How to run romex around window with no studs? I installed a power outlet between two windows in my garage. I want to run power to the outlet from the other side of one of the windows. The trouble is, there are no studs to run wiring through. The windows are installed such that there are no studs under them, and a large header takes up all the space above them (again, no studs to pass through). What can I do to get the wiring around the window? I'll be putting up drywall after this. The ceiling was finished when I purchased the house. Living space above the garage.
Thanks!

The simplest would be to finish your garage and surface mount either raceway conduit or armored cable. Since this is a garage, the aesthetics shouldn't matter that much.


Can I wire a receptacle to a cord and plug? I am planning to add a recessed wall box for my TV so I can put the connections behind its wall mount. Most of these boxes come with a pass-through of some sort as well as a spot for a single-gang receptacle.

I'd like to put a 20A (NEMA 5-20R) receptacle here, so I don't need to run the power cable very far, but I'd also like for it to be surge protected.

I know I can get surge-protected receptacles, but given the consumable nature of a surge protector, I'd rather wire the receptacle to a cord-and-plug termination (a NEMA 5-20P) and plug it into my existing surge protector.

I'm having trouble finding if there is a code-compliant (NEC 2014 or 2017, which my jurisdiction will soon adopt) way to do this.

My current thought is to wire this receptacle only to another receptacle so they form an isolated circuit. Then, I get a cord, doubly-terminated with NEMA 5-20P ends and I plug one end into the "other" receptacle and the other end into the surge protector.

Use an inlet (or a full in-wall TV power kit, if required by the AHJ)

What you want for getting power back into the wall isn't a second outlet, but its mirror image, namely an inlet (product shown for exposition only):

That way, you can use a (short) length of ordinary extension cord between the surge protector and the inlet, then have normal building wiring from the inlet to another outlet.  This is similar to a 400.7 (11) setup:

  (11) Between an existing receptacle outlet and an inlet, where the inlet provides power to an additional single receptacle outlet.  The wiring interconnecting the inlet to the single receptacle outlet shall be a Chapter 3 wiring method.  The inlet, receptacle outlet, and Chapter 3 wiring method, including the flexible cord and fittings, shall be a listed assembly specific for this application.

only with the surge suppressor in the middle, which to me, would make it fall under 400.7 point 6 instead (you're facilitating the interchange of the surge suppressor or other intermediate device here).  However, your AHJ may require a 400.7 (11) kit -- these are called "in-wall TV power kits" generically, but are sometimes known by a trade name of "PowerBridge".  These include the inlet, outlet, and the wiring between them in the wall, and typically are designed to be easily field fitted, using an integral connector system.


Best application for stained concrete patio - shedding overhanging trees? Old concrete patio -- shedding maple trees stain the concrete. Powerwashing not remedying.  What application would render the best appearance?

Acid etching. You have a few options here. Phosphoric Acid or Muriatic Acid


Very slow leak below shutoff valve If you look at picture below, the cold water line is on the right. I am having a very slow leak beneath the metal nut at the bottom and the metal threads that come out from cold water supply. It does not drip, it is a very slow leak that could be described as oozing very very slowly. I have attempted to tighten and it won’t budge. I really don’t want to take it off unless absolutely necessary. Are there any suggestions or any products, I could use to stop this leak? I had thought of using pipe sealant, but I don’t know if that is an option here.

I put some pipe sealent on the area pointed in picture plus the area where icemaker and cold water shutoff valves are. No leaks yet.


Rerouting return air duct in furdown So I ran into this issue that seems quite gross that it was located inside the furdown in the bathroom, which was becoming layered in gross dust, hair and crap that gets sucked up. We removed it as part of a remodel. The problem is that there is wood studs that would block the air duct from going directly. What configuration has worked to have the return in the wall? thank you. DO we have to cut the studs ? Brace?

wood studs that would block the air duct from going directly

I assume you mean straight down in the wall with the mirror on it. I can see the top plate of the wall behind the mirror, and it's doubled. That makes me think it's a load-bearing wall. I could be wrong on that, and if I'm right you'd be taking a big risk in modifying it. So my best advice would be to consult a professional on this one. You don't want to risk compromising the structural integrity of the house.
If you do want to go it alone, to give you a direct answer, and assuming it's load-bearing: The wall is holding up the joists above it, and what's important is that they remain supported. So you'd need to a) cut the top plate in such a way that the part you remove is entirely between two joists; do not under any circumstance leave a joist with nothing under it, and b) place a stud at each end of the opening you create, so that the top plate and the weight it's carrying remains properly supported.
But again, I strongly recommend a pro in this instance.


When there is a power outage the wine cooler GFCI outlet stays off after power returns and need s to reset, what is the cause? Total three outlets on a 20 amp breaker:

Wiring # 12 / 2 from breaker to Receptacle #1 line.
Receptacle #1 for Ironing cloths. 20 amp GFCI receptacle.
Wiring # 12 / 2 from Receptacle #1 load to Receptacle #2 line.
Receptacle #2 in Bath room for Dryer or shaver. GFCI receptacle.
Wiring # 14 / 2 from Receptacle #2 Load to Receptacle #3.
Receptacle #3 In Kitchen open cabinet for Wine Cooler. 15 amp receptacle (non-GFCI).

Every time there is a power outage in my area the cooler stay off until I reset both of the 20 amp receptacles. The main breaker never goes off, only the GFCI. What could be the cause? Or what should I do?

This whole thing is a hot mess.

That breaker MUST be changed to 15 amps immediately.

First, you have 14 AWG wire in the curcuit, yet the breaker is 20A.  That's not allowed.  Since the smallest wire in the circuit is 14 AWG, the breaker can be no larger than 15A.   The fact that it's downstream of a 12AWG section makes no difference at all.  The GFCI does not provide overcurrent protection to the downstream 14AWG.  The only way this would be legal is if you added fuse protection somehow.

Daisy-chaining GFCI's is pointless

At best, it causes weird interactions, such as your situation where the GFCI trips after power failures.  (Mind you, this also may be a downstream device ground faulting on startup or power loss).

At worst, you are leaving another circuit unprotected which you could protect, if you would make better use of your 2 GFCIs.  Move the downstream GFCI somewhere useful.

Refrigerators with grounds should not have GFCIs

For this reason.  A GFCI trip knocks out the fridge, someone finds it tripped and resets it unaware that it shut off the fridge so he does not Mention it to the cook.  Fridge cools back down, cook arrives and discovers cold food in fridge as expected, is unaware it's spoiled, serves it, sick family.

Power failures can already cause this, but this GFCI trip problem turns short outages into long ones.

Fire your electrician

This whole setup is awful.  It was carelessly put together by throwing random parts together without concept nor care for the rules and best practices.

Since you seem smart enough to describe what's there with impressive precision, it may fall on you to school up and put this house right.  Hit a library or home improvement store's book section, find a book that speaks to you (feels accessible) and devour it eagerly... want to learn much more than is strictly required for the job at hand, so you know what you're seeing when you see the unexpected.

I have to say, taking broken wiring and making it tight and right, is a lot of fun and a cheap hobby to boot.

More on the refrigerator-GFCI issue

The "no GFCI on refrigerators" advice has caused some interest.  GFCI treatment is different in the US than in Europe, and I'm not calling Europeans wrong for having whole-house RCD (GFCI).  That is driven by different sensibilities: Europe is interested in protecting older homes from many faults including electrocution, and the whole-house units have a gentler detection threshold so they don't have nearly as many nuisance trips (also adequate, but not as jumpy, at stopping fatal electrocutions.)

America is motivated (as always) by cost, but also by an American nightmare of pool, lake and tub electrocutions, where smaller current barely stuns a person, and they drown.  As such, our thresholds are so low that nuisance trips happen a lot.  And that's fine on most circuits where you just reset it.

A grounded, metal-outside, plastic-inside, HV electrical gear at the bottom, refrigerator is vanishingly unlikely to fail in a way where a GFCI would protect a human.  And so the nuisance trips are bad news.

Issues only arise in two places: if the refrigerator is ungrounded (want that GFCI), or the refrigerator outlet is a duplex outlet (2 sockets) and in a location where a consumer might plug in other kitchen appliances which ought to be GFCI protected.   In that case, the duplex should be replaced by a simplex to stop that from happening, or by moving the receptacle.

NEC specifically allows refrigerators to be non-GFCI-protected.  It even swerves way out of its way to specifically allow non-GFCI fridges and freezers in locations where everything else needs GFCI, such as garages and unfinished basements.  Again, a grounded refrigerator is simply not going to present a situation where GFCI would help.

Code allows you to put GFCI protection on a fridge, if you really want to.  But since many newly made fridges state flat-out in their instructions "Do not use GFCI protection"... Oh, hold on.   Yes, if you disregard those instructions, you are using an electrical product contrary to its labeling -- which is, in fact, a violation of the electrical code.  Sorry.

Also, regarding the "cook oughta know it's spoiled" argument.  Very often, at least here in America, the "cook" simply grabs prepared food out of the fridge and hands it unexamined, untested to another human unable to raid the fridge themselves, owing to youth, age, or infirmity. These are the very folks most vulnerable to fatal consequences from food poisoning, and least able to detect or successfully signal an unusual problem.


Replacing 3-way Dimmer with Smart Dimmer I'm trying to replace a 3-way dimmer set-up (currently a Lutron MACL-153M) with a smart dimmer. I have C by GE Smart Dimmers. After a lot of tinkering yesterday, I was unable to get it to work. I've made a bad MS Paint diagram of the two boxes the dimmers are currently in below.

