How to provide ventilation on NEMA 12 Arcshield enclosure with help of fans?

There are no NEMA 12 fan options for PowerFlex VFDs in the "100ms" version of ArcShield MCCs, but there are in the "Device Limited" version. Device Limited ArcShield MCCs mean the MCC can have a maximum of 1200A bus and the main must be part of the MCC.

If you have an MCC at 1600A or larger, then you are limited as to which VFD options are available to you and there are no options for NEMA 12 vented VFDs, so that limits you to I think 40A (25HP @ 480V) or 34A (20HP) if there is a reactor, which is the largest non-vented VFD in a NEMA 12 package.

What I do if the project needs larger VFDs in NEMA 12 and needs to be Arc Resistant is to split up the MCCs into 1200A or smaller segments so that I can use Device Limited, which allows for vented VFDs in NEMA 12.

But to answer your specific question, you cannot add anything to the front doors of an ArcShield MCC in the field without violating the Arc Resistant certification of it.

Side note: You mentioned "NEMA" so I am assuming you are discussing the 2100 Series NEMA MCCs, not the IEC version 2500 series. Those options may be different for IEC.


Is this ceiling fan going to fall and cut off my head?

Is this ceiling fan going to fall? There is nothing in the photo that tells me a fall is about to happen, but the installation looks poor, and I think you need to get under that cover.
Will it cut your head off? No, if the physical support let’s go, it will dangle by it’s wiring like a wounded buzzard, but probably give you time to get clear. A bonk with a thin piece of wood is the worst you are in for.
Would I trust this fan? No. The installation is poor and I’m concerned the true support (the socket) is also poorly installed. The cover you see does not provide support.

Ceiling fans use a ball and socket system, the ball is what you see in your photo. The socket is under the cover and it is usually screwed into a connection box, and that connection box should be firmly supported. The fan is heavy.
How can you tell if it’s secure? That cover should unscrew and drop down. That will let you see how the socket is supported.
.
Ok, sounds like you are not getting a solid hold with the screws. A retrofit (or old work) ceiling fan brace is the way to go. This video shows you the process, don’t have to buy theirs, there are a lot to choose from. You will have to take the fan down and disconnect it from the wiring, but that’s probably a good idea at this point, kind of a mess up there.
https://youtu.be/Hf-qKY2bRlo


Even if someone had the specifications (and that supposes that you had the model number), those specifications would be for the new-out-of-the-box performance, not after four decades of service.

And given that the equipment is at least a decade older than Energy Star and more than two before it was expanded to general home appliances, the odds of those specifications containing meaningful real-world energy utilization information, is pretty close to zero.


Replace the glass plate of a ceramic stove with heating coils: can I use any heat-resistent glass?

Borosilicate is commonly used for chemistry and cooking. A common name for borosilicate glass is Pyrex. Borosilicates are acid resistant and have low expansion upon heating. However, borosilicates are not as durable as ceramics.

Technically, the kind of glass used on your oven is probably either Ceran (made by Schott) Li2O-Al2O3-Si2O2 or Pyroceram (made by corning) Li2Si2O5. Ceramic glass is probably the best choice.

So a lithium or lithium-aluminum ceramic is probably what you need, especially because of the resistance to thermal shock which is extremely likely- as food will spill on it. If you doused a woodstove window with water, it would surely crack.

The Robax or Neoceram that you allude to, actually appear to be the ceramic glass used on ovens... and they are just attempting to sell them for wood stoves.


Getting rid of rough edges after removing old paint

Yeah, that's totally fine.  You do that all the time with restorative surface prep, alternating layers of epoxy primer, "bondo" (Abatron, West System ultralight filler etc.), sanding, primer, bondo, rinse wash repeat.

Though honestly, the best thing you can possibly do with a rickety old garage is stabilize it.  Why? Because stabilizing an old building is vastly cheaper than building a new one.  A new building, I swear, is 1/3 entitlements - fighting with the government for your right to build the building at all, all the extra junk you have to add to the new building's specifications to get approved - concrete foundation, AFCI breakers, trench new utilities to meet new code, requiring a bathroom for Pete's sake which means you must now plumb water and gas or much larger electrical so you can heat the building all year, sweet Nelly,  there's really no end to it.  It's a nightmare.  So yeah, if you ever foresee wanting a building this size, save this one.


I believe that you are over thinking the need to have the gate be somehow "even". You should just hinge the gate at the post that is on the side nearest the street. Then just simply arrange the gate to swing up against the deck side of the closer post. The diagram below shows how it is done. The typical hinge usage for this type of application is also shown.

As you can see from the above diagram the gate ends up being "even" (parallel) with the deck boards.


It sounds like you have a bad connection or a broken wire somewhere upstream of your main breaker. Assuming that the power company's test were valid, then the problem would be the wire between your main breaker and the power meter. Other possibilities are that your main breaker is bad, or that the meter, meter box, or something upstream of that is broken.

See my answer to Insufficient voltage to dryer receptacle; what next? for why broken wires or breakers can cause weird voltage issues.


Converting a Chandalier Hard wire to an outlet

Judging by the photos and your explanation, it shouldn't be a complicated job but there are a few things to take into consideration:

Local code compliance in New Jersey and your county/city - something I'm not familiar with.

How well you can make wire connections yourself. I've seen many DIYers and "electricians" wire connections and they were varying levels of "lucky nothing happened yet" to "lucky only this part burned when you called me".

If you're confident in your wire connections lasting for 50 years+, its basically installing an outlet with a plate that fits that 4-O box (my trade slang for what I assume is in the picture). It should be properly grounded to be up to national code, so you'll need to know how to check for that. The pipe may already be the ground for it.
I'd hire an electrician for something like this because you get their expert knowledge/skills and its probably a couple hours at the most. Could be less than an hour if you have all the infrastructure in place minus the outlet/plate. To save a few bucks, you could always install the fixture yourself since you just need to plug it in.
If you do do this, here are some options/ideas:
You could use plates like these (for example):

https://images.homedepot-static.com/productImages/e888bbe3-2fa2-40e3-8112-08feb4fa3864/svn/brown-leviton-electrical-outlets-receptacles-5059-64_1000.jpg
You need to identify which wire is the switch leg and connect that to the hot screw. The neutral would go on the neutral screw. If you have a solid ground path through the pipe, you could use the ground screw in the threaded hole in the box. Otherwise, you would need to run a ground wire back to the closest ground source to make it properly grounded.


Kitchen sink drain pipe leaking inside the wall

As Ecnerwall stated break open the wall to locate exactly where the leak is coming from. A common plumbing orientation that you may notice inside your wall is for the trap pipe after entering the wall will connect to the center of a Tee fitting. The top connection is the drain vent (which goes to the roof) and the bottom leads the water to the main drain pipe.
Depending on what fitting/connection is leaking you will need to remove and replace it.
ABS pipe and fittings are welded together (just like PVC) with an ABS glue. If you are comfortable with cutting out the fitting and/or pipe the repair is fairly straight forward.
It sometimes helps to enlarge the wall opening as this allows more movement of the pipes and gives you more freedom to work.
There are fittings called "No-Hubs" which are basically rubber fittings that need no glue and are tightened by a hose clamp. These are much more forgiving and can be re-positioned anytime. They're sized for 1 1/2"-4" pipes and are commonly found as couplings, but also Tee's.


It's highly likely you don't need or want an actual vapor barrier here. These horrible things are still popular in the frigid north climes like Canada, but they truly aren't needed in a well-insulated wall like the one you have. Even up there, on average they cause more problems than they solve and substantially reduce a wall's ability to dry. They can also become mold machines if the space is ever air conditioned and you have stucco or stone wall cladding on the outside. Good choice using mineral wool.

Bottom line: skip the vapor barrier and don't worry about it. Just install your drywall.


Is it legal and safe to have an electrical breaker panel installed outside of an external wall of a single family home in Ontario Canada?

There are plenty of panels which are UL listed for outdoor use; that's what NEMA 3R is.

However, the outdoor environment is tougher on panel components.  For instance GFCI and AFCI breakers will have a much shorter service life outside.   The threats are dust and moisture (mostly via condensation).

It has been suggested to me that placing a rather small heater inside a panel can help drive off condensation, but of course will cost a small amount of money (typically $1 per watt per year) and will alarm anyone who looks at your panel with an infrared camera (normally warm panels are a BAD thing).

One option is to put the main breaker outside and the rest of the service panel(s) inside.

If this is part of a recent trend to eradicate all utility spaces from a home, I think that trend will backfire.  Houses have utilities (unless you're Amish).  Utilities need maintenance.


That's an outside air intake.  It's purpose is to allow air in but keep critters and debris from entering.  They make these specifically for this purpose but a common use is to take a DRYER vent that has a screen, remove the flapper (which would prevent air from entering) and use that as the intake.

You should find either at your local home supply store.


Can cmx and non cmx ethernet cable be coupled

Yes, you can do that. CMX is only about the exterior rated jacket material. A better solution would be to terminate both cables to fixed jacks, and connect them with patch cords, rather than having floating couplers and plugs crimped onto solid cables like this, but this can work (it's just somewhat more prone to fail.)


Why won't my new powerstroke 5kW generator start?

Most engines don't like to start after extended storage. One cause is a dry cylinder bore which prevents compression.

Solution: pull the spark plug and squirt a generous amount of oil into the cylinder. Like 25% of displacement. Turn the generator so the cylinder is vertical and leave it for a few hours so the oil can flow into the piston grooves. Return it to upright for 30 minutes (so fluids can drain to the proper position).

Very important: Cover the spark plug hole with paper towel and crank for 5-10 seconds. A considerable amount of oil should blow out of the plug hole. Now replace the plug and try starting again.


Laying T&G ply sub-floor over existing 1/2" ply sub-floor. What underlayment should i use between the layers?

Nothing. If you fasten the new layer well there's no need for it. Multiple layers of wood subfloor are commonly used without internal bonding or buffering.

