Industrial strength velcro peeling off MDF I bought some industrial strength low profile velcro in order to make wall mounting stations for a fan. The fan (about 8 lbs) slides onto hooks screwed into 24"x7" pieces of 1/2 inch thick MDF. The loop side of the velcro is stuck to the back of the MDF in two ~23 inch strips at the top and bottom, and the hook side is stuck to the wall.

I put these up in two places and let the adhesive sit for 24 hours before using them. On one, the MDF-adhesive bond started failing after about 12 hours of holding the fan, and on the other, the MDF-adhesive bond started failing after about of week of holding the fan intermittently.

How can I prevent the adhesive from peeling off the MDF? Would super glue stick better?

Super glue might work, although my first thought was to finish the mdf with polyurethane first. This will seal the mdf and allow the adhesive to remain sticky for a long time.  Rubbing superglue on the area before the velcro goes on might get the same result too if you don't want to finish the whole thing.

I think this is what's going on : the mdf is very porous and absorbent. For example, it soaks up finish rapidly until it's saturated and only then can you build up finish thickness. I think the mdf is basically extracting the lower molecular weight components out of the velcro adhesive, which are the that make it tacky. With those gone, the adhesive is now more brittle and fails in short order.


Can I reduce draft in an elevated floor with house wrap below the insulation? My 1930 house has a large room ~(25x30) that was added on in the early 1980's without a basement nor slab.  It is on top of thick concrete piers, pinned to ledge rock.  On very cold days < 15f or very windy cold days, the floors are quite cold.  Under the floors are some fiberglass insulation then plywood that seems to have some air gaps, allowing animals and wind to infiltrate the insulation.
I recently had a home energy audit, and one of the recommendations was to rip out the existing fiberglass insulation and have 3 inches of spray foam underneath instead.  I agree that this would work, but the cost is $3500.
Would applying house wrap under the existing plywood/fiberglass (gaps and all) be enough to stop the air infiltration and possibly allow me to get away with not having to spray foam?  Would there be any other reasons NOT to do this?

Yes it would. I've built a number of "four season porches" in Minnesota (for high-end clients who would've certainly complained if their floor was cold). They're essentially rooms on posts. Our standard approach is as you describe--fiberglass batts with house wrap below, then treated plywood. As long as the house wrap is securely pinned to the floor framing you'll effectively block wind.
Section view:
================================== <-- floor sheathing
~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~
~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~
~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~ <-- fiberglass insulation
~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~
~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~
~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~
---------------------------------- <-- house wrap
================================== <-- treated plywood

Since you're reversing the order of the outer two layers, I'd maybe use 1x2 battens and screws around the edges to really pin down the house wrap and create a seal.


Installing Ecobee 3 Smart Thermostat in Apartment I live in Scottsdale AZ and I just purchased an ecobee smart thermostat. I’ve tried multiple ways when wiring up the thermostat. I followed all instructions closely. Can anyone help. The new thermostat calls for a C wire so I checked the wiring diagram on the HVAC system and found that the Y wire is the C. If I am not correct in that please let me know. I know wires are normally not color coordinated but in my case they were white went to W, green went to G, Rc is jumped to Rh with Rh running to HVAC system and yellow is attached to Y. The system blows hot air when I have it on cool. I’ve changed the wires around numerous times with no luck. Still blows hot air.

[![enter image description here][2]][2]
[2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/9T4cz.jpg![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bdf3i.jpg)![enter image description here]
(https://i.stack.imgur.com/FZhkb.jpg)

I actually figured it out. Very simple fix. Took the blue wire from thermostat that wasn’t in use and wired it together with the brown wire and made a common or “C” wire. Hooked the Ecobee up and it’s running good with no issues.


How can I get rid of fleas in my crawlspace forever? I have lived in my house since 2007.  I have a large crawlspace (dirt floor, ranging in height) where I have a nice woodworking shop.

In 2011 the shop became infested with fleas, but  not the upstairs.  Two rounds of flea bombs got rid of them but they came back this year.  There is no food or water source for them in the crawlspace.

I imagine that another round or two of flea bombs would get rid of them this time too.  Is there any way of getting rid of them permanently?  As there is no food or water source for them this seems doable, but I can't think of how.

The fleas are most likely lying dormant (deep) in the dirt floor, below where the bombs/sprays will get to.

Couple/few options:

Pave it.
Soak the floor 2' down with a chemical like bleach.
Diatomaceous Earth.

Number 1 is most permanent, #2 is dangerous as all get-out (and probably illegal), whereas #3 is cheap and safe.

Diatomaceous earth is (basically) fossilized algae powder.  You spread it on a surface and it will absorb fats out of the waxy outer protection on bugs like fleas, mites, etc. when they land on it or walk across it, dig through it, etc.

Once those fats are gone, the pest dehydrates and dies.

It'll take some time and effort applying and re-applying, but it's cheap at about $40-50 for a 50lbs bag of "Food Grade".

Doing an Internet search for "Diatomaceous earth" and "Fleas" and you'll finds lots of direction on using it for your application.


Anybody have experience in hanging a huge clock? I need help with hanging this giant clock on the wall. Its huge and heavy. I believe its 4-5' in diameter and it weighs about 160 pounds. I figured building some sort of brace for it would be best as I'd like to be able to hit every stud possible. Anybody have any experience with this or know of any pre-made mounts that would work for it? I've thought about getting a heavy duty tv mount but I'm not sure. Any help would be great, thanks]1

For large heavy objects that you want to span multiple studs, I like a french cleat. You can buy them out of metal from the store, or make your own by ripping a board at 45 degrees along it's length.

Screw in the wall part to each stud with a long screw or lag bolt, and get either a counter sunk or flush head. And on the back of the clock, you can use lots of short screws that won't come through the face. When hanging, the two boards overlap to hold in place. For added security, you can install a single screw at the bottom of the clock into a stud to prevent it from being lifted up or away from the wall.


Should I cover a skylight well from the inside? I made the mistake of having a Velux skylight installed in my bedroom. The installation was done by pros, both inside and out, and it has never leaked through 2 hurricanes.  The installation was done along with a new roof about 10 years ago.

However, I hate the condensation and mildew in the wintertime.  I am very handy and am considering cutting out the drywall light shaft, insulating, and patching the ceiling.  Then I would just leave the skylight in the roof deck until the next roofing job (or until it leaks...)

I am very handy and this type of job, but am wondering if it is a good idea.  The only downside I can think of is if the skylight develops a leak, I may not know it until significant damange is done.

The condensation is typically a sign of either a) too much moisture or b) poorly insulated glass in a cold climate. If the issue is too much moisture, perhaps there's a fix there first (is this a bath, for example?) As for the poor glass insulation, have you considered applying the 3M plastic overlay products in the winter to aid in insulation?

One perhaps cheaper and easier, albeit uglier, solution would be to cut a piece of EPS or XPS foam insulation board to almost the size of the shaft opening, add some weather-stripping ot the outside edge to make a snug fit, then just push it into the shaft during the winter months.

I actually have a similar issue in that our house has skylights in the baths with really tall shafts. The ceiling fan is on the ceiling (way below the ceiling light), so during showers, a lot of the hot air rises above the fan and condenses on the window. I've been thinking of covering the bottom shaft in glass as well, keeping the moisture from even getting into the shaft to begin with.


Is sparking in the motor of my drill a concern? There is a slight sparkling in my drill. What could be the reason? I received a product and checked for first time by plugging it into the socket. I wonder whether it is common or a serious problem.

If the motor has brushes some arcing is normal even with high quality equipment, cheaper models usually have more arcs that are visible because the armature is usually rougher. You may notice a decrease in the quantity of arcs as the brushes seat to the armature, I regularly dust my brushed motors with dry compressed air to reduce buildup and on big motors. Usually higher voltage this reduces the chance of flash over that can do a fair amount of damage. + for both comments.


How should I dispose of material waste during home construction? The construction of my new home is undergoing now, but I am facing a problem - piling up of trash and unnecessary materials left over at each step of the development which I am moving to my garage. My garage is completely filled with trash. There is no space left in the garage to store the building materials. I am facing difficulty getting rid of it. If the garage was bigger, we could have stored all of our building materials there. So I'm confused about the disposal of this junk.
What are your thoughts on hiring a junk removal company in these situations?

In my part of the world hiring a refuse service is standard and almost unavoidable. We had 30 cubic yard dumpsters (steel containers) on all our jobsites which were often emptied or replaced multiple times during the course of construction. Your contractor should have handled that. (If you are your contractor, now you know. :) )
They aren't cheap, so pack carefully and within the rules. Separate anything which can be repurposed or recycled to help save this ailing planet (and costs).


How can I clean windows and gutters from a ladder in a narrow side yard? I want to clean out my 2nd story gutters and wash windows, but my side yard is about 5 feet between house and fence.  Considering the overhang, there's probably 4 feet of horizontal I'd prefer not to get on the roof, since it's a steep pitch.
Gutters are at 19'.  Fence to brick is 4'4".
What options do I have to securely access the gutters?  I currently do not have a ladder that tall, so I am starting from scratch when it comes to the configuration.

Talk with your neighbor to see if you can place your long ladder onto their property for the cleaning. Hopefully the ladder would just touch the top of the fence. At the bottom you may need plywood pads and even a rope tie from the bottom rung to the fence using a screw eye.


What size should power wires be to run big appliances? Most of this apartment has what is 1.5 mm or 2 mm wires through the walls and sockets. I think 1 mm is like 18 AWG so I imagine 2 mm to be close to 16 or 14 AWG. Appliances here are 240v (not U.S.). Take for example, a microwave needs 900 watts, a PC is like 600 watts and home theater is 200-500 watts, washing machines are like 18 amps. But I'm stuck with 2 mm wires that go into the socket (mains maybe thicker), is that okay?

In the UK,

Copper                  Circuit
Wire size      Breaker  Type        Example
-------------  -------  ------      -------------------
1 or 1.5 mm²   6A       radial      lighting circuits.
2.5 mm²        16A      radial      immersion heater.
2 x 2.5 mm²    32A      ring-final  13A sockets.
6 mm²          32A      radial      7 kW electric shower, cooker.
10 mm²         40A      radial      9 kW electric shower.

