Installing Baseboard Moulding with Brad Nailer

If you are renovating the whole house, or at least a good portion of it, I would purchase a nail gun over renting it or borrowing it. Owning it lets you use it when you need it, not like going to get a rental and returning it or being responsible for somebody elses' property. Get the compressor too, it does more than power nailers, it fills tires, blows dust off things big time, inflates balls for sports, etc.

Size your nails so it goes into the framing about 1". More is overkill, but a bit more works if that is the size of nails you have on hand. No finish nail needs to go in the framing more than 1 1/2" In that depth, the possibility of hitting wires or pipes grow. Kick plates that protect pipes and wires per the building code are only needed on wires and pipes closer than 1 1/4" from the face of the stud. That's why 1" is the sweet spot, good holding power and less chance to hit stuff in the wall. Using a nail that is too short will increase the chance of the trim coming loose.

Add up all the thicknesses of the material you are going through. In the case of a 1X6 baseboard and 1/2" sheetrock that is 1 1/4" of material, in my opinion a 2" (6D) nail is too short, it will need 8D nails (2 1/2" for the holding power required. With that size of nail, you will need a 15 or 16 gauge finish nailer. To set nails in the trim to the edge of a door jamb, an 18 gauge finish nailer will work there. With the larger nails around the edges holding the trim to the drywall you can go with a slightly smaller nail to hold the trim to the door or window jamb. 1 1/2" long is what I use there. You could use 2" but the chance of blowing out through the face of the jamb is high.

Big box stores usually have a combo kit, a compressor with 2 nail guns, a good deal, in my opinion.


Screwed bolt past thread. Now it is stuck. How to remove it?

By getting the bolt positioned in the manner shows in the image, you have effectively filled a hole that is just a bit too tight for easy removal. This means that you should be able to tap with a hammer or mallet the bolt until the thread engages the bar threads. Caution should be exercised to not cause deformation of the bolt thread or bar thread as they near engagement. Consider also to rotate the bolt as you tap downward to assist with the gentle thread coupling.


"4O light" or "4/O light" appears to be jargon for a light fixture that can be mounted in a 4/O octagonal junction box.


Is corrosion on top to an otherwise working electric water heater dangerous?

No matter what, it won't explode. Maybe a little bit of splat. But no boom. Ok, really, more of a squishing sound, the sound of your feet splashing through the puddle created when it fails. :)

There may well be an anode, connected to the input line. Or at least there was one, probably corroded away now.

Assuming a little water on the floor won't hurt anything, I would buy an inexpensive alarm that senses the presence of water on the floor. Its just a pair of contacts that set off a battery powered alarm when water bridges the gap. When it goes off, buy a new heater.

If some water in that area will be a problem, then the heater should be in a low pan that will catch a leak. If not, then consider a preemptive replacement, as this heater probably has only a few more years in it anyway.


Are you having a home inspector do the inspection? if so make sure they are certified. Look for any signs of moisture stains, settling cracks (its common for there to be minor cracks depending on your location and materials used. Drywall at vaulted ceilings expand and contract naturally to temperature, but at tape lines) Most condo's and townhomes have an association that are typically responsible for the concrete, exterior and roof.  Just make sure you know what you are responsible for. Test all plumbing fixtures, let the water run for a while to expose any leaks.  Test outlets with an outlet tester.  IF you have any concerns make sure you kick them back to the seller for further disclosure. It's always smart to document. The inspector will probably not talk a whole lot about things that are cosmetic. Make sure they check all appliances, HVAC system and electrical panel. Attic will tell you of any moisture concerns and  inform you on the amount of insulation.


The tile, if installed correctly will not come off the backer board cleanly, it will leave behind thinset or rip up chunks of backer board when you demo it. Even if it was relatively easy, keeping the flatness spec of 1/8" within 10' and 1/16" within 6' will be hard to meet with reused board. Its best to get back down to the subfloor to inspect anyways and install new clean board or use an uncoupling membrane like Schluter Ditra in the future.


Bonding vs grounding a main and sub panel

Yes bonding in sub panel should be removed irrespective of the having / not having breaker, you can only bond in main panel(service entry)  and i assume you  run 4 wire (2 line , 1 ground and 1 neutral) from main panel to your sub panel. Bonding in subpanel  is an electrical hazard can  possibly  make  your ground  and  bonded metal enclosure  hot conductor.


Exterior grading where brick meets stone foundation

Houses that I am familiar with have vents ( no mortar) in the bottom course of brick , so the soil must be below the brick . I like to keep the soil more than 2 inches below the brick to look for termite or ant tunnels up to the vents. Even if you don't have vents I would not want the soil over the brick keeping the mortar damp.


Can I split a shared neutral between two GFCI breakers?

Can't do that.
You need a 15A 240V GFCI breaker (takes two spaces, one handle, two hots, one neutral) to pull that off.
A shared neutral is only feasible if the GFCI can look at both hots and the neutral to detect differences. Two separate 120V GFCIs cannot do that. One 240V unit can.


How can I repair the wood veneer on a damaged TV console?

You can clean out the debris, carefully salvaging the surface pieces, use filler to adhere the remnants back in position and to make it level where there are missing pieces.  If it is too motley a collection of fragments, just clean out the debris and patch the hole with filler.

Then if you are REALLY artistic, you could carve the woodgrain pattern in any visible filler to match, and paint it to match.  But that will still be noticeable because the texture will be different and you will never get an exact color match.

The alternative would be to patch the hole, then refinish the top, either with paint to make the top uniform (may not hold up to wear) or something like high pressure laminate.

Another option: there are craftsmen who specialize in those kinds of repairs.  They work for the insurance companies or stores and fix damage that happens to furniture when it is delivered or when you move.  That might be expensive.

You might be able to buy a new top from the manufacturer.  That kind of furniture is usually assembled without glue, so you should be able to remove the old top and reassemble it with the new one.

If you can live with the dent (aren't too bothered by the appearance or can just cover it with one of the things you would put on top), the simple solution is just to stabilize it so it doesn't get worse.  Find a marker of a close color and color the exposed material (hard to tell whether it's wood or MDF).  Then use some glue that dries crystal clear (like the clear glue from Weldbond).  Put a little on a cotton swab and cover the dented area.  It will end up glossier than the rest of the top, but it will keep the broken pieces from disintegrating and rough edges from being chipped.


The best way to fix a deteriorating foundation?

That corner looks like it was screwed up from the start with the way that bottom corner brick was laid. I would be drilling a number of holes in that bottom brick's mortar and removing it. Scrape away all that patch stuff from the slab.Then hammer away at that corner to break away any weak concrete. Then I'd get some 2x4's or 2x6's and re-frame that corner level with the existing slab and support the framing with a a few stakes/rebar. Drill and screw in a few Tapcons to act as mesh/rebar. Mix up some real concrete and re pour that corner. After it hardens, get some mortar and install that last brick correctly. Fill in any other voids in the brick mortar. This is a bit more work that you were probably hoping for but this is what I've done up North where they have harsh winters and it holds up real good.


Why are furnace/central AC blowers so inefficient?

Okay, so I think I figured out the reason, and I learned a lot about HVAC in the process.

The answer is that a ceiling fan is moving air at basically zero "static pressure." Static pressure in an HVAC context means the amount of resistance that the air has to moving. In a free environment, that's zero, or close to it, but in a tightly restricted system of ductwork, it will be much higher. A ceiling fan is rated at such-and-such CFMs... but at zero static pressure. They don't tell you this because it's obvious; you're probably not mounting your ceiling fan in the opening of a four-foot-diameter cylindrical duct. If you found a curve of CFM versus static pressure for any given fan, it would probably drop off steeply. But of course there would be no reason to because the whole point of a ceiling fan is not to push  air through a duct, but to circulate it in an open room, so the motor is optimized for that use case.

This is compounded by the fact that most ductwork is terribly done, so furnace manufacturers err on the side of oversizing the blower to make sure the unit isn't starved of air (causing it to operate poorly or even die early), or incapable of supplying the living environment with the required heat. Either of these things would make people blame the furnace and make the furnace company look bad.

So the short answer is that you have to use a powerful blower in an HVAC system because ducts suck. A ductless unit/system could probably get away with a much less powerful blower because it wouldn't have to work nearly so hard.


You cannot use any wire smaller than #3 CU 75°C wire feed a 100A subpanel.
You don't indicate wire type you are using for the 50A feed to the RV receptacle, UF cable would require #6 CU, using conduit and THWN would only require #8.
If you wan't to use one leg of the 240v branch circuit to the RV to feed a 120v receptacle you will need to provide overcurrent protection suitable for the receptacle. You can't just put a 15 or 20A receptacle on a 50A breaker.  For the short distance you describe a separate #12 feed might be easier. Easiest would be to buy an RV pedestal already has the breakers and receptacles in place https://amzn.to/3oP1zRQ .


How can I install a J-Trap for a bathroom sink with limited space?

Seems to me that the issue is the pipe enters the wall so low that the J-trap won't reach (and would hit the shelf)?  Looks like you are going to need to get two elbows, or a 180 and bring the wall fitting up higher to meet your J:

It will snake around a lot, but I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that.
BTW, since it's visible, I'd suggest getting chrome instead of the plastic.

EDIT: As mentioned in the comments below, the solution above is pretty easy, but will result in a more clog-prone drain since the water won't drain as fast, and there are more turns to clog up (and it will not snake easily).  The more difficult solution is to open the wall (hope the plumbing is plastic and not iron) and move the sanitary tee higher, and then patch the wall back up.


How can I increase the friction on the surface of PVC pipe?

Most bike clamps come with rubber « inserts » for exactly that reason - inner tube cut to fit will work, but consider roughening the pipe surface with glass paper.


