Residential Circuit Layout I own a home that was built in the 1960s in Hawaii.  The home is of Traditional Japanese construction (all wood framing, flooring, w/plaster) from Japan.  The wiring throughout is a black clad two conductor wiring (no ground) that I want to get rid of.

In addition to the age and composition of the wire, is the fact that the circuits are laid out in one of the most haphazard fashions that I have seen, and makes no real sense to me.  Each wire from the breaker panel goes to a junction box, from which as many as 10 other wires sprout going to individual sockets, switches and lighting circuits, causing a large bundle of wire to be routed through a beam and into the wall cavity (see photo album).

I want to tear all of this wiring (and sockets, and breaker box) out and replace with newer material that is properly grounded.  As a first step, I wanted to ask about circuit layout.  Are residential circuits typically laid out in a by-room basis? For example a circuit for Living Room, a circuit for Master Bedroom, etc, or are they further divided by use? For example Kitchen Lighting, Kitchen Plugs, Living Room Lighting, Living Room Plugs?

I am doing this somewhat on the cheap, and I intend to have it permitted and inspected, but in an attempt to get something started on it, I wanted to at least conceptualize the circuit layout and scope of work.

Lights are typically put on a separate circuit from the receptacles, especially in places where GFCIs are required (kitchens, baths, and garages). This gives the benefit that when a breaker trips, you are not left in the dark. In many cases, #14 wire is used for lighting circuits whereas #12 wire is used for receptacle circuits. Keeping them on separate circuits allows you to use different size wires for each.

In addition, circuits are generally laid out by room, but it's not always the case that each circuit is one room. Adjacent rooms, or similar rooms, may be combined on one circuit, depending on the sizes of the rooms and how many receptacles each will contain. If your living room and dining room are adjacent, for instance, receptacles from both rooms may be on the same circuit, and lights from both rooms may be on the same circuit. Two adjacent bedrooms may share the same (AFCI-protected) circuit (this cuts down on the number of AFCI breakers needed, saving some expense). A great room that's very large may have it's own circuit for receptacles, but share a circuit for lights.

You may want to run additional dedicated circuits for unique equipment you plan to run, like computers in a home office (especially high-end machines), woodworking equipment, etc. There is nothing wrong with having a single receptacle be on a separate circuit in a room, or have half the room be on one circuit and half on another. Since you're doing the work now, when you've already lived there, you know better how you use the space, so set it up so it works best for you (while maintaining code).

Keep in mind any special-use circuits (oven, dryer, water heater, etc) will be their own circuit by definition, as these are usually 240V. Also keep in mind that the kitchen requires 2 separate small-appliance circuits, and the portion of those circuits in the kitchen need to be GFCI protected.

When you do get everything laid out and run, make sure to clearly label the panel. Perhaps even a separate diagram or spreadsheet showing which breaker every single receptacle, light, and switch is connected to. I might even go so far as to diagram where each wire is run through walls and ceilings. Digital files are cheap, and you never know when that info might come in handy. Along the same lines, consider installing conduit and/or low-voltage cable (networking / TV) at the same time; the best time to run new cable is when the walls are already open.


What entities must get involved when building a new home or modifying the exterior of a home? When constructing a new home or renovating a home, and the exterior of the home is changing in some way, what entities (government, insurance companies, home owner, etc..) or organizations must be involved?

Someone told me that you must comply with city or municipality building codes.

If government must be involved, is this county specific or city specific usually?

Code making bodies refer to them as the "Authority Having Jurisdiction" and they could be municipal, county or state depending on where you live.

I had to go to one entity to get a well and septic permit, another one to get an address for my property and a third to get my building permits.

It is an arduous process but is required to ensure safe building methods are used.

Good luck!


How do I roughly cut linoleum to room width? So far I had to replace linoleum twice and each time it was a room of something like slightly-more-than 3 meters by slightly-less-than 3 meters.

Linoleum is usually cut to length at a shop and then rolled up. Of course there's only a set of typical widths - and 3 meters is among those. So if a room is 3.2 meters by 2.8 meters one has to buy 3.2 meters of linoleum that is 3 meters wide and the roll is too wide for the room and won't unroll along the longer wall - it simply gets stuck. Unrolling it along the shorter wall introduces a new problem - rotating such a huge sheet without tearing it looks risky.

One solution is to cut the roll before bringing it into the room and unrolling. So far I used a plain old wood saber saw. Cuts well, rather fast and the cut is clean enough, but this just feels dumb - as if I was doing something completely wrong.

What other ways are there to conveniently cut a huge piece of linoleum to width before unrolling it?

Instead of trying to work with the flooring in a cramped space, I use  a roll of craft paper and sticky tape to make a template of the room.  Start in the center of the room, lightly stick a strip to the ground, and cut it at the edges of the room.  You get a cleaner edge by going a little past the edge, then folding the cut edge back and sticking it down with the tape.  Keep sticking more strips to the template until you cover the entire room.

While you're doing that, lay the flooring out somewhere that you do have the space to work.  When it's ready, put the template on top of it, and cut around the edges.  Regular scissors work well for vinyl flooring, and I know I've installed real linoleum, but can't recall if scissors were OK or if I had to use something more heavy duty like tin snips.  Now that it's cut to size, you can easily carry it to where you need it and unroll it.


"Floating" desk - Avoiding wood sag, aluminium right angle support I'm building a new desk in my study, and I'm looking for some advice/guidance on structural strength.

The desk will be an L shape, mounted wall to wall along one side of the room, and desk to leg along the other wall of the room. The image I've included shows the measurements. The dotted lines show bracing along the wall (40mm wood, mounted to the wall, screwed to the desktop from the bottom. Yellow lines are solid legs to the ground. (The 500mm space between the wall and the solid leg on the top section is going to be made into a cupboard - all our routers, DVR, etc sit there, so I can't move that much.

The join between the two legs of the desk I was going to do as a mortise, and not glue up the ends to allow for some wood movement without cracking.

The whole desk is going to be made from 40mm laminated rubberwood.

My concerns are:
- The wood is bloody heavy. I'm worried about the inner point between the legs of the desk being too weak to hold the weight of it. What do you think? One option is to build a leg down there, but if I can avoid that I'd like to.

The length of the wood - I'm worried about sag over time. It's a desk, so it'll have computers and books and stuff on it, but also me leaning on it for hours a day. I have thought (and would love some advice here please) to hide a piece of 90 deg. aluminium underneath (cut a slot in the wood, route out slightly to one side to recess), and glue/screw the aluminium in there. Figured that would make it pretty rigid?

Any other suggestions? Is there anything else I should be worrying about?

Thanks,
Zak

I would not waste time with an aluminium angle iron. It will being next to nothing in terms of real support for the front edge of your desk. Instead you should look at something like steel rectangular tubing. This you would simply fasten to the underside of desk a little back from the front and make sure it was supported on each end. The steel tubing could be painted black to hide or a standout contrast color. Alternatively you could also install an on-edge apron board in front of the tubing to hide it from view entirely. The apron board itself will add additional support.

For your longer span across the top of your diagram I see a length of 2170mm. Use a tubing with a 50mm width and a 100mm height and a wall thickness of 5mm. Such tubing, if supported on each end, should be able easily handle a center load of 100kg with less than 10mm of vertical deflection.

(I used the deflection calculator here).

In the corner where you have indicated "strength ???" you will want to arrange to join the two rectangular tubes into a "T" like joint. This could be as simple as drilling some through holes and bolting in a short piece of angle iron in the underside corner. Alternatively you could plan things out and weld the joint if you have that type of equipment available.

I would also purge the idea of the mortise joint and the construction complications that brings. Instead use a flat steel plate that lays across the joint and screw that to the bottom side of the desk surfaces. I could easily envision something 75-100mm wide with a 3-5mm thickness. Two rows of holes pre-drilled into the plate at intervals of 75-100mm should do well to support the edges of the desk. Best would be if its length went as long as feasible from the front edge back to the wall.


Re: 240V electric furnance - what is Dual Supply Circuit Vs. Single Supply I am having a Intertherm 012H 240v electric furnace installed. The installer asked me which wiring system would i prefer. The manual offers a choice:

A.) Single @ 51.2 total amperes with a max over-current rating of 70 (which i believe requires #4 wire

B.) Dual "A"/Dual "B" Single A is 27.1, max over is 40, Single B is 24.2, max over is 30.

My questions are:

Which is best Single or Dual? One big 70 amp breaker with big fat, hard to bend wire, or Dual, with separate breakers and easy to use wire?
If dual, if one circuit pops (either a or b) will the furnace continue to operate.
Would i be correct to assume that either method would need 4 wire? Sinfle being #4/4 wire. And Dual A #8/4 wire. Dual B #10/4 wire

Thanks to all those who reply. Bruce

Use the dual breaker method -- whoever wrote the manual needs a Code-slap with 424.22(B), as the single breaker method doesn't comply with it.

  (B) Resistance Elements. Resistance-type heating elements in electric space-heating equipment shall be protected at not more than 60 amperes. Equipment rated more than 48 amperes and employing such elements shall have
  the heating elements subdivided, and each subdivided load shall not exceed 48 amperes. Where a subdivided load is less than 48 amperes, the rating of the supplementary over-current protective device shall comply with 424.3(B).

If you're short slots -- use a double-stuff (quadruplex) breaker.


Draft from fireplace So I've read many diy ways to prevent the draft of an used fireplace. Mine is not in a working condition and I don't know if the previous owner of my home had ever used it. It's very very cold. I've had the house 18 years and I just want to block out the cold. I don't know about damper or the terms. Any suggestions are welcome. I read one idea with insulation but how and what kind I'm stumped
 Help

Since you say it's not working, I assume you mean disused fireplace.

Two insulation approaches (which don't depend on there being an operable damper, though closing a damper if you can figure out how will certainly help.)

Stuff rockwool or fiberglass batt insulation up into the throat of the fireplace (above the firebox) - also feel for drafts down low in case there's an outside air inlet, and stuff that if there is.
Cut one or more pieces of foam board insulation to roughly fit in the throat of the chimney, then use spray foam insulation to seal the edges tightly to the masonry.

