Where do I connect my new T-Stat in my Weil Mclain boiler

Your boiler wiring is a bit tricky...
Your boiler, along with some other Weil-McLain boilers, is a rather tricky beast in that it does not supply 24VAC to the thermostat connections at all times.  Instead, it only supplies 24VAC to the 'stat if the low-water cutoff has not opened its contacts to shut the boiler off, which is a problem for a smart thermostat because without that constant supply, it might "lose its mind" if the low-water cutoff on your boiler ever kicks in.
...however, we can overcome this, but we'll need to pull a fatter cable to do so
The good news, though, is that like many modern thermostats, your Lyric T5 supports what are called two transformer systems, with separate power sources for heating and for cooling.  Furthermore, in these two transformer systems, the Lyric T5 pulls power from the cooling transformer (Rc/C).  This is good because it means that once you pull a fatter thermostat cable through to have enough spare wires, it's possible to wire your thermostat so it gets constant power, yet doesn't inadvertently bypass the low-water cutoff.  (Consider that bypassing the cutoff would a) void any insurance you have on your house and b) render the boiler vulnerable to blowing up due to trying to run with insufficient water.)
You'll want to pull a fat cable for this, by the way; I'd recommend an 18/7 or 18/8 cable at a minimum so that you leave spare wires for the next installer to use.  Once you have the new cable in:

Red goes to R on the boiler and Rc on the thermostat base
Brown goes to G on the boiler and Rh on the thermostat base
White goes to Y on the boiler and W/W1 on the thermostat base
and Blue goes to C on the boiler and C on the thermostat base

This way, the thermostat gets constant power from Rc and C while connecting Rh to W/W1 to call for heat.  Once everything's in place and wired, I would run a simple test after turning things back on, though:

Crank the heat up to maximum to cause a call for heating
Head down to the boiler and activate the TEST function on the low-water cutoff, or simply unplug it from the boiler if your LWCO lacks a TEST function
Make sure that the boiler shuts off (stops heating) while the thermostat stays on when the LWCO is in TEST mode (or unplugged)
Once the test is concluded, make sure you reset the LWCO to the operating mode (or plug it back in if you had to unplug it) and set the thermostat to your desired temperature


New ceiling fan socket with copper wiring

This is not aluminum, but tinned copper instead

There is no reason to use aluminum at such small wiring sizes; what you see instead on such finer-stranded fixture wires is tinned copper.  This is done to allow it to be easily used in applications where it needs to be soldered (say to a circuit board in a dimmer or fan receiver), and has none of the termination issues that actual aluminum wire does.


How to store small computer equipment in a home context?

Structured media enclosures are a common solution.

It's basically a cabinet that can be built into a wall, where all the devices can be stored. It usually has some form of cable management, and a way to affix devices.


How do I disable a thermostat to prevent it from turning on the AC?

It's going to be the Yellow wire that calls for cooling (surprised that's an X and not a Y).

Two things to be careful of. First, the O/B is for the heat pump valve (switching the compressor from heating and cooling modes), so I'm not familiar enough with heat pumps to know if activating this valve but not the pump itself could damage anything. I don't see why it would, but it's something to consider.

Second, if you are running an AC when it's below 60F, you run the risk of freezing the coils (literally, the whole thing could be covered in ice if it's running at this temperature). Ice on these parts can cause permanent damage, in addition to being a waste of electricity since air isn't going to pass through a block of ice. If your roommate still thinks this is a good idea, now may be a good time for them to sign a liability waver to cover the cost of replacing the AC if it becomes damaged, and to switch the electric bill into their name.


Generally speaking, you must connect ceiling live cable (CL) to fixture live (FL) and ceiling neutral (CN) to fixture neutral (FN). As comments state, your fixture may not have a ground cable (strictly speaking), but some kind of screw, most probably with proper designation indented on it or with a proper sticker. If that's so, your ground cable from ceiling (CG) will match fixture attachment for ground (FG).
That said we have:
CL > FL
CN > FN
CG > FG

Note 1.: There is a possibility that your fixture may not have proper attachment or cable for grounding. It may happen with old fixtures or these not exactly matching codes. Not preferred to fix. If you omit the grounding step, the fixture will probably work, but it's not recommended.
Note 2.: Screws on fixtures may have designations like N (for neutral) or L (for live). That may help you with doing proper matching and fixing.


Shared neutral with two separate breakers

As long as the ungrounded  (hot) conductors of the circuit are fed by different legs of the service,  then there's no problem with the wiring. According to modern codes, the breakers need to at least have a handle tie. However, since the installation presumably predates the code, it does not have to be changed (unless you're doing work that requires it).

If you want to install AFCI breakers, you'll simply have to replace the two breakers with a double pole AFCI breaker.


Grounding fault - stray voltage on bath faucet

One of your appliances has a ground fault

It often comes as a shock to people, but sometimes their appliances have a defect.  Its internal electrical insulation isn't up to snuff, and it is leaking current (typically from the "hot" wire as neutral is usually harmless). If the leak is small, it may self-limit current to feelable but non-lethal amounts.   Such leakage tends to get worse, so what tickles today could kill tomorrow.

Essentially, the insulation failure and the human become a resistor ladder as both are resistors and both are in series. So the amount of the insulation leakage, and the quality of skin contact, determine resistance, and thus the amount of current.  Do it again with wet hands and now your resistance is much lower and you're dead.

As such, any tickle should be considered extremely dangerous and repaired with extreme prejudice.

DVMs (Digital Voltmeters) are not 100% reliable. Their resistance is so high (in theory they should read a fault as full line voltage) that they often misread ordinary capacitive coupling as relevant voltage.

Don't use yourself as a voltmeter. Hunt down a testing device that successfully indicates the fault, e.g. a non-contact voltage tester, mechanical meter voltmeter, neon light tester, etc.

GFCI/RCD is a starting point

If you want to get personnel protection in place tout suite, which I most definitely recommend, then install a GFCI aka RCD device powering either the offending circuit, all nearby circuits, or the whole house (which is the usual approach in Europe).  An 8ma threshold GFCI/RCD will provide personnel protection. A 30ma threshold will provide limited personnel protection, it can still kill, especially by a stun causing a drowning or fall.

Hunt it down, one appliance at a time

Now you need to move through each of your loads, and see which load or device is causing this.  You can start by shutting off one circuit breaker at a time, and see which one extinguishes the effect.

Once that's the case, note which devices are offline with that breaker off, and move through them one at a time.

Very rarely, it can be something totally out of left field.  I have no idea how to advise patrolling for that.


can a plasterboard ceiling hold a 4 kg projector

While I hate mounting things in ceilings without reaching joists (or other framing members), some modern toggle type anchors can hold loads of over 100 kg each in 1/2 inch drywall per anchor (many jurisdictions require 5/8 or thicker drywall in ceilings).

The load on ceiling mounted items is tensile and the use of several mounting anchors should give you lots of room. This link shows the load ratings of one brand of toggle anchors. Brand to brand ratings may vary slightly.

I strongly prefer the rotating bar type toggles over the old spring-wing types. They allow installation and removal without losing the interior component, and the load seems to be better spread over the drywall surface.

While two or more toggle anchors are theoretically more than enough for a 12 kg screen, the ratings are for static tensile use. If the screen is being moved up and down, either mechanically or by hand, that is a dynamic load that multiplies the strain on the fitting.

There still should be enough room for normal use, but understand that someone pulling down with their whole weight on a screen is more than any such mounting bracket can sustain.

Finally, things falling from the ceiling can do serious harm. Make sure that the projector, and especially the screen, do not pose a risk to humans (we can live with broken ceilings and devices).

  Images and links are illustrative only, not an endorsement of goods or sources


The red wire that is currently on the C terminal, runs out to the coil on the contactor in your condensing unit (A/C). You'll notice the white wire from the same cable is on the Y terminal, which connects to the other coil terminal on the contactor.

Technically you shouldn't put two wires under a single screw terminal, but it's done quite a bit with HVAC control wires.  Simply put the blue wire under the C terminal, and connect the other end to the C terminal on the thermostat. Then you should be in business.

Based on the information you've provided, the wiring seems to look something like this...

The blue dashed line should represent the unused blue wire in the cable.

The installation instructions for the CP-22 condensate pump, shows the unit being wired off the Y wire between the thermostat and the furnace.

Presumably, this is so the pump knows when the A/C is on. In your situation, it's wired off the R wire between the furnace and the thermostat. I'd speculate that the installer wanted the pump to always be active, as long as the furnace had power.

I can't say for sure that this is what's causing the problem with the C wire not working, but it's definitely something out of the ordinary.  Without a multimeter, there's not much troubleshooting that can be done.  If you had an HVAC technician on site, they would likely be able to install the thermostat. Unfortunately, it's difficult to do this type of work over the internet.


Can drywall cover a 30" span on the ceiling?

Opinion - you're nuts to bury those nice exposed beams. But, no accounting for taste.

5/8" might span it, though you'll end up with a lot of 6" scraps due to 90 rather than 96" spacing. 1/2" not a chance - it will sag badly.

If you strap it, you only need 1x3, and you don't (IMHO) want it 24" apart which is already a marginal spacing on ceilings - put it 16" or even 12" apart. Actually, if you can find steel resilient channel (AKA furring channel or hat channel or U-channel), that might work just as well and be a lot straighter than the average wood 1x3 or 2x4 you can get these days.

Might as well insulate up there if you are burying the beams.


Can I connect a cord and a GFCI outlet box to another GFCI outlet to power a pump?

It might work but would not be code compliant and with 2 GFCI’s on the same circuit you may have nuisance tripping. If you test the GFCI at the box it may trip that one and the one inside.


Is this T&P relief valve discharge pipe installed correctly?

Illegal. Your photo shows a TPV outlet pipe with a trap.  Last I checked, UPC 608.5 says "No part of such drain pipe shall be trapped ..."
Similarly, IPC (2012) 504.6 (8) Discharge piping serving a TPV shall  "Not be trapped."