How to encapsulate asbestos around water heater exhaust pipe and cinderblock wall?

The only way to tell if it is asbestos is to have it tested. Asbestos is added to all sorts of products to make them more heat resistant. If it is really old it probably isn’t asbestos though. To encapsulate it just paint it. Either house paint or some sort of runny caulking. That will encapsulate the fibers so you will really need to pick at it to have any fibers fly around. If it is a high traffic area you could then cover it with sheet metal.


Is it possible to collect rain water from a roof for drinking use?

It turns out people have consumed rainwater for millions of years. So there's some precedent.

This is very well covered online, so grab a search engine and get reading. Here's a summary of concerns.

In the US, it may be illegal (look up "water rights") but for individual home use, that is usually ignored.

You'll get a lot of water from your roof really fast. It's pretty amazing.

The biggest problem is the dirt on your roof. The rainwater coming down is great, but once it hits your roof, it's dirty. You can redirect the first bit of rain, and then collect once the roof is clean(ish).

The roof material matters. Some roofs will leach small amounts of toxins in to the water that you probably don't want to drink. Metal is probably the best choice for a roofing material.

For most homes, only a small portion of the water goes to drinking. Much of it goes to laundry and flushing toilets and irrigation. These systems don't mind slightly dirty water (including greywater). Use your collected rainwater there first. You can haul it by bucket or plumb something special.

A problem specific to collecting rainwater for irrigation is that it always comes at the wrong time. You would have to save it from the wet season to use in the dry season, which implies a huge cistern. Being clever helps. For example, a cistern can go under a deck.

Any water storage should be protected against mosquitoes. You can put fine mesh screens over openings, or (my favorite) put goldfish in the tanks to eat the larvae.

Cleaning dirty water to be drinkable is harder. If you build a complex filtration system, you'll probably negate all the financial and ecological benefits of saving that small amount of water you were drinking. My favorite approach is the slow sand filter - it's simple, cheap, low energy, but it takes a lot of work. read here: http://www.homestead.org/TedPraast/SandFilter/Filter.htm


water pump stops drawing water in few hours everyday

You may have leaves or water creatures plugging the intake and the pump is overheating and shutting down. My farm used to have a 30 hp pump as I have water rights and every week or two I would have go pull the foot (a check valve in the water with a screen around it) and scrape off leaves and salamanders that got stuck. I now run a smaller pump with the same foot valve and screen and it doesn’t draw hard enough to plug up like it did with the big pump. So I would check for restrictions as that may be overheating the pump and a thermal safety may be protecting the motor.


Two separate gauge wired switch in one double gang box

They can be in the same box but the breaker that feeds the switch and light with the 14/2 has to be a 15 Amp breaker. No exceptions. you might want to leave a note in the panel as to why the 12/2 is breakered at 15 AMPS. If that circuit needs to be 20 amps, you'll have to replace the 14/2 with 12/2.


Do I have to provide better support when hanging a range hood from soffit framing?

Every big box has said hood you need.  Do they have one that is fancy or that you will like in the depth.  Who knows?

As you can hang your "vent" from anywhere that is secure.  Note that whether you have to vent out is up to local code.  Most don't require it, meaning if they don't you want to think about not having anything - what you are getting is less effective than a ceiling.  You might also want to think about just installing a ceiling vent/fan (bathroom vent variety).


I would use two or three "max brackets" with a simple wooden structure attached. Select the largest size that fits the depth you need (factor in the wood face plate thickness). I like black as they aren't so conspicuous.

Mount these with three 5/16" x 2-1/2" lag screws each, into framing. Then screw 2x4 rails to each, on edge, and a 2x8 rail across the front, using the same screws. Pilot with a 3/16" bit. Like so (side view):
                               __
                              |  |
 ____________________________ |  |
|        2x4 top rail        ||  | <-- 2x8 (or 3/4" plywood) face plate
|__________________________  ||  |
|                    *        |  |
|                *            |__|
|            *
|        *
|    *
|*
|

Use lag screws into the horizontal rails and to attach the front plate also. Those in the front plate should be countersunk just below flush so they don't interfere with the TV mount.
If your TV mount point is low on the unit (like with my LG glass model), Use 3/4" plywood instead of the 2x8 and extend it downward 12-16". This will allow you to move the brackets up and out of sight. You might also upgrade the top rails to 2x6 to reduce the torque of the front plate on their ends. If you see too much flex, run diagonal braces up to the sides of the top rails:
 ____________________________  _
|                  \    \    || |
|____________________\    \__|| |
|                    * \    \ | |
|                *       \    | |
|            *             \  | |
|        *                   \| |
|    *                        | |
|*                            |_|
|


When drywalling, do the pros cover electrical boxes, or work around them?

I am a general contractor and I'm having a house redone right now after the electrician and plumber roughed in. I tape off the plumbing and stuff newspaper in the electric boxes and light fixture boxes. When the mudding is done and they do the finish, I'll go around and remove the newspaper and clean up the boxes.

This takes about an hour total time and sparkey and plumber will love you for it. If it's a time and material job, you will save a couple of hours on both subs, so it's a big payback.


It sounds like you've wired the second sconce directly up to the first sconce and capped off the power source.  They should all be wired in parallel: blacks and whites capped together by color grounds tied off together as well.  Check out this great link on wall-mounted-lighting.  The picture is the most relevant.  Note that the wires of the same color are all connected.

In the future, go straight for the multi-meter when the wiring doesn't make sense, test it carefully with the switch ON and the breaker closed.  Mark the wires, draw a diagram, and fix it on paper (verifying that you haven't created a short), then implement it in the fixture.  As always, be careful and good luck.


How to hide AC lines up against brick siding

Give the ivy a few more weeks, and some compost to help it along.

Wrap the bundle in a mesh to give the ivy more purchase. or put a short section of trellis in front of the bundle/wall for it to grab onto. Disappearing bundle, like magic.

Shrubs if you feel you must, but given the ivy is already working the area, let it work.


Why didn't homeowners get electrocuted when appliances were grounded through the neutral?

The US distribution system uses a neutral conductor which is grounded at the service entrance of each house/building. The neutral conductor and the ground conductor are physically and electrically bonded at the main service entrance, and tied to actual earth ground via rods and/or metallic water pipes as well.

The devices which were commonly "grounded via neutral" were exclusively 240V primary loads. In the US system those loads are fed by two hot conductors, each 120V away (in opposing directions) from ground/neutral. No current flows in the neutral conductor from one of these loads (generally, they are not even connected to it.)  If there was any 120V power used in these items, it was a minor load such as a clock motor. The neutral conductor, however, was full-sized for rated load of the appliance - 30A for a typical dryer, 50 A for a typical stove. So any 120V load that would actually cause current to flow in the neutral conductor would cause a small current to flow in a large wire that was grounded at the far end. As such, no appreciable voltage would ever arise on the neutral conductor.

The move to a 4-wire system with separate ground conductor is, notably, not one where the powers that be decreed that all your old devices needed to be ripped out and replaced since they were scary and hazardous to own; new devices need to meet the new standard. How much "real improvement in safety" there may be is, frankly, debatable; but that debate is somewhat pointless (4-wire is a done deal) and probably also off-topic.

In general, even a current-carrying neutral on a fully-loaded 120V circuit should not have sufficient voltage above ground to cause a shock. Correctly sized wires should limit the total voltage drop in the wiring to 3%, or 3.6 volts, 1/2 of which will lower the hot voltage and 1/2 of which (1.8 volts) will appear as a difference between neutral and ground.


tracking down sewer gas smell in bedroom

Is the toilet next to the bedroom or by the exterior wall under the window? If it is by the bedroom you may be able to remove the base board in the bedroom with minimal damage and cost to get access in the wall directly behind the  toilet.  I am going to guess that the vent pipe is cracked in-side the wall and allowing vapors to creep in.

After making a small hole in the wall smell for stronger odor if so you are in the right area. You do not smell the sewer vapor in the whirlpool cavity because it is probably sealed off from the toilet vent. Repairing the leak will be another issue. One step at a time. Good luck--hope this helps. If toilet is by outside wall then I would smoke the pipes.


"Ampacity Dwelling" doesn't apply to your situation
The "Ampacity Dwelling" figure you see is based on the 83% "uprate" that the NEC permits on 100-400A feeders or services that feed entire dwelling units.  This is set out in NEC 310.15(B)(7); some sources provide a table instead of the rule, as this information has historically been conveyed in the NEC in tabular form, although the application conditions have not changed.  As a result of that "entire dwelling unit" criterion, though, that number is useless when putting in a subpanel within a house as you are doing here.
150A refers to 240V, yes, but adding up the breaker ratings isn't what you do here
You are correct in so far as the 150A figure you're considering for your subpanel refers to a 240V rating.  However, you don't figure the load on a panel by adding up the breaker ratings; instead, you need to do a load calculation using rules found in Article 220 of the NEC to figure out how much load you're putting on said panel.  This requires the square footage of the area served, which is used to compute general receptacle and lighting loads, while not-so-generic loads such as kitchen/laundry small appliance circuits and heavy appliances either get their own allowances or are computed from their nameplate ratings. To top this off, generic-ish loads have a load factor applied to them past the first 3000VA of load to account for load diversity (you aren't running everything plugged into the walls in your house at the same time, after all).
Subpanel selection advice: GO BIG OR GO HOME
However, what I said above about load calculations doesn't mean you need to put some itty-bitty subpanel in.  Having more busbar capacity than needed is not a large deal for reasonable values of "more", and more importantly, the rise of AFCIs means you can't rely on "double-stuff"/"duplex"/"tandem" breakers to bail you out of a shortage of breaker spaces.  As a result, given that you don't want to rip anything out and replace it in the future, I'd use a 40- or 42-space, 200 or 225A, main lug panel as a minimum specification for your new panel.  If you can get a 54-space or 60-space panel for a reasonable price, that would be a worthwhile upgrade, even.
Don't Fear the Aluminum (but get a torque wrench to keep the reaper at bay!)
Your "no-aluminum" policy is also not grounded in what we know today about electrical installations; aluminum wire was only ever a problem because AA-1350 "EC grade" pure aluminum wires were landed on steel wiring device (switch, receptacle) terminal screws with inadequate testing to smoke out the connection problems that happened due to thermal expansion, creep, and so on.  However, distribution equipment uses plated-aluminum box-lugs instead, which provided they are correctly torqued, are not prone to such failure modes.  (Burnups observed in the field are generally the result of inadequate torque, not any inherent property of the modern AA-8000 series aluminum alloy wires that are required by the NEC for most customer-side aluminum wiring applications.)
So, I'd go with 250kcmil Al SER cable instead of blowing a bunch of money on copper, and use the money you saved on that to do something more useful, like getting a big panel as I mentioned above, and an inch-pound torque wrench for that matter.  However, even if you insist on the 3/0 copper (either as SER or as individual wires in 1.5" EMT or RMC -- 2" conduit simply doesn't fit in 2x4 stud walls), you'll still want that torque wrench, so that your electrical system doesn't give you the loose lugnut!