The first dimmer is in a box with a toggle. There are two black wires (labeled A and B) going into Dimmer 1's common screw/push port. One of these is coming from the Toggle, so I'm assuming that wire's the line from the power source. (I believe this wire also comes from a black wire bundle in the back). Wire B is separate when it comes from the top of the box. The rest of the set-up is straightforward, with red wire on the brass screw and a white wire on the blue screw, and a spiderwebbed bare ground wire running to both the toggle and the dimmer. The one quirk here is that in addition to the white wire coming from the box, there's a separate bundled and capped group of white wires at the back of the box, which I assume to be a group of neutrals, while the white wire from the blue screw is a traveler that hasn't been correctly taped with black. The current dimmer model doesn't require a neutral.

In the second dimmer, there are just four wires. A black wire to the common screw, a red wire to the brass screw, a white wire to the blue screw, and a bare ground wire. These dimmers control 8 recessed lights located physically between the two switch boxes.

Based on studying diagrams of 3-way circuiting, it looks like this is a pre-2011 switch circuit and there's no neutral in the second box. Is there any way to replace this grouping with either a) the C by GE smart dimmers (they require a neutral) or b) some other brand of smart dimmer, or am I out of luck? And if I can use the C be GE, how do I wire it (what would be the 'line' wire in the second dimmer, for example)?

Thanks!

I think you might be ok since you have a white wire going to the second switch acting like a traveler.  The new GE smart switches do not need a traveller, so that white can be turned into a neutral.

I'm basing my knowledge of off this help site: https://support.cbyge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020711551-3-Way-Multi-Switch-Installation-

In the box that has the other switch, you need to figure out which black wire is the "load" wire that goes up to the light.  The bootlegged white traveller will get bundled with the rest of the whites and turn into a true neutral in the other box.

I think that "line" in this diagram is what you have labeled as "common" in yours.  If there is a black wire shared with the other switch, you can assume that will be the "line" wire.  That "line" also needs to be present in the second box (it should be).  Line will have voltage on it at all times (it's not switched like the load and traveler wires).  You will not have a capped traveller, because you are using it as a neutral.

The second box is wired like this:

The switch only needs a neutral and line wire.  Seems kind of odd at first glance - the switch isn't switching anything!  Well, their 3-way setup is obviously using a wireless signal as the traveller.  The first switch does all the work and this second switch is really just a wireless button.

I have Lutron Casseta dimmers in my home that do the same thing except the second switch is just a battery operated remote that installs in the switch plate.  You can add more remotes as needed.  The system does require a hub, but I enjoy the flexibility and easy of installation.  Certainly pros and cons.  I think your GE setup will work.


How can I anchor something in the gaps between the bricks or rocks of a fireplace without damaging the masonry? I want to hang fireplace tools next to my fireplace without damaging the stone work.   I don't want to drill into it.

The stones have mortar between them with gaps about half an inch wide:

I have nearly half an inch of depth to work with:

I would like to be able to put some sort of tension screw between those rocks that I could then hang something on.    My plan is to use two such locations and use them to anchor a row of hooks on a board.  All in all, it would have to hold about 20 pounds of fireplace tools.

Despite spending a bunch of time on Google, I wasn't able to find any hardware that would suit my needs.    The closest I could come up with are "cap nuts" which I might be able to tighten in place if I put something rubbery on the end first:

What kind of hardware should I be looking for and how does it work?

Adding an answer because it would have been quite a long comment...

I knew I had seen "brick clips" before, but I'm not sure either style would work for you.

This kind is made to "hug" the top and bottom of a standard brick, so probably will not work for you, but at least you know it's available...

There's also this style that has little "ears" that you use to wedge it into the horzontal mortar lines.  These could work, but I'm not sure they will support the weight of tools, and may easily pull out.  I've only seen them used for Christmas decorations.

My goal here is to show you what I've seen, so maybe you can use them as search points for something that will work.


How do I remedy mold/mildew that has appeared since blocking off ventilation? I have a Ranch home with a finished rec room in the basement. It is our second year in the house. We had no mold/mildew problems last year. I put new carpet in the family room above basement and I filled in and covered a cold air return vent. The basement door is now very tight because the new carpeting is very thick. I also put two new glass block windows in the basement. Now I have mold/mildew showing up on most of the lower paneling in the basement.

Is it because of lack of air flow? How can I fix it?

The problem is humidity and condensation. Wet air is heavier, sinks, and the basement is cooler, so then condenses.

You need to dehumidify that air. The easiest solution is likely to buy a dehumidifier and run it constantly in the basement.

Re-opening the cold-air return can help, as it will circulate some of that moist air out of the basement as well.

All that said, this could be an issue with ground water as well. Are your walls/floor waterproofed from the outside?


Need to stop sound of rain hitting top of window AC I want to silence the sound of rain drops falling on my window air conditioners by putting some kind of pad on top of them. (The sound is keeping me awake.) I also need to be very frugal right now so I'm looking into using what I have around the house. I have a roll of polyester fiberfill that I've used for quilting and crafts. It is thermally bonded spun polyester fibers. (I got this idea from someone else who said they used an air filter pad, which I think can be either spun polyester or spun fiberglass.)

I've seen a couple of "drip pads" for this purpose for sale online. But, for a couple of reasons, they won't work for me.

In considering how to make these pads, I've had a few questions for which I can't find answers on the internet. Maybe someone one on this site has the answers.

1)I had to place one AC in the direct afternoon sunlight - no choice. I know the metal housing must get very hot with the summer sun beating down on it. Does anyone know how hot the metal housing on the AC would get in, let's say, 100 F weather with the sun directly on it?

2) Does anyone know the melting or burning point (F) for spun polyester?

3) Does anyone have any opinion about a low cost material that would work better than spun polyester? (It would need to be breathable, not hold water, not break down quickly in the sun, and certainly not burn or melt and run into the AC unit.)

Thank you.

How about a synthetic door mat? They're heavy, waterproof, and some even have bristles on the top which would soften the impact of rain.


How do I match an old molding pattern? Possible Duplicate:
  Need an apparently-discontinued moulding profile; where to look?

I added a closet added to a room. There was no crown molding that matched at HD or Lowes. Is there anything I can do to try and find a match? I would like to complete the project. The home is a 1920's bungalow in MA.

If you are serious about this project, you have two options:

1) Scour various retailers and specialty stores (and the internet?) for a moulding match at an appropriate price.

2) Take a sample of your moulding to a professional millwork shops and they can match it.

Option 2 will likely be pricey depending on the complexity of the work piece.
We had carved hardwood moulding in the house I grew up in and the mill wanted over $20 a linear foot to make it.

It looks like yours can be made from foam injection, or simple routing... so it should be less expensive.

Another option, which may be cheaper but more work:
3) Remove all the moulding you cannot match and replace it all with new.


Is this termite damage and if so how do I repair it? I was moving a bolt storage rack in the basement, and when I took it off the wall, I noticed that the wall behind it was moldy. Then I noticed a ripple in the paint going all the way up, and when I followed it with my hand, the paint cracked off in a relatively well defined vertical path. I knew at that point the wall needed to be removed.

As I did that, I found very soft drywall, and the insulation behind it was blackened.

I removed it all, and I found some wood had been eaten. Then, I realized that a LOT of wood had been eaten. I'm not sure what I have here and how to proceed.

The last couple pictures appear to be wood boring insect damage (termites or carpenter ants). I'd spray the area with pesticide, setup bait traps in a perimeter around the home, and in this location, sister or replace the stud with a pressure treated 2x4.


Tile Baseboards around Vanity I am putting up 6" bullnose tile baseboards, and am wondering how best to handle where they'll meet the vanity toe-kick, which is about 4". Without having a bullnose blade, is there a more elegant way than butting up against the vanity stopmolding, and making an "L" underneath?

I do not think you will find any more of an elegant way to do what you want to accomplish. You need to go under the vanity and so something has to go there. You could try to wood face that portion - but I think you will have a less than attractive end result.

If you were using wood flooring tile as your base boards - you might be able to make it blend.
Either way though I think you do not have many options, and will probably end up with the L. If you notch it right I think you will find it to not be as bad as you might think.  I would silicone the back edge of the tile at the vanity edge rather than mastic at that end - so the silicone caulking can bleed through from the back side - kind of hide the sealant if you will - and provide a more seamless contact point.


Is there quick setting “gap filling” adhesive? I have used “grab” adhesive in the past, but had problem as they take a long time to set and the object need to be hold in place until they set.

So is there a fast setting “gap filling” adhesive?   (A two part system when I put one part on each surface would be an option)

This can depend on the size of the gap and the materials being joined.  Two options come to mind that differ extremely.

First there is '5 minute' epoxy.  Mix the two parts, hold for approx five minutes and its pretty set.

Second, for very small gaps, there is gap filling Cyanoacrylate glue.  Then to get it to set  fast you can use an accelerator that you spray on to it once its where you want.  I doubt this is what you are looking for though.  Its common to use this approach for filling voids in wood before finish sanding.


Adding a second Grounding Bar My current electrical system appears to have the ground and the neutral wires on the same bus bar.  If I had a second grounding bar, do I need to move ALL of my ground wires to the new grounding bar, which in turn would free up space on the ground/neutral bar?

Your neutral and ground bars must be separated, UNLESS this panel is the main service entrance panel, meaning this is where the line comes in from the utility meter and the neutral is bonded to the grounding electrode conductor (the wire going to the ground rod). In that case, the grounds and neutrals can be mixed on the same bar.

The problem I see is that if you have run out of spaces for both the grounds and neutrals in that panel, there are likely other problems with your system because you should not be able to run out of spaces unless something was done wrong. For example you may have wires doubled up on breakers where they should not have been. Many breakers are NOT rated for more than one wire per lug, those that are tend to come in panels with larger ground and neutral bars. If not that, then someone has installed too many "twin" (1/2 space) breakers to increase the number of circuits beyond what the panel was designed for.


