What is the proper way to patch acoustic ceiling after collecting possible asbestos sample?

My thoughts on your first question would be to take a sample from a few different rooms, if you can see any differences between color/texture on the ceilings. From asbestos.com:

  If the material looks different
  (especially in color or texture) in
  different parts of the room, plan to
  sample each of those areas. For a
  ceiling surface in a large room, two
  samples may be needed to determine
  your asbestos situation. Try to
  balance the need to protect your
  family from exposure after you sample
  (to sample in an inconspicuous area)
  with the need to get a representative
  sample of the material (to sample in
  the center of the room).

I'm not sure about the size of sample required, but I don't think you'd need more than a few square inches.

As for patching the ceiling, you should prime the sample spot before painting. After that, you can mix some standard ceiling paint with a texture additive to match the consistency of your original ceiling. Since it's a small area, you can probably get away with using a brush, or possibly a small roller. Or, instead of bothering with texture matching, you could go the easy route and use spray-on popcorn ceiling texture after priming (beware the horrible product reviews though - it might be easier to use a pre-mixed product).


You can use UF cable any place where you might use NM-B cable indoors.
Art 334 is NM cable
Art 340 is UF cable

NEC 2011
Article 340
Underground Feeder and Branch-Circuit Cable: Type UF
II. Installation
340.10 Uses Permitted
Type UF cable shall be permitted as follows:
(1)    For use underground, including direct burial in the earth. For underground requirements, see 300.5.
(2)    As single-conductor cables. Where installed as single-conductor cables, all conductors of the feeder grounded conductor or branch circuit, including the grounded conductor and equipment grounding conductor, if any, shall be installed in accordance with 300.3.
(3)    For wiring in wet, dry, or corrosive locations under the recognized wiring methods of this Code.
(4)    Installed as nonmetallic-sheathed cable. Where so installed, the installation and conductor requirements shall comply with Parts II and III of Article 334 and shall be of the multiconductor type.*


Is it safe to use “PushFit” fitting on gas pipes?

In the UK, it's not legal (quite correctly, in my view) for householders to work on gas pipework or fittings at all.

If a buildings inspector or surveyor spots pushfit fittings on gas you can expect plenty of trouble down the line... to say nothing of the risk of a pinhole leak or if there's another fire nearby that melts the fitting.

While you might save a few pounds in the short term, do you want to risk your life and that of those around you? A leaky joint in a water pipe might wreck a ceiling or a floor, the same in a gas pipe might kill you.

Head here for details of the Gas Safety scheme which holds a register of tradespeople who can do the work for you.


Can I go with higher CFM for bathroom ventilation fan?

You can certainly go with an 80 cfm unit, the only drawback being additional noise (in general the more powerful the unit the louder they are). This can be remedied by using a high-quality unit designed to be quieter.
You certainly can (and should IMO) use regular duct pipe in lieu of flex, wherever you can.
I don't think you need insulated duct for this. I live and work in a temperate region and am unfamiliar with considerations for vents in unconditioned spaces that could drop below freezing, but the fact that the existing vent is not insulated is a hint that it should be fine.


Jumbo Pigtails are the answer here

Ordinarily, I'd recommend using AlumiConn lugs torqued to spec for a copper to aluminum pigtail job like yours; however, since your wires are already too short as-is, installing any sort of lug is going to be a pain in the arse.

So, your best bet is to install another (a single gang old work box should suffice, but run the box fill numbers to be sure) box "upcable" from where the culprit cable comes into the box, pull the old cable out of the old box, install it into the new box, strip back the jacket a bit, and terminate the ends of the old cables into AlumiConns.  You can then use some regular copper NM as a "jumbo pigtail" from the box with the AlumiConns in it to the existing switch box.  Put a blank cover on the new box, and you're set.


I do not think that you load tested all your breakers. If you sell them, do not advertise that they "worked fine for me" since you do not know if they trip at the appropriate load.  And do let the buyer know what you know about the reliability of these breakers.

This video may convince you to put them in the trash.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/Federal-Pacific-Circuit-Breakers-Investigation-Finds-Decades-of-Danger-171406921.html

The best thing I can think to do is to hold on to them in case the gov does a buy-back or exchange program to get them out of circulation.  Or a class action suit pays out.


Why is the neutral wire the same size as hot wire in a 3C cable?

When it is said that the current cancels each other out, it means that the neutral of a multi-wire branch circuit only carries the imbalance of the current between the two circuits of a properly wired MWBC.

So a load of 5A on one leg, and 15A on the other leg, will result in a load of 10A on the neutral.

For a typical MWBC it is extremely rare that both legs will be 100% balanced, so the neutral will almost certainly carry some current.
This is why a straight 240V circuit (which is a line-to-line circuit as opposed to a line-to-neutral) requires no neutral wire. It is a 100% balanced line-to-line circuit.

See?


Kitchen drain causes basement laundry drain pipe to overflow

I take it nothing backs up the floor drain?

I am going to assume this is an older house.  The floor drain is probably not hooked up to the sewer line and drains outside to a rock pit or something which is why it doesn't back up.

Perimeter drain that comes into your house with rain / ground water and feed into your sewer service line inside the house would be odd.  Modern setups have perimeter drain go to a sump well and the sump well then outflow to the storm drain.  In the case where the city doesn't have a storm/sewer main separation then these typically Y right before the entry into the sewer main.  Ideally you don't want them connected as if the sewer backs up it would go into your perimeter drain.

How far out did the plumber auger the line?  Did they use a root grinding attachment?  30 feet isn't very far, I can't imagine that takes you to the city main.  Even 60 feet typically doesn't cut it.

I suspect your main sewer service line probably has a partial blockage and prevents a surge of water from draining fast enough to the sewer main.  Last time I had this the plumber dumped a bottle of knockout plus down it.

https://www.barrettinepro.co.uk/25/337/Toilet-Drain-Unblocker

I suppose venting is a possibility if the vertical pipe that is receiving the kitchen and washing machine outflow isn't vented the water could struggle to flow quickly enough.  When you look on the roof above the wall where the vertical pipe is do you not see a vent?  Do you have sewage smells coming into the house, if there was no vent your traps would be siphoned routinely and allow sewer gas to enter your house.  Is the kitchen an add on or original to the house?

If the water is backing up the pipe that receives the washer outflow and nothing is coming up the floor drain and that floor drain is connected to the same sewer line then it sounds like your restriction is before the floor drain.  What diameter pipe is the vertical piece that receives the washer and sink outflow?


If you can locate the outlet at the head of the chain, then you only need to replace that outlet. Just make sure the the incoming power is connected the the LINE terminals and the downstream outlets are connected to the LOAD terminals. The instructions included with the outlet should explain this.

Alternatively, if the only thing on that circuit are your kitchen outlets, you could replace the breaker with a GFCI breaker.


Door sweep install, why can't I make a hole in my metal door?

I think it's definitely your drill bits. I got a special bit for metal when I drilled a gigantic hole in our metal front door to install a viewing port.

While you could install the kind of door sweep you're attempting to install, I'd suggest you go with an alternative. We installed this on the same door recently: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King-Slide-On-Door-Sweep-Stop-UDB77/203231840 It does not require holes, and as one formed piece that you slap on, you will be less likely to have issues with whether it's on straight, whether the screws or door holes strip, etc.

While it was hard to close/open the door for the first 1.5-2 weeks or so, it eventually broke in and has been working like a charm. Your door-threshold gap looks pretty tight though. Luckily many home improvement stores have generous return policies. We bought several types and screwed around until we decided which was likely to work best.


How do I wire three 3-way switches in one gang box to three switches in another box?

Basically you need three 14/3 cables between the two boxes. Wire each pair as a set of 3-way switches.

Here is a basic diagram. Just do this for each set of 3-ways. The only difference is that you will need to pigtail three leads onto the incoming feed wire to feed each switch in the first box, and splice all the white wires together since they are all sharing the same circuit. At the box with the switch legs you will splice each white to it's corresponding white going to the lights.


The oven and the burners are probably 240 V and the clock and light 120 V. This suggests you have lost one leg. It may be the breaker or it may be in the range. Get a voltage tester and first check at the plug and the range. If you have no 240V at the plug or cable then check the voltage at the double pole breaker outputs. If it was before the breaker, then you would have other circuits unpowered and you don't report that.

If the range has a plug, then it is easy to check the voltages at the plug. Then check the voltages at the connection block on the back of the range.


Can I remove a tub surround, without removing the tub?

I have done almost this exact same retrofit. It was a lot of work, but you can leave the existing tub. I refinished mine with a Rustoleum epoxy product, but that's another story.

Basically, depending on the tub, I would take everything down to the studs, and start with a good masonry board, and any possible structural/plumbing changes you might need.'

The important thing is to make sure when you are all done you've accomplished two things:

A good, consistent seal from the tiled surface to the bath tub
See No.1

I've repaired and refinished bathrooms where this was done, and 9 times out of 10 there was water penetration around the bathtub that caused unmentionable horrors that were invisible, until it all failed horribly.

Good luck and take your time.

PS - a "zip saw" or handheld router can be your friend to cut that modular shower into smaller pieces.


Will my fridge be damaged if I put a bag of ice in the fridge compartment while I wait for the repairman to fix a warm fridge/cold freezer?

It depends on the fridge, but I doubt it would cause additional problems for the unit.

I wouldn't trust it to keep your food safe, though.  A single bag of ice is cold, but won't cool a large space.  If the air circulation in your refrigeration compartment is broken, the food more than a foot away from the ice is unlikely to be cooled much.  If the air circulation is operating (but blowing warm air), it could overwhelm the cooling effect of the ice.

I'd try to put everything necessary into chest coolers (maybe ask a neighbor for an extra one if necessary), then ice or dry ice from the store to keep it cool overnight until the repairman arrives.  Especially if the freezer is working, so you don't have to deal with those items.

My nearby grocery sells dry ice and it has those cheap blown styrofoam coolers on top of the frozen food chillers.  I know all this from the last time I had to do a refrigerator repair.


Should I buy dry compound mix and mix my own? Pros/Cons

My "drywall guy" (and the pros on construction sites) uses all pre-mixed compound in buckets.