how can i make a garage door opener run in one direction only

The problem is that all garage door controllers built since roughly 1990 automatically stop , then reverse direction when you hit the control button.  (Yes, I used to have a 1986-era opener where you could stop the door with the button but not reverse it. )

Since the control logic, aside from limit switches and strain sensors, is almost certainly hardwired into the control electronics board, you are going to have some difficulty.

What I'd do is remove the electric motor entirely from the electronics. Make sure you know what voltage drives the motor, and wire an appropriate supply directly to the motor (with on/off switch, of course).


GFCI Problem with Three-Way Switch WAS Two Switches Neutrals Only, Switched Hots Not Used

From your description it sounds like you have the intelligence to understand this stuff, but are simply lacking certain nuggets of information.  You'll want to read up a lot on "switch loops" and particularly "3-way switches".  It will all make sense pretty quickly, then.

Oh, and one more thing that's a bit harder to uncover:  In America, wire colors do not have firm meanings.  Green always means ground.  White or gray always mean neutral, unless marked or in switch loops and messengers - the goal being to build the necessary circuits with readily available multi-wire cable even though it's the wrong color.  "Hot" lines are everything else - including marked whites and (implied) switch-loop whites, and there is no official standard of how to designate certain types of hot. (however in commercial facilities, consistency is required.)


What could be causing water pressure to build up after changing my under sink filter?

You likely have air trapped somewhere it shouldn't.

Water doesn't compress so when you turn on the tap, the flow is the pressure from the city divided by the resistance of all the pipe between it and the tap.

If you have an air bubble, then when the tap is shut off the air will compress until the pressure matches that from the city.  When you turn the tap on, the flow will be the pressure from the air bubble divided by all the pipe between it and the tap.  Since there is much less pipe in this case, the flow is much higher.

The pressure in the air bubble quickly drops as the water is pushed out until you again match the original case.

This is especially noticeable if you have have a smaller pipe somewhere between the city and the air bubble than between the air bubble and the tap since obviously the flow is limited by the smallest (cross-sectional-area) pipe.

Depending on the size/shape of the filter, it could be air in the filter itself.  See if you can fully fill it with water before connecting it.

If you shut off the house water while making the change, then air could have gotten into any branch going to a higher location than your sink.  If you haven't tried running fresh water in every single location in your home, that may be all it takes to clear out the air.


A lot of outdoor light comes with a stake or something to stabilize it.  I have ran a lot myself and basically I have two rules.  Run all of your wiring through PVC all the way up to fixture.  Second, if it doesn't come with something make your own stake.  If this thing is just a rock with wiring sticking out I would get some thick wiring, glue it on the bottom and stick that in the ground like a fork.  For more traditional type of lighting we put half cages over them but since this was made to look like a rock that would probably kill the aesthetics.


Does one wall socket share power between both ac plugs?

It depends. Outlets are manufactured so that both sockets are powered from a single source - one hot wire and one neutral wire and a ground wire for safety.

On almost all outlets, those sockets are connected by small tabs of brass that feeds the connections from one socket to the other. If you attach the hot and neutral wires to the screws for one socket, these brass tabs carry that connection to the other socket. It works the same way if you use the press in connections which are holes on the back of some outlets (but many pros and DIYers do not favor using press in connections). The brass tabs on the side carry the power from one socket to the other.

You can change this.  If you break off the brass tab on the hot side, the hot wire you attach to one socket does NOT carry over to the other socket within the outlet. This technique is often used to have an outlet with an always live socket (for clocks, etc,) and a switched outlet (for bedside lamps). The outlet is wired with two separate hot leads, one that is always hot and one that goes through a switch.  They could be on the same or different breakers depending on several factors. The neutral side may or may not be connected depending on several factors that are not critical here.

You can also separate the sockets if you wanted a dedicated socket for a high draw device, such as a heater, and run a separate line from the panel. (This generally would require a separate neutral).

In your example, if the sockets are set up conventionally, that is powered from a single line, there is no difference, except plugging into a socket is a marginally safer approach than multiple splitters.  Be sure that the overall load that is likely to be used at one time does not exceed the capacity of the surge protectors or the circuit breaker on the line.


How to change water filter if the only valve is before the boiler?

Personally, I'd just install a ball valve on either side of the filter. With those ball valves in place, replacing the filter would take no more than two simple twists to shut off the water. This SHOULD have been done originally, and it is something not difficult to do. Plumbing is not difficult to do, though I will admit that my first attempt had me fearful. You can learn it quickly enough. If not, then call a plumber. This is a quick fix that will not cost more than an hour of their time under any circumstances.


How do I feed an ethernet cable through a doorway without damaging the door or wall?

You can buy flat Ethernet cables. I'm betting you could get one under the door and still allow it to be closed.

Another option is a powerline Ethernet adapter. This is a set of modules that plug into your power outlets and allow you to transmit network signals over them. You run a patch cable from the router to a module in the same room, then plug in a second module in the room the second PC is in.

Also, if the rooms are next to each other, look around ducts, pipes that might pass through, etc. You might get lucky and find a gap big enough to fish a cable through.

Another option is to install low voltage boxes in the drywall with RJ45 jacks. Wire the jacks together, color to color, and use patch cables from the router to jack one, and from jack two to the second PC. Just leave them when you move and it will look like any other jack in the wall.

And lastly, have you considered WiFi?


How do I operate this valve on the line to my refrigerator?

Sometimes called a cock; it is a 90 degree turn ,open/closed. The handle shows the position of the plug opening ( if it is not failed). When the handle is in line with the copper line ,it is open. When the handle is pointing to the side , it is closed. The picture looks like it is midway between open and closed.


How can I bring low voltage wire through foundation

What I intend to do is pull the wires through the hole and patch it using hydraulic cement.

I will then drill a new hole above grade around the corner out of site. I will feed conduit through, to an IB fitting, then in conduit down underground. The hole/conduit will be sealed with caulk.

I've been waiting for the winter to end before I fix this.


This is the schematic for wiring a pair of 2 way light switches:  That means that two switches control one light and either switch can turn the light on or off.

Typically the L1/L2 wires are both red, or one is black and the other red.  In no case should either of those be white.


Can I run THHN wires through an attic without conduit?

Run it in conduit the whole way.

Attics are susceptible to rodents, especially the cute ones with fluffy tails. They chew on wires. Conduit is not that expensive, and can save a whole world of trouble.

I have seen way too much romex chewed down to the copper to trust romex where rodents could be - which is going to cause me some hassle and expense. But I hate burning buildings, especially if they are mine.


Can I use metal brackets to install a wood fence across an existing concrete driveway?

The only potential problem I can see is wind. I would alternate the pickets on each side of the rail. This allows the wind to pass thru the fence. This design does allow for viewing thru the fence if you are close though. Cars or pedestrians passing by would have a difficult time seeing thru it. I would drill a hole on three sides of your socket. Weld a nut over the hole. This will give you a setup similar to a Christmas tree stand. By inserting  bolts in the nuts it will allow you to adjust the post to plumb it.


Connecting a 4 wire 240+120 volt hot tub to a 3 wire 240 volt circuit

If the hot tub is a 4 wire hookup it apparently needs a neutral for the controls to operate at 120 volts while the heater uses 240 volts.

So the short answer is: You don't hook it up to that wire.

You will need to run another wire if it is in conduit. White in color, the same size as the hot legs.

If it is a cable, then you will need to replace the cable unless the ground wire of the cable is insulated. Is the ground wire insulated?

Good luck!


framing in a header. Can I toenail from each side?

Yes, toenails will work. In some cases toenails hold better than nails run through the stud into the end grain. The nail head is what does a lot of the work, make sure the heads are set into the surface. It also helps the drywall set better, when you trim the door out you will find what I mean if you don't


Framing for gas fireplace insert in existing masonry fireplace

It depends on the gas insert. Many gas inserts are listed for contact so if it is your contractor would be correct.
I don’t think the contractor would try and cheep out on this because a fire would be on his bond if he did not do it properly.


How to repair screws popping through drywall all along corners?

Yes you'll want to scrape off the raised section. You want to probably add new screws 1" above and below any bulges as well since the movement that caused the screw pops has likely torn the paper which gives drywall all its strength. Then refinish with drywall compound before priming and painting


Dual Thermostats: Which wire goes where?

You should baptise 'main' and 'auxiliary' heat, so with a single stat, you can control both systems. Using common, 'CallForHeat' and 'AuxiliaryHeat'  connections.

