Glue, Nails, or Screws come to mind.

I'd like to use just glue that way I don't have to go back and clean up the nail/screw holes with wood fill then need to patch paint it.

But is that really feasible? Or do I have to put ATLEAST a couple nails in anyways?

From what I am reading it seems most people only use nails to hold the MDF up while the glue cures. So, my thought is maybe I could just use some kind of special quick cure glue and forego the tacks?

This MDF is going to be attached to un-touched wood 2x3's if that makes a difference.

Nail it. You will forever regret a decision to glue the casing if it ever comes to a need to do repairs or modifications.


How to restore/replace an old wood window without losing daylight opening I have an old house with many double-hung wood windows in various states of repair, many with sashes that are painted shut or sash cords that are painted over and stuck to the pulleys. It would be great to make these operational again. Some windows are old cool-looking glass, but most are newer uninteresting glass.

I considered just removing the sashes and replacing it with a block frame double hung replacement window and have already done this successfully with one of them. Unfortunately, a typical double hung vinyl window is a bit over 3" from rough opening to daylight (example from Milgard), which is a loss compared to the 1.5" on the old wood sash.

There are some contractors in the area (Seattle) doing wood window restoration, but the waitlists are months to years long and the pricing ends up being around $1000 a window, which is drastically higher than vinyl replacement windows.

What are my options? Is there anything I'm missing? Is it a feasible DIY project to do the sash restoration myself? Thanks!

YES! It is possible and likely will be rewarding as a labor of love.

You will need to become familiar with the parts and assembly of old wood windows and will learn the names and functions of the various elements as you progress in your endeavor (e.g. stool, parting bead, stile, rail, etc.). There is tons of info on the internet of things.

You will need to become proficient with stripping, scraping, sanding, painting, glazing, etc.

You will need to find a good hardware or window shop that has knowledgeable staff and are willing & able to procure the parts and materials you will need (lots available online too).

You will need some specialty tools, like this "wood sash paint cutter":

pic from stuccohouse.blogspot.com

and various other common woodworking tools.


How to build a sturdy forest road gate out of roundwood? I want to build a road gate for a forest road apx. 10ft wide. I've fixed a gate at home and learned that hinges are a key point of failure and are strained more by weight and length of the gate. Given how long a road gate is, and how heavy long logs can be, how can I make the gate sturdy? Here's an example of the gate I'm imagining, but I'll be using freshly cut or recently fallen timber.

Specifically I'm wondering what properties the hinges should have.

My plan so far:For wood I'll use ~3-4" diameter poles of spruce and/or cedar. I figure I'll dig a hole with a post-hole digger, bury a post on both sides of the road, building the gate out of two logs at an angle to connect high and low on one of the roadside posts via hinges.

Should I have any additional parts, like some brackets, springs, and/or tension cables to help keep it sturdy? I want to build it to last, but I also know that over-engineering a gate too much can make it too heavy or complicated.

Ideas here. One problem with wire mesh or guy wires is that birds may not see them. If you use open guy wires attach ~1 inch diameter wood around the wire so that a low flying owl or Cooper's hawk doesn't fly into it and get injured.


Is Drywall needed on exterior wall of garage on concrete block, 2-story house in Florida We have a home inspector (selling house) stating they want us to put up drywall on an exterior wall in the garage. I know it's code for ceilings and the abutting walls to the interior, but do exterior walls need it?

It's a concrete wall with insulation strip on it.

Drywall on the inside of an exterior wall has not been required in any of the states I have lived, it is required for fire protection on stick built, but a concrete block wall has the appropriate fire ratings and should require nothing. call your fire marshal to verify local code as far as I know drywall is not required on an interior wall even from a garage to living space with block walls and your fire marshal or fire department can verify this. I think your inspector is nuts.


How do I compensate for the sun confusing my garage door opener's sensors? Only during summer and only when the sun is close to the horizon the light from the sun confuses my garage door opener and in order to close the door I have to hold down the wired button which is a real pain if I'm leaving.

A friend suggested I use toilet paper rolls (or maybe some PVC) to shield the sensor from the sun and direct the beam to the other sensor and that's a good idea but it'll mean I have to change how the sensors are mounted to the track and move them out a bit.  Just moving them back might solve the problem (since they'll be blocked by the walls).

Any other suggestions? Is this a common problem?

You could swap the emitter and detector units so that the emitter is on the sunlit side.  It doesn't matter if the emitter is being blasted by sunlight; only the detector needs to be protected.  Of course you might just be changing the time of day of your problem  if the other side of the door is sunlit at a different time. :)

Don't forget to swap the wiring at the opener unit as well of course.


Venting a portable a/c into another room that is closed off with the window open I have a portable air conditioner in my bedroom, and I use it only at night when I am sleeping, and only maybe 10 nights a year. I hate to block up the window with the unwieldy vent hose set-up several months out of the year just for this infrequent use. So I was thinking of an unusual set-up. There is a bathroom door going into this bedroom, but I never use that door because there is a secondary door to the bathroom from the hallway. The bathroom happens to have a large window. I was wondering if it would work to vent the a/c unit by cutting a hole in the door between the bedroom and the bathroom and having it vent into the bathroom. I would have both doors of the bathroom closed, with draft-stoppers to block the gaps at the bottom to minimize heat seeping through, and I would keep the bathroom window wide open, so there would be dissipation of the hot air coming out from the a/c hose. I could even add a portable fan in the bathroom positioned so it is drawing the hot air coming out of the hose out towards the window. In addition to not hampering the use of the only bedroom window, this set-up has another attractive aspect. To reach the window, the unwieldy 5.9" diameter hose has to do two gradual S curves from the back of the a/c unit , and this takes up a lot of space. (Sharp curves are frowned upon.) By positioning the hole in the door EXACTLY at the height the hose comes out of the back of the a/c unit, I don't have to have any curve in the hose at all. It would be a straight 12" connection to where it goes into the hole in the door. This would save a lot of space.  The two problems with this idea is - if I have to go to the bathroom during the night, I could see the other door to access it, but it would be very hot in there! But how much time would I spend in there? Two minutes? I could take the heat for 2 minutes. A bigger problem is the hole that would be left in the door after the a/c season if over and I remove the hose. You would think I could find a simple white plastic cap to go over this hole, but my search on google has not been successful. All sorts of flanges made for portable a/c hoses, but no simple cap or plug. I would appreciate any ideas for this, and also ask if anyone can see a fatal flaw in this idea!!