If you're worried about sound due to movement of the random sheets, zigzag a 1/8" bead of construction adhesive over the original plywood to bond it to the new and help span any voids due to flatness issues.


Installing a dimmer only where a light and fan switches exist

It looks like the wire wire in your switch box, is used as always hot or switched hot. You don't have neutral in there. I bet your power comes into the ceiling fan first, then to the switches. In this case, no, you can't use the smart switch....without re-doing the wiring at the ceiling and the box. You can do it with what wires you have, but the second switch would not work properly (you plan to remove it from the circuit anyway).

You would need to switch wires in the ceiling so that "power" comes to the switch first, then switched to the fan. With the 3 wires you have, its easy to do.

You will tie all whites together in the fan (new light) box, black on the fan (new light) to red and black from circuit breaker to black to switch (nothing hooked up in the fan box to the black wires(2) except just the two, 1 hot in and 1 hot out). At the switch, you will then have neutral (white), black (hot) and red (switched hot). From there you install the smart switch white(neutral) to neutral, black(hot) to hot and red to load. Best practice then is to use a 2 gang cover that has one side as a cover(blank).


Indoor vs outdoor fire safety training for kids

Whilst learning how to be proficient with a fire extinguisher is a good thing doing it inside in a fireplace is pretty foolhardy thing to do. There is danger of the fire bursting out of the fireplace, getting icky chemicals all over the place and the flat out mess of it all.

My suggestion regarding the fire place is to teach your youngsters the proper care, usage and cautions of using the fire place in the correct and safe way.

For the basic fire safety training (including use of the fire extinguisher) I think you should check with your local fire department or community fire safety officials to see if they offer anything in the way of training, classes or workshops. If you attended these with your youngsters and participated the same as they would it would likely have a more lasting impression on them than something ad hoc that you could fire up in your back yard.


Can I install whole house humidifier in AC ducting?

Almost all thermostats have a FAN switch, that can be set to ON or AUTO.  In the AUTO position, the blower comes on when the furnace needs it (during heat/cool calls).  In the ON position, the blower will always be on.  This is usually controlled by the G terminal on the furnace and thermostat.
I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do, so I'll cover a couple different setups
Blower on when you want
For this situation, simply connect the G terminal on the thermostat to the G terminal in the furnace.  When you want the blower on, set the thermostats FAN setting to ON.
Blower on when house is too warm
If you want the blower to come on when the temperature in the house raises above a set temperature, you'll simply connect the Y terminal of the thermostat to the G terminal in the furnace.  This way whenever the thermostat calls for cool, the blower fan will come on.
Depending on the furnace, you may be able to connect the Y terminal on the thermostat to the Y terminal in the furnace, and simply not connect any control wires from the furnace to the A/C unit.  Most furnaces activate the blower after a predetermined (possibly programmable) delay, when the thermostat calls for cool.
Blower speed (Multi-speed blower)
Blower speed may vary based on the different functions. For example, heat might be medium low, fan might be low,  while cool may be high speed. So you'll want to take that into consideration as well.

Without more information about your specific equipment, and what exactly you're trying to accomplish. It's difficult to provide more accurate, specific information.


The loose material you are wanting to repair is called "parging". It may be referred to as a skim coat as well. It typically is a coat of mortar, not cement. Mortar has more limestone in it to make it more workable.
11-13 EDIT
You can easily remove the bulk of the loose material by tapping the surface with a hammer. It should readily crack and fall off. to clean up the areas that meet the top of the landing will need a little help, since the parging will not necessarily crack cleanly at the top of the slab. That is where a chisel can come in handy. It does not need to be any specific size just something that has a straight cutting edge on it. Even an old crappy screwdriver will work in a pinch.
After everything that was loose has been removed, clean the surface with water and a stiff bristle brush to remove all contaminates. Let it dry a little. then start the applying of new material after the areas are protected from excess mortar. If you do the new application the next day, the surface will be still damp enough to help aid the the curing of the new coat.
End 11-13 EDIT
Using the proper sized trowels and surface protection, apply the mortar to the wall in a thin layer about 3/8" thick, let it set up firmly then with a fine haired brush, like a soft shop brush sweep the surface with it to give the sanded finish.
Typically the finish you see is for esthetics only, not for weathering, but to be safe, use type "S" masonry cement. It is what is used for waterproofing the outside of basement walls in CMU (Cement Masonry Unit) construction.


You've got to pull the band toward you when you're at the edge of the chair and get some slack where the band goes around the frame. Then use a screwdriver to gently pry the band out of the slot on the frame. If it's an old band there's a chance it will break when you try to pry it out. If you're successful then do the other side. Installing them is just the reverse. Good luck/


Can I connect a dishwasher to a garbage disposal instead of the sink overflow?

You can hook up the dishwasher to the garbage disposal - that is a normal installation. There should be a location on the disposal - typically a plastic part that gets knocked out to connect the dishwasher hose. You will probably need an adapter for the disposal - this often comes with the disposal but is probably long gone. If you post the model of the disposal, we can provide more info.

"Drilling" sounds like you may be referring to a traditional air gap in the top of the sink. Dishwashers can be connected that way, but they can also be set up with a high hose loop. Basically the drain hose from the dishwasher loops up to just under the counter, effectively forming an air gap (the only way sewage could get backwards into the dishwasher would be if the sink filled up to the same height as the top of the hose loop). The other end can go into the disposal. If you do this then the old air gap can be removed and the hole used for water purification or soap dispenser or whatever you want. See  one of my other dishwasher answers for a diagram.


Two words: diatomaceous earth. This stuff is sold at pool and gardening stores, and it's that killer combination of inert to you but lethal to insects. It's basically microscopically razor-sharp stone, and physical contact with it tends to kill insects by shredding their carapaces and drying them out from the inside (ew). You could surround your bed's legs with this stuff. Put in your mattress, too.

For much, much more info, you may be interested in this account of how one enterprising homeowner managed to not only prevent bedbugs but also treat an existing infestation: http://softsolder.com/2010/11/08/bed-bugs-overview/


Why is my new water heater making a clicking noise?

You probably have sediment buildup in the bottom of the hot water heater.  Pockets of water get trapped in the sediment/scale at the bottom of the hot water heater, turn to steam when it heats up, then "explode" causing the noises you are hearing.

You could try draining the water heater to get some of the sediment out, but honestly it's probably too late for that - might want to have a pro come out and take a look at it.  It's not likely a critical issue, but it would be best to get that scale cleaned off to prolong the life of the unit.


Ceiling fan only runs when bare used as hot

Yes. You have a ground or neutral that's hot. This is very dangerous and you need to call a professional electrician before someone gets electrocuted.


Can I install laminate flooring over linoleum which is torn?

Either way will work. My first impression would be to try to remove the old lino, especially since there is so little of it.  If it turns out it too difficult, then simply remove all the loose lino, lay down your foam underlayment and go right over the whole mess.  Good luck.


There should be an adjustment dial or slider somewhere on the switch (you'll likely have to remove the cover plate to access it), which allows you to adjust the lower end of the dimming range. Where exactly the adjustment dial is will depend on the switch you're using.
To make the adjustment:

Turn on the light
Turn the dimmer all the way down
Turn the adjustment dial clockwise (up) to lower the light level.

Models and manufacturers vary, so you'll have to determine which way to adjust the dial/slider by moving it one way then the other. Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer.
Once you have the level set, install the cover plate and enjoy your romantic dinner.


Different options for setting floor joists on top of cinder block foundation

IMO, there is no other option than using a sill plate:

www.woodaware.info


What are alternatives to an in-floor drain in a laundry room?

One thing that is an option is automatic shut off valves for the washer that are linked to a water sensor.

Automatic Valves

Above is an example that I have experience with, but they come from several manufacturers and I think there are even "smart home" options that will alert you of a leak as well as turning off valves.  I think I've also seen devices that cut power to the washer when there is a leak to stop it from draining water if the leak is actually a clogged drain rather than a burst hose.

With these valves, you still have to clean up some amount of water, but the problem is greatly reduced to the point of being able to clean up with a simple mop.  Proper baseboard with a good caulking job will keep a small leak from getting behind the walls.


I think what you want is a "strap loop". On at least one site it seems to be called a footman loop.

https://www.google.com/search?q=strap+loop


How do I fix damage to the skin of an embossed hollow-core door?

I would seek to avoid affecting the embossed grain, which will only make the appearance worse. Gently press the upper side of the split to see if you can get it to level out. If necessary, use a razor knife to trim away the interfering fiber material, allowing the surface to come back into alignment.

Then I'd rub the crack with wood glue to bond it together. Let that dry, then apply a wood filler in the remaining void. Before the filler dries, rub it out with a cloth so that the only remaining material is in the crack itself. Remove all material from the painted surface.

Finally, touch up the paint as minimally as possible. Use a small art brush and only paint the damaged line. Wipe any paint off the undamaged surface.

As a rental property owner I'd be satisfied with such a repair done well. It's expected that minor damage will occur in a residence, and this is about all that can be done short of replacing (or re-skinning) the door.


How to seal and paint a rough plaster and brick wall?

In the UK, standard practice is to coat walls in your situation with a mixture of UniBond PVA Adhesive & Sealer and water (instructions on the tin will give recommended mixing percentages).

Then paint over everything with either:

A watered down white wall emulsion mixture (again recommended mixing percentages will be found on the tin).
A white "block out" wall emulsion.

Then paint your walls with your chosen wall emulsion colour. In your case, as it looks like it's a bathroom of some sort, I would go with a emulsion paint specifically for high moisture areas (such as bathrooms & kitchens). Doing so will have the benefit of lasting longer in those kind of conditions, also those specific type paints offer a lot better protection from mold forming on walls in high moisture areas.

Just throwing out a (crazy) idea you might also be interested in, seeing as you are leaving areas of exposed brickwork (not plastered over).

