Do kitchen undermount sinks always attach to the granite / quartz or do I have to make a precise hole in the 5/8" plywood Do stainless steel kitchen undermount sinks always attach to the granite / quartz or do I have to make a precise (routed?) hole in the 5/8" plywood to drop the sink and, have it be supported by the plywood and then just have the quartz counter sit on top?

This is my exact sink

I have installed sinks that are supported by the plywood sub base many times. Sometimes it was framing added strategically, since there was no room for a plywood base.

FWIW, countertop installers, all of them in my experience use bolts epoxied in slots under the stone top. This is for 3 cm stone, I would not want that in 2 cm stone, then I would only use plywood or framing for supports. That is my preference.

I have had some installers complain for my base material being in the way for their bolts, my miscommunication. Be certain how the sink is to be held in place so there are no problems during install.


Controlling separate heat and AC devices from a single thermostat I have hydronic radiator heat powered by a gas furnace situated in one mechanical room of my house and a currently being installed central AC whose air handler is situated in another mechanical room (separate locations).

I would like to control both of these units from a single thermostat with separate thermostat wires going from the thermostat to each respective unit.

Is this possible?  Do I need a special thermostat or can any modern thermostat support this split functionality?
Product recommendations?

This shouldn't be a problem, as long as you get a thermostat that supports separate heating and cooling power supplies.  Any thermostat with both R, and Rc, and/or Rh should be able to handle what you want.
R   = power (usually 24 VAC).
Rh = power from heating system.
Rc = power from cooling system.
The purpose of the separate Rh and Rc terminals, is so that the heating and cooling systems can each have their own separate transformer.  In some cases there is only one transformer, so the Rc, Rh, and R are all connected together.  When separate heating and cooling systems are used, Rc should come from the cooling system, and Rh should come from the heating system. Y Would be the cool call back to the cooling system, and W would be the heat call back to the heating system.
Installation
Pull 18/4 or 16/4 cable from the thermostat to the heater, and the same cable from the thermostat to the cooling system.
Cooling

Connect the red wire to the R terminal at the cooling system, and the Rc terminal on the thermostat.
Connect the white wire to the Y terminal at the cooling system, and the Y terminal on the thermostat.
(optional) Connect the green wire to the G terminal at the cooling system, and the G terminal on the thermostat.
Leave the black or blue wire disconnected.

Heating

Connect the red wire to the R terminal at the cooling system, and the Rh terminal on the thermostat.
Connect the white wire to the W terminal at the cooling system, and the W terminal on the thermostat.
(optional) Connect the green wire to the G terminal at the cooling system, and the G terminal on the thermostat.
Leave the black or blue wire disconnected.


Installing a fixture with no ground, no ceiling box I recently bought some nice track lighting to brighten a room who's only light source was buried in a corner.  I removed the old fixture and found (to my horror) this:

Two wires, no ground, no box (and some alarming burn mark looking things).

I've done a bit of reading on this, and it seems that the boxes have three purposes:

Provide structural support to help heavier fixtures hang
Create a safety zone for sparks, preventing them from setting fire to your walls.
(In the case of metal boxes) provide an easy ground

I'm not horribly worried about points 1 and 2.  All of the connections for this light can actually be stashed inside of the fixture itself (see below) between a metal plate, and the exterior plastic box, and since these are track lights, there's not a lot of weight on the fixture point itself.

The ground, however, is a little more worrying.  Peering up into the hole, the only bit of groundable metal I can find is a small conduit, about 8-10 inches above my ceiling.

I could get a small length of copper, wrap it around the conduit, and attach that to the ground, but I'd rather not cut a hole in my ceiling large enough to get two hands that far in.

So, my questions are:

Given that I've been living without one, could I maybe just this once get away without a ground?
Are my assumptions about not needing a box validated by the sort of exterior box I've rigged up here?
Assuming your answer to (1) was "Of course not, what are you, crazy?" could I safely use the conduit as a ground?

According to the National Electrical Code, you can replace the fixture without a ground as long as the outlet is GFCI protected.

  National Electrical Code 2014

  Chapter 4 Equipment for General Use

  Article 410 Luminaires, Lampholders, and Lamps

  V. Grounding

  410.44 Methods of Grounding Luminaires and equipment
  shall be mechanically connected to an equipment
  grounding conductor as specified in 250.118 and sized in
  accordance with 250.122.

  Exception No. 3: Where no equipment grounding conductor
  exists at the outlet, replacement luminaires that are
  GFCI protected shall not be required to be connected to an
  equipment grounding conductor.

As for actually connecting the fixture. If the fixture does have a built in junction box, that is designed for the use. There's no problem making the connections in the box. If not, you'll have to install a box in the ceiling, and make your connections there. If you have to install a junction box in the ceiling, you should be able to install one that will be easily hidden by the fixture.

My other concern is protecting the wires between the AC/MC cable, and the junction box. You might have to install a short bit of conduit, connecting it to the AC/MC cable using an appropriate coupling. The other end of the conduit will then connect to the junction box, and the wires will safely travel inside the conduit.


Trane furnace pilot wont stay lit I have a 1983 Trane gas furnace, Model BLU108E936B1, the pilot light went out, I could get it to relight but wont stay on> Changed the thermocouple, same results, Pilot light doesn't look right as I recall before, the flame doesn't seem to come up as high as before to hit the thermocouple correctly. I tried different positions for the flame to hit thermocouple but still same results, Pilot wont stay lit.

I would still not trust the thermocouple. I encourage you to just take the new thermocouple back out, and re-install it. I had this exact same problem and unfortunately paid a contractor to come out and do just that, and somehow it fixed it. I guess the things are just finicky.

There should also be a way to adjust the pilot light's flame, typically a screw.


What is the point of a shower diverter? Let me explain what I mean. Most googling leads to tub related setups, but my setups do not include tubs.

Lately I have been seeing these diverters in many newer bathrooms(my own new one in SG, and one in India). What they have is one tap to control direction of flow (tap / Shower / Hand shower (if any) ), one to control the flow rate and temperature, and a little knob u need to pull, which I believe is the diverter. To turn on the shower, the first tap has to be appropriately turned, the flow tap has to be turned on, and THEN the diverter has to be pulled.

If the diverter is not pulled, regardless of the first tap, the water flows out of the tap. The diverter only stays in place until the flow tap is open, which means when you turn off the shower to soap up, the diverter releases, and all the water in the shower system releases down the tap.

This seems ridiculously wasteful and complicated to me (2 steps instead of 1 to turn on the shower). What is the point of this? Does it serve any advantage at all?

My guess is maybe this is 2 different setups merged into one.. Either way I have macgyvered the diverter to stay always pulled :P

I am sorry I dont have pictures, the flow tap/diverter is similar to one of https://www.pinterest.com/brockmawson/bathshower-mixer/ and the first tap is just one that turns to pick the outlet.

Update: This is more of a question to satisfy my curiosity, I am reasonably satisfied with my hack fix to hold the diverter out, and this is a rented unit, I am not looking to alter it.

What you need is a valve designed just for shower only. Not a valve assembly with a diverter, which are specifically designed for tub/shower combination:

No diverter here, most any manufacturer that you have seen offering the tub/shower valve sets also makes the shower only units. To answer your question, the point of the diverter valve is so you can fill the bathtub without water spraying on you out of the shower head.


Hissing sound coming from toliet last week I heard a kind of hissing sound coming from my toilet. I don't use that  toilet much so I just turned off the water from the bottom and the noise stopped. Well I really can't believe this but now my other toilet is hissing even louder. I don't see any leaking in the tank just noise coming from around the red cap on the toilet.

I took a video and put it on youtube so you could hear the sound.

I could really use some advise on this, I'm not feeling well these days and really don't need this added stress. I called a plumber and he said he would take care of both toilets for 220 but I really only want to spend that much if it's really necessary. Thanks in advance. .

I don't know what a "red cap" is on a toilet, but if it's hissing then water is passing somewhere and the most likely is that the float-valve is letting through.

It might stop if you bounce it a couple of times, if some grit has got in the mechanism, but otherwise it's a new valve or washer/diaphragm depending on the type of valve.


How can I rewire this circuit? In my basement, I am removing an existing fixture and planning on installing pot-lights.  Previously when I have switched out a fixture, I generally find white + black + ground, which is pretty easy to deal with.

In this case, when I was removing my existing fixture, I found the following:

Click for larger views

One stand has White + Black, but the other has White + Black + Red. The two blacks are tied together and go nowhere. The two wites are tied together and go to the light, and the red goes to the light (where I generally would use a black).

My original plan, was to pull the wire back to the switch (along with the new wire that I would use for the potlights). But with two wires going to the fixture, I'm not sure where/what the other wire would be for. I can still pull one back to the fixture, but I would rather try to figure out what the other one may be for before I do anything like that.

Any ideas what the second line would be for? If I continue with my plan, of pulling the one wire back to the switch I should be able to replace it with new romex for the potlight, wire it up the same and have no problems?

This is how I suspect the circuit is wired, but you'll have to investigate to be sure.

In the fixture junction box:
White = Grounded (neutral) conductor.
Black = Ungrounded (hot) conductor.
Red = Switched ungrounded (hot) conductor.

The circuit may be wired this way because it continues on to feed other rooms, or simply because the switch is a "smart" switch that requires a grounded (neutral) conductor.

You'll learn a bit more about the circuit, when you open up the switch box and take a look inside. If you're still not sure what's going on, you'll have to probe the wires to gain a better understanding.  If at any point you don't feel comfortable, or you're in over your head. Don't hesitate to contact a local license Electrician.


