How far should I insert downspout into sewer connection pipe?

In many places it's not legal to connect a downspout (storm water drainage from a roof) to a sanitary sewer system. The reason is easy to understand: if storm water flows into a sanitary sewer system the sewage treatment plant may easily be overwhelmed by rainfall. What happens when the sewage plant is overwhelmed? Untreated sewage escapes somewhere. Either the plant's output is not treated as it should have been or sewer plumbing upstream overflows.

On the other hand, if you're connecting a downspout to some kind of local storm water holding or drainage system, I suggest there should be a gap between the two near (above) ground level. If the underground drainage system should back up for any reason it's better for the storm water to spill out at ground level than for it to back up into the downspout and gutter system. By "gap" I mean use loose-fitting adapters so that backed up water can easily drain/spill out.

Gutters aren't always secured well; the weight of being filled to the top with water may tear them from the building. The backup may also encourage water to be wicked up into the roofing system. If the weather is cold enough for the standing water to freeze in the downspout and gutter, that brings a whole other raft of problems.


Rainwater Collection / Pond Water Storage (Tower) Support Question

This is a stunningly bad idea, IMHO. As @Comintern notes, that's a rather significant load to plop beside your house.  Far simpler and safer to run your downspouts over to where your sump pump discharges, and put a basin & pump there that pumps water uphill, to your storage tanks, set somewhere uphill, so they will provide water pressure when you are without power, if that's your concern. You could even put a hand pump in the system alongside the electrical one if you like. Or you could construct a much less scary (far less weight) structure that carried a trough or pipe from your gutters to the storage tank. If you lack a suitable hill, you could build one at a safe distance from the house and convenient to the garden with a few dump-truck-loads of rock/gravel...

You would definitely need a reinforced slab to spread the load, and calling an engineer would be the right choice if you proceed down that path. What is your seismic hazard level? I'm in a "very low risk area" and I would still be quite concerned to have the structure you describe next to my house in the infrequent, rather minor and mostly far away quakes we have.


This site says 4” modules in both directions. (I know some glass blocks come in 6” modules.)

https://m.lowes.com/pd/SEVES-24-Pack-2-375-in-x-4-in-Non-directional-Glass-Block-Spacer/1000117677

So to answer your question, the mortar joint is going to be as wide as necessary to provide a 4” module. (The spacer will make the joint the correct width.)

Don’t forget to add one mortar joint width for your wood frame


How can I get a coat hanger out of a drain pipe?

If you just pull on the hanger, it should bend before it breaks or damages the pipe.  If that doesn't end up being the case, then you'll need to call a plumber but it seems likely you'll have to do that anyway.


Why (if at all) is finish paint necessary on interior wood surfaces?

Unfinished wood is very porous, so it's more subject to dimensional changes due to humidity. Also, it's very receptive to dirt and oil from skin and cleaning.

I the case of a door top, it's not critical. I've done the same myself. You could simply apply a coat of stain or paint, which will improve appearance and partially seal the wood. A coat of urethane will not substantially increase the dimensions of the door either.


Cordless drill or impact driver for household projects?

I've got both (both Makita LXT tools). They're very different devices, despite the visual similarity, but at a push both can be used in place of each other. I also own a pillar drill and a mains SDS drill.

But if you've only got one, for general DIY, get a cordless drill (and get a good brand one), as it's a lot better as a driver than an impact driver is as a drill.

Cordless Drills

A drill can drill excellently – not as well as a pillar drill for precision or power (e.g. if you're drilling steel), and not as good as an SDS for concrete / engineering bricks, but pretty well in most circumstances. A good cordless drill should still be ok for smaller holes in steel, and may be ok on brick/concrete depending on your drill, the hole size, and the hardness of your bricks.

It can also drive screws fine in most scenarios, but will struggle with longer screws, e.g. decking. They're usable with sockets, though I don't do enough of that type of work to really say how good it'd be for e.g. car mechanics.

Because the speed is adjustable with trigger pressure, they're great for assembling bolts in flatpack.

Impact drivers

An impact driver excels at driving screws, and drives long screws with ease, and much, much faster than a drill does. Get one if you ever board a loft or do decking, or any other task that involves lots of screws.

It'll drill a hole in plasterboard with ease, and it's passable in wood with smaller bits (you'll need the more expensive hex drill bits), e.g. pilot holes. But it's nowhere near as good as a drill compared to using a drill to drive screws. Don't bother using it for brick or steel.

They're also not good for assembling (some types of) flatpack furniture – they tend to over-tighten bolts, and can over-drive screws, which can lead to putting a screw or bolt through the front surface of furniture (flatpack often has very little leeway for over-driving screws), or cracking the surface of furniture (if it's got a plastic or veneer finish).

Conclusion

My purchasing recommendation would be:

A good cordless drill
SDS drill – if you need it for your brickwork. I'm in the UK so houses are brick, but even still, many houses the bricks are drillable with a cordless drill on hammer setting. Unfortunately, mine are super hard.
Impact driver – nice to have, but less useful; get one the first time you have to drive hundreds of screws.
Pillar drill – great for woodwork & metalwork, but not really a DIY tool for 'household' jobs.

Make sure you buy a good brand if you can afford to – personally, I went Makita, based on what friends and contractor I know use, but having had a cheap one, a good brand really does make a difference.

Buy all your cordless tools from the same set, so they share batteries. I now have ~8 Makita LXT tools (including a handheld hoover – great for keeping the house clean!). You'll save a lot of money and hassle having all your tools share batteries.


Can I tap into this main gas line for my natural gas grill?

If your state has licensing laws a plumber can not work on this, you will need someone with a heating license. Most states with these laws have a system by which you can look up a persons license number and verify they are licensed and may even be able to find out if they have made any violations or scams.

I would suggest changing as many of those fittings with new as possible while you have it open. Some people will tell you that you can't use a street fitting or a bushing, in a few areas and canadia this is true, but for 99% of the us it's fine. If you're worried about the male threads cut in the cast fitting it's very easy to pipe it differently and I don't see you needing them here anyway.

There are a couple important things though:
1-Pressure! Make sure the line is at the proper pressure for your grill, you will need a regulator, you might be able to use the one that came with your grill.