Neither of these need (nor should) be visible when looking at the fireplace normally.

You can also fill the fireplace front opening itself, but that is more of a visual impact on the room with the fireplace in it and may be unacceptable as a result.

If you have not used it for at least 18 years and don't intend to, you might want to consider having the chimney externally capped off, as well, or even taken down, but those are more extensive projects rather than quick DIY solutions.


Cutting and welding a BBQ lid to make it narrower I have a  fairly heavy-gauge park style BBQ made by Pilot Rock.
If you needed to reduce the width of  this BBQ lid by a couple inches (facing the grill), how and where would you make the cuts and then weld the pieces back together?

I would try to cut as close to one end as i could so you effectively have just the  curved end.
Then cut out the "couple of inches"  off the end that you removed the end piece from and weld your  curved end plate back on.
This would be the most aesthetically pleasing but you could remove a section of the middle, you would have a weld bead in the middle of course.


Does the NEC allow a 14ga branch on a 12ga circuit? Is it within the NEC to wire ceiling light fixtures with 14ga NM from a switch wired with 12ga NM, where the power originates at the switch and the ceiling fixture is a branch?

The breaker protecting the circuit is 20 amp.

Is it within the NEC to wire ceiling light fixtures with 14ga NM from
  a switch wired with 12ga NM, where the power originates at the switch
  and the ceiling fixture is a branch?

  The breaker protecting the circuit is 20 amp.

Absolutely not. If the branch circuit is 20A then ALL the wiring on the circuit must be at least #12cu.

Yes, there are convoluted tap rules but they would not apply in this installation and IMO are not even worth mentioning.


Does embedding rebars along the face provide tensile strength to a load-bearing wall? The house dates back a billion years. Some parts older than others, and added as either obvious/not-so-obvious extension.

One such structure is a stand-alone room whose rear-wall (upto about 3 feet above the ground) are thick stones with what appears to be lime mortar dating goodness knows when. The sides perpendicular to the back wall are (I believe) load bearing (constructed without the aid of concrete pillar/beam) bricks dating to the early 1900s.

Both side-walls have developed a network of deep, through cracks beginning about the same height at the point they join the rear wall. I'm told embedding rebars along the load-bearing wall shall provide the necessary tensile strength.

Does embedding rebars along a load-bearing wall provide some tensile strength to it?

I had to read your question a few times, but I still don't know how you intend on reinforcing the walls with rebar.

You cannot simply put rebar against the existing walls and cover them with some mortar.

For rebar to be effective, it must be embedded in the proper thickness and rating of concrete for the load.  the concrete supports the weight and the rebar helps keep the concrete from failing or displacing.  I really think you may need a little on site professional help here. Unless you know how to pour walls, footers etc, you may get in over your head.


How to open up a window in my shower room? My shower room does not have a window. One of its side is out facing, i.e. one side of the shower room happens to be part of the exterior wall of the house.  I'd like to open a small window on it so air and sunlight can enter into the shower room. What should I know before starting the project?

House: regular singular-family house. There is nothing special about it.

Location: Chico, California

Exterior wall from what I can see is just regular vinyl siding wall. Interior is covered by ceramic tiles.

I have lived and worked in Northern California. There are obscure (frosted Windows) that are great for what you want to do. They are narrow 14" wide and do not require cutting the studs so no permit was required. The most important part of the job was to make sure there was no electrical in the space. Moving or modifying the electrical usually requires a permit. Many stud finders today have a warning that shows if there is wiring behind the Sheetrock. Since there is a very low possibility of electrical in the wall at a normal bathroom wall I would punch a hole and look. If there are no wires the hardest part of the install is cutting the vinyl siding. A top and bottom plate can be nailed or screwed in in place then a remodel window screwed to the studs. The last tough part is trim on the outside to make the opening look like the rest of the Windows. The inside is easy in comparison. A little mudd and trim it can easily look original from inside. Outside with older Vinyl can be tough to match but will look better in a few years.


Combine two 6” ducts into an 8” we recently had a new unit installed and I think it is a little oversized.  It does push out more CFM‘s then the way the ductwork was designed.  I have a room that I recently added that I would like to run a branch to.  I can run a 6” from the plenum and another 6” from a trunk supplying the living room which has too much airflow right now. The reason why I think it has too much airflow is because the thermostat is in that room in the unit cycles on and off a lot. Plus the air is really pushing out.  After making the holes in the ductwork the airflow is still sufficient.

My question is can I take these two 6 inch runs and combined them into an 8x6x6 wye so I can run an 8 inch into the new room.  The new room has west facing windows so it is going to need more than a six-inch.  By combining them into an 8 inch will I lose pressure since I’m going from a smaller flex to a bigger flex?  Thank you

8" to twice 6" sounds reasonable.
twice 6" has a little more cross section than the 8", but it also has 50% more surface, so the smaller tubes have a higher friction.  Over all I'd say that the match is close enough that it doesn't matter.


Will the second light in this circuit light up? When talking about neutral faults in this answer, I  (incorrectly) said that a neutral fault could lead to a shock hazard.  It was pointed out in the comments that I was dead wrong, and that the scenario that I presented was incorrect.

I looked at the problem for a bit, but just couldn't wrap my head around it.  So I came up with a circuit diagram, and posed a question in chat.

So given this diagram, will R2 light up?

As it turns out, no.  R2 will not light up.
The Experiment
Being true to my username, I decided to test this out.  No, I didn't grab hold of a grounded (neutral) conductor (Sorry to disappoint those of you who would have liked to see me get zapped into oblivion).
I started by wiring up a sample circuit.

Then I added an extension cord, so I could plug it into a receptacle.

When I flipped the switch, the second light did not light!

Finally I took some readings with my ammeter, and this is what I found.

Notes:
I ended up using 15W compact flourescent lamps instead of 60W incandescents, which is why I measured only 0.125A.
The Explanation
Kirchhoff's second law says that the total voltage applied to any closed circuit path, is always equal to the sum of the voltage drops in that path.
If you look at the circuit, there is a "closed circuit path" which I've highlighted in red below.

If we apply 120 volts to the loop, the total voltage drop in the loop will also be 120 volts.  However, the majority of the voltage drop occurs in the first part of the loop (the wire to the switch, the switch, the wire between the switch and light, the light, and the wire from the light to the first twist-on wire connector). From this point, the same voltage will be applied to the remainder of the first loop as is applied to the second loop.  This voltage will be so small, it will not be enough to light the bulb.
Maths
Each length of wire in the photo is 14 AWG, and 6" long. We can determine the resistance of each bit of wire using Table 8, from chapter 9 of the National Electrical Code. Solid, 14 AWG, uncoated, copper wire has a resistance of 3.07 ohms per 1000 feet.
3.07 ohms per kFT. / 1000 FT. = 0.00307 ohms per foot
0.00307 / 2 = 0.001535 ohms per half foot (6")
We can determine the resistance of a 15W compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), using Ohm's law Resistance (R) equals voltage (E) squared divided by power (P).
R = 120V ^2 / 15W = 14400V / 15W = 960 ohms
If we plug those values into a diagram, we'll end up with something like this...

Now we can determine the total resistance in the circuit (we'll assume 0 ohms in the switch for simplicity).
Ra = R1 + R2 + R3 + R4 + R5 + R6 = 960.007675 ohms
Rb = R7 + R8 + R9 = 960.00307 ohms
Rt = (Ra * Rb) / (Ra + Rb) = 921610.31522356225 / 1920.010745 = 480.0026862472388142806982051551
Next we'll calculate the total current.
Ia = Et / Ra = 120V / 960.007675 ohms = 0.12499900065903118951627131522672 amperes
Ib = Et / Rb = 120V / 960.00307 ohms = 0.12499960026169499645454258807735 amperes
It = Ia + Ib = 0.12499900065903118951627131522672 amperes + 0.12499960026169499645454258807735 amperes = 0.24999860092072618597081390330407 amperes
Then we can calculate the voltage drop across each component.
DeltaR1 = R1 * Ia = 0.00019187346601161287590747646887302 volts
DeltaR2 = R2 * Ia = 0.00019187346601161287590747646887302 volts
DeltaR3 = R3 * Ia = 119.99904063266994193562046261765 volts
DeltaR4 = R4 * Ia = 0.00019187346601161287590747646887302 volts
Total Voltage Drop after R4 = DeltaR1 + DeltaR2 + DeltaR3 + DeltaR4 = 119.99961625306797677424818504706 volts
Voltage after R4 = 120V - 119.99961625306797677424818504706V = 0.00038374693202322575181495294V

NOTE: While looking at the diagrams, it may seem as though you're dealing with a simple parallel circuit. However, it's actually a short-circuited series circuit. This is why the results may be counter intuitive, and confusing.


What is the *interrupting rating* of a GFCI receptacle? Say, we have a UL943 compliant 15A GFCI receptacle on a garden-variety 15A grounded branch circuit.  Some nitwit comes along and wirenuts the receptacle's load-side hot to the branch circuit ground, creating a bolted ground fault.  When the power comes back on -- both the breaker and the GFCI are going to race to trip on what they both detect as faults.

If the GFCI "wins the race" and trips before the breaker does, how much fault current can it safely interrupt?

I checked a few GFCI data sheets and they all listed either a 10kA Short Circuit Current Rating or Max Interrupting Capacity.

Leviton GFCI
Cooper Industries GFCI
Hubbell GFCI

I'm assuming that this is similar to the 10kA rating on common household circuit breakers where the device is required to break at least 10kA.

Cooper Industries has a PDF that describes short-circuit current ratings in more deail:

Article 100 Definitions
Short-Circuit Current Rating. The prospective
symmetrical fault current at a nominal voltage to which an
apparatus or system is able to be connected without
sustaining damage exceeding defined acceptance criteria.


White Mortar-like material oozing out of Chimney's brickwork (pictured) We do have a masonry expert coming to evaluate the nature of the pictured problem, but I thought I'd pose the question here to get some information and possibly, a second opinion.