A 2 mm² wire is insufficient for a 18A load in the UK. I believe some countries push the limits further - I'd check local regulations.

In the UK, you also have to downrate wire (i.e. reduce breaker size in amps) depending on how the cable is installed and on its length.

            Current Ratings in amps

                     In       Clipped to
Wire Size  In Wall   Conduit  Surface
---------  -------   -------  -------
  1 mm²       11       13       15
  1.5 mm²     14       16.5     19.5
  2.5 mm²     18.5     23       27
  4 mm²       25       30       36
  6 mm²       32       38       46
  10 mm²      43       52       63


Can I mount electrical panel on exterior of bedroom? I am reading that the meter cannot be mounted on exterior of bedroom wall but what about the panel? This corner of house is a straight shot from the pole which is where the meter and a disconnect will be mounted.

An electric utility company may have rules about where they'll allow their service to be installed. For example, one electric utility I'm aware of will not connect service to a meter located within 36 inches of a window which has a view into restroom or sleeping areas. Near a garage window is fine; somewhere on a bedroom wall further than 36" from a window is also fine. It's obvious that this requirement has nothing to do with electric code. Instead, it protects privacy of building occupants and protects utility employees who may access the meter and disconnect at any time from compromising situations and ugly allegations.
An electric utility imposes their own rules on the service entrance as far as location, mounting, overhead or underground wiring, size of conduit for their service, etc. These rules are not in the National Electric Code; they're policies of the utility. Contact your utility to get a copy. It sounds like you may be working with second-hand information based on another person's inaccurate retelling of the utility's requirements.


No water coming out of kitchen faucet! Yesterday, our kitchen faucet suddenly stopped working. Water pressure has always been fine, but now there is only a trickle. It's a single handle faucet and both the hot and cold will not work. I have a reverse osmosis water filter next to it that still works fine, and I know the shutoff valves are open. I cleaned the aerator and even took off the sprayer, and still very little water comes out from the hose, so I don't think it's a clogged sprayer.

Any suggestions?

If you have flexible piping running to the bottom of the faucet:

turn off both the hot & cold the water supplies
disconnect the piping from the faucet
aim the hot water pipe into a bucket and turn the hot water back on (quickly turn it off, of course)
repeat for the cold water side

If you're getting water in the bucket, the faucet's the problem. If it's the faucet, you can start working to disassemble it to see where the problem is or simply replace it.


Removing a cast iron tub I need to remove a 45 yo cast iron tub for a remodeling job and don't want to damage the surrounding walls etc too much. How were these things attached? And how do I unhook the plumbing etc to remove it?
Thanks!

I need to remove a 45 yo cast iron tub for a remodeling job

  and don't want to damage the surrounding walls etc too much.

Pick one of those two, or realize that "too much" has to have quite a high threshold in this case. They don't come out easily, and they were put in before tile, etc was put on, and the  plumbing you need to disconnect may not have been provided with any access other than "bash the wall open when you need to get at it." If you are not comfortable with seeing the walls of the alcove ripped back to studs, you may not be ready to remove the tub. You can't really properly replace it without going there, anyway.


Can I get bathroom permit in old house (1950s) which doesn't quite meet modern codes? I want to add bathroom in my basement. The house was build in 1950s so its old. The basement ceiling hight is not great, max 7 ft (unfinished area).

I have had couple of contractors and plumbers come by for estimate. The plumber didn't raise any issues over permit but the contractor did and particularly on forced air ducts that runs through proposed area which further reduce the ceiling height in that area.

I do want to get permit but I am confused. Why did plumber didn't raise permit issue (he said in quite he will get permit after examining the site).

Since this is old house and basement height is given, are there any provisions that I can be given permit to add bathroom? How should I approach the town?

My contractor told me min ceiling height has to 7 ft after finished job. But given I barely have 7 ft, he said I will loose at least 2 inches of that for ceiling/flooring which means I am falling short. Still his main object was the forced air ducts rather than this ceiling. I am confused!

Is it possible I can get permit to build bathroom in this basement? I would appreciate any tips! If it helps, the state is Massachusetts.

The plumber most likely didn't bring it up because (1) he doesn't know much about the height requirements nor is he required to or (2) he is just there to do the plumbing or a combination of both 1 and 2.

Next, basically the general rule is that things like this can be 'grandfathered' in, so long as they aren't touched. Since you were code compliant at the time of installation or construction (or somehow got by), they can not require you to upgrade anything to meet modern codes. However, if you ever go to do any new work or renovation like this, anything that is done must meet the current codes.

I did find, and this copy of the code is old (Seventh edition - 2009), an exception to the ceiling height.

  780 CMR: State Board of Building Regulations and Standards

  5301.1 - Exception 2:

  Ceilings in basements without habitable spaces may project to within six feet, eight inches of the finished floor; and beams, girders, ducts or other obstructions may project to within six feet, four inches of the finished floor.

This exception may no longer be around in the current code, and even with it you might not fit within it's parameters.

(6'-8" overall from floor to ceiling, 6'-4" under the duct from floor to ceiling, but still 6'-8" regardless above the bathroom fixtures)

If you still do not meet this criteria (again, if and only if it's still in the code) then they do not have to permit the work and the job can not be done. I'd suggest talking to the town to see what can be done, they'll give the definitive answer.


How to make a 12" deep wall cabinet face be 15" from existing wall I'm remodeling my kitchen. First major remodel. I have purchased 12" deep unfinished stock cabinets. I would like to make the face of the 30x30x12 wall cabinet that will be above the stove/oven be 15" from the wall so I can add crown molding to all the wall cabinets later on. Is this possible by attaching a couple 2x4's  flat against the wall to the existing studs and attaching the cabinet to those?

You can, but...

It is unlikely but possible that the exact space you want to install the cabinet only has 1 stud available. (if studs are 16 inch on center it is possible that a stud is centered in the vicinity of the cabinet).

If that is the case, then wall anchors will be required to help support things.

Do you have plans to mount a hood or micro hood in this area?  If so, this configuration could prove troublesome on installation. Further, depending on the cabinet height, you may find the cabinet intrusive for full operation of the rear of the stove, especially with a tall chef and rear-mounted controls on the stove/oven.

Either way,  make plans to seal the gap created by pushing the cabinet out from the wall. That will prevent having an unclean able greasy trap for dirt which will be prone to dropping into your food.


Pulsating (cold) tap water When not running any warm water, and having my tap about half open, the cold water pulsates a bit. The stream moves forwards and backwards about half a centimeter. I'm assuming the pressure fluctuates.

When showering (thermostatic tap) I also hear that the water pressure fluctuates.

What could cause this, and how do I fix it?

There are a wide variety of reasons why this happens ranging from the water meter to air in the lines and water hammer. The easiest way to fix it is to install a cushion tank or expansion tank you have to make sure it's a potable water vision.

Here's an example of onewww.amazon.ca

They are relatively inexpensive but do require some plumbing to install.


what tool / technique would I use to take the fan blade off this fridge motor (and re-mount it to a new one?) Not the best picture as it's straight on - here's another from http://www.fan-and-blower.com/axial-fan-ebmpapst-bg2012/

I believe the one in my Bosch fridge freezer is on its way out as it's sporadically making a loud grinding noise as if it's become unbalanced / started rubbing against something.

There is a spare motor available but I'm wondering, if I order it, how I detatch the fan and re-attach it to the new motor's shaft. The fan seems to be crimped on with a metal collar, but is in a recessed area in the centre of the plastic blade assembly that can't be easily reached. The collar isn't a continuous ring - it's a few mm gap short of a full circle.

I believe the plastic fan may no longer be available so I don't want to risk breaking it by jabbing around with bottle-nosed pliers. Is there a standard name for this kind of mounting? What do I use to do it neatly?

I appreciate that the answer may be "just pull it off, and push it on!"

EDIT: here's a (bad, but hopefully not too misleading) drawing:

You need a pair of retaining ring pliers.

Use the retaining ring pliers to remove the retaining ring.
Pull the blade off the shaft.
Push the blade on the new motor.
Use the retaining ring pliers to install the retaining ring.


Is there a way to split a double wall plug into two separate ones? Sorry, I don't know much about electrical, so my terminology is off.

I have this double wall plug that I want to split into two separate ones. I thought that the two pairs of wires just run current to their respective sockets. But I tried to disconnect those and then connect to two single ones and not only it didn't work, but half of other plugs in the room stopped working. So it's clearly a bit more sophisticated than I thought.

Unfortunately, due to how studs are located (existing wall with sheets already on), I won't be able to move the two separately or even run additional wires.

Is there a way to somehow split it in two without additional wiring?

You may notice metal tabs between the top and bottom screw on each side of the outlet. These short the top and bottom outlets together. One set of black/white wires provide power to both outlets while the other set of wires continues on to other outlets. This why, when you disconnected the second set of wires, other outlets stopped working. The original installer used the outlet itself as a jumper between the sets of wires.

In cases where the two outlets are powered separately (usually when one is controlled by a switch), these tabs are broken off to isolate the two outlets.

If you want to split the feed to a new outlet, one way would be to connect the new wires to the screws on the outlet. This way, the outlet acts as a jumper between all three sets.

However, I'd note that while the "back-stab" connections to the outlet are legal, many electricians here do not use them and do not trust them. The better way would be to remove the wires from the back-stabs and connect the two black wires, together with the new black wire and a short length of wire (a pig-tail) using a properly sized wire-nut. Then connect the pig-tail to the outlet screw. Do the same for the white wires.

Finally, I need to point out that working with mains voltage is very dangerous. You've already admitted that you have limited knowledge of the field. The voltage you're working with can easily kill you. Also, not connecting the wires well could cause a bad connection that could later heat up and cause a fire! I highly recommend you find an electrician or so least and experienced handyman to do the work!


Where to buy glass to replace the broken glass part of my door? My entrance door has glasses. I'm in need of replacing the glass part of the door.
I need to know where to buy glasses?

Since you are on Stack Exchange, I can safely assume you have access to the internet.  Use Google to search for 'Glass Store', and in its local search it should find some in your area.  If it doesn't, go to any hardware store and ask if they can order glass or cut glass to fit.  If they don't, ask them where you can go.