2-Gas type, if the grill is meant for propane and you give it natural gas which has a lower energy density it might not heat enough.

3-Drip leg, before the appliance, 99% of code requires a drip leg, a tee with a 3" or so nipple and cap pointing down, basically a dead end, it catches dirt, rust, whatever. Some guys argue they are dumb, I have seen exactly one drip leg with stuff in it, but it was a good amount, not worth the risk of clogging any thing in my opinion, just put one on.

4-In line with the drip leg issue, I wouldn't use ptfe tape, there are approved tapes but if a small piece tore of from the joint it's very light and could flutter down the pipe. Just use an approved pipe dope.


Replacing sheetrock with greenboard after remodel

I don't think you need greenboard at all since this a kitchen and not a bathroom. The drywall is sufficient in a kitchen with tile. A kitchen doesn't generally have water soaking through the grout or other area that would affect the drywall. Now if having greenboard makes you feel better that there is better protection against moisture than just drywall then you should do it.


Cleaning the stone of a hot-stone grill with a detergent

What kind of stone is it?  I suspect it is granite in which case there really is no concern for washing with dish soap.  (Lawyers probably wrote that, so any warrant claims can be denied... :( )


What is the best way to demolish a little brick wall?

I've had luck using a sledge hammer in similar circumstances.

You'd be surprised how many problems in life have "use a sledge hammer" as the correct answer.

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Best treatment for dishwasher rollers that use metal screws

From your picture, it looks like just the washer is rusting. Replace the washers with stainless steel washers to prevent rusting. You can source these from anywhere you can find a stainless washer of the appropriate size.

It appears that the screw and screw-post are not rusting, indicating that they're made out of stainless steel.

Not sure why they would have made the parts out of different materials, but it seems they have - it's probably cheaper this way.


How to remove gloss paint incorrectly applied to wainscoting over gloss paint

Rip out and replace the wainscoting.  Wainscoting generally comes pre-primed.  For a little more at a better lumber yard, you can get a true plywood panel.  The big box stores will have MDF, which is much less durable.

You might be able to compel the contractor to do this.... but given the story above, you probably don't want them doing it.


What size wrench do I need to remove home water heater TPRV?

Get a 14" Craftsman or RIDGID pipe wrench. Clamp it on to the valve and turn it counter clockwise. Game over.


What is good advice for introducing kids to home improvement?

I'm young(ish) and still remember learning how to use power tools, so let me offer you a few thoughts from when I was learning:

I always find it helpful to hear about (or think about) what could go wrong. I.e. what's the danger that the user is trying to avoid. For example, a table saw is loud and scary, but what's really the dangerous situation you're trying to avoid? Answer: pinching the wood against the blade causing a kickback. OK, now that I know what the danger is, I'm better prepared to avoid that situation. (Just a single example; obviously a table saw has other dangers.)
I think the most dangerous tools are the ones that don't look scary. E.g. everybody knows that a chainsaw is a powerful and could kill you if you're not careful, but a hand-held router could actually cause some serious damage but they basically just look like a drill. Think about it: they've got powerful motors, long and sharp bits, are prone to grabbing the wood and kicking back if not careful, and can swing / fall / twist in pretty much any direction. Plus depending on how you're using it the bit may not even be visible.


. . . and I found it, sorry, I've looked a dozen times but today my google-fu is strong.

It's an Aube Th123 Series


Better plan: cut out the damaged drywall and install a low-voltage bracket and coax barrel wallplate

Some cheap-arse folks do what you see here -- simply punch a hole in the drywall to run low-voltage cabling through.  While this sort-of-works, it leads to ugly results like the ones you see here.  It's much better to do the neat and tidy thing and install a low-voltage old work bracket and coax barrel wallplate instead.

Installation is as follows:

Cut out the damaged drywall to match the cutting template for the old work bracket you're using
Install the old-work bracket using the clamps that come with it -- you'll have to run the coax through it first to do this in your case
Undo the existing barrel connection between the two lengths of coax
Screw the coax from the wall onto the back of the barrel wallplate
Attach the wallplate to the bracket
Attach the removed coax cable to the front of the wallplate


You can't do this unless you change the breaker to 15A. The 16 AWG wire as part of the lamps is allowed because the lamps, by design, will never have more power going through them. But the wires you put in could, someday, have additional power - perhaps another owner decides to put more lights or convert one to a receptacle for outdoor power tools. You can't control all of that (as much as you think you can) so you have to stick to the rules. 12 AWG for 20 A. 14 AWG for 15 A. You can have a mix of 12 & 14 on a 15 A circuit, but can't do that on a 20 A circuit because the circuit breaker has to be small enough to protect all the wires connected to it.


Can I replace a quad breaker with a tandem breaker?

I would SERIOUSLY reconsider an on demand, tankless electric water heater.   All the hype about the tankless: IE: Why keep 50+ gallons of water hot all the time when you don't use it?   Well, once the water is heated it pretty much stays heated given the quality of the insulation on electric water heaters these days. While tankless gas WH might make some sense (I still don't like them), a tankless electric WH is a MAJOR POWER DRAW and more complicated than a tank type.
I don't think you'll ever get cost recovery on the small energy savings you might get from a tankless.   Have you considered a HP water heater?  I don't know a lot about them, but they operate on a heat pump principle.  I hear their recover time is very slow, but there are real energy savings there.


Can I get power from a light switch to add a single pole light and light switch

If your wiring is very modern, a neutral wire will be present at the switch box, and adding a new circuit that draws its power at that switch is possible and simple.

If your wiring is not modern enough to have a neutral wire will be present at every switch box, but your circuit is wired with power coming from the service panel to the switch first, then adding a new circuit that draws its power at that switch is possible and simple.

But - if your wiring is not modern, and your circuit is wired with power coming from the service panel to the light first, then there is no neutral path available at the switch, and adding a new circuit is problematical. You will have to draw power for the new circuit from somewhere else.

I don't know how to be completely confident that there is a neutral wire in the switch box, but if there is only one cable entering the box, and the two insulated wires of that cable connect to the two terminals on the switch, then there is no neutral present.

The neutral wire in a switch box usually appears as the white wires from two or more cables connected together, typically with a wire nut. If you have many wire nuts in the box, then the situation is more complex, but one of the wire nuts will be bundle of neutral wires.