Building brick moulding in cold weather It's almost winter and I still have a pending brick moulding job I need to do. According to the weather forecast, the maximum temperature that I'll likely see in the coming few days is around 8 degrees Celsius. Questions:

Should I worry about the brick moulding lumber warping in summer since I'm going to cut it based on its size in cold weather? It's finger-jointed tough wood.
Should I worry about caulking not curing properly due to the cold?

Because the lengths of brick mold are usually fairly short, less than 7 feet usually, expansion or contraction of a wood product is negligible. We often install exterior trim in cold temps here in Maine and really never see a problem. A couple of tips that will help insure tight joints year round are to put some waterproof wood glue, like titebond III on all the joint faces and be sure to put a finish nail through the joint. Use a good quality siliconized, paintable acrylic caulk. This product will set up fine in cold weather as long as you are not sub-zero. Temp specs are usually on the product, but don't be afraid to push it a bit, won't really matter. Also there is now low temp exterior paints available.  Good luck


How does cold water pressure get used by a hot water heater to produce hot water pressure? Recently I had to change a washer in the shower for my hot water tap. I couldn't find the pressure tap for the hot water on my hot water boiler.

I asked a friend how to switch off the hot water pressure and he said:

  It's easy! You just turn off the cold water pressure at the tap out the front, then drain the hot and cold water pressure off at the basin, then you can change your hot water washer.

He was correct, but it didn't seem right. I couldn't visualise how the valves in the heater could make that possible.

As you can see in this diagram, there is an overflow pipe, as well as a valve to stop pressure going back up the cold water pipe. But if the pressure is being supplied by the cold water pipe, surely it just overflows through the overflow pipe and doesn't apply any pressure to the hot water outlet?

My question is: How does cold water pressure get used by a hot water heater to produce hot water pressure?

EDIT: This hot water system is in Australia.

The "overflow pipe" in the diagram is not an overflow pipe.

The water heater is fitted with a relief valve which remains closed against the usual water pressure in your plumbing, but which will pop open if either the pressure or the temperature in the heater tank gets dangerously high. Overpressure will occur if the cold water inlet is somehow blocked, all faucets are closed, and the tank heats up. Overtemperature will occur if the thermostat fails and the heater (element or flame) remains constantly on.

The opening of this safety valve is such a rare event that ordinances and good practice don't even require that it be connected to a drain.

The "overflow pipe" in the diagram is merely a guide to prevent hot water from spraying everywhere if the safety valve ever does open.


Replacing old 60's junction box with recessed lighting I want to replace a light fixture that was put in the 60s with recessed light.

The junction box looks to be held in place by a metal 'u' shaped bar, with the 'u' bend going over the junction box.

Would I have to cut in to the drywall (this is a basement ceiling) and remove from below?

If I don't want to do that, is there any recessed lighting that would be compatible with a 4" junction box?

Thanks.

I would go with a flat panel LED fixture.

It is Not recessed but it is very thin and unobtrusive. No modifications to ceiling would be required.

The other option is to cut a new hole adjacent to the box ( same joist cavity ) and fish a wire to the hole for new No-can recessed light and put a cover plate on the old box.


Water damage to wall drywall near ceiling - Should I repair or extract and replace? A few months ago, we had a leak that caused some moderate damage to the drywall in the corner of one room. The resulting damage left peeling tape, as well as a gap between the drywall and the ceiling.
The damage to the tape is about 12 inches long, and then the more adverse damage another 12 inches, spreading out from the joint ~2in in either direction, up to the corner of the room.
Looking into this on my own, it seems like it might be possible to redo the tape and joint compound in place, but I'm not sure whether this is actually the correct procedure.
I've also seen people recommend removing a chunk of the drywall and slotting in a replacement chunk, but the details of this (how much to remove, how to ensure the replacement chunk is secure) were unclear to me.
What's the proper method of handling this type of damage?
This question is related but not necessarily the same: Repairing water damage to ceiling drywall where ceiling meets wall

I think this might be more of an opinion type question but I would just repair the corner and fill the small section where the paper ripped off.
Fill it put a layer of tape let it dry, put a new corner in mud let dry sand and a can of texture should fix it up. If messy with the mud it may take more sanding.
If you cut a section out there will be more repair work if the damaged area was wider and deeper I would cut out but it looks like the back paper is intact.
1 maybe 2 coats of mud should do it from what I see.


How do I tell if a pipe running through a cinder block wall is leaking? I ran a cpvc pipe through a cinder block exterior wall to put a spigot in. I don't really have access to the inside of that painted cinder block wall where the pipe enters the cinder block. It just got really cold here and I forgot to cut the supply of water to the spigot from the inside cut off. I turned on the spigot and nothing came out. The spigot is sealed around it with caulk.

Basically I think my pipe froze and thawed but I'm not seeing any signs of leaking. How can I know if it is actually leaking?

Turn off all faucets, and devices in the home that might use water. This includes, but is not limited to ice makers, dishwashers, clothes washers,  faucets, running toilets, etc.

Use a little piece of tape, one of those "sign here" stickers, or something similar to mark the water meter reading (or if it's digital, just write down the reading).  Don't use any water for an hour or two, then go back and check the meter.  If it's changed, you either have a leak, or forgot to turn something off that used water.


Filling gaps in a concrete floor Our 1950's brick two story, three bedroom with a basement is a pretty common type around Toronto. We're doing some demolition and cleaning up in the basement. We are fairly sure we want to sell; our original plan was not to finish the basement, but to take it down to "clean"; painted cement floors, painted concrete block walls.
The basement was finished to a certain extent by a former owner.

Part of the basement floor looks like "normal painted concrete basement floor". Mostly smooth, painted with a kind of thick paint.
Another part of the basement had carpet. This carpet was sitting on plywood, that we thought was sitting on the same kind of smooth painted concrete.

However, we just pulled up the carpet and plywood subfloor, and as we do it, we're finding that this area does not have smooth concrete under it. It has rough concrete instead, looks like it was not finished.
More confusingly, that concrete appears to have been poured between 2x4's, so each strip of concrete is about 8 feet long and 18 inches wide. Now 70 years later now, many of those 2x4's have rotted, and for those we can look down and see soil!

I've had a recommendation to pull up all the 2x4's and just pour self leveling concrete in the gaps. Is that the right direction? If not, what other directions would be good?
Note: as you can see in the image, some of the "2x4's" appear to be two separate studs that are 1" wide, not 2x4's.

Self-levelling cement can be quite expensive. You might want to fill the deep gaps to the level of the rest of the floor, and then top (the whole mess) with a self-levelling product if that's your desired end-result. If you are just "cleaning up the basement" and don't have some plan in mind that calls for a very flat floor, you might also consider troweling on "sand mix" to make a finished troweled surface after you fill the gaps, without getting too bent about self-levelling (and beware if the overall floor is not actually level when you let self-levelling cement loose...)
There's a case to be made for demolishing the whole mess and starting from scratch if what you see is "dirt" (quite likely given the workmanship and age) rather than a nice stone base, but if it isn't moving or otherwise causing issues, that might be a lot of work and expense for not much real improvement. So I don't consider it a strong case unless you have something particular in mind where that seems like it might be worth the bother.


Temporarily plug kitchen faucet spray hose inlet Through a comedy of errors the connectors for the tubing  beneath my faucet were thrown away.  These are custom connectors.  I managed to pick up new connectors for the faucet (hot and cold to spout) but was not able to get a connector to the sprayer.  As a result, if I turn on the water valves, water will shoot out of the hole where the sprayer used to be connected.

Is there a sensible way to temporarily and reversably plug the sprayer inlet piping (pictured) so I can use my faucet and dishwasher until the new sprayer assembly arrives on Tuesday?  Recall this fitting is not threaded and so the patch would have to fit inside or wrap around the outside.

It's hard to see the size but something like a peice of a garage hose and a gear clamp would do the trick.

This is a gear clamp with a handle https://www.mscdirect.com

One with a handle will be helpful because it's tight up there. Cut a section of garden hose, gear clamp it on with one of these

Female hose capwww.homedepot.com

Or a variation of this concept.
P.S. I would advise against leaving a temporary water solution like this unattended. Shut off the water if you are leaving.


Can I make a RH inswing exterior door into a Left hand reverse outward swing I  have purchased a wrong door , Im a carpenter and don't know if its possible to change the door from a Right hand inward swing to a Lt hand reverse swing door ?

a Right Hand Reverse door is the same as a Left Hand (push) door.  You will have to flip the frame around or re-prep it for the strike and hinges though.


Board on top of joists in attic. Is it structural? I've attached a picture (not the best), but you can see the board I'm referring to peeking out of the insulation.  The joists run left to right in relation to the point of view of this picture and this board is attached to the top of the joists and runs perpendicular.

Is that board peeking through structural?  I'm asking because it runs over top of my attic opening and I wondered if I could just cut it off between the two joists.

There's also a barely visible board that goes up at an angle in front of the attic vent (you can kind of see the shadow of it in front of the attic vent.  What is that one and is it structural?


How can I install this programmable switch where a neutral is not present? I'm trying install this programmable switch but the instructions do not match reality. The instructions refer to the existence of a black (load) cable and a white (neutral) cable supposedly coming out of the wall, but instead I have two black cables and a naked wire. Is the naked wire the equivalent of the white in the diagram?

The naked wire is the ground (sometimes colored green) and is not the same as the neutral.

Your particular installation requires a neutral so that the switch can be powered without sending power to the load.  If there is no neutral in your electrical box it means that the power source (line) does not come into that box and instead you are just switching the hot from another source.  A traditional single-pole single-throw switch only switches the hot so it does not need the neutral.  There might be one behind the switch, it will have a wire nut on it and be connected to all the other neutral wires coming into the box. If present you should use this and not the ground.

If there is no neutral then unfortunately, you cannot install this type of switch in this location without running a new cable.