There is some white mortar-like material oozing out of the joints of our brick chimney. What is the cause of this?

Thanks for looking.

It is efflorescence. Water picks up minerals in the mortar and transports them until the water evaporates, leaving the minerals behind. Other than cosmetic issues, this is normally harmless, though if the process continues for a long period, enough minerals can be removed that the mortar sort of rots.

Only close inspection will indicate if the mortar is compromised. If it is, it's likely superficial and can be corrected by repointing. The deposits can be removed with muriatic acid. The mortar can be protected from more water incursion by applying any of various sealing products available.


Running conduit for future electrical work We had to pull a section of drywall in our garage due to water damage, and since everything is exposed at the moment I'm wondering if we can do some work for the future.  I'd like to add an electrical box with conduit running up to the attic, as we are planning for our next car in a few years to be electric.  I wouldn't put any wiring in now, but have an electrician wire up whatever charging equipment we needed when the time came.
My question is, can we add said box and conduit now and close up the drywall?  Or when it comes time to have an electrician add the wiring will the inspector need to see the conduit?

This sounds like a great plan!
If the attic is easily accessible, the inspector should be able to access it to inspect the conduit sticking up there if he's not satisfied with what she can see in the box itself.
Make sure you look at the different vehicles currently available and the in-wall plugs they need, then get conduit big enough for the wiring and a box big enough to hold the largest plug & wiring. I don't know enough about the amps needed and the plugs required to make a suggestion, but they are bigger than your standard 110v outlet.


Why not use tile instead of mineral wool for sound proofing? I read that the heavier  the  material the better it blocks sound.

Then why do people stuff their walls with soft insulation like mineral wool.

Why  not just put clay/ceramic tiles or wooden boards
If the purpose is to decrease decibel levels ?

This is difficult to answer, because we can't read people's minds, but assuming it is correct that, for example, tile would cut the sound better than mineral wool, there are a lot of practical barriers:

Tile is not made for this, it would be very difficult / impossible to install. Bat insulation can just be stuffed in between studs and it stays in place while the wall is being sheathed on its own. Tile would keep falling out.

Tile would be much more expensive. For example, in my area, a roll of R11 insulation for a 2x4 wall cavity is about $10. This covers 50 sq ft, or 14.6 cu ft. The cheapest ceramic tile I can find here is $1.59 sq ft. and would be 3/8" thick. Doing the math, we would need 466 sq ft of tile to fill the 14.6 cu ft of wall cavity. Price would be $10 for the insulation, and $742 for the tile - the tile is 74 times more expensive. Even if you don't fill the cavity entirely ( don't think R11 would ), it would still be much more expensive.

Tile is also much heavier. Depending on your construction methods, you wouldn't be able to use sheetrock for the wall sheathing. This would also pose problems for upper floor walls.


Do I need to ground Ethernet cable run beneath a pier & beam house? I'm fairly amateur when it comes to home networking, though I get the basic concepts.

I bought a 1000' spool of this Cat6 Ethernet cable, simply because it was the only outdoor-rated cable sold by Monoprice.

My plan is to run it along the underfloor beams of my foundation, then up into the house through the existing 1" in-wall vertical drop pipes placed by the home builder. I'll terminate it at keystone jacks in wall plates in each room.

The cabling will thus be entirely contained within the outer walls of the house - i.e., it's beneath the subfloor but I'm not running it underground or out to another building - so it's only "outdoor" in the sense that it's exposed to the air beneath the foundation.

A couple of questions:

Is this cable suitable for this type of installation, or should I have bought something else, e.g. STP?
The cable includes a drain wire outside of the main jacket. Do I need to terminate/ground this somewhere? If so, where/how do I attach it?

The cable you bought looks fine.  You don't need STP (shielded twisted pair) wire.  From what I've heard, it's mostly used in industrial environments with a lot of electrical interference issues.  Won't really apply to residential environments.
I don't think that's a drain wire since the cable is not shielded. That extra wire is not copper in the picture, so I doubt it's a ground.  My guess is that it is there to provide pull strength when fishing the cable through conduit.  Cat6 is stiffer and less flexible than Cat5, so it will have more stress when pulling.


Mounting a pull up bar on hollow concrete block wall I’m trying to mount a Pull-up bar like this one on a hollow concrete block wall.

I’m planning on using some concrete sleeve anchors, but I also have seen people anchor some wood planks into the wall and then the pull-up bar through the wood into the concrete wall.
Would the concrete sleeve anchors be enough or should I also use wood/something else?
The pull up bar needs to support a little bit more than 200 lbs/90 kg (my own weight + maybe a weighted vests). I do not have access to the other side of the wall.

Please be very careful to ensure that there is sufficient block wall above your attachment point to stop the whole wall toppling forward under load.

Children have been killed by basketball hoops fixed to brick fascia's above garage doors when they slam-dunked and swung on the hoop. The brick fascia collapsed forward onto the child crushing them.

I expect you want at least several feet of wall above your attachment point, even better if the roof is providing good downforce to hold the wall together.


Connecting 3 wire timer to 2 wire circuit I went to replace an old mechanical timer for a bathroom extraction fan with a more up to date timer. The new single pole timer has a ground of course (no more mention of that), a black hot, a white neutral and a red load. All good, but when I took out the old timer, the wiring in the box simply had a black and a white wire terminating at the old timer.
Can I connect neutral, white from timer to white house wire and then both black hot and red load from the timer to black house wire?

No. The white wire to the old timer is actually the load, not neutral (and technically should have some black tape over the white insulation to mark it as such).
Unfortunately, your switch box does not have a neutral wire (they were not required in switch boxes until relatively recently, 10-15 years ago).
You need to return the new timer and find one that does not require a neutral connection.


Extending wood studs or adding wood to cover over the studs So the problem is this.  I bought a house and it has this super awesome movie room.   When I moved in, I took my stud finder out and it wasn't working on that side of the wall, but it was working on the other side.  I took the recessed power plug off the wall and looked inside to find the studs are actually 1 to 2 inches back.  The drywall is not tight to the studs...  I do not want to hang a 65 to 75 inch TV on drywall.  This seems like a recipe for disaster.
So the question is... How do I do this? Some ideas are...

extend the studs or possibly secure another 2 by 4 to the side of
the studs that are already there, then redo that portion of the
drywall
Cut out a rectangle of the drywall and attach a 2 by 4 to the front of the studs so it's like a "T".  If I can get the right size piece of wood then that could be flush with the wall and can be painted to match the black wall.
something that you guys think of

This needs to be able to support a 75 to 100 pound TV mounted to it.  This makes me nervous and I don't know what the best practices would be.
If I go with #2, should I glue it on, then add some nails or screws to attach it to the drywall better?  I can't clamp the 2 by 4 to the studs so I'm not sure how effective that would be.

That wall system is a “sound control” system. There are special metal framing members running perpendicular to the studs. They are secured to the studs that allows an air space between the wallboard and stud.
The metal stripping is called “RC-1 channel “. You can google it.


Need help identifying security wiring I'm in a new construction home, and the builder is basically blowing us off on questions about the wiring (what's that switch/wire/plate for sorts of things).  My focus for this Q is the security bundle:

I've got 4 22/4 wires I've identified: an entrance keypad, a master bedroom keypad, and a ceiling-mounted motion detector on the main and basement levels.

The only other wire in the bundle is a single Cat.6 labeled (as best I can read the Sharpie chicken-scratch on the cable) "WAP".  Now, in my experience that means "Wireless Access Point" but would it be the same thing in a security context?

Additionally, I have no idea where the other end of that Cat.6 cable comes out.  It disappears straight up through the ceiling of the basement and from there, who knows?  I've looked behind every blank plate I can find in the place, and I have accounted for and connected every data port.  Conveniently enough, the security wire is a different color than any of the data cables, so I'd know if I'd found it.  Any ideas how to trace the wire, without busting up the walls, if I can't get ahold of the electrician who installed it?

EDIT: Added several pictures.  Pretty much what you see here is all I get to see of the wiring.

Here's the security bundle as I found it.

Four 22/4s and a Cat.6, labeled "Basement" "Main Floor KP" "Main Floor Motion" "Master KP" and "WAP."  Most of that's pretty obvious.

Mostly they just vanish through here, no further way to trace them from the basement.

Apart from the yellow one, the one labeled "Basement," that clearly ends up here.

This is where the "Main Floor Motion" cable ends up.  Trust me, I'm not climbing back up there to open it up again just now.

Here's the entrance keypad wire.

And here's the Master Bedroom keypad wire.

That's all I've got to go on, and I could no doubt get something working with just the 4-element wires (and maybe internet monitoring), but I'd like to have some idea how that Cat.6 figures into the scheme if possible.

The trade answer is a toner and probe, it is also the easiest.

An amazon search for ' telephone tracer ' will show a range of products I am talking about.

A toner is the tool that the phone company supplies to their employees that need to find a specific pair of wires in a cable, or inside a wall. Other places use them too.

The tool is art meets science if you are looking for 1 pair of wires in a bundle of 100, but if you are just looking for a cable, they are fairly easy.

This can also be used to find DEAD - NO POWER - outlets/breakers


7500 Watt Manual Transfer Switch has #10 wires, but my well pump is wired with #8 Problem!  I have a 1.5 hp 230 VAC deep well pump on a 30A circuit breaker wired with #8 copper that runs a couple hundred feet to the pump controller.  Pump specs say it draws 9.7 amps and allows 808 feet of #8 service panel to motor.  I now have a Firman H08051 Dual Fuel portable generator (10K/8K gas; 9050/7250 LPG) with the intent to run on propane.  The generator has a L14-30R Receptacle to connect to a Reliance 306CRK Manual Transfer Switch that came with a 10' cable of 4 conductor 10 AWG cable.  The generator inlet box has 3' of #10 wire to the transfer switch, and the transfer switch adds 3' of #10 wire to the service panel.  So the question is, can I power this 30 amp circuit with #10 wire when it's using #8 wire out to the load?  And if I can, what is the best connection going from #10 to #8?