Green lid for applying tape, blue lid for top coats and spotting screws.

He did say you can get 20 minute or even 5 minute dry mix and he has used these for very small repairs when you want the mud to dry extremely fast. These products have extremely short work times so you really have to know what you are doing.

So, like all things, there are products for specific tasks and the size of your job. Make your choice accordingly.

Good luck!


Send a sample to a lab. There's really no way to know without doing that, though you could try taking one down to see if there is any information marked on the edges or backside that might help to narrow it down.


There are a few different things to look at:

Compound vs. Non-Compound - This refers to the kind of cuts you can make with it.  A compound saw can both swivel and tilt.  A non compound saw usually just does one or the other.  Almost all miter saws are compound, and that is probably what you want.
Sliding vs. Non-Sliding - A sliding saw will let you cut bigger boards (2x10, 2x12, etc) but will be more expensive and quite a bit bulkier.  I have a sliding saw, but honestly find that I hardly ever use the sliding feature.  How often you use it will depend on how often you work with larger boards (2x8, 2x10, 2x12)
10" vs. 12".  A 10" saw is good enough for most work and less expensive, but can only cut up to about a 2x6 in a single cut (unless it's a sliding saw).  A 12" saw will cut 2x8 boards in a single cut.  You can also cut 4x material easily on a 12" saw, while a 10" saw won't quite make it all the way through.

My suggestion - if you plan on using it mostly for trim or framing work, buy a 10" compound non-sliding saw.  If you plan to use it a lot for decking or outdoor work with larger boards or 4x material, get a 12" saw, maybe sliding if it's in your budget.

As for quality items, here are a few things to look at:

Does the miter gauge look accurate? Is it easy to read?  If you adjust the saw, can you easily set it to within one degree of accuracy?
Once you adjust the angle and set it, how tightly does it lock in?  If it feels "sloppy" you'll have a hard time getting nice cuts.

Brand wise, DeWalt makes some really nice ones, as does Hitachi.


Is all copper pipe pretty much the same?

There are different grades and types of copper pipe that you of course should be aware of.  However I think your question is whether copper pipe is really a commodity type product - whether there's a difference between products of the same grade / type made by various manufacturers and sold by various retailers and wholesalers.

This is a common question but it's a tough one.

One the one hand, there are standards that apply to these products and any product that meets the standard should be adequate for the purpose.  That may lead you to conclude that standardization makes these products essentially commodities.

On the other hand, big retailers press manufacturers very very hard for low pricing, and are not nearly as tough on quality;  DIY customers are not as demanding as the plumbing contractors, maintenance people, etc. that shop at plumbing supply houses catering to contractors.  Big box retailers are going to cater to their customers and their customers are primarily concerned with price.

It's very possible that in some cases the same product from the same manufacturer is identical quality whether purchased in a big box store or in a specialty supply house.  It's also very possible that a brand may have to lower their quality (within acceptable standards) to win a spot in a big box store.  It's even possible that a manufacturer may make the same exact product to a higher standard for supply houses and to a lower standard for big box retailers.

In my opinion, I have seen all three of these scenarios unfold over the last ten years as big box stores have grown and become more powerful in the market.


Little bit of sound-proofing knowledge:

People tend to think noise travels in a  straight line from it's source to the reciever.  It does, but a lot of it travels through indirect pathways.

Drive down the road with your window all the way open and listen to the noise levels.  Now drive down the road with your window only open 1/2" and listen.  Now drive down the road with your window fully closed.  Notice how big of a difference there is from just a 1/2" gap!  People put sound deadening on the back of doors all the time and it doesn't work because there is still a 1/2" gap at the bottom.  Use acoustical caulk to seal any openings around the pipes entering your kitchen.

Another source of noise travel is through the rigid studs, floor joists, and ceiling joists because sound travels excellently through these lightweight solids.  They are basically conduits for noise from room to room.  Solid surfaces and objects transfer sound to each other.  You need to isolate your materials.  Go to the dollar store and grab some of those thicker rubber mesh hot pads.  Wrap them around the pipes where they come in contact with anything.

Fiberglass or mineral wool insulation to the sides of the pipes will do almost nothing.  If you can, get some ROXUL type insulation specific for noise reduction. Squeeze some in between the pipes and the drywall, but do not compress it.  Noise reduction insulation should not be squished so more is not necessarily always better.

... but as @Ecnerwal said cast iron pipes is probably the best option in this circumstance.


Brand new 3-way lamps not working correctly

Possibly - you're not screwing the bulb in tight enough. Most bulbs need to make one contact at the tip, these need to make two.

But more likely these are duff fixtures.  "Better Homes & Gardens" has never made a lamp in their long history publishing magazines; it's obvious they've "rented out their brand" (like Curtes Mathes of late).  A quick Googling shows that only Walmart sells it, so it's effectively a house brand of Walmart.

Same with Allen Roth, it's a made-up house brand of Lowes.

Those are the cheapest low-bidder units that Walmart and Lowes buyers can find in east Asia. For both companies, unit cost is everything and they drive a very hard bargain with their suppliers. There's a good chance they either came out of the same factory, or at least, the switches and sockets came from the same factory.  No wonder they failed the same.

My brain short-circuited when you said you called GE and complained.  GE was founded by Thomas Edison himself and not only make jet engines, windmills and locomotives, they make the best ones on earth.  So let's talk about quality.

In household and commercial lighting, I think GE is a smidge better than even the respectable top-shelf suppliers like Sylvania or Philips/Advance.  Cree is an American company whose thing is making LED emitters, and they're considered the best in that field.  Whether that translates into making good consumer products, I don't know.  Ikea has been better than I'd expect.

Utilitech, Lights of America and Feit Electric, however, are the bottom shelf, the junk of the junk, they'll cut any corner to hit the price-point that'll make you put it in your cart.  That is why those brands are wall-to-wall at Lowes, Home Depot, Costco, Kmart and Walmart.  (notice I didn't say Target.)  And those stores "hold their feet to the fire" to make them shave cost... which is death to an LED, as I'll explain below.

If you want to buy junk, that's fine, just do it with eyes wide open.  The big-box stores don't care - they've run the numbers, they know most people don't return bad product if it's cheap, and for the few that do, they make such good margin that they can afford it.

Lastly CFLs.  I worked for the company that invented them, and they're rewiring their own buildings with LEDs.  That says it all.  LED is superior in every way, and at this point there is no reason to buy another CFL, ever. CFLs are gone from Ikea, get very little shelf space in CostCo, price is in free-fall (doing what electronics prices do), so in another year or two, CFLs will be relegated to the dollar-store, and then, gone.  Given the annoyance of recycling them and the nightmare of dealing with a broken CFL... and their short service life... good riddance.   Please don't buy anymore... it's time for that technology to go.

Just for reference, LEDs have no toxic hazards and can be thrown in the trash.

Quality CFLs lasted 10 years.  (cheap ones didn't obviously.)  Given the nature of LED tech, I fully expect a quality unit to last 30-40.  Years.  Seriously.  But that rather depends on the quality of the build.  The weak link is the electronic driver circuit, and there are lots of ways to cheap those out with 1-year or 3-year components.  And that's what the junk brands are doing when the big-box stores put the price squeeze on them.


Can I keep unused paint in the roller tray?

As long as you can get it airtight, it will work just fine.  I use the disposable tray liners and try to get as much of the paint off the liner as possible, pouring the remaining paint back into the can.

I leave the liner on the roller tray, cover it with plastic wrap and then put the whole thing in a tie-off garbage bag, trying to get as much of the air out as possible.  Keeping it in a cool place helps to cut down evaporation too.

Another tip: 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bags are the perfect size to hold a 9" roller cover between uses:

I squeeze the roller cover out with a painter's multi-tool, drop it in the bag, and seal it up.  It won't keep forever, but it will certainly last a week.


2 Bulb Chandelier not lighting up anymore

Most of the time sockets just go bad.  Though your issue is more likely a lose wire connection probably in the canopy because you did not mention any flicker from the bulbs.

Unfortunately most people have dimmers on chandeliers and dimmers are very sensitive to anything that might go wrong electrically and often go bad.

So on top of a lose wire connection you could also have a bad dimmer, and not totally ruling out bad sockets.

So, something as simple as bulbs not working could very well be quite complicated, and not to mention dangerous depending on if the house is wired with outdated wiring and standards.


You can indeed do a few courses per day.

Just make sure that there is no tile adhesive left on the wall in between tiling sessions or else it will harden and be a nuisance.

On the other hand, in my experience, the grouting should all be done in one go on a wall as otherwise it is a bit difficult to get it to join up again nicely.


What does it mean when our window screens are loose and the windows are hard to lock?

Sounds like too much insulation was stuffed in the jambs forcing the window jamb to bow inwards causing the sash to be to tight in the jamb. On the loose ones sounds like the jamb was nailed in with an outward bow. Use a 4' or 6' level to check and see if the window jambs are bowed from top to bottom.


How can I wire a receptacle to a switch?

If the 12/2 at the wall box is 120VAC, black hot, white neutral, green/bare ground, and the pump is 120VAC then...

Being a double gang box, you should be able to connect that wire to the LINE terminals of a GFCI outlet. Brass hot, silver neutral, ground will need connection to several things detailed below.

Then, in the other half of that box, install a switch, connecting the switch to the hot (brass) LOAD side terminal of the GFCI. What's the wire in the pipe? If it's indoor type Romex (odds are too good that it might be) remove it and replace with outdoor rated wire such as THW in black (or red)/white/green, or UF if you really enjoy having a miserable time pulling wire. If it's already THW, XHW, or the like, (even UF) great.

Connect the white wire going to the pump outlet to the neutral (silver) LOAD side screw on the GFCI. Connect the black (or red) wire leading to the pump outlet to the other side of the switch. Connect all the grounds together, and to the ground terminals on the switch, box and GFCI (ie, incoming wire, outgoing wire, a pigtail for switch, a pigtail for GFCI, a pigtail for box if metal box.)