Which current will pass through the relay when the generator and main supply are on? I installed a relay for switching purpose With main supply and Generator. When there is no electricity from main supply relay change its coil to the generator.
 I want to know which will be the source of electricity when both the generator and main supply is providing electrical energy to relay.

The person installed a relay is electrician. I was preferring the Changover Switch (manual) for generator, main supply and cut out power (OFF). But he said after starting the generator you have to change the changover switch manually. By relay you only have to ON or OFF the generator and Relay will automatically trip the coil when there is main line power and if there is no main line power by starting generator it trip the coil and power will be of generator.
 I am confused that when both main line and generator are giving power to relay what will relay decide, which power it will transfer to home appliances.

I am confused what should I do now, Am I at risk what are the cons or what he did is right?

Examples:

http://emotorwerks.com/JuiceBox_Public/99%20.../JQX-62F%20Power%20Relay.pdf
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JQX-62F-2Z-80A-220V-Coil-High-Power-Relay-220V-AC-/110763651883
http://www.google.com.pk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0ahUKEwiPotP6rLXTAhWLPBQKHbMSBmoQFggwMAY&url=http%3A%2F%2Femotorwerks.com%2FJuiceBox_Public%2F99%2520-%2520Supporting%2520materials%2FJQX-62F%2520Power%2520Relay.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGNfAAdkUrh6merIsgMaAPEDNioHA

This is not a listed transfer switch and shouldn't be used for automatic transfer of power.

The "electrician" that sold you this should know better.

Manual transfer can be accomplished without this relay but if you want to do automatic transfer you need a listed transfer switch.

Good luck!


Safety of hard wiring cable lighting intended for halogen bulbs in a circuit with LED dimmer switch Reporting from the northeastern United States. I am thinking through installing a cable lighting system on a circuit in a hall in the 55 year old house. I've since installed a LED dimmer switch for the light, which works fine with the current fixture and a LED bulb. The new fixture is a low voltage cable light system which was made to use halogen MR16 bulbs without the dimming capability.

What opinions on safety or practicality may you folks have. This is a fixture that is dimmed low all the time 24/7. I would feel accomplished if it can all work with LED MR16 bulbs.

this is an imgur album/dossier of the hardware involved here

I thank everyone in advance for their wisdom and opinions.

Back when every lamp was an incandescent bulb, things were simple.  Then Mr. Tesla came along...   In this day and age, you can't just slapdash random hardware together and expect it to work together.

The dimmer is not listed to drive a DC power supply, is therefore not legal to use with it, and in any case, is unlikely to play nice.

Some DC power supplies are multi-voltage. Dimming is completely ineffective on them, they see dimming as lower voltage, and draw more current to compensate, potentially overloading the dimmer.

If you want to go Low voltage lighting, you will need to get a power supply compatible with whatever LEDs you expect to use in the future, and then get a dimmer designed to dim those LEDs and halogens.


Heat pump Not turning off The temperature outside is about 20° my thermostat is set to 68° I have a heat pump unit it does not turn off once the set temperature is reached it does not go above 68° but maintain 68° and the unit keeps running the question is how do I prevent this from happening right now the heat is turned off And the temperature is staying at 68° please help?

Depending on the exact details of your heat pump, it may be functioning exactly as designed.

Modern efficient heat pumps are commonly variable speed (may say "inverter drive" or something like that), so that the compressor speed can be matched to the load

more load, more speed, more power
less load, less speed, less power.

So, rather than overshooting and turning off until the temperature falls, they simply slow down to match the output to the load and keep running, maintaining the temperature as set.

An additional factor with cold climate air-air heat pumps in cold weather is that they occasionally need to defrost the outside coils.


Electric going out in half of house I have 3 rooms that lose power on my main floor and 3 that still have power with no breakers being set off.  One of the rooms is the kitchen but the stove still works.  Actually when the power goes off in those 3 rooms and you turn on a stove burner the power immediately comes back on.  I have changed almost all of the sockets in the 3 rooms and it has almost stopped completely but still goes off a few times a day. I have a few more to go and then will get into the breaker box I guess.  Any other advice?

You have lost a phase. Your stove, once switched on, is backfeeding through the phase that isn't working. You are looking for a burnt lug or wiring probably in the meter base or panel. If you can't see any burnt or discoloring, you will need to turn off your stove and then check for voltage at the load side of all of your breakers.

You're looking for something like this.


Why is this baseboard paint blistering and pulling away? I'm attaching some pictures I took. This has been an ongoing problem with the baseboard pulling away and fine black dust left where it pulls away. There is a crack under the window that has gotten bigger. This occurs all along this short window under a set of three windows. The paint which is not new (painted 4 years ago) has started to bubble as well. I want to know if it's a major problem or traditional settling. Our house was built in 1999.

There are a variety of reasons that this could happen from humidity levels in the home to cheap paint to mixing a primer with an improper top coat.

However... what you are describing sounds like your windows are leaking.  I think that water is penetrating under your windows.  The crack is probably due to water sitting in the framing causing it to swell until it dries (if it does).

I would pop that whole run of baseboard off and take some pictures for us.  The paint on the baseboards plus the baseboards cracking where it meets wall plus the other stuff going on makes me think you will find mold behind or the start of mold.

From there we need to fix the root cause which might just be some caulking or an inherent issue with the window and you may need to redo a little drywall on the interior.  But I doubt this is just a paint issue.


Can I use a Directv 4 way splitter to connect to an over the air TV antenna? I am replacing my Directv dish with an antenna for over-the-air TV.  I'm optimistic that I will not need to replace the splitter, but I'm uncertain.  The spects listed on the 4-way splitter are:

"DC Power Pass", 2 - 2150 MHz, Splitter SWM 4 Way, MSPLIT4R1-03

There is no external power plugged into it.  Here is a picture of the splitter:

The antenna that I will ideally be connecting directly to it lists the frequencies at 40~300MHz for VHF and 470~890 for UHF.  I assume those numbers are standard for those signals.

Will I have any issues connecting 4 TVs to the terminating ends of the split cables?

SWM splitters aren't really splitters, they're active (powered) switches.  The power is applied to the cable on the input side.  Here's a page on how they work

No harm to try, but I doubt it will work for you.  Passive splitters are fine if the runs from the splitter to the TV are short, and they're usually around $10 to $15.  If those runs are long, then you may benefit from a powered splitter.


Should the ground lug be bonded in my sub-panel? I have 200 amp service at the house.  I want to install a DP 60 amp breaker in that panel and run # 6 wire approximately 150 feet (10% added for swag) overhead to a dog rescue building.  The building will have a window AC installed (7.8A@208V), plus a number of 20" box fans (0.8A each) , and LED lighting for a 480 square foot building.  The AC unit is the only thing pulling a significant amount of power.

It is my understanding that the grounds and the neutrals need to be separated.  Does that mean I should not install the bonding screw which I think is meant to tie the ground and the neutral together?

Next, can I run 6/3 without the additional ground as long as I sink 2 grounding rods at the sub-panel, at least 6 feet apart?  This is not my house!  The sub-panel (which had been fed by an extension cord) is either from HD or Lowe's (Homeline?).  It has a factory installed 100 amp main breaker which does not appear to be replaceable.

Since the main panel has a DP 60 amp breaker this 100 amp breaker will basically be a switch to kill the sub-panel.  If I use AL wire for the 150 ft should I drop the breaker in the main panel to a 50amp?

You'll need both the ground rods and the feeder cable ground wire

The ground wire in a feeder cable to an outbuilding performs a very different function to the ground rods at that outbuilding, and you need both functions to work correctly to have a safe electrical system.  In particular, the ground wire in the feeder returns man-made electricity back to its source (the utility), while the ground rods are for returning natural electricity (translation: lightning surges) to its source (terra firma).  In addition, you will need to pull the bonding screw in the panel, as neutral and ground are only connected at the main panel.

As to the 100A main breaker in the subpanel, you are correct that it is basically a shutoff switch.

As to that overhead cable run

There are two ways you can do this: either using UF for the entire run, or using wires in conduit for the masts with a service drop quadruplex cable for the overhead portion.  Either way, the overhead run needs to be at least 12' above ground, and the messenger wire (or bare wire in a service drop cable) needs to be attached to a secure anchor point on the structure using fittings identified for use with overhead service conductors (such as a fork bolt).

The one-cable approach

This approach uses a 6/3 W/G UF (Underground Feeder, "outdoor Romex", not to be confused with NM) cable for the entire run.  You'll be shoving it up conduit (RMC or Schedule 80 PVC) masts on the outside of the buildings with a drip loop at the weatherhead, where it exits and transitions into being supported by a galvanized, copper-clad, or stainless steel messenger wire between the two buildings, and is attached to the messenger wire either using cable saddles that clamp onto the messenger, or by using a field-fitted lashing wire wound around the combination of messenger wire and UF cable.  I would recommend the cable saddles, as it will be easier to get a clean install with them, and also less problematic for the rather...flat profile of a typical UF cable.  You will also need to ground the messenger at the house end, using a Burndy KSU or equivalent split bolt tied to either an 8AWG bare copper ground wire (in a PVC conduit) or an 8AWG bare jumper going off to a Burndy GC15A or equvalent universal pipe grounding clamp.