Before you modify any electrical wiring, you must know what each existing wire is for and what it is connected to. Do not under any circumstances just start hooking things up to see what works. It is easy to create a circuit that seems to work properly but is in fact a deadly hazard.


How to release this accuride drawer slide?

You push the black tab in to towards the side of the drawer. Then lift up the front edge, making sure the black tab fits through the slot. Once the black tab is clear, you can pull the drawer out a tiny bit to unhook the hook towards the back.


What is the best way to repair a large crumbling block on a corner of the house wall?

My house was built in the 1880s and has a stone foundation, mostly sand stone. The best fix for situations like this I have found is building a form and packing in stiff cement and as large of pieces of the original rock as I can get. If you do the form in a couple layers (say using a 2x4 or 2x6, the long way). Let the cement s set around 24 hours and brush off any excess with a wire brush.


Can I straighten a 2x4 with just a planer?

In short, no. If your 2x4 is twisted or bowed, all planing it would do is cut the parts off that were not straight. You'd be left with something that would be unusable.

You don't need a fancy machine to straighten it, however. All you need is some room and some weights (i.e. bricks). Set it on a level surface with weight to hold it in place and weights to correct the curve. Eventually the board will straighten. It's time intensive, however.


Why would a circuit 'all of a sudden' read 50v? Its is an outdoor GFI that has worked perfectly for years and then not. Could it be at the breaker?

This might be "phantom voltage" - i.e., voltage read when the circuit is effectively dead. Or it could be something else.
Troubleshooting process is to start at the beginning - the breaker - and work your way out.
You could have a bad breaker, but normally breakers will either fail off (in which case there is no real danger, but the circuit will be dead, but you may read phantom voltage) or fail on (extremely dangerous). But a failed breaker would be extremely unlikely to cause a "real" partial voltage - electricity doesn't work that way.
Then work your way out to each receptacle or other device (switch, lighting fixture, etc.) in the circuit. Any place that there is a junction - a wire nut, two wires (or a looped wire) under a screw, wires on two sides of a receptacle - could have the possibility of a loose or broken connection. A broken connection will result in the rest of the circuit being dead (but again, possibly phantom voltage). A loose connection can result in high resistance (among other problems), which could cause all kinds of strange readings.
Pay special attention to "back stab" connections. This is where a wire is stuck into the back of a receptacle instead of around a screw. Back stabs are more prone to failure than screw connections. If you find any, move them to screws instead.


Running two new circuits to outside backyard (One for swimming pool)

Two circuits to the same place must be different.

You can't simply run two 120V general-purpose circuits to an outdoor location or outbuilding.  There must be something that makes one circuit different from the other.  For instance it can be a different voltage (120 vs 240 vs 120/240 split vs MWBC)... Or differently controlled (always-on, on a manual switch, pressure switch, timer, etc.)

For instance you could have a 240v pump working off a pressure switch, a 240V always-hot circuit powering heater on a thermostat in a shed, a general purpose 120V circuit, and two lighting circuits controlled by different switches.

Separate neutrals required; shared ground is fine

In fact, certain types of conduit are permitted to be used as the ground wire.   The ground needs to be sized for the largest circuit.

Upsizing wires is a good idea for these distances

It's not required to upsize wires for long distances, but it certainly helps machines perform better and reduce breaker trips.

Once you commit to 12 AWG you might as well breaker for 20A.

No more than four

You can have a maximum four circuits per conduit.   240V/120V circuits count as one circuit.  MWBCs count as one circuit.

If you want to have more than four circuits, you can do up to ten if you bump all the circuits up a wire size (well, 2 sizes, 12 to 10 etc.).  This applies to circuits up to 20A.  For larger, the math is more complicated.


Teflon tape is easy to remove, but probably won't help in your situation. Garden hoses don't seal via the threads meshing together. They seal via a washer on the female connector. A pack of rubber hose washers is pretty cheap - I'd replace them and see if it helps.


Any possible fixes for separated mending plate in truss?

Gently remove the old plates and jack or screw the bottom chord tight, then install steel plates with screws. Don't trust the original gussets to hold if you pound them back into place. The new plates should be at least as large and thick as the originals.

1" truss-head screws would be appropriate. Put screws in every hole with good wood behind it.


I would use 1" or 2" rigid foam. You can glue it, but I would glue and use small bolts and fender washers on both sides of the door to keep the bolts from pulling through. #8 screws or carriage bolts should both work. Carriage bolts would look better. I would use locking nuts also. The foam's R-value is not as high as I would like.

Perhaps another alternative is spray foam--but I am unsure how that will work on the door seams.


For stucco I would consider using plastic expansion anchors. For a smallish screw these should work well and minimize the size of hole you have to drill into the stucco.

You have to be rather careful when drilling in stucco in that it is rather easy to find your hole getting larger diameter than you want. This happens when the carbide cutting tips on the masonry drill hit the wire embedded in the stucco. The stucco material is rather soft and the drill bit likes to walk to the side instead of going through the wire.

Plastic anchors use regular pan head type sheet metal style screws. This can be an advantage if you need to re-work a mount point at some point. Using a masonry specific type of screw tends to be a one shot deal and they also require a drill hole with very close tolerances (review comment above regarding the wire in stucco).


Will a 3rd Generation Nest thermostat correctly adjust the humidity base on outdoor conditions?

In my experience Nest's customer support is excellent, they have technicians which seem to be capable of talking homeowners and pros through some fair technical installs.

It appears that this is a common question, and that Nest doesn't support this feature yet, but I would call Nest's support line and see if they have any tips.


Roof Decking: Plywood/OSB over skip sheathing (decking) or should I strip to the rafters?

Skip sheathing for shake roofs used to be really common around my area of the country and I've never removed it (or seen anybody else remove it for that matter).  OSB or plywood over skip sheathing makes for a much stiffer roof deck, resists problems with expansion better, and obviously doesn't require all the hassle of removing it.

After you strip the roof, do spot repairs to the existing sheathing where needed, then go right over it.  You'll want to use both longer sheathing nails and longer roofing nails.  The sheathing nails should be long enough to give a good hold in the studs, and the roofing nails should be long enough to penetrate both layers of sheathing.