Clean the exposed brickwork thoroughly, then seal that brickwork with an appropriate clear (waterproof) sealer.
Then paint the plastered areas with your chosen colour (as per above recommendations).

The contrast between the exposed (sealed) brickwork and painted plastered walls can make for a great effect (if you like that kind of thing).


What is the function of a check valve on the inlet of a household macerator pump?

The check-valve prevents waste from flowing backwards after the macerator pump stops.

Macerator pumps usually can't stop backflow by themselves. The pump has to let some solids through so the pump mechanism isn't water-tight. If it was, the solids would wear the those water-tight edges down quickly and the pump would no longer be water-right.


Will cement used as mortar need to be replaced?

It depends...

These days, bricks are used far less frequently as the "structure" of residential homes, due to the higher chance of failure from lateral movement (such as an earthquake). Depending on the construction of your home, they may provide little to no structural value and may be purely cosmetic.  If they are cosmetic, the structure should not be compromised any more than it was when the mortar failed (which would typically mean "insignificant"). If they are structural, your concerns may be warranted.

If your house was built more recently, uses primarily wood framing including along the interior sides of your exterior walls, and your rafters/trusses are fastened to said framing (rather than fastened to the bricks), it is more likely to be cosmetic. It is extremely telling in the case where the brick stops before it reaches your roofing timbers. That is not to say the brick provides absolutely no structural value -- it still serves a purpose and can help resist movement, but cosmetic brick does not bear the structural loads. If you've seen a home built with brick recently, you likely saw a free-standing structure, covered with plywood and a waterproofing/resistant/wicking/other material, before the brick "walls" were added.

One of the biggest differences between cement and mortar is typically the lack of aggregate (sand) in cement. If your mixture contained sand, you probably used the mortar as intended. The sand exists, essentially, to give the cement something to stick to, just like rocks do for concrete. Without the sand, I suspect that the cement will eventually loosen, crack, and fall away much sooner than mortar; it also will not prevent movement of the bricks in the same way mortar does, because the "connection" that the provides is missing.

If you cannot determine that your brick is solely cosmetic, I would recommend that you remove the cement and replace the bricks using mortar. When in doubt, consult a professional about your specific situation.


Suggestions:

Paint the shutters. You say that the shutters you have are faded gray, and that's not going to add much interest to your windows. I think almost any color would be better than that. Black or white would be good if you want something that stands out more, but is still very traditional in appearance. If you want actual color, a muted red, green or blue can work without calling too much attention to itself. (Or go with a non-muted color. There's no HOA to tell you no.)

Add a trellis with a climbing plant. This can provide some visual interest, and most climbing plants are fast growers because they don't need to support themselves. (They can't do much to brick that's in good condition, but if your brick is just a facade, or if the mortar is crumbling a bit, I'd skip this.)

Add window boxes with flowers. These can also be painted to add a splash of color, on top of the flowers during the appropriate part of the year.

Add architectural foam trim to the windows. There's a lot of options here, but I suggest not going overboard; it's easy to end up cheap and tacky.


Can LED strips serve as the main light of a room?

I have used LED strips for full room indirect lighting.  I mounted them on one inch angle aluminum.

Following is a picture taken in my previous house where the LED lighting replaced fluorescent lighting.  In my present house I had special wood moldings made to hide the aluminum-mounted LED strips.


Safely felling elevated wooden structure?

On a day with calm winds, cut 3/4 through each leg, near the ground, with the cuts all starting from the same compass direction. Post an observer to watch for movement in the upper portion of the structure and warn the sawyer.
Pull the structure down with human, animal, or machine power using suitably strong and long straps in the opposite direction as the cuts. The legs will crack together. A crowd-pleasing crash will result.


Does a heat pump create condensate during winter?

Yes, however during winter the condensate is generated at the outdoor unit (the cold end of the heat pump).

It may be piped down a drain, or drain straight onto the dirt or concrete, depending on how the unit was installed.

In summer, a heat pump will act like any other air conditioner, producing condensate at the indoor unit.


Outside outlet possible moisture in the box causing the trip since the pump works in other gfci protected locations and you have replaced the device, there may be a minor ground fault in the wiring and the pump together they add up to enough to trip but seperatly they are ok. The removing the wires and tape has me scratching my head but this would be my guess that there are multiple minor ground faults that adds to enough to cause a trip.


Stair skirt board protruding from wall by ~1/4" - can I use a belt sander to sand it down?

This isn't too tough. Make your life easier by finding a plinth block that coordinates with your rail system or other nearby trim components:

Use whatever tools you have on hand to trim the skirt back about 3/4" from the wall corner. Fit the plinth block over the end of the skirt to act as a cap. This way you don't need a perfect cut on the skirt, and you don't need a miter return into the wall.

A technique I've used for this is to rabbet the back corner of the plinth block using a table saw. Run from the bottom upward, and stop short of the top of the block. This leaves a curved notch that can fit the top profile of the skirt rather nicely.


Do I need to trim the dishwasher drain line to prevent water build-up from the disposal? Also are elbows OK here?

You did the right thing running the dishwaser drain line as high as possible first. This will keep a sink full of water from filling the drain line.

Now you just need to cut the drain line to the appropriate length so that it's all downhill from the high point.


How can I get a flex-bit unstuck if the shank is stripped?

If it is a steel shank drill bit, grind off where it's striped, ~2". Otherwise just skip to grinding three flats, 120 degrees apart to give the chuck something to grab. Back the bit out and start over with a nice, fresh battery. Corded drills with keyed chucks are way down in price. Using one of them could most likely get you out of this situation and would probably have avoided this in the first place.

You were using something like this, hex-headed flexible extension in a cordless, keyless-chuck drill.

When you should of been using this, 4' flexible drill bit, keyed in a corded drill's chuck with a handle.


Can't get my new masonry bit to go further than about 3/4"

You most probably hit a bit of hard stone aggregate in the masonry and you’re using a regular drill and not a hammer drill.

Masonry bits have hardened tips but on hard stone, the tip will just skip and slide if you’re using a regular drill.

A hammer drill adds percussive hammering to the drill so that the hardened tip can break up any aggregate or stones in its way. Hammer drills have gotten quite cheap ($30-$50 for a chinesium corded one) so you should think of buying one.

A rotary hammer which a commenter suggested is a hammer drill on steroids. Bigger, heavier, stronger, and more expensive. Definitely overkill for your purposes but great to have if you’re drilling through hardened concrete, want to make larger or deeper holes, need the chiseling function and so forth.


Do ceiling joists need to rest on cross beams?

This is fine.  It's a wooden open web truss system.

The weight is transferred to the column at the one top point.  The lower bar and diagonal bracing are to prevent the top bar from sagging over a wide span.  The lower bar extends all the way to the wall so there is something for the ceiling drywall to screw into, but isn't supposed to rest on the column.

Here's the more familiar open web steel truss system that is used all the time in commercial buildings. Also called Composite Steel Floor Deck and Concrete Slab


convert a hardwired lamp to on off switch

How about a "smart bulb" product such as an Insteon LED bulb? I've used these to replace old pull-chain ceiling sockets with more attractive fixtures. A single bulb is around $50 and you can buy a wall mount remote for around $30.


1/4 diameter, 1.5 to 2 inch long (depending on bracket thickness) Tapcons. This is not an ad, it's what I've been using for 20+ years. They will not penetrate the inside of the chimney. Its painted so holes in the brick are a non-cosmetic issue. A wrap-a-round metal band would look like it's from the 80's and not anywhere near as strong. You can have as large of a TV as you want if your willing to drill some extra holes in the mounting bracket and "tapcon the hell out of it".


How do I rewire a switched receptacle and make it permanently hot

The 2 black wires are piggy-backed, indicating that one is the incoming hot and the other is the hot to other device(s). The red appears to be the switched hot supplying the receptacle in question, so...

Turn off the power at the circuit breaker/fuse panel first! Then disconnect all the wires from the switch and connect them together with an appropriately sized twist-on wire connector, except for the ground, which simply terminates at the box. The red wire supplying current to the receptacle will now be an un-switched hot.


Should I avoid running conduit above sewer line exit on basement wall?

Shouldn't be a problem. Even if for some reason it was in the way for a future repair you could always cut the conduit do your repair and then patch conduit using a junction box.


Fasten ceiling panel so that it is removable

I mount removable panels with Velcro. I purchase the self adhesive type if it won’t stick I staple it 4 small pieces will hold a fair size piece of plywood and your drain pieces sound very light weight.


House water supply "mystery branch" upstream from shutoff valve

And the answer is.... water line comes in horizontally. BUT, a shocking discovery made by my plumber while sorting this out. Somebody else in the past had the same idea as me and started to remove the downpipe, then abandoned the effort. They made a horizontal cut into the pipe below the T, from behind. It was not easily viewable from the front. I put a feeler gauge into the cut slot and it appears to be DEEPER than the pipe wall thickness. Basically, it's just rust and gunk that has kept the water from exploding out of that slot. I've encountered my fair share of home improvement crime scenes over the years, but this one is right up there... a glob of rust away from disaster.


After using the similar forms you describe, poured about 60 feet of walkway -- I've used the Bear concrete stains which are applied after the product cures with great success.  Even taken two different shades and did the "artistic" thing providing a little depth and 10 years later still looks good -- although an extra step, it went quite quickly.  Using the "artistic" approach allowed us to use the $5.00 mis-mixes with a little creativity.

hope it helps...


What is the difference between GU-4 and G-4 bulbs?

The pin size is a little bigger in the GU-4 than the G-4. There's probably a risk that this could damage the socket, but they are pretty close. More importantly, I don't see anything that specifies the wattage for these bulbs, so it's possible that you replaced a lower wattage bulb in a higher wattage fixture.


how do I attach 2 wires to one terminal screw on an outlet or light switch?

Certain wires must be pigtailed, you can't rely on the device to make the connection.  That includes all grounds.  It also includes neutrals in multi-wire branch circuits.