In theory this could work.  Probably not, and it depends a lot on the details. The biggest obstacle IMO is you need to cut a hole in your bathroom door to find out.
Let's solve the easy part first: You can repair the hole by camouflaging it.  Mount a door mirror over it, or cover it with wood and put a picture frame around the wood, like the apartment door in Friends.  Maybe something toilet themed.  Be creative.

Now for the A/C: An A/C moves heat and moisture from one place to another.  Usually to the outside.  The two most common examples of moving the heat to another inside space are 1) When they put a cashier's booth in a large underground parking lot and install a window A/C in it, venting to the parking lot.  2) Your refrigerator, which moves heat into your kitchen.
Here's the catch: In both of these examples the heated space is much much larger than the cooled space.  In your case, your bathroom is much smaller than your bedroom, and if you sometimes open your bedroom door to enter or leave it makes the challenge even harder by admitting new warm moist air.  It all comes down to how effectively that open window works.   If you seal both doors tightly and put a fan in the window, there will be no air flow.  The fan will mostly create turbulence.  It will help a bit.  But whether it will work enough comes down to experimentation.  If not, the bathroom will become so hot that the A/C will cease to work efficiently or at all.
An idea
Well, the best idea of course would be to use it the way it's intended.  But anyway.  Rather than seal both bathroom doors, you could open the window, install a powerful exhaust fan in it, well sealed all around the edges, seal the bedroom door, leave the other bathroom door open, and open a couple of downstairs windows.   This will create excellent air flow through the bathroom, and I think the A/C should work perfectly well.
Really?
The spectacle of a powerful exhaust fan installed in your bathroom window with sealant and tape, an extension cord running through the bathroom, the need to actively manage the entire system by keeping the other door and downstairs windows open, .... is all that really more aesthetically pleasing to you than just using the provided hose in your bedroom window?
My advice would be, if the entire plan is the one described in your Question, don't do it.  It's a big gamble to destroy your bathroom door for a plan that is unlikely to work very well, or at all.


Does my new shower need a dedicated vent? I am adding a shower to my existing 1/2 bath. to do the plumbing I can do the p trap and go straight over to the main house drain. Do I still have to have a vent??

Local codes may be different in each area. Check with your local building inspector. If there is already a vent because you have a sink and toilet, you could possibly tie into that for drain and vent.
I remodeled recently and moved the kitchen from one side of the house to the other. Where I ended up placing the sink and dishwasher, was on the same wall as a bathroom I had installed 3 years ago, on the opposite side. This allowed me to tie into the drain and water in the wall, which already had a vent stack. Inspector was perfectly satisfied with this setup.
So again, I would ask your local inspector. A permit is most likely needed, and would have to have an inspection for rough and final. Best to get the vent issue taken care of before rough inspection.


Can I buy a 24v transformer with a dedicated common c-wire feed? I have an oil furnace that feeds hot water to baseboard in four zones in my house and also to a hot water tank for tap water.
There is a 24vac transformer with two output wires that feed power to the electric zone valves.
I want to change one thermostat in a bedroom to a Wifi unit that needs a c-wire.  I have read that I can connect the c-wire to the transformer (power stealing), but that is not recommended. I have 5 wires running to the old thermostat, but only Rh and W are connected.
I think a good option would be to just replace the old transformer with a modern one. Why is it that I cannot find an HVAC transformer that has a dedicated common terminal? To me this makes more sense then adding a second transformer.
Any recommendations?

Um, I don't know where you got the term "power stealing".  What you describe as that, is exactly the normal way to do that thing, and the right way... unless you are aware of some capacity issue on the transformer (as is sometimes seen in transformer-relay combos).

As far as the R and C terminals, any HVAC transformer has two pins on the 24V side... They are R and C.  The one that is not R is C.


How do I remove these Ikea screws? (studs inside holes) I bought and assembled an Ikea sofa bed (asssembly instructions here). I'm moving soon and want to take apart the couch to make it easier to lift.

Some of the screws needed for the assembly come in 2 parts: the head and the threads. You screw the head onto the threads and then use that on the couch. Here's what that looks like:

How do I remove these screws? When I try to unscrew them only the head comes out, leaving the thread part in the couch. I have a lot of extras, so would using a screw extractor work? I don't mind if the screws currently in the couch get ruined/tossed.

The way these are assembled means that the parts they hold together remain together even if the head is removed. It effectively becomes a pin on two sides of a box and prevents the box from being slid off the pin.  .

EDIT: My plan now is to unscrew the screws in step 14 of the assembly guide and then use a thread locker/screw extractor on the back screws in step 7. This should hopefully allow me to split the 2 sections of the couch albeit with the armrest/back still attached.

I would apply a high-strength thread-locking adhesive (e.g. loctite 270) to the inside of the head, reattach the head to the threaded rod (AKA stud), wait many hours, remove bolt.

  LOCTITE 270 is a high-strength threadlocker for maximum efficacy in the securing and sealing of bolts, nuts and studs to prevent loosening due to vibration. The product serves to permanently lock assemblies which must not come loose. It works on all metals, including passive substrates such as stainless steel, aluminium and plated surfaces. It is proven to be tolerant of minor contamination due to industrial oils, e.g. engine oils, corrosion prevention oils and cutting fluids. Can be disassembled by heating to 300°C.

Other brands and products are available

From studying the assembly instructions, it seems to me it is also possible (perhaps even likely) that your furniture can be disassembled without fully extracting the threaded studs - so long as all the heads are removed.

With the head removed, the clearance hole allows the parts to separate

After disassembly you can use the two-nut trick or locking pliers (vise-grip, mole-grip etc) on the centre of the stud to unscrew the studs.


What are these horizontal & diagonal 'studs' in the wall called? My single-story house was built in the 1940s in the San Francisco Bay Area (Earthquake-country).

Here is a picture of the wall with the wallboard removed. This is from my neighbour’s house (Same vintage).

I am curious about the horizontal & diagonal boards in the wall. These are found in the interior and exterior walls. These are not called "Studs", because studs are vertical. What are they called? Bracing? Truss?

This is bracing that is needed for a shear wall. This provides lateral support, which is needed in areas prone to hurricanes and earthquakes. Typically, the plywood sheathing and drywall is all that is needed to provide shear support low risk homes. This kind of bracing is often turned on its side and let into the stud framing (notching the studs) rather than being placed between the studs and further braced above and below. There are also newer versions that are T shaped pieces of metal (maybe 10' long but only 1" wide or so), where the base of the T is inserted into a small notch that is cut into the studs and the top of the T is nailed flat to the face of the stud.

Note that the other bit of blocking at the top of your photo appears to be for the knob and tube wiring, which I hope you're in the process of removing/replacing.

See also: What is a shear wall and what is it for?.

Wikipedia entry on shear walls.