Can I add recessed lights to a ceiling fan, without adding a new switch?

It is theoretically possible, but there are several problems:

The pull chain switch for the lights has a certain amperage rating and adding the cans might exceed that rating
The fan assembly with switch is likely a UL approved device, and modifying it would likely void that approval, which may run afoul of local code
You would need to run the hot wire for the cans into the fan unit to join it to the hot coming out of the pull chain switch. Or you would need to run a pigtail from that switch to the canopy to meet the wire for the cans. Either case requires disassembly of the fan unit and switch unit.
You may have a space problem fitting another wire and wire connector in the area of the pull chain switch.

Probably could be done, but why not rely on a separate switch on the wall? Or a smart switch with a remote?


How can I remove an anti vandal tap head?

If the spanner you have is the type with a screwdriver type handle a slight rap on the top may help. Most faucet handles are made of an aluminum like potmetal. The most effective crust-buster I have found for this type of material is ammonia straight out of the bottle. Pour it over the handle and let it sit. It may help to soak a rag and leave it on top. Do this for several days (patience is a virtue) if you can, avoid using the faucet. Insert the spanner and tap it lightly with a hammer. The idea is to break up the scale between the individual threads. If you can safely do so kneel on the counter so you can add your weight to the driver to prevent it from slipping. If all else fails drill the heads off the screws. If you remove just the heads a bit of threads should remain exposed out of the stem that you can grab with pliers.


This part of the foundation is most likely spreading out a roof load from a sizable portion of the sunroom roof. If the soil supporting the foundation has eroded away, this will need to be rectified some time next year.

For now, get a bag of ready mix mortar, the kind you just add water to, it has sand and cement already mixed in in the correct proportion. Mix up a small amount, keep the water to a minimum so it will stay where you put it and not slump down. Patch the hole. That's all this is right now, a temporary patch.

If the hole opens up beyond such that you feel like it's sort of a bottomless pit, cut a short length of something like a paint stick. Thin enough to push through the hole but long enough to wedge inside when turned 90 degrees. Tie a length of wire to the center so you can keep it pulled tight when you push mortar up against it.

As you suspect, water and freeze/thaw cycles chip away at the foundation over time. There was probably once a innocuous hairline crack there at one point. Water got in there and froze, opening the crack. Repeat dozens of times a winter and over the years you get what you see now.

The solution is keep water away from the foundation. I see you have a gutter system over this area. That is good. The patio sloping towards the house is really bad. Not only does it get into foundation cracks and erode the material, water gets under the house structure and can cause uneven settlement, stressing members in ways that was never intended. Some people think crooked floors in old houses are "charming". In reality it is a sign of an unstable structure. Even if the house stays stable, water can be the source of toxic mold. Water has no place in your house other than inside plumbing.

You need to correct the drainage issue. Ideally, it should slope by gravity away from the house at least with a 2% slope. Another solution, not nearly as good, is to place a sump at the lowest point and pump collected water away. I can't emphasize enough how a natural gravity solution is far superior to a mechanical solution. Sometimes you do what you have to do though.

Combine this with the possibility of needing to correct erosion under the foundation. You my be digging up the patio anyway. OTOH, if the foundation is still properly supported and you correct the drainage issue, your little mortar patch could possibly be considered a permanent fix.


Confused by apparent shorting damage at side and back terminals

Welcome to "why I hate back-stabs and will never use them" 101.

The shorting damage is from arcing between the wire and the poor connection to the back-stab terminal. If it got bad enough, there might indeed have been arcing to the wire continuing to elsewhere. This arcing happens because back stab connections are junk, and don't connect reliably - when they are not connected, the incoming hot wire was 120V while the rest of the outgoing wire and side terminal were 0 volts, until it arced and made a brief connection, possibly even welding itself together for a short period of time until thermal stresses broke the weld and it arced again.

Your circuit breaker would not have tripped (unless it was an AFCI) because the connection was not "directly to ground or neutral" - it was to the loads that were supposed to be solidly connected to the hot, and those loads were either powered (when connected) or not working (when disconnected) but not drawing excessive current in either case.

I honestly have no idea (other than massive skulduggery) how this junk ever got listed. I won't use them, I will remove and replace them if encountered, and I consider them a distinct fire hazard (as you can see.)

Note that not all "back entry wire terminals" are back-stabs - the ones with a plate actuated by a screw are fine (when properly tightened) but the ones where you stick a wire in and do nothing more are utter junk, IMHO. There's a tiny contact area that relies on spring pressure alone to make any sort of contact, and it fails with great regularity.


30" clear across so 15" from center of the flange to either side is the minimum. There is a little wiggle room like 1/2-1" less on one side if the other side is completely open and you have to consider the size of the occupants.


Hit this with a voltage meter and everything was fine over time.  [More than willing to hear comments on possible troubleshooting.]

The outlet basically worked intermittently.  Even when it didn't work I was getting 120v continuously.  However while scoping the circuit I found the probably issue.  The wiring was ran down a wall and pulled up to the outlet.  When it was pulled up it was bent sharply across a nail.

I simply took out that section of the circuit and replaced with copper. (without bending it across the nail)

It was really frustrating but interesting too because 99% of the time this situation is due to a loose connection and funny that a severely kinked cable can cause same issue.


Temperature of water in the shower fluctuates - will a cheap thermostatic tap help?

Get the Plumber back. He may have just cleaned, flushed &/or adjusted the Mixer & not replaced it. But, it sounds like you have a Pressure-Balancing valve instead of a Thermostatic valve. So yes, see if the Plumber can replace the current valve with a Thermostatic valve, this would be the long-term permanent solution.

Just an FYI. Not in all but in some apartment buildings, there can be constant water uses to justify your current fluctuations in that short amount of time. Like, refrigerator ice makers, leaking toilets, building humidifiers, specific laundry machine final rises or someone filling a cup. It may be unavoidable or just unlucky timing with your current valve.


First check and make sure that you have removed any fasteners under the counter top holding the sink in place.

Next, you can try wedging a putty knife in between the lip of the sink and the counter and working your way around. Depending on the adhesive used, a solvent like paint thinner may help. A heat gun or hair dryer may also be able to soften the adhesive.