2 in. PVC Slip x Slip Union thread miss match, metric vs imperial maybe? I'm trying to join a pipe to a pvc connector, I got one from the hardware store that seemed to match in size perfectly, but when I tried to screw it on, the thread seemed to not match, are there two 'threads' for pvc connectors, here's a picture of the sort of connector I'm using.  Is it a metric / imperial thing?

The threads at the union nut are not standardized, each manufacturer is likely to have their own thread. In fact, I suspect they deliberately use proprietary threads to force you back to their brand.

It is not at all uncommon for you to have to cut back and couple in an entirely new union.


Should I spray texture on my drywall repair? I'm in the final stages of repairing three holes in my apartment and have just finished sanding down the mud. There is a slight texture on the walls so I picked up some 'orange peel' texture spray but after poking around on DIY, I've seen some answers that recommend just rolling on the paint to match the texture.

What does it all come down to in making this decision?
As a secondary question, at what point do I prime?

If the current walls are textured with an orange peel texture, then, yes, go ahead and use the 'texture in a can' to replicate.

Every wall in our house is orange peel (blech) so when I created an interior bump out with new sheetrock, I caved in and sprayed to match. I was pleasantly surprised to find the texture-in-a-can is rather easy to apply and seems to do the job just fine.


How should I connect my new light fixture to green and yellow wires? I am replacing a pull chain light fixture in my closet. The new ceramic fixture has a black, white and thin ground copper wire. The wires coming out of the ceiling are green and yellow. should the yellow be wired to the white and the green to the black wire?

Worldwide (except the former Soviet Bloc), the standard for safety ground wires is that they are colored Green, Yellow/green striped, or bare wire.   All grounds are this, and grounds are no other colors.

Safety grounds are never, ever used for working conductors in a circuit.   Since any circuit needs 2 wires, the ground must always be a third wire.

It is possible for yellow wires to be conductors, but cables aren't made in those colors, so that would imply the wiring to this location is in conduit (pipes optimized to hold wires).  All conduits must end at an accessible junction box.  So somewhere nearby would be the other end of that pipe.  If you can find it, then wires can be added to the conduit as needed.

Also, make sure your lamp is not low voltage DC; those don't mix with mains AC power.


I have a rectangular table. Can I cut it into 3 pieces to create a removable center leaf? The table is pretty simple: 4 legs, pine, 33" x 71". It's just too long for our space. I'd like to cut it down so it's square (or close to square) the majority of the time, but not give up the extra capacity when we have company.

Looks like table slides are readily available, but I haven't been able to find evidence of anyone else done this before. Is this a bad idea/not worth the effort on a decent but inexpensive table?

It is possible. Making good cuts is going to be the trickiest part.

If you have a large table saw that can accommodate the table top that will give you the best results. Otherwise you can use a straight edge with a sharp, fine toothed blade in a circular saw.  Use painter's tape over where you are going to cut. Mark the line then score the line a couple of times with a sharp utility knife to reduce chip out. If you can rent or borrow a good track saw that would be better at making a straight cut and minimizing tear out.

Next you'll need to attach hardware the pieces. Check out Woodworkers Hardware http://www.wwhardware.com/fasteners-table-hardware/table-hardware/table I've gotten a few things from there and they have good prices and variety. I would use a combination of the leaf alignment pins to align the leaf and the table slides.


How can I cut slots in the ground to install insulation panels? To build a geothermal greenhouse, I need to insulate a thermal mass -- basically the ground directly the greenhouse. The insulation will be for the underground "walls" only, no floor, and 5 feet deep.
As an alternative to having to break up my 6-inch-concrete-paved backyard and then digging a hole, putting up the insulation walls, and refilling the hole, I thought of cutting out only the "slots" for the walls (basically just cutting out a 2-inch "moat" that goes 5 feet deep, around the greenhouse, and then filling it with insulating foam.
How would I achieve this, what tools/techniques would I have to use? What type of contractor would do this and how would I find them?

Unless you're in the perfect type of sand/clay soil, with no gravel or rock larger than say 1/4", this won't happen. You'll have to excavate to the width of a backhoe. In the case of a mini-excavator, this might be 12".
If you have ideal soil you might get a cable trencher to clean out a slot, but they're really designed to backfill as they go.


How do you remove stick-on hooks? I'm not sure of the name but you know those hooks that come with an adhesive strip that attaches to a wall and you put the hook over it? The hook part broke off but the adhesive strip and the plastic part that touches it is still on the door. How do you remove it? I tried pulling it with pliers but the little bit of plastic the pliers was gripping broke off.

I have had success sawing through them with dental floss. Get an 18" piece of floss. wrap each end around your fingers or a pencil. Slide the floss behind the plastic section. while applying a downward pressure on the floss, move it back and forth left to right until the hook separates from the adhesive. Once you have access to the adhesive you can scrape it off or use an adhesive remover like GooGone, rubbing alcohol or citrus based cleaner.


Can I remove this paneling from behind the wall? I am attempting to run wire up a wall and hit an interesting problem behind the drywall.
Behind the drywall is what appears to be inch thick wood paneling.

Apologies for the rotation, will fix.
Behind the paneling is, I think, blocking which I have to drill through to get the wire where I need it.
Can I cut out this paneling to give me access to the blocking?
The house was built in 1905, and renovated sometime in the last 30 years.
Also, can anyone identity the paper between the drywall and the wood? It appears to be a thin wood laminate with a paper back?

No need to cut the panel behind the dry wall.  You have already made the decision to cut the drywall to gain access behind the drywell.  Just cut a little more below your current cut .  Insert drill and drill up through the blocking.  You may have to use a 6 or 12” extension with the bit to drill through.  Extensions are only a couple of bucks.
There are flexible drill bit that can reach 6' or more.  If there are only two fire blocks these would work.  Use regular drill and extension for the first block.  then use flex drill bit to reach the second block.  The flex extension can pull the wire or a string to pull the cable back down.  These are used a lot to pull security wire through out a house.  Cheap one from HF cost about $8,  Good ones about $25-30 dollars.
If you have difficulty in fishing the wire through the blocks after the holes are drilled.  just cut a 3" circle above the block in the panel and fish it through by hand.


Stuck screw in subpanel neutral bus It appears that I need to add one more neutral to the neutral bus. There is one unused screw on the bus but the screw is stuck. Any suggestions on how to loosen it up would be helpful. Do electricians have special tools to address this problem?

Forget about the stuck screw. Go to another point in the neutral bar and remove an existing neutral. Using an appropriate wire nut or other connector connect the existing neutral with the new neutral and with a pigtail of size to carry current from both neutrals. Insert the other end of the pigtail into the neutral bar.

Before disconnecting or even loosening any neutral, turn off the breaker for that circuit.


How to adjust vent location in siding I went to replace all of the pipe for a pellet stove insert and discovered that the installer did a poor job of following any of the manufacturer’s guidelines for rise on the pipe or the appropriate thimble usage. I now have a 14” x 14” hole that accommodated a gas stove thimble and is lower than necessary.
I need to raise the opening ~4” and reduce the size to a 7x7 roughed in opening for the appropriate thimble.
I was going to pull some siding from above to place on the lower portion of the wall and raise the rest of the siding up incrementally, and retain the outside appearance of the same size opening (yet framed in smaller behind with a sheet of aluminum with a cutout for the thimble, but the sheets don’t line up to accommodate that.
The roughed in framing and moving the opening up isn’t an issue for me. Trying to determine how to finish the outside without looking dumb and provide a water/airtight finish.
No availability for the type of siding that was used (no extra and no longer made).
Any ideas?

I would get some J-channel from your nearest siding store. It's almost universally available. Cut the opening a bit taller, fit new top and side channel, and flash around whatever surface treatment you like.


Where should I (not) place POE ethernet outlets? I am planning to wire my house for Ethernet, with wall sockets in various rooms.  At the moment it will be plain 1Gbit/s ethernet, but in future I want the potential to upgrade to 10Gbit/s and power-over-ethernet (POE).  I am aware that there are wiring code restrictions on where power outlets may be placed.  Are there any similar code requirements that would apply to POE sockets, or other practical considerations that would apply to their location (e.g. wiring constraints)?
Background
I live in the UK, in a 1930s house.  This means: power voltage is nominal 240V, walls are constructed of solid brick with plaster facing (making it non-trivial to install or relocate outlets), wiring can run in the attic, under floorboards, or in the crawl-space beneath the house.  There is no air conditioning; these spaces are ventilated but not used for air circulation.
I haven't bought any supplies yet, but I'm planning to use Cat 6, unshielded, Low Smoke Zero Halogen cable (assuming runs will be short enough for 10Gbit/s over Cat 6).  I'm hoping to install standard metal back-boxes in the walls to mount 8P8C faceplates, probably with PVC conduit to take the cables down under the floor.
So far, I'm aware that data cables should not run parallel to power cables (to avoid interference), and definitely not next to each other or in the same conduit (for safety).  However, for reasons of aesthetics and convenience, I'm inclined to put the Ethernet outlets close to power outlets.  Many of these are currently mounted in the skirting board (which I'm aware is lower than modern wiring regulations suggest).

Well, I will strongly suggest the middle of ceilings, because that's where you are going to want you POE wireless access points to be wired in for best performance, particularly in a solid brick walled house (very hard to get fast WiFi through brick walls at all.)
I will also suggest Cat6A if you have dreams of 10GB. While 6 is nominally good to 55m, the price differential is small, and 6A might offer some slight hope for whatever comes next for copper wires when 10GB is too slow.
But that also leads to my stock firm recommendation for wiring any building for network - use conduit, the cables become obsolete MUCH faster than the power wiring or the house. Being able to pull out your 6, 6a (or 5e if it's much cheaper for you now, though it's usually not that much cheaper) and replace it when you need something faster with whatever is in vogue then will pay off in the long run.
I don't know if the UK has any codes specifically regarding POE ethernet - in the USA as power-limited low voltage it has very little code affecting it (primarily the communications cable section of code, which does not have any notable location restrictions that I can think of at present.) Presumably as an international standard it might have been designed to avoid issues in most countries, but some may have more restrictive rules than is the norm for that application.