How should I prepare an all-concrete warehouse space before building out? I haven't put together my complete buildout plan yet, but I expect that most of the preparatory steps are the same regardless of where I'm going with it. The space is approx 100'x100'x16', and contains a grid of alternating concrete and steel columns. It has seen decades of use as an industrial space, leading to a very rough floor, chipped walls and columns, etc. There are also sections of raw cinder block wall in some places.
What general steps should I look to take first? I know I need to pressure wash the floor. If I pressure wash the walls I expect the paint to start peeling. What's the best type and method of painting to cover that much surface quickly? Is there something I can do to the floor to fill in all the chips and scratches, without adding a complete new surface? .1/8" of leveling compound across 10k square feet promises to be expensive and time consuming, especially if the floor isn't level to begin with. Whether I fill in the chips or not, should I seal or stain or otherwise treat the floor to make it more durable?
Are there any obvious things that I'll regret not having done six months from now?

A layer of leveling compound will result in a very clean look, but it may not withstand the abuse that it will receive in an industrial environment.  The result could be a lot of chipping of all your hard work, making it look worse than before you started.  If you're just patching, make sure to clean out the divot in the concrete to get the sides clean and vertical, if not a little past vertical, so that the patch can't pop back out.

When power washing indoors, make sure you turn the electricity off first.

For painting the walls, a paint sprayer will get the job done the fastest.  Just get some coveralls and respirator.

For the floor, I would look into an anti-skid sealer that will look good, improve the durability, and keep you safe.


How to repair broken off wood from a chair? I have an old chair that part of broke of some time ago and was lost. I've finally got round to fixing it as it's a bit of an eyesore. I started by using some woodfiller which I had lying around, but after not putting too much on I thought that this might not be the best approach.

My current thoughts were to use some more filler and then sand it down to the correct shape. But once I have done that, how would I paint/varnish it to get the same colour as the rest of the chair? Is there a better approach one can take to complete this? It is worth noting that I am defiantly an amateur and don't have a whole ton of tools.
Edit
The arm is still fixed on solidly and supports my arm just fine. So this is just for cosmetic purpose.

An easy way to test out stains is to apply an ample amount of the filler you are using to a scrap piece of wood. It is unlikely you will be able to match the wood. But judging by the amount of filler you have, I assume matching the filer is the biggest concern. Sand the filler on the chair and the scrap using the same tools( sandpaper etc ). Then test out the stains you pick on the scrap piece and hold it up to your chair. This way, you don't have to commit to a stain until you are fairly sure it will match.

Also, sometimes a paint supplier, Porter, Sherwin Williams, etc. has some professionals who actually still mix tints/stains. They can usually do a decent job of getting close to the stain match. Bring a good picture of the chair stain and the sample piece you made and they may be able to help. Otherwise, just get a bunch of small stain cans from your local big box and test away!

Happy hunting!!!


Make-up Air intake tripping smoke alarm I have the MUA intake vent on the patio of my condo, located on the ground floor, so the patio has a ceiling.  Frequently when I barbecue, smoke rises and moves to MUA intake, and gets into the mechanical room in enough concentration to trip a smoke alarm.  The MUA pump does not itself have a damper, so I'm interested in finding a damper that I can install over the outdoor vent, that I can manually close whenever I operate the grill.  Any suggestions for such a unit?
The vent is located just below the patio ceiling, just out of arm's reach, so I would want to have some kind of lever or screw to open and close it from below.

If the smoke is enough to trip the detector, but not enough to be objectionable to you, then you might consider replacing the smoke detector. A photoelectric type may be less prone to cooking-related nuisance alarms. A heat detector definitely will not trip for cooking smoke. A change to photoelectric is pretty easy. Check with your local authority to determine whether a heat detector would be acceptable for the location.
If the barbecue smoke comes from the fuel (ie wood or charcoal) I'd consider changing to a propane or natural gas fuel.
I don't love the idea of blocking the make-up air intake -- it would be all too easy for somebody to forget to unblock it after cooking, particularly if they don't understand the purpose of the intake. That said.. The grille covering the make up air intake may be steel. If it is then a magnetic sign could be an option for covering the intake. These are sometimes sold for covering heat registers inside the house as well. Ordinarily one would have to get within reach of the grille to place the cover, but if you secure it with rings or something at one end, then you could probably use a stick of some kind to lift it into place and to pull it back down again after cooking.


Gas / baseboard heating should be on but it's not -- how to investigate? This is my first Winter in this house and I've just realized that I can't make the heat turn on. The home has natural gas heating and baseboard vents. There's no A/C or other units; just baseboard heating.

I'll pay a pro to come out if I have to, but I just want to make sure that I check everything obvious first, since this probably would've come up in the home inspection if there were really something wrong with the heater.

Here's a list of what's been checked:

Thermostat -- seems to work fine and is a very simple electronic model. Heat is set to ON with a (desired) temperature of 71, but actual temperature shows as 55. I tried turning it on and off, up and down, etc.
Water -- hot water works fine.
Emergency shutoff switch -- heat is set to ON. Tried turning it off and on.
Other valves / pipes -- I can't figure out which pipes are supposed to connect to the baseboard units, but I made sure that everything I could find was switched on.

I have to admit that I am very ignorant in this area. The same furnace that heats the water is the same one that should be heating the air, right? If so, it seems to be on and working.

This photo has the furnace, water heater, and gas in it:

You can see the baseboards in the bottom right of this photo:

Based on the photos you provided I am sure that your heating system is hydronic, i.e. water is heated by the furnace and then flows through your baseboards giving up its heat to the room.  The unit on the left in your photo is your water heater which operates independently of your heating furnace (the unit on the right).  That's why you can have hot water without room heating. The large cylinder near the top of your furnace is the expansion chamber designed to handle the increase in water pressure as the water is heated by the furnace.  Your problem, however, may be due to the small unit to the right of the expansion chamber, the one with the electrical conduit attached. I believe that is a damper designed to close when the furnace is off to prevent heat being wasted by going up the flue.  When the furnace is on, that damper will be open to allow the gas combustion byproducts to go up the flue.  If that damper is not working properly, and stays closed, the furnace is designed to turn off to prevent those byproducts from filling your basement.  You should check to see if that is your problem.  If your thermostat is asking for heat, and that damper is closed, then the furnace will not run and you will not get heat. One way to cure this problem is simply to disconnect the damper as it does not increase the furnace efficiency very much anyway. Or you can have it replaced.  No guarantees, but this is easy enough to check. Another possibility is that the furnace pilot light is out or the thermocouple is defective.  You probably will need to call a repairman for these problems.


Generally speaking, when is it necessary to install a sub-panel for providing electricity to an outside shed/office? Santa Cruz County, CA, USA

I'm in the process of building an outdoor office in my back yard (mainly as a "man cave" and quiet place to work from home).

The picture makes it look large but it's actually just a 10 x 12 shed.

Core construction is complete and now I'd like to run electrical out to it (two circuits so I can have an air conditioner or heater if needed).  I've had several electricians come out to provide bids but there seems to be a difference of opinion on how to proceed.

One bid essentially involves installing two 20-amp 120/v circuits. The other bid involves installing a 30 amp 220V line from main panel to office sub panel.

All of the electricians are fully licensed and bonded with the state and assure me that the work would be to code.... So I'm confused on why there's such a difference in perspective/work.  Obviously the bid with the sub-panel work is more expensive.

So my question is this: Generally speaking, when is it necessary to install a sub-panel for providing electricity to an external shed?  Is there any safe/legitimate reason why some electricians might not think a sub-panel is necessary?

As far as I understand it, since the 2002 version of National Electrical Code, only a single branch circuit or feeder is allowed to supply a building (225.30). Though it's possible that your local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) allows it under one of the exceptions, or there are local amendments.

There's also the consideration that the NEC requires a disconnect at the building (225.31), so installing a panel may make more sense.

It's possible that the Electrician is going to install a single 20 ampere multi-wire branch circuit, which would be allowed under 225.30. Though he's still going to have to install a disconnect at the building.

To answer your question. The first reason to install a second panel, is to allow for future expansion. Though this doesn't seem to be important in your situation.

The second reason is simplicity. You can only have one branch circuit or feeder, and you need a disconnect. It just may be easier to install the second panel.


Installing trap with new deeper sink I am trying to install a trap but I am having issues in doing so. I can seem to get the trap arm to line up with the trap.
I am off by just about half an inch.

Is there any solution other than lowering the drain that is code compliant?

The normal solution to this is to trim the lower end of the black part.
Tailpieces are supplied long, and expected to be trimmed to fit. Of course, there are limits to that.
In this case, it looks like the elbow in the black part is going to cause a problem (or be a limit) with that approach. Such is the danger of a deeper sink. You may indeed need to lower the drain entrance into the pipe in the wall, unless you can find a disposer that exits a little bit higher (which would be easier, and possibly cost less.)


How do I remove stuck-on stains from laminate flooring? I recently bought a fixer-upper house that has light-colored laminate plank flooring. It would be really nice, if I could get it clean. It has stuck-on stains, like someone left melted ice cream on the floor until it dried (don't know if that's what it actually is.) I've tried the Hoover hard floor scrubber, I've tried a steam cleaner; nothing will loosen this gunk. What else can I try?

Very few things can "stain" a laminate floor, the top coat is non porous and made with a silicon dioxide material that is very hard.  You can scratch or gouge them, or get water between the joints that can bubble, but staining is very uncommon.

You don't say what you think the material is so it is difficult to recommend a solution.  "Melted ice cream" sounds like possible paint drips.  Try carefully scraping with a plastic putty knife or finger nail, and work up to a razor blade being extremely careful not to gouge the floor.  Once you have the majority of the material cleaned off try household cleaners, or a paint and grease remover like "Goof Off" (available in the paint section of most home stores)


What's the best way to keep humidity down in crawl space? I have a nominally dry crawl space that is around 22' square and about 4' tall with a concrete floor. It has no indication of leaks and is dry, but too moist during the hot Maryland summers to keep anything that is not durable in there. It has the air vents from the HVAC for the room above running through it. What is the best way (if possible) to keep the humidity low enough in summer to keep tools/card board boxes/ anything less durable in there during the humid Maryland summers? My initial thought was to add a vent or two down there and keep them closed in the winter and opened slightly in the summer. Any thoughts/insight would be greatly appreciated.