How do I replace the front door on a stucco house?

In case someone comes across this in a future search, here is what I did on a similar project:

First, I used an oscillating saw with a plunge bit to cut the nails—-much easier than a sawzall. I used little magnets to sweep along the face of the stucco mould and locate them, then I plunged in from the side to cut them. I cut the paint with a utility blade along the seam where it joined the frame and tapped the mounding free with a hammer & chisel (aka screwdriver).

Then I cut the door frame nails with the plunge bit from the front and back after locating them the same way. Since my door also had zero gap between the frame and the studs, I had to do some persuading with a hammer to move the stud where I wanted it, plus a slight trimming of the bottom plate with a hand saw. My header was also nailed out of level and I had to tune up the corner with an actual chisel.

Now, my stucco molding was 1” thick and they apparently do not make that any more, so it was impossible to replace (would have been easier to paint and reuse it but it was in rough shape). I had to go with the 3/4” stuff. I also went with a door frame that was ~1/4” wider to compensate (old was 4-1/4”, new was 4-9/16”). The shape of the channel turned out to be different as well, so I simply cut off the exposed lip of the stucco with an angle grinder with a diamond wheel. I also had to rip off the lip of the stucco moulding on my table saw.

I had to cut the top of the stucco about an inch higher to match the new, standard sized door frame I bought from the big box store. I used a grout blade for my oscillating saw to do the corners. To finish I used OSI Quad caulking between the stucco mounding and stucco and it turned out great, no need to repaint anything because I cut a nice clean edge.

As you can tell, I ran into every single nightmare possible! But I could see all of them coming, had the right plan and more importantly the right tools. I wanted to share my experience in case someone else is looking to do the same job. Good luck!


How can I determine why my ceiling fan is noisy?

At first I would have said its just the noise of the motor Inducing the power into the windings. But since you hear the noise when the unit is off, It is obviously a noise near the bearing. Either your bearing has seized or the bearing housing assembly has been damaged.

The only thing to do is to try and gain better access of the bearing area and visually inspect.  It could be the metal scraping near to the bearing assembly, but its so hard to tell.

Remediation action could involve
- bending any contacting components
- replacing the bearing (which will be difficult since its probably press-fit)
- applying grease and lubricants to minimise scraping noise.

But once again, its hard to tell without looking.


Wire a sub-panel to run a pottery kiln, or put a breaker in the main panel?

You can rearrange your way out of your space shortage

While the presence of the service barrier in your panel makes clear that those two bottom-left "spaces" are actually useless as they are on the wrong side of the barrier to be used for a branch circuit or feeder, all hope is not lost.  With some rearranging of the existing breakers, and the replacement of one of them, we can make enough room in the panel to add a feeder breaker for a subpanel.

To do this, we start by moving the "This bedroom lights, plug, + fridge" circuit from its current home in space 5A two slots down to the existing spare in space 9A. Alongside this, we also move the "Master bedroom + back outside plug" circuit from its current home in space 4B down to the spare in space 12B, leaving us with spaces 5A/7B and 2A/4B as open pairs at this point.

From here, we can replace the existing dryer breaker with a DNPL220230; note that this is not a common-trip breaker, as CEC 14-302(b) (at least as of the 2015 CEC I was able to dig up) permits independent trip breakers in multi-wire branch circuits derived from 3-wire systems irrespective of the nature of the load.  The two 30A (inner) poles in spaces 5B and 7A are used for the dryer (just as they were with the DNPL153015 that formerly occupied that spot), while the two 20A (outer) poles that now occupy spaces 5A and 7B get the "Back bedroom electric heater" circuit from 2B/4A moved to them.  This allows the DNPL152015 that occupied spaces 2 and 4 to be removed, thus freeing room up for our feeder breaker, namely a BR2100.

You'll want to go big here, so you don't have to go back later

Now that we can run a feeder from here, we're going to take the liberty to install not one, but two panels as part of this.  The first one will be a CBRPL130, installed near the existing panel in the house, and fed using insulated 1/0 Al wire, either in the form of individual wires in conduit (hot, hot, neutral, with metal conduit as the ground path) or in the form of an armored (TECK90) cable.  This provides ample room for future expansion; if you wished to, you could even use a CBRPM140 for this new panel to allow the existing panel to be taken out of service at a future date.

Now that the space crisis has been averted for the long haul, we can then move onto feeding the shed.  This is best done using #4 Al in PVC conduit with a separate grounding conductor in the conduit, with a 70A (BR270) feeder breaker protecting the wires to the shed.  We then fit a CBRPM112 at the shed, with the main breaker serving as a structure disconnecting means, and a BR260 in it for the kiln circuit, as well as a BR115 each for lighting and general receptacles.

With both these new panels, the bonding strap or screw should be removed, as they are both subpanels, just like your existing panel.  Furthermore, it is a good idea to use an inch-pound torque screwdriver or torque wrench to tighten all terminal screws to the manufacturer's specified torque; this prevents embarrassing connection failures down the road.  The good news is that the shed does not need a grounding electrode of its own (it is grounded by the feeder equipment grounding conductor as per CEC 10-208(b)).

As to service capacity...

One of the other major substantive differences between the NEC and the CEC is in how they calculate service loads.  Unlike the NEC, the CEC does not count kitchen and laundry small appliance branch circuits separately from the base lighting and appliance allowance, as set out in rule 8-200(1)(a)(i) and (ii).  It also uses a 6kW baseline range load (vs the 8kW baseline used by the NEC) and applies an aggressive 25% demand factor to miscellaneous loads when a range is present, as per rule 8-200(1)(a)(vii).

It is this last factor that keeps the kiln from pushing your service calculations over the limit. When we run the numbers, we come up with 120m2 of floor area for your house, giving you an extra 1000W of base lighting load over the 5kW minimum, alongside 6kW for the range (assuming the range is not over 12kW), 3.75kW for the 3 baseboard heaters (with no demand factors applied), and a remaining unfactored load of 8kW (3kW water heater and 5kW dryer) that is demand factored down to 2kW.  This totals out to 17.75kW, or 74A @ 240V; from here, we add the 11.52kW kiln at the same 25% miscellaneous-load demand factor as the dryer and water heater, putting us at 20.63kW, or 86A @ 240V, well within what your 100A service can handle.


Detecting concealed PVC water pipe with ultrasonic sensor

An infrared thermometer would probably be a better solution.   You should be able to see them if you run hot or cold water.   You may need to decrease or increase the room temp to get better accuracy but I would go this router vs anything else.


Is using CFL bulbs without a ceiling covering them bad?

When you say "ceiling" I take it to mean a fixture lens or diffuser. All fluorescent lamps put out light at a high frequency that can be bothersome to some people. This frequency is determined by the ballast, which will vary by manufacturer and lamp type. The actual shape of the fluorescent tube makes little difference in the frequency unless the ballast is changed as well.

Diffusers and reflectors tend to mask the high speed off/on effect that is bothersome. Directly seeing the bare tube will more likely be bothersome than any other configuration. You've also dramatically changed the light dispersal pattern of the fixture by using CFLs in place of the intended halogens. This could also be why the new configuration is making you uncomfortable. Another factor could be the CFLs are putting out more light than the halogens did, amplifying the effects from other factors.

You might consider LED lamps that come in smaller packaging and may more closely replicate the dispersal pattern achieved by the original halogens. If you want to stick with CFLs, consider using those where the tube is encapsulated by an integral diffuser.


Building a Workstation (Piano Keyboard) PC DESK with MDF

Take a look at this online sag calculator to see the amount of sag you would get.

Using 18mm MDF shouldnt be a problem if you use a small amount of structural support.A relatively simple solution would be to fix 1 or 2 wooden beams to the underside of the desk and have them be supported by your side cabinets, which should provide enough support.

Another option would be to glue a second piece of MDF thinner than the width of your desktop to the underside of the desk top, in this way improving the strength.

Both options would not affect the aesthetics of the desk in general, as desks are usually quite low, so the viewing angle prevents you from seeing the relatively hidden structural support.

Of course if you are planning on placing the desk against a wall, you could always use a couple of L brackets to prevent sagging.


Is it OK to leave window opened and air conditioner ON (cooling) at night?

If you're confidant that the air leaving the house through the open window is warmer than the outside air that will come back in to replace it, I suppose it's OK to leave the window open. But I think a better solution would be to shut the AC off and use a window fan to circulate the cool outside air through the house. A window fan will be quieter and more energy efficient than an AC, and probably faster at cooling as well.

Which direction the fan faces doesn't matter a ton as long as you're moving the air around, but if you think about the goal of getting the hot air out of the house and the cool air in, here are some ways to think about it:

If the wind is generating any air movement through a window, use the fan in the same direction. No point in fighting nature.
If you have a single floor, put one fan blowing in and one fan blowing out, at opposite sides of the house.
If you have several floors, put a fan on the lower floor blowing in, and a fan on the upper floor blowing out.
If you still can't decide, point the fan facing out so that the waste heat generated by the fan isn't pushed into the room.


Many homes of this time frame had very few individual circuits and as you have found a mix of old and new wiring. With a large section not working it may be as simple as 1 conductor at a junction has failed. Tracing this may take quite a bit of time and or special equipment. I use a Greenlee CS 8000 circuit tracer it has a self powered transmitter that you can trace the wires through the walls and will locate the failure point. These are fairly expensive but you may be able to find a used one or factory second at a reasonable price but a tool like this may be a good one to have for future problems also. The CS 8000 works on both live circuits and dead. Other than that it will take tracing the wires back and the failure point could be in a wall or enclosed space the cs8000 will pinpoint it within a few inches.


Why is my radiator not getting hot water or have air in it?

You may have a air lock in your pipes.

Turn of all other radiator, and see if your pump is powerful enough to get water into the cold radiator.  If this works, then you need to bleed it again.