Downgrading from a dimmer to a switch I've seen posts about going from a switch to a dimmer, but not the other way around.  I originally thought I could read those and do the opposite, but it seems that there are many ways houses can be wired, and my particular setup doesn't match anything else I have seen.

I currently have a Z-Wave dimmer switch installed.  It has two black wires coming out and one green.  The black wires are supposed to go to either line and load.

My new Z-Wave 2way switch has load, line, neutral, and ground.  I determined that load goes to my light, line goes to whatever is hot, and ground obviously goes to ground.  I figured out which was hot by turning off the circuit at the breaker, disconnecting the switch, then turning it back on again and measuring the voltage.  The black wire with the 120V is line, and the black wire without 120V must be the load.

Now my issue is with the neutral -- since it wasn't previously hooked up, there is a bundle of three wire wires in the box capped off.  The problem is that I don't have three entry points to the switch.  I could insert 2 of the 3 into the holes, and the strip some extra insulation off of the third and wrap it around the screw (and check to make sure the other two are still tight), or I could go get some solid core wire at the store and add a fourth white wire to the capped bundle, then run this fourth to the switch.

Ultimately, my question is, shouldn't all switches and outlets have a dedicated line back to the breaker box?  If neutrals are tied together in boxes, doesn't this mean that there could be two circuits are sharing the neutral?  And if this is the case, doesn't that mean that working in the box is inherently not safe if the other circuit is still live?  Also, does this mean that I cannot simply pull one the three white wires from the bundle and hook it up to the switch, since that would separate it from the other two, and there might not be a path back to the breaker box for one of the circuits?

If the switch has screw terminals as opposed to wire leads you DO have to pig-tail a piece of wire to the splice and then connect that tail to the switch. DO NOT place more than one wire under a binding screw terminal, unless of course it is designed for it. Even in that case it would only be designed for up to two wires.

Do you have a model number for this switch?

Regarding the neutral wires in the box, NO not every wire goes back to the breaker box. This is why you have several whites. One is a feed and the others are feed out to other items on the same circuit. If there is more than one circuit in the box then the neutrals from those different circuit should NOT be spliced. The only time this is not the case is if it is a multi-wire branch circuit (shared neutral).


Can I use two layers of window film to create a narrow, convection-reducing gap? This is a follow-up to this question. The official answerer A.I. Breveleri writes:

The ideal separation distance between film and glass is 1/2 inch. Even
1 inch is too thick as it allows the trapped air to circulate freely
within the gap. But at 1/2 inch, unless the plastic film is quite
tight, it will bow in and stick to the glass over at least part of the
window.

A similar question appears here.
I have windows of irregular depth and cannot achieve this uniform 1/2 inch gap. So I was wondering:

Could I use two layers of window film, separated by about 1/2 inch,
to get close to the ideal air gap?
Could I do the same as #1 and also stick a layer of bubble wrap in between those two layers? What would be the effect?

Thanks!

Reducing convection is a minor concern. The benefit described in that answer is trivial compared to the benefit of sealing against airflow through leaky windows. As a proportion of total heat loss, convection is very small as compared to drafts.

There would be a benefit to adding a second layer, but not primarily due to convection restriction.

A second layer of film adds insulation on its own. I wouldn't clutter your view with bubble wrap, which provides relatively little additional benefit. Because the seal between the first and second layer of film is (presumably) better than the seal between the inner layer and the outside world (due to a leaky window), the net benefit of a second layer is already better than the benefit from just the first layer.

All that said, the savings afforded by a second layer may not outweigh the cost of the product. My advice (having owned older homes in Minnesota) is to do a good job of installing one layer and be happy.


Should I extend a drain vent that terminates in my attic? Recently I removed an old water heater stovepipe coming through my roof, because we moved our water heater. Right next to it was my plumbing vent pipe that I thought was associated with venting for the water heater, so I cut it off below the roof and patched my roof. So now my plumbing vent pipe terminates in my attic, in a little corner to be exact. How bad is this? I did it a week and a half ago and I never noticed any bad smells.

Bad. Not only are you introducing stink and moisture to your attic, but toxic and potentially explosive gases as well.

  Decomposing waste materials in public and private sewer and septic systems create sewer gases. Methane is the largest single constituent of sewer gas, which includes an assortment of toxic and non-toxic gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. Improperly disposed gasoline and mineral spirits may also contribute to sewer gases.

  https://www.nachi.org/sewer-gases-home.htm?loadbetadesign=0

Fix it now.


Tester showing ground, but I am not seeing a ground In the original portion of my 1940's house, I have three outlets that have wires being ran using conduit. When I test them using a three prong tester, it shows that they are grounded, but when I open them up there is no ground running from the outlet to the metal box. Why or how does the tester show the outlet grounded?

Have confidence in that.  Metallic conduit is a higher standard, used in most commercial installations.  Ground is the conduit itself - you don't see many green or bare wires in conduit work.

However - the outlet screws as the only ground path is not OK.  Pigtail a ground wire from the junction box. Most boxes have have one hole tapped 10-32, for a ground screw... here are fancy ones. Do not use 10-24 or a sheet metal screw!

To keep a bare wire from hitting the side screws (even if you use stabs), wrap the outlet with tape.

Also go downstairs and make sure the ground path is solid - i.e. all the conduit splices are tightened.  If something makes you nervous, you can double it by running a ground wire, that's the beauty of conduit, you just can!


can a 240 dryer outlet be moved using a junction box? A dryer was moved and the people put a junction box in its place.  Can I run the new line by attaching to the old one using the junction box.  They just disconnected it and turned off the breaker.  I would like to reuse the line for another item requiring 240 power in my garage. Can this be done and still follow code?

The answer is yes if the conductors meet code.you already turned off,  Remove The receptacle install a clamp in the old box for the new wire to feed the new the receptacle If Romex the putter insulation 1/4” inside the clamp and 6” wire minimum. Use appropriate sized wire-nuts and install a blank cover, put the new box where you want it , bring the wire in make sure to have at least 6” and the putter covering or insulation inside the box by 1/4” reconnect your receptacle and you are ready to plug in.
Electric driers are usually #10 wire on a 30 amp breaker. Can be larger but that is normal.
I usually use 4 square metal boxes with a 30 amp 1/2” raised cover .  The receptacle should be a 4 wire by today’s code well and the last few cycles.
Good luck.


Can someone explain to me how this hot water recirculating system works? How is my hot water recirculating system installed?

... and why is it not working like it should?

Moved into a house recently that was built in 2006. There is a hot water recirculating pump installed (Grundfos UP 15-10 pump). I'm not very knowledgeable about plumbing from a DIY perspective, so I could use some help here.

I'm having some problems with it now, as it's no longer providing hot water as quickly as it used to. I looked up the service manual for it, and it calls for an installation different than what I'm actually seeing (not sure if this is the problem, but I want to understand). The manual specifies:

it should be installed at the hot water discharge from the tank in the direction of the flow
a thermal bypass valve should be installed at a sink furthest from the tank.

What I actually see (Or think I see):

There seems to be some sort of dedicated return line coming out of my wall
The pump is there with the flow direction pumping back into the tank
It pumps back into the release valve of the tank
There is no "thermal bypass valve" anywhere in my house

So how does it actually work and how can I fix it? What's the easy stuff to check?

Here are some pictures:

You're sorta kinda in a bit of trouble here.  This system is close to being good, but because of a seemingly minor screw-up, you're going to have major problems here.  The recirculating pump SHOULD NOT be connected to the drain.

First off, it's quite possible that the segment of pipe between the pump and the "tee" attached to the drain valve is completely or partially clogged with (corrosive) scale/sediment buildup.  Judging by the scale buildup on the outside of the pipe just below the tee, it looks like the tee is leaking (why? corrosion?).  I can only imagine that the inside is worse.  Even the check valve and the ball valve upstream from the pump look like crap.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that's calcium on the ground below the check valve (thing between the pump and the drain with a hex bolt -shaped top on it), indicating that it too is already leaking.  The check valve almost certainly isn't functioning properly (check valves are intended to only allow water to flow one way,) which is possibly why you are having to constantly readjust the temperature in your shower.  The cold water gets injected into the tank at the bottom (via a long "dip tube" that enters at the top and travels down to the bottom.)  If this check valve is being held open by sediment, or if it has failed due to corrosion, then cold water could be coming out of the water heater from the drain at the bottom, making your "hot" water turn merely "warm" after about 10-15 gallons of use, which is one possible explanation for your "shower get[ting] colder during use" problem.

My advice would be to get this junk removed ASAP before something bursts and you have a disaster on your hands.  Get rid of it completely, or if you want to get it fixed up, get a new pump (Grundfos makes great pumps, but I can't imagine that this pump is usable at this point) and tell the plumber to connect the recirculating pump to the T&P relief valve inlet, which is not currently being used(?), rather than the drain.  Doing this would reduce the scale/sediment buildup greatly, which happens mostly near the bottom of the tank.  Replace all of the pipe in the vicinity of the pump as well, as it is probably completely scaled up and corroded.  Everything else should be ok.

I see a line (the CPVC that goes into the wall) for what I hope to be a T&P valve, but I can't see where the actual T&P valve is.  If it's tee'd off of the hot water outlet, then that's fine.  I'd hope it's not simply laying on top, not connected to anything, but I don't have enough faith in whoever installed this to take that for granted.


House water inlet thread sizing 1" vs 3/4" I'm planning water inlet for house:

For 2-4 people
300m2 garden watering system ocasionaly (there is seperate garden water inlet as well)
Water comes in via 32mm PE pipe (internal diameter 26 mm ~ 1") from shared deep well pump.

Main question now - what should all inlet system connection sizes be? Valves, regulators, expansion reservoir (1" connector), check valves, meter, particle filter, water softener filter (1" connectors), etc., not including branch-off to kitchen/bathroom that would be different sized. My initial thought was 1", but some of those are more widely listed as 3/4" in local shops (regulators, meters).
Will 3/4" give any noticeable bottlenecks here? Should I go all 1" here?