An alternate method avoiding high electricity bills and the necessary water drain for the dehumidifier: Installing a fan of an old PC at the Luv side, connected to a small power supply from an old phone or similar and a timer. If the fan runs only in the night, it pushes in statistically colder and dryer air. In 1 or 2 weeks the space will be much dryer.


Sink too low for p pipe My new sink is too deep for the drain. How can I plumb it to lower the p pipe?

Throw a nipple in there, just don't make it too long

What I'd do to fix this, considering you can't chop the tailpiece down without removing the dishwasher inlet, would be to insert a DWV-PVC pipe nipple of some sort between the outlet bend and the P-trap itself.  This should be fine as long as you don't exceed the 24" distance limit prescribed in IPC 1002.1 (inapplicable exceptions omitted, erratum applied):

  Each plumbing fixture shall be separately trapped by a liquid-seal trap, except as otherwise permitted by this code.  The vertical distance from the fixture outlet to the trap weir shall not exceed 24 inches (610 mm), and the horizontal distance shall not exceed 30 inches (762mm) measured from the centerline of the fixture outlet to the centerline of the inlet of the trap.  The height of a clothes washer standpipe above a trap shall conform to Section 802.3.3.  A fixture shall not be double trapped.


When is an expansion joint required for PVC service entrance conduit? The service entrance will use 2.5" RNC, about 100' run underground, with 2 90 degree sweeps, with the second sweep coming up to a meter/panel mounted on the outside of the house. The conduit will be about 3' underground, and will rise 3-4' above ground to reach the panel. So the total vertical rise will be about 6'-7'.

The climate is zone 4 in the northern part of Georgia. Temperature fluctuation might be as much as 90 degrees F throughout the year.

Do I need (code requirement) or should I have (good practice) an expansion joint on the vertical rise? If it was cheap I'd just do it it, but it looks like a $55 part. Is it required or worth it?

My utility requires them. Climate zone 4, the ground freezes, so frost heaves/movement from frost are likely. That's what these deal with on short risers from the ground. Whether or not code required, if the conduit breaks from movement after installation, it will cost a lot more than $55 to fix.


Installing vinyl flooring on stormy day I'm
Scheduled to have vinyl flooring installed on a stormy day when it's going to absolutely pour rain. If it gets wet while bringing it in from outside, How will this affect the flooring adhering to the sub floor and condition going forward?

Most vinyl is rolled. A quick wipe on the outside it will be fine. The bigger question is will the home be at the correct tempature for the glue or adhesive's to set. Another question is was the sub floor sealed some of these things are more important than a few rain drops. IMHO.


Question regarding "dry spots" with latex paint I've ran into a bit of a problem when painting a wall in our home today. We're in the process of redoing our stairwell, and one of the walls had a fairly noticeable paint run in it. The wall itself is a relatively small surface area, and so I decided to sand the wall down to remove the run. After wiping the wall down and letting it dry, I repainted it. The wall is very patchy / blotchy looking, and you can see "dry" spots all over it when light hits the surface. How do I go about fixing this?

Should I have primered before repainting? The paint we're using is Valspar with Satin finish. If primering wont fix the appearance, would putting a thin skim coating on the wall help? I was thinking it may help even out the surface a bit, and then i can just prime and paint that?

Assuming both original and new paint are latex, try another coat on the problem areas. That should clear up the dry spots.

In the future, you'll probably get better results with primer+finish. And I wouldn't skim unless the surface was really lumpy.


14g wire on 20amp circuits all over home A couple of years ago I bought an old house that was built in 1880. Right after moving in we had the old electrical fuse system replaced with a new circuit breaker box by an electrician. Our electric bills seem to be very high - almost twice that of other people in the area with similar houses.
I know a decent amount about electric but am no expert. I have not been able to determine what is using all of the power. I did however notice that when the new breaker box was installed, he used all 20 amp breakers even though most of the outlets in the house are wired with 14g wire. I've read that that is not safe to do, but could that also be the cause of our high electricity usage?

Did the "electrician" pull a building permit prior to doing the work you commissioned?  If not, then you have more than one problem here.  If he did, presumably it was inspected and signed-off by the building inspector and perhaps you are misinterpreting what is actually installed.  No professional electrician would install 20A breakers on a 14g circuit.  Doing so is not only dangerous but illegal and unethical.
I suggest you contact this electrician and ask him to explain the work that was done.
If indeed the work was done by an unlicensed person without a permit, you should get a qualified electrician in immediately to inspect and correct the issues.  Yes that might be expensive but a fire is going to be much more expensive.
But to address your root question, NO, this would not cause excess electricity usage.  An electrician should be able to help you find the cause there as well but I'd be looking at the usual high-powered culprits, space heating, water heating, cooking.


How to get access to and change bulb in a hanging lantern My task today was to change the light bulbs of a hanging lantern that we have on our porch. I simply cannot determine how to get to the actual light bulbs.

I've tried turning the bottom finial, which loosens the post in the middle, but that doesn't seem to work. I've also tried turning the bottom finial while holding in place the top, but I have no luck there either.  The bottom portion will just keep turning and never gets fully loose.

The glass fits too well to be opened and there is no latch. There are also no recessed or exposed bolts or screws anywhere to loosen the top or bottom.

Multiple searches and installation manuals were not able to give me the answer so I'm crowdsourcing this.

I would love it if someone would be able to help me change a light bulb...

Other pictures of the fixure

It's almost guaranteed that you need to keep turning that finial (perhaps pull down on it while you are turning it, in case its threads are stripped).   Keep turning and turning.  Eventually this will allow the glassed enclosure to drop down off the aligning screws that can be seen in one of your photos.  That should completely expose the bulbs, making them easy to swap out.


What features should I look for in a small wooden shed for tool storage? I live in Cambridge, England and I would like to buy a small wooden shed (about 4 meters square) to store my tools and a freezer but as I never bought one before I don't know the important features. I saw wall thickness of 12 millimeters and 14 millimeters but I don't know if it's enough or not to resist the wind.

Which other features are important? Are wooden sheds better than metal sheds?

Things I know about sheds ...

Sheds need a proper base.
Things stored in them will rust (your freezer will too).
Sheds need a proper base.
Wooden sheds have an expected lifetime of about 10 years.
Sheds need a proper base.
Sheds blowing down isn't a big problem for sheds in typical UK gardens.
Sheds need a proper base.
Wooden sheds are probably easiest to hammer nails into.
Sheds need a proper base.
You will want to hammer nails into your shed. Things hang on nails.
The floor will rot because your lawnmower drips water onto it.
Sheds last longer if carefully maintained.
You will neglect your shed and it will gradually collapse.
All sheds are too small because you fill them with precious stuff that metamorphoses into
unidentifiable junk.

A good way to decide on sheds is to look at ones that have been standing on display in garden-centres for a few years. Look for broken handles, misaligned doors, water stains etc.


Abutting brick or paver stones to foundation I have a little area between our deck and garage that would be perfect for the grill.
Right now it is dirt, with nothing but dandelions thriving.

         +---HOUSE----------
         |       {---------
GARAGE   |  ??   {-- DECK --
         |       {----------

My thought was to throw down some bricks or pavers and plop the grill down right there.
However I want to make sure I do not cause any future foundation issues.  Or encourage any issues abutting stone or brick (wife has not decided yet) to the concrete foundation.

Do I need to be concerned with how close I put the brick up to the concrete foundation?  Do I need to leave an inch or 12 or something or just dirt?

Thanks for input!

The only real concern here is that you don't want hardscaping sloping towards your existing foundation to the point where it's now directing water towards your footings.

So as long as you have proper slope, no real concern.

If the patio is large enough, however, you likely do want to leave a slight gap between your pavers and the foundation to account for expansion during hot days. They make a product specifically for this for filling expansion gaps in slabs. It's just a thin (1/4" at most) foam strip that you place between the foundation and pavers as a filler.


How can I replace the roller mechanism on this door? I have a cupboard in my kitchen that has a roller front door. A few months ago the roller mechanism broke. I need an inexpensive solution for replacing it. I have looked around but can't find a suitable replacement anywhere. It seems like most roller doors are large industrial ones. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Ikea makes a roll front door cabinet.  I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but it may be a start...


Can an electrical breaker panel be mounted on an exterior wall? Can an electrical breaker panel be inserted on an exterior wall, inside the house, or is it required that it is on an interior wall, inside the house?

They are almost always on an exterior wall.  In some areas they are on the outside of the exterior wall - outside your house.  Most inspectors would tell you that a garage (interior or exterior wall) or in the basement exterior (right where the line comes in) are the two best locations.

If you are having questions on where your panel should be your local city building inspector will surely give you a couple minutes.


Have an office cube with sliding door I want to control with an Arduino and rack/pinion gear. What motor should I buy? I don't know what kind of hobby motors will be suitable so that the door can slide freely too when not using the motor to move it.

Scavenge the motor from a battery drill motor and use that. It would still not move freely as you will have to spin the motor while opening or closing the door. Unless you figure some way to disengage the motor when it is off. You also need to make sure it is a reversible motor to close the door, again the drill motor could do this.
You are going to need a gear set to down gear just about any motor as they all spin too fast for this application unless you control the voltage going to the drill motor and limit it so it does't spin so fast. Possibly the PWM output on the Arduino through a solid state relay for speed control. Good luck


Why does my new light fixture trip the circuit breaker? I have a ceiling light fixture that trips the circuit breaker every
time the single pole switch is flipped. It has three white wires and three black wires. Before installing this light fixture, which works just fine in another location, in the house this switch/old light fixture worked just fine. What are we doing wrong?