Is having a window in a room that is below grade a requirement?

I can't speak for your local codes, but in general codes (in the US anyway) require a minimum ratio of the area of window to area of the room for it to be called "living space".  There are also requirements for egress in that you should have two ways to get out of any "living space" room, usually satisfied by a door and a window.  An egress window has to meet minimum requirements for area and either width or height of the opening, and with a basement window, you have to have a window well that's large enough that you can climb into it from inside the house.


All you need to do is install the door with what is called a "jamb extension". Just get some strips of 5/8"x3/4" inch molding, then glue them to the non-hinge side of the new door jamb.  On a painted jamb these will for all intents and purposes disappear with sanding and some wood putty.  On a stained jamb you'll be able to see the extension, but you can minimize how much it stands out by picking wood with a similar grain pattern.


Properly installing a grounded subpanel for lightning protection

This gets rather complicated rather fast, because the requirements of the electrical code partially contradict the practical requirements of radio.  Worse, finding someone able to do it properly (or approve it) requires someone experienced in both fields at once - such people are few and far between.  Fortunately there's a way to do an end-run around the entire problem.

Use a separately derived service

Since you're already bought into installing a subpanel, you are most of the way there.

Install a supply transformer which has the side-effect of fully isolating the supply from your panel.  This causes the new panel to become a main panel rather than a sub-panel.  You will need to upgrade the antenna's grounding system to fully satisfy the Electrical code for mains power installations.  Since it is a main panel, neutral must be bonded to ground here.  You have accomplished what you want.

This arrangement greatly simplifies things.  Electrical people will understand what this is - separately derived service is unusual, but not that unusual - and a bit simpler than the complex isolated-ground rules.  A future electrician working on this system is not likely to botch it up.

The transformer

This is isolated from your house's regular power system.  This is accomplished by using a transformer whose primary is isolated from its secondary, which is most ordinary transformers.

Common sizes of transformer are 1.5 KVA and 5 KVA (a VA is similar to a watt, so 1.5KW or 5 KW - 12.5 amps or 41 amps at 120V.)

Most readily available transformers are configurable for 240V or 480V on the primary, and 120V, 240V or 120/240V on the secondary.  You would supply it with 240V from your main panel.

You can also obtain isolation transformers of various sizes, which may be 120V on each side.

The main issue is whether the voltage surge of the lightning strike break down the insulation in the isolation transformer.  In this case, there could be unpredictable results.  There's no requirement to connect the grounding systems to each other, but a heavy ground connection would help to reduce this voltage difference.  Realistically you cannot put enough copper ground wire down to carry the ampacity of a lightning strike.


Can a wood fireplace be completely open without any boundaries and just a chimney?

Yes - examples are out there. For practical reasons the chimney tends to be metal, or in older buildings, just a smokehole in the roof.


Is this a displacement or just a blockage?

If the pipes are displaced all jetting will do is clean out the debris that have made there way into the pipe, so yes you want confirmation. If the pipes are separated soil will continue to find its way into the drain, possibly causing a large enough void that can create a failure in a slab above and possible backups. I believe the problem was at ~ 1 minute , till about 1:18, I also saw something but it could just be a clump of something that got stuck, jetting and verification to make sure should not be a big deal.
I would ask for a second video just to be sure , the rest of the pipe is old but looks in good shape.


How do you remove Minwax stainable wood filler?

There is really only one way to rid yourselves of the "white" fill spots. You will need to carefully dig out a small amount of the filler so only dark wood is showing around the edges. You don't need to remove all the filler from the original hole. Buy a pre-colored filler crayon, Minwax and others make them. Match the color of the filler stick to your floor color. Sand a small area around your repair with fine sandpaper, an inch or two is plenty.  Fill the indent with the matching colored filler, smooth it well and put a couple of coats of urethane over the repair, feathering the urethane into the existing urethane finish. A foam brush would be good for this purpose.  Good luck.


Popup outlet on kitchen island - is it against building codes? California

This would not violate the NEC, which I think Ca uses.
Your building dept can tell you what electrical codes your area follows.

Possibly your contractor thought you were referring to the receptacles being face-up. That would be a violation of the NEC for a kitchen counter receptacle.

The main stipulation would be that they would need to be GFI protected by an upstream GFI device or breaker, and that it is hard wired.


What should I replace this broken condensate line connection with?

That is a simple brass hose barb.
I'd carefully unscrew it from the pipe, being sure not to twist and damage the PVC. Then I'd take it to my local hardware/big-box store and purchase one in a matching size.
If you have enough slack in the tubing, I'd also cut it off an inch or so below where the barbs are stuck in it and bring that to the store. I'd use it to ensure the barb end of my fitting went into the tubing.
If you don't have enough slack in the tubing, and, based on that angle and the fact that the brass fitting broke, I think you may not, I'd either:
A) Buy a short run of tubing and another double-barb fitting to patch the two together, or
B) Buy enough tubing to run to wherever this is supposed to go, but without stretching quite so tight. i.e. buy an additional foot or so more tubing than you currently have to relieve the strain on the fitting.
If you don't have any, pick up some white Teflon™ thread tape while you're at the store.

Put 1-2 twists of thread tape around the threads of the fitting (wrap clockwise, just like you'll screw the fitting in.
Tighten the brass hose barb into the PVC fitting (make sure you cleaned out all the old thread tape first). You'll want to tighten it firmly, but not over tight. Check back later for leaks (since this is a condensate drain) - if you see any leaking, give the fitting another 1/4 turn or so until the leaks stop.
Push the new hose onto the new barb end.
Connect the new section of hose to the old section with the double-barb connector (if necessary).


Radon test results came back as 1.7 pCi/L, is it safe to exercise in my basement?

As you have probably learned doing research, there isn't a hard-and-fast cutoff between "safe" and "dangerous". But 2.0 pCi/L seems to be the threshold for considering remediation, and that's for a living space. If you're using the room for exercise you'll probably only be spending a few hours per week there, which would dramatically reduce your exposure.

Personally I wouldn't worry about it.


Want to Control 2 thermostats separately from one gas fired heating only furnace

You should be able to wire the thermostats in parallel.  When either one is closed, the furnace runs.

Run wires from both thermostats to the furnace.  (You likely have one set there already.)  From thermostat A the two wires (usually one black, one white, sometimes other colours) are connected to two screws on the furnace.  With thermostat B's wires connect one each to the same two screws.  So both white ones are on one screw and both others are on the other screw.

Most thermostats don't care about current direction, so one wire to each screw.

Therm A -----------------------0-------------------------------- Therm B
        -----------------------0--------------------------------
                               ^
                       Screws on Furnace


check resistance from white wire "neutral". To Each wire. The higher the resistance the Lower the speed. Brown wires. "brown, & Brown" with white stripe. usually go to capacitor. (on 120 Volt) motors.
 Example>>> White to black, check resistance. write it down. white to red, White to Blue. The Higher the resistance, The slower the speed. Black is "generally" HIGH speed. Red Is "generally" the lowest speed. This is NOT always the case. ALWAYS check resistance to verify the proper wiring speed.
  Cooling mode is "generally" The highest speed. Heat is "generally" medium to Medium HIGH. Depends on the furnace AND the manufacturer specs for HEAT TEMP RISE. Always Check TEMP rise on all blower replacement.
 Hope this helps..


Why does the shower get cold when I flush, and how can I prevent it?

Why you get burned
One of the most common plumbing configurations, is a trunk and branch system.  This is where a larger diameter pipe runs from one end of the building to the other, and smaller diameter pipes branch off to supply rooms or individual fixtures. If any of the branches demands water (you flush the toilet), there is less water available to all the other branches.
Since the toilet only uses cold water, there is less cold water available to your shower when the toilet is filling.  This causes the water in the shower to be warmer, because there is less cold water mixing with the hot water.
How to stay comfortable
There are a few ways to reduce, or eliminate this burning feeling. Probably the cheapest, is to reduce the amount of water going to the toilet.
Reducing toilet water
You can reduce how quickly the toilet uses water, by simply closing the supply valve slightly.  This means the toilet will take longer to fill, but will reduce the temperature fluctuation in the shower.  Adjusting the supply valve can also have negative side affects, such as increased fill times, and noise.
You can also reduce the overall amount of water the toilet needs.  You can accomplish this by either buying a low flow toilet, or placing a brick, jug of water, or other object in the tank.  However, this method will reduce the amount of water available for each flush, so you may encounter difficulty clearing solids from the bowl.
Smarter mixing
Installing a new mixing valve in the shower, can reduce or eliminate the temperature fluctuations. Thermostatic mixing valves automatically balance the amount of hot and cold water being mixed, which will prevent drastic fluctuations in shower temperature. If the cold water flow is reduced (due to a toilet flush), the valve automatically adjusts the amount of hot water being mixed. This keeps the shower temperature more consistent, even when other fixtures are using water.
Increasing available water
Increasing the amount of water available in the system can alleviate the problem, but will likely require a major change to the plumbing.
If you have a trunk and branch system, increasing the trunk pipe diameter and/or the branch pipe diameter (if the branch feeds the entire room) will increase the amount of water available to the fixtures.
Distributing water evenly
A more drastic solution, would be to install a manifold with home runs.  This would likely require a major plumbing renovation, with almost all of the plumbing changed.
In this type of system, there is a central load balancing manifold.  Then for each fixture in the house, a dedicated pipe is run between the fixture and the manifold.
Supply and Demand
In the end, it's all about supply and demand.  If the demand is greater than the supply, you end up with a burnt butt. The only way to avoid uncomfortable showers is to reduce demand or increase supply.


Antique headboard and footbard with iron frame

It sounds like you have the rails swapped. Right on left and upside down. Try moving them to the opposite side and turned top to bottom I think you will find they fit that way and hold the slats in place.