For single generator units (Ex: only oil heat), if you have only 2 wires, just use connectors R(h) and Common (W), as Rc is used for cooling. If you have forced air, you may have also G cable (fan). Other wires are used for more advanced setups.


What you want here is a coping saw. The main advantage is that you get a hacksaw that has a smaller, more maneuverable blade. It should let you make smaller cuts, like you want.


Why did my RCD trip when I was working on my de-energised lighting ring?

Shorting neutral to earth can be sufficient to trip a RCD, so there's a good chance that's what happened.

It's unlikely that the breaker or switch is on the neutral - though it is good practice to check that there is no live supply to the fitting before working on it, even with the breaker and switch turned off just in case it is fed from a different circuit.


How can I repair the metal cover on my exterior door trim?

A siding contractor could easily make a new piece of bent metal trim for you. But the cost would probably be 150-200 dollars.

Or you can order a custom bent piece in the same style and color from trimbender online. Take careful measurements and enter them under the matching profile. Select the texture and color and your done. They will make the piece and ship it to you. Or you could replace the door trim boards wit a pvc trim board of same size from big box stores.


How can I prevent the receptacle in my yard from tripping the GFCI used to power my sprinklers?

You can use multiple GFCI devices on a single circuit, you just cannot connect them inline with each other.  If your current wiring looks like this, where the yard receptacle is connected to the load side of the GFCI receptacle in the garage.

You can change the way the second receptacle is supplied, by connecting it in parallel with the existing GFCI receptacle. Then you can swap the receptacle in the yard, with a GFCI receptacle.

In this configuration, the GFCI in the garage will only trip if a ground-fault is detected in any device plugged in to it. While the GFCI in the yard will trip if any device plugged in to it, has a ground-fault.

If the GFCI protecting the circuit is a combination GFCI/circuit breaker, you'll have to swap it out for a regular circuit breaker.  Then you'll have to protect individual outlets appropriately, using other GFCI devices.


Old Wiring to New Light Fixture With Switch

Sounds like you have your switch leg ( switch loop ) mixed up.  You need to isolate it.  It is the wire going to the switch.  A simple continuity test will determine which wire is the switch leg. You need a continuity tester and most voltage testers check continuity.  As for the ground, there is none available unless you provide a new circuit to the panel assuming it is grounded correctly.  Since there is no ground you can remove the fixture ground to avoid any potential problems and to save space.

Here is an example drawing I made (Revision 2):


3 way switches with switch load at each end

You have two totally separate 3-way switch complexes, right next to each other. They are totally separate and must be isolated from each other.  Each uses a different wiring diagram.   It will be VERY confusing.

In cases like this, I rely on colored tape. Get a 5-pack of colored tape and get ready to mark some wires.   The first rule of marking wires is mark both ends of the wire at the same time.  The second rule is when you mark a wire, that is its color now.  The third rule is you cannot mark a colored wire white, i.e. A colored wire cannot be made a neutral.

I prefer black for supply hot, red for switched hot to a lamp, yellow for a set of travelers (they are interchangeable), and blue for a second set of travelers.

On each of the 14/2 spurs to the lamp, mark the black wire with RED tape. It is now a red wire.

On your 14/3 cables between switch boxes:

One cable gets wire colors of yellow, yellow and red.  Yes, 2 wires with the same color.
The other gets colors blue, blue, white.

In the right box, pigtail 2 wires off the black supply.  They each go to the common (black screw) on a 3-way.

In the right box, the "traveler" terminals (brass screws) on the 3-ways:  one 3-way gets both yellow wires.  The other 3-way gets both blue wires.

In the left box, one 3-way gets red on its common screw and both yellows on its two traveler screws (brass). That 3-way is done.

Also in the left box, land both blues on the traveler screws of the other 3-way.

Nut all white wires together in both boxes.

Nut both red wires together in the right box.  That box should be done.

In the other box, one red wire still dangles, and one 3-way screw is unused.   Use it for that.

And we're done. Whew!


Installing engineered hardwood to exposed edges

All edges need to be concealed by trim, whether it's baseboard, base shoe, transition strip, or termination molding.

In most of the cases you mentioned, a simple L-molding should do, such as against the stair railing board. Obviously your stairs are getting some new treatment or other, so that could serve as the overlay.

Consider cutting channels under your stone with an appropriate saw so your flooring can slip beneath it. This would be the most professional and aesthetically-pleasing solution.


Added sconces to switched outlet run and made the outlets always hot, what do I do with the last outlet?

You can leave the red wire capped off in the last box as long as you make sure the cap is on secure. You also have the option of wrapping the cap and end of the wire with some electrical tape.

You say the red wire has nothing connected to it but I am going to guess that is not really the case. Somewhere along the circuit you should have connected into this red wire to branch off to your switchable sconce/reading light. The red wire should also be the one connecting into one side of the dimmer switch.


Do you have any friends with a wire welder?  These little welders work well for filling the holes and retapping.

I usually grind the heavy rust then mark well beyond the holes so I can re drill in the same place.
Heat the area around the hole with a torch then using a wire welder Fill the holes with common wire let cool grind flat. Drill and tap then make sure to use brass screws so they don’t have problems.

I have done this probably 2 dozen times with good success 3 or 4 on my own homes one that I know is still good 20 years ago. Several that we still owned for 10 years after and they were fine.

They make kits that you can cut the flange but if there is good metal and you can drop a weld it works better.


How can I restore power after a switch was shorted with scissors?

Only possible answer: Fess up to your parents.  And make sure you're very, very sorry when you do.

They will be angry with you, and rightly so.  You're worried about what damage you've done to the socket and the house wiring, and that certainly is an issue.  That's why fessing up is the right thing to do, because the black marks round the socket suggest your house wiring didn't have proper protection on it, and it all needs checking.  If it isn't checked, this could result in a house fire and your entire family dying.  (This is NOT an exaggeration - house fires are the reason we have electrical safety codes.)  We've already established that you aren't safe around mains electricity, so really don't try flipping breakers or anything.  If the house is still being built, it shouldn't be a major issue to get this sorted.

But more than that, you've been stupid enough to put your life in danger, and you are really lucky to still be alive.  This will freak your parents out.  Brace yourself for some grief, driven by the fact that they're relieved you're still alive.

If you're a good liar, you could make up a cover story.  Like perhaps the plug wasn't in all the way, and you just happened to drop the scissors so they touched the plug prongs.  This isn't possible with UK mains plugs (there's insulation around the plug prongs except at the end where they make contact with the socket) but it may be possible with plugs wherever you live.  Or maybe you saw some dirt in the socket and thought you'd poke it out, but didn't think about the consequences.  (A guy in my class actually did this in the physics lab during a boring lesson.  Took out all the power in the lab for a day while they got the fuses changed, and that socket was permanently disconnected because it was cheaper than replacing it.)


How can I seal around pipe baseboard heating to seal out smoke from downstairs?

There are a few different issues here, including one that I'll bet you didn't think of:

Smoke/Odors

This is your initial concern. Something like Great Stuff Foam will do well for this.

Heat Resistance

Here is where it gets...tricky. I have found various references - the one specific one I found for Great Stuff or similar foam (and it may vary both between brands and between products within a brand) was 240 F. That is high for a normal room. But is not so high if you are talking about a heating system. Around ordinary forced air ductwork that would be fine or around dryer ductwork (I found plenty of references to that). A big question though is What is your heating system?

  It is gas heat...coils under baseboard

Gas heat is typically either forced air or a boiler heating water that is pumped through radiators. So "coils under baseboard" sounds like hot water. Which unless it is actually high pressure steam (not something typically found in apartments but used in some big buildings and industry), it is likely < 212 F and probably OK. But you might want to measure the temperature of these coils when the heat is on to get an idea of what you are really dealing with.

FIRESTOP

This is the biggie, which I doubt you have considered. If cigarette smoke can get from one apartment to another, a REAL FIRE could spread life-threatening smoke and flames just as easily! (OK, yes cigarette smoke will kill you too - but secondhand smoke takes a long time. An actual FIRE will kill in minutes.)

I don't know the exact rules, but there are some pretty strict rules in most areas about fireblock between apartments (so a fire in one apartment doesn't kill everyone else in the building before the fire department can get there), between residential areas and garages and probably other specific areas as well. This typically means that there are no openings between those areas where smoke and fire can easily get through and that all walls, doors and windows between those areas are "fire rated". That doesn't mean fire can never get through - the rules set minimum times for a fire of a particular temperature to be prevented from getting from one room to another, provided the doors, windows, etc. are closed at the time.

So if your landlord doesn't care about you smelling smoke, and doesn't care about wasting energy on heating & cooling (if there are gaps between floors I'll bet there are gaps to the outside as well), I'll bet the landlord would definitely care about being in violation of code requirements regarding firestops.

That being said, you don't need to confront your landlord or call the building department - neither tends to end well. But you may be able to get your landlord to pay for sealing the cracks, holes, etc. if they understand the importance of proper firestop.


Why is uncommon geometric houses expensive to make?

Your specific questions are nearly impossible to answer, partly because a question like "how much does a house cost?" is best answered by "well, how much money do you have?". There's also no such thing as a "regular house" though I'll assume in this context you mean one built using rectangular shapes. :)

It essentially boils down to the fact that anything non-standard is generally more expensive.

Designing a house from scratch requires more of an architect's and structural engineer's time than modifying an existing design, and likewise, changing the location of non-load bearing walls is significantly easier and cheaper than moving load bearing walls (where a structural engineer needs to recalculate if it will work) or moving the locations of things that require lots of mechanical infrastructure like the kitchen, bathrooms or furnace.

You're going even farther, and requiring designs and calculations that wouldn't be needed (or are already largely figured out) for rectangular shapes.