I've worked on a house where the 1" input was immediately reduced to half inch. Stupid, and part of my work was replacing that.
Keep everything 1" up to the hot/cold split (i.e., the point where the cold feed for the water heater leaves the rest of the cold water - so pressure tank, water softener filters - why would you have a meter? Is that due to the sharing?), at which point 3/4" for each side and 1/2" to individual fixtures. I prefer to use 3/4" for hose bibbs (which only gets reduced to 1/2" at the hose bibb connection, since if a 3/4" connector hose bibb exists, it's a rare and likely expensive beast.)


Transparent material like two-way mirror for specific colour I really like the idea of smart mirrors, using a two way mirror with a monitor behind it to provide information on the mirror and make it look like a regular mirror when the monitor is turned off. Are there any kind of materials that can be used for the same purpose that is a specific colour? I would like to have a “smart door” (for closets etc) where the door is white, but can turn into a monitor when turned on. Do such materials exist, or is this just for mirrors?

You could make something that works in the manner you describe, by placing monitor behind a device known on eBay as Electric Self-Adhesive PDLC Smart Film Glass. From the description, when power is applied, the film is transparent, while it is opaque/translucent when power is off.
I found that the product is almost exclusively white on eBay, with one entry for the product in black. A general search shows at least one manufacturer with an availability of nine colors.
The concept works with mirror film, because the level of light on the viewer side of the film is always greater than the level of light on the back side of the film, which is typically wall or some other panel. The exception to this that makes the mirror film work is that the monitor/display device generates its own illumination, providing the illumination difference sufficient to pass through the mirror film.
In the case of the PDLC smart film, there is not the requirement to have greater illumination levels, or more accurately, the requirement to have darkness behind the film. When powered, it will turn approximately transparent, presenting your monitor and anything else covered by the film.


What is happening when my A/C operates in "dehumidify" mode? I have a new Carrier Infinity system. Even though there is only one (evaporator) coil in the plenum (no reheat coil), it can operate in a dehumidify mode. In normal "cooling" mode, the fan runs at its highest speed, just as you would expect, in order to prevent the evaporator from icing up. From what I could find in the technical manual the installer left behind, it seems that in dehumidify mode, the fan intentionally runs at a slower speed. I've often noticed the compressor running with the fan running at a low speed, and if I look at the thermostat, it indeed shows that it is "dehumidifying". I've also noticed sometimes the fan running at high speed without the compressor running.

My question is:

If the fan is supposed to be running at high speed to avoid icing, why would the system be intentionally set up to run the fan slower? Doesn't that risk icing? Is it an acceptable consequence of trying to get as much moisture as possible to condense out onto the coils? What exactly is the system trying to do and what is likely happening when it is in its dehumidify mode?

The fan is not running at high speed to prevent icing, but for maximum cooling of the space. The cause of icing is that the system is undercharged with refrigerant or the throttling valve (expansion valve) is malfunctioning so that the low side pressure is so low that the temperature of the evaporator coil is below the freezing point of water.

I have always been told that an a/c system is supposed to be operated so that the internal temperature in the evaporator coil is 38 to 40 F. I have always supposed that this allows a safety factor in the case where the expansion valve closes too far.

My understanding of the dehumidify mode is that the cooling cycle is run continuously, but at a lower fan speed. The lower fan speed means less cold air is circulated, but the automatically controlled expansion valve opens to maintain the evaporator coils at the set temperature (of say 40 F). By running continuously at a lower flow rate all the water vapor is removed from the room but the room is not overcooled.

Our 26 year old Carrier is a base model 12 SEER which (at 42 kBTU/h or 3-1/2 ton) is undersized for our house in Dallas summer heat. On very hot days (~> 100 F) the compressor will run continuously for 6 to 8 hours in the middle of the day. The result is very dry air inside and I have to use lip balm in the middle of the summer or my lips get very chapped.

I have not tried to measure the humidity inside, but I may do that. We keep the thermostat at 74 or 75 F. I sit under a vent at the kitchen table and like to have cold air from the vent bathing me. This air would be very dry so perhaps this is why I get the chapped lips.


How can I reinforce a piece of furniture to put an aquarium on it? I'm planning to build an aquarium - 50 gallons. I estimate that it'll weight 550 pounds. It would be in the top of a cabinet... but the top of that cabinet is a suspended glass. It's similiar to this one but without the drawers.

How can i reinforce it using just glass, so it won't break when my aquarium gets filled with water, fishes, rocks and so on ?

This sounds like a bad plan. 550 pounds (or more, likely) is just way too much weight to try to hack something together. Even if you put a support in the middle, then you need to make sure it's  perfectly balanced or you're going to crack the aquarium at the pivot point — the glass tank is going to be very unforgiving of an uneven surface.

Plus, think of the enormous problem if your tank does crack or fall over. 50 gallons of water could cause a huge amount of damage. Make sure your homeowner's policy includes flood coverage that would pay for this if you do try it!

Just get a stand that's build to hold an aquarium. It will probably be cheaper than buying a massive piece of tempered glass.

(Although I strongly discourage this idea, if you are committed I would suggest that you carefully test your contraption. Get a bunch of bricks, bags of gravel, etc. that weigh a little more than you're expecting. E.g. if you think the tank will end up being 600 lbs all told, gather up 800 lbs of materials and stack it in the tank. Leave it for a few days. Jump on the floor. Throw a pillow at it. Knock on the glass. Lean on the cabinet. If it's going to collapse, you want to find out before you have all the water and fish in there.)


Burnt felt pad in Whirlpool dryer - remove or replace? Opened my Whirlpool electric dryer to clean out the lint vent and found this.  Is this supposed to be here?  If so, should it be burnt.  I also found a few loose screws on the floor of the dryer so am wondering if this was something that was supposed to be removed during manufacturing that was forgotten.

That looks like a heat barrier pad that has fallen out of some strategic Location.  Would be wise to do a little research to find out where it belongs.


High Temperature Lead-Free Solder I have an old microwave/convection oven that came with 2 metal circular trays for cooking on (in convection mode), a tall one and a shorter one that fits underneath it. However, a long time ago, one of the legs of the taller one snapped off, leaving me with just the shorter one. This is OK usually, except when I want to cook 2 things at once (that don't fit on one tray). I can get a replacement for >$40, but I'm just not interested in spending that much.

I recently had the idea to solder a new leg to the tray. Presumably I'd need some high-temperature solder. Considering it may come in contact with food, it'll have to be lead-free too (maybe flux is also a problem?). I'll have a soldering iron that can supposedly reach 896ºF, and the oven has a max temperature of 450ºF. I need solder that is both solid and stable up to at least ~500ºF (It can't just not melt, it has to be able to hold its shape!). I honestly couldn't find anything that meets my criteria; some contain lead, most melt too low, and some just too high. Does anyone know if such a thing even exists?

Thank you!

There is some serious fake information on the "Net" regarding "silver solder". ; starting with Oatey ( Home Depot) who flat out lies about what they call "silver solder". The Halstead net site is good. AWS ( American Welding Society) identifies silver solders as having 45 % to about 60 % silver with copper, zinc, cadmium in various amounts.  Melting ranges of 1125 F to 1250 F and must be heated above those temperatures to flow. These  alloys have  AWS designations of B Ag-1 up to B Ag-7.  I would not consider a product to actually be silver solder unless it had an AWS designation.  ( I am using a 1971 ASM reference and AWS may have added designations or even changed their system ).( Irony , I gave my 1987 ASM reference to a local teacher a few days ago because I had not used it in years).


Metal spike with heavy metal cord found in front lawn While raking my front lawn I came across this metal stake in the ground, wrapped in a thick metal wire/cord. I could not pull the stake up. I dug around and found the wire, pulling up on it and it seems to go quite a ways, so I stopped before messing up more of the lawn. It is obviously not a live wire, as I touched it albeit through gloves.

I am a new owner, and I spoke with a neighbor to see if previous owners had a dog as I though it could be part of an invisible fence, and they said there has not been a dog in the house for at least 30 years. The stake is within 5 feet of the house, and is close to some utility boxes including electricity, old phone, and cable. However, I previously had the utility lines marked and nothing was in this specific area (though could be old, or they could have incorrectly marked it). The main wire running away from the stake is going in the opposite direction of the utility boxes.

Any thoughts? My concern is that it is protruding close to a half inch above the surface

EDIT: I was able to push the rod further into the ground after a good rain and persistent hammering.

It's a grounding rod, probably 8 or 10 feet long, such as is required for any residential installation. They're usually proximal to the breaker panel or fuse box in the home or outbuilding. You may have encountered an obsolete one that's been disconnected. You'll need to trace the bare copper wire to be sure.

You can drive it down below the surface if you like. Try not to damage the wire, which can also be buried a bit deeper without causing problems.


Ceiling fan malfunction My ceiling fan keeps running at a very low speed although the power switch is turned off at the wall switch and by the pull cord. Is there any danger, and what is happening?

Unless there is airflow causing the fan to turn, the fan is getting power.
Disconnect the 2 wires powering (be careful, they could be energized) the fan and do a voltage check between each wire and ground. Both should be dead. If not power is coming from somewhere.


How can I stop water from coming in through a crack near the top of my bulkhead wall? I have a bulkhead entrance to my basement.  The bulkhead walls are mostly fine, with the exception being near the top.  The top 6 or 8 inches or so of the walls are constructed of what appear to be cement bricks (or something similar).  The metal doors are attached to these bricks, and the bricks are somehow adhered to the walls below.  The bricks are covered in some sort of mortar or cement, and I wouldn't even have realized they were distinct from the poured wall if some of the mortar/cement fill hadn't started to chip away.

What has resulted is a situation where, if you look at the bulkhead walls from the inside, you can see a horizontal crack ~6-8" below the top of the wall.  When it rains, some water seeps through this crack and accumulates in the bulkhead.  (ground level is approx 2 inches below the very top of what you see)

Here's a close-up of the top left corner.

Finally, a shot of the "bricks" on the right side of the stairs in a place where it's not leaking, just to show how they are attached to wall.

I am going to try putting some hydraulic cement along the crack on the inside.  However, I am wondering what else you might suggest?

I was thinking of digging up a foot or so of the soil around the perimeter of the wall, and replacing it with gravel to help water quickly flow below the level of the crack.  Would that help?