You should be OK. The ampacity of the 8 ga is 40 amps, but who ever installed it was considering voltage drop over that long a run and used 8ga. A wise precaution and someone who actually followed installation specs...nice!
The ampacity of 10ga is 30 amps and such a short run between the generator and xfer switch won't have any appreciable voltage drop.
Most of the experienced electricians here don't really like the type of transfer switches you are using. They are over-priced for what they do and there are better alternatives, like a mechanical interlock on the main panel between the main breaker and the generator breaker. That way there is very little re-wiring to be done and you can easily pick and choose which, of all your circuits, are powered at one time simply by turning off existing individual breakers.
If you carry on with your xfer switch, there are tons of easy options to connect 8 ga with 10 ga.


Maximum retaining wall height Some retaining walls from the home improvement store stated that Maximum Wall Height is 2 feet. For example, Tranquil Olde Manor Concrete Retaining Wall Block from Lowes. My question is that why there is such limitation and if I can do some "workaround" to get it to stand up for 3 feet instead? I mean if I glue them and have proper crushed rock / drainage, I don't feel like 3 feet would cause any issue.

Can you give me some suggestion on why or why not? Thanks

This is about load bearing and claims. The pressure associated with 2 ft of dirt is probably well within the load bearing specification of the blocks in question. 3 feet may not cause any issue, but you cannot hold the manufacturer liable if it collapses and/or if someone gets hurt.

If you exceed the manufacturers specifications an inspector might have a problem with it too. I would recommend adding weep holes, french drains, and possibly a deadman. And since much of the weight comes from moisture, the backfill could be gravel, to improve drainage. In fact there are lots of ways to shore-up a retaining wall, but the onus would be on the "engineer" if something were to fail.

Here's a good picture of some retaining wall features. Source: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/nvswcd/youyourland/soil.htm

Edit- A tie back is used on block walls. Screw types and anchor plates are common, but there are probably many ways to accomplish the act of tying or holding the wall in a similar fashion.


Is there a PVC piping primer/cement alternative for a non-plumbing project? I'd like to construct a case out of PVC schedule-40 bits and pieces.  The case is for a rifle-cleaning rod that I want to keep from getting bent/scraped.  I'll need to connect schedule-40 pipe to caps/adapters/plugs/etc.

Is there something else I can use for the cement other than the traditional PVC primer and cement?

I'm too cheap to want to spend $15 on a can of each, as I'm unlikely to use them again in the future.  I'm hoping that I could use super glue or epoxy or something common, as I don't need this contraption to hold up under water pressure.

You should be able to find smaller/cheaper containers of glue.  You can definitely skip the primer for this application, using the PVC cement by itself will be plenty.


Electrical panel ground issue I just moved my shop to a new location here in sunny North Hollywood CA and was looking over the electrical panel and noticed there is no ground wire coming in from the service entrance. There is a 200 amp main on the outside rear wall and that feeds the inside panel about 30 feet away. Here are pics of both.

I'm wondering if I need to hire someone to come out or if this appears ok. Thanks for any info! My buddies shop just had an electrical fire so super on edge about it!

We see a lot of really bad electrical work here.  This is not that.  I wouldn't lose any sleep if my panel looked like this.  There are a few defects.

If you're really worried about electrical fires, inspect all your wiring and install AFCI breakers on all the circuits which are not in steel conduit, or which have flexible cords plugged into them.

Ground doesn't necessarily come from the service entrance

Nothing says the ground must come in from the service entrance.  The two hots and neutral do.  Ground is derived from rods, water pipe, etc. and brought into the main panel/breaker.

Your situation is a little unusual since you have a main breaker in a different box from the main panel (which does not have a main breaker).  It appears your ground comes into the main-breaker box.   Make sure it goes to somewhere which is an actual legal ground.

You can see where it bonds to neutral there, and then bonds to the case through a flat strap.  This is the only place ground should bond to neutral.

Ground is carried from the main breaker to the main panel via the metal conduit.  Metal conduit is a valid grounding path.

Is neutral tied to ground in the main panel?

The main panel has all its neutrals neatly separated from all its grounds.  That suggests good work.  However, I am concerned that it appears there's a bond between the neutral bar and the ground bar, and I don't entirely see how the ground bar is bonded to the actual metal case of the breaker panel.  There should not be a neutral-ground bond in more than one place.

Fill the empty holes in the panel

The knockout holes should be capped. They make plugs just for that.  But first...

Too many conductors in that conduit

Look just to the right of the main cable entrance, you see a conduit with 5 hots and 5 neutrals going into it.  If the conduit is longer than 24", that's too many - the maximum is 4 circuits per conduit**.

So, lay a second parallel conduit and move 2 of the circuits to it. Don't pick any 4 random wires, always keep hot together with its partner neutral.

If you must put 5-10 circuits in a conduit, you must de-rate, meaning use thicker wire: 12 AWG for a 15A circuit, and 10 AWG for a 20A circuit.

** The gory details are in NEC 310.15b3a. You are allowed up to 9 conductors in a single conduit, regardless of size.  Grounds don't count.  In a 240V circuit, neutrals don't count since they only carry imbalance current.

Above 9 wires, you have to "de-rate" wire capacity.  For 10-20 wires, use 12AWG for a 15A circuit or 10 AWG for a 20A circuit.  For 21-40 wires, use 10 AWG for 15A, or 8 AWG for 20A.


Custom rail for a spiral staircase I have (foolishly) bought an oak spiral staircase on craigslist. I was able to use the treads OK, but I'm completely unable to fit the rail that came with it. So I need to construct a custom one. I'm open to wooden as well as metal rails or any other workable solution. Just hoping to get some ideas on how to proceed. What would you do in this situation?

Just a warning, unless you are pretty handy this should be done by a pro. If you have done large glue ups before, and have 2 people to help at glue up time and everything protected from dripping glue, you may have a chance.

It starts with your wood selection, for a finished hand rail that will measure 1 1/4" to 1" thick by 2" wide you will need 8- 1/4" thick by 1 1/2" wide strips of straight grained oak, Get more than what you need by third or more. Get at least enough full length pieces to have every other laminate a full piece and a foot longer than needed on either end. If you can get all the full length, better still. I am going with these dimensions and quantities since it looks like you balusters are perhaps  1 1/4" square, the 2" finish will give a little wood to go around the baluster, and the 1 1/2" thick material should be easier to find than the thicker material, less costly too. The extra material is to cull out the pieces that do not want to bend as uniformly as others. Because of the 1 1/4" thickness, you will need to cut the balusters shorter so the raw wood does not show if you choose to mortise in the balusters.

Next is protecting the floor and steps. Blue or green tape the upper corners of the noses of the treads paper everything else and secure flat, no wrinkles with tape. Glue WILL GET EVERYWHERE!!! what does not get around by dripping, will get around by stepping in it, rubbing against it, sitting in it, you name it. While gluing this much together you and others, if you are doing it right, will not have enough time to concentrate on cleanliness, since you will be wrestling slippery wood with glue all over it trying to clamp them in place.

To start the glue up, you will need enough clamps for one about every 6", or closer. This does not include what you need to hold "guide blocks" in place. Better to have extra on hand rather than finding you do not have enough to finish the job once you start. That would be disastrous. Typically, many glue ups "give back" a little when released from the clamping jig, and take a slightly larger radius, so this is why you will use the inside of the balusters and treads to use as a gluing jig. It will give all your angles and radius and rise to meet your needs. The glue up will be on top of the treads and clamped to the balusters at the bottom of the balusters so the treads will define the bottom face of the  rail before truing up at the finishing stage.

Do a mock up gluing, with no glue to get a feel for how the wood is going to be contrary, and it will. when glue is added it will be much worse, so learn how to handle it now. If the 1/4" material is not yielding like it should, have it re-planed down to 3/16". I truly believe that 1/4" will work, but if for some reason  it does not, go with the 3/16" and add more strips to get your 2" in width. You will find that if you add "L" shaped pieces of plywood clamped to the balusters so the long part of the "L" is vertical and clamped on the balusters in 2 places each on every other baluster, having the short part setting horizontal over the nose of the tread, it will surely help control the strips while clamping.

When gluing, I would use a yellow glue like alphatic resin glue. Titebond or Elmers professional and the like. You will need to move fast. The glue has a good open time, but you will have a lot of gluing to do at one time, and a lot of clamping at one time. Cover the entire surface with glue, no dry spots at all. If you have your program down for dry clamping, perhaps numbering the strips may help in reassembling after glue has been added, since it may be advisable to lay all the strips out flat over a large clean area, let the glue fly over the whole surface of strips laid out tightly together, flip over, set tightly together again and let the glue fly again. Perhaps a paint tray and roller may be of assistance on this. You will need your helpers handy just to keep the strips behaving while adding glue.

When setting the strips to the treads and balusters, before you add any clamps, even the ones previously mentioned, use tape to add small wood block to the balusters, so when the clamps are set, the clamp does not make a mark or marks on your finished balusters. Back to setting the strips, You may be able to set 3 or 4 rows of strips at a time, you may be able to set more. More the better, as long as it is fast and efficient. The idea is to set it clamped from the bottom up every 6" completely, not a clamp here and there, and fill in later, if you do, there will be gaps or flat spots created. 2 different radii once set on the ends, do not like coming together, so the clamps must be added from the bottom up. Some can be added loosely to aid in holding the strips, but do not tighten, until all the ones below are tight in their proper sequence. FWIW, These glue ups are done on a jig that the strip are added to on the outside of the jig, much easier to handle. But that jig is made at the onset of the stair fabrication, at least for semi-circular stairs and everything is built up on that jig. In your case you would need to replicate a jig that has the same radius as the inside edge of the proposed handrail, and layout the EXACT rise that is needed or you will have the same problem when you adjusted the treads for your situation, though not a severe as an issue since no mortises are cut for the balusters. Again just a mention.