The building permits department and inspectors are also going to have to do more work, because they need to verify everything.

Most construction crews are also quite experienced building rectangular shapes, and not weird non-standard angles. 90° angles are easy (in fact, all carpenters carry multiple tools that can easily and perfectly create/verify 90° angles). A heptagon involves ~128.571° angles, and no doubt there will be additional strange angles throughout the rest of the house. Even if you found a crew that was experienced building with that (probably not), it takes longer (meaning more $$) to measure/verify/etc than it does square corners. With the crew inexperience comes greater uncertainty and potential for problems, so the cost goes up for that, too.


What's the true longevity of exposed fastener metal roofs?

I work for a metal roofing company, and this is a big area of concern for a lot of homeowners.

Here's what I can say: based on experience and facts.

8-10 years ago, the fasteners on exposed metal roofing were terrible. They failed CONSISTENTLY. There were very few competing fastener companies and rubber washers cracked and leaked like crazy. And when your next best option is a concealed fasten standing seam at twice the price, metal roofing was unpopular. At the time, metal roofing only represented about 2% of the residential market.

Fastforward to present day. There are several large fastener companies and there is a ton of competition for the best performing screw. Our company uses screws with a neoprene washer (already light years better than traditional rubber) that is independent from the screw head allowing overcorrection during install. They also have a slightly larger and slightly domed metal washer stacked on top which creates an umbrella for the neoprene that guards it against the UV rays that cause cracking. We are seeing screws that at this point can live roughly 50 years if not longer without failed washers. Some companies are now even offering screws with oversized heads and washers with military grade strength that are guaranteed for life, even against backing out! This year, in the Southeast, metal roofing saw a rise in popularity to 14% of the residential market, and the majority of it is an exposed fasten system. 2% to 14% in 8 years and we wouldn't have that kind of growth if the roof systems were failing consistenly.

Of course, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Buy from a reputable company that uses good screws and make sure that your installer is experienced with metal.


How do I fix a door frame that my dog chewed?

You can simply replace the molding. This profile is an inexpensive ranch casing, available from your local home center. You should be able to match it virtually exactly. It will be nailed to the wall. Buy a new piece to fit. You will need to miter the top end to fit with a miter saw, but you can buy an inexpensive miter box to do that task accurately.

Once you have cut the new piece to fit, take the old one off and bring it into any good paint store. They can match the paint exactly. A quart of paint will be enough to repaint the molding with lots to spare for touch ups.

Install the molding using finish nails, set into place using a nail set. Then fill the heads with putty and paint.


The white stuff is probably calcium (99% of the time)... so your water is "hard". When the water is cooled, the calcium aggregates and precipitates (white stuff). A filter will not remove dissolved ions (like calcium).

A water softener will replace calcium with sodium. That should solve the the white precipitate issue. However, before spending money, have the water tested.

You can (often) get your water tested for free from a kinetico dealer. However you should know what they say is a biased toward selling a water treatment system, so don't offer them any details of your problem; just ask them to check it. But if they say that you have hard water, then it's probably true.

The other possibility (1% of the time) is dissolved silicates. Again, the kinetico dealer would let you know for free. They would say you need a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system, which is expensive.

Edit Here's a simple home-test that you could do: Add a tablespoon of (regular, distilled) vinegar to a cup of water. Freeze one ice cube tray with regular water (for comparison) and another tray with the water containing a water + vinegar.

If precipitate does not form in the water+vinegar (or if the precipitate is comparably reduced) then calcium/hardness is very likely of the issue. If the amount of precipitate is about the same, then the issue is more likely silica.


Since it is an open neutral we will suspect a bad connection at a backstab or a broken wire at a splice. I work backwards looking for the last working receptacle or  the first non working this is the point of failure most of the time.
I don’t look for a switch’s to start with because switching a neutral is a code violation.
Of these problems 98% are from a bad backstab (the push in connectors).
You have checked this receptacle so check the next one closer to the breaker panel in most cases remember if a common wall it could be on the other side.
I work back until I find a working receptacle and then check that one of back stabbed just pulling it out and putting it back in can cause it to start working but it will normally fail again with a large load like a hair dryer or plug in heater.
In this case you are looking for a white or grey wire to be loose or broken if things are good at the last working receptacle the first non working will be the problem.
You can find many examples of this on this site but those are the likely locations. If all receptacles show the same open it may be a bad connection on the neutral buss in the panel but this is very rare I have only found a few of these after many decades of electrical work and all but one were doubled up a code violation on the neutral. But ok for most panels on the ground.


Replaced GFCI no power in line wire but power in load wire

Hard to say exactly what the problem is. Pictures would help. But here are a couple of thoughts:
Overloads can cause multiple problems
It is possible that an overload at one receptacle can damage that receptacle and also damage wires in other locations. In particular, if you have a string of receptacles, something like:

Breaker
Receptacle - Living Room
Receptacle - Bedroom
Receptacle w/GFCI - Lanai

then an overload at the GFCI could cause problems in the living room or bedroom receptacles. This is especially likely if those receptacles are functioning as part of a chain - power in on left and out on right (or vice versa) and the connections are done with backstabs rather than screw terminals. If you had a weak connection before, an overload may have made it weaker.
Breaker Mismatch
"15amp breaker" plus "Leviton 20a dual pole" is against the rules and a Really Bad Idea. The other way around is OK - 15A duplex receptacle on a 20A circuit.
The problem is that when there is a 15A breaker, it is there to protect wire (normally 14 AWG) that is rated for no more than 15A. By installing a 20A receptacle, you are encouraging use of larger appliances (as was the case here). While the breaker should provide enough protection, using a smaller breaker than the receptacle can lead to nuisance trips and a temptation to swap the breaker (without making sure all the wire is 12 AWG or larger), as well as other problems. This should be a 15A dual receptacle, not a 20A dual receptacle.


How can I raise the output temperature of my air conditioner for better comfort?

There isn't too much refrigerant in the unit. It doesn't work that way. Check your thermostat setting and verify its accuracy with another cheap thermometer. Readjust the directional settings of your AC registers so they're not blowing directly on you. Restrict their flow by closing them a bit, they are fully adjustable. Be thankful it's cold; most people complain their AC doesn't get cold enough.


No, you should not do this. Grounding wires must be kept separate from conducting wires in all cases.

First, check if the circuit you are trying to extend is truly ungrounded. Does it use metal-clad cable and metal electrical boxes like this?

If it does, the metal jacket may provide grounding for the circuit. You can try using a multimeter to measure AC voltage between the hot wire and the metal jacket. If you get about 120 volts, this is good evidence (but by no means conclusive proof) that you have a grounding system in place. You can then use two-wire-with-ground cable (e.g. 14/2 NM cable (or "romex")) to extend the circuit by bonding the bare ground conductor to the metal junction box with a green grounding screw.

If you don't have a ground at all, then the only safe way to extend this circuit is to add a GFCI receptacle and connect the extension to the "load" terminals of the GFCI.

This will allow you to install three-prong outlets or grounded fixtures safely on the extended circuit. These devices must not have a ground wire connected, and must be marked with a sticker that says "NO EQUIPMENT GROUND." The upstream GFCI will protect those devices in the case of a dangerous condition. Here's a diagram:


Flood Plain Craziness - Do I really have to listen to the county here?

Since in commentary you've stated that you're already committed to genuine flood-resistant construction, now it's just a matter of documenting that to the satisfaction of insurance companies and the county.

My advice is to research the gold standards in flood-immune construction, and modulate your design so that it plainly conforms to that.  I don't think you need to go to the extreme of stilts; it just needs to meet whatever standard they will be satisfied with.

The new designs being used in the Gulf Coast are just basically stilts but in the form of continuous poured concrete walls.  Flood remediation is one of those scrub-brushes you attach a hose to, and down the drain/out the door it goes.

As far as insurance, just because you're cash-building this one, doesn't mean you can afford to cash-build its replacement (A flood may not ruin it, but fire would).  Also, insurability means resale value, and even if you don't see it, your heirs will.


Why is my steam radiator rattling like this, and what can I do about it?

The disc or the cage inside the valve (depends on the mfg of the valve), is loose or has become unconnected from the valve stem. 1st, try to turn the valve all the way open (CCW). Remember, on a 1 pipe steam system the radiator valves can only be fully open or fully closed., no half open. If this does not quiet the valve you will have to remove the top of the valve and remove the disc or cage assembly that opens/closes the valve. I would have someone qualified in plumbing do this. Yes, with this old piping, you can break fittings and the piping, so I would wait till summer and contact the owner of the property if it is not you, and the building manager.

If the plumber knows what he is doing the fix should go OK. Anytime I fixed a valve like this, I used a back-up pipe wrench on the pipe to lessen the torque on the pipe. You hold the pipe wrench any way you can and tap the wrench on the top of the valve with a 3-4# hammer to snap the bonnet loose. Worked every time. One more thing, if you want some temperature control on rooms that overheat, you can add 1 pipe steam zone control valves to that radiator. They work by controlling the venting of the radiator. If you do this, the thermostat controlling the boiler should be moved to the coldest room and that room does not get a radiator control. Do a search at Supplyhouse.com or Danfoss.com. I like supplyhouse the best for their information. Let me know if you desire more info. There may be newer products but I have been retired for 11+ years. hope this helps.

answe


What's the current input from each leg of a portable generator into my main panel?

No. You can't do that.
You have to have an interlock in the main panel.
Your idea is clever, and you think "Why not a checklist"?  The answer is people got hurt doing it that way, often enough that they changed the Electrical Code to stop the carnage.
In a crisis people do not "rise to the occasion". They descend to the level of their training, and if they aren't well trained, the result is chaos.  Code requires your system be built to endure through that.  Simple as that.
Since your inlet equipment must be at the main house anyway (you can trench a separate cable to send it to the garage if you really want to), you can simply select commercially available inlets that include amp meters.  You are interested in amp meters; there's no need to monitor voltage (plus, it's pretty easy to do with other devices such as a Kill-a-Watt).