Best bet here (given that it's shallow) would be [in the spring/summer] to dig up around the outside, and waterproof it from there. Waterproofing the inside only is doomed to fail, as the water will still be in the wall, and in this arrangement it will freeze and move, breaking any inside-only treatment. Dig down a foot or so, clean the wall well, patch any holes or cracks, and then coat the whole thing with waterproofing.

Your stairs are almost an exact match for the circa 1964 house I worked on for a while ;-) A center runner was evidently not popular then.


Can we install an above-counter sink (large, about 31" x 18" x5") on a bottom-mount countertop? Currently, we have a small oval undermount sink in our bathroom that is roughly 16 by 19.5.  We are thinking bout changing it to a large, rectangular, above-counter sink (13 x 18 x 5) but we obviously have a cut-out in the counter for the undermount.  Can we still use the same countertop?  The new sink already is pre-drilled with a single faucet hole and the drain hole and comes overflow.

Thanks for any insight

This will only work if the new sink (including the lip that sits on the counter) is larger than the old sink - it looks like your new sink is actually a bit smaller (13x18 vs 16x19.5) which means there will not be any surface area on the counter for it to rest on.

Lets say for a second you did find a slightly larger sink.  You now need to consider the counter material.  If it is a laminate counter you can easily enlarge the hole for the new sink, however if it is a stone like granite, you will need some specialized tools and know-how in order to enlarge the hole; it could end up being cheaper to just replace it.

You also need to consider how you will remove the old sink.  If the new one is a fair bit larger you can just cut it out, but if margins are tight, you will need to very carefully break the old sink free without damaging the counter.


Can I demo plaster walls but somehow keep the window casing? My house was built in 1915.  It has cracked (original?) plaster over lathe, poor insulation, leaded paint, and knob and tube wiring.  To fix all of these things, I'm demo'ing the upstairs down to studs. The ceilings too.  (I'm leaving the exterior siding and existing roof)  After updating the wiring and insulation I'll put in new drywall.

This is the first time I've taken out lathe and plaster.  The plaster doesn't have asbestos but the paint does contain lead.  I'm doing the full abatement: respirator, taped plastic barriers, hepa filters, etc. I'm doing it myself, and it sure is messy :)

As part of this project I'll replace the old windows. They're double-hung, single-pane, painted shut, weights removed, with some cracked glass.

(OK, these particular windows aren't painted shut...)

I want to keep the existing look of the windows.  It was recommended that I use window inserts instead of new construction flanged windows, although I've never done this. I'd paint over the existing leaded paint on the window trim.

However, all of the trim is put over the top of the plaster.  The lathe and plaster add up to around 1/2", but it's very irregular. It seems to vary +/- 3/16".
So if I dig the plaster out from behind the trim, I'm left with this varying gap between the trim and the framing.

Finally to my question.  How is this done?  I have a few ideas, but I'm hoping you can suggest better ones!  Or tell me I'm on the right track. Or, tell me to suck up and simply replace the whole thing...

Take off the lathe/plaster up to the trim. Install drywall up to the edge and fill any extra (varying) depth with mud, caulk, or moulding.
Leave the window trim in place and dig out the plaster an inch or so deep all the way around making a "lip".  Then slide drywall into place under the lip and fill in any gaps as above.
Remove the trim very carefully, and reattach it over the new drywall.

Any suggestions? Thanks for any advice.

One of the main purposes of moldings, such as the trim around doors and windows (called casings), is to act as a barrier and seal to wind and water intrusion. Moldings on wall between vertical boards, called battens served a similar purpose. The decorative element was an extra benefit (unless you are an extreme modernist/minimalist who wants totally flat featureless transitions).

Since the days of rough hewn houses, our water and wind protection has improved overall. However casing still are a significant protector, especially against air leaks in cold climates.

Casings provide the protection in two ways -  they create a convoluted path for any air to get through by overlapping both the door frame (jamb) and the wall material (plaster, wallboard, paneling, etc); and they they fit tightly and are generally sealed to the other two parts with paint and often with caulk.

Your first approach will compromise both of those features. Your are effectively creating a butt joint with no overlap.  The path for air is directly perpendicular to the wall and the casing. The joint will likely crack at some point, even if you mud or caulk. Those seals work well when they are used in a corner that meets at a right angle, with one member going behind the other, not a butt joint. If you add an additional molding, you still have a butt joint along the edge of the original casing that might crack, and you are complicating your profile.

The second approach solves that problem, but getting the old plaster and lath out, and getting a tight fit pushing forward against the in-place casing will be hard.

The third approach seems much harder, but actually may be easier and less time consuming than the first or the second. Once the casings are off, removing the plaster remnants will be much easier. If you carefully score the joints around the casings and where they meet at the top with a utility knife, pry them off using a small catspaw type prybar, pull the nails through the back of the casing, lightly sand the chipped paint off the edges before reattaching, it should be quite manageable. It sounds harder than it is.

Even if you were to crack a molding or two in the process, they can be glued back together, and once painted, will seem whole.

P.S. My house was built in 1869, renovated in 1905, and renovated again in 1999. In the last reno, the above process is exactly what was done, leaving great early 20th century details, smooth walls and tight seams.


How do I choose which LED bulbs to put in my home? General purpose LED bulbs seem to vary a LOT in price... from $1 per bulb to $40+ per bulb... and there doesn’t seem to be any tangible difference between them. I mean, some say they last longer, but it’s never enough to justify 10-20x the price. And the lumens per watt are pretty much the same. Am I missing something?

You're missing a lot, but you might not care. You indicated longevity is not a factor, so that takes care of one category of differences. Let's note a few other common differences between cheap and expensive LED bulbs, so that you might make an informed choice based on what's important to you:

Improvements in Expensive LEDs compared to Cheap LEDs

Efficiency: usually good bulbs are more efficient, in terms of lumens/watt. With a dramatic difference (say 55 vs 85), the saved electricity can pay for the differences in the bulb, depending on power cost and duty cycle of the product's lifetime, which as noted, also tends to be longer on higher-quality bulbs.
Heat: dirt-cheap bulbs use cheaper internal power supplies that tend to generate waste heat. Better bulbs use a fancy electrical driver known as a "switch mode power supply", which can be up to 90% efficient, compared to a resistive or capacitive dropper with as low as 50% efficiency. Heat lowers lifetime, so if your bulb will be in a globe, can, or other enclosed area, this is a factor worth considering.
Color Quality: Better bulbs tend to have both higher CRI, and less color variation within models. I've gotten two dollar-tree bulbs from the same peg, and one was about 250deg cooler than the other. I've gotten two different phillips bulbs months apart and they both have identical coloring. If you don't have a lot of bulbs going at once, this is more important than when a bad apple can hide in the bunch. There's also some health/wellness concerns about an over-concentration of blue light, and it's bio-rhythm effects, and in this regard, the more-balanced light of quality bulbs would reason to have less impact.
Light Quality: Cheaper LEDs (especially those with cheap capacitive dropper internal power supplies) tend to flicker at mains. This can be more noticeable at night, and in your peripheral vision. Prolonged exposure causes some people headaches or just distracting corner-of-the-eye rainbows or flashes. If all your bulbs are the same and they all flicker, the effect can be quite pronounced and annoying.
Performance: cheap bulbs can take longer to turn on, which is especially noticeable when one switch controls many lights. This can make a good automation system seems laggy, which nobody wants. Another performance factor is backwards compatibility with existing dimmers, dusk-to-dawn sensors, motion detectors, etc. The parasitic current of such devices often causes less sophisticated bulbs to dimly flicker when the switch is off. Better bulbs use a couple of electronics-based tricks to eliminate or reduce such an effect (sensitive gate SCRs, bleeder resistors across caps, post-DC switching, etc). Also, some cheaper drivers can create audible noise, either a hum or whistle (especially when dimmed), but I've not heard that on quality bulbs. Lastly on this point, quality bulbs last longer, so if the bulb is hard to reach, like an outdoor yard light, that could be a strong consideration.

Considering all that, you still need to consider your usage as well. Weight the factors important you you (if any) and shop armed with the knowledge to get the best deal for your needs. You don't always needs the best, and I use dirt-cheap ones in some places myself, even after noting all the above!

You can likely live with a cheaper bulb you use 2 mins a day in a closet better than you can cheap task lighting. If you don't have enclosed lamps, heat's not a big factor. If you lived happily for years with mixed CFL+tungsten lights you probably won't care about color temp differences or CRI. If you don't pay a lot for grid power, efficiency isn't as important as it is for those off-grid. If you don't have dimmers or other "fancy" switches, backwards compat doesn't matter, etc.

You be the judge. You can spend $5k or $500k and get a reliable car. Same with stereos, or anything really. How much you need depends, but now you know what to look out for...


How do I repair a small nick in motor windings? I accidentally put a nick in a washing machine motor's windings when I was removing it. The nick is shallow, with mostly just the varnish scraped off, and isn't as big as the picture makes it look. Thankfully I only nicked one wire. I looked into buying another one, but they are pretty expensive.

Thanks

As long as the conductor in the motor winding is undamaged, you can probably repair the insulating varnish with a product that is made for that purpose.

Here is the tech sheet to one such product, MG Red Insulating Varnish 4228:

http://www.mgchemicals.com/downloads/tds/tds-4228-l.pdf

Amazon stocks and sells 55ml bottles of this for about $10.