If it has 2 screw terminals obviously ganged together, you can use those.  These are often connected by "tabs" which can be broken off to change the device's function -- watch out for those.

It is illegal to put 2 wires on one screw.

If it has the higher quality back connection which is clamped by the screw, those commonly provide for 2 wires per screw, so you're all set.

If it has 2 backstab holes obviously together, well... try to avoid using "backstabs" at all as they are not reliable.

It is illegal to use one screw and one backstab.  Use only one kind of fastening method.

If all else fails, obtain a "wire nut" - similar to the ones you may see on the neutral and ground wire.  Nut the 2 wires together with a third wire about 6" long.  This is called a "pigtail".


Is there anything in the NEC that would prevent me from attaching MC cable with ground to EMT with a compression coupling?

The only thing I could think of that might be wrong with that is the wires in the MC may not be listed / marked as THHN or THWN, even though that's what it is.

Could you use greenfield (FMC) and pull in your wire?

Regarding the coupling - I think you'll have to use a MC/AC box connector and EMT box connector joined together by a female-female threaded coupler.

edit:  Actually it looks like there are EMT to FMC couplers:

http://www.bptfittings.com/Home/ProductDetail?s=582-DC(Catalog%20Num)


What are these latches at the top and bottom of this window for?

In the second picture, the little thing that pops out (pointed at by the left-hand arrow) is a stop to prevent the window from opening more than about an inch. This way, when the window is open a little, nobody can open the window further from the outside to use it as a way of getting into your house. They can be a bit of a pain to latch down so the window can open further, if you desire to do so, but you push it flat, then slide it to the right and it should latch down, allowing the window to slide past it.
The two other items (pointed at by the arrow in the 1st pic and the right-hand arrow in the second) appear to be the locking mechanism that holds the window closed to prevent it from being opened at all. It appears that you pull down on the finger tab on the top one, and up on the tab on the bottom one, then slide the window open to the left. If these will latch into the open position, then you should be able to open each individually to leave the window unlocked, thus being able to open and close the window at will. They may, however, be spring loaded and require you to pull them both toward the center at the same time in order to open the window.
If these windows are several years old, there may be some of the general crud of life accumulated in them causing them to be a bit sticky and difficult to open. They may require a bit of force to open the catches, and possibly some cleaning.
In the pictures you've provided, it looks like the bottom catch is open, while the top catch is still latched shut.


How can I remote control a switch for a pool pump?

There are many different solutions depending on how much you'd want to spend, how much DIY you want to do, and what exactly you are trying to achieve. I would not try to directly switch this load: inductive loads generate voltage spikes when switching them, which can damage electronics and such that are not designed to handle it. They also have high in-rush startup currents which are beyond the normal ratings.

On the cheapest, very DIY side, I would use a definite purpose contactor for each pump (~$20, give or take), and run some smaller (14/2) wires inside to a switch.

The benefit here is the wiring going inside is low-current, and so you can use a regular lightswitch, count-down timer or programmable timer.

Insteon is another way to go. Insteon is a power-line carrier signal, which means it runs over your existing wiring. They have a high-current relay module which would be used to control your pumps.

You can then control from any Insteon-capable controller: there are a number of keypads, light switches, timers, home automation controllers, key chain remotes, motion sensors, and PC interfaces. The benefit of this is your "remote" can be anywhere (and you can even have multiple remotes). For example, here is a 6-button keypad that would work:

You could have a timer/controller set up to run your pump at certain times of day, or have a motion sensor that runs it if someone is in the pool area, or a button to manually trigger it. With a controller you can do very complex things, like have it run if someone is in the pool area for more than 30 minutes, or if it's manually triggered, and also ensure that regardless of that, it runs for at least 4 hours every day. Heck you can go crazy fancy and have it run more after it rains, or after it's particularly windy (to get leaves out).

I've linked to smarthome.com (who is the manufacturer of Insteon) but you can also buy their stuff from many other places, including Amazon.com.

There are equivalents to Insteon in other technologies (both wireless and power-line carrier) such as Z-Wave, UPB and X10 (though X10 is very poor technology, I would recommend staying with something newer).

You can also combine. For example, there is a UPB dry-contact output which you could wire up to a definite purpose contactor.


Use 10 inch network patch panel with 19 inch switch

The most obvious thing is to get a patch panel designed for a 19" rack or one that comes with an adapter plate.

If you have your heart set on using the patch panel that you have then you would be faced with creating something of your own. I believe that the easiest way to do that is to purchase a ready made blank 19" rack panel that is higher than your patch panel. You then cut out a rectangular hole in this blank panel to fit your patch panel which you can push through from the front and secure in place with machine screws through the existing ears.

BTW. Blank patch panels can be had in steel and aluminum materials. You may find one type to be easier to work with depending upon available tools.


Is it OK to liquid nail drywall in a hard-to-reach corner?

Yes you can.  I have my guys use Liquid Nails for ceilings.  We still add screws but not really sure you HAVE TO.  Definitely nothing wrong with using the correct adhesive for a few studs on a piece of drywall.


From your picture it looks like in reality that the yellow (Y) wire from the fatter thermostat cable connects to the red (R) of the smaller two conductor cable. All I can see is that the white (W) of the smaller cable connects to the COM (C) of the furnace board. (That wire may look yellowed because of age but I suggest that it is actually white).

The yellow (Y) wire from the thermostat is typically the conductor that is energized to call for cooling. From your picture it is almost assured that the two conductor cable goes to your air conditioning compressor unit to cause it to turn on. The return for the current going to the compressor has to return to the 24VAC and that is what is the white wire of the two conductor cable.

The way that compressor control wiring is hooked up looks quite normal.

You should be able to easily use one of the spare wires in the fatter cable to feed a common connection from the furnace back to the thermometer. The blue or black wire is often used for this depending upon what is in the cable bundle.


Low dynamic hot water pressure throughout the house

There is a restriction, somewhere. You could use your gauge to verify that the pressure (while you are flowing from faucets) at the water heater is good (you've only done so qualitatively so far, and you have means to test it quantitatively, so....) But basically somewhere in the line is something that is restricting  water flow - perhaps a clogged or under-sized tempering valve (if there is a tempering valve) or the one I keep mentioning because it was a bear to track down and semi-unbeliveable when I did, an elbow almost completely plugged with solder. Could also be pipes plugged with mineral deposits.

If you open the hot faucets and pressure at the water heater stays good, move the pressure test up the line - somewhere it will get worse, and between there and the last place it was good is the problem.

Incidentally, 95 PSI is on the high side for many fixtures - you might want to add (or adjust if there is one) a pressure reducing valve and get to down to 75-80 PSI MAX.


In the field of an expanse of ceiling drywall nailed to the bottom cords, the drywall can rise with the chord and bend, but at 16" or less from a vertical partition one stops nailing to the bottom cord so the cord can lift without pulling the drywall with it. The drywall must be allowed to bend in this last 16" because at the intersection joint with the wall the ceiling drywall is joined to the wall drywall which cannot lift.


That is a Belden IBDN QCBIX1A4 BIX Distribution Strip with 4 pair markings. A datasheet can be found here. This product line was originally owned by Nortel, so you might see Nortel labels in your panel.

It's essentially a 4-pair splicing strip with 110 style punch down terminals - every pair of wires punched down on one side are extended to the other side of the strip.

Manufacturer's description:

  The BIX Distribution Connector is a 25-pair connector. The
  connector’s symmetrical construction allows termination
  of cables on one side and cross-connect jumper wires or
  BIX patch cords on the other. Each BIX connector is
  equipped with 50 double-ended Insulation Displacement
  Connection (IDC) clips for terminating plastic insulated
  solid copper conductors without stripping. The connector
  is built with two staggered rows of IDC clips enclosed in a
  three-layer construction of fire-retardant plastic wafers.
  Pair splitters on each side of the connector facilitate wire
  insertion.

Since it is certified for CAT-5e, you should be able to use it to extend ethernet to your rooms (and it should work up to gigabit speeds). Probably the easiest thing to do would be to get some solid (stranded wires don't work well with punch down blocks) CAT-5e patch cables, clip off the end (if you cut them in half, you can use both ends), then punch them down opposite the existing wires, matching the color codes. Then you just plug the other end of the patch cable right into your switch/router.

If you're lucky, everyone used the same color code, and it will work, otherwise, you might need to inspect your home wiring and the patch cable and match up the colors to make a "straight through" connection, i.e. pin 1 at the jack in your room, should go to pin 1 on the cable in your wiring closet, and so on. Here are the most common wiring color codes for structured wiring, but the installers (and/or patch cable manufacturer) may not have followed the standard:

You'll want to use a 110 punch down tool for this, a spring loaded tool works best:

(I'm not neccessarily recommending this particular tool - punch down tools range in price from $10 to hundreds of dollars for professional models. You're generally paying for longevity more than performance with the more expensive tools, for a few dozen punches, you won't see a whole lot of difference among the price range if you stick with known brand names)

But if you're only doing a few punches, a manual, non spring loaded tool would work:

There are other options, the BIX line also includes a CAT-5e modular jack strip that may fit into your existing panel, then you could punch down short CAT-5e cables to patch from the connector strip over to the modular jack panel. (or just move the blue wires from the connector strip over to the modular jack panel so you don't need to use short jumper cables)


Does it take long time to turn AC unit around?

You probably can't do it yourself, but an HVAC technician likely could. Moving the unit likely requires:

Evacuating the refrigerant
Reconfigure (and potentially rerun) the line sets.
Reconfigure (and potentially rerun) electrical.
Physically moving the unit.
Charging the system back up with refrigerant.

You could probably do number 4, and maybe number 2 & 3 if you have plumbing and electrical skills. It's doubtful that you have the tools and training required to do numbers 1 and 5.

Also, see my updated answer to that question, that explains why you might not want to rotate the unit.


Exterior metal threshold to transition from concrete to tiled entryway?