The pump outlet is protected by the GFCI at the patio box, so just use a regular outlet at the far end of the pipe - "Double GFCI" doesn't really gain you anything. Connect the wires coming from the switch and load side of the GFCI to the outlet at the pump location, and connect the ground to the box if the box is metal. Plug in a GFCI outlet tester, verify that GFCI operation works. (A whopping $5 or so expense that should be useful for 20 years or until you lose it.)

Then plug in the pump. If the GFCI trips, either the pump wiring is at fault and needs to be replaced, or the pump is at fault and needs to be replaced.


Hardwire vs Plug-In stationary power tools?

For stationary equipment you can go hard wire or plug connected. Usually wood working equipment has a high vibration so a 6' length of flexible conduit is used. In my shop I prefer cord connected on most equipment but my big air compressor that is bolted to the floor is flex connected.


How can I fix a Groaning/bubbling toilet?

Check your upstream vents. Drain cleaner or a drain snake usually does the trick!
If the vents are okay, you may need to call a plumber.


The Code requires a landing at the top and bottom of all stairways, except a landing is not required at the top of a stairway provided the door does not swing out over the stairs. (See ICC R311.5.4)
If you need to install a door at the bottom of the stairs, maybe you could turn the door 90 degrees and install it in the hallway.
If you try to install it at the bottom of the stairs, the doorknob will be difficult to reach when you descend the stairs.


Exterior Door Width is Shorter than Jamb

Unless I am mis-understanding what you are calling the door jamb.  The door jamb is the vertical strip nailed to the door casing to provide the door stop when closing.  It would be easy to replace the jamb with a thicker piece one (about 3/8" thicker).  I would not shim the jamb.
Weatherstrip is normally added on the exterior side of the door.


How can I use a standard prehung interior door on 2x6 studs?

You can buy pre-hung doors for 2x6 studding. If you already have one for 2x4 studding then it could be adapted, but it would be better to return it and get one designed for 2x6 studding. See here. Some doors with a split jamb might fit either one.

Do you already have the door on site?


How should I connect PVC plumbing for two sinks to old cast iron stack with two threaded tees?

I'm keen to remove cast iron wherever it's practical to do so. In my experience, cast iron older than about 40 years can really get crudded up and slow. That said, removing sections of a stack can be challenging--you have to fit between nearly immobile sections and you have to support the stack while you work, or you have to replace everything going upward all at once.

I'd see if you can get a nipple threaded into the upper hub just as we see in the lower one, using thread paste, and leave the lower one in place. Connect your new PVC to both nipples with shielded no-hub couplings. Be sure to bore out any corrosion in the cast iron hubs to the inner diameter of the nipples.

If those hubs are 1-1/2" or larger, that may be enough for two sinks. You could just plug the upper one and connect to the lower nipple.


Why don't we just use combination AFCI/GFCI breakers for every circuit in a home?

Sure, go for it

There's no basic problem with what you propose.  Feel free to put CAFCIs in all breaker positions.

You may have a problem finding AFCIs larger than 20/30 amps, and you may have trouble finding 2-pole AFCIs in some cases.  In this instance, for equivalent protection where AFCI is not mandated, simply run those circuits in metal conduit, e.g. EMT/THHN wire.  This will protect the wire, not the appliances.


Your thermostat repurposes W1 (call for first stage heat) as O/B (reversing valve) when in heat pump mode, instead of having a separate O/B terminal that's unused in conventional mode and using W1 to control the emergency/auxiliary heat. (Instead, W2 (call for second stage heat) is repurposes as AUX/E (auxiliary/emergency heat) when in heat pump mode.)

So, what you are seeing is absolutely normal in your case, merely peculiar to your model of thermostat.  See page 6/PDF page 8 of the manual for details.


Which method of framing a soffit around rectangular ductwork maximizes ceiling height?

I usually use wood for everything.  This is how I would put it together with 2x4s.  Personally, I think 2x4s are overkill for this, but that's just me.  I suggest using screws as your fasteners, and with screws your "bottom plate" is probably sound.  Screws will be fine in tension.  If you are using nails, I'd stick to the sketch so that your nails are loaded in shear.

The main code issue you are going to be dealing with here is fireblocking.  You have this open plenum that connects all the joist cavities which allows fire to spread quickly across the joists.  You'll want to stuff insulation in areas that will prevent airflow from one joist (and wall) cavity to another.


You could possibly buy some insulation material from your local hardware or building supply store.

The cheapest would be to buy fiberglass insulation, but I would recommend against this, because it can be bad for your lungs if not installed properly.

The quickest and easiest would be to get some rigid foam board insulation and put it up against the wall.  With this you could probably wallpaper over it, or possibly even paint some types.

Be sure to check the R-Value on the insulation that you want to use.  The higher the R-Value, the better insulation that you will get.

I know that it doesn't seem like you will get a lot of benefit from some foam board, but you would be surprised.

Home Depot - All Insulation

Home Depot - Rigid Insulation

From a cost perpective, you aren't looking at anything outrageous either.

Let's assume your wall is 8 feet tall (for simplicity)
and that it's 24 feet long.  (That's a pretty decent sized wall for a room)

You will need 6 - 4x8 pieces of Rigid Insulation Board.
at ~$20 / sheet for the 1" stuff, that's $120 (US)
at ~$37 / sheet for the 2" stuff, that's $220 (US)

If you do install the foam board, be sure to get some foam sealer (like Great Stuff) and put that in between the cracks.  Small gaps in the foam board can make a surprisingly big difference.

The next step would be putting sheetrock or really inexpensive plywood / fiber board over it.

Good Luck and let us know how it works out!


Do Most LED Hallway Lighting Fixtures have replaceable lamps

Time for math!  I love math.

50,000 hours x 25W x $0.12/kWh = $150 total running costs over the lifetime of the LED fixture.  Plus the cost of the unit itself - say another $150.  That's $300/fixture, or $60/fixture-year.

By contrast, a halogen bulb costs $2.50 and lasts 1000 hours.  So you need to buy 50 of them to meet the lifetime of the LED bulb.  That's $125 in bulbs.  Plus running costs: 50,000 hours x 72W x $0.12/kWh = $432 in electricity.  Neglecting the cost of the fixture, as it doesn't get replaced, you're spending $111.40/fixture-year for something that has the benefit of being replaceable.

A CFL equivalent might be $4.50, so it's more expensive than the halogen, but it also lasts longer (10,000 hours-ish).  It also uses less power than the halogen, but more than the LED.  Using the same math, you'll spend $45 in bulbs and $132 in electricity, for an average of $35.40/fixture-year.  So if you're going to go replaceable bulbs, definitely go CFL (but then you have to live with the light of CFLs, which some find objectionable).

TL; DR: Even replacing the fixture every 5 years, LEDs are cheaper in the long run than halogens.  CFLs are even cheaper than LEDs (slightly less efficient, but cheaper bulbs), but their light is objectionable to some.


Should I seal, waterproof a concrete basement floor before painting?

I'd suggest one of two options:

Epoxy paint (typically labeled as 'garage sealer')
Acid Stain and seal

I much prefer the look of stained concrete to painted concrete, but that's obviously a personal choice. We stained our concrete basement floor when we finished it and sealed it with a off-the-shelf concrete sealer.


How to pour a concrete walkway directly up to a T style foundation

If you're relying on the walkway for water or damp proofing, you're on the wrong path... so to speak. You've got lots of options but if you don't stop the bulk of the water before it gets to the house it'll be a problem later. Water is the enemy. Divert it as far from the problem as possible.

You haven't given us enough information to help you. I'd need a rough site plan showing the slopes out to the best lot low spot and some detailed photos. Otherwise we're just guessing.

The concrete will never be any larger than the day you pour it. Same with the masonry. No "expansion" joints required, however there IS a product that may help you... It's a pvc drain the same size and shape and placement AS an expansion joint, do a search. If you can't stop the water before it gets to the wall, all you can really do is make sure it goes away really fast, and though I've only used it once, it handles a LOT of water if you keep it clean. Install per instructions over FULLY MECHANICALLY COMPACTED CLEAN GRAVEL, OVER FULLY COMPACTED FREE DRAINING SOIL ONLY, GET THE EXPANSIVE CLAY OUT OF THERE... then caulk the l.s. out of it with commercial grade, urethane self-leveling, thixotropic caulk. Don't cheat... No bond breaker necessary.

Put a foot or two of clean stone under the "slab" to the site drain. Line the excavation with filter fabric.. it's cheap. Then install filter fabric OVER that stone and then decorative gravel over that. 4" ought be good. Run a plate compactor over it til it rings. Then, instead of the concrete/PVC, the whole walkway becomes your drain. The more I think about it, do that.


How to remove/cut off a steel post in concrete

In the end I hired someone to do the work, and was glad that I did.
In order to remove the posts they used:

A reciprocating saw to cut the posts off
An angle grinder to cut more of the posts off
A powered chisel thing to get rid of some of the concrete that was inside the posts
A hammer and lots of effort to fold the remaining parts of the posts down

Here's an image of the aftermath, for one of the posts. (the secondary circle cut in the concrete was there already, and not part of the removal works)


If "the bolt is tight, but the blade is loose" something is not assembled correctly, (missing or improperly positioned arbor washer) or you have the wrong blade (too thin) for the saw. Or perhaps you are a repeat of putting a round-hole saw blade on a saw designed for a diamond-shaped hole.


John Deer Lawnmower won't start, just buzzes

Its your starter, more precisely, the starter mechanism (clutch/bearing) is not engaging the engine. It can be misaligned, broken teeth, foreign debris stuck in the mechanism, or just dirty and needs cleaning/grease.

Here's a quick youtube so you can hear it per request:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1trcMQFvvWU

There are a ton of videos on this topic out there, but once you inspect the bearing it should give you an idea of the issue.

Here's some more detail on it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhdSq4WOaDM


The lights should be hooked up in parallel, not in series.


What is this drill guide/template used when fixing electrical sockets called and where do I buy one?

It's called a pattress jig.

B&Q stock them in the UK.  However they can only be purchased from a physical store not online, the ean code is 03619377 and the cost is £7.68. (A B&Q store can order one if needed based on the ean code.)

There is also a seller on eBay UK.


Can I use 14/2 wire on a 2500 watt heater

Heaters must be derated to 125% when provisioning service for them. So 2500 watts gets derated to 3125 watts and that is what you must provision.