Ideally, you would have used rigid insulation against the concrete. This would have worked as both your insulation and a vapor retarder (but not barrier). These days, vapor barriers are frowned upon in basements, as they ultimately lead to trapped moisture somewhere.

The only exception is closed-cell spray foam. That acts as a vapor barrier and insulation, but since it's applied directly against the concrete sans air gap, there is no place for water to be trapped in the first place.

Given the budget, I'd strongly recommend the spray foam solution.

Barring that, skip the vapor barrier, make sure the bath is properly vented (fan), and use a 'tile-side' waterproofer for your tub surround such as Redgard.


Do toggle bolts have to be perpendicular to the floor?

I can think of two things.

When installing, being horizontal will help the wings unfold, as one of them isn't fighting gravity.
Once installed, load is often in shear (meaning not straight-out, but at an angle downward).  If installed vertically, this will put much more load on the top wing of the toggle than the bottom wing, and it could be a "point load" which might help it dig into the backside of the wall in a non-desirable way.   If laid horizontally, the wings will see more of a pulling load, and be loaded evenly.

However, it would be tricky to keep a toggle from turning as you install it, so I don't see any way a novice installer could control whether it's horizontal or vertical.


How to wire a GFCI duplex outlet with a garbage disposal switch & combo outlet on load?

I don't know your "switch/outlet" combination in detail, but I'd guess there might be a connection by default (ie, the switch is tied to the outlet unless you break a tab) that's getting upset by the switch being fed from the line side and the outlet being fed from the load side of the GFCI. In any case, the disposal probably ought to be connected to the load side of the GFCI.

If the switch is the same one that worked or not depending how hard it's pressed, why haven't you replaced it yet?

The ground wire should be connected to the box. The other cable should be checked for a ground wire, and that should be connected to the box if it exists. The box & grounds should be connected to the GFCI and Switch/outlet ground terminals.

If you haven't dumped the trash yet the GFCI you removed might work fine, given what you have found with the new one.


How can I replace a light switch with strange wiring?

Since your other circuits are now switched, you have reversed the black wires. You must also eliminate the taped connection. Since your dimmer probably has wire leads instead of screw terminals, this could be easy. The thing to ensure is if you cut the yellow wire back to where it was taped, will it still be long enough? It should be if the dimmer has wire leads. Also ensure there is enough room in the box for all the wires and the new dimmer, as it is larger than a standard switch, it's easier to run out of room.

If it all looks good, first turn off the power to the switch box. Mark the black wire now attached directly to the switch as power. This was originally taped to the yellow wire until you got mixed up. Remove it from the switch and straighten the wire end.

Remove and straighten the other black wire now taped to the yellow. This originally went directly to the switch. This goes to the light you want dimmed. Trim it so the exposed wire is the same length as the wire stripped for the dimmer lead. Attach it to one of the dimmer leads with a wire nut.

Cut the yellow wire back to where it was taped, leaving an appropriate length of exposed wire. Trim the insulation as needed so the new end is free of any insulation. Connect the power wire, the yellow wire, and the free dimmer lead together with another wire nut. Be sure the nut is big enough to accommodate three wires.

Ensure any ground wires are all connected together, but not to any other wiring.

Turn the dimmer up to full power, and turn it off if you can tell the difference. Restore power to the circuit. Turn off the dimmer if it's on. Ensure the other circuits are still powered. Enjoy your now dimmable light.


outdoor light post rusted out at the ground. How to I prevent it the next time?

Make sure concrete is above ground.  3-4" is usually good.  This will keep standing water out.
Paint metal before putting it in concrete.  A metal primer and a sealant coat goes a long way.
Slope concrete form away from pole on the top 1-2 inches.  If you do this right the concrete at pole will be about a 1/2" taller than concrete at edges.  Your pole is rusting quicker because of standing water.
Caulk concrete to post gap.


Can I add a small stud on top of a plaster wall?

Yes, you can do that. I'd use 4" gold construction screws every 24" or so. If this results in a wavy plane, simply insert shims behind the studs near screws where needed.

I would remove the corner bead (if present) at the jog and tape to just the plaster. This will help eliminate the "ski jump" that's often present at outside corners, especially once you add another layer of tape.


Changing Stair Rise After Landing Replacement

A landing is required if the door swings outward, except for screen doors. The landing is to be the width of the door and a minimum of 36” in the direction of travel. (See ICC R311.4.3.)
The maximum rise of steps is 8”. The maximum difference between risers is 3/8” from smallest to largest. (See ICC R311.5.3.1)
The minimum tread depth is 9”. The greatest difference from smallest to largest is 3/8”. (See ICC R311.5.3.2)
A handrail is required if there are 4 or more risers. The handrail is to be installed a minimum of 34” and not to exceed 38” (See ICC R311.5.6)
Handrails are required on one side only. (See ICC 1009.15) It’s customary to have it on the right side descending, but not mandatory.
Handrails are not required if there are 3 risers or less. (See ICC 1009.15.4)
Make sure you have a minimum of 1 1/2” clearance between the handrail and wall. (See ICC 1012.7)
I think you’ll have to remove the treads and adjust the height of each so no tread is more or less than 3/8” compared to the height of any other riser.


How do I introduce slope on a rooftop deck?

You need to know exactly what the surface of the deck is, and probably what the structure under looks like. Otherwise, you'll probably only make the problem worse.

But without that info, 3 mm is not much. You didn't mention the other 2 dimensions, but a few minutes of sunshine will probably dry that up. I probably wouldn't do anything at all.


How to get this electric panel up to code?

Guess you'll have to go shopping for secondhand electrical parts
The good news is that with all the labeling in hand, it's rather easy to figure out which cover you need; the labels say right on them that this takes a HOMC20L125 cover.  However, your loadcenter is of an older design (Series 03) that has been discontinued for some time now, and according to this Square-D FAQ, the HOMC20L125 cover is no longer available from Square-D, with no substitute parts provided.  So, you'll have to find either the cover itself or a complete HOM20L125C series 03 loadcenter (note that Series 01 and 02 use a different cover P/N, and so do the series S0x Homeline loadcenters as they have convertible mains, a feature your loadcenter likely lacks given the lack of height up top) that you can harvest the cover from.


What do I need to replace 4 light switches on the same circuit?

Here is a diagram.  You'll need 2 3-way and 2 4-way switches.

[North America]

(Note: This is North American terminology)

[Europe]


Can I move heating vents below a window from the wall to the sill?

You only use heating when it is cold. When it is cold, the windows will be cold. Running the heat up along the cold windows will allow the windows to suck the heat out of the heated air and to the outside. As you have it now, the air is being pushed out into the room to circulate and mix with the other room air, warming the space, not the windows. Eventually the warm air gets back to the windows and gets chilled against them, but it is not circulating as fast. Doing what you propose will likely accelerate that process. I would not do it, your heating bills will likely go up.
What is your reasoning behind this?


Carefully pull the suspect nails (or all the nails) with a small pry bar or "cat's paw" and replace with new corrugated roofing nails like these:

Or, if appearance is not important, smear a big glob of roof patch over the existing nails' heads.


Without being able to test and troubleshoot your coils it is difficult to say but it appears your coils are two 120 volt coils with a center common to both coils. The white wire marked "Com".

You would need to take a voltage reading on the two outside terminals of the coils to see if you get 240 volts.

If that is the case, then a two wire heating element would connect to the two outside wires and the center wire would just get capped off.

Range heating elements are normally rated for 240 volts.

Good luck!


Those are called stop valves; when configured with the outlet(s) at 90° from the inlet they are commonly called angle stop valves. Yours look like dual outlet stop valves. To shut them off you turn the oval shaped knob clockwise all the way.

Internally, your valves use a bibb washer and seat assembly to effect shut off. It is very common for the bibb washer to be so soft/worn that tight shut-off is no longer possible. You could try tightening the knob with pliers, thereby forcing the washer (or whatever remains of the washer, or maybe the end of the stem where the washer used to be) onto the seat, to try to get the water to stop flowing.

In the end, if tightening the knob clockwise does not stop the flow then the valves need to be replaced. Many are poorly/cheaply made. Make sure you buy high quality replacements (not cheap ones) and consider the ball valve style, rather than the bibb style.


How do I remove huge gluey sticker tape on glass?

A good brand of orange oil (limonene) cleaner takes care of most of my tape problems. Some tapes, such as window-tinting sheets, are thermosetting, and removal requires heating. I used a clothes steamer/razor blade on the tinted windows of my Honda. That worked well. See method two, here.


Hard-wiring my Temporary power pole to my job site

If the electric panel, meter can and house wiring is complete, just have the electrical inspected and have the power company run the service. A electrician can run from a breaker on the temp power pole to the house electric, even if it's not all complete, but it would have to be inspected. Keep in mind that anyone could just shut off the breaker and there go your lights.
Note: This is/was allowed in Florida but you'd have to check with your local people.


My thought is have the stud flush with the concrete wall. Then use pine wood to create a box from the edge of the window frame to the finished drywall edge. Then put the trim on the drywall to frame it.
Creates a window box ledge for fancy stuff to sit on.


Flexible PVC to flexible metal conduit connector

Yes you can convert from liquid tight to metal flex you need a end for each and a coupling to connect the two. If both are 1/2” for example a standard 1/2” conduit coupling Will allow the two to be connected without a box.


The pairs of holes labelled "L" and "N" probably contain "stab" or push-fit connectors.

Try pushing a stripped wire into one of each and test.


Wiring three light fixtures to a headboard for my bed

Looks like you have already purchased mains-voltage lamps and are intending to wire those, presumably with a switch somewhere. You can do that, but IMHO it's easier to use low-voltage lights and you'll get nicer results too.

Use your favorite web search engine and search for "led puck lights". There are too many different options to list here, and that will be your biggest challenge. But once you find the one you want, you can just plug the LED driver/transformer into a wall socket, run the low-voltage wires to the lights, no fuss, no worries about burning anything down or electrocuting yourself.