There is a significant issue with aluminum in concrete - e.g., an aluminum post or conduit embedded in concrete is not a good idea. My hunch is that a piece of aluminum on top of already cured concrete will not have the same issues. However, I am not a metallurgist and so, to play it safe, I would look for a similar piece of steel instead.
On the other hand, a quick search finds steel thresholds to be a bit on the expensive side. I suggest checking with an aluminum threshold manufacturer to see if installation on top of concrete is acceptable.


Three sets of lights, turned on together or separately

Cheap and simple doesn't work with what you're asking. The most you could probably do is keep the "master" switch for each section and wire another switch on each light which, at most, would only be able to toggle select lights individually if the "master" switch is in the on position.

The only other way to obtain what you're looking for is with electronically controlled switches and relays which, exactly how it sounds, is not simple nor cheap.


How to strengthen cracking joint compound after application over insulating foam sealant

Cut the foam flush, cover it with real drywall, and apply your mud over that.


Is 12 gauge electrical cable ever wrapped in a white sheath?

Yep. White was standard for #14 through #8 or even #6 until a few years back, when color codes came into fashion. Read the stamp or printing on the sheath to be sure.


Kitchen dimmer dims lights in adjacent room, but not always

In case someone runs into a similar problem, here is what I found and how I fixed the fault.

In the dining room, it turned out that the L1 terminal was connected to line and C to the load. This is the opposite to what I'd expect but I think is fine electrically (do correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway, swapping them round made no difference.

What did make a difference was replacing the dimmer in the dining room with one that's rated for the load (a single LED bulb). That made the problem go away completely.

(I'd still love to understand how the dimmer was picking up what was going on in another part of the circuit though.)


It sounds like you are trying to match your situation up to the wrong diagram. The diagrams vary because the applications vary.

Power is supplied at the lamp, and goes no further. There is a spur (switch loop) for the light switch. (6 wires + earth)
Power is supplied at the lamp, and constant power is carried onward to other loads. There is a spur (switch loop) for the light switch, which switches this lamp only.  (8 wires + earth)
Power is supplied at the lamp, and goes no further. There is a spur (switch loop) for the light switch, which also switches this and other lamps.  Switched power is carried onward to those other lamps.  (8 wires + earth)
Power is supplied at the switch and powers only this lamp.  (4 wires + earth)
Power is supplied at the switch, and powers this lamp and also onward lamp(s).  (6 wires + earth)

The splice blocks are designed to have enough screws for all the above cases.  There are yet other cases, but they are outliers.


Installing a new exterior door into a taller existing opening

The simple answer is to fix a 4" high piece to the top of the frame where the door would go.

However, you would need this to match the thickness of the new door you are fitting and you'd need to weatherproof the gap between this and the new door. Assuming that the door opens inwards you could fit a piece of wood across the gap.

Paint the wood the same colour as the frame to de-emphasise it, or paint it a contrasting colour (the same as the door perhaps) to highlight it.


using a relay to swich between main and solar power

There is more to it that you may not realize. By using manual switching, you inherently prevent even the remotest possibility of back-feeding the utility grid with your solar power. It is not physically capable of being connected to both systems simultaneously. As soon as you "automate" this, you introduce the possibility that something could fail in an unsafe state. The result could then be that your solar system is feeding the grid and a utility line worker is killed by it because he is working on the wires when your "transfer switch" screws up and connects. For that very reason, as soon as you go with anything other than a manual changeover switch, it must have certification that your power utility accepts regarding its safety.

You will need to start there before you buy anything.

And to answer your question about using solid state switching, absolutely not. Solid state switches "leak" when they are supposedly off. The leakage is minimal and for general purposes is often ignored, but for something like this it is potentially lethal.


Do I need to replace soaking wet insulation resulting from a plugged A/C drain?

Insulation can get wet as almost anything can.  If you can take the insulation out and dry it properly it will be fine - fan and moderate heat.

Insulation itself does not harbor mold quickly.  It is associated with mold because insulation (fiberglass/rock wool) holds water and makes things around it moldy.  As long as you get the insulation thoroughly dry within a few days it does not need to be replaced.


Is there any way to drill through minerall wool in order to install a pvc pipe?

I have used a copper pipe with an angled cut to push through several types of insulation with the plastic pipe following on behind.


Should I Circumvent the Pressure Regulator or Cap it for a Gas Line Pressure Test?

My gas line can't be pressurized since there is a pressure regulator installed after the gas shutoff valve.

That's... not how it works. Regulators don't vent in an over-pressure situation, they just close. If it's venting, then you have a bad regulator.

You should have tested with your regulator in position. Your pressure test did not test the regulator for leaks, and it should have.

Your pictures are a little hard to see, but here is an image that I think matches your setup: regulator before the meter, test point after the meter. Your pressure test should be testing the parts I have colored red, plus the piping and appliances inside.


Why did my wall-mounted garage door opener button stop working?

I'd start by opening up the opener, and making sure the wires for the switch are securely connected.

Inspecting the cable for damage, would be the next step. This would include testing the wires for continuity, to make sure there's not damage that couldn't be seen.

Check the control board in the opener for any fuses, and make sure any fuses are good.


It's difficult to help you troubleshoot a device, without a bit more information about it. Since you're not giving us much, I'll try to give general advice.
Depending on the system, there's a few things that could be wrong.
Gas Valve Closed
This would affect every type of gas fireplace.
Test:

Locate the gas valve.
Turn on the switch.
Listen for the valve to open.

If you hear the valve open (click, clank, clunk, etc.), but don't hear or smell gas. The valve may be off.
Most gas valves are quarter turn ball valves, so you can tell when they're open simply by looking at the knob.  The knob should have an arrow, handle, or other linear feature on it. This feature should be aligned with (parallel to) the pipe, when the valve is open.
Solution:
Turn on the gas.
No Gas
If you get your gas from a tank or bottle, you'll want to make sure you have gas.
Test:
Similar to above, except that the valve will be open.
Solution:
Fill the tank.
Bad Switch
Since the system relies on a switch to know when to turn on, a bad switch could be devastating.
Test:

Label and remove the wires from the switch.
Test continuity across the switch, in both positions.

When the switch is toggled on way, you should measure infinity (or not hear a beep). When the switch is toggled the other way, you should get a measurement (or hear a beep).
Solution:
Replace the switch.
Pilot Not Lit
If your system requires a pilot, and it's not lit. You can flip the switch all you want, you'll never make fire.
Test:

Look at the pilot.

If you see a flame, it's lit.
Solution:
Light the pilot.
Bad Flame Sensor
Fireplaces use flame sensors (thermocouples, thermopiles, etc.), to determine if there's a flame. If the sensor goes bad, the system will not hold the gas valve open.
Test:

Disconnect the thermocouple from the system.
Set multimeter to measure DC millivolts (mV).
Connect the black lead to the button of the thermocouple.
Connect the red lead to the copper part of the thermocouple.
Heat the thermocouple with a torch.

As the thermocouple heats, you should get a reading on the multimeter.
Solution:
Replace the flame sensor.
Bad Gas Valve
If the system is getting all the right signals, but the gas valve is not opening. It could be a bad valve.
Test:
See test for Gas Valve Closed. You won't hear the valve open. You'll have to be sure the valve is getting the signal to open, so make sure all other items check out first.
Solution:
Replace the valve.
Depending on the type of fireplace, the ignition sequence will be a bit different. using the typical sequences below, you might be able to narrow down where the problem is.
Typical Gas Fireplace Ignition Sequence
Pilot

Switch is flipped
If pilot is lit (checked via a thermocouple or other flame sensor).

Open main burner gas valve.
Wait (There may be an adjustable timeout, or a hard set timeout).
If main burner lit (check via another thermocouple or other flame sensor).

Leave main gas valve open.

Else

Close main gas valve.
Purge system (in the case of a fireplace, this is likely a timed wait).
Retry ignition (this may happen 0 to many times, depending on the system).

Else

Do nothing

Electronic Ignition with pilot

Switch is flipped
Open pilot gas valve.
Initiate electronic ignition device (spark gap, hot surface, etc.).
Wait.
If pilot flame sensed.

Open main burner gas valve.
Wait.
If main burner flame sensed.

Hold main gas valve open.

Else

Close main gas valve.
Purge system.
Retry ignition.
If no ignition after retries

Close pilot gas valve.
Lockout (this may require something to be physically reset, or a simple timed lockout).

Else

Close pilot gas valve.
Purge system.
Retry ignition.
If no ignition after retries

Close pilot gas valve.
Lockout.

Electronic Ignition

Switch is flipped
Open main burner gas valve.
Initiate electronic ignition device.
Wait
If flame sensed.

Hold main gas valve open.

Else

Close main gas valve.
Purge.
Retry.
Lockout.


what can cause 66 volts at 110 outlets in my moble home

Classic sign of a bad neutral connection. It's a dangerous situation and needs the attention of a professional electrician if it is in your house. But FIRST, call your utility, because it might be on their side and they will check that for free. If they don't find anything, they will not help you with your house wiring, that's your problem. But if you call the electrician first and it turns out to be a utility issue, you still owe the electrician for the house call.


200 amp service wire size in Mason County Wa

Apply 310.15(B)(7) to your entire service
NEC 310.15(B)(7)says that you take your entire (planned) service size - 200A - and multiply it by .83 (83%) giving 166A for you. You never need to use wires larger than that anywhere that's served by that service.  So any feeder - even if it's 200A feeder - only needs to be 166A not 200A.
So that calculates out to 4/0 aluminum (180A).  3/0 aluminum is too small to carry 166A.
Footnote:

Now, often when you go shopping for 100A wire, some fool will tell you "oh use #2 aluminum or #4 copper".  That's wrong.  The person is incorrectly applying 310.15(B)(7) on the assumption that your entire service is 100A, and they don't even realize their blunder because they're just giving 4th generation hand-me-down advice from someone else who misapplied 310.15(B)(7).
Actually, you need #1 Al / #3 Cu for 100A, and 310.15(B)(7) is saying that you never need larger than 4/0 (which isn't very helpful lol).