That is within the 3600 watt capacity of a 15A/240V circuit.


How can I powder coat a metal door in place?

I doubt a heat gun could provide satisfactory results unless you are exceptionally skilled with it.

However, there is no reason you could not build an oven around the door.  Is that easier than taking the door off?  Probably not.

I am thinking taking one of these:

(175,000 BTU/hr liquid propane heater)

Bypass or modify the heater's thermostat to allow 350+ °F output, and build a heat resistant enclosure around the door.

This is definitely a DIY project if ever there was one with plenty of pitfalls and excitement dangers.  With adequate precautions, it can be successful:

no volatile or flammable materials inside the enclosure
the oven environment will be low oxygen and high CO2
heater airflow will be challenging to manage
temperature management will be challenging


If the firebox looks like that the inside of the chimney probably looks worse.  This is not a DIY job you need to have a pro run a chimney inspection camera down the chimney or your risking a chimney fire.  If you are feeling that lucky then buy a lottery ticket and your winnings will pay for the chimney guy. ;-)


My 5th (top) floor apartment is shaking; what might cause this?

Normal Vibrations in Buildings Have Identifiable Sources
I've encountered a vast range of vibrations in multi-dwelling buildings I have lived. Hear are the ones I can remember:

washing machine spin cycle (this happens often and, if it matches the resonance of the building can travel throughout multiple floors)
dishwasher valves and drain pump (not very strong, but once the sound filtered through floors and walls, the sound and feel was disconcerting)
nearby trains
nearby garbage trucks and other heavy vehicles
dancing at house parties
active construction work
elevators
earthquakes
explosion nearby

Note that all these sources are not the building structure itself, and are fairly easy to track down.  I can't remember encountering a source of vibration or shaking whose source I could not pinpoint with a small amount if work.
Find the Source or Move Out
The most likely explanation for the vibrations/shaking is that it is being caused by something in or near the building and not the building structure itself.  With a reasonable amount of effort by you, your neighbors and landlord, you should easily be able to pinpoint the source of the vibrations/shaking.
If you still cannot pinpoint the source after putting some earnest effort into finding the source, it may actually be the building structure itself.  This is not that far fetched if the building was not engineered (building inspectors usually defer to a professional engineer for structural issues).
If your only conclusion is that the vibration/shaking is originating from the building structure itself, then you should move out - it is a bad sign.  Even if the building doesn't collapse, you will have made the correct decision with the information you had at hand at the time.


Code compliant way to hookup an electrical oven?

You'll need a right-angle FMC connector, an octagon knockout faceplate, and some MAC-Blocks for this
It looks like your electrician threw an octagon mud ring on the square box they put in for this outlet because they didn't have a square one in the truck at the time.  While a bit non-standard, this is not unmanageable, either, as KO faceplates for octagon boxes are a standard item, and should mostly fit on the mud ring in question (using the two larger holes in the mounting flanges).  You'll need such a faceplate for this, as well as a right-angled ½" FMC connector to accept the flex conduit whip on your oven, a set of 4 Ilsco MAC-618 MAC-Block™ connectors as the wires from the wall appear to be aluminum(!), a short length of 10AWG bare solid copper for use as a box grounding pigtail, and a 10-32 green grounding screw.  Finally, you'll need an inch-pound torque screwdriver in order to correctly tighten the terminal set screws on the connectors.
First off, you'll need to land the 10-32 grounding screw on the back of the box and attach the 10AWG solid copper grounding pigtail to it.  You'll then need to use the FMC connector to attach the octagon KO faceplate to the FMC whip on the oven.  From there, we can proceed to strip the wires from the wall back about ¾", then attach the MAC-Blocks to them, torquing the screws used to 25in-lbs.
Now, the oven can return to the picture, its terminated whip getting connected to the remaining holes on the MAC-Blocks.  The grounding pigtail from the box also gets slid in alongside the grounding wire from the oven at this point, as the MAC-Block can accept 2 copper wires in the same port, but cannot accept copper and aluminum mixed together in one port.  The remaining connection screws can then get torqued to 20in-lbs, completing the wiring.  Finally, you can attach the faceplate to the box and slide the oven in, finishing our work in the kitchen.
Last but not least, you'll need to head to the breaker panel and fit the appropriate lockoff device for it to the breaker for your oven circuit before buttoning the panel up and turning the oven breaker on.  That way, if you need to call someone out to work on the oven, they can flip the breaker OFF then attach a padlock to the lockoff device, keeping someone from giving them a shocking surprise by flipping the breaker back ON while they're still working.
If you can't find MAC-Blocks...
If you can't find the ILSCO MAC-Block (any local supply house that carries Ilsco's products should be able to order some in for you), you can use two-port Polaris™ or equivalent 14-4 AlxCu mechanical setscrew-type splices for the hots and neutral and a matching three-port connector for the ground.  You'll also need to use the torque values that come with that connector instead of the ones I quoted above (35 in-lbs for a Burndy BIT4, for instance), and to put the grounding pigtail from the box in its own port on the grounding connector instead of combining it with the ground wire from the oven.
If that isn't satisfactory from a grounding standpoint, you could use a 10-32x⅝" machine screw to attach an Ilsco NBAS-002-1 grounding bar to the grounding hole in the back of the box and terminate both the oven and cable grounding wires there, letting you dispense with the grounding pigtail altogether.  (This is permitted by the Exception to NEC 314.28(E), by the way.)


Water Filter system - backwash from sewer?

This should not be a concern in a properly designed system, short of a flood. If you're feeling especially paranoid you could put an air gap in that drain line, but ...


If A and B are the wires coming from the breaker, they should be connected to the LINE terminals of the GFCI.  C and D; that go off to serve other loads, should be connected to the LOAD terminals. If when connected properly, the GFCI will not reset. It means that the GFCI device is dead, and needs to be replaced.

Since C & D are "floating", the 5.5 volts could be phantom voltage induced by other electrical lines in close proximity to these lines, or any other magnetic field. A low impedance voltmeter could be used to rule out phantom (ghost) voltage.  However, since lines C & D have no reference to the electrical system (floating), don't expect a meaningful reading.


Can’t you just flip the uses? Rooms seem similar in size, except the existing Lounge has a lot of circulation and the existing Drawing Room can be private.

Otherwise, a major remodel might be to switch the kitchen with the Lounge. Put the Lounge in the back with the bedrooms and add a large curved island bar (with barstools) in the center “domed” area.

In my house, everyone gathers around the bar area.

BTW, do you have a refrigerator?


Could condensation happen on unused heating pipe?

Condensation happens when warm, moist air comes into contact with a cold object.  To stop the condensation you can try:

Removing moisture from the air
Wrapping the pipe in insulation
Removing the pipe


How can I handle this splice joint between two shorter pieces of lumber?

Another idea, I'd shorten that middle joist by 1.5" and double up the (looks like) 30.5" section of the rim joist between the adjacent joists with a piece 2x8 x 30.5".


Paint the roof white or silver to reflect as much sunlight as possible. This is a passive method once it is done.

Water removes heat better than air so if you have a source of water, or collected and stored rainwater, it could be sprayed on the roof during times of high heat.

This isn't "natural" but if you have an attic, you could install an exhaust fan with a thermostat switch that comes on when the attic gets too hot.

Good luck!


Check valve for high pressure water flow

Please Google "venturi fertilizer injector" to learn about this technology. It is a device that works with no electric power. The flow of a large amount of liquid through the device creates a vacuum that will suck a smaller quantity of a second liquid into the main flow.
In this case you would use a check valve on the small tank to prevent backflow in case the main flow stops. No flow = no vacuum, which could cause backflow if there is no check valve.


How would I create a curved floating desk and shelving unit?

You could possibly buy it more easily than you could make it, especially if you have no experience with building laminated forms, or the tools to do so.

IF you had those tools and the woodworking experience, that structure will still not be easily made anyway. In order to attain any stiffness with those sharp corners, it appears to be made of thin layers of wood, laminated up over a form essentially into plywood, then probably covered with a contact paper surface. You might use a tool like a veneer press in the form of a vacuum bag that would exert pressure over the entire surface.

I suppose one could cover it with a high pressure laminate too, but this was surely not done in the piece that is the subject of your picture.

Even as a strip laminated form, I'm not sure it would be terribly strong, probably breaking at the joint near the keyboard before long.

I suppose this structure could also be made of some variety of thermo-plastic, molded into that form. If so, it is nothing you could make. Or, you could do this by laminating fiberglass up into the desired form, much as a boat builder might do.

Personally, I'd suggest making an equally useful desk far more simply. Then hang a flat shelf on the wall. All done trivially, without a massive investment in tools, time, and expertise.


Sound of Running Water After Faucet is closed

I've heard this before, in a single story house where the water main entered the building near the bathroom, but because there was a hallway with a solid floor between there and the kitchen, the  hot and cold pipes ran up through the attic, then back down to the sink and dishwasher. All was fine for years until some work was done in the bathroom, moving a sink, then the exact same issues started that you describe. What happened was that there was air in the inverted U in the pipes, and even with the kitchen sink on full blast, there wasn't enough flow to push the air through the pipes, so each time the water ran, it would push the air over to the downward leg, then the water would fall through the air and feed the faucet, and once the faucet was shut off, the water would continue to fall through the air until the air was back at the top of the U.

I fixed this temporarily by removing the hose to the dishwasher, the flow was then high enough to force most of the air out, but a more permanent fix was to reposition the pipes so that the air gravitated back to a bleed point I installed.

I'd suggest you look at the pipe routes to see if there is anywhere that the air introduced while replacing the shutoff can be accumulating that it can't easily get out from.


Standard engineering advice for "flat" exterior surfaces is that they actually be sloped at 1/8" per foot (which is close enough to 1cm/meter as to make either perfectly acceptable) for drainage purposes, rather than be "dead flat."

Method is to make the base that shape, using anything from laser levels to stakes and strings. The base needs also to be stable and compacted so that it stays that shape over time. Stability in cold climates may involve thick layers of well-draining material and sub-surface drains to prevent frost-heaving.


Can I add a sink drain to a stack serving the floor above?