The reason you're tripping the breaker is that the peak current draw with both items running exceeds the safe level for that wiring.
The answer is to plug one of them into an outlet that's connected to a different breaker.  (or use them sequentially :-( ).

The answer is most specifically NOT to replace the breaker with a 20 or 30-amp unit unless you've had an electrician verify the existing wiring is rated for the larger current load.


When extending a wrench using a breaker bar, should I connect the two with a spline bit?

The open end on a wrench is created to take only so much force before the jaws start to spread. If you need a Swede bar on the wrench, dispense with using the wrench.

Using a Swede bar on open end wrenches guarantees enough spread that they start rounding bolts after they've been permanently deformed. Wrenches are sized (jaw thickness and length) so the maximum torque using normal force will be about the range the bolt should be tightened to if you were to consult a bolt torque chart.

For similar reasons, you probably shouldn't be using Swede bars on box end wrenches.

For difficult to loosen nuts and bolts, you need a socket on the breaker bar and the socket directly on the bolt, preferably a 6 point socket so you don't round the hex.

Breaker bars are used because they're longer (more torque) and have no ratchet mechanism to break. You use them with a socket because the socket fully surrounds the nut and won't splay under the force (though I've split both 6 and 12 point sockets).

The 6 point socket usually is physically stronger than a 12 point and has larger engagement area (less likely to round the hex), though the newest technology is spline sockets which are designed to engage both nuts and bolts 1/3 the length of the flat back from the point and potentially are less likely to round off hex fasteners.

If you must use an extender (Swede bar), use it on the breaker bar as it is the most likely device you have that will take the excess torque. If the breaker bar breaks (I've done that as well) you need to graduate up a size on the drive (3/8" to 1/2") and try again. 3/8" drive stuff is for 5/8" and below, use 1/2" drive for 3/4" and above.

Consider using penetrating oil and mild heat if these fasteners are large and refusing to move. Also, how much rust buildup is there?


What are some scalable, affordable home automation options?

X10 is a very cheap way to go, but it's not a very good system. The $20 switches you get are pretty low quality. More importantly though, the X10 protocol is pretty bad. It was designed in the 70's, and is very low bandwidth (I can't find a bps rating, but it takes about 3/4 of a second to send one command). If you don't use scene-capable switches (like Smarthome makes) you will notice a delay when activating different scenes.

I have a large Smarthome X10 installation at my parent's cottage/future home. The hardware is nice, but it suffers from reliability problems (eg, Sometimes when you hit a button, not all the lights activate; sometimes noise caused by power spikes/outages causes all lights to turn on, even though I have whole-house surge protection). I wired the place specifically to support X10, and have signal boosting/bridging in place (which helps), but honestly, I wouldn't do X10 ever again.

Programming the X10 devices is a pain: you have to send arcane commands to set up scenes.

At my house, I have a couple Smarthome Insteon switches in my basement for my home theatre. Again, I really like the hardware, and in fact it's even nicer than the Smarthome X10 stuff.

With insteon, they tried to simplify programming. What they ended up doing is making the very basic options (linking a single light to a button) a bit easier -- you just have to hold one for a few seconds till it blinks, then hold the other, and they're linked -- while at the same time making anything mildly more complex incredibly difficult. There are dumb limitations, like it's not possible to have a scene where one light goes to 0% and others turn on/dim to 10% (think "movie time" scene).

I purchased a computer interface for it, which is really the only way to do anything beyond the simple button-press-linking, and the best software I found to program it was Insteon Explorer. I wasn't willing to spend $150 for the Smarthome software to program 3 devices, so I can't say if it's better or not. Every time one device controls another, there are two links - one on each side. This means if you ever replace a device, not only do you have to reprogram the new device, but you also have to reprogram everything it controlled or was controlled by. This would be a HUGE pain with a keypad (8 buttons + integrated dimmer).

One thing that was relatively easy is integrating to PC. I was not able to actually activate "scenes" (this again, was easy with X10, but is now apparently not possible with Insteon), so I have to go device-by-device. Since I only have two main lighting circuits, it's not a huge deal. I use a Smarthome PLM and plmtools, and then small shell scripts that invoke plmtools for my various scenes. I can invoke the shell scripts in several ways:

Using LIRC, from my Harmony remote. While watching Tv/movies, I have buttons that say "Bright", "Movie", etc.
Using the XML interface on my Aastra IP phone. I have buttons programmed with scene names
Using a small web site (running on a local server) I wrote using jQtouch, as well as a bookmark on my iPod touch, I can change scenes using my iPod. (also works on all smartphones/tablets).

I haven't tried the actual hardware yet, but the Simply Automated UBP stuff looks very appealing. They have the concept of a "base" switch, plus a faceplate - and there are face plates with various combinations of rockers/buttons.

The software looks amazing. You can basically set the entire system up completely offline, and then dump the programming to all devices. If I remember properly, switching a device was as easy as changing the address in the setup, then dumping programming again.

The individual options for what you could program was amazing: you could set up different physical buttons to be toggle, push buttons, rockers, single-button dimmers (hold to go up/down), one, two, or three-click buttons (different commands for each). You could then set commands to turn off, on, dim, activate a scene, etc. I think there were even timer buttons ("press the button, then 5 seconds later, turn off scene B").

I am considering a remodel of my kitchen, which would include some new lighting. I'm almost certain right now that I'll be using these switches to control the different lights (main, under cabinet, etc) from different entrances.

For lighting, I would go with one of the existing protocols/companies as mentioned above (there are many others as well, such as Zwave). You get a switch that is the dimmer circuitry, network interface, and human interface. You just won't be able to make something that quality yourself.

Using one of the existing home automation controllers is also not bad - it's like using a domain specific programming language. The common things to do in an automation system are timers, schedules, responding to events (motion sensor activated = turn on lights for x minutes, if it's currently dark outside but not past 12am). The commercial controllers let you set this up pretty easily. If you're doing it all yourself, you are more prone to bugs simply because you have to do more of the mundane stuff yourself, and you have more code.

I think there is a place for things like an Arduino though, for very specific, localized tasks, and have it integrate into the rest of your system if needed.

I'm of the mind I'd like to develop the UI for this myself (the existing systems are very expensive, and/or are not flexible enough so for example, I couldn't do the integration onto my Aastra phone with any off-the-shelf automation system), which means I need a way to control everything from a PC basically using the command-line (or some API). From there, I'd mix and match. Eg:

SimplyAutomated stuff for all my lighting control,
a standalone DSC alarm system that has a couple I/O interconnects to tell my computer its status, and let me arm/disarm
An ardino programmed to run my pool filter and lights based on a motion sensor to detect how much the pool has been used.
I can then have a web UI that I can access on a PC, wall-mount touch screen, or iPod/Pad/blackberry that interfaces to all this stuff.

I know my first inclination as a programmer is to have one master controller that runs everything, but from an industrial control perspective, this is actually opposite of what you want. Decentralized, specialized systems are more reliable, and you're less likely that a single failure is going to be catastrophic (eg, my ardino pool controller could blow up, and my lighting and security will continue to be just fine). The centralized bit brings the systems together and provides oversight/interaction.


Can I Add a Plug to Lights Designed to be Wired In?

No. They're 12VDC, which means if you plug them into your wall they'll go PFFFZZZZZT and make a little puff of smoke. Or worse.

You'll need a power supply (a wall brick) that provides 12 volts and enough current. You can add mating plugs to the lights or just crimp them together.


You're not allowed to use fixtures where some fool could remove the LEDs and install incandescents.  Hence if you use swappable "bulbs", the lamp socket must be a unique type made exclusively for efficient lighting. This is done for two reasons:

efficiency, as it defeats the purpose of efficient mandates/incentives if some flat-earther can just screw in inefficient bulbs.
safety, as these odd-socket or no- socket fixtures may not be rated for the 60-100W heat of an incandescent.  (Or to be more precise, efficiency rules enable lamp designs that don't need to dispose of incandescent heat, freeing designers to innovate).


Fixing Whirlpool front loader washing machine. Error at start of 2nd rinse fill

Many whirlpool washers the lower front panel removes with three  1/4" hex head sheet metal screws.

Remove the panel.

Inside is a tech diagnostics document.

It will tell you to hit any 3 buttons 3 times in sequence -- ABCABCABC  All the lights will turn on.

Press button A

The wash light will blink the error code in 1/2 second pulses, a 2 second pause, a second set of half second pulses a longer pause and will repeat.

In my case the error code was 9 2.

Looking this up in the technical document said 'drain problems, suggested checking a wiring harness, and some connectors, also to check the drain filter.

Since the multimeter was in the garage, and the filter in front of me, I removed the filter (This will discharge a quart of really gross water. Tilting the washing machine back and putting 2x4's under the legs will reduce this a bunch.

Inside the debris trap I found a $5, a $10, and a $20 bill, in pieces, along with $13 in change.

Cleaned this out along with a small fur ball, and reassembled.  No problems since.

Additional information Christmas 2019

The problem went away and has come back several times. At this time I suspect that the soap detector is expecting a given reading on a given rinse.  Changing brands of soap, and measuring carefully helps.


How much drainage pipe should I bury for a new downspout?

The length and size of your drain depend on several factors:

How many inches of rain do you get
What is the area of roof that will be draining
What type of soil do you have (sand, clay)?

For items 1 and 2, this calculator will tell you how much volume you have to be able to handle: http://www.calctool.org/CALC/other/default/rainfall

Sandy soil will dissipate water faster than clay soil.  Not sure how to measure this though.  You should probably allow a little extra if you have clay soil.