It's totally OK to oversubscribe
So for instance if you have 200A service, it is OK to have 200A going to the house, 100A going to the shed, 50A to an RV stand, 30A to a well, etc. even though these add up to more than 200A.  That's fine.
You are restricted on how much total load you can have on the service, and this is based on a Load Calculation. But that allows for intermittent and "non-simultaneous use".  You still want to make each feeder big enough it won't trip on its local loads e.g. welding in the shed with the compressor running.
Consider a "farm panel"
This is a type of service panel that has

Sometimes, a meter
A 200A main breaker
8 breaker spaces (they also make 4-space versions, avoid - too few).
"Thru Lugs" carrying the full 200A onward.

The idea is you come off the "thru lugs" to the biggest load - e.g. the house.  It has access to the full 200A.  Then you use the 8 breaker spaces for four 2-pole "feeder breakers" -- e.g. 50A to the RV stand (they don't need more unless there are two RV stands).  100A to the shop. Etc.
If your existing feeder to the house is only 100A, then go ahead and feed it from one of those four 2-pole brakers, just slap a 100A  breaker in there (90A if the wire is #2 aluminum or #4 copper).
...Except my service is only 100A
Since you expect to go to 200A, I advise still doing the above.
Only difference is you fit a 100A main breaker in the farm panel instead of 200A.  The 200A version of the panel is so popular that cost wise, you are probably better off buying the 200A version of that panel, then buying a retrofit 100A main breaker for it.  Then bag the 200A breaker and leave it in the bottom of the panel for that happy day in the future.


How do I keep my well pump connections from leaking?

From my answer before:

  When you connect this pipe to the fittings, you'll need to heat it up (I prefer MEP gas but propane works as well) just enough so it can go on (you still need to apply a bit of force). If you heat it too much to the point it stretches, you'll weaken the pipe and probably cause a leak - if you do this, cut the end off and start over. Use two stainless steel gear clamps to ensure a reliable connection (you can usually get away with one -- but in an outside location like a well, an extra couple gear clamps is probably cheaper than the pain of having to do this repair again).

If it's leaking, then:

You heated it up too much.
There is something wrong with the barbed connector (eg, a cut through the barbs). Brass male adapters are usually better than PVC. I personally don't like nylon, nylon fittings seem to wear out really quickly after attaching/detaching just a couple times.


Avoiding circuit overload with primary + battery backup sump?

By sizing the loads appropriately
Every load has a nameplate or published draw.  You are to use the numbers on the various nameplates to assure that you are not overloading the circuit, or (more literally to Code), to assure you provide large enough circuit(s) for your loads.
You can get any ampacity of battery charger that you want.
You seem to be looking for an electronic solution; that's grossly over-complicated compared to simply sizing circuits (or appliances) correctly in the first place.  But it is permitted in Code, mainly used for "load shedding" to allow an automatic transfer switch with a generator that is too small to pick up all provisioned loads.  You couldn't use that gear here because it is monitoring for sagging voltage or AC frequency from the generator bogging, and that won't occur on a utility-supplied circuit wired with proper wiring.  Unless the wiring is extremely long.
The DC pump is not powered by AC, it is powered by battery.  The AC battery charger which refills the battery, does not need to be large enough to carry the full power of the pump, and it does not have a startup surge. So it might be 2-3 amps, leaving 12-13 amps for the AC pump.


100 amp sub-panel replacing old fuse box

I agree with Harper and RME. You do not need a sub-panel.

A junction box will work just fine especially in an attic even if it is a walk-in attic.

The National Electrical Code requires, with few exceptions, that a conductor be protected at the point where it receives its supply.

The fact that you can shut all of this off with three breakers in the basement means that they are already protected.

If you wish to add AFCI protection then just replace the breaker or breakers in question with an AFCI breaker. Much easier and cheaper.

Good luck and stay safe!


I would work from the top down, leaving the floor for the end to prevent damage to the floor grout.

It should not be a problem standing and working on the ungrouted floor, just make sure the thin-set is cured. Cover it with cardboard or some old carpet or something.


Why would my Maytag FG6RC high efficiency furnace restart in the middle of a heating cycle?

Sounds like it's tripping out on high temp due to plugged filter or restricted air flow due to wrong filter or closed vents.
Nest thermostats also cause this.


New Construction 400 Amp Service / 200 amp sub panel / future solar

225A just isn't quite enough for everything you want to do here

Normally, I do not advocate for 400A services to single dwelling units; most of the drivers for such are large single loads such as whole-house instantaneous water heaters and oversized backup strip heating, and these tend to be harsh on the power grid.  The next smaller service size SCE provides, though, is 225A, and it just isn't quite enough for all you wish to do here, between the two hot water heaters, the heatpump, the EV charger, and the shop.  Even without the shop taken into account, I get a service requirement of 212A (assuming a 23A@240V heat pump condenser, 9.6kVA for the EVSE, and 5 kitchen small appliance branch circuits as well as an 8kVA range allowance). Given that a woodshop would have a multi-horsepower dust collector in it atop other motor loads, and other sorts of shop space are equally power hungry, this points towards 400A service, or making other sacrifices (such as ditching the second hot water heater).

Fitting it all in

One way to make room for the shop in your setup would be to sacrifice the second hot water heater.  While it may sound like a terrible problem to provision hot water throughout a 3800 ft2 house from a single point, there are tricks that can be used to ease this, and one of the most significant is to insulate, or lag, the hot water piping throughout the house, to at least R-6, using standard foam pipe insulation parts.

This keeps the water in the pipes from cooling off nearly as quickly, allowing near-instant warm-to-hot water without the need for an energy-hogging recirculation setup or multiple hot water heaters scattered across the house. It also reduces standby losses from the heater itself, which means that lagging the hot water plumbing is a good idea in any case.  However, if the demand is too high for a single hot water tank, that is also an understandable reason to have multiple hot water heaters, so I can understand if this is not an option for your situation.

If one is able to do that, then one can use a 225A, EUSERC compliant, over-under meter-loadcenter as a distribution panel to feed the subpanels at each end of the house, as well as the battery/solar system and its associated panel.  While this hardware is uncommon, it does exist; the Siemens MC3042B1225SED is probably the easiest-to-find example.  The other downside of this cram job is that it would limit you to a dust collector (of about 2-3 HP) + one power tool (1500VA) running for a woodshop.

Going for the big amps

If you do decide to go with the dual hot water heaters, though, then you likely will need a 400A service and matching equipment in order to provide sufficient headroom for shop tools and future expansion.  For the meter main, you can take one of two routes; either you can use a 400A meter-loadcenter, such as a Siemens MC2442B1400SD(S), as a distribution panel with a single main disconnect and feeder breakers to the aforementioned subpanels, or you can use a 400A multiple-disconnect meter-main, namely the Square-D CU12L400CB/CN, with the two 200A mains feeding the subpanels at each end of the house and a breaker in the loadcenter section feeding the solar/battery system.

As to those subpanels

Either way, you'll want to go with a pair of 42-space, 200A or 225A, main lug panels for the main subpanels in your setup.  This will provide ample expansion space for the future, compared to the pair of 30-space panels you proposed, without costing much more at all in the grand scheme of things.

You will also want a 24-space or 30-space, 125A, main lug panel as a dedicated subpanel for standby loads, given that you are taking about a multimode (battery backed) solar system vs. a simple grid-tied setup.  While it generally does not make much sense to have batteries without the ability to disconnect and run at least some loads off-grid, especially with the volatility of the modern grid, it also does not make sense to have a standby system, whether it be a battery system or a generator, try to run the whole house, either.

What about that solar and battery stuff?

While the combination of solar and storage is certainly not a bad proposition, it does raise some questions about choices in storage technology and system architecture, as getting the maximum utility out of battery storage is not merely a matter of hanging an "AC battery" off a branch circuit and calling it a day.

The first key decision you have to make with solar+storage is how you want the two to integrate, and there are three ways to do that: low-voltage DC coupling, high-voltage DC-coupling, and AC-coupling.  Each of these has pros and cons, which I will cover here in turn.

Going old school

The classical solution to the problem of integrating solar and storage together is to follow the lead of the off-grid folks, using a DC-coupled system running at low voltage, typically 48VDC nominal.  These systems are designed around an open architecture, with a variety of manufacturers making equipment suited for these applications alongside a free choice of battery chemistry, with classical valve-regulated lead-acid technology providing a low first-cost option, large-capacity lithium-ion storage solutions offering a balanced package, and modular lithium-iron-phosphate battery systems providing a high-performance solution at the cost of a high upfront pricetag.  They also provide good battery-charging control and low conversion losses, which is useful in places where the grid is relatively intermittent as it maximizes the practical utility of the solar harvest available.

This approach is not without its downsides, though.  First off, these systems require quite a bit of balance of system equipment, with separate charge controllers, battery/multimode inverters, and relatively costly heavy-duty DC switchgear, as well as rapid shutdown and arc fault protection devices.  Atop that cost, this approach requires fat copper wiring for the low-voltage DC bus to keep voltage drops acceptable, and fat copper is not cheap, especially in the fine-stranded type required sometimes for battery and inverter hookups.  The final downside is that these systems require an installer well-versed in the off-grid/multimode world; "box-pusher" contractors that are only familiar with a single manufacturer's hardware will struggle with the system integration required in such a setup.

Cranking up the juice (but it's not that simple)

The second approach is the one taken by SolarEdge, Pika Energy, and a couple other vendors, and that involves using a vendor-specific high-voltage DC battery pack alongside a specially equipped high-voltage string inverter.  These systems provide tight integration due to their single-vendor sourcing, while providing low standby losses and good charge control just like their low-voltage counterparts, and have the advantage that all the troublesome high-voltage DC switchgear is integrated into factory-built equipment.  However, getting replacement parts and upgrades are more difficult due to these systems having a proprietary architecture, and you are also locked into lithium-ion chemistries with this approach.