Why are tandem breakers on shared neutral (MWBC) problematic? I hear that shared-neutral or multi-wire branch circuits (MWBC) can have issues when used with tandem breakers (also called duplex, twin, cheater or double-stuff breakers).

What is the issue there?

Also, how do I put them on GFCI or AFCI?

A shared-neutral (two hots sharing the same neutral) is also called a multi-wire branch circuit (MWBC).
Now to go any further, first, North American power uses a slick trick.  It supplies 120V in two poles, which can be stacked to be 240V.   Read this answer for a primer on how that works.
Then, read my answer on how poles work at the panel, and what makes tandem/duplex breakers special and different from normal ones.
Neutrals don't have breakers
The current on neutral depends on good circuit design upstream of it.  Here's what I mean.
You'll agree that this is a simple arrangement, where the circuit breaker on the hot serves to protect the neutral from overload.

Okay, that makes sense.
The neutral can't carry more than the hot, because the neutral only serves the one hot.  As long as there isn't cross-hot leakage, there's no chance of overloading that neutral.
So what happens in a shared-neutral situation?

Can you spot the problem?
The neutral isn't any bigger than the hots, yet it's being asked to carry twice the load.  There is no breaker on the neutral to protect it.  So this sharing is setting the neutral on fire.
So how can this even work, then?
So you remember at the beginning and the discussion of poles and panels.
Take any two circuits.  (They can either be on the same pole, or on different poles).  We just discussed what happens if they're on the same pole.  Look what happens if they're on opposite poles.

Now that makes sense.
When the red hot draws 13A, it's drawing all of it from the black hot.  Most current goes through 1 lamp then the other, and back to the other hot.  Only 2A actually travels down the neutral back to the panel.  Neutral only carries the difference in currents.
You can try plugging in any value of amps on either leg (between 0 and 15).  In every case, the amp flow on the neutral is always less than 15.  So this configuration is safe for the neutral.
So there is method to the madness of shared-netural, and this is the method.  But it only works if the 2 circuits are on opposite poles, and in fact, there are rules that absolutely require this. Notice the way I drew the 2-pole breaker with one big fat handle.

The breaker must be 2-pole (240V).  Now using a duplex is a common and understandable mistake.
The breaker handles must shut off together with a "handle tie" that is factory authorized and approved.  One quickly discovers tandems don't have handle-ties which makes that mistake a lot less understandable.  That alone disqualifies them for MWBCs.

Fixing this
Panels can be a tangle. The simplest way to check for the problem is measure between the two sharing "hot" wires.  If you measure 240V you're OK.  If you measure 0V, you are overloading the neutral.
You can meet the law with handle-ties, but handle-ties are expensive and hard to find... don't let that turn it into "putting it off til never".  2-pole breakers will also fill the bill, and those are readily available everywhere, and they assure you get 240V between them. So that is what we recommend.
Now, people normally use duplex/tandem only when their panel is full.  If you have that problem, then you need to look at quadplex breakers.   These are 2-pole breakers that either have

a) a 2-pole in the middle and two singles on the outside, or
b) a 2-pole breaker on the inside and another 2-pole breaker on the outside.

If you have 2 single circuits nearby (which aren't shared-neutral MWBC), you can use type a).  If you need to fit 2 full MWBCs into 2 spaces, use type b).  These don't exist in every type of panel.
If you cannot fit full 2-pole, and cannot find appropriate quadplex, then splice both hots to each other with a pigtail, and attach the pigtail to a plain breaker.  This will limit both half-circuits to 15A among them, but will assure the neutral isn't overloaded.  This would be a way to do it without buying any breakers:

This would also work with a GFCI or AFCI breaker instead of a duplex.
How about adding GFCI?
Shared-neutral/MWBCs have fallen out of favor because they're a pain to deal with AFCI and GFCI.
AFCI is meant to protect the branch circuit wires, so putting AFCI anywhere but the panel will provide poor protection. There are some topology tricks you can do with receptacles for GFCI.  But really, the best way to fit GFCI or AFCI to any shared-neutral MWBC is to use a 2-pole GFCI or AFCI breaker right at the panel.
However, here's the gotcha in a tight panel.  There's no such thing as a duplex ACFI or GFCI.  They take a lot of space.  A GFCI/AFCI suitable for a shared-neutral MWBC will absolutely require two full spaces.
But you can always use the "pigtail both hots onto one breaker" method with a plain single-pole GFCI, but obviously that will limit your usable current.


Is it possible to drive led strips using a halogen driver? I have a 12v halogen setup in my kitchen which I'm looking to replace with 12v led strips. I have everything working and the light strips work, until I unplug the halogen lamps at which point the leds start turning on and off very slowly. Is it something like there isn't enough load?

Your power supply doesn't like the LEDs.  That's not a surprise. Either

because there isn't enough current flowing (the halogen acted as a dummy resistor to create some load), in which case more load will cure the problem.  Or
the power supply needs to be able to leak current in both directions (AC) through the light. Halogens can do that, LEDs cannot.  Try reversing the polarity on some of your LED strips.  If they still light and it solves the problem, that's actually bad news - it means this power supply is outputting AC and it's not fit for LED strips. (not least it will make them shimmer at 60Hz, which will be very noticeable and much worse than 120Hz shimmer from obsolete fluorescents).  It's time to replace this power supply with a DC supply, that will both work with LEDs with no shimmer whatsoever, and also support halogens.


Is zeolite effective for controlling room odor? This site (https://www.refreshinglyfree.com/Online-Catalog/Zeolite-Odor-and-Moisture-Control-Products) says so, but I'm not entirely convinced.

For an odor absorbing material to have a realistic effect, air will need to pass over/through the odor filtering media. Zeolite does remove certain odors, but not as well as activated carbon. You should be able to find both zeolite and activated carbon air filters for furnaces at a hardware store. If you don't have a furnace, or it is a summer-time issue, then perhaps you could construct an air filter by duct-taping a filter to the back side of a box fan. Cut a 12" hole in the filter directly behind the motor so that the motor doesn't overheat.
Also, cyclodextrins (like hydroxypropyl beta cyclodextrin found in Febreeze) can trap odors.


Installing a 50 Amp breaker for 220 circuit, using a direct burial cable for 100' for use of electric 220 welder What size or guage electrical cable do I need if I am installing a 50Amp Breaker in panel and going 100' to run a 220 volt welder?