Typical slope for a gutter is 1/4 inch for every 10 feet.  I think you could do the same for your drain.

Yes, put gravel in the trench.  It's a good idea to wrap your gravel in a porous landscaping cloth that will allow water to pass through, but keep most dirt out.


How can I use these "closed" power outlets?

The receptacles that say "protected surge" are either surge protection receptacles, or are protected by a surge suppression device in the panel.

As for the "closed" receptacles, those are most likely tamper resistant receptacles.   The guards should move out if the way when you plug things in. The guards only move when they are both pushed simultaneously, so make sure you're inserting the plug straight. If one blade touches first, the guards may not move. Also, the first time things are plugged into these receptacles, the guards seem to be a bit stiff. Wiggle the plug, and try a bit more force. After the receptacle has been used once or twice, it will be easier to plug things in.


hanging long shelves on a mobile home wall

Mobile homes have vertical studs just like a wood frame house. These may be 2x3" x ~8 ft rather than 2x4" as in a fixed structure, but they will still support a shelf if done properly for the expected load on the shelf. The studs will be 16" apart or 24" apart.

You must locate the studs and attach the fasteners through the finished wall (paneling or drywall) into the studs. Also be sure you do not drill into an electrical wire in making holes for the fasteners.

An electronic stud finder is useful to locate the studs, but it does take practice to learn how to use these correctly. Some people use magnets to find the studs by finding the nails used to attach the interior finish wall panels to the studs. Some people can locate the studs by rapping on the wall with their knuckles.

Addition

Electrical boxes for receptacles or wall switches in houses are usually attached to the sides of studs so if you have a receptacle under where the shelf is to be, then there would be a stud on one side or the other of the receptacle. But in at least some mobile homes the receptacles are not attached to studs.  In any case once you find a stud by some means you would look for other studs 16" (center-to-center) away on both sides, but the distance between studs is not always 16" and some framing is 24" on centers.


To maximize heat in winter, should I remove my window quilt during the day?

If you ask this question it probably means that the structure is thermally insufficient, and thus the existing heat leaks dwarf any gains from playing with window coverings that only modify solar heating - unless you have lots of windows and lots of Southern exposure.
In my experience, when such questions get asked things are pretty bad, and the only actions to be done on the building that will really change things appreciably are: investigate how to improve the thermal efficiency of the building if you own it (including window, wall insulation, trees to shield from wind, etc.), or move if you rent. Everything else probably takes more resources to just talk about than any savings you'll get, although for sure there can be plenty of placebo effect.
The one thing that will actually make the biggest difference right this very moment is to wear warmer clothes indoors and let the temperature of the room be lower. It literally has the highest cost-to-benefit ratio that you can get in cold interiors, and thus must be investigated first. That's the only way to save significant amounts of energy and to improve your winter comfort by a lot in thermally insufficient buildings if moving or altering the building is not an option. You can always set the thermostat higher if you are OK with the added expense.


You have the right size wire, although the aluminum is no harder to work with than the copper

You are calling out the correct gauge wire for a 100A feeder, which is good, and you are also correct that distribution lugs are rated for 75°C wire, allowing you to use that column on the ampacity chart (110.14(C) point (a)(1) even permits it for <100A, never mind point (b) permitting it for 100A and up in any case).  However, your assertion that copper will be smaller diameter/dramatically easier to work with isn't quite right.  Fat aluminum wires are compact stranded by default, as opposed to the typical concentric stranding of a stranded copper wire, which means they do not take up much more space than a copper wire of equivalent ampacity.

There is also no minimum height for a panel

While you cannot have a breaker handle over 2m (6'7") from the floor (to make sure that folks can reach it!), there is no minimum height requirement, and large commercial panels sometimes are 6' tall or more, with breakers starting at 12-18" above the floor.  This means that your plan to put the subpanel below the main panel is fine; do remember to pull the bonding screw out of the subpanel if it's shipped with one fitted, and torque all distribution lugs to their specified torque with a torque wrench or screwdriver that reads in inch-pounds.  (This last requirement is a new one in the 2017 NEC, specified in 110.14(D)).


Bosch PSB 650 hammer drill chuck won't tighten

You should try lubrication the chuck with some penetrating oil and working it open and closed to see if you can get it working again.
If that fails you may need to replace the chuck.
The manual for your drill motor has instructions on how to replace your drill chuck.
Good luck!


Outlet side of my cast iron radiator is cold. What's wrong?

Given "I drained the whole system" I'd suspect a trapped air bubble first and foremost. Try bleeding again. The bubble may be trapped in the pipe rather than the radiator itself - look for bleeders along the pipes. Alternatively there may be a valve you've missed, or an actual bit of debris plugging the radiator (a pretty distant third place, in my experience.)


Repairing damaged marble veneer in kitchen

You could carefully drill a small hole from below, into the bubble. Then make a small slit in the bubble with a fresh razor. Get some five minute epoxy into the bubble via the slit, then use a vacuum to apply suction to the hole you drilled while gently pressing down on the bubble. Maybe have a putty knife handy for pressing and smoothing. With a little luck it may stay down flat. It’s already messed up, so you won’t make it any worse!

Also - that looks like the result of a manufacturing defect. You might contact the manufacturer about a possible warranty claim as a first measure.


Can I reroute a return air duct if it adds length and several bends?

Yes, it's okay to reroute a 14" wide return air duct.  Unlike the supply duct, the return air duct is passive (not dependent on the air velocity of a fan) to perform its function (the furnace won't be deprived of a lack of make-up air).


Can I raise a sagging shed roof by winching the walls back into place?

Your plan is exactly right, except that you don't need such heavy-duty hardware to do the jacking/winching. Even a pair of motorcycle ratchet straps or a come-along is going to do the job, especially if you jack up the ridge board. I think it'll all move easier than you anticipate. Just make sure you have solid connections to the walls so you don't have any sudden surprises if something lets go. Maybe lag some loops to the top plates.

One or two rafter ties, well-attached, will prevent the problem from happening again. You could probably get away with keeping them a foot or so above the wall plates, too, if headroom is at a premium.

Good luck.


the chain came off and when i put it back on it won't go around the bar

Chains do come off when they heat up if they are not tight.
There are usually 2 bolts on the side of the bar. Break these loose then there will be a screw to tighten /loosen. Loosen the bar move the bar back until the chain will go on.
Once the chain is on tighten the chain and rotate it by hand pulling down in the middle to check for tension. Once the guide no longer clears the bar but there is a little slack tighten the 2 bolts and you are good to go.


The installer naffed up the neutrals

From your troubleshooting steps so far, this sounds suspiciously like the installer landed a neutral on the wrong neutral bar in the consumer unit.  Since this is a new installation, I would have the installer come back and straighten it out.


Room Full of Working 120V Electrical Outlets, Except One Doesn't

First, the non-working outlet is likely connected to a wall switch or a junction box, which may have been disconnected or even removed and covered over. Trace the wiring, either with an AC circuit tracer or metal/stud finder to find the junction box.

Second, how are you measuring the voltage hot-ground? A high-impedance multimeter may be picking up AC capacitively coupled from a parallel line, and the ground could be floating. An outlet tester might be better. That said, if the ground is floating, perhaps due to poor connection (or no connection) in a junction box, that is a serious safety issue; trace it as above and fix it.


Home: Using Exhaust & Circulating Fans to Improve Air Quality While Staying Cool

Just a couple of points to keep in mind...

1) Any exhaust fan is moving air out of the house...that means there is outside air coming INTO the house somewhere to make up for the lost air volume. Speaking only about temperature, this could be a good thing or bad depending on where most of that air is coming in.  For instance, if it is getting sucked in from your hot attic, then your exhaust fan would be making your AC work harder.  If the air is mostly getting replaced by cool air from a basement or crawlspace, it might have a cooling effect on the inside of the house.

2) Humidity plays just as important a role in your comfort as does temperature.  Moving the air in the house around helps your AC to take out more of the moisture in the house, making it seem cooler.  Also keep in mind that your exhaust fan is sucking in outside air as mentioned above...that air may have much higher humidity than what you're blowing out...so again, the AC would have to work harder to keep you comfortable.

3) Experimentation is a GOOD THING.  Ultimately it is much more important that your house feel good than to achieve some specific temperature.  Just having air moving around inside can make it feel cooler than it is.  So, if your efforts along that line are making you more comfortable with less AC, keep doing more of it until it doesn't continue to help.

4) before you buy more fans, check the CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air they move.  Many of the smaller fans simply don't move enough air to make any difference.  You mentioned "Vornado".  I have one of those...couldn't blow out a birthday candle at 2 inches away.  It just barely cools me down any if I have it blowing right on my face.  Suggest larger fans despite the inconvenience.


Just like wood you should apply a primer first.

Then undercoat and finally the top coat (or two).

The primer will stop the other paint just soaking straight into the MDF and the undercoat will give "body" to the finish.

Even if you get a "one coat" paint I usually find that it needs two (or occasionally three) coats to get a good, even finish.


You want a 200A meter socket in this case
The reason you're confused is because meter sockets are rated by their continuous ampacity, but panels and breakers are rated by their maximum nominal ampacity; this difference is most clear in Class 320 work, where a 320A continuous meter base is used either with a single 400A or a pair of 200A service disconnects.  As a result of this, a typical 200A meter socket is rated for 200A continuous, and thus will have no difficulty with a 225A service, provided your utility recognizes it as a valid service (not all utilities do!).


By how much can I trim back the connectors of 1.5" PVC fittings?

I see that the tee in your drain pipe is already cemented in place, but if you can redo it, you can do what they did in my house (not home right now, so I'll have to remember to get a picture later).