For a completely different solution...

The other alternative would be to use an AC coupled multimode solar system.  This uses either standard string inverters or microinverters to convert the solar harvest to AC, then feeds that AC to a dedicated solar or standby bus.  On this bus either sits a multimode/battery inverter's standby-side output, or an AC battery storage system such as the current-generation Tesla Powerwalls, that takes the AC from the solar inverters and converts it back to DC for battery storage.  There will also be a transfer device (either a dedicated unit if an integrated AC ESS is used, or built into the aforementioned multimode inverter) that isolates your standby system from the rest of the AC grid during a power outage.

The primary advantage this has is that it is easy to install, using relatively thin wires and standard AC distribution equipment for most of the system, while providing the opportunity for an open-architecture system to be deployed, easing hardware upgrades and replacements down the line.  However, battery charge control is much more difficult on these systems, requiring a certain degree of configuration intelligence from both the battery and solar inverters, and there are extra conversion losses in these systems compared to their DC-coupled counterparts.  Furthermore, taking full advantage of the open-architecture possibilities that using a multimode inverter in an AC-coupled system gives requires some of that aforementioned heavy-duty DC switchgear and thick cabling, and it also limits the amount of solar one can install so that the battery inverter can regulate the standby power system during outages.

What should go on the standby system?

The other hard decision one has to make in this case is the matter of what should be powered by your standby system vs. what you can afford to lose when the grid goes dark.  In your case, you have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.  The good news is that since you are in a warm enough climate that pipe freezups are not a serious concern, losing your heat to a power outage is an acceptable state of affairs.  The bad news is that unitary/hybrid heat pump water heaters, especially when your house has two of them, draw too much power for effective standby operation, which means that a power outage makes for some rather chilly showers.

That being said, if you are not dealing with extended outages, we can rule several other things out as standby loads.  The EVSE, being both a high-power load and something that can be deferred for the span of a shorter outage, has no need to be on the standby bus, for instance; nor does the range (far too large of a load), or any laundry equipment (since it's not running often enough to matter during all but the longest of outages). Furthermore, the range is simply too large to run on any reasonably sized standby system, and the heat pump itself is a heavy starting-current load, atop being non-essential in a relatively mild climate.

This leaves us with basic lighting, refrigeration, and a small selection of general receptacles (for essentials such as charging a cell phone, or keeping clocks running), as well as the nicety of a small-appliance branch circuit that can be used to run a microwave, toaster oven, or electric griddle, permitting a modicum of cooking capability during a power outage.  Fortunately, with the advent of LED lighting, one probably only needs to provide a few kW of standby power to run all this, and that eases things considerably, allowing a not-totally-unreasonable battery to provide a day or two of autonomy, even if the grid is down and the solar harvest empty.

Other notes

If you use a multimode inverter, whether DC or AC coupled, you'll want to provide a bypass facility so that servicing the inverter can be done safely without killing power to the standby loads; this can be done using a bog-standard safety switch as a dedicated inverter disconnect (something that your utility may already require), with power tapped off the line-side of the inverter disconnect to feed a breaker in the standby panel that is interlocked with the standby panel's inverter breaker using an ordinary generator interlock kit.

Last, but not least, you or your installer will need to torque all set-screw type connections to manufacturer's specifications using an inch-pound torque wrench or torque screwdriver.  This is required by 2017 NEC 110.14(D), and is good practice in any case, lest your electrical system lose you the race!


Very low humidity levels in new construction home - over ventilation?

If you have an energy saving, very tight home, then why would you run an exhaust fan of any size 24/7?  Bathroom fans should only be run when the occupants are showering or doing the other thing that requires ventilation. I would allow the fans to run when the bathroom is occupied either by the use of a timer, or by a motion detector. If you need that much ventilation just open a window! There are energy recovery systems that move air in and out of the house and maintain a balanced pressure in the home. They have a type of heat exchange mechanism,  to transfer heat between the outgoing and incoming air to make the units "more green" or energy friendly. Oh, by the way, contrary to some peoples opinion, forced air heating systems or any heating systems do not "dry out" the humidity in any home. The humidity is relative to the temperature,  raising the air temperature lowers the relative humidity and visa/versa. For your house, you will have to add  1 or maybe 2 whole house humidifiers to the heating systems. Raising the homes humidity will yield a more comfortable feeling at a lower temperature.


What is this hole in my basement floor and how do I repair it?

Lots of homebrew construction was still going on back then. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a makeshift floor drain for occasional use, say in the case of plumbing problems or heavy rain.

It's also possible that it's just a sinkhole from poorly mixed concrete and inadequate substrate compaction.

If the basement has been dry for a number of years, just patch it up with masonry of some sort (whatever's on hand). If you're not sure, consider installing a proper drain grate to clean it up aesthetically but leave it functional.


Parents cable box caught fire, hour later half the house is out of power?

It sounds like they have a floating neutral in the power. If outside at the cable junction box take a look at the connectors. If they are burned or melted then it is a floating neutral and the power in the house looked for a ground which the cable lines are grounded with the house electric. This allowing the cable to get energized which can cause the fire


Does a drainage pipe need to be continuously sloped?

It's true that, so long as the exit is lower than the entrance, water will find its way through the pipe even if there are low points in the path. However, as others have noted, debris could accumulate in those low points. So the answer to your specific questions "does it need to be continuously sloped" is a squishy "yes.. unless you're willing to install mitigations."
One mitigation you could consider is one or more sump pits/traps/catch basins along the path. Here's a sketch from Dejana Industries:

This construction is specifically designed to catch debris in storm water systems. That's not what you're after, so we can modify the design a bit.
Run pipe with a continuous slope at a sufficiently steep grade so that debris will carry along well. When you reach a point that the pipe is getting too deep in the ground, install a catch basin there. Take an exit pipe out of the pit at a level higher than the inlet and proceed to the destination.
During a storm water will fill the catch basin. Eventually the water level will rise high enough to flow out the exit pipe. Some debris will settle in the basin; other debris will float up and flow out the exit.
Construct the basin to be leaky so that after the storm the water remaining in the basin slowly drains away. That'll minimize the chance of breeding mosquitos or odors. From time to time you'll have to clean out the debris from the bottom of the basin, but it's better to have it there than in some unknown and inaccessible section of pipe buried in the yard!


Part of the problem may be sanding technique. It appears that you have used a soft pad or bare sheet. You need to use a rigid block to prevent sinking into soft spots.

Apply another coat of patch material, and taper it out a bit further. Proper drywall work doesn't involve much sanding at all, so make sure to use a wide knife or trowel at a low angle to create a flat, smooth repair. Sanding should take mere seconds.


This one's more than a little tricky.  But let's start by reviewing how 3-way circuits work in the first place.
(And by the way, you didn't make life any easier on yourself by unhooking all the wirenuts in the box.  The right way to do this is only unhook the 2 wires that were hooked to the old light, aside from ground.)
So here's a basic 3-way circuit.  Now I am a huge fan of identifying wires by color.  I use wires in conduit, so I get to do that.  With black-white-red cable, you can accomplish the same thing by marking both ends of the wire with colored electrical tape. I strongly recommend labeling as you figure out the circuit, and then always thereafter.

Black - supply always-hot
White - supply neutral
Yellow pair - messengers (they are interchangeable, so you don't need to distinguish them from each other)  Alt traveler color: blue.
Red - switched-hot - hot when light is desired to be on.

Note that between the 3-ways, is "/3" cable (3-wire) cable.  This is to accommodate a special rule: In any cable or conduit, currents must be equal. If one of the travelers is taking power to the lamp, the power must return via the neutral in the same cable etc.  That's why I drew it very thin with wires bunched.
This isn't your circuit, though.  Yours is a little more complicated because with 3 control points, it must involve a 4-way switch (UK:3-way).  But not that more complicated: take a look.

You can see I've moved the bulb, but it's just cosmetic; it doesn't really affect the circuit any.  And the 4-way just goes mid-line along the two travelers - inputs 2 travelers, outputs 2 travelers.   You can have as many 4-ways as you please, just like that.  I just left the second set of travelers yellow... it's not that complicated.  Note the screw colors (brass/black).
Now.  Imagine the first 3-way (and the passthrough neutral) is in a box.  Imagine the bulb and 2 yellow messengers passing through) are in another box.  Imagine the 4-way (and passing through switched-hot) are in another box.  That is exactly how your house is wired.

In this drawing I changed the second set of travelers to blue, supply hot to brown, neutral to gray and switched-hot to orange. Never mind that, though.
Physically, it'd look like this if we color-taped all the wires (a lot).  Note that in the /3 cable, the underlying hard colors used in your house could be absolutely anything.
Though I cannot say whether the bulb is left or right of the 4-way -- as you can see from the drawing, it changes very little either way.
So now you have some detective work to do. Take apart your switches, but don't remove any wires :) Among your switches:

The 3-way switch with only one cable in the box is the remote (far-end) 3-way.  The two wires on brass screws are the messengers, the other will surely be switched-hot.
Only travelers will go to the 4-way switch.  That'll be two wires from one cable, and two wires from the other cable.  All those are travelers.  The remaining wire from each cable is "passthrough" either neutral or switched hot.
The other 3-way switch will have 2 cables (a /2 and a /3 cable) - the /2 cable will be power supply source.  Again, the two wires on brass screws are the messengers and will go into the same cable.  On the supply cable, black will be supply-hot and white will be supply-neutral.
Up in the lamp, 2 wires from each cable will be travelers.  The remaining wires will be switched-hot and neutral.

It's also remotely possible that the power supply enters the 4-way box.  Let me know if that's the case, it makes the drawing slightly different, but not shatteringly so.