A welder is defined as a non continuous load so the wire can be sized at 100% of the listed nameplate  per table 630.11.A. But a 50 amp breaker you would need at least #6 copper. I would upsize a bit and put a sub panel in so more could be done than the welder only.


kitchen faucet is stuck and we need help my husband is trying to remove a kitchen sink at his parents house. it is a three piece faucet. the handle to turn the water on is being held on by some gold clamp. it is in the shape of a pac man with 5 or so holes it. what could thus be and how do we get it off

In my part of the world, typical tap clamps look like this

or this

Sometimes, things are obscured by a tap brace that you must remove.

The retaining nuts are not always easy to see in the darkness under a kitchen sink full of pipes and other obstructions.

But if you are removing the sink and tap and disposing of both, it doesn't matter.

You can undo the other end of the tap tailpipes and throw out the whole lot. In the worst case you can cut through the pipes (above the isolating valves obviously) with a suitable saw and tidy up later.


How can I cut aluminum angle stock without damaging my tools? How can I cut aluminum angle stock without damaging my tools?  I've done some looking around the interwebs and have not found anything definitive - basically there are warnings about cutting it with anything that is not a chopsaw or hacksaw, and people with success stories on how they cut aluminum without problem.  My main concern is damaging my tools - I would like to make precise cuts with either a tablesaw, bandsaw or powered miter saw.

At work we cut aluminium with a drop saw. An sometimes our table saw.
We have a drop saw set up just for aluminium, with a fine tooth blade. It don't really do any damage to it as long as you cut slow.
aluminium is softer then some of the timber we cut.
So anyway if your trying to cut neat cuts use drop saw. An shouldn't do damage.
If you are worried use a angle grinder with a thin cutting blade.


How can I tell if this is a load bearing wall? Hello I would like to remove the wall from our family room to kitchen. The wall that I circled in yellow. How can I tell from this blueprint if it is a load bearing wall?

I wouldn't trust a random individual on the internet to correctly identify bearing walls. There are general guidelines for identifying bearing walls, but many exceptions to the rules.
Get a competent person in your house to look at the structure. From there, you can figure out the engineering.

quote from https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/75057/2025


Widening the stone entrance into a crawlspace I've got a 200 year old house with a crawl space under one corner of the house. The entrance to that crawl space is very tight (pictured below), and I am a large man. I want to expand the entrance to the crawl space a couple of inches downward, and potentially a couple of inches to the left. The wall is granite stone construction, so i was planning on breaking down the mortar on the flat surface and removing a layer of stone. I need to repoint the walls on the inside of the crawl space, and it's currently very difficult for me to get in.

Can I lengthen or widen the hole a few inches without worrying about structural integrity?

EDIT: Added more photos for clarity. Apologies if it's still not clear, there's a lot of ductwork in the way that makes getting a good shot of it all difficult.

Widening this opening to any width less than a foot shouldn't be any issue. Even if there's a bearing wall resting above the bottom plate from the story above, it looks like the bottom plate matches the floor joist sizes and it will have plenty of capacity for spanning such a short opening. Just make sure you notch the opening as vertically as possible and the base of the cut into the wall is not cut back more than the top.


How do I lay joists over a complex-sloped basement floor I am helping a friend install a bathroom in his basement. The basement floor is partially rock which has been covered in plastic vapour barrier and then covered in a thin layer of concrete. (The builders obviously didn't want to spend the money on excavating the rock to build a full basement with a level floor) That area of the basement floor which is rock slopes basically in two main directions (but the slopes aren't uniform - picture rolling hills!) towards the corner of the basement where he wants to place his bathroom.

In order to create a level floor surface, I think tapered joists will have to be laid from the deepest part of the basement and will have to be extended to where they horizontally intersect the concreted rock. To maximize finished floor space, the joists would have to be tapered considerably and over different lengths depending upon where they contact the concreted rock.

Height is also a problem. The wider we make the level floor, the higher up we have to secure the deep end of the joists. We can probably go up about 10 to 12 inches at the deepest corner before the ceiling clearance will be too low.

So my questions are:
a. How do I anchor and support the tapered end of the joists where they meet the concrete covered rock,

b. How skinny can I make the tapered end of the joist (bearing in mind that the longer I can make the joists, the wider the bathroom floor can be)

c. How can I find the "level" line on the concreted rock when the rock is not uniformly sloped. (Is there something like a spinning laser level that would project a level line on the concreted rock that I could then mark with chalk?)

Thanks for any help or light you can shed on this project.

Dave
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada

Use some self-leveling mortar or concrete.

It's a mortar/concrete that is liquid. You pour it out, and help it a bit and it levels itself automatically.

If the slope is extreme (more than an inch or two), then get it semi-close (but lower) with some regular concrete, then finish with the self leveling stuff.

You say joists, but are these joists actually suspended above the floor? You will have a very hard time cutting them to match a bumpy floor.

To find level on the floor get a bucket of water and a thin, flexible, transparent hose. Fill the hose with water and submerge in the bucket, then attach it to the bucket so it doesn't fall out and take the end of the hose to your wall, then mark the water level all over the place.

Subtract a fixed amount from the water level (cut a piece of wood the right length) to get the actual height you need.


Alternative designs for a load bearing wall Please bear with me - I am not very skilled in the area of house renovations and building structures.

We had a business come in and draw up plans for a new kitchen.  It involved knocking out the 'fridge' wall that has cupboards and fridge against it so-as to have the kitchen also take up some of the playroom you can see behind the 'fridge' wall.

They were going to charge AU$10,000 (Australian), about US$7,000, to remove the 'fridge' wall since they claimed it is load bearing and I guess they were going to put a steel beam above it and attached to the truss.  I don't know enough to doubt them.  What I want to know is, could we reduce the cost with an alternative design?

Let us say that directly ahead is North (approx correct - this photo is in the Southern Hemisphere so our sun is to the North).

In the basement below this is a 5 x 4.8m (16.4 x 16 feet) brick room that runs from the back of the sink (South) that is just to the left outside this photo across to half-way across that hallway you see with coats in it - one way (North to South).  And from an external wall at the very left of the photo (West) through to a wall that is just to the right of the photo (East) - the other way (East to West).  Huge beams (huge for me at least - 31cm (12.2 inches) wide and 5cm (2 inches) thick) run North to South under the floor sitting on top of the brick room, and are about 60cm (24 inches) apart.

There is a truss that runs East to West above the 'fridge' wall.  And another that ultimately sits on-top of the North side of the brick room.

Can anyone suggest the cheapest (and still effective) way to remove the 'fridge' wall?  The small hallway to the right along with its door would remain.  I was thinking a vertical support beam from floor to ceiling under the truss. The idea is to make one big kitchen that extends in to the play room behind the fridge.  The vertical column wouldn't be ideal though I'm sure if this reduces the cost we can blend it in to a design easily.