Once the glue up is done and dry for a day or 2, remove the clamps, and the curve will be set well enough. The curve may open up a little, that will be expected, but it will get it closer to the center line of the balusters. Next is cleaning up a lot of glue.

While gluing, you will notice the laminations will not line up across the top and bottom of the handrail, corners will be above another. That what it takes to bend the helix shape. Your best tool for cleaning this up may be a belt sander, continuously moving to uniformly knock down the corners simultaneously on the section you are cleaning up. Start with 32 grit or your belt will clog quickly due to overheating. The glue will soften with heating and bind to the belt.

This is a jig I made to line up the bent rail for marking the locations for the mortises on the bottom, and for marking the angles you will ned to cut your balusters. How you cut them will depend on how you choose to fix it in place. There are a few options here.

Gotta go for now, more with pics later on marking out the balusters for setting to the rail


Installing electrical sub-panel at future above-ground pool Sorry to beat a dead horse with this subject but I'm a little unclear when it comes to the issue of installing additional ground rods. So here's my situation....The pool has not been installed yet but I've run an 8/2 UF-B line (not live yet) that will run about 130-140' from the house breaker panel to a 2 circuit sub-panel at the pool location. One circuit will be dedicated to the pool pump and the other circuit will be for general use since the pool is so far away from the house. My general use outlet box is connected about 6" away from the sub-panel via water-tight conduit and a GFCI outlet. The pool pump circuit will be connected with the same type conduit and GFCI outlet but will be about 6' from the sub-panel. Both outlets will be more than 5' from the edge of the pool. So, besides my question of needing an additional ground rod, if not, is the 12 gauge ground in the 8/2 line sufficient back to the house panel?

This gets seemingly odd because of the Article 680 rules specific to pools and other water features.

First off, pool feeders are not allowed to be direct buried as per 680.25 and the Exception thereto which AFAICT doesn't apply to outdoor cabling, so unless your AHJ disagrees with me and applies the exception, you'll have to dig up the existing UF and re-run it in conduit (either red brass RMC or IMC, or Schedule 80 PVC or RTRC-XW IF you protect the aboveground portions from physical damage).

Second, your pool will have an equipotential grid of some type associated with it (at least for the pool surround, if not under the pool itself) -- this is a Code requirement to avoid hazardous step potentials in the pool area.  All conductive things directly associated with the pool (i.e. within 5' of it or part of the water circulating system) must be bonded to this grid as per 680.26 -- this includes the pool pump motor.  From there, the pool equipotential grid is connected to the regular bonding system by the pool pump motor's EGC.  While the AHJ can't make you put a direct link between the equipotential grid and the subpanel ground bus in, it's a good idea to do so, using the same 8AWG that's used for the equipotential grid.

Last but not least, your 8/2 should have a 10AWG ground -- 12AWG copper ground wires are only good for 20A circuits, max.


Plumbing connections for basement bathroom My house is a bit of a strange design.  Although the living room appears to be an addition to the home, it was actually built at the same time as the rest of the house.  Looking at the front of the house, the living room is the left 1/3 of the house and has a "crawl space" and the rest of the house is built on a basement.  The basement has 9ft ceilings and has a door that opens to the area under the living room.  The area under the living room is about 11 ft high.  Stepping out of the door, the ground is about two feet below the level of the basement floor.

There is currently no plumbing in the basement, so the main drain pipe coming from the house above extends through the wall into the area under the living room, and then drops at about a 45 degree angle and extends across the length of the living room and exits at ground level on the other side of the living room (left-most wall of the house).  I would like to add a restroom in the basement and wondered if there would be any problem connecting the drain pipes directly to that angled dropping pipe as long as I stay above the lowest point of the pipe?

Here's a rudimentary diagram of what I'm talking about:

I'll not be doing the work myself as I know my limitations, but I would like to get an idea if this is feasible and if there are any gotchas I might need to be aware of before I bring a plumber in to look at it.

Thanks in advance for any pointers you might have.

Yes, you are in an excellent position to add a basement bathroom.

Definitely involve a competent plumber in this process. Properly venting and properly attaching the new waste drains to the existing waste drain will be important to prevent the basement bathroom traps from being sucked dry when waste is leaving the upper floors. This is an easy part to mess up in a renovation like you're suggesting.


Fixing a kitchen sink pipe that is leaking I have a pipe on the kitchen sink that is leaking as shown in the picture below:

Would it be enough to just tighten the bold from where the leak starts (in which case I need to buy a pipe wrench) or call a plumber to replace the brass pipe which look to be rusted on top?

It appears to be leaking at the compression fitting from brass or copper to ABS. Simply tightening the nut there should do, but you may need to disassemble and clean off any calcium deposits to get a good seal. A ChannelLock type plier works well.

The reason it's leaking, though, is probably because the trap is clogged. You wouldn't normally have enough back-pressure to push water out at that point. If the trap is constructed with similar compression fittings, simply take it a part and clean things out. The clog is probably grease and soap goo.


How do I read *instant* wattage draw from my spinning-disc electric meter? I have the old school electric meter with the (far too rapidly) spinning disc.  I already know how to read five little clock faces for cumulative KWH.

I want to know the instantaneous kilowatts my house is drawing right now. How can I figure that out by timing how fast the disc spins?

Yes.  You can determine your instant watts or kilowatts by using a stopwatch to time how long the disc takes to go around.  Then you need to do a little bit of math.   Not too much, promise :)

First, look for a figure somewhere on your electric meter called Kh. 7.2 is a common number, so you'd see a marking like 7.2 Kh or perhaps a different number. **

Take the Kh number and multiply it by 3600.  You can call this number Ks.  You might as well write this number on the meter, you'll be using it a lot.  ***

Use a stopwatch/phone to count the number of seconds per 1 revolution of the disc.  (If it's moving too fast or you want more precision, time 10 revolutions and divide by 10.)

Start with the Ks number (Kh x 3600) and now divide by the number of seconds. That is the number of watts being used right now. **** For instance if Ks is 25920 and it took 6 seconds, 25920/6 is 4320 watts.

If you want kilowatts, divide watts by 1000 (4.320 kw).

** gory details: Kh is the number of watt-hours per revolution.  A watt-hour is 1 watt for 1 hour. *If you had only a 1-watt LED nightlight burning, it would take Kh hours to turn.*

*** gory details: multiplying Kh by 3600 gives the number of watt-seconds per revolution, since there are 3600 seconds in an hour.  By the way, for a 7.2Kh meter, this number will be 25920.

**** gory details: Ks is the watt-seconds per revolution.  Divide by the number of seconds per revolution, the result is watts!

***** gory details: another example picture.


How do I clean a cheap blow torch? I have one of those cheap Mapp gas + nozzle torches I'm using for sweat sodering and the tip clogged up today.  How do I go about cleaning it?

I have doubt it's even the tip clogging - could be a valve failure and have the described symptoms. I have never needed to clean the orifices on a propane torch, and I've been using them (the same ones, for the most part, other than having them walk off sometimes) for decades. Oxy-acetylene, yes - those can and do get sooted up. Propane/propylene-air - never.

Sometimes "cheap" is expensive, and "costly" is inexpensive.


electrical, additional lights I want to add some lights in my basement.  currently there is two lights with 12gauge wire on 20 amp breaker.

Can I add lights using 14 garage to the chain of existing lights?

No, not unless you also swap the breaker out for a 15A.
If there's 14g anywhere on the circuit you can't use a 20A breaker.


One outlet causes all power to go out I have an outlet in my home that not only does not work if it is not in a certain position, but shuts off the power to about a 1/4 of my home if it’s not in an awkward angled position.

At first I thought it was being overloaded, and I even tried flipping the breakers with nothing plugged in, and it will keep the power down. There must be something plugged into that outlet and it must keep the outlet in an odd angle for it to run and not shut off electricity in other areas of the home.

Does anyone know what’s causing this or what I can do to fix it?

It sounds as if you have a bad connection in that outlet as it feeds other fixtures and outlets downstream. The pressure from the cord is probably pulling the connection closed, and it breaks when the pressure is removed.

This may be due to a loose screw, a broken wire, or a defective outlet body.

It also sounds as if you have little to no experience in dealing with electrical circuits. They can be dangerous for the inexperienced, and you may wish to bring in a professional (or an experienced friend) to help solve the problem.


What distance should I see between studs in a wood frame home built in 1943? My house was built in 1943.  It is a wood frame house and the interior walls are lath and plaster.  My goal is to find the studs so I can mount a TV bracket for a flat screen TV.  I have read that the stud detectors can in some cases detect metal nails used to mount the lath prior to the plaster being applied. It may be removing the baseboard to look for the studs might be just as successful.  My question is if the convention for studs being centered at 16 inches would have been in effect in 1943?  I think the house was built by a European builder since the kitchen counters depths are a couple of inches less than the depths in more recently built homes.

16 inches on center.

Note that lathe and plaster has a number of advantages over more modern drywall, but studfinding is not among those.  A standard stud finder you might buy or rent is likely to give confusing results.  However a super powerful magnet, or a magnet based stud finder, will work just dandy.  A row of small nails runs up and down each stud holding the lathe strips.

Removing the baseboards probably won't help at all.  Often, but not always, one edge of an electrical outlet aligns with a stud.  Framing can get funny near doorways or windows... the magnet is your friend.


Separate laminate from chipboard I am trying to separate the thin layer of laminate that is glued to the chipboard.
I have so far managed to cut the piece across the width, and after soaking it in water for several days the chipboard does come off a little if a scrape it with the teeth of a saw, but there is a high risk of damaging the laminate.
Is there a solvent that would work in this case?
This is originally an 18mm chipboard typically used in kitchen cabinet.
The piece of wood in question:

It may be a hot glue used, try a wet / damp towel and a hot iron to loosen it, but you will need to do so while it is extremely hot. Be careful. A broad putty knife may be handy for this.