Air admittance valves aren't allowed because they tend to fail over time and because they can leak sewage in a backup. Obviously such a situation can result in overflow elsewhere, but that's the rule.
As you've implied, flow from upstairs creates vacuum as it rushes past such a connection. If there's an opening for air to enter, as there always is with a drain, atmospheric pressure pushes the water out of your trap. Too much flow from above can result in backflow without adequate prevention.
There are ways to make this work, but you'd need at least a partial vent line attaching higher up on the stack.


Use chlorinated brake cleaner typically sold in an auto parts store.


Elevating a water heater to avoid damage during flooding

In Dallas many houses have water heaters in the attic. This frees up usable space in the living areas, but I have heard from someone in water damage remediation of virtually total loss of a demi-mansion due to the simultaneous failure of multiple  electric water heaters while the family was on vacation.

We have lived in our single story tract house for 40 years and had two different gas fired tank water heaters fail. This caused significant damage even though we were home both times. Our heater is not in the attic but in a service closet on the living floor in the middle of the house.

Thirteen years ago I changed to a tankless heater and feel much more comfortable. I put the tankless heater in the same location as the old tank and if it would leak catastrophically it would cause some damage, but the service life of these tankless heaters is much longer than a tank, and I think the tankless give more warning of impending failure.

In your situation you could consider putting a tankless heater on an outside wall of the outside of the house near where the current tank is. These outside tankless heaters do not need a flue through the attic and roof and if they leak the water runs down the outside wall.

One limitation of modern tankless gas fired heaters is that they require 120 V AC power to operate the controls (and a small heater on the outside models) so if the line power is out, you have no hot water (unless you have a backup generator). We have a first generation Bosch tankless (which has a standing pilot light--yikes!), but it does not require line power so we would have hot water even if the power is out. We have had winter outages of some extent in Dallas--ice storms bring down power lines, but when we replace our existing heater it will be with a modern tankless requiring line power.

EDIT

The major drawbacks of a tankless water heater (besides cost, they cost significantly more than a tank) are:

The tankless have a much larger burner (200 kBTU/h or more vs ~ 40 kBTU/h for a 40 gal tank) and this may require a larger gas pipe, although this may be only from a place already in the house, i.e., the existing buried gas line from the meter to the house is probably sufficient.
The tankless will not supply the volume of hot water that a tank will--until the tank is depleted.
The tankless has more complicated controls which cannot be expected to be as robust as the simpler controls for a tank and will cost more to repair.

I recently talked to a builder who built a small subdivision of 40 or so houses. He offered a tankless water heater hung on an outside wall as an option and few if any purchasers took it. He selected it for his own house and he loves it. Unlimited hot water no matter how many house guests.


How can I install an interior cat door to the basement and not have it kill me? (from increased radon)

If you have a Radon Mitigation system, then you should have no worries. A proper mitigation system puts a negative pressure on the underside of the basement slab, and vents it out the roof. The idea is to remove all radon from the basement itself.

So, in theory, a cat door should have no bearing on the amount of radon in the first floor.

I'd, of course, do a radon test in the basement to be sure, but you should be fine.


New GFCI outlet won't reset after tripping when load wires are connected

If I'm understanding, your circuit runs from

Service panel -> receptacle A -> receptacle B -> switches and receptacle C -> fridge D

In a perfect world, we try to use one GFCI device per circuit when it makes sense to protect the whole circuit.  In this case, it does not.  The farthest thing from the service panel is the fridge, and it's desirable to avoid as long as possible putting GFCI protection on a fridge. (I can't tell you to violate the law, but the requirement for fridge GFCI in new work implies a new fridge which is built expecting to be on GFCI.)**

I understand the lighting at C is also not playing nicely with GFCI.

There is no way, given existing wiring, for a GFCI at A to provision GFCI-protected power to B and the C receptacle, but not the fridge. The wires are not there.

Given these constrictions, the most correct way to install this is with GFCI receptacles at each of A, B and C.   On each receptacle, you would pigtail to the LINE terminals only, and cover up the LOAD terminals.  The result of this is the lights at C and the refrigerator at D will not be on GFCI.

To assure nobody tries to plug a second thing into the fridge receptacle at D, I would change it to a single outlet (just one socket).

If at some point you want to repair the lights at C and move them to the LOAD terminals of the GFCI device at C, that would be fine.  Normally, when you don't have a fridge at the end of a string, you save a lot of money by learning to properly protect downline outlets with the LOAD feature.

There is no reason to tolerate an "old fluorescent" anywhere.  First, find a T8 bulb that fits the fixture, then get a modern electronic ballast that is correct for the T8 bulb.  Change the ballast and enjoy state of the art, hum-free, flicker-free lighting.  Or you can defer it; code doesn't require lighting be GFCI.

**  A GFCI trip on a fridge results in spoiled food.  Bad, especially if not detected by the food preparer - and before anyone tells me "the chef will detect this", baloney.  Try having a senior citizen with homecare aides coming in and out.  I assure you, food given to the senior is never tasted or even looked at closely. They will pour a bowl of cereal with sour milk and never know, and then coach the senior to eat it.  Seriously.


How to increase height of existing concrete slab?

Something got lost in translation and the question I asked here was totally different than what the person asking had in mind. Not a patio and they didn't even want to raise the height of the slab! That said... I still found the answer to the question I asked by contacting Sakrete, a manufacturer of bagged concrete mixes found in many home improvement and hardware stores in the US.

They recommended:

Surface be thoroughly cleaned and all thinset or tile adhesive completely removed. Any cracks should be repaired.
Existing slab should be painted with their Concrete Bonder and Fortifier and allowed to dry.
They recommended their Sand Mix which as far as I can tell has either no, less or smaller aggregate. It's used for pouring 1/2" to 2" thick. For the liquid, use the bag recommendation but replace half of the water with Bonder and Fortifier. Combine the admix with water before adding to cement.
Any expansion joints in the original slab need to be duplicated on the top coat.

No mesh or fibers necessary.

I called Sakrete because that's what's easiest for me to get locally. Quikrete has a similar Sand/Topping Mix and an Acrylic Fortifier. You can mix your own sand mix I guess if you're into that sort of thing.

One of the comments above about being lucky to last a year was a bit extreme. I have seen a heavily trafficked sidewalk leveled with some straight out of the bag mix that held up for over 10 years in the NYC area. DIY job with no bonding agents or other additives.

I have personally used Quikrete's acrylic fortifier and can attest that it creates a better bond.

I agree it's always better to rip out the old slab and pour a new one but sometimes the added labor and budget isn't always practical.


Converting two lights from one switch to one light from one switch?

Look in the holes the wires come from, one of the has 2 sets of wires coming in, one set to the switch and one to the other side.

Disconnect the one to the other side and cap it off. Then just use the wire from the switch to power the new bar. The hole on the other side you can cap of the wires and leave a cover plate in place.

It is possible that 2 sets of wires leave from the switch to both sides, then you disconnect one set and use the other to power the bar (again capping off the unused wires).

Instead of capping off the wires you would remove them entirely leaving just the set to power the bar and patch the holes in the wall; though that usually requires access to the space behind it.


Removing horizontal muntins from 1950s split pane windows

Most windows like that were built as an assembly with finger joints or other connections. It's not easy to remove a single component. You'll probably need to remove the glass and cut the muntins off, then mill them to the shape of the stiles to which they attach.


Should I use a carpet kicker or stretcher?

In a normal room-sized install, both tools are used.  The kicker for the first edge and the stretcher for the rest.  Kickers are also used in corners where the stretcher is awkward to use.  On stairs, just a kicker is used.

A kicker is ideally only used to attach the carpet to the tack strip.
A stretcher is used to attach the unanchored sides.  You anchor it at an attached side and stretch the carpet to the opposite side.

A pro would use a stretcher as much as possible.  A carpet that has  been kicked with a reasonable amount of effort will pull up at the edges from any typical abuse.

A small space like 2x3 would have only used a kicker - which is why they invented the mini-stretcher (like this one).  They're not cheap for a single job and I haven't seen one for rent, but it's worth a few calls around.

That's not to say you can't just use a kicker, and I probably would if I didn't have access to a mini-stretcher.  You can do a 90% job in a small space with a kicker, but you'll definitely work up a sweat.

FYI: For larger jobs, even with maximum effort, the smaller head of the kicker will lead towards ripping the carpet if you try to get the same amount of stretch as the power stretcher will give you with no effort.


What's this furniture component called? Metal dowel pin with hole?

If these chairs are from 50 years ago or so the metal pins may very well be 5/16 inch diameter. It turns out that 5/16" is 0.3125" and that is very close to 8mm which is 0.3149". If the peg is a nice fit an 8mm size would not fit into a 5/16" hole. If your pegs are indeed 5/16" in diameter you could try making your own pegs.

Go to the home store and find some 5/16" bolts that have a smooth shank that is of sufficient lentgth to yield the peg length. Such bolts would look like this:

You can cut them with a hack saw without too much effort. A vice to hold the parts can be very helpful. Then use a file to smooth the ends and taper the end corners a bit to get rid of sharp edges.

A center punch and a hammer can then be used to make a divot into the side of the rod to make a place to start the drill bit to make the cross hole. With a properly located center punched guide it should be relatively easy to drill the hole with an electric drill.

It is possible to also purchase an eye bolt that looks like the following that would also have a smooth shank. With this you would only need to make one cut per bolt and then use the eye for the screw to secure the seat. Since the hole is going to be larger it may be necessary to use a pah head screw and a small washer on the screw.


Is it worth adding a 2nd roof vent to an unfinished detached garage?

You do not need roof vents for non-insulated open roof garages.

FYI: For attics, the typical ratio is 1:150, so for every 150 sf of space then install 1 sf of venting. You have 576 sf so if you were to need them, you would need a minimum of 5.8 sf total.


What to do with risers when they aren't great quality

I think I would put a veneer on as suggested by JACK, but would then paint the stairs. Mine are white pine, which are also a soft wood, but they seem fine. Also if painting, the veneer could be a less expensive type instead of oak. Also paint is a lot more forgiving than stain. For example, you can fill and calk the gaps. I painted mine. They had carpet on them and when we pulled it off there were cracks, gaps, and even surface nails, in the top of the treads. I calked, filled, etc. and then painted them with two different colors. The treads are oil based porch and floor paint from Lowes. Here's how they turned out.