Going aluminum

If you want to use aluminum for this, the best route would be to use an overhead quadruplex cable for the feeder with individual wires in RMC or Schedule 80 PVC for the feeder masts and no messenger wire as the quadruplex cable has a bare wire in it already that will act as the messenger.  If you are using RMC, then a 1" conduit suffices for 3 4AWG Al XHHW-2 conductors (or 3 6AWG Cu conductors, either THWN or XHHW-2).  If you are using PVC in Schedule 80, then I would go with the same options for insulated conductors as before, but with a bare 8AWG copper ground wire in the conduit (to keep conduit fill manageable, especially with aluminum XHHW-2s).  As to sizing the quadruplex itself (which provides its own messenger), a 6-6-6-6 (codename:  Chola) Al service drop quadruplex is amply sized for a 60A overhead feeder (think about it: a wire in open air is going to be cooled by every passing breeze, something a wire in a cable in a wall or encased in conduit doesn't get).  You will also need splicing supplies to join the cable to the mast wiring at each end, namely Cu7Al insulated two-port splice kits such as the Burndy AGS-2, Cu7Al universal split bolts such as the Burndy KSU series for grounding the messenger, and universal pipe clamps such as the Burndy GC15A for grounding the messenger to the mast if you're using a RMC mast, as well as 8AWG bare copper grounding jumpers to connect the split bolts to the pipe clamps in that case.  Don't forget to leave a drip loop in the overhead cable connections, just as if you were wiring a service connection.

TORQUE ALL CONNECTIONS TO SPEC

In addition to being a new Code addition in 2017 (NEC 110.14(D)), it is simply good practice to get a calibrated inch-pound torque wrench and use it on all panelboard and breaker lugs and mechanical splices, torquing them to the manufacturer's specifications.  That way, your connections won't go off and leave you looking like Greg Biffle's loose lug nuts.


How can I create low-cost, fire resistant, hidden in-wall storage? I've taken all the sheetrock off of an interior wall for some renovations we're doing. What I would like to do is use a section of that wall to create a fire resistant hidden storage compartment. It's not a safe, I don't want to spend that much money and security from thieves is not a primary concern.

My goals are:

Cost - cheaper than buying a standalone fire safe with similar capacity.
Capacity (limited depth, but height could be several feet with shelves.)
Camouflage (shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.)
Fire protection (consider this the value to "solve for" while meeting all other requirements.)

Brick and mortar box.  Put drywall over brick if you want to hide it.  Leave an opening so you can take things in and out.  Can use an old fire oven door or something for the opening.  I actually found the best place to do this is in a closet ceiling if you have attic space above.  It doesn't have to look good so don't worry about the brick job - just make sure that is is pretty well sealed so heat/smoke can't get in.  Could use garden stones too.


indexing valve, all zones on at once I have one of those indexing valves for my sprinkler system as is common in Florida. The system is pump-fed. Recently, all the zones come on at the same time and as a result the pressure is greatly reduced.

I disassembled it and re-seated the cam and it worked for a bit.

According to the troubleshooting guide of my valve (https://www.krain.com/6000-series-indexing-valves) it could be that there are too many heads on a zone (we recently added some heads to a zone).

The manual says a solution is to:

  N: Reduce the number of heads on the zone to obtain the proper
  sprinkler operating pressure.

How can one determine the proper number of heads for a given zone?

It appears that your indexing valve relies on downstream pressure for the valve to seat properly. Too many sprinklers reduces the pressure between the indexing valve and the sprinkler heads.

You ask:

  How can one determine the proper number of heads for a given zone?

The true answer is that the system should have been designed to provide  adequate water volume delivered at the listed minimum operating pressure for those sprinklers. This is usually a calculation using static and flowing pressure readings with consideration of pipe diameter(s), lengths, and system configuration, accounting for friction loss.

In your case, I would suggest a simpler method: remove one sprinkler and cap the riser, then see if the indexing valve works. If not, continue to remove and cap sprinklers until it does. When it does, make sure the sprinklers are spraying correctly; just because there is enough back-pressure to allow the valve to operate does not mean your system is necessarily at the pressure required for optimum sprinkler head performance.

I would also suggest you look into a higher capacity pump, if you absolutely need to run more heads.


New bathroom mirror covers a junction box I’m attempting to replace the vanity mirror in my daughter’s bathroom. The old mirror is wired for electric lighting, but the new mirror is just a mirror with no attached lighting fixture.

My question is, when I remove the old mirror, do I simply cap off the existing wiring and the hang the new mirror in place of the old, or do I need to remove the wires completely? It would be nice to keep the existing wiring in case we’d like to add lighting in the future, but my first priority is safety. Any advice would be most welcome.

If the wires are installed in a junction box, then wire nut them separately, wrap some electrical tape around them, insert them back into the junction box and cover the box with an approved cover plate. If they are just dangling out of a hole in the drywall/tile, then you need to find out what junction box they come from, probably a switch box, and disconnect then there. Wire nut and tape them and maybe leave a note explaining what they're for.


Wood flooring scratched I have purchased a new property and the property has flooring which I think is wood. the floor has a scratch which can be seen in the link below. It's hard to describe the scratch but it's like a really thin top layer of the surface has been peeled away, almost like when skin is grazed on tarmac

How I would I go about fixing this and more importantly how do I identify the type of flooring. Thanks

You have two choices:

Sand down and refinish the entire room

Can be costly. DIY tends to produce terrible results

Remove, replace, and finish just the affected planks

If you choose this then you can more easily identify the wood once it is removed


How can I keep my doors from expanding in the heat? During the summer months, some of the doors in my house become difficult to open and close. I can get them to shut by either slamming the door or by pulling upwards on the doorknob before opening or closing the door.

My assumption is that this happens because the heat causes the wood to expand. But since it only happens to some doors, is there anything I can do to prevent it?

Like user2492 says, it's almost certainly moisture.  Wood will warp and change shape as moisture levels change, and depending on the grain, each door may warp differently.  Unless it's raising the bottom of the door for different flooring, or removing a lot of layers of paint, I leave shaving the door down as a last resort.  Prefab doors are all designed with specific clearances and any mistakes are almost always from the installation.

To fix the hinges, you have two options, push things out or pull things in.  Since you have to lift the door, you can push it out from the bottom and pull it in at the top.  The most frequent issue I see is the door trim pulling away from the building frame at the top from the weight of the door.  And the easiest way to pull that in is to remove the highest screw that is also closest to the hinge pin, and replace it with a 3" deck screw (assuming you have wood framing).  The deck screw doesn't have threads in the last inch, so it will pull the hinge and door trim towards the framing when you get it all the way in.  The reason for replacing the screw closest to the hinge pin is to also get the hinge to twist a bit and close tighter (compare the closed top and bottom hinge when the door is closed to see how the bottom hinge fits tight).  Just be careful that you don't over tighten the deck screw and cause cracking or a lot of paint damage on the door trim.

Should you not be able to use a deck screw (e.g. non-wood framing), or for anyone that needs to push the hinge out, you can use a washer behind the hinge and return the screw through that washer.  If you put the washer closer to the hinge pin, it will cause the hinge to stay open further when closed.  And if you put the washer away from the hinge pin, it will cause the hinge to close tighter.


Ceiling fan replacement, one wire is always hot So when we moved into our place, the dining room light was always on unless you used the pull cord to turn it off, the wall switch did nothing. Replaced the switch, no change.

Trying to change out the fixture for a regular chandelier(no pull cord) so we need this switch to function.

Inside switch we have incoming power one black, one white and ground, also have wire going to light fixture, one black, one white, one red, and ground.  The problem we are having is if we put power to the black, the red gets power, even if it's not hooked up at either end. How is this red getting power?

This looks super simple.  I mean normally, wire colors are a mess and don't really correspond to wire function.  But luckily, here, they correspond exactly:

White = Neutral
Black = always hot
Red = switched hot

So the switch gets black and red becuase its job is switching.  The lamp gets red and white because you don't want it on 24x7.

You join all blacks together, all whites together, all reds together (pretending the hot lead from the lamp is a red).  And you're done.

We don't know how it was hooked up before, so I can't guess why this didn't work before.  I have a feeling the old lamp was wired into always-hot (black) or the switch was miswired.

Why does the red report hot when the black is? Because I think your non-contact tester is picking up on "phantom voltage", which is a bit of capacitive coupling that can happen between wires in the same cable.  Wires left to float can do that.


How do I stop a dimmer switch from humming? I installed a dimmer switch in my washroom and it's making a buzzing noise. The more I increase resistance/rotate the dimmer clockwise, the louder it gets.

The humming seems to be coming from the common wire, not from the light fixture, live wire or from the mechanism within the dimmer itself.

The dimmer switch is advertised to hold up to 600w and I'm currently using 340w.

I tried to remove some of the lights and the noise persists.

The one thing I did notice is that the common wire isn't exposed or attached at the end, a section of the wire has been stripped at that's what the original switch was attached to.

How can I lessen or completely rid myself of this humming noise?

Edit: I've since replaced my Leviton rotary dimmer with a high end Lutron sliding dimmer and the problem still persists, at the same loud volume.

All dimmers buzz a little bit.  They "chop up" the AC waveform, which creates mechanical vibration (buzzing) and electrical noise (EMI).  Usually they are the most quiet when the lights are fully bright, and get louder as you dim the bulbs.  Here is a good page that describes what is happening.  A different dimmer may be quieter, although Leviton does make solid products.

I suspect, however, that you may be using the "new" CFL (compact-fluorescent) bulbs?  They're the ones with the twisted white glass tube.  The electronics in most of these bulbs interact poorly with the dimmers and can cause a lot of noise problems, both audible and electrical.

Now that it has become difficult to find incandescent bulbs (at least here in the USA), a lot of people are having to choose between paying substantially more money for "dimmable" CFL bulbs, or simply replacing their dimmers with simple on/off switches.

Good luck :)


air trapped in sink drain? A modest sized object had fallen into my bathroom sink causing (I assume) the sink to drain slowly.  That is, at first (after dropping the item) the sink seemed to drain fine but eventually it slowed to a bare minimum.

The sink is a pedestal sink and the drain pipes are pvc with threaded and compression joints, so I took out all the pipes from basin to floor, clean everything (obstruction and all) and put it back together.  Everything was hand-tightened only: the only tool used was a toothbrush to scrub the parts clean.