This is similar to the other answer, except that I'll suggest you stick with 12V, or possibly 24V, equipment if you can. USB-powered devices use 5V, and will generally have lower wattage, and generally won't be dimmable (if that's something you care about…people often do in the bedroom setting). With the 12V options, they will either come with a dimmable power supply, or it will be trivial to rewire them with a replacement power supply that is dimmable (worst-case, you'll have to cut some wires and splice with wire nuts…the wires will all be small and carry only low-voltage current, so easy and relatively safe).

Other than picking an actual set of lights, the other "hard part" will be orienting the lights. The puck lights are designed to be downlights. You might want to build a short shelf in which you can mount all of the lamps, or alternatively you could build a little housing for each so that they can be directed downward while attached to the vertical surface of the headboard.

I used LED puck lights, mounted in a "box valence" (there's probably a better term for this…it's just a shallow hollow space that runs under the overhead cabinet, connecting the left and right sides of the Murphy bed frame) over the head of a Murphy bed in my guest room, and they turned out great. Just the right amount of light, they were easy to install, and the only part of the project that involved mains-voltage parts, was literally just "plug and play". I didn't have to do anything tricky or risky with mains-voltage at all.


How can I clean and smooth the finish on an old table?

Those questions are all interrelated ;)  Whether mineral spirits are safe to use depends on the finish. Any sense of age? Since there's more than one, I'll assume it's factory made and guess a polyurethane finish, and as another guess not oil based since it doesn't appear to have any yellowing... put a drop of water on it.  If it turns white it's waterborne. I'd suggest you try mineral spirits on an inconspicuous spot first, although that won't help much with refinishing  and will often leave a greasy film that may interfere later... you may be better off with naptha.

If you're trying to remove scratches etc, use a fine sandpaper, maybe start with 320 grit before applying a new top coat.  If you're trying for a high gloss, as it appears it has, it's much more difficult by hand... usually sprayed in a factory.  If this is a piece you're very fond of, I'd suggest doing some reading on refinishing and practice on a less important piece first.

Hope this helps!

Ooops, I see on rereading that you're trying to salvage the finish?  Start with 320 if there are significant scratches, work your way up to 800 or higher, depending on the gloss you're looking for you may want to go as high as 1200.  Stop frequently to clean the slurry from the surface and check your work.  Be especially careful at edges as it's easy to sand through the finish there.


Can I use a three wire cable to feed a whirlpool tub?

As long as the circuits are 120V you can run a 3-waire cable. The only caveat is that you would then need to use a two-pole GFI breaker to protect the circuits.

With two 2-wire circuits and single-pole GFI breaker (or devices) you can isolate the circuit for troubleshooting and maintenance.


Is there a peaceful way to handle this bird slowly destroying my car?

A cat would work LOL. Lots of bird problems this week. If you have a garden hose close. I use a motion activated water sprinkler. Probably will only take a few times and it wont come back. Motion sprinkler it keeps the geese out of my pool.


Replacing a single pole switch that has an extra backstab cable, with a dimmer switch

The backstab wire is a continuation of the hot ,black, wire probably to or from an outlet or main panel, Just wire nut it to the black wire from the screw terminal right next to it and the black wire from your dimmer.
The exposed bare copper wire is the ground wire.
The white, neutral, wire normally isn't needed when wiring regular dimmers or regular switches. It goes straight from the switch box to the fixture without being switched. If you were wiring up a smart switch, you would more than likely need the neutral.
Turn off the power before doing any work.


Do I need to support a section of a load bearing wall?

It's always better to be safe than sorry.  Is that section of wall supporting the roof?  If it is only supporting a single joist a 2x4 under that joist should be enough to keep everything in place while you cut and replace everything.


The rule says that there must be an outlet within 24 inches horizontally from any location along the countertop, so the outlets can be up to 48 inches apart!  Think of it as if you have a blender with a 2 ft long cord.  Ignoring the height of the outlet, you should be able to plug the blender in anywhere you place it along the counter wall.


What causes this brown discoloration in residential water supply?

Almost certain to be iron rust; a complex oxide/hydrate/hydroxide. Almost certain it came from a component in the water system such as a valve. I have a few steel valves in my sprinkler, they cause red/brown water for a few seconds when turned on. Rust is ( practically) insoluble in tap water. Iron can be soluble in water when it is ferrous ( Fe +2). I once had a home with deep ( 100' ) well. I filled a large above ground swimming pool all afternoon , great looking clear water. The next morning there was a a few inches of reddish loose gel-like stuff covering the bottom . Ferrous iron was dissolved in the well water, overnight the air oxidized it to ferric ( Fe +3) and it settled as "rust". Point being ,the rust is not coming from your well.


Fix/redo grout between ceramic tile and wood laminate before putting down threshold (transition)?

I don't see any reason to redo the grout unless the gap would be large enough to leave your transition unsupported in the center enough that it could crack if stepped on, which doesn't sound like the case.  I would however clean out the old grout.  If you don't it will undoubtedly continue to crack and crumble and you'd be surprised at how annoying a sound it can make when someone steps on or near it and the floor flexes.  Personally, I'd try cleaning it out thoroughly and caulking the gap. I'd also suggest silicone caulk over Liquid Nails for "gluing" it down as well.


Is it advisable to paint interior walls with a sprayer?

Pro: Quick TO PAINT. ONLY.

Con: you have to mask everything, but EVERYTHING, you don't want covered in paint. Floors, windows, toilets, sinks, outlets, switches, lights, the works.

Con: not good if you want more than one color, or yet more masking needed.

Apartment complexes that paint everything white and replace the carpets (and nearly everything is carpeted) afterwards find them "efficient" - most other people get the whole job done a lot faster with a roller and brushes.


Can a private electromechanical meter be placed between the utility's meter and the main breaker?

The meters shouldn't interfere with each other. They're just ammeters, after all; current is current. You will be charged for the parasitic load your new meter introduces, of course, which may vex your test.

Bigger problem is that you'll need the electric company's cooperation to turn off your circuit so you can rewire—and they are almost certainly not going to be happy about having anything upstream of the main cut-off.

You're more likely to get approval if you install a new box with its own main breaker, and make the old box a subpanel of the new one, with the meter between them. That puts the weirdness firmly inside the domain that you are entirely responsible for, and leaves a clear way to isolate it from their lines if necessary.  Essentially, that's the normal setup for apartments which are paying for electricity separately; you're just setting up a single apartment.

I suspect you're going to find that the electronic meters really are as accurate as the mechanical ones, or if anything are more accurate.

Wouldn't it be easier to just ask the manufacturers of these meters what their error tolerances are? Or to ask apartment building owners who have a mix of meter technologies whether their numbers add up reasonably?

(Especially since the cost of installing the second meter is going to swamp anything you think you might challenge on the bill, never mind the legal costs of trying to convince folks that your meter is the more trustworthy of the two. If you're concerned about your bill, putting the same money into energy efficiency upgrades would be a far better investment.)


Two power sources in a single gang switch box

Just looking at the connections in the switch box and the voltage readings on the separated wires, it appears that cable 3 (lower right) recieves power from the service panel, cable 2 (lower left) supplies power to adjacent rooms, and cable 1 (upper left) runs to the light fixture. - What is completely surprising is the actions of the two circuit breakers.

Perhaps you should begin by reconnecting everything. Then, switch off the circuit breakers individually and in combination, and note which switches and lights stop working in each case. If you find anything that goes dark when either breaker is off, or anything that goes dark only when both breakers are off, then your house is dangerously miswired and you need to fix it before installing anything new.


Any machine, including a washing machine, will walk if it has a spinning load which is unbalanced. This effect will be greatly enhanced if the machine is not level. In most cases a washing machine can be prevented from walking by leveling the machine perfectly and making sure that laundry is evenly distributed in the basket.

If the machine walks upstairs to the kitchen, gets a knife and then walks to the second floor into your bedroom, then simply leveling the machine will not solve the problem because it is probably possessed.


Exhaust ducts can make areas dramatically colder.

In a cold climate, there should be a vent flap near the fan that closes to prevent air flowing into the room - but these commonly only do a so-so job.

A better fix is installing a vent cap with flappers on the exterior of the duct. Because these have much more room to work with, and endure exterior conditions, they're much more effective and of better quality.

I'd probably do:
Step 1: check/clean exhaust fan and housing.
2: smoke test windows in the bathroom area.
3: since my washer/dryer are in bathroom, check that ducting too.
4: check exterior flaps


What backer board should I use in shower ceiling?

You don't have to use a backerboard on shower ceilings - especially if you aren't tiling it.  You can drywall it.

If you do use a backer board I would suggest Hardieboard.  You would then just put a skim coat of joint compound (mud) over and sand.


burners out of sequence with blower motor

Normally the burners heat up the heat exchanger tubes. The blower motor circuit senses the heat and turns on the blower motor fairly quickly. As long as there is a call for heat (thermostat on), the burners and blower continue their merry operation. When thermostat opens, the burners quit immediately and the blower runs a short while to get the remaining heat from the heat exchanger.
Does your blower motor wait too long to start, or does it stay on too long? Or does the thermostat switch off too early? Or do the burners shut off too quickly? These answers will point to the faulty part.


I think some modern NPT threads are not as well made as in the past. I have had more leaks than decades ago. Used to be white Teflon tape would work every time, but the last four (recent) 1/2" and 3/4" NPT connections I have made leaked.

In both cases I had to take them apart and use pipe dope. One (washing machine supply valves hot and cold) seeped for days but finally sealed, another (outside faucets) had a serious seep and may or may not have stopped (outside and not a problem). First application of pipe dope didn't work; I took it apart again and this time used pipe dope on female as well as male threads. The water meter shows no observable leak.