Led and basic light bulbs; 2 light sockets. One works with both bulbs, the other doesn't.

With the power off, try tugging gently at the pad in the middle of the socket well. You want it to be sprung a little further out. (Needle nose pliers can be useful for this.) There's a strong chance that it is pushed in a little too far to make contact with the tail of the bulb. If you pull it too much and it breaks, get another fixture.


How can I fix a floor joist that has separated from the cross beam?

As stated in everybody's comments, this is not a place to go blindly.

For the joist to "slip out of" its notch, something else has probably moved. This can lead to a house-sized game of "Jenga®" where the players (being you and anybody else in the house) can be crushed by the falling timbers.

Hire yourself a civil/structural consulting engineer, preferably one that really understands old wooden houses if yours is (as it sounds like it might be) a post and beam (P&B) structure. Those working for new P&B companies might be your best bet, and if they are not, they will usually know someone who does do work with old P&B houses, in most cases.


What size wire do I need for a 600ft run

First, figure out if it's even your problem. As commented by @jwh20 , the "service drop" is often (but not always) the power company's responsibility. Whether or not that's the case, it has to meet the power company's specifications. i.e. for that distance, the company might install two additional poles and a transformer, you write them a large check for installing that, or a smaller ongoing payment on your power bill for some years, the job is done.
Speaking from personal experience, my power company would only install a 100 foot or less overhead service drop, but was willing to use "customer-owned wire" in an underground configuration from the pole to their meter at the house (inspected and approved by them.) We ran conduit to the base of the pole, leaving a coil of far more wire than was actually needed (but exactly what they specified) and conduit for them to go up the pole with. Other utilities may operate differently, such as putting the meter and a disconnect at the pole, which changes things.
While I dug the trench myself and backfilled it myself, I had a licensed master electrician on the job to make sure that the thing was done correctly (and it kept the power company happy.) It's not exactly a great fit for fully DIY installation.
On the low end (assuming the usual 75C connections for large ampacity gear), you would need 4/0 aluminum (you get to treat 200A feeding a house as 166A for ampacity, per NEC) but at that distance you'll likely want more like 250-350 mcm aluminum for voltage drop. Whether you need 3 or 4 wires depends on where the service disconnect (and ground-neutral bond) is located - if it's at the pole, you need 4 wires (separate neutral and ground) - if at the house, only 3.
Since you have clarified that you are also looking at underground service, I will recommend a few things beyond wire. Use Schedule 80 PVC conduit - you need it at the ends for "protection from physical damage" anyway, and it does not cost much more than schedule 40, but is much tougher. Don't use direct burial cable - it's cheap the first time, expensive when you have to dig again to replace it since the cable is exposed directly to any insult (sharp rocks, rodent teeth, etc.) Do shop at a real electrical supply (you won't find schedule 80 at HD/Lowes) and if you can get 20 foot sections from them, do. Deburr the male ends of all conduit sections. Be sure to grab a roll of "buried electrical line below" tape. Place an empty "communications" conduit in the trench - trenches are expensive, conduit is cheap, you don't want to have to dig again when the fiber to the home provider shows up 12 years from now (or whatever.)


Need an extension cord with lever or magnetic switch

First off, you're not going to want to use an extension cord for this.  This is all going to have to be done with an approved wiring method. So you'll want to used properly secured and supported wire, that's approved for permanent installation.

Depending on how much space is available, and if you can find a way to mount it.  A door jamb switch, would be one way to go. They're most commonly used, to turn lights on when closet doors open.

The other option, is to use a low voltage circuit to control the line voltage to the device.  With this approach, you'll need a transformer to step power down for the low voltage circuit.  You'll probably find 12V and 24V transformers easily. Then you'll need a relay that can switch the line voltage. You'll also have to make sure that the coil is rated at the low voltage you've chosen to use.

Make sure all you're connections are made in properly installed enclosures, and that all the wiring and devices are installed in accordance with their documentation and the NEC.


Can I rough sand a deck before rain, and finish sand after rain dries?

I've done deck railings and have split the sandings with rainfall in between with no problem. You just have to make sure the wood's dry before the second pass. Weather never cooperates when trying to sand/stain a deck. Get a waterproof tarp and keep the deck covered while you're working on it. It will save you a lot of time waiting for it to dry out after rain. Just make sure to allow for air flow. I always have a tarp handy when sealing decks.... you can't rely on the weatherman. Good luck.


Can I put hard flooring over berber carpet?

No, that's not a very good idea for a few reasons. One is that if water is spilled and leaks through the cracks in the hardwood floor then the carpet will soak it up and do lots of bad stuff do the hardwood floor above it.

And I'm not a concrete expert but I think concrete on top of carpet would not be a good idea either. And that would be way more work and money than just ripping up the old carpet.

There's plenty of ways to remove glued-down carpet. You can use boiling hot water and a big scraper. Or you can go to a big-box home improvement store and rent a power floor scraper. I know that Menard's has them.


Sewer Line Opening - Makeshift Vent or Rodents?

I'm pretty sure that's rodent work right there
The scalloped, somewhat irregularly-shaped nature of the hole makes me think it was made by some rodent somewhere trying to avoid a nasty dental bill.  (Rodents need to gnaw to keep their front teeth from growing off into the other jaw.)  I would replace it with a hard PVC endcap or cleanout, as vents need to vent up so that you don't have nasty sewer gasses floating around at ground level.


What should I use to wash the walls in my kitchen prior to repainting them?

I would use a grout sponge that has a course side.  What you use depends on how dirty the walls are and can range from soap to bleach.  There isn't a perfect solution because soap is fine in most cases (dawn or something similar).


Looking for a way to secure round rods in a T configuration

You might be able to find an appropriate clamp, but this appears to just be an irrigation shut-off key.
They are not expensive brand new and I'd bet that the whole new key doesn't cost more than whatever speciality clamp you might ultimately find


Rewire attic fan from switched to always-on

Supply that fan switch you say is fitted for code purposes from the supply to the light switch, it will then be on all the time depending on its thermostat setting.

Leave the other light switches as is.


Pull-down faucet hose doesn't slide into sink/counter holes

Sadly, it is often cheaper to just buy a new faucet....if you decide to go the repair route, try to identify the brand and model of your faucet by going to the manufacturer's web site.
This is why I always advise to keep the faucet box for future reference on make and model. Parts are then much easier to identify with parts explosion diagrams from the manufacturer. Good luck!


Best method to ensure scratch coat (render) adheres to brickwork

In the UK, in situations where you might be slightly concerned about the surface being rendered, a coat of equal parts water & UniBond PVA Adhesive & Sealer is applied to the surface prior to the scratch-coat going on.

If the brickwork is quite porous, wetting it down beforehand (just prior to applying the UniBond PVA Adhesive & Sealer) with a hose wouldn't be the worst idea, also wetting down the scratch coat before the top coat is applied isn't a bad idea (especially if the weather is on the warm side).

Adding a plasticizer and waterproofing agent to the scratch coat is worthwhile (normally specified, required).


For the most part, the slope the gravel naturally lays at when set in place will tell you how much concrete to order, not much you can do about it.

But, if you are really wanting to cut down on concrete and use more gravel, and you have total control over the pour, you can start at the bottom. Fill the first tread and start adding more gravel as you go, adding it to the top and letting it slide down, making sure you keep the reinforcing wire or rebar up out of it. Do make sure you keep a decent amount of concrete in the inside corners of the stairs, (3-4") so the stairs don't get weak.


How to take care of a butcher block countertop

There are likely many ways to get this done. This is how I would do it.

It looks like solid wood. The black marks to me look more like dirt trapped in cuts and abrasions gathered over time. So, on the face of it, it looks like sanding and polishing it would get it done.

Remove the sink and trims. Then plane it - some 2-3mm with a power tool. To sand it down with a belt sander is an alternative but it will take a lot of time, even with the roughest papers.

After planing, and confirming that you have reached the deepest dents, it is sanding time. A belt sander, used carefully (don't lean on it) along the grain of the wood. I'd start with 80 grit and then do 180 grit with the belt sander. After that it is either hand sanding or an eccentric or rotating powersander. I'd prefer eccentric, but either will do the job. I'd pick 240 or 320 grit for this part. A rotating sander might leave scratches against the grain that might need removal with hand sanding with the grain.

After that you have some choices. You can either lacquer it, it will save you any more sanding (except light strokes by hand between applications) and give a glossy and robust finish. Or you can oil it, in which case I would hand sand it further with the highest grit I could get my hands on, since oil won't hide anything of the surface. And then oil it generously, wait a few minutes, wipe off surplus oil then "let dry" and follow up by sanding it with high grit (400+). I say let dry, but the distinction is sometimes hard with oil, you should be able to run a hand across the surface without it being smudged. Repeat twice or as many times you want, but if it looks good enough, it is good enough.

Also, if you want to oil it, you have a selection of oils that will bring out different hues in the wood, or even color it lightly. I fancy those nice white-oils especially for oak. You can test different oils on a surface that will be below trim or sink or on the underside. But just plain, clear oil is often a good enough choice.


Do I need to caulk where my vinyl siding meets the edge of my windows?

Agreed with the research you found. Most vinyl siding, if installed correctly, will not require caulk at the sides of the windows and doors. Often there is actually a separate vinyl piece installed first at the side of the window that the ends of the siding tuck into. You are supposed to leave a gap at the end of the siding pieces to permit expansion and contraction. This same siding movement is the reason that the siding comes with slotted nail holes.

(from the familyhandyman.com web site)


How to remove an old KitchenAid dishwasher?

For the record--in case there are any more of these models out there!--here's how it worked out.

The KitchenAid people were very helpful, but all they had were installation instructions for a comparable model.  From that I learned that the sink, sink cabinet, and dishwasher were originally installed as a "unit."

So, I gave up, figuring there were loads of attachment points that I just wouldn't be able to get to: the objective changed from replacing the dishwasher to rescuing the stainless steel sink and top.