You should balance the expected savings from a more optimal design with the cost of hiring an engineer to do an alternative design.

Supposedly, the 10k includes their time to design the structure, build, including materials.

An assumption here is that the majority of the cost is labour and design, neither of which you save on with a more economic design (moreover, more complex but economic designs might be more labour intensive). If this is the situation, just get other quotes for the design you like.

If this assumption is wrong and the potential savings on materials is greater than the cost of an engineer, it might be worth getting an alternative design.


Ceiling junction box has 6 wires? On my kitchen ceiling, there are two light boxes controlled (I hope?) by one dimmer switch.  The boxes are connected to the far wall (opposite the switch) by a conduit that runs along the ceiling; however, some wires stick out directly from the ceiling, not from the conduit.

               add'l wires
  ____________||________||_____c_e_i_l_i_n_g_______
  |]========[boxA]====[boxB]                      |
  |      ^                                        |
  w     conduit                                   w
  a                                               a
  l                                               l
  l                                               l
  |                                               |
 [|]                                              |
 [|] <- breaker                       dimmer ->  {|
 [|]    panel                                     |
  |                                               |

Box A only had two loose (capped) wires: a black and a white.  I tied them to the respective black & white wires of a pendant fixture, and all was well.  That light is now controlled by the dimmer switch exactly as I'd expect.  For the sake of completeness, I'll note:

There was another pair of black Romex running thru box A, but it didn't have any ends exposed, just ran straight thru the conduit toward box B.
Box A doesn't appear to be grounded?  I ran a green grounding wire (which came with the fixture) from the pendant's canopy to the junction box, but there's no connection to the condo's ground wiring that I can see.

Meanwhile, over in Box B, I found a total of 6 wires, which were joined together into 3 pigtails.

Black Dark Grey + White
Black + Black
Blue + White

There is continuity between the black grey wire in pigtail #1 and the blue wire in pigtail #3.  (Note that these are the two wires coming from the conduit; the other four come from the ceiling).  No continuity between any other pair of wires.

So, questions:

How the heck do I wire my second pendant fixture into box B?
Does the wiring in box A need to be modified for proper grounding?

Edit: here's a zoomed out photo

^^ From left to right, you can see the wires coming out of box B, the pendant successfully hanging from box A, and the breaker panel underneath the shelves on the far wall.  I separated the box B wires for testing (i.e. the pigtails seen in the closeup photo above are no longer connected), so the pendant obviously does not light up anymore.

Followup Edit: by popular request, I've disassembled box A for photographing, and taken a bunch more measurements.

^^ Here you can see the single black and white wires coming out of the ceiling, which I'd previously wired into a pendant, and also the conjoined pair of wires (black+grey) running thru the conduit.  As for continuity:

Box B pigtail #2 black [the one paired with black] == Box A's loose black wire
Box B pigtail #3 white [the one paired with blue] == Box A's loose white wire
Box B blue == Box B dark grey == Box B ceiling plate == Box A ceiling plate

The main discovery is that with better lighting, I can see that the dark wire from Box B's first pigtail is ever so slightly lighter than the other two black wires.  I've relabeled it "grey" above, since it appears to be grounded.

Well, here's what I think you've got.   You know that the lamp in Box A works and once you traced the wires it was easy to chase it back from that.

The wiremold surface conduit brings power (always-hot and neutral) into the system.

Nut 3 is neutral, using (very bizarrely) blue for neutral.  Which is the standard in Europe (though they prefer a robin's egg blue) - not legal in North America (white or gray please).

Oddball colors like that are possible in conduit (such as this surface mount) since they are THHN individual wires.  Possibly the other wires are multiconductor cable (NM Romex or metallic AC) always black-white.

Nut 2 is switched-hot for your lamp.  Black is a legal color for switched-hot (or any hot) but red is ideal.

Nut 1 is always-hot.  Note that it's using a white wire in the switch loop, which is actually a Code requirement when using multiconductor cable like NM or AC however the wire must be taped to identify it as a hot.

In this diagram, I go well past the mandatory markings to mark every wire with "tape" whose native color doesn't match its function.  All these markings are legal except the blue wire - neutrals must be natively white or gray (even in cable), and blue here is a code violation that isn't fixed by marking it.

My guess is before the condoization, it was powered at the light switch off a circuit that served other areas of the office which are now part of other dwelling units.  That breaker would've been in someone else's condo, which violates Code.  This work was done competently by an old-head who knew what he was doing... except the blue wire! Perhaps a European immigrant...

As for grounding, I would pop the cover off the "surface conduit starter box" over on the right wall, and see what's behind it.  If you see a steel junction box with tubular conduit feeding down to the panel, that EMT or IMC or rigid conduit is a valid grounding path.  The back of the box will have a hole tapped #10-32, I'd get a ground screw (they sell them at electrical supply by the one, or big-box by the ten, they're even green so you don't mix them up with general hardware) and some #12 bare ground wire, and bring it to each of the junction boxes via the Wiremold surface conduit.


How many lights can be on one breaker? How many lights can be run from one breaker I would like to add two two tube fluorescent lights to a string of lights I have already.

As the other two posters have indicated, it depends.

For 20 AMP you have 20A*120V or 2400 watts and 15 AMP you have 15A*120V or 1800 watts.  Good Electricians will only use 80% of the circuit and leave a 20% safety margin so you have 1920 and 1440 watts respectively at your disposal per circuit.

Lets use 1440 as a conservative estimate.

Next, find out what's on the circuit.  To do this, leave the lights on that you want to connect to.  Open your electrical panel and flip off the breakers one by one until the lights turn off.  Now turn off all the breakers except for the one the light are on and see how many lights and outlets are powered by the circuit.  It's then just a matter of adding up what is on the circuit.  Let's say you have 8 50 watt lights on the circuit, that roughly 400 Watts of draw (roughly).  That gives you and extra 1000 watts, more than enough to add a few flourescents.  Adding up the lights are easy.  But the plugs will be a little more difficult, because there is a difference between having your entertainment center (TV, stereo, etc) on the circuit versus an alarm clock radio and just a lamp.  For the current ligths and appliances that are connected, you can plan whether adding another light is feasible.  Some circuits are lightly loaded, others not so much, so your mileage will vary.


What size knee braces should I install on my Pergola? I have a 20'x20' pergola on a concrete patio.
Construction is 8"x8" posts sandwiched with 2"x8" rafters.
I notice some swaying during some thunderstorms with heavy winds and I can push on a post with some effort, that moves the whole pergola.
What size knee bracing should I install (width and length)?