You should lay a bait down.  I recommend Advion, which is a product from DuPont or MaxForce, which uses fipronil.  You can do a search on Amazon or a similar site for "Advion ant" or "MaxForce ant". The bait comes in a plunger that you can use to apply in small places.  Find out where they are trailing and put a few drops down.  You can put the drops on paper if you are worried about your finish.  Every day (or couple of hours if you have a bad infestation) check to see if the bait's gone and reapply.  It may take a couple of weeks to kill them all.

As far as Terro goes, I haven't had much luck with it either.  The attractant in Terro's all sugar-based from my understanding.  The ants may be feeding on Protein now.


It's called a threshold and 36" is a standard size but many places might carry a larger size that has to be cut to fit due to door framing. Your best bet would be to remove it and take it with you to a home store and get a close match, they can vary a small bit in style but the height needs to be the same as it will fit up against your door. I have always caulk around any threshold I've installed just as an added protection against moisture. Good luck


Resolving two 3-Way Switches for two separate lights on one Combination Switch

Check your box fill
Your plan to feed the recessed lighting from and mount its dimmer at the existing two-gang where power comes in is a good one, save for one issue: box fill.  You see, the NEC allocates a given amount of space for wires and devices in boxes to avoid overcrowding and its consequent issues with wire-bending and overheating.  In particular, you have 18 wires in that box, consisting of 12 current carrying wires, 2 wires' worth of grounds (1 for every 4 grounds), and 4 wires' worth of devices (2 wires per gang * 2 gangs).  For 14AWG wire, this yields 36in³, which is a bit more than your average two gang plastic box holds, as those cube out at 32in³.  So, you'll need to check the fill capacity printed on the inside of your existing two-gang box, and replace it with an extra-large box if it comes up short.


what could cause my gfci to randomly trip?

I suspect the electronic circuitry of the AFCI is drawing some quite small current from hot to ground, which looks like a ground fault to the GFCI. This current is probably not enough to trip the GFCI normally, but when switching an additional load on the protected side of the GFCI, there could be some transient currents from hot to ground that take the GFCI over the trip threshold sometimes Remember, the GFCI is supposed to trip with as little as 5mA of ground fault current.

Try connecting the light and fan to the line (unprotected) side of the GFCI. I don't think code requires the fan and light to be protected by the GFCI in any case, just the receptacle.


thermal cutoff switch keeps tripping kenmore he2

The model is a Kenmore HE2 11087561603.  I just replaced the thermal cutoff and the high limit thermostat, which I hadn't replaced yet.  The machine is working fine now with no problems.  My mistake was not replacing the high limit thermostat and the thermal cutoff at the same time.  Based on the results, the high limit thermostat was the original problem.


What you have is a switch loop. You CANNOT take power from this switch box for another item such as your fan/light. You'll need to find an alternate feed for this to bring to the switch box. In this case you'd leave the existing switch wiring alone.


Replacing a Challenger breaker with an after-market breaker

You can use BRs instead of Cs
If your panel labeling says it takes type C breakers, then there's an easy way out of it: type BR breakers (as depicted below, with the type C labeling highlighted) are legal, safe, and widely-available (at any big-box or hardware store) replacements for type C breakers, as they are cross-listed (as per this letter from UL to Cutler-Hammer, as reproduced at the bottom of this post) and cross-labeled to replace type C breakers.  (A more modern version of this letter is available, linked from an Eaton FAQ.)

For more exotic Challenger breaker types, Eaton cross-reference document TD01201041E provides the gory details.

(PDF version)


How to verify that resistive load thermostat is dead

I would test the system as follows:

Turn of power at the breaker/fuse box
Disconnect the two wirenuts going to the wires coming from the wall.
Directly connect together those two wires, using a wirenut.
Restore power at the breaker/fuse box.

If the heater comes on at full power, then the problem must be the thermostat. If the heater doesn't come on or at low power, then the problem is elsewhere. For example, if the heater element has failed open, then no power can flow and the thermostat would not get power.
After testing, be sure to disconnect power at the breaker/fuse box. Do not try to use the breaker as a switch as most are not rated to be operated many times.


In electric system where is neutral line present?is it visible?

In North American practice, neutral is connected to ground in precisely one location.  That is in the main panel, as close as possible to the current source.  The reasons for this are well answered elsewhere on this forum.

That closest point is considered the main panel.  Anything else fed from the main panel needs to keep ground and neutral totally separate.

Ground and neutral are not interchangeable.  They should not be tied together anywhere else.  Ground should never be used for current return.  Neutral should never be used as safety protection.  (Those who abuse ground are defeating its protection and wasting the wire.  If they are not serious about grounding, they should just not use grounding at all.  At least then, it will be obvious to electricians that their grounds are no good!)


Does RedGard count as a rubber sealer in a shower?

Yes that is what RedGard is for (I assume you are planning to tile over the top of it).  It is a waterproof membrane, it stops any water that might make it through the cracks in the tile (or grout).  It is not intended to stand up to the abuse of a normal shower wall or floor so it must be covered with tile.
From the company's website:

Rated for extra heavy duty service
Meets Uniform Plumbing Code specifications for use as a shower pan liner

I used RedGard to waterpoof behind my tiles in my tub surround.  It was pretty easy to work with.


That brace is almost certainly not needed. Diagonal lumber braces are an outdated method from back when walls were sheathed with individual boards, and not with modern structural sheet goods. Also, modern, sheathed and engineered truss roofs provide substantial diagonal bracing where it didn't exist with hand-framed rafter and board roofs. You don't say what era your home is from, but I'd guess at least 1980s from the style.

I can't see what your wall sheathing is, but I can see that we're not talking about a major end wall or other area where we'd expect horizontal loading. If the roof structure depends on that short-angle brace in any way the building has other issues, but I doubt that's the case.

There's my $.02, which is all you can expect from a random guy on the internet. If you want certainty, pay an engineer to stop by.


Is 12 by 20 feet garage big enough for today's cars?

I have a few comments:

That is a pretty enormous car but looking online it seems like you should have about 2.5 feet on either side. That seems like enough. I assume you'll get more comfortable about maneuvering in the garage once you've done it a few times.
If you are concerned about the length, the are a variety of tools that can help you pull in far enough to close the door but no further. My favorite low-tech way is a tennis ball hanging from the ceiling by a string that has been adjusted so that it touches the windshield when you have pulled in just far enough. There are also high-tech gadgets that use radar and lasers.
If you want to park your car in the garage at all you I think should keep the space clear. If you slowly add various tools, boxes, extra stuff you will have a hard time when the forecast calls for snow and you need to spend 3 hours finding somewhere to put all that stuff. In my opinion it's just easier to have it be a car space or not.


Are SDS drills metric, standard or all the same?

There are three different SDS sizes: SDS plus, SDS top and SDS max.  You must match your tool type to the bits.  Within a given tool type (SDS plus, say), the tool side is the same.

They are available in both inch and metric sizes (on the cutting end).

Wikipedia article on SDS shanks

SDS-plus, SDS-Top and SDS-max. respectively:


Where do the hinge knuckles go on these fold down table legs?

It appears that the outside edge of the knuckle is flush with the hinge plate attached to the table top, like this (side view):


Is my plan for an air admittance valve ok?

The valve needs to be downstream of the trap, basically in the position an actual vent would be.

source

Also, be sure they're legal where you are. My local inspector forced me to run a new vent line and tie into the existing stack above the upstairs sink drain when I wanted to add a laundry drain.


Do you use that bathroom often? If the sink goes without use for an extended period of time you might get a sewer gas smell. The p-trap in the sink drain can dry out causing sewer gas to leak through the drain. The next time it happens run water in the sink and if you have a tub or shower then there too. See if it helps.


Are there differences to drywall joint compound and plaster?

There are huge differences.  I am sure a professional tradesman can go over the exact specifics but here is my common man take (even though I have drywalled too many houses to remember):

plaster generally sets more quickly
plaster is thicker
plaster can be applied more thickly (joint compound you get about 1/8")
plaster to me is like working with thinset except you will see the plaster as thinset is almost always hidden
joint compound can be sanded more easily
joint compound is more prone to cracking (this is about application too)
I would personally only use plaster for a very small area that is having cracking problems.  I have done some plaster work and literally drove me nuts.  Also I do not consider myself artistic.  When applying plaster it is an art.  If you over apply sanding it down is way harder than joint compound.  I would never think about plastering all of a drywall in a house.

The only thing else I can add is I don't know what they consider slow plaster.  I am sure that refers to the setting time.  The plaster I have used starts setting in 30-60 minutes (hence my reference to thinset).  Maybe they have something that lasts longer or maybe it is some combo plaster/compound.


Didn't stain my new fence this summer: do it while its cold or wait until next year?

Definitely wait.  The temperature will be dropping low enough during the stain's curing process that many problems could present themselves.

GOOD NEWS, HOWEVER!  If you used pressure treated lumber, then staining the wood is almost entirely an aesthetic decision.  While lack of a stain will cause a greying of the wood over several years of UV exposure, the wood beneath the grey will remain sturdy.  (Also even with the stain, eventually UV will take its toll.)

Rest easy - it's a non-issue.

When it comes time to stain, http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/ask-sherwin-williams/staining/exterior-stains/  should give you all the prep info you'll need.


Doubling the size of a closet with two rods

The blocks of wood your refering to serve two purposes, a resting place for the shelf above them and to provide a sturdy place for you to screw in the holders for the closet rod.

I understand once you move your rod up and install another one lower you probably won't use a shelf but I still recommend using the blocks of wood. Sure you could screw directly into the drywall, and maybe even hit a stud, but the chance that your closet rod will fall is much less if you use this block of wood.

If you have a hard time getting to a home improvement store to get wood, you can probably even use a board taken from a wooden pallet for this purpose. Just cut it to size, paint it up and it'll be fine.


What is the minimum safe gap berween leads on a 240 volt oven bake element?

I would double check this element, is it possible you received one that's mislabelled?