Most likely - you treated a switch loop (black hot to switch, white switched hot from switch) as "hot and neutral" (since they are black and white wires) so every time you flip the switch to on, you are shorting hot to neutral. So, the circuit breaker, as it should, trips.

At this point you need to sort out what wires go where so you can sort out what they should be doing. If you'd care to save yourself or the next guy some trouble, pick up some red electrical tape and put it on the ends of that white wire from the switch, if that proves to be the case.


Replacing fascia board: what kind of contractor? I was cleaning my gutters yesterday and I noted that the fascia board is coming apart.

I don't have the time or skills to do it myself.  What kind of contractor would be best to hire?  The ones I can think of are a roofing outfit, a gutter outfit, and a handyman.

I would actually recommend a handyman first.  There are gutters, carpentry, and painting involved and handyman should be adept at the disassembly required, the carpentry, and painting required.

A siding contractor might work as well, but they probably would not paint and may not want to mess with the gutter.

A gutter company would be my last choice as I suspect most would not consider such a repair in their scope.

I would NOT recommend a roofer due to the carpentry and painting.


How should I remove felt from old vinyl flooring before installing backerboard? I have a vinyl floor (tested neg for asbestos) in a bathroom.  I am remodeling, and plan to put down porcelain tiles over backerboard.

I am able to scrap off the vinyl layer, but there is a paper backing and mastic left.  I bought some Sentinel 747 cleaner, and it looks to be promising.  Once I get it down to the 3/4" plywood, will I be ok using Hardiebacker (1/4") over thinset without any additional steps?  Or do I need a rinse step?  Thanks.

I have not used this brand on my job but once I have removed all the mastic I would clean the floor with water then I allow the floor to dry overnight and start installing my backboard and tile. If I was gluing another floor I would do a rinse with a cleaner. Hope this helps and saves time and money.


Why do my light bulbs glow when off and make noise when on? The situation: I want to replace incandescant bulb in a ceiling socket with LED or CFL.
The conditions:

When I plug in a CFL, it glows when the wall switch is in the off position, gets brighter when turned on, and makes ominous hissing / crackling sound.
When I plug in an LED, it is on when the wall switch is in the off position, gets brighter when turned on, makes an ominous hissing / crackling sound, and flickers.
Pre-existing condition: With incandescent, wall switch position doesn't always determine on/off status (i.e., sometimes have to toggle several times)
The switch is not a dimmer switch and does not have a timer.

The questions:

Does the hissing / crackling sound indicate danger?
What accounts for the pre-existing condition? Is it simply a faulty switch?
Does the pre-existing condition explain the CFL / LED issues?

and, of course

Is there a solution?

You have problems,all right.  Almost certainly your wall switch is broken, which is why you had to toggle it repeatedly w/ the incandescent bulb in place.  Replace the switch first.
In all likelihood all the other problems resulted from your broken switch providing voltage but very little current when in a "not quite on OR off" state.


How to remove turn-style tub overflow cover? I've tried looking all over for a solution, but I've yet to find a solution that matches my situation.  The cover I have (I think) is supposed to turn so the hole is downwards so you can remove the screw to remove the cap.  However, this unit seems to be (somehow) installed upside-down.  The cap can rotate easily from the 12 o'clock to the 3 o'clock, but there's a rim inside that's mostly covering the screw inside.  I can also turn the cap (with some effort) from 12 o'clock to 10 o'clock but it sounds like something is cracking or grinding when I do.

I also tried removing the screw despite the metal rim inside, but it just loosened until it was pressing against that rim and wouldn't come out any more.

In case anyone is wondering, I'm trying to remove it because I think there's leaking happening behind there.

As requested, here's a closer picture of the hole in the cap.  I highlighted the screw head as it's hard to see.  You can see that the screw head in mostly covered by the stationary metal rim.

The reason you hear a grating sound and can only turn the over flow plate slightly is because it is attached to a bushing which is screwed into the over flow pipe. When you turn the cap it threads into the pipe. If you are concerned that water is leaking from the over flow drain pipe behind the tub there should be an access panel on the other side of the drain wall (usually). If there is no way to check the drain you may want to create an access so you can check. Other possible ways to check would be the floor under the tub (if there is space).


Which Neutral for a Single Pole Leviton Dimmer? See picture to help understand situation.

I am trying to install a Leviton Decore Smart WI-FI dimmer ina single pole application.

The box I’m working on has an existing 3-way switch working fine. There are three holes in the top which all have ground, neutral and black wires coming from. There are two holes in the bottom, one with black/white wire, and another with white/Black/red (for the 3-way).

The switch I’m replacing has it’s hot black wire coming from a wire nut joined with two other black wires and a white wire.

There’s another wire nut with the remaining four neutrals tied together.

I’m tryinf to figure out which neutral I should tie into the single pole switch I’m installing (it requires one). I tried tying all four neutrals into the switch and that didn’t work. It gave power to the switch but I couldn’t factory reset switch or operate lights, they would sometimes flicker when I activated the air gap.

Any ideas? Thank you!!!

The neutral is the bundle of white wires.

The "3 hot 1 neutral" is not a neutral at all. It is a white wire which has been repurposed as a hot.   Think that through: a case where color does not depict function.

It's not the only one: the line north from the 3-way is a switched-hot that I prefer to mark red since it's switched-hot, and the red-black pair leaving the 3-way are messengers I prefer to mark yellow.

Code, however, does now require you mark your re-purposed neutrals.  Before it was allowed to not mark them if the usage was obvious.  Which was a pretty editorial threshold, as you see!


Is it Possible to Coat the Subfloor Around a Toilet Flange to Prevent Rot? I'm renovating a bathroom. Is there some kind of paint or chemical that I can apply to the subfloor around the toilet flange to keep it from rotting?

As Tester said there shouldn't be any leaks and therefore no rot. Any leak from the wax ring should be repaired immediately.

However, pressure treated lumber will last longer in a wet environment if you are concerned about overflows, sweating, or other reasons the floor may get wet in that area.

Coating regular wood is not going to stop it from absorbing water on the edge or if it is soaked with water.

If you are laying tile in that area:
They make a liner product called Kerdi and roll on products like HydroBan for use under ceramic tile in wet areas like showers. Ceramic tile is not waterproof by itself.


Fixtures will not run hot water unless another fixture is on We have a unit upstairs in a 4-plex. The other units don't have any issues, but hot water recently stopped working in this apartment. Sometimes water might get warm but goes cold again. When the plumbers came and we played around with the fixtures we found out that the sink in the bathroom would get hot if the shower was on. When we turned off the shower/tub valve the sink water lost heat. I believe it was the same with the kitchen sink, but I could not figure out when or how to get the shower hot. The plumbers were also dumbfounded but one thought something was wrong with the shower valve and wanted to replace the cartridge. Logically, I'm not sure how that would effect the other fixtures, but I don't know what the problem is either. Another plumber didn't know what to do.

I noticed that the shower valve was installed backwards i.e. the valve is off when it is supposed to be hot and vice versa. That is in line with what the first plumber said, but again, how could that be causing, or allowing the other fixtures to get hot water? won't reversing the valve still mean that the other fixtures will still be dependent on that valve when they should be independent from it?

-Frustrated Apartment Dweller

No other fixtures are "dependent" on the shower valve. What may be happening is what is called "crossover", hot water crossing over into the cold water line (or vise-versa) due to a defective single-handle mixing control. It sounds like your plumber may have been right, as this would tend to not have a noticeable effect when the shower is flowing. When the shower is static, you turn the hot on at a different faucet, cold water is pulled through the defective shower cartridge to mix with the hot in the supply line, resulting in luke warm water.

Troubleshoot by positively shutting water supply to the hot water side of your system and checking for flow at a hot water tap, or have a plumber replace the shower mixing valve


How to use a 100 amp sub panel for a 50 amp input I'm building a shed I want to add power to. To get power I'm planning to use the power that is going to my hot tub (50 amp).

The hot tub has a 50 amp breaker from the main to a 50 amp breaker box that is mounted on the side of my house. I plan to disconnect the hot tub and run the wire to my shed from this breaker box.

I can't find a 50 amp sub panel, but I can find 100 amp boxes online that are fairly cheap. I'm curious how I can wire this box to use the 50 amps that will be coming in?

Just wire it up.  There is no problem using a sub panel that can take more current than you will ever feed it.

Points to note:

The cable to your hot tub will be rated for 50A (not 100A); therefore you must not upgrade the breaker in your main panel to 100A.
It would be sensible to add a note near the main panel that the cable is only rated for 50A, so not to change the breaker (so you, or a future purchaser, remembers in a year's time).
If you connect four 20A 240V devices to the sub-panel in your shed (and run them all at once) the sub-panel will be entirely happy with this, but the 50A breaker in the main panel won't be and it will throw - so don't do that then.

PS.  This is not directly related to your question, but still. 50A is a substantial current.  Do remember to torque the connection to the panel correctly.


Is it normal for an air compressor's tank to have something inside it? I recently bought an air compressor for airbrushing and other uses.  I'm not familiar with air compressors so I was wondering if it was normal for the air tank to have sand/gravel inside it? When I tip it over from side to side, I can hear something like sand/gravel moving around inside.  The manual doesn't say anything about it.

No, there should be nothing loose inside there by design. If it is a used compressor, then I'd expect it is some rust that has broken loose. If it is new, then it is probably a piece of scale from when the tank was welded, or some other junk that got left in the tank. If it was a cheap compressor, then you got what you paid for.


Help identify 12” spigot internals replacement I need to identify the spigot so I can replace the internal stem system. Previous home owner did not make it easy to remove the spigot all together so I’m looking to replace the internal parts only. Once I know the make and model I can buy it and fit it for the internals. The big problem here is previous owner cemented the hell out of it and the vinyl is stuck. Idk how I’ll get to it without making a mess of the vinyl siding.