If you're still having trouble, you can always take the sink off with the old counter top and work on it later.


No voltage detected at black wire, voltage detected only at red wire coming from ceiling outlet

In the US there is no standard specified if the red or black is the hot for a ceiling fixture fed from the switch location.
I usually do use black for a light ,and the red for a fan but I have reversed it this in the past.
Both the red and black can be hot and or switched fixtures.
If the power was at the ceiling it is now common to take the black down as hot and the red is a switched hot but not all electricians do this because there is no code requirement to do it.
So if the red is hot with the switch on and not hot with the switch off cap the black and connect to the red,,, electrons don’t care what color the insulation in and the NEC has no requirement in this case for the red or black but black is more common so the mfg showed that.


Drain making dripping sound after sink drains. No leaks

I have found this on many sinks while draining a little water backs up in the over fill drain and the water in there takes a little longer to drain out as it is not as open as the main drain (the deeper the water is in the basin the longer it may take to stop). About the only way to eliminate it would be to seal off the overflow drain. Some basin designs are worse than others but this is what is happening.


The most expedient and practical solution is to drill out the bolt.  Probably access is better from the top through the tank, but it can be done from either side.

The goal of "drilling out" is to weaken the shaft of the bolt enough so that either the friction on the nut is reduced to the point where it turns, or the shaft breaks and separates into two pieces, both of which are easily removed.

Your concerns of damaging the porcelain indicate the choice of too large a drill bit.  Choose a diameter smaller than the diameter of the bolt's shaft, preferably in the range 60 to 95%.  If kept to the center of the shaft and parallel to it, the drill bit won't touch anything outside the bolt.

In the case of drilling from the top where the head is, drill into it about 6 mm/0.25 inches and then try turning the bolt.  The head should break off and free both pieces.


Using scaffolding boards (new or used) for flooring or counter tops

I wouldn't recommend using scaffolding boards as a worktop in a kitchen. Most scaffolding boards in the UK at least are made of Tanalised (pressure treated) timber. Tanalith E 8000 is the trade name of the preservative used and it is not recommended for use where there is direct contact between food/water and the treated timber since it is water soluble.
Furthermore many scaffolding boards will be covered in concrete and mortar from their use which might have effected the longevity of the timber (wood doesn't like the highly alkaline and moist environment before the concrete/mortar cures). Any residual concrete/mortar will shed your planer knives so be careful. This is in addition to any nails or screw present.
Finally most scaffolding is flat sawn and may contain the heart of the tree. Since most boards are quite wide and long they may be unstable and warp especially if they have got soaked throughout their life by being sat out in rain. Video showing different types of cut/grain orientation
As in many things there is probably no one size fits all approach. The timber doesn't know what it was used for in it's past life nor it's future life. If the scaffolding boards are in mint condition, untreated and stable they should work quite well as a worktop. If they were sat out in the rain for the last 5 years and used by bricklayers 6 days a week then they probably won't be much good for flooring or a worktop.


Cable
The cable you're looking for is Type UF, or Underground Feeder cable.

It can be purchased at big orange, and big blue, by the foot. It's available in 6/2, 6/2 with ground, 6/3, and 6/3 with ground, and is rated for direct burial.
Attachment to Service
There is one temporary, and two permanent ways to supply power to a park trailer.
Temporary
Power-Supply Cord
You'll want to use a NEMA 14-50 receptacle, and 4 wire cord with NEMA 14-50 plug to connect the trailer to the service.  The trailer's electrical grounding will be through the service plug, so only the distribution panel will have to be grounded.

Permanent
Mast Weatherhead
You can use four continuously insulated, color-coded feeder conductors strung from a mast to a weatherhead as a permanent feeder.

Raceway
A metal raceway, rigid nonmetallic conduit, or liquidtight flexible nonmetallic conduit, from the disconnecting means to a junction box on the underside of the trailer can serve as a pathway to run permanently attached feeders.

NEC
For reference, park trailers are covered in article 552 of the National Electrical Code.


Options for current armored cable 12/2 but need 12/3

First off, you can not use the green, ground, wire as a neutral. You are right about not being able to use NM cable in NYC. It is allowed in certain residential applications in other parts of NY but not in the city. 12/3 with a ground armored cable is what you need. Most home stores will sell a 25 ft reel. 14 gauge wire is also not allowed in the City so don't try to bring some in.


Can I use the crushed remains of an old concrete slab as a base for a new slab?

Crushed concrete is a very good substrate for a slab. The key is to not have chunks so large that air pockets are created. Maybe bring in a layer of sand to fill the voids and level things a bit. A water rinse will help bring air out and compact the material.


Absolutely that will drill through concrete but you will need a SDS hammer drill which the typical home owner does not have. This is the type of drill http://www.jccayer.com/product.php?productid=1169

For such a small hole you can use a regular rotary pistol grip hammer drill with a cheap Canadian tire masonry bit to do your holes.


NEC 14 wiring a remote / unfinished / garage with 120/240 circuits

Short answer is: Yes, some things have changed.
The exact language from the 2014 National Electrical Code:

(G) Basements, Garages, and Accessory Buildings. For a one-family dwelling, at least one receptacle outlet shall be installed in the areas specified in 210.s2(G)(1) through (3). These receptacles shall be in addition to receptacles re- quired for specific equipment.
(1) Garages. In each attached garage and in each detached garage with electric power. The branch circuit supplying this receptacle(s) shall not supply outlets outside of the garage. At least one receptacle outlet shall be installed for each car space.

Edit: The paraphrased language I posted before was from a municipal licensing agency and was not the exact language. As pointed out, their language was somewhat misleading. The actual Code language clarifies that "The branch circuit supplying this receptacle(s) shall not supply outlets outside of the garage."
Here is a more wordy explanation.
To answer your edited question, no there is nothing in the Code preventing you from installing a panel close to a bathroom but you cannot locate the panel in the bathroom. The level of the floor is immaterial to the Code. If it fits the definition of a bathroom in the Code then you can't put a panel in that room or area.
Good luck and stay safe!


Should I have cat6 and wireless installed in my house to be built?

I bought a pro-sumer wifi unit for about $300 on Amazon (Amplifi is the brand and came with 2 repeaters). It's low configuration and self-meshes with repeaters for total coverage. It's overkill for a lot of houses but I have an odd setup and it should cover virtually any house. I offer it here for comparison to the $200 "pro setup wifi".