Now the water drains better but only slightly.  If there is still an obstruction, it would have to be in the floor, but we had no apparent problem before the one item I was able to extract.  On the other hand, now, as the water slowly drains, I can hear a trickle in the drain pipes.  As far as I can recall, this was not the case before I took it all apart.  So I'm guessing that there is air bubble somewhere.  Does that sound reasonable?  And if so, what can I do to deal with it.

Note that this is not a new works project; I simply disassembled, clean and reassembled everything.  I didn't add parts or have any parts left over.  At worst, I might have changed the order of parts or changed the spans between adjustable, compression joints.  But all the fittings and seals were put in place.

There is probably soap and hair plugging the drain lower down. a small hand auger might be the best bet to clean it out. Chemical drain cleaners partially open the drain then they plug up again much quicker and you end up spending more on chemicals than the cost of the auger.


GFCI tr[pping with no outside load my GFCI has started tripping.  nothing is plugged in.  What could be the problem?

Turn off the circuit breaker and pop the covers off and pull it out.  Disconnect anything from the LOAD terminals, tape up the bare wires so they can't touch anything, and put it back in the wall.

Does it still trip?  It's a bad GFCI.

Does it stop tripping?  It's because whatever was connected to the LOAD terminals has a ground fault... Or the wiring to those things.  You will know what those things are, because they lost power when the GFCI tripped (and also when you disconnected them).  You will need to troubleshoot further by disconnecting one thing at a time until you have narrowed it down to one thing.


How can I remove this concrete wall anchor? The anchor pictured was holding a hose reel, which has been removed.  When I twist the part sticking out it just spins infinitely in either direction.  I think it is something like a toggle or a molly anchor.  How can anchors of this type be removed with as little damage as possible to the wall?

These don't come out easily, sometimes they can be pushed back into the wall and dissappear, this is often the case if the person installing it was thinking ahead and drilled the hole deeper than needed as an end-of-life plan.

Else you need to drive the shaft back in a bit to release the wedge and then pull on the sleeve part, locking pliers are useful here.

If it won't budge the easiest fix is to chop it off using an angle-grinder with a cut-off wheel and then drive it back into the hole a bit and plaster over it.


How do I replace Studs and bottom plate if the studs have been cut half way up the wall and removed Should I put a 2X4 horizontal plate where they have been cut and then put a stud under it to a bottom plate, just like a wall. Or should I scab a 2X4 to the new stud like they said of the same one but it only had six inches cut off the stud.

I'd be inclined to put down a bottom plate and sister the existing studs to it. Now mind you, I'm not a fourth generation carpenter so maybe some of them will chime in.


can wood deck boards be installed over Hardiboard on balcony? I am replacing my tile upstairs outdoor balcony with wood decking. The tile deck has a Hardiboard underlay for waterproofing. Will the contractor need to remove the tile and Hardiboard before replacing with 5/4 board PT wood decking?

Although hardibacker board is a superior underlayment material for waterproofing I don't think it's designed to actually have water sitting on it very often. It is mold resistant but in reality it doesn't see water very often. I think the porous surfaces would fill up with organic compounds and allow mold and other funk to start growing. That being said I don't think I would remove it I would consider covering it with a smoother waterproofing membrane like Blueskin. Just to clarify covering it with the deck will allow dirt water and debris to accumulate and that will make short work of the grout. Then you've got a bigger problem, especially in cold climates. Water will work its way in freeze and pop tiles are so on.


How do I get the bulb holder off of the wire? There are no screws. I've tried pulling and there's no budging! No obvious signs of anywhere I can put a screwdriver to pop it off. Even if I cut the wires and try to re-wire it, I'm still not sure the actual holder will come apart... Help!

Looks like tabs need to be pushed, or screw driver lifts tab for release.


Can tile or click-lock wood be installed directly on rigid insulation foam We would like to insulate a concrete condo floor and for height purposes (already low ceilings as well as not modifying fire doors) we cannot add much material to the concrete pad.

Typically in this 12-story building the flooring (carpet, wood, or tile) is laid directly on top of the concrete, but this has led to too cold-floors in the winter. Thus, even a small amount of insulation would really cut into the heat loss and add a lot of comfort.

We've been examining adding a 1/2" layer of rigid foam insulation and then laying click-lock engineered flooring and/or porcelain tile on top. Despite some lengthy internet searches, we haven't found any reports-- positive or negative-- of this kind of approach. Almost all concrete floor questions involve basements, which require solving a completely problem approach because of water and moisture. Because the floor under us is a multi-story garage we're also not concerned about sound underneath.

I cannot immediately see why this would not work. While some foams compress, many foams are structural and do not. Standard pink and green rigid insulation foam can be gotten in compressive strengths of 100psi, which according to some sources is the same compressive strength as OSB. So from a compressive standpoint, the technique of concrete-->foam-->OSB/plywood-->glue-->flooring would seem to have no advantage over concrete-->foam-->glue-->flooring.

Are there any references for one way or the other? If not, can anyone share insight into what are the advantages to the extra complexity of adding OSB/plywood?

Just my 2 cents.

If you are doing a floating engineered floor over the foam, it might work if the foam doesn't flex and expand/shrink very much. You don't have to glue it to the foam as the click-lock mechanism keeps the pranks together.

For tiles, for sure, you can't do it over OSB/Plywood as it will expand/shrink and cause your beautiful new tiles to crack.  You mentioned your floor gets cold thus I imagine you live in an area with fairly good temperature differential. Thus this problem will happen sooner rather than later.

I can't comment on the foam unless I know what type of foam you are considering. But I can say I have never seen any tile installation over foam. When it comes to tile, preparing the substrate is half of the work.  We always tile over concrete, cement boards, or uncoupling membranes.

In addition, ensure the thinset can bond properly to the foam. Calling the manufacturer would be best.


Oven/Stove or Wiring causing breaker to trip My Kitchen was delivered some days ago and the persons doing the installation were unable to get the oven/Stove set to work. I am unsure if I have a faulty oven/stove or faulty wiring in the apartment as the apartment was recently renovated and there was no oven installed before. Here is the current behavior:
Oven/Stove set is currently plugged in. However everytime the circuit breaker for the oven/stove is flipped on, the main breaker for the apartment trips and it is lights out for the entire apartment. However, for some very few seconds I can see the clock on the oven/stove turn on and then immediatly off.
I cannot disconnect the oven/stove as it is currently built into the furniture and trying to move it myself would ruin the guarantee.
Has anybody had a similar experience and could give me some input on what could be faulty in such a situation?

If turning on the oven/stove breaker immediately causes the main breaker to trip (without even turning on the oven/stove) something is blatantly miswired.
What or where is impossible to determine without more detail that you are unable to provide at present.


Risk of Using 3 amp fuse for 2.5 amp plug I have a small portable fan that, for reasons beyond my understanding, has a fuse inside of the plug. The fan stopped working because the fuse broke. At the store, I couldn’t find a fuse nearly as tiny as the one in the plug, but a colleague suggested I look in my Christmas lights because they often have the same size fuse in those plugs. Surely enough, I found the size fuse as a spare in a box of unused Christmas lights. The only difference is the fuse is labeled as 3 amps, and the plug of the fan has this text on it:

So, I’m just curious what danger lies in using a 3 amp fuse here. Could the fan be damaged? Could the house burn down? Something else?

Fuse selection at a local hardware store is often limited to the types that are likely to be used by customers in the area. You should instead consider looking at a distributor that you can access online to gain access to a much larger selection.

If I am not mistaken you are looking for a micro fuse that measures 3.6x10mm in size. You can find sets of fuses rated at 2.5A 125V or even 250V.

Picture Source


Efficient way to determine line and load My townhouse was built in the early 1980's, and since it was built, the state laws around which outlets are on a GFCI line have changed. The wiring itself is fine, just the receptacles need to be changed. I'm going to be placing in GFCI outlets where needed to bring it back up to code. This would require installing about half a dozen GFCI receptacles.

Unlike conventional outlets, GFCI outlets care about which wires are line (where power feeds from) and load (outlets that get power from the GFCI). Determining which is which can be tedious. My typical methodology for this has been to turn off the breaker, disconnect a NM wire, put caps on the wires that I disconnected, put the outlet back in place, and flip the breaker back on. If the outlet has power, I know that what is connected is "line", and if the outlet doesn't have power, I've found "load".

Is there an easier but still safe way to do this?

Your method is safe, albeit tedious. Stick with it if the following doesn't match your comfort level.

But if you're willing to boost your risk level a bit, leave the outlet hanging on its wires outside the box and have a radio or light plugged in that indicates current without you having to touch anything. Be careful of course that the two connected wires aren't touching anything other than the outlet. For maximum safety, don't touch the outlet when it's hanging out of the box and the breaker is on. Don't do this if there are people or pets around that don't follow instructions.

If you don't have one already, a non-contact voltage detector is a good thing to have. It'll tell you quickly if a wire is hot. I like my Fluke http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-1AC-A1-II-VoltAlert-Non-Contact-Voltage/dp/B000EJ332O but there are cheaper ones at the big box stores. (Cheaper might also mean less reliable... I haven't tested that theory.) The only bad thing about these is that you'll occasionally get false positives and have to dig out your multimeter to know for sure what's going on.


What could be causing water pressure drop with sprinklers? My first issue is that when the sprinklers come on, there is a significant drop in water pressure in the sink, shower, etc.  I checked the sprinkler lines and there are no obvious leaks (i.e. holes in the ground).

Part II of my problems is varying pressure in different sprinkler zones. There is no pressure in sprinkler zone 1 (sprinkler heads do not come up but dribble water), 1/2 pressure in sprinkler zone 2 (sprinkler heads come up but are at 1/2 flow), while sprinkler zone 3 has full pressure.

The sprinkler repair company wants to add a pressure regular to the line to the sprinklers (runs at over 100 psi when it should be 75 psi) and split sprinkler zone 1 into two zones due to the # of sprinkler heads on this zone. However this does not answer why sprinkler zone 2 is at 1/2 pressure.