What kind of crimping tool do I need for these bullet-style cable connectors? I need to connect pairs of wires within a narrow space (in one of the dimensions). I've been thinking of getting this kind of connector pairs:

but I know they need crimping. The only crimping I've ever done is RJ-45 connectors, from which I know that not all crimpers are alike. I'm finding dozens of crimping tools, many with replaceable "jaws"; example below. So, my question is: What kind of crimping tool, or tool+jaw combination, should I get for these connectors?
Notes:

The wires on one side are solid; on the other side they're stranded.
The connectors' stated diameter is 4mm.

tl;dr: Get a pair of HS-40J -type crimping pliers.
(This answer partially relies on information in @JACK's and @ThreePhaseEel's answers.)
Here's the kind of plier jaws which should work for you:

this type of jaws, and pliers, is named HS-40J. You'll notice the color-coding - but also the cross-section area, in square millimeters, listed:

0.25-1.0 mm^2 - Green
1-1.5 mm^2 - Red
2.5 mm^2 - Blue
4-6 mm^2 - Yellow

It is customary to have wire connectors obey this color coding, e.g.:

Other jaw sets - even from the long list you posted - may also work, depending on the cross-section area, but sometimes they have weird target shapes.
You will need to figure out the cross-section of your wire - not your connector - and crimp around the wire, accordingly. Specifically, the 4mm connector diameter is not the number you need to use. Please follow the rule: "Measure twice, cut^H^H^Hcrimp once"...
Here's how a full pair of pliers looks, with typical dimension and weight:


What's the correct name for this type of bath and shower mixer tap? I'm looking for a way to find a certain type of tap but I'm not native English and have no idea of the terminology, or even what I need exists...

Wall has 2 pipe endings, 15cm apart.
I need one big lever to mix both hot and cold (ceramic thing?).
Output is 1 tub filling normal flow.
Another output is to handheld shower head.

The most important is that the switch between the 2 outputs should NOT be automatic. I've seen those with 2 different controls (one hot, one cold) where the switch is manual. But I haven't seen any solution with manual switch that also has 1 big lever for mixing.

The reason is that the automatic is very fiddly for me. I almost exclusively use the handheld shower output and I hardly ever want the tub filling output (but it's nice to have). I don't wish to fiddle every day with the pressure-sensitive switch, since it all defaults to tub-filling mode as far as I know.

Google 'bar mixing valve' or 'thermostatic bar mixing valve'.

The one you picture looks to me like it is not thermostatic nor pressure balancing. It has no 'anti-scald' protection. Anti-scald valves are now required for a shower in nearly every plumbing code as far as I know.

The bar mixing valve type has the advantage that the entire valve is outside the wall, enabling repair or complete replacement without disturbing the wall.


Pedestal Sink Base Removal I am working on my bathroom floor and need to temporarily remove the pedestal sink base.  The bowl is attached to the wall via a mounting bracket on the underside of the bowl. Is it possible to remove just the base and keep the bowl in place or does the base help support it?  It does not appear to help support the weight

To facilitate work on plumbing, I have removed and later replaced the pedestal from several pedestal basins with no problem other than clearing any carpet or other flooring or woodwork around the bottom to make it possible to slide the pedestal out.

Sometimes they are a close fit but so far none have really been needed to support the basin.


Is it a code violation to have so many outlets and switches on a single breaker? My mother in law recently started renting a 3 bed 2 bath 2019 Nevada series single section mobile home. She is constantly blowing the same breaker which controls all of the switches and outlets (except the master area).  Bed and bath, laundry and kitchen counter area ceiling light goes out as well, even the outside outlets shut off.
I can fix almost anything in   RV'S and modular homes except for the electrical, I will leave that to the professionals.
Before I have her report this to the park that she rents from I wanted to see if this is a code violation  or if it could possibly just be her overloading the 15amp breaker that is blowing.
Red dots are for the outlets purple for switches that are on the same 15 amp circuit breaker:

Dining room, living room, bedroom and lighting receps all on the same circuit is totally legal under Code.  It's a severe case of min-max'ing for builder cost rather than occupant usability, but it's not illegal at all.  This "min-max"-ing is particularly strong in manufactured homes where a single factory builds tens of thousands; a guy can earn a year's paycheck by figuring a way to shave off $5 per unit. AFCI breakers are $40.
A gas stove that has a 120V plug-in is allowed either on general house circuits, or on the dedicated kitchen countertop receptacle circuits.  That is because of an exception that allows it on the kitchen countertop circuits, which normally don't allow any fixed appliances.

As far as "GFCI Protected" labels on plain receptacles, any GFCI device can feed other devices that are also equally protected.  That's legit.  Further, the labels are not just legit but mandatory. If you see a plain outlet that you know is GFCI protected from another outlet, and there's no sticker, that's the Code violation.   If you don't like the blue stickers that come in the GFCI package, feel free to make your own!

Honestly, this is almost certainly a "Pilot error" problem, and the user needs to be educated that electricity is not just magically infinite, circuits have limits which are knowable, and each appliance takes some amount which is knowable.  So there is no mystery here.
After some problems with trips, I skilled up my sweetie, who now knows how to find an appliance's nameplate and get amps, and divide by 120 if only watts are shown, and can recite off "Toaster 7, heater 7/13, hair dryer 12" etc.  And also knows which outlets are on which breakers (it's not hard in this house).
In a more complicated house, I would resort to labeling each outlet for circuit ID and ampacity.  I'm fond of whimsical names like Thor/Odin/Loki/Sif/Hulk/Groot for circuits, but whatever you like.
The gas stove has too small a current draw to even be worth calculating, e.g. cell phone chargers, internet routers and the like, as well as LED bulbs.  The gas range/oven is one of those: the onboard electronics might take 10 watts max, plus a 25-40 watt oven light; that makes 35-50W or 0.3 to 0.4 amps.


Loud knocking noise in house with radiators and old plumbing I'm staying in a three story home with radiators and old plumbing (probably copper). I'm a guest and it's a rental with a management company (they fix a few things here and there but not most things).

The noise happens intermittently all night every night. Likely also intermittently all day but I'm not usually in the bedroom at night. It's quite loud. I can hear it in the ceiling (or maybe walls) and it seems to come from different areas in tandem (like a call and response). Best description would be a clicking sound.

I was thinking of trying to bleed the radiators but seems like it could also be the supply plumbing instead, so I'm not sure where to start or what to do. I don't know much about plumbing noises. There's at least 11 radiators in the house.

Suggestions? Get ear plugs?

Even bleeding the systems won’t normally stop the clicking & creaking as the pipes heat and cool the pipes expand and contract causing the majority of the noise, on steam systems there are DA tanks that remove the air , it sounds like normal expansion noise to me , I would not experiment at bleeding a system until I knew if it was a hot water or steam system. Most residential systems I have seen are hot water but I ran into a few low pressure steam systems in a high end neighborhood that we were installing gas furnaces. I thought only commercial was allowed live steam so I would be careful and probably get ear plugs.


LNLN Motion Sensor - Replacing Switch, Help with RED wire I purchased a motion sensor to operate the lights in my garage. The Motion sensor has four terminals labeled LNLN. When I remove the switch, I have a Black wire, white wire, bare wire, and a RED wire which is puzzling me.
The instructions are below.  The red wire is confusing me.  Thanks for your Help
2]]2

Normally Black is the hot supply or L, the white is the neutral N both from the supply and to the load the red wire is the switched hot. This is how all the motion sensors work that I have installed. But you don’t show which wire is red but this is the most common. Most electricians use Red as a switched hot but it is not a requirement to do so.


How do I reapply travertine tile used for a backsplash on my kitchen wall I originally used to double-sided sticky paper to install my travertine tile pieces to the wall, but some have come off and some are loose.  We didn't space them at all just did a pyramid type placement, so no grout is involved.

With travertine you should be using thinset to apply it to the wall.  You don't really need to grout - I have seen it done either way travertine.  If you don't grout then make sure you use a darker grey thinset as it cures into more of a mortar look and also make sure that the thinset isn't squirting up out of your tiles.  So there is a little cleanup to do after applying the thinset.


Combining wires from two breakers to one appliance? I have a wall oven and a microwave oven, connected to 30A and 20A breakers respectively, and both are 240V.

Now I'm thinking of replacing it with another double-oven model that runs a single wire powering both ovens. According to the specs, the maximum possible power is 7800W.

The official website says that 32.5A is the maximum load. I assume that it should require a 40A breaker. However, the installation manual says to use a 50A breaker.

My questions are:

Is it safe if I combine the wires that are currently connected to the oven (30A) and the microwave oven (20A) to the new double oven?

I assume that the diameter of the wires shouldn't be the problem, because they're joined at the very end of the circuit.

According to all references I can find, a 40A breaker is sufficient to power 7800W at 240V. Can I assume this, or do I need to strictly follow the manufacture's 50A guideline?

Thanks!

Update: attached image.

As far as 40 vs. 50 - that depends on the manufacturer's requirements. The installation instructions clearly state:

  A 50 Amp circuit breaker with wire gauge #8 AWG must be used.

So there you have it. 50 Amp - not 40 Amp. 8 AWG - not smaller. You can, of course, use larger wire - e.g., 6 AWG - that is always OK. But you can't use a smaller breaker - my guess is you would get nuisance trips if you use the microwave + convection in the top at the same time as you use broil in the bottom oven. And you can't use larger because it would not provide the necessary protection in certain situations.

As to why the oven needs a 50 Amp breaker if it seems to only use 7.8 kW, only the manufacturer can say for sure. But a couple of possibilities:

7,800 W/240 V = 32.5 A. 32.5 x 1.25 = 40.625. That is just over the magic 40.0, so goes to the next breaker size. But that would seem like a very poor design to be "so close".
7,800 W/208 V = 37.5 A. Of course, if the reason to need a 50 Amp breaker is for 208 V installation, they could have listed 40 A for 240, 50 A for 208. But they didn't.
7,800 W is the "usual" continuous rating, fitting OK (or close) with 40 Amp, but maybe the surge (startup of top & bottom ovens at the same time, part of self cleaning cycle, etc.) is significantly > 40 A, so 50 A is needed to avoid problems.

In any case, you must NOT combine two wires to get more capacity. It is against code and, aside from any other technical reasons, the basic problem is if one wire broke (or more likely, one end came off a connector) then 50A would be flowing over a wire that can only handle 20A or 30A. You can't parallel, as logical as it might seem.


1AWG with a smaller breaker? I am thinking about having an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) installed.
In the interest of future proofing for an electric pickup truck coming on the market about a year from now, i would like to have 1 AWG wire installed for 100 amps @ 240 Volts (residential).
But my EVSE today is only supposed to draw 32 amps @ 240 Volts, so would it be safe to have wiring installed that is intended for up to 100 amps, and use a 40 amp breaker today incase the current 32 amp evse decides to malfunction, the smaller circuit breaker would trip at 40 amps, and switch out the breaker to 100 amps when the time comes ?
Thank You.