1000ft of Cat6 is about $100 right now. Assuming that they use all 1000ft (which would be a LOT for a house) $700 for install in an unfinished house is steep.

If I were you, I would get a quote on having low-voltage gangs added to the house and 3/4" conduit attached (make sure they attach it to the boxes with a threaded adapter and don't just shove it into the hole) and run through the top plate into the attic. PVC conduit is stupid cheap. So let's say that you had 10 of these added. Total cost of materials (conduit, box and blank plates) would be less than $100. Add in $100 for labor (these shouldn't take much time at all in open walls) and you now have $200 in. Buy a $50 500ft spool of Cat6 and drop Ethernet into the conduit yourself. Buy a 10 pack of keystones and wall plates. Another $100 and you now have your own wired network, for a grand (estimated) total of $300 for 10 wires, not 4. Better still, what if you need coaxial cable run in? Or another set of wires in each box? The conduit supports whatever non-electrical wiring you need.


It looks like the humidifier connections on the board will provide 24V for the humidifier when the furnace is on so I don't know that you need the transformer. Do you know which terminals on the board those are? If not post a photo of the board. I assume the humidistat only has two wires and the humidifier only has two wires, if so then the attached wiring diagram should work.


Why would a motion sensor cause the light to flicker?

I’ve solved the problem once and for all without adding resistance (load) which defeat the purpose of energy saving. All i did is add a AC/AC relay in between the supply and the load to siphon any stray current and delay effect which causes the flickering. you can see attached picture


What is 1" minus recycled concrete mean and does it also include stone sizes smaller than 1"?

Concrete is a mixture of cement (Portland Cement), water and aggregate (rocks).

Strength of concrete is largely based on the aggregate: size, blend, grade (hardness), etc.  Crushed rocks are used in concrete and they are graded by size. Yep, they pour rocks through a sieve and sort them by size...down to sand. Then they mix the various sizes together so they can compact. (If you used all the same size they would not compact and would not be as strong.).

The term “minus” refers to the smaller rocks that are used and the 1” is an indication of the largest rock used in that “batch”. (The largest I’ve used is 3” minus, but 4” minus is common.)

Contractors like smaller aggregate (3/4” minus) for slabs because they don’t want a big rock sticking out of the surface to trowel around.  They use larger rock mixes like 3” minus for footings because it’s cheaper and no one will ever see the finished product.

Recently everyone wants to “recycle” used building materials rather than dispose of them at a landfill, especially concrete because concrete has a very large carbon footprint. The trouble with recycled concrete is that we don’t know where the aggregate came from so we don’t know it’s “hardness”. Normally when we mine rocks from a river or mountain, it can be tested (crushed) and we know how hard it is. But recycle concrete can’t be crush tested because it has cement attached to it and does not give a true reading.

I don’t like recycle concrete and don’t use it. If they tell you it’s the same, ask to see the ASTM crushing test.

Yeah, there are other ingredients too, like air entrainment, fly ash, binders, etc., but this is just the basics.


How can I correct a crowned floor joist?

Pretty simple to fix if you have access from underneath. I would start by adding a couple of 2x4 with screws underneath several of the joists on each side of the problem joist.

Next, cut the joist vertically at the location where the bump is. This will let the joist sag down on top of the 2x4 braces that you added.

Finally add a sister next to the joist that you cut. The simplest thing to do is to use a piece of wood of equivalent size as the existing joist. It is glued onto the existing joist with construction adhesive and then bolted together securely with closely-spaced bolts.


Remove soffit / refrofit attic rafter baffle vent

I don't recommend it. You'd have to undo the fascia at least partway (and remove the gutter, where applicable) to drop the outer ends of each panel. This means pulling nails carefully so as not to dent the metal, removing the fascia, then pulling nails or staples from the soffit panels (into the subfascia). You'll want to precisely align every nail hole on re-installation to avoid problems at the end of each section.

It's not difficult for a patient person, but it's time consuming and putzy. If that's not you, expect to have dented and bent up metal before you're done.

You might be better off doing the attic belly crawl unless there's some reason you can't.


There is almost certainly a ground leak somewhere. It sounds like you might have a loose wire/bad connection in the fan's electrical connections.  Turn off the breaker and reconnect all the wires in the fan's electrical box.  If this doesn't work, you may need to take the fan down and take all the electrical components apart to inspect... or get a new fan.  It is not safe to run the fan without the ground attached, as the metal parts are likely charged.


Is it OK to have an air conditioning vent above a kitchen cabinet?

Sorry I don't have enough points to comment yet so have to put this reply in the answer.

I had a vent coming out under the cabinets in the kitchen of my house for 20 years with NO PROBLEM (i.e. at the floor level where the kick-plate is). This wasn't even ductwork under the cabinet, but rather the vent exhausted into the frame under the cabinets, which then vented out the kick-plate.

My system would push out gas fired hot air in winter, and integrated AC in summer. He had a HRV.

No splitting in the cabinets, no peeling of the veneer, no warping of the frames.

I'd say go for it.


Stop self treating the property at this point with the expectation of solving the issue. It has not worked and frankly time is your enemy (just as much as the termites are)
The more time that elapses, the more money it will cost
Drilling holes in a termite infected are is no certain guarantee to kill the total infestation.
Hire a professional Exterminator
Hire a professional contractor
Remove all affected/infected and damaged wood
Correct any entry points of water damage
If money and do it yourself savings is something you are interested in, then invest the time in removing personal belongings, various fixtures, and prep work the contractor and exterminator suggest be done. The more you are able to salvage *(if that is your goal), the more you could possibly re-use
Work as a team with your municipality, contractors, family, etc....
It is possible that the structure is beyond repair, i.e. to be condemned. Again, work with professionals to determine this.

Again, it is not good news, but the more time termites have to work, the more damage they can do. There comes a point your life is at risk.

If the property is NOT as bad as it sounds from what you have said, then steps 1-9 are all still applicable. Your time and money will be better spent in this capacity.


Can a white (or other color) wire be remarked to serve as a grounding conductor?

To my understanding, no.