That's a beautiful pergola, and to preserve its style I would use the same timbers as you used for your posts. I'd make the vertical and horizontal legs of the triangle 1/3 of the post height, unless that causes serious headroom interference, then reduce a bit to no less than 1/4 of post height. Much less than that and you won't see much benefit.
I'd make all the knee braces the same length, so that they interface with the posts at different heights due to the rafter height.
The connection between the rafters is fairly straight-forward. The connection at the post is less so. Large lag screws, countersunk and level, or carriage bolts all the way through would be good. That connection will have the most tendency to slip, reducing the effectiveness of your effort.
Here's a similar example courtesy of StrongTie. In this case the knee braces connect to the post at the same height, but I pictured yours being vertically offset (to match the height of the rafters). I would also deviate from this photo by running the bolts in horizontally. You'll need shorter bolts and I think you'll end up with a better connection.


What is involved in enlarging a concrete garage door opening? I have a concrete garage with an opening measuring 99" wide by 85" high. There is 10" of concrete from the door opening to the left and right walls and about 1' above.  All walls are 8" thick and there is nothing above the garage except a wooden flat roof.

I want to enlarge the door opening by shaving off 4" of concrete on each side which requires two 8" deep cuts that are 7' long.

Will it significantly affect the structural integrity of the garage? In
other words is there a chance it will collapse and do I need
additional reinforcement?
What is the effort and materials involved in it? Can I do it myself
    if I rent a 14"-16" concrete saw? I will need to cut from both sides
    as it will not be deep enough to cut 8".
Is there anything else I need to be aware of for this kind of project?
Is it worth paying $800 to a contractor rather than doing it myself?

Here are some pictures to give an idea (click for full size):

Assuming the lintel I see in the second picture travels over the block wall, it should be safe to cut the opening. I'm a contractor and if I could get a subcontractor to do it for $800 and guarantee it in writing, he'd be hired.  It better be a good straight cut I can frame to.  Be sure to calculate the proper rough opening you really need and add an inch.  It is easy to add shims, but cutting again is expensive.


sound absorption material for home cinema So I've started my home cinema project, read a ton of websites and have the basics planned.

What I don't know yet, and the Internet is full of conflicting opinions, is what the best material for sound absorption is?

I will line the walls and the ceiling with wood frames, like this:

The front will be covered with fabric. Inside the frame I want to put my sound absorbers. Obviously, accoustic foam or special absorbers would be best, but I have a fairly large room and a limited budget. I would rather line the walls and ceiling with something that's 80% good and reserve some budget for putting professional absorbers in one or two key spots.

So, on a budget, and a depth of about 5 cm (2 inches), which is the best choice for material to put there?

Additional information:

It's a basement room, so the walls by themselves are already thick and isolated and I'm not worried about the neighbours, I only care about the accoustics inside the room.

The 5cm depth of the frame is an arbitrary choice, if I get significantly better sound by going to 8 cm (the next depth I can get wood for easily) then that's an option. More is not as my screen is already installed and has about 10 cm space on each side.

I also plan to run the wires through/behind those frames, and put the front and rear speakers partially inside.

I was just told recently by someone who took a class on something involving building sound absorption panels, that recycled denim material makes an excellent sound deadener.

He said to wrap the bats of denim in speaker material and hang them an inch or so away from the wall to kill echo or noise from another room.

Good luck with your home theater.


How can I remove the ends of this tap spout? I'm trying to find a shower that fits these taps but with no success.I have seen showers with ends that screw into the tap spout but I don't know how to remove the black plastic ends that are already in there.

Wow, I haven't seen separate hot & cold taps in a long time. I'd say it's time for an upgrade. It looks like you've been after that pictured one pretty good. I'd spray them inside & out with vinegar a half dozen times throughout an entire day & then run the hot water one for a minute.

The hot water would heat it up & hopefully loosen everything, including any mineral deposits that the vinegar broke-up. Then, give it another jerking twist, rather than a slow torqueing twist. If that all works on the hot side, then you'd pour hot water over the vinegar-ed cold tap until that's heated.

I can't make out if the black plastic piece is hollow or not. But, if it is I think your only other option is to use an Internal Pipe wrenching bit of the right diameter, like this.


How can I remove a dull spot in a quartz countertop caused by Magic Eraser? I used a Magic Eraser on my quartz to remove a stain and now there is a dull spot. How do you polish it to bring back the shine?

Polishing stones is done by sanding, alternating from rough paper to very fine, from 50 to 3000 grit and water, and is finally polished with a compound paste or wax and a buffer/polisher.  I used to polish acrylic with up to 6000. Your eraser probably acted like a sand paper and the damage depends on its roughness.  Additional sanding may be warrant to smooth it off. You may try first car paint polishing compound sold in most places selling car spray paint and hand polish your spot.  If you have polishing tools it could be more effective and easier, but it all depend on the damage you actually made. If you can still see scratches or dullness after your initial polishing it may mean your eraser was too coarse and you may need to smooth it off and polish again.

Be aware that stones are not impervious to stains. Sealers should be applied where cosmetics or food may come in contact.  You can also buy stone stains remover in most stone tiles retail stores, they are not very expensive and much less damaging than your eraser. Good luck.


Is it safe to put a window a/c unit over kitchen sink window? Pretty self explanatory. I have a small window unit that would fit right over my kitchen sink window. About 2.25' of clearance above the counter top. Just thinking being near a water source may be hazardous, but not really sure if that's over cautious given its clearance.

The inside workings of a window A/C are typically wet. The coils get tons of condensation, the fan in the back splashes the condensate water all over, it's fine there. If anything it is safer since it is being plugged into a GFCI protected receptacle where typically they are not.

Just be careful of the load and whatever else is plugged into the same circuit. You may need to turn off the A/C to use some appliances.


Electrical switch installation My 2-way light switch doesn't work.  I need to replace it but all I have on hand is a 3-way.  How do I wire it to function as a 2-way?

A 3-way switch connects the common (hot) alternately to each of two travelers as it is switched. You can connect one of the wires from the old switch to the common terminal on the 3-way, and the other to one of the traveler terminals, leaving the other traveler terminal unconnected. There should be a marking on the side or back of the 3-way indicating which terminal is the common.

Code requires that up is on for an unmarked switch. A 3-way is unmarked. Hook it up and see if up is on. If not, shift the wire from the connected traveler terminal to the other traveler terminal.


using C clamp on ceiling beam to avoid screw holes - will it hold? Trying to install LED panel lights on a loft ceiling. There's a ridge beam I can attach them to, but I'd like to avoid putting in screw holes if possible (this is a condo that has shared structural beams).