It turns out, though, despite the claim on another Web site that "the dishwasher is secured to the cabinet with screws from the back, front, and through the side from underneath the sink,* that nothing could be further from the truth:

The counter and sink were held with screws beneath the front two corners and, in the back, with metal pegs designed to slide forward and up:

In this picture the counter has been turned sideways: you're looking at the original back right corner.  The installer reinforced it with wood.  I don't know whether the steel bar-and-peg assembly screwed to it is original or not.

The diswasher itself was attached only with four screws to the cabinet at its left:

In the photo, looking down into the now-open sink cabinet, you can see the one remaining screw (upper left) and a hole for another (upper right).  Two more screws were set in the bottom corners.  That's all!  In principle, you could remove this dishwasher by removing (or drilling out) these screws, cutting the water supply (sweated in place, of course), and pulling it forward.  No part of this unit was attached to the floor or walls, either: it was free-standing.

By the way, to bring this story to a happy close, here is a photo of the new sink cabinet (partially constructed) with the old counter and sink restored, ready for the new dishwasher:

Because the counter is completely hollow--it is reinforced with two narrow longitudinal ribs underneath, but that's all--it was necessary to reinforce the front lip for strength and to have a mounting point for the new dishwasher.  A 1.5" by 1.5" piece of poplar fit just fine.

(For those with sharp eyes and a knowledge of the electrical code: that little jury-rigged pigtail at the bottom was just a temporary setup to test the dishwasher before pushing it into place.  It was well worth the peace of mind to see that everything worked without any leaks: I lost a joist in a previous house to a slow undetected dishwasher leak.)


Do I have to cover the entire floor while painting a ceiling, or can I simply cover the floor in the area I'm working?

As a general rule; remove from the area or cover, anything that you don't want to clean later and/or possibly ruin.

Any hardware store should have poly film in large rolls - big enough to cover that entire area for around $20.


Is it okay to not have a vapor barrier in lightweight tiny house type construction?

Didn't you ask the same question somewhere else recently? This sounds really familiar.

You should stick to proven wall designs. 2x3s are going to be more difficult to work with. No sheathing will mean virtually no racking resistance against wind. You almost never want a dedicated vapor barrier, especially if you're planning to use rigid foam anywhere (that will result in a vapor trap). Your exterior non-sheathing plan is risky if you don't plan to put housewrap or tar paper under it.

If you really want to do this, here would be my recommendation, inside to out:

Lightweight wood paneling or whatever
2x3s for structural framing with the cavities filled with slightly compressed unfaced fiberglass or mineral wool batts (installed well)
Diagonal steel braces for racking resistance
1+" Foil-faced non-structural foam sheathing (use Polyiso if you live where it's hot; otherwise EPS) over the outside of the studs to act as thermal break, with seams scrupulously taped with high-quality tape to constitute a water-resistive barrier layer
1x3 or 1/2" plywood strips fastened through the foam and into the studs to act as vertical furring strips
siding fastened to the furring strips

This gives you a safe, compact, energy-efficient wall.

Final thought: if you want a weekend camper, that's what you should buy. It will likely cost you far less money than doing all of this yourself.


Can I use metal knockout for additional NM cable?

You have to use something when ever NM cable enters a metal box or enclosure to protect the cable from abrasion.
If you use a clamp for two cables, it must be rated for two cables of the applicable size.
For example the Arlington NM94 is made for a 1/2" trade size knockout and can be used with one or two 14/2 or 12/2 NM cables.


OK, First a "chirper" measures the magnetic force around an ac current carrying conductor, but it does not identify the strength or the amount of power of that conductor. So you may be picking up trace voltages. Since you mention knob and tube also romex, I am assuming that it is an extremely old system and it has been modified probably more than once.  Knob and tube and some older romex systems do not have grounding systems. It also means you may have a switched neutral which was legal many years ago (like 75 years).

I suspect that you are getting a certain amount of feedback power through the neutral from circuit 8 and circuit 18.
When you add the comment that ceiling lights are constantly burning out it may be confirming that you are experiencing "floating" power and the variations of the power is not good for the life of any lights or equipment. For example, if your lights are dimming in the kitchen when you turn on a hair dryer in another room, that would also indicate a "floating neutral". The only other reason you would be burning out lights is that you're buying cheap lights.
If you are not experienced in electrical power I would suggest professional help. If you want to try and labor through it USE EXTREME CAUTION.

The first thing they teach in electrical apprenticeship training is to always treat everything as if it were hot unless you are absolutely sure it is dead. In your case turn off the entire panel.


Upstream or downstream breakers for sub panel

Often the stab rating of the circuit breaker mounting spaces are limited to less than the full rating of the busing, making it not possible to draw a single 200A circuit on the load side of the main breaker. I have seen combo meter panels that the meter feeds what is normal viewed as the load side of the main breaker and the stab connections feed the busing. Those panels usually have provisions for lugs at the top and bottom of the busing that could feed a transfer switch.

The conductors feeding both panels on the load side of the switch would need to be sized at 200A unless the length of wire satisfied one of the tap rules. An alternative might be to change the panel closest to the switch to a 200A, feed it with 200A wire and take a 100A load off it to feed the remaining 100A panel.


240V power plug, only getting 120v, and 97v?

You have one open hot leg. You are getting the 97 volts because you are checking from a live hot to one with a load on it and you are reading through the load, which is why you are getting a weird reading.


Most of them are 89 degree bends (not 90 degrees) so they have about 1 degree of slope which is all that is needed.
most diagrams exaggerate the slope so that the reader can see it, and so that the picture will fit on the page.


cleaning mold with bleach - residue from previous cleaning

Mixing bleach with acid (even vinegar) will release chlorine gas, which is poisonous (and you will know because it hurts like death to breath chlorine). Mixing a cup of vinegar (5% acetic acid) with a cup of houshold bleach (5% sodium hypochlorite) will not react violently, but it will still release enough chlorine gas that you will know it's true. The real danger is in the amounts and/or concentrations mixed. A bucketful of bleach and vinegar could be deadly. Or concentrated bleach and acetic acid (or other acid) could react much more quickly. Muriatic acid and bleach will react violently.

If you have wiped the vinegar off of the wall, it will be fine. If you are unreasonably serious about not mixing bleach and vinegar, use your nose. Vinegar has a pungent odor. If the odor of vinegar has dissipated (probably within hours), there should not be any significant amount of acid left. Alternatively, if you are industrious and still uncertain you could wipe the walls with a 5% baking soda solution to neutralize the vinegar/acid.

I could cite my own education and experience, but here is a link to a page written by some other person: Uses for Bleach and Vinegar


Depending on your jurisdiction and building permit, you may be obliged to install an outlet.

If you're legally permitted to not have one, then just cap the wires in a closed approved junction box that is 'accessible' within the cabinet. (I put accessible in quotes because it doesn't have to be really easy to get to... just don't put it somewhere -- like underneath the toekick -- that requires actual disassembly for access.)

Do the future you a favor and don't cut the wire back.


Is a divided wireway or auxiliary gutter considered one wireway/gutter or two for derate purposes?

CMP-8 says it's all one wireway, or at least they rejected changing the Code to say otherwise

Well, making it so the 30 conductor limit applies to each compartment of a partitioned wireway was proposed as a Code change for the 2014 cycle and roundly rejected by CMP-8, so I think that's a definitive "one wireway" answer to my question, or at least the closest I'll get so far (quoting modulo markdown limitations from this NFPA doc):

  8-134 Log #798 NEC-P08

  Final Action: Reject

  (376.22)

  Submitter: Paul E. Guidry, Fluor Enterprises, Inc. / Rep. Associated Builders and Contractors

  Recommendation: This is an updated proposal to one previously sent. Part of the text was left out. Please reject the previous proposal.

  Add new text to read:

  376.22 Number of Conductors and Ampacity. The number of conductors and their ampacity shall comply with
  376.22(A) and (B).

  (A) Cross-Sectional Areas of Wireway. The sum of the cross-sectional areas of all contained conductors at any cross
  section of a wireway shall not exceed 20 percent of the interior cross-sectional area of the wireway.

  (B) Adjustment Factors. The adjustment factors in 310.15(B)(3)(a) shall be applied only where the number of
  current-carrying conductors, including neutral conductors classified as current-carrying under the provisions of
  310.15(B)(5), exceeds 30. Conductors for signaling circuits or controller conductors between a motor and its starter and
  used only for starting duty shall not be considered as current-carrying conductors.

  For the purposes of this Section, wireways with metallic dividers installed constitutes separate wireways.

  Substantiation: Wireways are often being used with dividers that are a listed part of the equipment. Often these divided
  sections contain up to 30 current-carrying conductors in each divided section. Where dividers are used, this proposal
  would allow each divided section of the wireway to be counted as individual wireways and allow up to 30
  current-carrying conductors and 20% fill without derating of ampacities.

  Panel Meeting Action: Reject

  Panel Statement: CMP-8 acknowledges that the use of internal barriers in wireway is not prohibited. The submitter
  has not provided adequate technical substantiation to permit increasing the number of conductors in a divided metal
  wireway above 30 without applying the provisions of Section 310.15(B)(5).


IMO, and IME, bathroom fans should always be vented outside. Bathrooms are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) producer or water vapor in your home. When water vapor is trapped is can cause things like mold, mildew, damage to furniture, added difficulty in conditioning the air, and many more.

Just because a bathroom vent is not currently vented to the outside, does not mean it can't ever be. The house I'm currently living in had no ceiling exhaust fan or light (just a vanity light).

In this situation I was able to wire in and install a new unit, with manufacturer recommended vent line and exhaust this line through the closest soffit.

Depending on the layout and positioning of your bathroom, you could run through above joist spaces until you reach a soffit, run into the attic and then out a vent, or simply through the nearest exterior wall. Many times the shortest route is the simplest.

If this is something you aren't comfortable with, I highly suggest finding someone who can like a general contractor, trusted handiman, etc.

Keeping excess moisture out of your home will pay large dividends in the problems you're preventing.


How are homes typically wired for cable service distribution and what can I do so that each of my home's outlets works?