I would be very surprised if anyone could identify the make and model of this and if they could, you probably wouldn't be able to find just the internal parts. At the end of the pipe your piece slides in a valve seat which could be bad.

This type of spigot or sillcock is about 12" long and is sold as a complete assembly. The handle at the front turns the shaft inside the pipe which, in turn,  opens the valve at the end. The end, which is indoors, is where you tighten or loosen the entire fixture to your water pipe. Hope this helps. See below for an example:


What is the weird wiring on these old light switches? Bedroom light switch, two of them but only on works to turn on the lights. There is a socket below it, and it gets it's power wires from this light switch box. The socket below has green and blue wires. There is no consistent color.

Without putting a meter on it. Yellow wire is a jumper to share power. The feed into the switch looks like one of the green wires but I cannot tell u which one is coming in and which one would be going out. Each of the reds look like your switched legs that are going to two separate lighting situations.


Where can I install a C-Wire for Weil-McLain gas boiler? (EGH 115, 4 Series, Natural gas) I want to install a C-wire so that I can use a WiFi Thermostat.

Behind my current thermostat there are only 2 wires (red and white)

There are 2 wires tucked and unused, (green and blue)

I had tried using a Nest before and it eventually errored out because I don't have a C wire.

My boiler is a Weil-McLain EGH-115-4 series. My building is nearly
100 years old.

I don't see any pictures of a wiring schematic anywhere on or in the
boiler

I don't see the control board that has letters like in
a general thermostat (C, G, Y, W1, W2, etc)

Where/Can I install a C-wire? Is it even possible here? I am kind of a newbie when it comes to this.
I've attached some pictures of my boiler. Thanks
This is behind the boiler panel

This is behind the previous images Honeywell box (Aquastat?)

this is the transformer?

this is behind the panel

I assume the shredded wire is the thermostat wire, the red, blue, green, etc wires are coming from there. It's really a rats nest of spliced wires.

What are the safety issues here?
You have several issues that worry me:

your lack of experience with both electrical and steam boilers
the lack of a circuit diagram or a reasonable ability to create one from the spaghetti in that junction box.  A link was provided in one of the comments but there is no certainty your system followed the diagram in that document.
your boiler is wired terribly (see below) so the chances of your making a mistake are higher than they could or should be.

@ThreePhaseEel highlighted one big concern.  Briefly: your thermostat is wired along with several safety devices any one of which can turn off the boiler.  It is possible to wire the boiler so the thermostat alone can turn it on, bypassing the safety devices.  That would be very bad.
I’m highlighting a different safety issue: The purpose of that metal pipe (top right) and  of the two metal boxes is to isolate and contain the high voltage wiring.   The entire point of that metal plate that the transformer is mounted on is to provide and ensure that the high voltage wiring is on one side of the plate, inside the box, and the low voltage wiring is on the outside of the box.    The thermostat wiring should be outside that conduit.  The thermostat wire can be cable-tied to the outside of the conduit if it happens to be heading in the same direction.
What you have is the low voltage wiring from the transformer wrapped around the edge of the metal plate, wedged between the plate and the sharp edge of the box and re-entering the very box that is literally designed keep it out.   You have the thermostat running through the conduit with high voltage wiring, then you have all the high and low voltage wires mixed up in a spaghetti junction inside the box.
The main dangers are:

Difficult to inspect and maintain correct wiring and function of the safety devices
Faults or errors in wiring can cause high voltage to be applied to your low-voltage devices including the thermostat.  That could start a fire and/or shock people who come in contact.
Unintentional wiring errors such as installing a new thermostat could bypass safety controls.  It's almost impossible with this mess to see, understand, or attempt to do things correctly.

I strongly suggest you have all this corrected by someone who is knowledgeable and who has some pride in their work.   I'm pretty sure you can easily provide a C wire to your new thermostat, in fact I think it may already have on in the green wire but don't make any changes without cleaning this up.


How do I install a bathroom fan with its own switch? There is an existing light fixture and switch for the light fixture. I want to add a bath fan with its own switch.

What is the easiest way?

If you're not comfortable working with electricity then hire a professional. Improper wiring and the resulting fire isn't worth saving a few bucks.

That said:

Your existing fan/light combo is likely connected using a 2-conductor cable (like 14-2)... but for two separately switched circuits you'll need three conductors (14-3) or two separate 14-2 wires.

At the gang box, one of the conductors goes to the light, and the other goes to the fan.


How to turn water valve on to dishwasher We live in a rented house and  recently bought a dishwasher. The previous owners had a dishwasher in the same place so we know it works.
We have attached the waste pipe fine and think the water pipe is attached in the right place, but we can’t turn the water on as there isn’t a  handle on the valve. It looks like perhaps it may have come off.
How can we turn the water on?
Do we need to get a little spanner or am I on completely the wrong track?

Either get a new handle, or use a wrench on the flats of the valve shaft to turn it (just 1/4 turn, by the look of that valve.)


No Junction Box for Ceiling Light Today I discovered that (at least) one of the ceiling lights in my house isn't mounted on a junction box.

As an added bonus, most of the wiring is fabric insulated copper. You can see the single wire coming from the light switch has cracked insulation.

I was going to move all of this into a typical round old work box, but then I realized it's directly below a joist. There are also wire clamps on the bracket that attaches to the joist, so this must've been acceptable at some point.

Looking for advice on what to do. I think the safest option is to move all the old wiring to a separate box in the attic and just bring the wires for this specific light (neutral and switched live) into a pancake box somehow mounted in the same spot.

The ceiling is about 1.375" thick with the rock lath, plaster, and foam ceiling tiles. I imagine I can fit a pancake box under the joist here, right?

If the joist is directly over the hole, there is a junction box (called a saddle box) that actually fits around a joist. I found them when I was looking for boxes for ceiling fans. This might keep you from having to do a separate box in the attic. I found some at Lowe's, but seem to be widely available, and come in various configurations depending on how the hole aligns to the joist.


Compact width Window Air Conditioner we would like to install a window air conditioner in our living room window.

The window is quite narrow (18.5" wide). The room is fairly big, ~400sqft. We would like to install a 10000 BTU window AC unit.

I am looking at this Frigidaire AC, but I would like to know if this can be installed in this space.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Frigidaire-AC-FRA103KT1-10-000-BTU-Slider-Casement-Air-Conditioner/15127187

The specs on the AC unit say it's 14.2" wide, so it will certainly fit in the opening. You don't say how high the window is, but if it's a double hung, two pane, slide-up window like the ones on the building across the way, you might have to remove the window to make this work then fit a glass or plexiglass pane into the space above the air conditioner after it's mounted. And be sure not to drop that thing in the street...  ;-)

EDIT: Typically, units like this rely on the top sliding pane of the window to hold them in the opening. The AC unit is heavy, and it will want to tip backwards out of the window. You can see the tab/rail along the top of the AC unit in the picture just below. If you drop the sash down behind that, it will hold the AC unit in place, as it can't topple out of the window.

So; typically, you would pop the front cover off the AC unit, then screw the bottom of the unit to the window sill so it can't slide forward out of the opening. Then drop the sash behind that rail and screw it to the sash. Otherwise, it would be possible for the sash to move up and allow the air conditioner to topple out of the window, which would ruin the air conditioner and could also maim or kill somebody below.

In your case, if the unit won't fit in the bottom pane and you have to remove the window, you'll need to secure (and secure it well) some kind of support across the window opening to replace the window sash you removed, so the AC unit can rest against it. And you'll still screw that rail to the cross support to ensure that everything stays in place.


adding new power outlet, ceiling fan/switch kills the power to it when on I'm adding a new power outlet for some electronics. I'm dropping a 12/2 wire from the attic where I'm attaching it to a junction box. The junction box has an existing wire, 12/2, and a 14/2 wire running out of it. All three sets of wires join in the junction box.

The 14/2 wire leads to my bedroom, where it either runs to a ceiling fan switch or to the ceiling fan itself. I'm not sure which.

Here's the problem: when the ceiling fan is switched on, the new outlet stops working, when the fan switch is off, the outlet works.

I'm very confused why the switch will cut off my outlet, as the switch/fan is past the junction box where I'm making the connection to the outlet.

Additional info: If I probe the outlet with a multimeter while the fan is one, I can see a very small voltage (~mV) that changes with the fan speed settings.

Something has to be different than what you say for this scenario to occur in a house that's wired in a manner even approaching code compliance.

The voltage drop on the outlet while the fan is on is normal. The fan is simply using some of the power of the circuit, decreasing the remaining potential elsewhere in the circuit.

You say that the voltage changes at the outlet when the fan is on, but the outlet does not work. This means you are getting voltage at the outlet even when the fan is on. Are you reading anything close to 120V? (anything between 110 and 125v is "normal" household voltage in the U.S.). Do you get significantly more voltage when the fan is switched off? If this is true, my hunch is that the branched connection at the J-box served by the panel is not as continuous as it should be.

With the circuit deactivated at the panel, take apart that junction (hot and neutral), make sure the wires all have about 3/4" of insulation stripped, the wires are all twisted together (you can't rely on the wire nut to secure an extra wire to an existing twisted wire junction), and the wire nut is securely screwed on to the twisted bundle. Tape around the entry to the wire nut for both the hot (black) and neutral (white) wires, then before you put everything back, turn the circuit on and try your multimeter again with the fan off and on.

If it's still cutting out, make sure all the connections in the switch and in the ceiling are kosher in much the same way.

Just a shot in the dark; are you sure the switch isn't a three-way? If it is, then the two terminals at the bottom of the switch are not continuous; you can't hook on to either of them with your new hot wire or with the wire from the panel to the J-box you're hooking into. You should instead hook into the top (Common) terminal (it will be the only one on that end of the switch body), which should be fed from the panel and will thus take the switch out of the circuit path to your outlet. If making that change means that something else is now always on, then you need to find or make a different branch of the circuit for your outlet that is fed directly from the panel.