Many times people think they have GFCI outlets wired correctly and they are not. If the Outlet is tripped and the additional outlets are live the additional outlets were not wired on the load side. This has been the case for almost all the mis wired GFCI's I have been called in to repair. If a GFCI fails it usually will not power the down stream devices. With 2 devices not working I would verify the "line" and "load" connections.


making sense of a confusing light switch box

I concur with your guesses. (I must say I've never seen anyone conduct a circuit discrimination by manipulating the neutral wires!) The cable with [2,7] supplies power to everything else.

Questionwise:

If the white bundle were ground, where would the neutral be? It looks like you have no fault ground available in that junction box.
There's no fault ground now, so installing the switch without using the fault ground terminal will not make things worse.

Since you can't provide fault grounding without rewiring the apartment, consider replacing the outlet (or all the outlets) with GFCI-protected outlets. They usually come with a "No Equipment Ground" sticky label, which you would use. But that may be a project for another time.

Uncouple the white bundle and use a wire nut to tie them together, including a short pigtail to the neutral connection on the GE 12724.
Yes, you should. Use a wire nut to tie together the line hot, the load to the outlet, and a pigtail to the line terminal of each switch. Don't leave any connections just wrapped in tape; that's very unsafe.

How deep is the junction box? You want to know if you're exceeding the volume capacity of the box.

You have 8 conductors entering the box, and two device yokes which count as 2 conductors each. You have no internal clamps, no support hardware, and no ground screw, so your total conductor count is 12. If you wires are 12-guage, as they appear to be, each conductor requires 2.25 cubic inches. This gives a total requirement of 27 cubic inches.

You can find the capacity of the box with a ruler; just multiply width X height X depth. Two-gang boxes are typically about 4" square, so at 2.5" deep the capacity would be 40 cubic inches. Even if your box is a little smaller, if it's 3.75" X 3.75" X 2.25" that's still big enough at 31.6 cubic inches.

Yes, strictly speaking, it's bad. Electricians really do not like to put outlets and lights on the same circuit. Perhaps a licensed electrician will chime in here and tell us what the NEC has to say about this.


How can I diagnose disturbing voltage potentials?

From all this, I conclude the following is likely:

Only the outlet in the kitchen next to the sink is properly wired.
All other outlets have hot and neutral reversed.
There is no ground connection.
Unexpected observed voltages (mostly 60 volts) are caused by stray capacitance.

I'll mark it accepted when I get complete confirmation.

Outlets need to have their hot and neutral corrected. Outlets need to be grounded or labelled as "GFCI protected" and "no equipment ground."

Fluctuating voltage from the actually hot line to true ground (the water pipe) is caused by current flow reducing the electrical resistance of the line. Voltage is otherwise high and stable for the capacitive currents as they don't induce enough flow.


The foam you suggest will work well for what you want to do. Do not over fill the cavity, leave room for expansion of the foam.

After it cures in a couple of hours, poke it in a little, maybe an inch, more would not hurt. Clean off the skin of foam that is left so the new cement bonds with the old. The act of pushing in to compress the foam should relieve a larger area behind the hole, so the cement mushrooms inside the hole.


You'll want all of the adhesive off before you paint. If you want a non-chemical alternative, you can scrape off the majority a lot easier if you heat it up with a heat gun or a hair dryer.  This is basically what your sander is doing through friction, except the melted adhesive is sticking to the sandpaper and smearing instead of coming off.

After you get the bulk of it off, the remaining residue can be stripped off with an adhesive eraser wheel in an electric drill (do this outside, it will make a mess). This is essentially the same thing as the belt cleaner @paperstreet recommends - just powered by a drill instead of an elbow. Auto supply stores would be a good place to look for one.

Finish up by sanding with 120 or 150 grit sandpaper followed by 220 grit.

BTW, I hope that you told Sherwin Williams you were painting MDF and that they didn't give you a water based primer - these can raise the fibers in MDF and make it practically impossible to sand out.


The Panasonic fans are an excellent choice.  They are quiet and very efficient.  Broan/Nutone also makes excellent products.  I would recommend the new low sone models. Bath fans have a definite life expectancy. As they get older the bearing in the motor dry out and the noise level go up, up, up.  Either of these would make a good replacement; minor ceiling modifications may be necessary.  Be sure to vent it to the out of doors.  Because of the low sone quality of the new fans, I doubt the the reduced speed feature will be necessary. I would not recommend trying to incorporate the reduced speed switch with the new fan.  It probably would not be compatible.


What type of paint should be used to paint a brick fireplace?

I did this exact thing a few years ago in a friend's house.  The steps I took:

Remove lime efflorescence from the brick by spraying on some diluted white vinegar, then scrubbing with a stiff-bristled nylon brush.  Leave to dry.
Prime and seal (there were some smoke stains on the brick) the fireplace with Kilz latex spray primer.  Leave to dry.
Paint with two coats of a pure white exterior gloss latex paint that I had left over from painting some wood trim.  The rough texture of the brick meant that the final surface wasn't super-shiny.

This is how it turned out (sorry about the photo quality):


How about getting a Portable Air Conditioner - these can be moved room to room as long as you have a window you can feed the exhaust out. The link I provide in the example below shows two types of A/C units make sure you get the Portable Unit and NOT a window unit - they are different animals altogether.

Or you could buy a fan and place in front of that window.

Example of  Portable Air Conditioner (more examples on Amazon):


The answer depends on whether it is hollow or solid. If it is hollow then you need to find out how much is solid on each end. If it is solid then there is no issue. For example, taking one door somewhat randomly from Home Depot based on Interior Door + Hollow Core + not pre-hung:

This one is hardwood rather than MDF, but that really shouldn't matter much. What matters is the specifications from the manufacturer for the specific door. In this case:

  Door trimmable for custom fit up to 1/4in T, 3/4in B & 1/8in S

If it is solid then you can trim as much as you want, but you pay a lot more for the door.


There are completed instructions on the web. You will have to use the white jumper included with the switch or get a 6" piece of white #14 AWG and connect it to the two white wired in the box and then connect the other end to the neutral terminal on the switch. Read your complete instructions, especially #10 under the "wire strip lengths".
Here is a cut & paste provided by Harper that shows the missing part of the instructions. I have edited it into my answer with his blessing.


Can I use hot mud to create orange peel texture

I have used hot mud in a texture gun. Make sure to run it wet or it may plug the gun and cause problems. If you notice it setting up before the hopper is empty dump it and wash the gun or your gun may be toast. hot mud sets harder than regular mud. Both mixes will work fine and when you have your orifices set you can get the thickness you desire. Just a note never use warm or hot water only cold. warm / hot water will cause the mud to set much faster that's how I know about the gun being toast. I could not clean it out.
Added after not using a sprayer comment: It will be difficult to get a good orange peal with a roller. If using a roller I would strongly advise not to use hot mud because the working time is short it will need to be made up in small batches and it is really tough to sand.


Chain specs for lifting stumps with farm jack?

Chains come in different grades - those available in hardware stores are not the same as those designed for high loads.

Some chains as used for pulling car frames straight after an accident for ecampke are rated in tons and have welded links & they have a plate with the rating on.

Be very careful - a chain can break under load and you don’t want to stop one of the flying bits...


How is the input connection made to a punch down block?

Ethernet cabling isn't simply jointed together the way power or phone cables are. Each run from the various rooms should be punched down to the back of an ethernet patch panel:

It's unclear from your question what kind of patch panel you have or how you've punched down the cables. An ethernet patch panel will expose a standard RJ45 connector for every line. Then you need to connect each run to a different port on an ethernet switch:

In your case you will need to buy a switch with at least as many ethernet jacks as you have in the house.

A switch is a device that directs internet traffic to and from the various ports based on their source and destination. It is not just a dumb splitter. You then plug the router into one of the jacks (doesn't matter which one). Note that a modem and a router have different purposes, although occasionally they are bundled into the same device. You must make sure you have a router either built-in to the modem or sitting just after the modem.


Repairing lath & plaster wall- structural elements

If the lath is rotted the supports are probably also damaged, I would add some temporary support inside by placing a board on the ceiling  close to the wall and one on the floor held in by studs wedged in place  (nothing nailed the top and bottom boards protect the ceiling and floor). It will take 2 people to do this and add enough supports to make sure if while removing the rotted material your wall will not sag, without support. I have repaired very old homes that the owner was trying to repair some dry rot and when he removed the external siding the roofline dropped almost 4 inches damaging the roof and the plaster inside. Once supports are in place the exterior can be safely removed and any rotten studs can be cut and replaced. When all the work is done the inside temporary studs can be knocked out and used on the next project.


Yes, any spackle will fix that. Carefully check the metal vent box and you should find some screw holes for the vent. From the picture it looks like there might be a double drywall installation and the screws don't reach into the metal vent box. If that's the case, get some longer screws from your home store.


I would replace the entire sillcock (also called a stopcock, outdoor faucet, hose faucet, or spigot), because it looks like you lost the handle, too; in which case you  should watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj_nTbIWzfI,

Or if you really intend to repair it, try this instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cALQ3PR7k30

Edit- One important tip that I should add about installing or replacing the sillcock- it should lean downward as it exits the building. The reason that sillcocks are long is so that the important parts (the actual valve with rubber gaskets or rings) can be protected from freezing (by being inside the building). And it needs to lean downward so that it can drain or else it will have water inside the valve body that can freeze.

Edit2- In response to your comment, there is no "type" in the way that you are thinking of this. I prefer to call it a sillcock. It may have a long valve/valve body, or a short one. Unless you see the manufacturers brand name on it, nobody could guess, and it makes no difference.

The only way to know what you need is to take it apart. The bad gasket or rings should be obvious. Perhaps you can find replacement parts at a hardware store (or online). See the picture showing how to take this apart; be sure to turn off the (main) water before you take the sillcock apart. You may also need to use the sillcock key to unscrew the valve assembly. Once you have the valve assembly out, take it with you to the hardware store so that you purchase the correct size gasket(s) or whatever you need.