Ironically, the house was built in 2009 and for the past 5 years, including last year, the sprinklers ran fine with no water pressure drop problems.

Any suggestions?

Water pressure drops come from two sources:

1) A constriction in the line upstream, limiting the maximum inflow you can get.

2) More demand on the line, producing more outflow than the inflow can fully pressurize.

If a sprinkler zone is larger (serves too many heads), or if more zones are active at once, it will demand more water. Dividing the zone could be one solution.

If a sprinkler zone's pipe is kinked or otherwise obstructed, it may not be able to deliver as much water as is needed to fully pressurize the line.

If running the sprinklers reduces pressure at the sink, the point limiting that is going to be upstream of both, and you're probably also seeing pressure drops at the sink when you flush a toilet or run a bath. You can check for restrictions working back toward the source (valves not fully open, for example), but if the shared flow limit is what's coming into the foundation...


How can I get my sink's trap to fit around the rest of the drain assembly? I'm in the process of adding a new bathroom to my house.  I had a plumber rough in some connections for us, and then we are in the process of finishing it off.  We used plastic accordion pipe to connect the P-trap to the sink, but during our county inspection they failed us saying that the accordion was something we could use because its a known area that hair gets caught in.  The drain from the sink is brass as is the P-trap.  We can't S-trap trap because they are not allowed per code either.  Does anyone know what we can do?

I can't see the drain exit from that photo, but I recently resolved this exact issue at my home by installing a slight bend in the horizontal run from the wall (with a 22-1/2 or 30 degree ell), which offsets the connection to the trap. This allows standard trap components to be used.


Toilet leaks 4-6 months after wax ring replacement We have a toilet in a spare bathroom which was added onto the house (converted from a pantry, we suspect) by the previous owners, and not really done very well.  In particular, the floor was probably just wood under tile (ie, no vapor barrier), though we haven't de-tiled to verify.  However, looking at the toilet's drain lets us see it.

The toilet leaks around the O-Ring about every four to six months; we've replaced it 5 or 6 times since we moved in (3 years ago).  We're getting a bit tired of doing that.  We suspect it is because we can't get the toilet to sit perfectly still - even with shims, the toilet still moves a small amount over time.

Short of replacing the floor, which we could do but would obviously be a rather large and expensive project, is there a better solution that will last longer?  We likely will replace the floor within about 2-3 years, but at the moment would prefer to put that off if there is a good solution (we have a couple of toddlers who are potty trained/potty training and losing access to the first floor bathroom for weeks would put a crimp in that).

I did see this question, and wonder if that is a possible solution.  How could I tell if the height of the flange is the problem?

Edit: My toilet is an American Standard Cadet 3, with the elongated bowl; here are the installation instructions.  It doesn't seem to require any particular height of the flange from the floor (which makes sense when I see the picture).  The bolts themselves are plenty high, I can screw them down with no problem.

Get something like this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KHSLV2G or this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BQUJEA (there are other types, those just came up first when I searched).

In case the links break: They are wax ring alternatives that are made of flexible plastic instead of wax, so they can take some movement without leaking. There are a bunch of different types with lots of different designs. I have never used them so I can't recommend any particular one.


Turn triple window into one bow window, structural concern? I have a very old window probably from the beginning of this house in 1970's. Now I want to replace this old aluminum window with a bow window. my question is there are two posts of the triple window. Are they  structural elements? Are they part of this triple window or the builder added them there to fit the aluminum double hungs?
The whole opening is as big as 120" X 56 3/4" I wonder the reason they put it there when they built this house. The window frame gave some support?
Thanks in advance.

I can't think of any window that offer support. The frames are typically too weak and cannot handle the weight. The common framing for a door or window has a king stud (full height), then a crippler stud (shortened to support the header), a header (similar to a beam) over the opening, and at the bottom of the opening is a single 2xx4 or 2x6 depending on the framing, and the supporting studs below it. See picture below and how it disperses the load.

So, between your 3 windows are a crippler, king, king, crippler and are there to support the structure. Hopefully, this answers your question.
FYI - What the diagram calls jack studs, I know as cripplers.


Why do my pipes bang when running hot water in my kitchen? After a minute or so of hot water running in my kitchen the pipes start to knock, and water doesn't come out in a stream. It is like there is air getting in.

What is happening, and how can I fix it?

You have a valve failing somewhere in your plumbing system, the trick is to figure out which one. If this only happens with your sink, then I would start there.

If your sink has a separate sprayer on a hose, then it's possible the diverter valve is flapping, trying to send water to the sprayer. If that's the case, it could be as easy as a blockage in the aerator of your faucet, which is often easy to remove and clean.

If that doesn't solve your issue and it's isolated to the sink, then I would try replacing the valve/cartridge in your sink fixture, or you could replace the entire fixture.

Beyond that, you'll need to work on a process of elimination to figure out which valve is causing the problem. There are likely shutoff valves under the sink, another at the hot water tank, and another for the house.

One last device that I've seen cause pipes to bang is a failing pressure reducing valve (PRV) that is bell shaped and found just after the main shutoff in some homes. This seems less likely in your scenario, since the last time I heard one cause pipes to bang was after I turned off the water and the pipes would rattle as the PRV allowed pressure to rise past the designed threshold.


Indoor sliding doors now stick at the top after replacing rollers I have sliding doors for a wardrobe, and i replaced the roller-wheels.  Now they stick at the top, its as if they are too close together. I replaced the wheels in the same spot on the door, but they are slightly different brackets for the wheels, so I'm not sure if its just a matter of me trying to find the "sweet spot" to screw the wheel-bracket, or if its something else I should be looking at.

Thanks for everyone that asked questions.  There were a few things I had to change to finally get it working.  I had just bought the house and I assumed that the previous owner had the door's rollers fitted properly, basically I had to:

Use the old wheels and brackets as the ones i purchased were not sticking out the same length
The wheels were put on the wrong side of one of the doors
The bottom guides were not screwed in the correct spot
The wheels had to be adjusted as they were not the same height

Once all of these factors were fixed the door finally worked!


Should I be worried if my A/C ran with the cover on? My wife accidentally switched on the "cool " mode and the a/c was activated, however the cover was still on the unit outside. Ran like this for about 2 hours. I noticed it and turned it off and went outside to remove the cover and it was pretty hot. What damage could have been done? Symptoms I should look for? Should I get a service tech?

It should be fine. Air conditioners remove heat and dump it outside; sounds like the heat got dumped into the cover. Remove the cover, let the unit cool down, and don't do it again. If it stops working, call a service tech.


Water does not come out of radiator I went to bleed a radiator today and although a little bit of air came out, it stopped and no water came out even though the heat is on.

I went to the boiler and the pressure was only 8 PSI.

There is a valve near the expansion tank that seems to be where cold water can enter the system. I tried opening this valve and the pressure slowly rose to about 12 PSI. (feel like I am operating a submarine here) Should I continue and let more air into the system until it is a higher pressure?

Shouldn't the system automatically be drawing in water if it needs it?

Some sediment seems to have blocked the valve.

According to a technician, what I did was the correct thing to do. Opening the valve clears any sediment that was there and causes the valve to function normally afterwards.


pilot light does not stay on on gas burner after vacation I was on a one month vacation but had kept the gas heater in normal mode (not vacation mode). Today I find my gas pilot light off. The cover was open for all this long. I tried to light it, but once I take my hand off the depressed pilot switch after 60 seconds, the light goes off. Tried it a few times. This is the first time ever I tried to light the pilot. Please check the photos and please let me know if the settings were correct.

I understand I might need to replace the thermostat. But before that I would like to clean it or bend it to see if it works. Which part do I clean on bend ? Photo here.

Thank you for reading.

Is the flame hitting the Thermocouple (little pipe to the right of the burner)? This is your safety if it is not hitting that the gas will turn off. These do go bad also and are not very expensive or difficult to change out. After long periods of  not being used I have had to light and hold the pilot then quickly turn on with the controls turned to hot and let the burner run for a few minutes then the system ran OK. This was on a tank less water heater in my shop but similar gas safety (thermocouple). I have also replaced a few TC's only ~$10.


Transitioning run of pipe without reducing flow Starting with a collection basin in a small creek using a 1 1/2 inch pipe outlet.  Going downhill 100 ft vertically can I transition to a 1 inch pipe without reducing flow.

This is really quite simple, even if vaguely asked.

As @Daniel Griscom accurately stated in the first comment, "Almost certainly no" (so I'm making this a community wiki answer.)

The question asks if reducing the pipe size (at a particular point, but the particular point does not matter) can be done without reducing flow, and the answer is "no" in basically all cases, though there are some cases where "not enough to matter" would come into play as an answer, but the question does not indicate any information leading to think that is a valid response. In the general case, if there is flow in a pipe, and you reduce the size of the pipe, you increase the total dynamic head and reduce the flow. Period.

More information might be helpful if there was a question about "how much would flow be reduced" but that's not the question.


How much weight can I hang from a drywall ceiling? I have a potted plant (approx 5kg/10lbs) that I wish to hang from a drywall ceiling of a window aisle.

Unfortunately, I have no idea about what specific kind of drywall plate it is or how it was attached; at any rate there is only a fixed place that I can hang the plant from so that it doesn't prevent me from opening window.

I have previously attached shelves and all kinds of things to drywall WALLS, no problem, and also reading here I mostly found about attaching/hanging things to/from walls, too, but I am a bit concerned about how much would a drywall plate be able to hold something hanging straight down from it.

My current idea is to use a metallic threaded anchor like this:

but maybe I need several anchors just to make sure weight is distributed, or maybe I should use a different kind of screw/attachment?