What you can do is turn the tee and drain fitting to the sides and use two elbows and three short pipes to connect them.

The only tool I have to illustrate this right now is MS Paint, but it should be better than nothing. This is the view looking down from the top (or up from the bottom):


In the US code was recently changed so that if your equipment is fed from the same panel you can take an appropriately sized ground to the ungrounded circuit.
I usually find lighting circuits on 15 amp all receptacles on 20 amp.
If your lighting circuit is a 15 amp breaker you can tap any ground , if a 20 amp circuit you need to find a 20 amp, and you can use a receptacle or any larger ground to ground this fixture.


There may be a perfectly reasonable reason for the Pushmatic panel tripping with 2 major appliances going at once; however, that would also be a reason to replace the panel.

Pushmatic is a fine panel

It does not have the problems of some old panels of being unsafe.  However, it does have a reputation for the action of resetting the breaker being very stiff, and of tripping too soon (i.e. Failing safe). These are convenience, not safety issues.

A new 200A service

If you want a new 200A service and panel, you will need a new panel obviously, and an new meter pan, and a new service entrance.

If I were you, first I'd go with a BIG panel (because 42 spaces vs 16 spaces is a tiny amount of money compared to total project cost).  And install it right next to the Pushmatic panel.  The meter pan goes outside, right next to the existing meter pan and pole.

Then, I'd make the Pushmatic panel a sub-panel.  Install a 100A breaker in the main panel, then feed the Pushmatic panel off that breaker. That way you have very little disruption to the existing system wiring, and fairly low installation costs.

At some point, the power company comes out and moves their drop from the old service pole to the new service pole.  Simultaneously, your electrician cuts the Pushmatic panel over to be a subpanel.  Your house downtime would be a couple hours.

Once this is set up and you are happy, you can then move circuits over to the new service panel, one circuit at a time as convenient.  Or you don't have to. For instance I would move that dryer over first.

If the Pushmatic panel has one main breaker

Then if you don't want a new panel right now, replace that main breaker.

If you do want a new main panel, then bypass that faulty main breaker, and feed the main buses directly.

If the Pushmatic panel has up to six main breakers

There's an obsolete style of panel called a "Split-bus" or "Rule of Six".  The Rule of Six literally means six hand motions to shut off all the main breakers. I.E there are multiple main breakers.  Some of them feed major appliances, and one feeds another section of the panel - a "subpanel within the panel" if you will.  This was called the "Lighting section" because lighting was the most common outlet load.

This was done because a 100A breaker was prohibitively expensive, and a 60A lighting breaker + 30A dryer + 30A water heater + 50A range + 30A A/C is unlikely to peak all at once.  But the possibility of that is why we consider this panel style dangerous and due for replacement.

However, this creates a possible reason for a breaker trip: If your dryer is punched down in the "Lighting Section", then it's sharing a limited 40-60A "Lighting" breaker with your washer and whatever other loads you have in the house. That would explain it!

Feeding a Rule of Six panel from your new 200A panel

If you follow my advice of putting a new panel right next to this one, again, you do not need to replace the old panel. You can simply rig it up as a subpanel, or to be more precise, two subpanels.

You feed the "main" section from one breaker, and the "lighting" section from another breaker.  Now you are putting 60A (or more if panel permits) into the lighting section, and 100A (or more) into the "main breakers" section, which is no longer that.

The only issue is that you must also split the neutrals, so I would identify the circuits from the "main breakers" section that need neutral, and feed that separately e.g. Through a Polaris splice.

Again, this results in very little disruption to the old panel.


How can one make a connection where flexibility is necessary despite the connection being exposed to physical damage?

As far as I can tell:

Ensure the conduit is not subject to physical damage
Use  liquidtight flexible metal conduit (LFMC) (as opposed to LFNC or LFNMC)

LFNC does seem to be commonly used, probably because it's cheaper, but LFMC is acceptable in this case as well and would stand up better to accidental physical damage.
One of the challenges is even if the electrical line is protected, the refrigerant lines also need to be protected. Commonly they are just two flexible copper lines, one wrapped with foam rubber insulation.

NEC 2011 through 2017:

Article 350
350.12 Uses Not Permitted
LFMC shall not be used as follows:
(1) Where subject to physical damage
350.30 Securing and Supporting
(A) Securely Fastened. LFMC shall be securely fastened in place by and approved means within 300mm (12 in.) of each box, cabinet, conduit body, or other conduit termination and shall be supported and secured at intervals not to exceed 1.4m (4.5 ft).
Exception No. 2: Where flexibility is necessary after installation, lengths from the last point where the raceway is securely fastened shall not exceed the following:
(1) 900 mm (3 ft) for metric designators 16 through 35 (trade sizes 1/2 through 1 1/4)

Article 440 is dedicated to Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Equipment but doesn't have any mention of physical connection requirements.

As originally stated, the highest chance of damage would come from lawn mowers and trimmers, so the best course of action would be to install the unit in such a way to avoid those things.
This could mean ensuring no grass or weeds grow around the unit by using concrete, gravel or pavers (be sure to use landscape fabric underneath):

Or mounting it on the wall, so it's high above the business end of lawn equipment:


How can I remotely reset a circuit breaker with obstructed access?

You really need to move the location of the box or the trailer over enough to make it accessible. By code 0-150v to ground requires 36” so the box needs to be moved or the trailer moved over, see NEC 110.26(A)(1) for details.


Is this the correct approach for installing 3/4" Hardwood floor?

I have seen 3/4" thick hardwood floors go over 1/2" subfloor with no problem. Your floor structure is plenty heavy to carry any load you apply to it. In many older homes (really old homes) there was no subfloor at all, and the floors held up very well.

Remove the layer of MDF, clean up the nails, and reset all the nails that are in the subfloor. This minimizes the chance of squeaks from the nails that may have risen up as the framing dried and shrunk. Add 1 5/8" screws at all the edges and 3 or 4 more spread across the center of the spans of all the plywood.

In my humble opinion, DO NOT use an underlayment foam under hardwood flooring. This is only intended for floating floors!!!!. The "give" the foam has, is asking for your floor to squeak!!! The only vapor barrier you need is a 5 lb. felt paper. It is much lighter and much thinner than roofing tar paper and will give the resistance the wood needs against moisture rising from below. This is what is used in all new floor applications. Sometimes, on occasion red rosin paper is used too, I believe it is error, it has no resistance to vapor permeability.

After this initial bit of prep, lay your new floor.


If the iron levels in our home's water are too high, how do we adjust them?

It really does depend on what is in your water, and how much is there. You can buy home test kits to find out, at least roughly, or you can bring in one of the many water treatment companies. (I'd do the test kit myself first, to see if they are telling the truth anyway.)

Assuming you do have iron in the water (manganese has similar chemistry, and probably is taken  out the same way.)

Iron/manganese can be removed in several ways. Again, the best scheme really depends on how much is in the water. For example, if there is just a bit of iron, along with other stuff, then a softener might be a good choice. To get a lot of iron out, you may need to go all out with a chlorination system, then filters to remove the remaining chlorine.

Edit:

As far as cost goes, if the iron is actually leaching out of old pipes in your own walls, that is a major cost of course. Tearing out walls and floors to replace plumbing will cost you large sums of money.

If a chlorination system is used, coupled with filters, a settling tank, and a chlorine pump, then expect a cost of at least $3000 to $5000. (Depending on where you live, it may be more.)

Smaller problems can cost less. If only a water softener unit is needed, then I'd expect the cost to be somewhere in the range of $500 to %2500.

If all you need is an inline whole house iron filter, that can be installed by a handy person with a torch and bought from the local home center, now you are talking several hundred dollars.


How can I repair damaged gloss of hardwood floor due to spilled scented oil?

It would be helpful to know what the floor was finished with. If it was factory finished, it was probably a lacquer finish. If it was a stick built hardwood and finished after install, it is probably urethane.  Regardless, if you gently sand the edges around the damaged area, you should be able to brush in some gloss oil based urethane.  Feather it out very thinly into the existing good finish.  It may not be perfect, but should come close.


It was a bad switch.

The isolating it to when both switches were in the same position was as far as we could get for diagnostics.  All connections were inspected and seemed fine.  I finally gave in and just bought 2 new switches.  Upon trying to install them I noticed mismatches in wiring colors so I brought in an electrician who was able to sort things out (and tagged the wiring for me).  He then removed the oldest looking of the 2 switches and replaced it with one of my new switches.  The flickering problem is gone and I have a spare switch now...


I bet if you go to your service panel, you're going to find a completely full service panel, and a unique creature we call a "double-stuff breaker".  Quite likely the landlord does his own electrical work or pays a dumb handyman (naughty naughty).  He's out of space in the panel, so he resorted to those double-stuffs.

He moved the dryer from a 2-pole breaker (which takes 2 spaces) to a duplex breaker that takes only one space.  As my link discusses, one space sees only one pole, so you get what you saw.  Any proper electrician would notice a "red flag" where the duplex sides can turned off individually, making it unsafe for dryer use.

Since this is a rental, you can't fix any of this.  Most jurisdictions require commercial work be done only by licensed electricians, and rental properties are considered commercial. You can't, he can't, his handyman can't.  A pro electrician is required.

Given this level of incompetence, I would not advise trusting that circuit.  The obsolete and dangerous 3-prong connections absolutely rely on the neutral wire being intact and not broken.  If neutral breaks, the chassis of the dryer becomes electrified and can kill you, especially as you are handling wet things and touching both dryer (electrified) and washer (grounded).

But since he must fix it, he should consider bringing in someone competent, and upgrading the circuit to modern, safe NEMA 14 standard.  This will require you change the dryer plug (back to what it was shipped with), but will be much safer for your family.