I haven't worked on a stove in a long time but I was under the impression that the distance between terminals was a critical dimension for a part to fit properly.

The amazon page for the replacement part shows the distance for that part as 1-1/4" which pretty much agrees with your measurement.

Amazon - ERB44X5082

And looking at a GE replacement part on Amazon, that looks like about 1-1/4" too...

Amazon - GE WB44X5082 Bake Element


Can my rotary hammer act as a hammer drill?

As a remodeling contractor, I've owned both hammer drills and rotary hammers.  The rotary hammers are frequently rated for drilling capacity by the diameter hole it can drill.  Most homeowner chores can be accomplished by 7/8 to 1" capacity.  You can drill larger holes, but at reduced speed.

There are 3 classes of SDS drills.  The widest range of bits are in the "SDS plus" sizes.  SDS max would be overkill.

I have and use an SDS-to-1/2 chuck adapter, which is rated for concrete drilling.  I use it for the smaller sjzes only.

I would recommend getting a 3 function rotary hammer;
 - Drill only
 - Hammer only (useful with SDS chisels) and
 - Hammer + drill (my most used setting)


Voltage not detected on either switch terminal when switch is turned on

This has all the smells of a switch in the neutral wire, which is a no-no as it's a potential shock hazard for a clumsy bulb changer, and forbidden by NEC 404.2(B):

  (B) Grounded Conductors. Switches or circuit breakers shall not disconnect the grounded conductor of a circuit.

The reason why the voltage detector turns off when the switch is on is because when the switch is on, the switched wire is effectively connected to the grounded conductor, putting it a few volts above earth ground.  When the switch is off, though, there's no current flowing, so the switched wire "floats" at mains voltage, which is picked up by your detector.


How to check if light is "Power Through Fixture"?

Actually, the thing  you're referring to is called a switch loop.

You can find out if you have a switch loop by opening up the switch, pop off hte cover plate and pull the switch out a bit.

If you see one cable coming into the box with two wires (white and black), and both go to the switch itself (as well as ground if present), that is a switch loop.

If you see one cable, but it has black, white and red wires -- and black and red go to the switch and white is capped off and connected to nothing -- that is also a switch loop, however it complies with current code, and that white wire is the neutral wire the smart switch is looking for.

If you see one cable with black-white-red, and all three go to the switch, see "3-way switches" below.

If you see two cables coming into the box, and the whites from each cable are wire-nutted or spliced to each other in the back of the box... and one wire from each cable goes to the switch (aside from grounds)... that is power at the switch.  That configuration is friendly to the use of smart switches.  The white wires bundled together are the neutral, and they are not "spare", they are in-use as part of the circuit. The smart switch's neutral can be added to these.

If you see three wires (other than ground) going to 3-4 different terminals on the switch, and 1-2 of those terminal screws are black...  that's a different thing, that's a 3-way switch. That is more complicated.  But as far as smart switches, you have more options if you have that nice 3-way cable with its red wire.


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

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

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

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

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

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


How can I switch a circulation pump between continuous power and thermostat control?

Yes you can do what you want.  If you don't have zone valves and you don't at least temporarily have the ability to move or insulate the pipes or provide a better long term solution, you can do what you suggest to keep water circulating.  You don't need to switch the neutral.  Just put an ordinary light switch in a properly housed and wired box to connect L1 to the hot side of the circulator, probably C1.  For wifi control use a zwave switch or any similar device, there are all sorts.  Move the circulator cable to the new box so you can use its knockout to connect the two boxes.
There is nothing on the low voltage side of this controller that would allow you to switch on the circulator without also turning on the heat.  The manual switch just bypasses the thermostat to turn everything on.
Note that with your situation you will actually be chilling the house, circulating near freezing water from outside to all the radiators, and hopefully eventually triggering the thermostat to fire up the boiler rather than just freezing the entire system.  Good luck with that, you might be better off disconnecting the offending section of pipe and putting an electric space heater in that room until you can address this properly.
Another thought, if there is a spare wire in the thermostat cable you could do this with a fan relay instead of a light switch and use the thermostat's fan control to control it.  Most stats have a "fan always on" switch and some have a mode that will cycle the fan randomly when heat is not called for.


Fluid flow across a valve wears away (erodes) valve components. The closure components (the valve seat and disc) are components of concern because the ability to effect tight closure is affected by that erosion. Globe valves are designed for regulating flow, the fluid travel path is designed to cause even wear to the closure components when the valve is open fully or partially (throttled). Backward installation changes the fluid travel path and will affect valve wear, perhaps causing problems with tight closure later.

Gate valves are designed to be operated fully open or fully closed. If there is a preferred flow direction indicated by the manufacturer it may have to do with the valves designed ability to withstand a certain pressure drop across it when it is opened or closed.


I have opened a similar broken handle. Gently wiggle a thin piece of steel, e.g. stanley blade, between the rotating handle and the fixed base, below the black part of the button. There should be a sprung plastic catch that can be pushed up towards the button and then the handle should turn.

Check your other working lock first. When it is open you should be able to feel the catch.

There are usually two screws holding the handle in place. One under the gold cover on the left and one under the handle when it is open. This is a common window handle and should be easy to find replacements from online stores or local window fitters.


Shower arm - thread sticking out of wall is too long

The nipple going to the shower head is too long. A simple fix is to measure the gap, then remove the nipple and deduct the gap distance and purchase a new one. I would recommend a brass nipple because there will be less issues with dissimilar metals that can eat away at the pipe or shower fixture.

If you cannot find the right length a new nipple can be made using 1/2" copper and 2 male threads. This will require some cutting and soldering but the exact length can be made if needed. Get some Teflon pipe tape or liquid sealant and coat the new nipple threads. I install the pipe into the wall first and snug it down then the shower head assembly. Use caution when tightening because you don't know how the elbow or 90 in the wall is anchored.


dimmer switch for both low voltage LED and leading edge at the same time?

My suggestion would be to use a garden-variety incandescent dimmer, connect the sconce light to it directly, then connect a Lutron GRX-TVI to it and use it to provide 0-10V to the LED driver.


The article that you linked to in your first bullet seems to be aimed at people who happen upon asbestos during day-to-day life by accident, one-off cases like in your experience. It is not meant to provide a guideline for people who work in the asbestos abatement industry.

The accepted answer linked to in your second bullet (and the question itself) is aimed towards people who are working with the removal of asbestos as a job. These people are in much more contact then a one-off small exposure such as your case. While the highlighted quote that was shared from the Australian government's guideline says that no clothing is to be washed in an worker's house (the employer should be taking care of this), the guideline also says:

  Laundering of asbestos contaminated protective clothing is not
  recommended, because decontamination cannot be guaranteed. The
  otherwise reusable coveralls etc should instead be disposed of as
  asbestos waste.

Again, this is the case for someone who is working with asbestos daily, their clothing will be highly contaminated.

If I was you, I would not be worried about the sweater or the other clothing being contaminated.


Does weathered wood benefit from paint or sealer?

You are correct to be concerned about sanding plywood. The exterior layer is often quite thin, however it shouldn't be that thin on an exterior grade plywood. Get in touch with your FIL and ask if he remembers what kind of plywood he used. I'd guess that it's an AAX - "A" is the surface grade and means that it's got a nice, sanded finish and all voids are filled - on the right-hand gate, just above the center lock, there's a knot and an oval that doesn't match the grain - that's a filler piece in a void. The second "A" indicates that the other side is also an "A" grade finish, and the "X" is an exterior grade indicating that they used waterproof glues to laminate the plys. It may have also been pressure treated to protect the wood itself from water.
Honestly, thought, there's got to be something other than just plywood going on. Each main panel has very distinct vertical lines, and thought the grain mostly matches, there are changes. Is it a bead board with those thin vertical lines cut into the surface?
To prep the plywood

Wash off the chalk - paint over the chalk will just fall off when the chalk gives up its grip, then you'll have more "permanent" drawings in those patterns. :)

Just some water should be sufficient to get the chalk off. You could just rub, but you might end up with splinters.

Remove all the mounting hardware

It will be easier to paint if you're not trying to mask/paint around the hardware
Water will get behind the hardware and that's where it will rot out first.

Give the whole thing a light sanding.

Your goal is to remove the surface dirt and to lightly smooth the surface, removing any small slivers that may have been raised by the rain, not to get to shiny, new looking "brown" wood instead of the grey weathered surface.
You'll want a finer grit of sandpaper, in the 100-150 range. This will help in removing less wood.
Use a sanding block so you've got a smooth surface
Don't sand any one area too much or you'll go through the surface layer
You're probably better off with too little sanding than too much, though this isn't a piece of indoor furniture, so minor flaws are probably acceptable.

Give the solid wood a nice sanding to smooth its surface and remove any gunk

You can be more aggressive in sanding here if you want, but, you're planning on covering it in paint, so it doesn't need to be perfect.

At this point you should be ready to apply your finish according to the instructions on the tin. Try to get the paint into the mounting holes to cover the interior surfaces, but you don't want it sealing over the openings, though that's a fairly easy fix. Once the paint is dry, rehang the gate, enjoy, and start making plans to paint again in a few years.


Any concerns with this water softener plan?

The main issue with feeding artificially softened water into a storage hot water heater is that softening water makes the water more conductive.  This isn't a big deal, except for the fact that the protective anode in your water heater tank that keeps it from rusting away into oblivion works harder and faster in more conductive water.  This is because corrosion is an electrochemical reaction, and there is actually a small galvanic current flowing through the hot water in your tank and back to the sacrificial anode through the tank wall -- the more conductive the water, the larger this current, and the faster the "battery" created by the sacrificial anode, water, and tank wall discharges, eating up the anode.