  250.119 Identification of Equipment Grounding Conductors. Unless required elsewhere in this Code, equipment grounding conductors
  shall be permitted to be bare, covered, or insulated. Individually
  covered or insulated equipment grounding conductors shall have a
  continuous outer finish that is either green or green with one or more
  yellow stripes except as permitted in this section. Conductors with
  insulation or individual covering that is green, green with one or
  more yellow stripes, or otherwise identified as permitted by this
  section shall not be used for ungrounded or grounded circuit
  conductors.

Note that 250.119 (A) and (B) do allow marking the wire green at the terminations for wires larger than 6 AWG.


Voltage detected on ceiling light no matter the switch is on or off

Switched Neutral
It could be a symptom of a "switched neutral", where the switch interrupts the grounded (neutral) conductor instead of the ungrounded (hot) conductor.  In this case the bulb would turn on and off with the switch, but the socket would always show as hot.
To test:

WARNING: This procedure requires working on energized circuits. If you don't feel comfortable, or lack the knowledge or tools to do so, please contact a local licensed Electrician.

Use a voltmeter/multimeter to measure AC line voltage.
Take a measurement between the contact at the bottom of the socket, and a known good ground (possibly grounding conductors in the box).
Take a measurement between the threaded contact within the socket, and a known good ground.
Flip the switch, and repeat steps 2 and 3.

With the switch OFF, both measurements should be 0 VAC. If you're measuring line voltage at the socket when the switch is off, it's likely you have a switched neutral situation.
With the switch ON, the measurement from step 2 should be line voltage. If you get 0 volts in step 2, and line voltage in step 3. That means the socket leads are reversed.
Phantom Voltage
It could be the meter is picking up phantom (induced) voltage. This type of voltage could be picked up by a non-contact voltage tested, or a high impedance voltmeter (common for digital multimeters). The voltage could be induced by other electrical lines, which are in close proximity to the switched conductor.
To test:

WARNING: This procedure requires working on energized circuits. If you don't feel comfortable, or lack the knowledge or tools to do so, please contact a local licensed Electrician.

Use a low impedance volt/multimeter to measure the voltage across the socket.

If there's phantom voltage, the low impedance meter will not pick it up.


What electrical requirements does a garbage disposal have?

Yes, you'll need a 20 Amp 120V outlet with just the disposal on it. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to wire it up yourself.

Something else to think about - is your house on a septic tank or a sewer system? Some city regulations don't allow a garbage disposal on a septic tank. Ours is kind of kludged with the switch under the sink because it was an after-inspection add-on to the house when it was built. At least that's what the home inspector told me when I asked him about it.


Would solar panels save money with electric baseboard heat?

Entirely apart from the high cost of electric resistance heat, (that is, regardless of heat source) a 1969 house is almost certainly going to benefit from insulation upgrades and the boring best bang-for the buck stuff nobody ever thinks is "fancy enough" to go for first - caulking, weatherstripping, and generally reducing air leakage.

With the advent of cold-climate air-air heat pumps (mini-splits) that is probably the best direction to look for electric heat replacement - 2.2-3.5 times as much heat from the same amount of electricity. But start with a caulking gun and a can or 12 of spray foam, follow that with more insulation anywhere you can add it (usually the attic) - THEN think about replacing the heating units, since it's unlikely you'll actually get that done during this heating season, while you can be air-sealing in minutes and benefiting from it in minutes - not to mention it's cheap...

Solar electric panels generally don't make sense as a heat source. Direct collection of heat from the sun is far more efficient than collecting a little bit of the suns energy as electricity and then using that for heat. Costs of the relevant types of panels are also rather different.


Can PVC be encased horizontally in concrete

PVC pipe embedded in concrete should be fine under most codes I've seen.  You'd need to sleeve something like black, galvanized, or no-hub iron pipe, but PVC and ABS are impervious on any reasonable timeline (~hundreds of years.)

You could have your inspector come through before the pour to check out your plumbing permit if needed.

And the diagram worked great, I think I understood exactly what it was conveying.


How can I attach a pipe to a flat surface?

I haven't seen one for a small diameter pipe, but what you're looking for is some type of drain flange:

The top is wider to hold it in the opening, the rubber washer is below to seal the connection, and then you use a metal washer and a nut to tighten it to the surface.

With a small diameter pipe, you can improvise this with a threaded pipe and a second nut (pardon the ascii art, this is a cross section view):

                        |     |
                nut  ===|     |===
      rubber washer ....|     |....
  surface --------------|     |--------------
       metal washer ....|     |....
                nut  ===|     |===
                        |drain|
                        |     |

The downside of the improvised version is the nut and threaded pipe will sit up a bit from the bottom, so this doesn't work as well if you need it to drain completely to the bottom.


Mounting exterior shutters on deeply recessed windows

If you want the open shutters to run parallel to the wall, some kind of offset hinge is needed. But creating such a hinge to mount the shutters shouldn't be too hard.

The pivot point needs to be slightly outward of the midpoint of the well around the window. The lower tail of the hinge in the image can be cut off, or it can be bent to fit against the window casing.

You should be able to find standard flat strap hinges that can be bent and cut to suit. A bench vise would be the easiest way to make the bends.

Because there is such a long reach, you may want three hinges per shutter.


Can hurricane shutters be installed horizontally?

I think I have figured it out. I have to measure the width of my sill, but I think I will need a H and F track with build-out. A description of tracks was located here.


New bathtub diverter spout drains back into wall

How do you know water it leaking back into the wall. I can't quite see from your pictures, did you uses plumbers tape between the copper threads and the new brass piece (three times around, in the direction of the threads)?

I've installed some of these spouts. They never have a set screw. Once the rubber seal is well inside the spout water shouldn't get back there, unless there is a leak between the copper and brass.

The diverter isn't air tight. When water hits the diverter it gets pushed tight making a water tight seal, your breathe can't push it enough to make that seal.


Would unplugging help melt ice build up in freezer with warm refrigerator?