I was thinking of welding a steel c clamp made of 2"x 1", 1/16" thick tube that would be press fitted against the beam, with double sided VHB tape in between to further secure it.

I plan on having 2 clamps for each panel, so the downward force is ~2 kg. Obviously, my main concern is will this hold up safely over the years?

Will the clamp or beam deform over time (creep). Unlikely for steel, since it's no where near the melting point, but what about the wood?

Will shrinkage due to temperature or cycling cause it to become too loose?

I don't think your plan to make a custom bracket will work for a number of reasons.  It's way larger and heavier than necessary, it will be very hard to make a spring clamp of that size to make a pressure clamp, and it will be hard or impossible to slide it on over VHB tape.  VHB tape may or may not hold up to the heat generated by the light.

It's always good to be careful about drilling holes in a beam, but the tiny holes needed for a few small short screws to hold up LED panels won't have any significant effect on the strength of the beam.

If you'd still rather not drill the beam, you could hang the lights from the joists near the beams.  If you want a surface mount, you could mount them on the short side, that way they will shine on more of the room.

If you don't mind hanging the lights from a v-shaped wire or chain, you could hang them from eye screws into the joists on the longer side of the ceiling.  That will keep the lights level and get them closer to the center of the room, which will give you more even lighting.  It will also let some air circulate over the light, which will help the heat dissipate, which will be better for the LED fixture and for the ceiling.

If you are really set on hanging them in that exact position, you could make a small bracket to go across the bottom of the beam (perpendicular) and attach to the ceiling on either side, either with toggles into the drywall or preferably with screws into the joists.  Not something out of 2" tube steel, more like 3/16" flat stock.


Bathroom ceiling light LED retrofit These are the original lights in my 1984 house. They are in all 3 bathrooms, 11 total, in soffits above the sinks. They are 7" cans presently with BR30 45W, 65W, or 75W incandescent bulbs. The bulbs are getting to be harder to find, but for now I can still buy them. The cover is a frosted glass dome. The bulb protrudes slightly below the soffit into the dome.

All the LED BR30 replacements that I have found indicate that they should not be used in enclosed spaces. A 65W LED equivalent is only 11W, so I don't think that it will heat up too much. Maybe the life would be reduced somewhat.

All LED can retrofits that I have found are for 4" or 6" cans. It seems that 7" was never very common. Most of the retrofits are recessed, I really don't want a recessed spot, I want a very broad light so it will reflect off the mirror and provide some frontal lighting.

I have found some flat LED round panels that are designed to be mounted directly to the ceiling without a can. These should meet my broad light requirement, and if I can find one thin enough, this might work. None of these are made by the more respectable companies, that bothers me somewhat.

Any ideas? Maybe buy a BR30 LED and try it?

The issue is thermal... and we're fighting two completely separate types of thermal wars.

The war on fire: Incandescent bulbs don't care about heat, they love it, they love being oven lights. They also create a lot of it!  A 40W bulb makes 39 watts of heat and 1 watt of light.   So with incandescent, the war is to keep the incandescent's heat from setting the building on fire.  A great deal of fixture design goes toward that purpose, including the lamping limits (e.g. 60 watts).

The war on product longevity: LEDs and CFLs make far less heat.  A 40-watt equivalent LED (7W) is very efficient, it makes 1 watt of light and only 6 watts of heat.  However, LED and CFL must be kept cool. Their driver/ballast will have its service life shortened by excessive heat. LED emitters can burn out if not properly cooled.  (junction temp at the emitter must be < 185-240F; the heatsink must be significantly cooler to move heat away fast enough.)

So in a closed fixture, the war shifts from "preventing fire" to "keeping the lamps cool enough to last".  Certainly a better prospect!

Presumably you will not want to fit LED bulbs brighter than 20 watts actual (about 150 watts effective) because it would be just too much light.   That means that thermal issues are completely off the table, and the reflector requirement on the label is simply not required anymore.

That said, though: LEDs naturally emit light in about a 150 degree cone.  Most of the time you want a cone or a wedge, and this fixture wants exactly a 150 degree cone, which is a perfect fit for LED.   Therefore you are better off using a "PAR-style" LED bulb that simply places all the LED emitters in a flat plane aiming downward, and does not use inefficient reflectors at all.

And I would go for one that is shorter than  your current BR30s, so it lights the diffuser more evenly.

 [src: China, not one I'd reco, but this is the general idea.]

The bulb can be as simple as that: raw 5050 emitters arranged on a flat surface.  Don't buy an LED that has a PAR style reflector: first, reflectors are silly with LEDs, and second, that will give you too narrow a beam.


How to fix leaky outdoor faucet Water leaks from the valve when the water to the faucet is on. What is the name of this type of faucet & how do I fix this leak?  I put in a new washer in the garden hose which stopped the hose from leaking but it's still leaking from the faucet valve.

Pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/NCZIH

I would replace the entire sillcock (also called a stopcock, outdoor faucet, hose faucet, or spigot), because it looks like you lost the handle, too; in which case you  should watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj_nTbIWzfI,

Or if you really intend to repair it, try this instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cALQ3PR7k30

Edit- One important tip that I should add about installing or replacing the sillcock- it should lean downward as it exits the building. The reason that sillcocks are long is so that the important parts (the actual valve with rubber gaskets or rings) can be protected from freezing (by being inside the building). And it needs to lean downward so that it can drain or else it will have water inside the valve body that can freeze.

Edit2- In response to your comment, there is no "type" in the way that you are thinking of this. I prefer to call it a sillcock. It may have a long valve/valve body, or a short one. Unless you see the manufacturers brand name on it, nobody could guess, and it makes no difference.

The only way to know what you need is to take it apart. The bad gasket or rings should be obvious. Perhaps you can find replacement parts at a hardware store (or online). See the picture showing how to take this apart; be sure to turn off the (main) water before you take the sillcock apart. You may also need to use the sillcock key to unscrew the valve assembly. Once you have the valve assembly out, take it with you to the hardware store so that you purchase the correct size gasket(s) or whatever you need.


Are Ideal Greenie 30-192P Ground Wire Nuts approved for use with stranded wire? I looked at page 4 of the UL document here:

http://www.idealindustries.ca/media/pdfs/products/ideal_ul_listed_combinations.pdf

And I notice that it says you can use up to 4 #12 wires. However, it doesn't specify stranded or solid. I assume either and/or both is okay?

My plan is to push through 1 12AWG solid wire from the outlet ground screw through the connector to the box ground screw, then join in 2 12AWG stranded ground wires passing thru the box. Three wires total in the connector This is a 20A receptacle on a 20A breaker in a metal box with EMT conduit.