Does the amount of light Blackout Curtains allow in reflect on its heat reflecting capabilities? I bought some panels from the store today as my room upstairs lets in so much heat during the Summer. Previously I had a Tan colored curtain up for years that was 100% Polyester on the Face and the Lining. Link below:
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hometrends-63-sheridan-blackout-rod-pocket-window-panel-taupe/6000196944980
The new one I just bought is a Black colored curtain that is just 100% Polyester on the lining. Link below:
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/mainstays-100-blackout-curtain-panel-pair-linen/6000200796676
The first curtain blocked a lot of light from coming in, whereas the new one blocks much much less so.
That isn't an issue for me. I can deal with that, it's just the heat I care about. Does it matter that more light is being allowed in with this curtain? Or is it doing its job from a heat perspective?
If this is also a terrible curtain and I should make an upgrade I am down, just looking for a quick option as there's nothing around here locally and I would have to order online to get it.

Dark curtains will reflect far less heat back to the outside, and thus heat up in the sun and radiate that heat into the house.
So it's not just infra-red light (a.k.a. heat light) and visible light passing through the curtain that heats the room, it's also how much infra-red light is absorbed that matters, as it raises the temperature of the material.
Unless the curtain is made of a darkening AND heat reflective material (e.g. thick curtain, facing white towards the outside), it's going to be a lot hotter inside.


Is 4" Ducting Used for a 4" Bath Fan? I'm interested in installing a bath fan and am currently planning ou the project.

The fan specs (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Delta-Breez-GreenBuilder-Series-100-CFM-Wall-or-Ceiling-Bathroom-Exhaust-Fan-ENERGY-STAR-GBR100/204347760) say that the port should be 4".

This leads me to believe that the tube entrance should be larger than 4", but I'm not entirely certain. I was thinking of insulated ducting similar to  (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Master-Flow-4-in-x-12-ft-Insulated-Flexible-Duct-R6-Silver-Jacket-F6IFD4X144/203420974) for the attic.

Does 4" ducting connect to the 4" fan or does the ducting need to be larger (Such as 6" ducting)?

If your ductwork is in an uncontrolled environment, you truly should insulate it. This for the reasons you list - to help prevent vapor from becoming water prematurely.

While it is not necessarily a lot, any is bad since gravity pulls it right back down the pipe into the ceiling, or the fan, etc.

If your air column is smooth, the work necessary to move it is less. The goal is to get the water out, not let it stay in. If the fan is properly sized for the room and there arent many obstructions (rigid tubing, 90 degree elbows, or even wind blowing a flapper shut...) you have a recipe for success.

The insulation is just 1 more defense in avoidancehelping to promote the vapor escaping.

This site has quite a bit on it:
info on others experiences with venting


Smoke coming out of my light I have a fireplace that was added to the house after it was built, and when I’m using my wood burning fireplace I noticed some sort of smoke coming out of my high hats (recessed lighting). I have opened my ceiling and stuck a fire alarm in the hole to see if it was actual smoke, but the alarm did not go off. Do you know what can it be?

What's a "hi hat"? Is that like a can light (i.e. a light installed in a can flush behind ceiling drywall)?

Anyway: stuff, whether smoke or otherwise, shouldn't be blowing from any lights. One hopes that it's not actually smoke, and I would work harder to confirm that it's not. Check the entire fireplace flue and any spaces it traverses in the house and make sure it's sealed and far enough from any combustible material.

That done and having ruled out actual combustion products being pulled through the lights, it's still possible your fireplace is drawing from the house, pulling air through the gaps around the lights, and dust or other material (e.g. cellulose insulation) with it. You should make sure that the fireplace has an adequate air supply while operating, e.g. opening a window nearby a little so it can pull air.

A roaring fire will draw a lot of air. That air has to come from somewhere, so if you don't accommodate it and ensure the air comes from some place that's reasonable, it will be pulled from places that aren't reasonable. :)

I would be remiss to not acknowledge the suggestion in this comment:

  Are you sure it's not just a bit of smoke coming out of the front of the fireplace, and then becoming visible as it is highlighted by the can lights?

I've taken your statement at face value, and that the substance is in fact coming from the lights. But of course, it's worth double-checking that assessment before pursuing other possibilities.

And note that if it does turn out that the smoke is in fact coming directly from the fireplace, that suggests that the fireplace is not drawing air properly. Possibly the flue just hasn't been opened, or maybe there's some kind of restriction. Ironically, one of the things you should check in that case is the same as I've suggested above for a completely different possibility, and that's simply to make sure you have adequate air supply to accommodate the fireplace's draft.

For a more specific answer, you should edit your question so that it includes detailed, in-focus photos of the light fixtures in question, the fireplace itself, any venting associated with the fireplace (including the flue if possible), and if possible, the phenomena you're asking about itself. More specifics about the actual installation of the fireplace would be useful too: does it vent to a chimney, a flue pipe, a chimney with a liner, etc.? Is there any heat-exchanger or dedicated air source?

The more details you can provide, the better an answer you can get. Right now, it's not possible to suggest anything except very broad generalities.


Using wire mesh on yard gate for exclusion I want to put some quarter-inch wire mesh on the hinge side of a yard gate to exclude rabbits from entering the yard. The solution that I'm looking for is something that would exclude rabbits. So far I've only considered the quarter-inch wire mesh that you get from hardware store in rolls. If there's another solution for rabbit exclusion I'm interested in that as well.
I've prototyped where the mesh would go by opening the gate as wide as it will go that it would stretch the mesh to its full extend and then taped some paper on the gate. I then moved the gate to the full extent in the other direction to see how the mesh would buckle when it was compressed. You can see these in the images.
From the paper prototype it looks like the wire mesh might be a problem in restricting the opening and closing of the gate. What are the solutions to this? Other materials that would work? Other methods of creating an exclusion at that point?
Update: Added an image showing the gap as 1 3/8" wide. Rabbits get through that easily.

Instead of hardware cloth that has to buckle and flex to cover the gap, consider a thin stiff material that could be fixed to narrow the gap. I don't know what size of rabbit skulls you're up against but I have to imagine that if you can narrow the gap to under an inch from the 1-3/8 it is now (ie, block off 1/4 inch from each side) then the heads, and the rest of the bodies, won't be able to pass through.
A bit of material installed to the stile and the jamb (can I use those words in the context of a gate?), in line with the hinges, will narrow the gap while the gate is closed but won't bind or prevent the gate opening either direction. Here are some materials you might find in a home center:

1/4 inch square stock (steel or aluminum)
L profile "angle iron" with legs around 1/2 inch
sheet metal folded to an L shape (cut down pieces of rectangle HVAC duct)
flashing/trim/etc from the roofing department

Fasten with screws, magnets, adhesive, foam mounting tape, or whatever suits you and the chosen materials.


Can I use a sander or grinder to polish quartz countertop edges? I had a quartz countertop installed, however they did a poor job where it was cut. They used max 200 grit sandpaper with an angle grinder.  Also they applied a sealer and now it has some kind of stains.
I have an orbital sander tool and angle grinder. Can I use these like they do in order to fix it? Probably with higher grit gradually.
Do I need special sandpaper like diamond?

I have only used tools designed specifically for this purpose. For example, Makita makes a stone polishing tool. It looks like an angle grinder, but it has different attachments, variable speed control, and a built in water supply. I am not sure if you can dry sand the quartz, I would imagine it would be extremely dusty. If you're going to wet-sand, you'd have to find a way to protect the surrounding area from water spray.
I think a significant difference between a regular angle grinder and a polisher is the speed. The tool I mentioned earlier can vary speed between 2000 and 4000 rpm, while single speed angle grinders run at a constant, typically higher RPM in the 5000-10000 range. If your angle grinder has variable speed, it might be OK.
And yes, you would want to use stone polishing disks instead of regular sand paper. You would probably wear through the sand paper rather quickly. You can easily find kits of these online for less then $50. They would include all the steps you need (50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000 for example). If you're just doing these edges, you will barely use the pads and can maybe even sell them to someone looking to do a similar project when you're done.


How to identify type of asbestos used in home? How can I tell if the asbestos used in my home is amosite (brown), crocidolite (blue),  chrysotile (white), actinolite, anthophyllite, or tremolite? Also, how would I know if it was used, say, just in the ceiling, or also in the walls, or in the flooring. As asbestos is a type of stone, if the building uses asbestos then does it man the entire wall is made of asbestos instead of concrete or is it just used to cover three walls?

Thanks.

Get it tested by an asbestos testing company. Dealing with asbestos is generally not a DIY task and is best left to the professionals. This includes testing.


Isolated ground on sub panel Is it ok to use the brass rod grounding at a subpanel as long as the ground and the neutral bars are isolated at the sub panel from each other?

A grounding electrode (ground rod) serves a totally different purpose than the equipment ground run with the feeder. One does not, and can not, take the place of or be used for, the other.

For a feeder run to a sub-panel for quite a few years now you MUST run a 4-wire feeder; two hots, neutral, ground.
If the panel is in a detached structure to the house then you must also install grounding electrode(s). There are several ways to accomplish this, but ground rods are the most common. Typically two ground rods are required.

Even with older codes that allowed a "3-wire" feeder (where the ground was omitted and the neutral served both purposes) a grounding electrode was still required.

Bottom line to remember for sub-panels: detached structure needs grounding electrodes, attached or within the same structure does not.


Does every light within a fixture need to be grounded or just the fixture itself? I'm building a chandelier that is around 10 feet tall that will look similar to the picture below. The chandelier is made entirely out of malleable galvanized iron pipe.