Cable service is generally provided to the house using RG-6 or RG-7 coaxial cable, and is distributed around the house using the same type cable. Some older installations used RG-58 or 59 (not as good, but may still work). This is the cable that should be leading to each of the cable outlets in your house.

The service from the initial cable coming into the house is divided by splitters.

Note that there is an in and out side to the splitters.

There are multiple tap splitters of you nee more than two lines. However, signal begins to drop as you split more lines, either through a multitap splitter or multiple splitters. At some point, the signal may drop to an unacceptable level (picture breakup or total loss). If you are going to need multple lines, you may need an amplifier/signal booster.

It is likely that the cables are still in the walls from the cable outlets in your house. You need to find out where they go (probably either basement or attic) and see where they are disconnected.  The splitters and the connecting cable runs may have been removed.

You can run new lines using cables from home centers or electronic stores. They come with and without connectors. If you need to cut a line or use a line without connectors, there are a number of ways to attach the connectors using either crimp connectors and a crimping tool (good connection, inexpensive and not hard to master)

or screw on connectors (less reliable).

You can try to reconnect the existing lines using as few splitters as you can get away with and see if the signals are acceptable. If not, get an amplifier/signal booster and place near the inlet line. It does require A/C power but it uses a simple plug in transformer.

NOTE: In some locales, the cable company assumes responsibility for all wiring and may be willing to reconnect the outlets for no charge or a limited amount.  Additionally, they sometimes assume responsibilty for signal strength and they will provide a signal booster if needed. In other jurisdicitons (or other companies), all interior wiring is the responsibility of the home owner.

Also, all of the above assumes that you have a copper feed, not a fiberoptic feed. If you have the latter, this is a much different system, and wiring is generally only handled by professional installers from the cable provider.


How to wire lighting fixture with two sets of hot, neutral, and ground?

You can’t get multiple wires under screws like that securely. Make pigtails (separate pieces of wire about six inches long should do), wirenut them to the wires going in/out of the box, and put the free ends of the pigtails on the screws.


Sockets that can be used for both grounded and non-grounded 6A plugs are quite common in India. Other variants allow using grounded 6A and 16A plugs.
Some examples are shown on the Digital Museum of Plugs and Sockets page http://fam-oud.nl/~plugsocket/OldBritish1.html (see images 8-13).

It seems likely that the images (a) and (b) show a socket that is designed for grounded (3-pin) and non-grounded (2-pin) 6 Amp / 240 Volt plugs. The lower two slots of the socket are Neutral (left) and Live/Hot (right). Together with the center top slot for grounding, they are meant for a 3-pin plug. The top two slots, at left and right of the larger ground slot are meant for a 2-pin plug.

The spacing of the L and N-pin of a a grounded 6A plug is 18.5 mm, whereas the spacing of the two pins of a non-grounded 6A plug is 16.6 mm. Unfortunately the photo is too vague to see whether the spacing of the top two slots is about 2 mm smaller than the spacing of the lower two slots.

The tolerances of Indian plugs and sockets are often quite large. It is often not too difficult to insert a 2-pin plug in the L and N slots meant for a 3-pin plug, which means that you can use both the top two slots (correctly) and the lower two. Using the lower two for a 2-pin plug is not really safe, because it is probably not possible to insert the plug completely. Note that in both cases the plug is inserted in a horizontal position.

The possibility two insert a plug in vertical position is remarkable. To my opinion it is a design fault. Usually the two slots at the left side are both connected to neutral and both slots at right to live/hot*. Insertion of a plug in vertical position is useless since both pins are connected to the same wire, either neutral or live. In both cases there is no potential difference.

Note that a connection to two hot poles may look comparable to split phase wiring which is commonly used in the U.S., but in the Indian situation the two live poles are identical = in phase, rather out of phase for split phase wiring.

Theoretically the socket could have separate wire connections for the top and bottom L- and N-slots. Then crisscross wiring (L top left , N top right) would work, assuming that the spacing between top and bottom slots is 16.6 mm.


How to wire two switches to control bathroom fan/light combo (only two 12/2 cables in receptacle)?

Each of these cables is a switch loop. In theory, the taped white (red or blue) is the always-hot wire and the black wire is the switched-hot. However, it could be the reverse. There are two easy ways to tell:

Open up the fan and light and see which wire is connected to another black (= always hot) and which is connected to the fan or light (= switched hot)
With all the wires carefully separated, turn the breaker back on and see which wires show hot with a non-contact tester.

Once you know which wires are always hot and which wires are switched hot:

For a standard "both screws are the same, nothing fancy" light switch, connect one insulated wire to one screw, the other insulated wire to the other screw, bare ground to the green screw and done.
For the timer:

Connect (wire nut) bare ground to green
Connect (wire nut) always-hot wire to black
Connect (wire nut) switched-hot wire to red


Odd behaviour when adding two smart dimmers in one box

I'd junk those smart-dimmers and get ones that are less...cheesy
The first problem you have to address is that you have Cheesy smart dimmers that never went through the gauntlet of testing required by CSA/UL/... and thus can't be reasonably guaranteed to not do untoward things to you, like try to light your house on fire.  Since your wiring configuration looks utterly conventional here, I'd try with a better (i.e. not so Cheesy) set of smart dimmers and see if you're still getting the misbehavior described.


What is electrical code for number of wires in a breaker?

Double Taps
With most devices you can only have one wire per screw terminal, however, some breakers do support multiple wires under terminals. If the device allows multiple taps, it must be listed for the purpose.

NEC 2008
110.14 Electrical Connections.
(A) Terminals. Connection of conductors to terminal parts shall ensure a thoroughly good connection without damaging the conductors
and shall be made by means of pressure connectors (including set-screw
type), solder lugs, or splices to flexible leads. Connection by means
of wire-binding screws or studs and nuts that have upturned lugs or
the equivalent shall be permitted for 10 AWG or smaller conductors.
Terminals for more than one conductor and terminals used to connect
aluminum shall be so identified.

Taps, Splices, and Feed Throughs
Feed throughs, taps, and splices are allowed, but only if they do not over fill the enclosure.

NEC 2008
312.8 Enclosures for Switches or Overcurrent Devices. Enclosures for switches or overcurrent devices shall not be used as junction
boxes, auxiliary gutters, or raceways for conductors feeding through
or tapping off to other switches or overcurrent devices, unless
adequate space for this purpose is provided. The conductors shall not fill the wiring space at any cross section to more than 40 percent of the cross-sectional area of the space, and the conductors, splices, and taps shall not fill the wiring space at any cross section to more than 75 percent of the cross-sectional area of that space.

Tandem Breakers
If you have no room for a new breaker in the panel, consider a Tandem Breaker.  You'll have to check whether or not your panel supports them, but in some cases a tandem breaker can save you from having to install a new panel or a sub-panel.
Code Changes
In the 2008 version of the National Electrical Code (NEC), section 210.12 has been updated to require Arc-Fault Circuit-Interrupter (AFCI) protection in many areas of the home.

NEC 2008
210.12 Arc-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection.
(B) Dwelling Units. All 120-volt, single phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets installed in dwelling unit family
rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms,
sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, or similar rooms or
areas shall be protected by a listed arc-fault circuit interrupter,
combination-type, installed to provide protection of the branch
circuit.

Depending on the changes you're making to the wiring, the inspector may require you to update the breaker for this or all branch circuits feeding these areas. This decision will be completely up to the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), since it's a judgment call on whether or not you're making a large enough change to warrant the extra work.


I don’t see any evidence of repair so it may warrant a little more investigation.
In the Pacific Northwest we have multiple possibilities that could cause this;
Carpenter ants.
Termites.
Wood rot.
I like to use metal inside corners. Sand the texture mud the corner in and retexture.
Since this looks new and things may still moving I would put a scale or ruler up there and take a clear photo. Wait a 6 months and re measure. If no change repair.
If there is a change .
Be on the lookout around the home for carpenter ants and termites.
This new of construction should not have issues yet but look for water running down walls (plugged gutters) things that could start wood rotting)
If you haven’t noticed any of our big 3 and the crack has not gotten worse now would be the time to repair.
It could have just been “New house settling” since the structure is not very old and we have had some high winds lately.


Clean all the crud out of the box.  Remove the current switches.  Cut the 'strip length' to just at a half inch.  Pull the ground package out to be workable.  Get two lengths of #14 bare solid about 8" long.  Wire nut them into the existing ground package. Connect new ground wires to new switches on ground screws.  Plug in circuit wires.  Using care to dress wires to separate bare wires from live surfaces, install switches and plate.


What could cause my house to smell musty after coming back from vacation?

I am guessing you closed all your windows, shut the doors, and made sure the AC was off or set really high.

So then the humidity of the house goes sky high, mold spores multiply, and all of the major smells in your house that were hidden are multiplied.  I go on a couple of long vacations a year and my house always smells when I get back if it is warm.  Lots of times it leads me to clean something that maybe I didn't notice (steam clean the couch) and sometimes it is me being stupid before I left (leaving dirty clothes out, wet towel on the carpet, left fruit out, half full trash can).  The mixture of no air movement, more moisture, and higher temperatures is an incubator for smell.  And it takes very little mold growth to get that "old people" smell in your house.  Open up all your windows, let the AC chill the place down, and repeat.  Takes a couple days to go back.


Fluorescent lights that turn on very slowly

Since you've got an older house, your fluorescents probably have starters. Fixtures that take a long time to turn on may have a bad starter. I'd look into replacing the starter if you can find a matching one - it should be a relatively cheap alternative to replacing the entire fixture.


Modifying electric water heater for easy temperature control

Making it easy to adjust is defeating the purpose of the cover. But since this is what you want, here is a way to do is make it easier to adjust without removing the cover.

Replace the adjustment screw or bolt with one long enough to stick out of the cover approximately 1/2 in.  The screw head type could be hex, flat blade or Phillip head.  A hex nut could be used on the lower thread to clamp down the adjustment knob with the upper part extending out past the cover.
Where the screw would protrude through the cover, drill out a 1/2" hole in the cover so the screw can protrude through.

That said, It is strange that you are trying to set an exact/precise temperature.  I would just mark the two points that you want to set for winter and summer.  The installed thermostat is not designed for setting to a precise temperature.