Picture courtesy Lowes
This may not be an easy solution, while hot the laminate will be very weak and flimsy, let alone the hot glue may want to bond the laminate to the knife as you are going, if it does anything at all. Get it too hot, it will damage the laminate too.
If you really feel you need to cover the hole, recut the hole to a square opening, then cut the filler piece to match the size of the hole. Another tip would be to taper the sides of the new cut and the filler so it will stop at a given place.


instead of removing low area..........puddles in my concrete patio Amending my original question...
The edge of slab is only a couple feet from Low area and it would pour into  gravel theoretically if not for the low point.   would it make more sense to try to grind down that portion ...?

ORIGINAL QUESTION-- whats best way to even out areas of concrete patio where rain water collects into 2 large puddles and it also sits right up against pool decking

A crack has also formed which I tried to patch with concrete caulking

Please help I have been trying to find the right solution and dont really understand if I should use self leveling or if it needs to be done in thin layers

Grinding down concrete in a wide area (enough area to fix your problem) takes special equipment (a large concrete surface grinder) and is usually not aesthetically pleasing. It will change the texture and appearance and often exposes the aggregate (think pebbles, rocks, gravel) which lies under the surface. It would work but you would have to hire it done, and live with the new look.

You might consider cutting narrow drain slots from the low area/depression out to the edge, at just enough depth to facilitate drainage. With a bit of creativity this can be done in a way that may not be altogether hideous. You would start shallow and go progress slightly deeper to provide just enough slope for water to drain down. It is a fairly common method, and you can do it yourself with a circular saw and masonry blade:

P.S.- trying to resurface/level it by troweling products on top of the existing slab usually results, over time, with you apologizing to yourself and anyone else who sees it.


AC wire hanging out by itself in receptacle, safe? I am replacing my smoke detector with a Nest one (battery powered) and no longer need this AC connection -- is it okay to tuck it into the wall as it is or should there be a cap or something? Not sure how safe or unsafe either route is (and whether a cap exists here to place on the plug). Thanks in advance.

To your question on the plugs, yes you can just stuff them into the hole and leave them there, there are no exposed wires (no more than any switch or receptacle would have anyway). If you are overly cautious you could put some electrical tape over them, but I didn't bother when I swapped mine out.

One thing to be aware of, many of these older "hard wired" smoke detectors would "talk" to other units on the same wires, so if one goes off, they all go off, but also they would learn what other units were on the connections. So when you remove only one of them then, you get the others eventually start "chirping" at you to tell you that one of their pals is not responding. So if you remove one, you should remove and replace them all.

Also, some local fire codes REQUIRE that you have hard wired smoke detectors with battery backup. While living in the house it's up to you, but when you go to sell the house some day (or you are a renter and move out), you may be required to replace them with hard wired versions again.


I want to connect rain shower head - how should I disconnect this plug? I had a renovation of my bathroom done recently by a contractor. Only thing he left not done was installing rain shower head (as it was still in transit from the e-store). He left me with this plug in water outlet - can I safely unscrew it and screw my rain shower in? Should I isolate it somehow so that water won't drip under the tiles? I am a total newbie when it comes to any home-improvement related things, I tried googling it but didn't find definite answer. Thank you for patience and being understanding :)

My rain shower ending

There should be a brass or copper block above your ceiling that the piece you're trying to remove is threaded in to. Your picture is showing what appears to be an extended plug. That's not uncommon to see after a plumber roughs in a home. The entire "plug", brass and PVC, should come out and then you'll wrap the threads of your rain head with teflon tape and thread it into the brass/copper block in the ceiling.


Natural gas smell in house after new roof installation We just had our roof replaced today, and I've noticed a distinct smell of natural gas at random times while walking through the house. When they were here they had large pieces of wood up against the garage to protect it and I noticed the garage reaked of the smell after they left. So I opened the garage to let it air out, and now it's fine. But I still have random smells theoughout the house that smells like natural gas (we do have a gas range and water heater).

Is this normal, after replacing our gas vent? Could this be something else that just smells like gas?

Fwiw, I have two young daughters in the house  - kind of worried to go to sleep without figuring this out first.

If in ANY doubt about whether there is a significant gas leak, evacuate, alert the fire department, and tell the gas company to send someone over with a sniffer to check for gas and find the source if a leak does exist.

However, remember that there might just be a skunk in the area...

If you're using gas, it's probably worth investing in a gas alarm before this issue arises. Some serve as carbon monoxide alarms too.

(I heat with gas, have cooked on a gas range (the only option I like more is inductive, and that's a bit of a mixed bag), and will probably switch to a gas dryer when I upgrade the laundry, so I'm certainly not particularly afraid of it. But like electricity it should be treated with respect, and if it seems to be appearing someplace it shouldn't, you want someone who knows what they are doing to investigate.)


1mm² wire load capacity I have used a 1mm² wire to power my refrigerator and my ro water purifier? My electrician had set that up and he told me that he is using a 1.5mm² wire! so is 1mm² wire ok to power up my refrigerator and water purifier?  Any harm? please advice. Many thanks in advance

Disclaimer: Consult local electrical code, and/or utilize a licensed and experienced electrician.

Typically there are code restrictions for what kind of supply wire should be present for different installations. This is usually a function of the Amperage of the system, not the device plugged in. For instance, a 20 amp service at 120 v in the US is typically required to be wired in 12 GA solid copper (or 3.31mm2).

Since this amperage is the primary concern, I would stick to anything larger than or equal to at least the equivalent of 14ga wire. However to minimize things like dimmer of other related circuits, I would stick to 12Ga wire where possible.

Wire size conversions - http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/awg-wire-gauge-d_731.html


Can I erect a barrier to keep water out of my garage? Within the last year, I have purchased an 80+ year-old house. The house has a sealed blacktop driveway that runs parallel to the house. The house has an integrated garage with swing-open (horizontally opening) doors. The garage floor is about 2-3 inches lower than the driveway, with the bottom of the doors being below the drop-off where the driveway meets the garage floor.

The garage gets some water in it, and when it storms it gets a lot of water. For the first time, we realized that the water may possibly be coming in through this gap since there's nothing to stop it (as opposed to general foundation leaking).

Is there a barrier method we can employ on the outside of the garage? Installing a french drain or similar mechanism would be extremely difficult due to the placement of the driveway and the garage, but laying those water-inflatable barriers would not be an option for freezing temperatures. How would I build such a barrier, and of what material? I'd like to keep the profile of the barrier as low as effectively possible to be able to use the garage from time to time.

Strangely enough, I have had to deal with this same problem a few times. Short of raising the garage or pouring a second higher floor, the solution is in the driveway.  We had to excavate apx 6 feet of asphalt and create a gradual dip draining away from the house and garage to exit water. Obviously, they screwed up big time when the driveway was installed. Installing drains in the garage won't work, especially in freezing, thawing etc. All you will get is an ice covered floor.  The only solution is to stop the water from getting in. That is going to mean reforming the driveway to self drain away, not into you garage. There is no quick cheap solution to your problem. Gravity rules!


How do I seal the bottom of this door to be waterproof? I'm going to be replacing this front door with a new prehung exterior steel frame door (pic available upon request).

This door leads to a concrete porch and water tends to flow towards the door.  The door leaks around the bottom, and water drains into the basement area below the door.  This has caused 3 joists to completely rot through (already replaced) and when I replace the door I want to prevent this from happening again - at least as much as possible.

This is the bottom of the door from the inside

and outside

with closeups (L to R)

I have pictures of the basement area as well but I doubt those are useful.  I was thinking of replacing the wood and simply generously applying a LOT of sealant caulk (maybe something like used for sealing between concrete and patios rather than just plain silicon)... but I'm not sure.

Recommendations?

"water tends to flow towards the door" is your problem. The right way to fix this is to redo the exterior so water will flow away from the house. Sealing the gap would be a good secondary action, but if you leave it at that, you'll constantly be dealing with leaks.


Can I use Murphy's oil soap to remove pine sap from composite decking? Does anyone know of anyway to remove pine sap from composite decking?  I saw some posts that recommended using Murphy's Oil Soap for removing it from wood decks.

How to Remove Tree Sap from a Wood Deck
How to Remove Pine Tree Sap From a Wooden Deck
Homemade Deck Cleaner

However, none of them discuss how to remove it from composite decking.

Is it safe to use an oil soap on composite decking?  Would this also work for removing it off of bluestone patio pavers?

I have cleaned pine sap off deck chairs, deck table and cedar decking by first scraping with a plastic scraper. Then I wet a paper towel in turpentine and wipe off the remainder. Sometimes it is necessary to saturate the area to soften the sap so it can be removed by further scraping and wiping with the turpentine.

The deck chairs I cleaned this way had plastic fabric seat material and were not noticeably affected by the turpentine. Of course after using the turpentine I followed up with a wash using warm soapy water to remove any of the chemical residue.

I have every reason to believe that this cleaning technique would with the composite type deck materials. Since there are variations in material compositions it would be wise to check in a small inconspicuous area before committing the whole cleaning procedure.


Pool cover efficiency versus intactness of cover We have a pool with an odd shape that makes it difficult to use a pool cover.  Specifically, the sides of the pool change elevation in several places which make it impossible to use a roller to easily retract the pool cover when not in use.  There is usually only one person around when the cover needs to be retracted, and it usually takes about half an hour and is very tiring.

If the pool cover was cut into smaller pieces it would make an easier job of it, as each piece could be rolled up separately; the weight of each piece would be managable, and the need to run back and forth across a 30 foot length to try to keep both ends rolling up evenly would be eliminated.

However, my concern is how much of the benefit of a pool cover would be lost.  The actual gaps caused by having multiple pieces would potentially allow some heat to escape, but of more concern is the fact that water would more easily get on top of the individual pieces where it could evaporate and carry off heat.  Reducing water usage is one motivation for using the cover in the summer; there is a lot of shade during the day so overheating the pool isn't a big concern, but I assume that since most of the heat loss is through evaporation the two goals mess well.

The cover is the silver/gray plastic type with bubbles that sit on the bottom when it floats in the pool, so it is also likely there would be a strip along the cut where the bubbles are destroyed.  Obviously once I cut I can't undo the process so I don't want to do so until I have considered all the ramifications.