Each light socket on this chandelier is an Edison style socket. And that socket has an small opening for a grounded connection.

Questions

Does each of the 6 light sockets need individually grounded? Meaning each light socket would have a ground wire connected to it and run back to the fixture's Junction box in the ceiling.
Or does just the fixture itself need grounded? Meaning one ground wire would be clipped, somewhere, onto the fixture's iron pipe and run back to the Junction Box? If the fixture itself just needs grounded, what is the proper way to tie the ground into the fixture itself?

You will really need to answer this question yourself as only you will be able to determine if the whole iron pipe structure will maintain its electrical conductivity from end to end now or over it's full service life. If there is any doubt then it behooves you to string safety GND wires throughout the fixture and connect then all back to a reliable earth (safety) GND back at the junction box.

The goal needs to be protect anyone touching any metal part of the fixture (which seems highly likely due to sheer size alone) from getting a shock in the case that either a neutral wire or a live mains wire happens to short out to the pipe structure.

They always say "Safety First" if that helps in any meaningful way.


Does it matter if I mix neutrals and grounds in the main panel? Code question here.  I do a lot of electrical and like to follow code exactly.  I have done pretty much everything but hook up lines to main box.  Taking a stab at it this time.

First I see that I have circuit breakers in middle with hot going into them and then on each side the neutrals and grounds are connected to a row of screws (on each side).  Does it matter what screws I put my ground and neutral in?  It looks random right now almost.  Also if I flip the main power breaker does that mean I can't get shocked when attaching new breaker?

And then last question - I only have one entry hole left for the breaker box on top.  Well I need to put a few more lines in.  It is in a basement so everything is coming from the top.  What is the code for going around the bottom to enter in a hole there?  Not sure I can run the wire behind the box - so can I just wrap the wire around box?  Really want this done right.  What do you suggest?

In the main panel, ground and neutral are connected, so you're free to attach to whichever bar is most convenient. There are two bars because if it was used as a subpanel ground and neutral would have to be kept separated.

The main breaker will cut power to the bus bars and breakers, but the lugs and feeder cables near the top of the panel will still be hot. Shouldn't be too hard to avoid those since the top slots are most likely full anyway and you'll be coming up from the bottom, just pay attention.

I'm not sure what code requires for routing, but it's probably best to drop the wire down in the neighboring cavity and cross through the stud at least 6-12" below the panel before coming back up to keep things nice and tidy. Or for a surface-mounted panel just route the cable neatly and anchor with cable staples:


Why does my newly installed fill valve hiss after flushing? My old fill valve shot a geyser all over the floor when I lifted the tank lid, so I bought a replacement (PlumbPak Keeney 1B1X) at Lowes. I don't see any leaks, but when the float rises to the top, the fill valve hisses for a few minutes. Everything I've found about hissing fill valves says to it's time to be replaced, which is clearly not what I want to hear.

This is the old one:

And this is the new one:

I've adjusted the two gold screws on the top, as well as the large plastic screw on the side. The top one adjusted how high the float went, but the other two didn't seem to do anything.

Also, the clear tube seems odd, since it wasn't there in the old install, but that's what the (extremely limited) instructions said to do.

For this type of valve it is normal for there to be some hissing as the tank is nearly full, because as the float rises with the water level, it is gradually closing the valve. The hissing is the sound of water movement through a nearly-closed valve. If you can trigger the same sound by flushing and then manually raising the float so the valve is nearly closed, then that's your issue. If water is leaking out of the top of the fill valve, you have a different problem (a defective valve).

Assuming the sound is just continued operation of your fill valve, then it's not right for this to take minutes - should only be 15-60 seconds of hissing before the fill valve closes completely. It's possible that the valve is allowing too much water to enter the tank, and that water is then running down into the bowl through the overflow (the tall pipe in the center of the tank). In that situation, you're continuously adding water to the tank while draining it away. This can lead to constant running, potentially hissing, and of course lots of wasted water.

To correct this, turn the screw at the top center of the fill valve clockwise. This will cause the ballcock to shut off the fill valve at a lower level. You should aim to have it stop filling the tank at about 1/2" below the overflow. You can make this adjustment while the tank is filling after a flush, and flush/refill once or twice to tweak.

Also, the clear tube is correct. This tube is what provides water to directly re-fill the bowl after you flush. In the first picture, you can see the nipple to which a similar tube (usually opaque and thinner) would be attached. It's at the top of the fill valve, the black plastic section, and pointing to the right. The reason water splashed everywhere when your tank was previously opened is that there was no tube attached to guide this water into the overflow (as you've done with the clear tubing in the new install).


Preparing uneven floor for cement board I have two sections of flooring that are currently uneven by about 1/4". One side is 3/4" OSB, and the other is 3/4" Plywood. Both sides are screwed and glued onto joists. I'm planning on putting cement board across both sides to prep for tile after that.

Should I use 1/4" Plywood to bring the two sides to level? Is there something else to use instead - like self-leveling compound?
Do I screw the plywood into the joists or just into the underlying subfloor? Screw every 6 inches - or more or less?
Do I use glue between the plywood and the OSB? Or something else between the layers?

I would use 1/4inch Luan panels and install without adhesive. Just install to manufacturers specs. This is typically to lay it down and use 1/4 inch crown staples, 1 inch long, every 6 inches along the perimeter and 8 inches in the field.

A few things to note:

Make sure the subfloor is secured before using the Luan.
Make sure there are no protrusions from old screws/nails.
Clean the subfloors well. A shop vac is a good method.
Make sure you stagger the seams by half of a sheet (or manufacturer specs). If using a full sheet to start one run, use a half sheet for the next run. Then back to a full sheet for the 3rd.
Be sure to check for and avoid over and under penetration of the staples.
Make some 1/4 in spacers and use those to keep the luan 1/4 from the walls.


How do I remove a Kwikset deadbolt with no screws on the inside plate? My exterior door deadbolt has gotten stuck - it'll open with the lever but not the key. By spraying WD-40 inside the lock, I've been able to get it to work but it's very stiff. I'd like to remove the lock and inspect the inside, either to clean/lube it or replace it. But I can't figure out how to remove the lock; there's no obvious way to do this. (I'm used to seeing two screws on the inside of the deadbolt, usually under the lever arms when it's horizontal.)

How do I remove this? I can loosen the cover plate on the inside but it doesn't do anything other than rotate a few degrees.

First thing you need to do is find the set screw that releases the inside handle. then you pry off the escutcheon plate (trim plate). the two screws you are looking for are under the trim plate.


Should a board connecting a beam in the attic to a rafter be removed? When I bought this house (foreclosure) the prior owner was in the middle of a project to remove a wall. It is a load bearing wall 12' long that supports the ceiling joists which span 24'. T the other end of the wall is an 11' long opening and the ceiling joists are supported by a hanging beam.  Where he removed the studs from the wall you could see that the ceiling was sagging. I put some temporary supports there for now until I decide what to do there.

On the side where the hanging beam is the ceiling sags about 1/2" at it's midpoint and has a hairline crack. I can't tell if the beam is flexing or if the way it's fastened to the joists is failing. I do see a gap between the bottom of the beam and the top of the ceiling joists.

It looks like the prior owner planned to tie the ceiling joists to the roof rafters to support the ceiling. I can see that the two light colored 2x4"s are screwed in so I know the prior owner did that. The 2x4 I'm questioning is nailed in but it also looks like a piece of wood that's been reused because it has bent over nails in the middle of it.

I'm in the midwest where we can get several feet of snow. And if there was enough snow on the roof would it push down on that beam? What I was planning to do is to jack up the ceiling and install some Simpson hangers. The question I have is whether that 2x4 belongs there.

The 2×4 in question may be to support the beam itself from twisting, it looks like all the hangers are on 1 side so I would keep it there, not sure of the span I usually use 4"x  beams not 2"x or at least doubled 2x.


Extend sidewall hot water tank vent outside? I have a power vented hot water tank just on the other side of the wall (and in the basement) from the exterior pipe you see in the picture. The problem is that the steam vents onto my wife's flower garden. In the winter, it melts the snow turning it into a block of ice, which impacts the soil and kills any perennials she plants there.

I'd like to extend the pipe horizontally parallel to the house and around past the garden. I would cut off the 90 degree elbow and instead turn it the other way and add about 4 feet. My question is: would this be against any code or cause any other issues? Would it be likely to freeze up and clog?

I do not know of any code that would be breaking. Check with the installation instructions for the water heater to make sure that you do not exceed the maximum length for the discharge piping.


What type of wire do I need for garage door sensors? My garage door is failing to close.  The light blinks 10 times and the internal indicator light blinks twice.  Also, the sensors seem to be working properly.  From my research, this indicates there is a short/fault in the sensor wiring.  The wiring to the sensors is done rather shoddily.  The wires have multiple splices, some held together with electrical tape, some splices are exposed and just twisted together.  In addition to that, its hung in a half-ass way.  So I thought I would remove the old wiring and put it new wiring.  However, I do not know what type of wire to purchase.

What should I be getting?

Typically 22/2 bell wire is used.  You can pick it up at any hardware store.


Look for a smart irrigation controller with a flow sensor It seems like every sprinkler system I've ever owned (inherited from a previous owner) has eventually failed on me.  In some cases, the water would not shut off, wasting lots of water until the leak was finally discovered.  In other cases, the water would not come on when it was supposed to, resulting in important plants or important trees unexpectedly dying during the heat of summer.

In most cases, it is practically impossible to tell when something has failed until it is too late.  When a sprinkler won't go off, often the first clue is when something has been watered so long that noticeable flooding has occurred, and sometimes if it is a slow leak that doesn't even happen.  When the sprinkler doesn't come on it can be difficult to tell this as well without something dying because drip heads are often hidden around the base of plants and you can't actually see water come out when they are running.