Sure, you can always upsize the wire.

However, a dramatic upsize introduces two complications.

the much-larger wire will not fit on the device.  It will need to be pigtailed to a suitably sized wire, such as a 6 AWG.

When dealing with #1 wire, it's not as simple as using a giant orange wire-nut the size of a salt shaker.  You have to use a connector such as a Polaris, which is an insulated lug terminal.   You could also use uninsulated lug terminals or split bolts, if you don't mind lashing it under unbelievable amounts of electrical tape.  You do need to insulate neutrals.

You are probably dealing with aluminum wire (I hope)

Generally all terminations sized for #1 wire are aluminum friendly; why wouldn't they, since aluminum is normal and expected at these sizes.  You just have to take care to use terminations rated for aluminum; a Polaris is fine, however I would not use a split bolt unless the smaller wire is also aluminum. Aluminum is fine to use at these sizes.

But yes, definitely lay the heavier wire.  The only case where I wouldn't is if the wire was in conduit, and the run is very short.  In that case, the pigtail adapters for the larger wire might be more expensive than just doing the whole run in the smaller wire.  It could be changed for the larger wire later.


Burial depth of corrugated pipe Water from the gutter downspout is to be directed into 4" corrugated black polypropylene pipe.  To what depth should the pipe be buried?  Assume a Florida venue: so freezing is not a concern.   Example, albeit MN.
If it is not buried deep enough, it could be damaged by a lawnmower or somebody stepping on it.  Burying it deeper than necessary is unnecessary digging.
Solid Corrugated Pipe (no holes) Update:

A single piece of solid (vs perferated) 25-foot length was installed to minimize the possibility of joint failures

Based only on personal experience, not any sort of reference, 6" cover (so a 10 inch trench depth for a 4 inch pipe) is a reasonable minimum unless your lawnmower is one of those things that weighs as much as a small car.


old paint on decking My decking is painted but in a lot of places the paint is peeling off to the colour underneath, my question is do I need to sand the old paint off or can I just paint over it. Any suggestions as to what paint that I need to purchase
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

thank you

You definitely need to sand the loose paint off before repainting. Otherwise your new coat will quickly begin peeling as well, since it would be relying on the already peeling paint underneath it for adhesion to the deck.

There are actually disc sanders made specifically for the purpose of removing old flaking paint. Sanding will also help feather the edges of spots where the existing paint has already chipped off. That way you won't get the flaky texture showing through on your new coat.

Prime any areas with bare wood showing, and repaint with an outdoor paint meant for porch/patio/deck floors.


How to cut the correct angle on transition strips I just relaid my kitchen flooring using floating laminate. I am trying to figure out the best way to get these angles correct for a flush cut on the transition.

If all else fails I'll cut to make it a 90 degree angle but figured I'd ask if anyone had a suggestion to make it 2 clean corner cuts.

Firstly, note that the cuts on two adjoining pieces should have the same angle, but in the opposite direction. Failure to do this will result in something like you've shown us here, with points sticking out and part of the cut end exposed. That's just not good at all.

Secondly, each joint should pass exactly over the corner in the flooring. This doesn't tell you anything about the length of your pieces, but it helps tell you whether you're on the right track when working out fitment.

Thirdly, always cut a bit long. You can easily re-cut the same angle if needed, and you can adjust if needed. You can't cut a board longer.

If you started with a 45 degree clip in your flooring then it's simple. Each bend is 45 degrees (half a 90), so each cut is half that, or 22-1/2 degrees. Since there's a bit of play in where you install the moldings, this should work fine and give you nice tight miters. Set all pieces in place, adjust positions slightly to get a perfect fit, and lightly trace the position on your flooring as a guide for the final install.

If you don't know or the angles aren't 45 degrees you have a couple options. You can use a carpenter's square or bevel gauge to measure the flooring angles, then simply divide each in half.

Another technique is to lay two pieces in place, overlapping each other at the miter. Precisely mark the point on each edge (inside the bend and outside) where the two pieces intersect. Now when you go back to your miter saw you have two points to cut along.

Or you can use trial-and-error and some scrap wood. Width doesn't really matter. Start with two cuts at 22-1/2 degrees. Set the scraps against the flooring and see what's what. Adjust the cuts (always cut both pieces to the same angle!) in small increments until it's just right, then cut your molding.

One last tip: Use wood glue in the miters. Hold them in place with masking tape to the wood floor, pulling it all inward. Wipe any squeeze-out off and clean up with a damp cloth. A couple hours should do. This will help keep them from working open and will serve to mask any slight angle issues.


Do I need a stud on each side to install a swinging shower door? I recently started looking into installing a glass shower door for my stall shower. The shower is a one-piece fiberglass pre-fab shower. I assume I need a stud on at least one side of the door to screw the frame into. (through the shower, into the wall, into a stud.) My problem is that I checked both walls and found out that the studs aren't lined up on both sides.

Luckily, the side I would put the hinge on lines up with the edge of the shower. It makes sense to me that the majority of the force/moment is going to be on the hinge side of the frame. However, I'm worried about what might happen if the shower door is slammed shut, applying a large impulse to the side of the frame not anchored into a stud.

So am I screwed because my builder didn't have enough foresight to line up the studs on both sides of the shower, or is one side good enough?

EDIT: What type of anchors should I use, if I decide to put in the shower door with only a stud on the hinge side? Should I drill out  the fiberglass and stick an anchor just in the drywall behind it? Do anchors exist that will span the 1.5" gap between the fiberglass shower and the drywall?

You may be OK if you use proper anchors. I assume this is drywall. The shower door shouldn't be that heavy but you certainly don't want a bunch of glass raining down on someone. It would probably be a good idea to put a stud if you still don't feel the anchors will work for you.


If I split a 240v 30amp (has neutral) circuit into two 20amp 120v circuits, would that count as two 20-amp branch circuits to meet code? I have an extra 240v 30amp outlet in my kitchen that was originally for my dryer. I know how I would be able to split it, but I am not sure if it would fulfill the code requirement:

Countertop receptacles shall be supplied by a minimum of two 20-amp small appliance branch circuit.

I'm located in Ontario.

Yes, if you do it right. This is an MWBC, Multi Wire Branch Circuit.
The keys are:

240V double-breaker (or technically handle-tie is OK, but double-breaker is easier and you better already have that for a dryer anyway).
Feed must include hot/hot/neutral/ground. This might get tricky. A proper modern 30A dryer connection will have all 4 wires (or 3 + metal conduit for ground). However, older dryer connections only had 3 wires. You need to check this first. Upload a picture of the dryer receptacle and we can figure it out.
Replace the 30A breaker with a 20A breaker.
You need GFCI. That can either be done with a 20A double-breaker with GFCI built in (may or may not be available for your panel) or by using a GFCI receptacle as the first receptacle in each chain of receptacles in the kitchen.
The 30A receptacle goes away. Inside the box, run connect two 12/2 (12 AWG hot/neutral/ground) cables. (This could be done with a single 12/3, but that gets confusing and forces you to use breaker GFCI. Easier to avoid it.) The hot (black) wire from one cable goes to one hot wire from the panel. The hot (black) wire from the other cable goes to the other hot wire from the panel. The neutrals from both cables go to the neutral from the panel. All grounds (as always) together.
Each cable can now feed to as many receptacles (15A and/or 20A) as you want. All are ordinary receptacles except that if you did not install a GFCI breaker then the cable goes to the line side of a GFCI receptacle and all following receptacles go to the load side.


Hot water heater thermostat contacts burned - how to repair? The attached photo is the lower thermostat on my electric hot water heater.  We noticed a burning odor yesterday so I shut off the power and looked behind the panels to investigate.  How is this problem repaired?  Thank you.  If it helps, I believe the problem is described by someone with more knowledge that me in this answer: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/130763/56424.

Update:  It looks like the thermostat got fried - it was all burned out on the inside and stunk something awful.  I replaced it and all seems well.  The burned screw is leading to the heating element, which I tested for resistence as described by other members and concluded was fine.

So the first step is to find out why this terminal started burning in the first place.  Chances are you have a failed or failing element that is drawing too much power, but not quite enough to trip the breaker or you have a failed thermostat.

It looks like the main damage is the insulation of the wire that I assume goes to the supply.  You will need to replace or, if possible, repair the wire's insulation.  If the conductors are also burned you will need to replace.  Some heat-shrink tubing that has the same heat rating at the original wire, which is probably at least 90C could be used.  But check that as it should be marked on the undamaged wire.

A water heater element is a 240V connection that has no connection to ground.  Often these fail internally and one of the conductors will connect to the steel tube that contains the element itself.  So if you measure one with a VOM (that's a Volt-Ohm-Meter) with the POWER OFF!!! and the wires disconnected from the element, you should get a reasonable resistance (in OHMS mode) between the two terminals and a very high or infinite resistance from either terminal to ground.

What is reasonable?  Well you need to check the label on the unit where the element power outputs are listed.  Often they are in the range of 4-5 KW (that's kilo-Watts).  Ohm's Law and the Power Equation will give you the expected resistance:

P (in Watts) = V (in Volts) * I (in Amps)

So 4000 = 240 * I => I = 16.6 Amps, at 5000 W you have I = 20.8 A

Ohm's Law: V = IR which can be re-written as:

R = V/I

Again at 4000 we have R = 240/16.6 = ~14.5 Ohms and at 5000 we have 240/20.8 = 11.5 Ohms.  So you should see an R value on your VOM between the two terminals of the element in that range of 11.5 to 14.5 Ohms.  Much different than that (again assuming you have one that is 4000-5000 W) and you have a problem.


Can I paint a door without removing it from the hinges? I watched a This Old House video that recommended taking the door off its hinges to paint it horizontal.  I would rather not do that if it's not necessary.  May I leave it in place?  I'm going to paint it the same color as current (white).

Sure, but you increase the odds of drips and runs that way.

Either way you have to leave it open until the paint dries.

If you take it off, you can bring it to a warm part of the house so it dries faster. Might not be much different on a warm/hot day.

Be sure to put a dropcloth under it to keep paint off the floor.