Is this something that I should do?  If so, how much efficiency can I expect to lose? (For instance, if the cover was heating the pool by 15 degrees, how much can I expect when the cover in pieces?)  Is there a particular pattern of pieces that would be more efficient?  For instance, perhaps cutting stripes across the width of the pool would prevent the cover from overlapping itself and exposing gaps when the pump is on.

It's crazy complicated. But:

If you are concerned with heat-loss due to evaporation, then reducing the exposed surface area will help. The rate of evaporation is proportional to surface area.

If you are likewise concerned with maximizing heat-gain from the sun, then that too is proportional to surface area.

Finally, heat loss due to convention is also proportional to surface area.

So everything you care about is strongly affected by surface area, thus maximizing the amount of water that is covered is a good goal.

It's impossible to estimate how important this will all be as far as actual water and heat loss/gain - you haven't given enough information in your question to judge that.

The unanswered question is how much heat and water loss your pool is experiencing, and what is preventing it from losing more. You might alter the rate of cooling/water-loss without actually affecting the ultimate final temperature and total water-loss.

Example: If I have a leaky bucket that I fill up with water once, it doesn't mater how quickly the bucket drains because once it's empty there isn't any more water to lose. If I am constantly topping up the bucket, then fixing those leaks is more important.

If I were you, I'd conduct an experiment. Leave the cover totally off for a few days and measure whatever you care about (water level, temperature, pool-heater-energy-consumption). Then do the same with the cover on, and perhaps again with the cover 1/2 on. That should give you enough information to make a gut decision on how much the pool cover is helping.


Fire pit inner ring. Purposes and can I make my own from a barrel cut out? I've seen metal rings for fire pits advertised for around 100 dollars on various sites, more or less, and I was wondering what the advantages of having one are?  I think one is heat distribution to avoid direct heating of the surrounding rock/concrete, but is there another purpose?  Do people successfully DIY their own or is it not worth trying?

Edit: An example of the ring I was talking about

(edit Most barrels...) won't last very long as fire pits. I know this from burning trash when I was a kid. By the time the barrel was full it was falling apart. I never counted, but I would expect it to work well for about 10-20 burns and maybe 50-60 burns before its paper thin and falling apart.

Edit: The thickness of the metal is what matters. 18 gauge drums are what I find to be the industry standard; 18 gauge won't last very long in my opinion. A thicker drum would last longer. I personally own a fire pit object that is very thin, which probably would not last more than 10 burns. So it goes to show that any ol' manufacturer may not necessarily make a decent product.

I have seen barrels converted to wood stoves. I have seen some of them fall apart and I have seen some stand for decades. This is due (primarily) to the thickness of the steel.

Edit2: Product reviews are probably important when you can't get the actual specifications. Amazon has reviews for the example product that you linked... 3.5 stars is not so hot.


Can someone explain this interface of frigidaire front load washing machine? Can someone please explain this interface (the buttons, what do they do?) of front load washing machine from frigidaire?

Looks like from left to right:
Load size, extra rinse, soak, no tumble, Not a clue, Water Temp, Cycle length


How can I safely connect a 240v shallow well pump to a switch? I have a shallow well supplying utility water on a rural property. It's currently plugged into a standard 120v outlet. I'll be running a dedicated 240v circuit using 12/2 cable so I can use the pump's optional 240v mode. I'd like to use a common double-pole switch (four-way) to allow us to disable the pump when we're not on the property rather than always unplugging it.
Should I hard-wire the pump's cord into the switch in a junction box, or should I install an aftermarket 240v plug? If the latter, what plug type is appropriate?

I'd like to use a common double-pole switch (four-way)

Those are completely different things.  You just said "Toyota Prius pickup truck".
A common 4-way switch is a "reversing switch", it does not disconnect anything at all.  It won't disconnect the motor; it won't even reverse a 1-phase motor, just cause a huge voltage spike if you tried lol.
A double-pole switch is exceedingly uncommon and I wouldn't expect a home store to stock one.
Regardless, you don't need a double-pole switch, a single-pole will suffice if it's rated for 240V. So you'll be up in the $10 "heavy duty" kinds.

to allow us to disable the pump when we're not on the property

I quite agree with Jeff, however. If your goal is an occasional disconnect, just flip the breaker off.  I do that all the time with fridges and water heaters. Technically you should use a breaker rated "SWD" or "Switching Duty", but any new breaker should be (am I right ThreePhaseEel, does that apply to 2-pole breakers?)

Should I hard-wire the pump's cord into the switch in a junction box, or should I install an aftermarket 240v plug? If the latter, what plug type is appropriate?

GOOD question, many would misuse a 120V NEMA 5-15. Heck the entire nation of the Philippines does exactly that lol.
The correct plug-socket for a 240V-ground-not-neutral connection is the NEMA 6 family.
Doubling voltage  halves current, so the correct plug is a NEMA 6-15.   For sockets:

A 15A breaker requires 15A sockets (NEMA 6-15).

If the breaker is 20A, and there is only 1 socket (simplex), it must be NEMA 6-20.

If 20A and 2+ sockets, you can have any mix of 6-15 and 6-20 sockets.

Note how the 6-20 socket is keyed to accept a 6-15 plug.  All these here are double (duplex) sockets, so one duplex 6-15 will work with both breaker sizes.


Epoxy fumes won't leave our home. Help! So my husband decided to paint our smurf blue tub and shower with an epoxy white paint. He used two cans that came with the kit and it didn't cover. When the nearest Lowes was without another spray kit, he began to use an epoxy paint on it the following day. The packaging said you could combine their spray and paint kits.

However, we have had to spend the last two nights in a relative's home in order to prevent my young toddler from breathing in these fumes. We have left all windows open and fans going all day and the house still smells. It is just a tiny bathroom in the master bedroom. But I can smell the epoxy in the basement and garage below.

How do we get rid of the smell? I am almost afraid to let my son sleep in his bedroom across the hall. He has a heart condition so I am extremely careful about exposing him to anything.

I think you're going to need more airflow than just open windows. You can probably rent a large air mover from your local home improvement store in order to circulate lots of air around.  Alternatively, try getting in touch with a local company that deals with cleaning up basement floods as they will have the same type of air movers.

You're looking for something like this:

(source: homedepot.ca)


Removing mini wideset handles without set screws or mounting nuts I want to remove a 1960s era mini wideset faucet that does not have any set screws or mounting bolts underneath to remove the faucet components.  My faucet appears to be similar to another StackExchange post (How to take apart this Pfister faucet?) although I can't confirm the make or model of mine.  I wasn't able to comment there so I'm opening a new post looking for help.

Here's a picture of the hot faucet handle.  I've tried prying off the top of the faucet handle, and I've tried turning the bottom of the faucet handle; those just spin around without unscrewing anything.

I'm not sure about the other posting, but on my faucet I've found that there's a brass mixing valve underneath the sink.  I believe that this mixing valve may be keeping everything in place.  But I can't figure out if I need to remove the faucet handles first, or try removing the mixing valve first.

There looks to be two nuts on the threaded supply line pipes on either side, but I can't pry them loose.  Maybe they're stuck (or maybe they're not nuts after all?).  Also there's a metal bracket right up against the underside of the sink; there's a screw between this bracket and the mixing valve (hidden, behind the faucet spout supply).  There is no nut or anything on that screw to deal with that right now.

Any thoughts?  Thank you!

Update 1: after some more attempts as the faucet handles, I looked at the spout instead.  When I pulled out the drain stop handle I looked down at the remaining hole and voila - a hex screw.  I opened my toolbox and I had two Allen wrenches.  I tried the larger one and sure enough it fit (I measured 3/16ths).  After a few dozen turns the spout popped off, leaving the following behind:

I was able to push the drain spout pipe out to the bottom, leaving the supply line to the drain spout, and the threaded bolt that was hidden in the picture above.  That also had a hex screw hole, so I pulled out the other Allen wrench I had.  Sure enough that one fit too (both were from Ikea assemblies, go figure).  The size on this one appears to be 3/32nds.

After a few dozen turns, the metal plate securing the mixer valve to the underside of the sink was loose.  The faucet handles are still connected to the mixer valve; this is where I'm stuck now.

The faucet is a Moen, model 4560.  It was imprinted (but mostly worn away) on the back of the faucet spout.

All guides and videos say that the bulbs on the handles just screw off easily.  That wasn't so here.  In the end, after numerous attempts, I hack sawed off the handles.  Not elegant but in this situation it was what was required.


Can I connect a portable generator to a subpanel to backfeed my house? I have a portable 6500 W generator. I have a main house electrical panel and a subpanel in my garage, which are on opposite sides of the house.  My subpanel is on the outside wall of my garage.  The main panel feeds the subpanel.

I would like to connect the generator to the subpanel which would then feed the main panel
and then I can decide which breaker (main breaker-OFF) to shut off and which to keep on.

Can this be done? What do I need and how do I do it?

NO.
You'll likely end up backfeeding the grid, which can easily lead to linemen being injured or killed.  A generator should never be connected to the electrical system without a proper transfer switch being installed.


Use of roof heating cables We had ice dam damage on our garage roof during a January cold snap in central New York.  We are unsure how to use our Emerson Easyheat cables.

We expect 5 degree lows this weekend. The cables are on and high temps are around 28, snowing off and on.

Should the cables be on the whole time this weekend?

If you have snow on the roof you run them when ever the temp is above about 28 °F. If you run them when it is too cold the water will melt around the cables but freeze before it drain way and this increases the risk of ice dam instead.


Do drain pipes (house to sewer) freeze? My basement drain is backing up a bit recently. Before I call a plumber, or rent an electric sewer snake from Home Depot, can sewer pipes freeze? It is January after all (and my house is in Canada).

Drain pipes are generally run below the "frost line" for the region, and should never freeze in anthing resembling a normal winter.


What prevents mortar from being compressed with the weight of courses of brick? What prevents Mortar from being compressed when courses of masonry are stacked.