As a result of this, feeding softened water into most stock hot water heaters will cause them to die rather quickly of rust -- the anode goes first, then once the anode's gone, the tank itself proceeds to rust out.  If your tank is so equipped, regular anode changes (you may have to change anodes at half the warranty period or less!) are one way to keep the tank from dying; however, a better solution would be to fit the tank with a powered anode -- this uses wall power to produce a small electric current in the tank that suppresses the corrosion reaction by driving it "backwards" if you will.  (Think of the difference between discharging and charging a battery.)

(I have no affiliation with the Water Heater Rescue folks, btw -- they simply do a good job supporting something most people don't think about, and that's how to treat hot water heaters as something other than a throwaway device.)


Very good question but you need to find out more information.

The very first question on my mind is.. Where do they connect to ? if they are connected to anything else at all?

A simple solution

Find the starting point(A) and the end point(B) of either cable.

Using a multimeter and a *return cable** you test continuity of the cable. Either using Ohms = 0 which means short circuit(in this case good because the cable is good) or some meters have buzzer if there is continuity.

You can also test the cable without a return cable, by joining the ends (centre and shield- or a pair) at one side and testing the centre core and shield on the other. This will test the entire continuity. If there is no continuity - which means the cable is broken - then you would not know if its the core or shield. But at least you will know the cable needs replacing.

RJ45 Network cable used for 10/100Base Networks.

This is very time consuming because RJ45 have several strands of cable so testing one after the other can be beach. But one clever solution is to make a loopback on point B and test the corresponding points on PointA. If it does not loop back then the cable is most likely broken.

There are also network testing equipment that do the same as mentioned above.. but you have nice flashy lights and a nice loopback box supplied.Ebay a few bucks each for el cheapo ones.

COAX

Coax is a funny one and depends on what you need it for. Coax for TV, satellite or CCTV again. On digital signals you might get choppy or images cutting in and out if there interference. On analog you will see allot of "snow" or shadows. It is best to replace or check the fittings to see that the connections are good.

But you can test the cable also ...

Center to shield (No Ohm reading - No beep)
Center to Center (Short/Continuity - Beep)
Shield to Shield (Short/Continuity - Beep)

An extra step here (1) is to test for short circuit between single(centre) and (shield) without and return cable or joining any end. This will check if there is a short circuit on the coax.Possibly a nail or screw when right through the cable.

The other part if its used for a network then it all has to be connected and terminated to test it(but its unlikely its used for network because these types or network have been eradicated because of unreliability)

REMEMBER

This will only test if the cables are in an operable state. So you connect it and it will work. The bandwidth, noise-to-signal and interference will greatly depend on the quality of the cable, workmanship during installations, etc.

EG
The RJ45 could be rated for Gigabit but your bandwidth could a mere 250mbs(1/4 bandwidth) because the shielding has not been done properly, or the ends have been poorly installed, the cable is near high voltage lines, the cable is severely bent ins several places along the way.

COAX in general either works or not.But for Analog Video; again many factors come into play. For digital(eg satellites) it should be ok

*return cable - A long piece of wire that you know is OK. You will attach this at Point B and run it freely back to your meter. This way you can test the continuity of a single core.


I've not lived with a steam system, though I have some understanding of them.
Air vents (and your picture) imply that you have a "one pipe" steam system, where the pipes are sloped to allow condensed water to flow back to the boiler while steam flows to the radiators above that. The air vent allows air out of the system and then closes when it heats up as steam gets to the radiator.
A search on Hoffman Adustable Valve comes up with
Adjustable port for true proportional venting v 6 port settings from slow (1) to fast (6)
Which appears to be "1 is less and 6 is more"
The supply valves (as you suspect) should be fully open (unless someplace is so overheated you don't want that radiator to heat at all.) Do check that the upstairs control valves (on the steam pipes) are fully open.
It is possible that (some of) your air valves may not be operating as they should, and need to be replaced with ones that do. You could certainly try moving some of the "too warm" rooms from 2 or 3 to 1 or 2. It might be worth trying turning the upstairs air valves down to 1 and then back up to 6 - but they might need to be replaced. You should hear air coming out of the vents when the boiler starts up.


Does anyone know how to get rid of magnetic field from water line?

An unchanging or slowly (< 10 MHz) changing magnetic field does not affect radio networking (WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, iBurst, etc.) in the > 1 GHz range.  Even if that magnetic field is very strong, like near an MRI magnet.

You might try the same field meter set to measure radio/microwave energy.  That is far more likely to desensitize a radio receiver which would kill a radio network.  If a network router can't hear anything, it won't talk.


How do I stop the mantel over my gas fireplace from getting way too hot?

Most gas fireplace inserts can be fitted with a circulating fan:

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Fireplace-Replacement-Blower-brands/dp/B005CFLE30

That said, while your mantle may be getting too hot to touch, it (hopefully) was installed per manufacturer instructions and to code.


Pigtailing them (from a wirenut connecting the two wires and the pigtail) is a perfectly good approach, yes.

Check the old outlet to see if (likely) the tab connecting the two brass terminals is broken/removed. If it is, do the same on the new outlet before installing it.


Best bet would be to get a replacement adapter. Often you can find a replacement at a place like a Goodwill outlet store. At the place near me they have 100's of adapters for around a dollar apiece.

Next have to ask what happened to this adapter. How did the wire get like this? There is a distinct possibility that there was a short between the two bare copper areas and this may have burned out the innards of the adapter. Sometimes there is an internal fusible link wire that blows open due to a short and if this is the case then this unit is toast and will need to be thrown away.

If a replacement is not to be found then repair may be possible with care. It is delicate work but if you are handy with this kind of thing here is what to do.

0) Cut the damaged wire off of the adapter near the end of the strain relief. if at all possible note which of the two wires joined to what side of the wire that is down in the strain relief. Make sure to mark the mating wires so it is clear which is which.

1) Carefully cut away most of the length of the molded strain relief that is sticking out of the adapter. Use extreme care not to cut the two wires and their insulation as the strain relief is cut away.

2) The two wires that are exposed in #1 above will be joined together side by side via a rib in their insulation. Slit the rib between the two wires so that each one becomes a separate branch. From the picture it looks like these would end up being a little over a half inch long.

3) If it was not possible to determine which wire connected to which at the beginning then now is the time to look at the two wires on the other part of the cord. One should be identifiable from the other in some way. One may have a line printed on the wire insulation or there may be an identifying ridge molded in the insulation along the length. Look for matching markings on the stub wires coming out of the adapter. Mark with colored permanent marker which wire is which. (Note that if this adapter is one that puts out a low AC voltage as opposed to a DC voltage then there may be no identifying marks and  wire matching is not important. You can see the output spec on the adapter label).

4) Strip about half the length of insulation off of each of the two wire stubs from #2 above. Use extreme care to not nick or cut any of the fine copper wire strands.

5) Cut the end of the remaining cord back an inch to get rid of the burned and melted insulation.

6) Separate the two wires on the cord into individual conductors by slitting the rib in between the two. It will be necessary to separate these back about 1.5 inches or so.

7) Strip the wire ends of the stubs on the cord end back about a quarter inch or so.

8) Cut one piece of heat shrink tubing about two inches long that fits over the outer insulation of the two wire cord. Slide this up on the cord from the stripped wire end about a foot from the end.

9) Cut two more smaller diameter heat shrink tubing pieces about 3/4 inch long that just fit over the individual wire stubs on the end of the cord. Slide these well up on each conductor away from the stripped end.

10) Now individually twist the stripped ends of the mating stub wire ends together in a manner that they are twisted in line and not out to the side. Solder each twisted wire pair to complete and secure the joint. Two things to watch out for here....do not over heat the wires because the heat shrink tubing that you slid up on the cord end stub could start to shrink and you want to avoid that at all costs....and be careful to not blob lots of solder in this process. Ideally the two solder joints will be neat and the completed joint will not be much larger than the wire insulation diameter.

11) Slide the two smaller diameter heat shrink tubes down the wires so that they cover over solder joint and overlap the insulation on the stub wire from the adapter side. Use a heat gun to shrink the tubes over the wire joints. DO NOT TRY TO USE A MATCH OR LIGHTER to shrink the tubing. Use hot air so that you do not damage the wire insulation.

12) Lastly slide the larger diameter heat shrink tube down from the cord and over the other part of the joint to cover over the whole thing. Once again use a heat gun to shrink the tubing in place.

You can now test the adapter to see if it works correctly. This is best done using a multi-meter to read the voltage at the end of the cord when the adapter is plugged in. If it is a DC output adapter make sure the polarity is correct on the two contacts at the end of the cord. If all is fine you should be able to use the adapter for its normal duty.

NOTE NOTE NOTE

This repair will leave the wire exit at the adapter very susceptible to damage if the wires are yanked on or moved around a lot. So it is suggested to wrap the good part of the cord out from the repair site along the side of the adapter and then use two long zip ties that fit all the way around the adapter and secure the cord in place at the side. This will keep strain off the repair.

NOTE NOTE NOTE ABOVE


When your goal is to prevent rot, the best thing is to put those beams tightly together and then seal it all up with construction adhesive, or put a flashing on top of the beam to prevent water getting between the boards.

Having a space between the boards will allow tree debris to accumulate in there, and you basically have two separate beams (since they cannot as easily 'share' a load or transfer forces between them).


Making piping easily accessible inside shower

A tile guy I've been working with gave me a great pro tip recently: do all the plumbing in a shower in a vertical straight line, and use a single vertical line of accent tiles to cover them up, going floor-to-ceiling. This way, if you ever need to bust up tiles and access the pipes behind them, you only have to re-do that single line of tiles, not the whole shower.


Is it possible to use this reclaimed hardwood flooring?

Sanding is best done after the floor is laid. This enables you to get a flat finish across all the boards which would be difficult if not impossible to achieve by sanding prior to installation. If you have any particularly rough boards then you might want to sand them first - but it's not essential.

You should be able to hire a drum sander and an edge sander for a weekend which should give you enough time to complete the job. It will produce a lot of dust so taping plastic sheeting to any doorways will minimise the spread of the dust into the rest of the house.