I would like to install something new to replace any existing system, without having to worry about any of the above failures ruining my garden.  However, it doesn't seem like the off the shelf stuff you find at your run of the mill home improvement store has all the features I'm looking for - or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

I think at a minimum a reliable sprinkler system needs to have some notion of how much water it is dispensing.  This means there should be some kind of flow sensor on each line (or station) and it should report how many gallons each one has taken.  If water is flowing when a station isn't on, or if some threshold is exceeded in some condition (for instance, a drip leak) it should send some kind of alert, maybe over WiFi.  It could also shut off an emergency master value to conserve water until the repair can be completed.  Likewise, if no water is flowing when it should be, it should cause an alert as well.

Or, if there isn't something like this, maybe something else would work.  One thing I was thinking was that if there were some clear sections pipes along the run it might make it clear whether water is running or not, although this would require manually checking it at various times.

Update: It appears that Rain Bird has some support for flow sensors on some of its products, but it is ridiculously expensive... starting in the range of $350 for a controller (12 station, which is 3x more than I need) and $500 for the least expensive flow sensor (compared to ~$10 for an inexpensive hall effect flow sensor). I'm looking for something for my house, not a large business complex.

Also, I'm concerned with detecting drip leaks, and it appears that even the highest sensitivity flow sensor is in the range of 0.3L/min or 114 gallons per day.

Adapt your garden to your climate, rather than your irrigation system to your expectations.

When a complicated system is failing due to its complication, it usually isn't the right solution to add more complication. Flow sensors, wifi transmitters, presumably embedded server software and a monitoring web page or smartphone app; this sounds very expensive and even more prone to failure with the addition of so many new technology domains.

"Honey, it's time to debug the sprinkler again!"

"Now where did I put gdb? It was here in /usr/bin the last time I saw it..."

Complicated irrigation systems are themselves the failure. True bliss lies in planting things that grow natively in the region and don't need to be intensively watered after they're established. Then you don't need an irrigation system at all! And you also don't need to spend ton of money (and the planet's resources) dumping potable water on plants that can't grow on rainfall alone.

I don't know where you live, but there are beautiful and useful plants that grow in any climate. I live in the high desert, where it freezes in the winter, gets up to 115f in the summer, and only rains 4-7 inches a year. It's a very challenging climate. Nonetheless, I plant what natively grows, and  even found species of grass that grow here without irrigation (Blue Grama grass, Curly Mesquite, Western Wheatgrass, siberian wheatgrass).


How to fill this gap in the drywall on an odd corner? The whole house has these cheap strips all over it. We're starting to take them down. This one on the corner has a big gap in it. Do we just put joint compound in there? Or is there something else we're supposed to put there?

There are pre-taped corners that are available from you home store that would look great here. You have to mud the corner part of the wall and then install the corner and then mud the tape on each side and then finish with a skimcoat. Hope this helps.


Can I fix mold infestation of around 10 square feet, or do I need pro? I have mold under my carpet and part of drywall. Do I need a mold removal pro, or can I do it myself? The water seems to come from a leak in siding.

I agree the leak must be fixed first. Hydrogen peroxide is an excellent mold killer. Saturate any areas with a 3% or less solution (test the carpet for color fastness). Hydrogen peroxide will kill the mold and other organics with out the smell of chlorine. If you get a stronger solution of hydrogen peroxide always add the hydrogen peroxide to water not water to the hydrogen peroxide to prevent a bad reaction.  This can be done by a home owner and is easy works quickly. 1 application will usually kill even the toughest gunkies but a second may be needed.


I need a tool that hogs off stock to fix the side of a panel I need to fix a panel and this is exactly what I need but i don't know what its called. Can someone help me out?

https://youtu.be/teQYBrA7sX0?t=3m50s

The tool being used in the video is a Power Planer:

The are normally used on wood to do the same job as hand plane, but they can be used on soft metal like aluminum.

I also found this website which talks about using the tool to clean up the edge of an aluminum panel.  I've never seen this tool used on metal before your question, so I can't tell you much about it.  It seems to me it would ruin the planar knives pretty quickly.

Also, planers like this are only designed to remove at most a 1/16th of an inch of material, and I'm not sure what the max would be on aluminum.


Is there a reason to avoid running (water) pipes in a shared townhouse wall? In the process of renovating my master bath, I pulled out the vanity and discovered the water supply lines come up through the floor. The drain goes through the wall. The wall is a shared wall in a townhouse.

The vanity I bought has cutouts for the lines and drain in the back, not in the bottom. I'd this like to reroute the supply lines to come out of the wall rather than the floor. Is this a bad idea, given that it's a party wall?

Party walls between units must provide a certain sound control. If pipes are placed in the party walls, any noise from the pipes will only have about half the sound control between the pipes and either unit.


How can I winterize windows with original trim from 1885 without ruining them? I have very nice wood trim and would rather not use the double sided tape on them. I have tried in the past on one window and it took some of the trim off with it.  I really don't want to ruin the trim but would also like to put plastic on it.  The windows need to be replaced eventually but my cash flow right now it's not possible.  I know that would help because the windows are the original from when the house was built in 1885.

Is there another way to winterize windows that will not ruin my trim?  I can't put plastic on the outside, its all metal, and I have tried to put it on the inside of the trim of the window instead of around the window.  I have tried everything I can possible think of to try and NOT ruin this beautiful trim. Are there any suggestions for me that wont break the bank?

You could fabricate a removable wooden frame that can be covered with the light plastic film. You could also use aluminum storm window framing but it may be cost prohibitive Make the frame slightly smaller than dimensions of the trimmed window opening. Cover the edges of the frame with weather strip to form a seal against the trim and to protect it from being scratched by the frame. Your window openings may no longer be square so each frame may be a custom fit to a specific window.


Sink basin gasket leaking I've got a sink basin installed under granite that looks kindof like this:

All around the outside of the sink sandwiched between the basin and the granite is a rubber gasket that has started to fail (break apart and deteriorate) in some areas. I'm handy enough to remove the basin and put a new gasket around it (which I assume is custom and came with the sink but I could probably figure something out), however I am afraid of causing more problems - namely, that the granite might crack from the stress.

Is it ok for me to caulk with clear silicon around the basin? Or should the sink really be removed?

Assuming by "fail" you just mean crack, deteriorate, or otherwise fall apart, just caulking will be fine. The gasket was probably a time-saver that came with the sink, but typical undermount installations just use caulk to seal the gap.

Trying to remove and replace the whole sink is a real project -- they're glued and clipped to the counter. I replaced my undermount sink, which looked much like yours, with a single-basin granite undermount... it took a full day and plenty of cursing.


Jumper cables for power inverter? I just recently got a 1200 watt power inverter as a temporary backup for my 1/3 horsepower sump pump. The sump pump is rated 8 amps at 105 volts so I believe the max power it uses is 960 watts. I used a kill-a-watt meter on it and found that when it is running it is using on average 580 watts although I'm sure its much more when it is starting momentarily.

I was wondering, would I be able to use a pair of jumper cables to connect the power inverter to my deep cycle marine battery? I mistakenly believed that this power inverter would come with a pair of cables but it did not.

Edit: Also, I see that there is a voltage and overload protection built into this power inverter so I was wondering would I still need another fuse or would that not be necessary since the sump pump will be the only thing connected to this inverter and it would only be used temporarily in the case that I lose power.

You shall want to determine the quality of your jumper cables. Inexpensive jumper cables are going to be constructed poorly at the crimps and will certainly have smaller gauge wire than a more expensive, higher quality set.

Disregarding conversion loss internal to the inverter and using simple numbers, you could say that the inverter will draw 80 amperes at 12 volts to provide the 960 watts you specify. Even if those numbers are inaccurate, it's reasonable to believe that they will serve the purpose of this calculation.

A quick check with The Google shows that starting an automobile will draw 250 amperes and higher, depending on temperature and condition of the vehicle. This gives you a factor of 3 or better when considering if the cables will tolerate such current loads.

More information about jumper cables can be found on a sister site:
https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/10985/how-do-i-determine-what-type-of-jumper-cable-i-should-carry

You would want to ensure you have a solid grip on both ends of the cable and watch them carefully for signs of heating. Testing the temperature of the connections with an IR non-contact thermometer, an IR camera accessory to your phone or even your hands on an insulated section will give you an indication of pending doom (or not.)

If your battery is flooded lead acid, eye protection and other suitable precautions are encouraged. Batteries explode when hydrogen gas is generated during charging, but not when discharging, reducing the danger for your project.


How to install acoustic panels on a door? I want to add some foam acoustic panels to a wooden (interior, roughly 30x80 in) door - they are roughly 12x12x2 inch squares, and quite light, to the point where I think double-sided tape would be enough to hold them in place - however, I would like the option of being able to relocate them at some point (door is likely to be replaced at some point in the future) and would like to stay away from glues/sticky stuff because those seem fragile enough to be destroyed if they were to be pulled off from something like that - Any ideas as to how to proceed?

I was thinking perhaps a wooden grid "frame" to hold them, where they would just be "stuffed" into the frame, like this:

and then mounting the frame similarly to how a large mirror would be mounted.

Any issues with doing it like this? any better ways?

You could glue/tape the panels to a sheet of tempered hardboard (ie, Masonite®) or thin plywood and mount that to the door. Properly sized, your grid method should also work, and might look nicer.


Special sized towel rack brackets needed - do they exist? I'm trying to replace my bathroom towel racks, without re-drilling holes in the wall. The previous rack's holes are wider apart than all the standard holes I'm finding in stores, so I'm not finding any brackets that fit the holes in my walls. Where can I find more specific sizes?

Purchase a towel bar to your liking that has the bar as a separate piece, longer than the spacing you need. Cut the bar to the length you need and install.

I have had to cut the bar on occasion when the space was too small for the bar on the wall, so I made it shorter.The same idea should work for you.