Mortar is used much thicker than cement and even thicker than thinset.
Time
Bricks aren't that heavy and generally you aren't just stacking one on top of another.

The only time that you would ever have a weight issue is when building a column or post and if you were skilled enough to climb rows so fast that your previous stuff has no time to set.  I am not that good so I have never had that issue.  It takes me 3-4 minutes just to butter each brick even.  I imagine someone who is really good gets a lot of downtime when doing a post or they do a few posts at a time.

Also I imagine that someone asking this question has too much water in their mix.


How to clean a light tan vinyl fence? I had my back vinyl fence moved back a couple feet and some of the boards that were originally facing the back are now facing forward, so now there is this appearance that some boards are darker (dirtier) and some are lighter (cleaner).  If you look closely at the picture, you will notice the clean boards and the dirty ones.  What is the best way to clean this?  The dirty boards originally had some green mold, but I got this off with water and scrubbing with a broom and now what is left dirt (at least that is what I think it is).

Here is a picture:

Assuming this actually is dirt and not bleaching by the sun and some confusion on which boards faced which way...

Go to Home Depot and rent a pressure washer.

Test the pressure washer on a scrap piece of fencing before you use it on the real deal - if you get too close you could blast a hole in the vinyl - but it will remove the dirt.  Quite amazingly so.  I've seen dirty old grey decking look like brand spanking new after a good pressure wash.


Need help with correct wiring when replacing a hardwired smoke detector I was wondering if someone with some electrical experience or experience with these particular smoke detectors can assist with the replacement process.

I have a home security alarm system that has been inherited from the previous owner and there is a smoke detector connected to the alarm system that recently died.

My guess is that the smoke detector has been there for a decade already and now needs to be replaced due to old age. The old smoke detector is the System Sensor 2012H which has been discontinued. I want to replace it with the newer model System Sensor 2012/24 AUS.

The old smoke detector was installed on the ceiling and upon pulling it out, I noticed that there were different coloured wires coming from the ceiling that is wired to the terminals of the old smoke detector.

To replace the smoke detectors, it seems to be an easy matter of just attaching the coloured wires to their correct terminals to the new smoke detector. Unfortunately, the new smoke detector seems to have a lot more terminals than the old one and I am uncertain as to which wire should go to which terminals.

There are four coloured wires coming from the ceiling (black, white, red, and blue) and they are wired to the old smoke detector as shown in Figure 1. Note that the black wire is actually connected to the negative terminal in the photo even though it is drawn differently on the wiring diagram.

My guess is that for the new smoke detector, the black wire goes to the negative terminal, the white goes to the ground (GND) terminal, and the red and blue goes to the relay terminals. The problem is that I am not sure which wire and which of the relay terminals it should be connected to. I am thinking that one of them should go to the C terminal and the other should go to either NO or NC. The configuration that I am thinking of is shown in Figure 2. Is this correct?

EDIT:

This smoke detector was working until recently and the alarm has gone off in the past when it detected smoke in the house. It also used to blink a light to indicate that it was working but now it doesn't do that anymore. The black wire is connected to the negative terminal in the photo because on the device itself there is a negative symbol next to that particular terminal. It's a bit hard to see the symbol because the symbol is a protruding text coming out of the plastic cover itself similar to the text that you can see "constant horn indicates alarm". The diagram was taken from the manual and I don't know why but it seems to show the power input in the reverse order and conflicting with what is shown on the device itself.

System Sensor 2012H Installation Manual
System Sensor 2012/24 AUS Installation Manual

Figure 1: Old Smoke Detector Wiring

Figure 2: New Smoke Detector Wiring

You should find an installers manual for the main panel and read it thoroughly. But I will give you my thoughts below.

First off, your black wire is connected to the positive terminal not the negative terminal according to your picture and wiring diagram.

Secondly, I am suspicious that this detector ever worked since there is no second wire connected to the power supply terminals. According to the label it takes 12 volts DC to power it and you can't do that with just one wire.

Without seeing any installers manual, I would say the black and white are 12 volts DC power and the red and blue are the common and signal wires.

So test for voltage between the black and white wires. If you get 12 volts move the white wire to the other power supply terminal. Usually the auxiliary contacts would be for another system to be notified that the detector is in alarm. The red and blue should probably go to the ground and signal terminals and the auxiliary terminals are just that, auxiliary. Then see if the detector works.

Notice on the backs of either detector they don't show any wires connected to the auxiliary contacts.


Honeywell aquastat L8124L install I am planning to replace the erratic aquastat in an oil-fired furnace. I was able to get the exact replacement model-L8124L. Does it require shutting off water to the tank and priming after the install? I am assuming the thermostat will have to make contact with the boiler water for sensing the temperature. Also is it a DIY- I am fairly good at electronic circuits and confident to replace the wires.

the aquastat is a brand name of water fired boiler controls.  As such it controls a [water] boiler... as opposed to a furnace which only heats air.

the control relies on a well or aquastat well which is a brass/copper thingamajig that is part of the temperature sensor which protrudes into the boiler to measure water temperature.  These get corroded and scaled up, insulating it from the hot water, causing what seems to be a problematic control unit (aquastat) and erratic behavior.

so to replace just the control unit and not the well, turn off electrical power to boiler and it's controls and replace just the electrical control unit.  It's mostly a DIY if your ok with working with 120VAC.  But there's a good chance any new control will act erractic because...

the problem is with the well, and the well needs to be replaced.  To replace the well because it protrudes into the water section of the boiler you will be shutting off any automatic fill then dealing with what water drains out of the boiler above the well fitting, then having to refill and purge out air.  After removing the well inspect it and determine if the boiler and hydronic system should be flushed with a cleaner.

you don't need an exact aquastat [boiler control] replacement.  There are better controls less expensive than that like a hydrostat 3250plus.

on any old boiler it's not smart to not replace the well if replacing the aquastat


Circular saw doesn't cut properly I used to own Dewalt DWE575 (7-1/4, 15 amp) and liked it quite a bit. Unfortunately, my garage got broken into and it was stolen.
I bought a used DWE575SB, which is similar, but with electrical brake.
I put on a new blade but it cannot cut through a 2x6 without getting stuck.
The other day I tried to cut through a 1x12 pine board and it couldn't complete the cut. I don't recall the previous one had such issues.
Can I conclude that I bought a lemon and it's at the end of its life?
What other signs should I look out for before spending money on a new saw?

After the saw has failed to complete a cut quickly unplug the power, remove it from the work piece, and test whether the blade still turns freely. That'll check whether there is some drag that develops while the saw is in use. If so, repair might not be economical.
Assuming that it's a normal AC or universal motor (ie, not a brushless DC motor) then it's worth taking a few minutes to inspect the brushes. A motor can start acting weird when the brushes are nearly worn away. A new set of brushes is usually an inexpensive repair.


What kind of glue can be used to join flat drive belt and v-belt? For my special project I need to join flat drive belt with a v-belt (the wider part of it's profile to be precise). Due to the nature of their application such combined part will be rotating with most of the power transfered via the v-belt (it is supposed to be a diy tank track). The joint must be able to bend as the whole contraption will be stretched between two 20cm diameter wheels. I plan to reinforce it with screws or rivets.

Could you please advise what kind of glue can do the job?

I'd use Shoe Goo ... it dries rubbery and flexible.

Another alternative would be contact cemement (I use DAP, personally, do not get the non-flamable one that cleans up with water), but it's much harder to work with in general.  And they're serious about using it outside -- the fumes are very strong.

And my last choice would be basic rubber cement ... the bond's not great, but if you're reinforcing it, it might be okay.  (just don't get the 'repositionable' stuff)


Hot water issues in the apartment and plumbers are stumped? 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. Rarely water might get hot or 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 water the sink 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 cartridge so we replaced the entire faucet set including the rough in valve. I'm not sure how that would effect the other fixtures, but regardless it did not help.

Also we noticed that the shower handle was installed backwards once again (part of the reason the plumber thought it was the cartridge) i.e. the valve is off when it is supposed to be hot and vice versa, but 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?

We've already called several of the best plumbers around, and no one seems to know what's going on. The possible explanations make sense individually but not together. The water heater can't be broken because there CAN be hot water. If something is wrong with the way things were piped, why would the problem only occur now after so many years? The fact that the sink gets hot when the shower is on is what I think confuses most people. I will try playing around with the temperature limiters, but I assume it will not help, because again, why would one fixture affect the other ones?

I hope someone can provide some sense or help us troubleshoot the problem. We've already spent quite a deal of time and money and our tenants are getting annoyed. Thanks!

UPDATE

We had changed the shower handle cartridge last year per a plumber's suggestion and it seemed to resolve the situation but apparently it didn't. Right now, for some strange reason, one fixture is still affecting what comes out of another fixture. For example, the sink will not dispense hot water until the shower hot water is turned on, and then the shower gets cold if the sink hot water is turned on. Like I said before, we had a few plumbers come already last year and they didn't seem to know what the issue was.

It looks like some of you responded with some insightful tips that sound more plausible. Since the building is old, could this be pipe related (the hot water is also yellow looking)? Or does is it more likely to be capacity related (not enough hot water for everyone trying to use it), which doesn't quite seem plausible since there IS hot water, it's just that for some reason one fixture is impacting another. Or could it something with some sensor, valve, or just has to do with the design of the plumbing? The last one doesn't seem likely as the other units don't seem to have this problem, and it wasn't reported before by previous tenants. Last thing is that this and the unit below both report that the water takes a long time to get hot and that sometimes the water gets cold suddenly, and may have to wait for it to become hot again.

Very odd, but here's a thought on how to troubleshoot. Shut off water pressure into your water heater. Test each one of your hot water taps. If any of them work, something is mixing cold water into your hot water pipes. Some one-handle faucet and shower fixtures can do this if their internal seals are worn out. Find it and fix it. If they all only work when water pressure is supplied to your water heater, then the problem is likely the water heater itself.

Are the other units on the same piping? If so, the mix may be caused by a recent change in their plumbing. Maybe you can engage them in the troubleshooting.