THe aisle in question:

Ideally this should be screwed/anchored into a joist for maximum support. However, if you really want to use a drywall anchor, you should use a toggle bolt or a ceiling anchor.  Instead of just screwing into the wall, these expand to several times their size which gives you a good hold, especially when the force is pulling directly down.  10lbs might be pushing it though, it will depend on the thickness of your drywall and the overall condition.  The worst case is you just have to patch the hole and repaint; drywall is pretty forgiving like that!


Will caulking control joints in a slab reduce freeze damage? Should control joints in exterior concrete slabs like this be sealed?

I look at the joint collecting debris and imagine that if the joint itself doesn't hold water, the debris will, and then freeze cycles will push on those joints, prematurely spalling and cracking the adjacent concrete.
(I do assume that the control joints have done their job and likely cracked extensively through the depth of the slab as the concrete cured.  But I don't imagine the now cracked slabs "floating" so easily that they can relieve freeze pressure coming from the joints themselves.)

Your question implies that standing water would occur in the cracks between slab segments. Generally speaking it won't. If there was that much of a seal under the concrete (due to clay soil or whatever), you won't prevent it with caulk. Water's much too wily for the likes of that.
Joints like that exist for decades without undue distress from freeze/thaw cycles. The water drains and is absorbed into the concrete. It's really not a problem and you wouldn't change the outcome much with caulk anyway. Public sidewalks in my northern climate don't crumble away at the control joints (except where salt is used excessively).
The only reason to do it might be for appearance, but that usually doesn't go as well as planned. It just ends up looking messy.


How to mount snap rings/circlips? This is a question about finding a tool - I hope I'm in the right place? I have an old Singer Sewing machine, which had one of these springy steel rings around the base of the lamp, and I had to open it up and solder the wire inside. It was easy enough to get off, but how do I put it back?
The ring looks like the picture below - I have been looking for some kind of pliers, but they all seem to be meant for the kind of clip the has little eyelets. Is it possible to put back without special tools?

I usually sit the ring on the end of the tube or shaft and hold it there with my thumb, then use a small screwdriver to push it on completely, takes practise and luck.
Another method is to have a tube of a slightly larger diameter so it will slide over the other tube and use that to push the ring on squarely - then a vice can help.


How do I glue moving ceramic tiles without removing them? There was a problem with the pipes under the floor, which resulted in several ceramic tiles being removed. At the moment these tiles are back in place. The problem is that 2 tiles next to them, that weren't completely detached, were glued back by injecting typical silicone under them. The problem is that now they balance a bit when we step on them.

The silicone method was suggested to me, and didn't work well. The tiles are being slowly taken off, moreover the tile grout cracked several days after because of that little movement.

My only idea is to inject some more silicon under the tiles, and fill the gaps using typical grout.

How can I glue these 2 tiles back without taking them off?

Note: There is a fair amount of silicone under the two detached tiles, there is no point in injecting tile grout.

Silicone is supposed to allow movement and give.  I cannot really think of anything worse to glue tiles to a floor.  You need to take the tiles off, scratch off the silicone and reattach them with thinset.  After that you can grout.

If you keep applying the silicone you will keep getting the same result.


Can I put wallpaper on top of wallpaper on the ceiling? After using heavily a steamer on the walls, the wallpaper of the ceiling is full of brownish areas due to steam. I also damaged the wallpaper in some corners.

I figured that instead of removing this ceiling wallpaper and paint the ceiling, it'll be easier to simply put a new wallpaper on top of this wallpaper.

But although I find a lot of resources about papering a bare ceiling, I found none about papering a ceiling on top of an existing ceiling wallpaper. Is it possible in the first place? Is there any problem compared to papering a bare ceiling?

I would not paper over paper. In your case there is already a big chance that you have compromised the adhesion of the existing paper to the subsurface when the ceiling was exposed to the steam. Also to be considered is that the existing paper may not be a good surface to hold wall paper glue.

So I suggest getting the steamer back and removing the old ceiling paper too. Before putting on new paper make sure to seal the wall surface properly. The staining of the previous ceiling paper due to the steam could be an indicator that previous sealing was never done or has failed with age.


What's the proper method for installing new studs in existing frame? FYI - This is similar to a question I asked last week, but is about something more specific.  Expect to see this image yet again in another question I will be asking later today :).
I need to install Genie Clips on the far left and right side of the wall, but there are no studs exposed.  The right side of the wall should be easy since there is a stud right along the edge on the inside.  All I need to do is put a new stud up against it and screw it in.
The left side is a bit different since the next stud is about six inches in.  I am going to need to attach the stud to the top and bottom of the frame.
My questions:

Right stud: What's the best way to screw the stud into the frame at the top and bottom so that it's sturdy enough to support the new wall I am going to hang on it?
Left stud: Since I will be able to screw this stud into another stud, how many screws should I use?  Should I put the screws in pairs so that it's two screws side by side all the way down?
What length and type of screws should I use for both studs?  I am assuming wood screws for this job, but I am not sure about the small details.
Edit: Perhaps there is a sort of metal bracket that I would need to install at the tops and bottoms instead of putting the top and bottom screws in at an angle?

Here's my wall:

Right stud: What's the best way to screw the stud into the frame at the top and bottom so that it's sturdy enough to support the new wall I am going to hang on it?

What you're doing here is called "sistering". I personally would use 2 screws each at the top and bottom.  More is unnecessary - after all look at the other studs - nothing holds them in the middle.

Left stud: Since I will be able to screw this stud into another stud, how many screws should I use? Should I put the screws in pairs so that it's two screws side by side all the way down?

For the left stud you'll need to toenail - that is - install the screws diagonally into the top and bottom plates.  It'll be easier if you pre-drill the holes - install at a 45 deg angle, 2 top 2 bottom again.

What length and type of screws should I use for both studs? I am assuming wood screws for this job, but I am not sure about the small details.

2x4's are actually 1.5 by 3.5.  So you'll be sistering into a 3" depth, so use 2.5" screws for the sistering, and on the diagonal, use 3.5" screws to cover the length of the hypotenuse and give you good bite w/o over sinking.


Window insulation in a rented apartment My apartment is extremely drafty during the winter months, with a window in my bedroom, as well as in my bathroom, my room suffers as soon as the temperature drops. I gave a call to my landlord and they claimed to have come out and fix it, but I felt no difference.

What would a simple DIY solution be that won't cost my roommates and I an arm and a leg, and will seal up our windows from some of the draft?

You can just cover the window with a heat shrinkable window insulation kit such as this one below available at any home store. It will come with the needed tape to affix it to the window frame (from the inside of the apartment) and then all you need is a hair dryer to tighten it up to a nice clean and clear view. Once summer comes again, it will easily remove without any paint damage as the adhesive is similar to a PostIt notepad type system.


My blower motor doesn't have the brown wires for a capacitor My blower motor only has 3 wires and there's no wires for a capacitor

It is probably a shaded pole motor or perhaps a variable speed motor. If It doesn’t have wires for a capacitor it doesn’t need a capacitor. Capacitors are only for split phase motors. Granted split phase motors are most common for blowers but by no means the only motors for blowers.


How to fix particle board at lock screw (Ikea Effektiv) What is the right way to fix the particle board around the lock screw of an Ikea Effektiv full size cabinet? The movers seem to have dropped one end and essentially the wood around three of the lock screws has broken:

Do I attempt to fix this with wood glue, wood nails or duct tape?

I'm with Lawrence on this, where there is blame, there is a claim. If you want to have a go at fixing however then go to a ships chandler and get a good glue from them. However, the trick is to clamp the pieces tight. I don't mean but some books on it but use something that has a vice-like grip spread over 3 or 4 inches. All that said, if this is an area not seen when draws/doors are closed then "No-Nails" type compound will suffice. Good luck


Chemical used to clean washing machines I have an LG WD1457RD washer-dryer that's been working pretty well for me, except that where I live (southeast Mexico) there's a lot of limestone so the water is very hard and leaves stains on everything. Once I had the machine taken for maintenance but the guy that did it ended up charging me a ridiculous amount for some apparently broken parts... which I am pretty sure he might've broken.

Recently I had a clog issue and decided to take matters in my own hands so I removed the top cover and managed to clean up the clog and the washer actually ended up working pretty normally.

One of the issues I've been having is with the dryer where it just doesn't dry the clothes even after a couple of cycles, but that's not my main issue here.

The issue is that the holes where water comes out to dissolve the detergent get clogged with limestone and I have to periodically clean them (i basically use a small nail and break the clogged limestone). Here people use a lot of hydrochloric acid to clean limestone, but I think it's too aggressive for sensitive machinery as it can eat through other materials.

Also, my detergent bay sometimes ends up with leftover detergent which then dries up and forms like a layer of limestone detergent mix which just doesn't go with that acid, I've tried it separate from the machine of course.

My question is, is there some special chemical to clean those machines or do I have to take everything apart and submerge only the applicable parts in acid?

CLR works great for getting rid of line deposits. It can be used as a general washing machine cleaner when added to the machine (with no clothes) and run through a cycle.
As far as your dryer is concerned, check the vent pipe for blockage, especially where it exits your house. Many have screens that can get blocked by lint over a long period of time.

This is copied from the CLR website:

Depending on whether you have a front or top loading machine, your directions for adding CLR are different. In both cases, though, do not use detergent or have clothes in the washer when you are using CLR. With a top loading machine, run your machine up to the main wash cycle and just before the machine starts to agitate, stop the machine. Add a ½ cup of CLR into the tub of the machine and finish the cycle.

When cleaning front loading machines, though, you need to change how you add the CLR. In front loading washing machines, the door locks once you begin the cycle. As a way around this issue, add a ½ cup of CLR to the machine where you normally would add your detergent or softener and run your machine.

With both types of washers, once the cycle with the CLR has finished, run an additional full cycle with just water. If your machine is high efficiency or “water saver” only use ¼ cup of CLR.