The deciding factor is whether the device is listed (survives UL etc. testing) for that use.  The conventions for listings are as follows.

If it says "12 AWG", it is listed for both solid and stranded wire.
If it says "12 AWG SOLID" that means it is not listed for stranded wire.

So, if you have found where it specifies such things, and it is not specific as to solid/stranded, that means both.


New Samsung Washer Smells I am concerned because our new Samsung washing machine (front loading, stackable, stacked on the bottom) absolutely REEKS of chemicals; the closest I can think of is paint thinner. I expected a "new plastic" or "new machine" smell when we purchased a new set (having had them before) but this odor is overwhelming. I was on the floor in front of the machine to load it and when I opened it, the odor was strong enough to actually make me feel a little ill. Is this normal, something that will go away, or should I be worried about this? If it's normal, what's the most effective way to get rid of the odor? We are a week behind due to delivery issues and we're starting to run out of clothes....

It is normal for all things to smell a little bit when they are brand new. (Think "new car smell"), but in your case, I think this goes past a factory fresh scent. You should consult your washing machine manual on how to run a "cleaner" cycle. Typically it is like 1/4 cup bleach or something on an empty cycle. This should get rid of any smells coming from it!


Interpreting stair railing code I am reading this document

Looking at this line:

  (2) Stairways having less than four risers need not have handrails or
  stair railings.

Is a fair interpretation that on stairs with more than four risers, that I can start the railing on the 3rd step?

I am trying to maintain a clean line of sight in a room where the stair case is centrally located and I am not sure if my argument passes muster.

No. It's all or nothing. Imagine a visually-impaired person (or someone in the dark) coming down your stairs and the rail ends. What's the assumption? That they've reached the bottom. That can end badly.


How to drill to insert rebar into a large rock (5mx5mx5m) I am pouring a reinforced concrete beam. It contains rebar. I would like to insert the rebar (horizontally) into this rock:

What kind of drill and drill bit and to what depth should I drill to insert the rebar? My beam is using 10* 16mm steel bars, although I could use a lower size for the anchor.

A rotary hammer is the standard tool for a job like this, with a carbide-tipped masonry bit. You can rent a heavy-duty model at your local rental center. They're not difficult to use. Be sure to wear ear, eye, and resipration protection.

As for your question about depth, you haven't provided nearly enough information about your plans for anyone to speculate.


What is the best method to patch a large hole (2-3 inches) in drywall? I have a large hole where a TV wall mount once was (I believe the hole was used to run power and coax cable to the TV). I have since moved the TV and would like to patch the hole. What is the best way to do this?

Correct way to do it as instructed on 'Canada's worst Handyman':

cut a piece of strapping (wood) that will be a couple inches longer than the hole on each side.
put the strapping inside the hole and attach it using a couple of drywall screws so that it is across the hole.
cut a piece of drywall that is the same size as the hole, as close as you can get
attach the patch to the strapping with a drywall screw
mud, sand, paint.

Same process works for larger holes and also on the ceiling which can be tricky.


Wiring up modern ceiling rose in old house I am in the process of replacing an old light fitting, however I'm stuck because the old fitting has a completely different circuit to the new one.

From basic research, I believe the new ceiling rose is on a loop system. The old one simply had a single junction box with the live, earth, and neutral wires going in. (Pictures linked below).

My question is, how do I wire up the new ceiling rose? I've looked at the diagrams of the loop circuits and they seem to have lots more wires involved than I appear to have coming out the ceiling.

If it is possible to get this wired up properly, I'd really appreciate some simple instructions of which wires to put where!

I will link to pictures (apologies I cannot upload multiple on here) of how the old light was wired, what wires are coming out the ceiling, and what the new circuit looks like.

https://imgur.com/a/yCcpTvC

Many thanks in advance!

Based on the first and last images ie old rose and new rose, then:

1) the red wire goes to the brown on the new rose,

2) the two black ones to the blue wire on the new rose and

3( the green or earth or ground wires go to the brass terminal on the new rose.

You don't have anything to use "loop", which would be for feeding the "next" light.


Identifying a Window Manufacturer I need to replace the tilt latch on this window but can't find any indication of the name of the company that manufactured the window.  I tried  a local window shop and they did not recognize it, plus they also told me the width between the two mounting screw holes is critical to finding a generic replacement part.  I'd like to start with the manufacturer if possible.  The only indication I can find is a "world" marker on the frame.  Does anyone recognize this manufacturer?

This is without a doubt manufactured by International Window, that is their trademarked logo. I sold their windows for many years and they are quite common in S. California. Aftermarket replacement latches should be fairly easy to find:

prime line window parts


Is water from the bathroom sink any dirtier than water from the kitchen sink? If it is, could it easily be cleaned through a water filter?

All water coming into your house comes from the same single source, so unless you have two separate storage tanks for your kitchen taps and bathroom taps (highly unlikely) then the water will be identical.

The water should be potable without any additional filtering, but obviously you may want extra filtering if your water is particularly hard - i.e. has a high mineral content.

Where you site the filter raises another issue. If you site it just after the water enters your property and after the main stop cock then all the supply is filtered - including that used to flush toilets (which you could see as waste), but it does mean that the water going to boilers for heating and hot water will be filtered and reduce the build up of deposits in the heater itself (which is a good thing).


mixing wire sizes on a single circuit I'm doing some simple wiring in a shed I built and will have an actual electrician connect it to the panel.

I ran 12-2 for all my outlets so they can be on a 20 amp circuit and 14-2 for all my lights on a single switch and they will be on a 15 amp circuit.

The thing I was noticing yesterday though is I ran 12-2 from the future panel to the switch, and then 14-2 from the switch to all the light fixtures.

I texted my electrician buddy and asked if that was ok and he said yes as long as it's on a 15 amp circuit only.

Then I got to thinking about a time when I was tearing apart an old house and there was some wire running that was either 12-2 to an outlet and then 14-2 from there, or possibly vice versa and the guy I was working with said "whoa that's definitely a fire hazard".

Can someone explain to me what is safe, what is not safe, etc when mixing wire size on a single circuit (I know it's not a great idea to mix, but if you were to). Is it solely related to breaker size?

Breakers are there to protect the wiring in the wall.  You can mix wire sizes, but the breaker has to match the smallest wire you used.  So if there is any 14g wire on the circuit anywhere, it must have a 15A breaker.

The electrician that mentioned the fire hazard probably assumed the circuit was covered by a 20A breaker because of the 12g wire so that would be bad since there was also 14g in the wall.

When a house is first wired, mixing wire size generally doesn't happen.  So, whenever you see mixed wire, you should assume it's a problem until you check the breakers and make sure it's ok.