'sOne possibility is the heater strip that is in the air duct between the freezer and the refrigerator section.  This strip warms the icy air to provide the cold for the top.  If it fails then ice buildup occurs in the duct until it blocks off the air flow and the top gets warm.
When unplugged the ice melts.  If this part failed or it's thermo sensor failed it is a cheap fix (around $30 not including service fees).  I have had this happen on our old GE losing several hundred dollars of food in the refrigerator.
If you put doors on and plug it in and the top gets to the proper level of cold for several days until ice starts building up again you may likely have this issue.
A refrigerator/freezer thermometer is cheap and handy to see what the sections temperatures are really doing, even on a newer digital control unit.


Can I install a whole-house water filter in my garage?

If the existing water line is exposed in your garage and has never frozen, it stands to reason that neither would any other water fixture in the same vicinity.


Can I use toggle bolts to mount a tv on a barnwood wall?

No, you can not mount the TV the way you have described. Since you want the TV to articulate out from the wall, most of the force will be pull-out instead of shear. The barn boards are not attached to the wall in such a way to support your TV. It's likely you would rip the barn boards right off the wall, or break one where you drill for the toggle bolts.

You need to find the studs. There is no other way forward for you if you must mount it to the wall. Some ways to find studs include:

Remove the face plates from any outlets or switches on the wall. The outlet box is likely mounted to a stud, which you can see, or probe for with a screwdriver.
What's on the other side of the wall? If it's drywall, use a stud finder. Then measure off a common point to transfer the location to the barn board side, or use a long drill bit to drill all the way through the wall next to the stud.
Remove one barn board.
How are you going to power the TV and get any cabling to the TV? If you want to hide the cabling, you're going to have to cut a hole in the wall anyway. Use the hole to locate the studs.
Drill one hole, but point it severely to the left or right. Using a cut coat hanger, probe the wall to find the stud.
Use a magnet locate the fasteners holding the firing strips to the studs. This has a low chance of working in your situation.

Also, a good way to repair a hole in your wall is to make it look like a knot by painting the inside of the hole with black or brown paint. It helps if you carefully choose where to drill the hole to begin with so that it looks natural. Drilling the hole tilted down also helps with the realism and makes it harder to see through the hole.


How to stop my mobile home's new doors from leaking when it rains?

Installing a proper threshold will reduce or eliminate water infiltration under the door.

Notice that water would have to flow uphill in order to pass these adjustable height thresholds:

The lower one has a sill extension, the upper does not. Products of this type are available for both in-swinging and out-swinging doors.


Water draining into floor drain from inside the drain

You could have a p-trap primer. I found one of these devices connected to the floor drain in my old kitchen/laundry room, when we were remodeling. This device, similar to below, periodically "flushes" the drain and refills it to ensure you have a seal in the drain so that sewer gases do not come back up the p-trap into the house. The device can be hidden in a wall therefore not easy to find, and then a tube of some sort to the drain. Mine was inside the wall, connected to the washing machine cold water line, similar to the second photo. When we remodeled and moved the laundry to the garage, the floor drain was filled in and the p-trap primer was removed from the wall and the line capped.

How often the device worked I am not sure, or how it decided to run, I am not sure.


What are my options for fixing a laundry faucet?

Try tightening the packing nut (the hex part the stem goes through) a little. That's what it's for. Don't overdo it. The "packing" is the material that seals around the stem - the packing nut compresses that material. On a valve that is not used often, actuating the valve does commonly cause it to leak, as things have "set." Tighten a little, wait, tighten a little more, wait - try to sneak up on it, as the pressure is a balance between enough to seal and little enough that the valve turns easily.


Kitchen remodel to studs, infilling a window, no insulation, no building wrap!

Building paper won't hurt, and if you do get forced to insulate, then it'll help keep that tiny chunk of insulation dry.


Smart dimmer Wi-Fi (Globe or C-GE) to old wiring?

So you have a white wire and black wire going to your existing switch and a bare copper ground in the box too. You have a hot, a switched hot and a ground wire. Your new switch has a hot (black), a red(load) and a white (neutral) oh wait!! you don't have a neutral in your box. You'll have to get a dimmer that doesn't require a neutral... they're out there, just have to look for one.


How to ensure that water heater is mostly on or mostly off?

I agree it's a little unclear what the right way is.

Why don't you try a test. One evening push all the pins one way, run the hot water for a bit to flush some water, then leave it overnight. In the morning if you still have hot water then the heater was on overnight. If you aren't confidant, repeat the same the next night with the pins the other way.


How to reinforce and straighten a fence post

Nope, there's no training the wood to work against it's grain...without cutting many slots into it. That's your only option for keeping everything mostly as-is.

Another option is to cut the post where the bend is and big-dowel on a new piece.

You can also screw a chunk of pressure-treated or cedar onto the post's top and re-screw the fence panels onto that, to then slice off the warp from the yard side. The gap at the fence isn't usually noticeable.


When I am doing a disposal install (non professional but at least 10 for friends and family) I do a double 90 right away and slope drain down a bit from there.

After doing the double 90s you don't need that much slope but given you will potentially have food items I would maybe go 1/2" down overall on your straight into the T.

Also BMitch is right.  The AAV I think by code is supposed to be on the surface but that is another question.


Remove the hose attachment at point A as shown below.

Then remove the hex nuts from the threaded pipe at the point B.

These two steps will free up the U shaped washer and plastic spacer under it and allow the central faucet assembly to become loose.

You may also have to remove the fastener at the location shown at the lower portion of your photo. There may actually be two of these to remove, one in each of the faucet holes for faucet types that mount into separate holes. These two additional fasteners typically hold a decorative plate above in place the covers these holes in cases where a single handle style faucet is used.


Firewall / Hearth thickness - Building Fireplace for Gel Fuel

According to the 2006 International Building Code Table 720.1(2). , 3-5/8" of brick is just slightly under the Fire Resistance Rating for 2 hours of a wall fire. On the other hand, a 3-5/8" brick wall with a 1" air gap, does satisfy the 2 hour fire resistance code.  The real question is,  is 2 hours enough for a fireplace? A contained gel canister hardly constitutes a structure fire (burning at 800 degrees F as opposed to 1800 degrees F), but I guess anything can happen, right?

DISCLAIMER: Although all the following calculations are done conservatively, I can not guarantee these numbers are correct, so if anybody else can confirm, that would be appreciated.

Doing some math (and using this Nuclear Regulatory Commission calculator, spreadsheet 5.1), I've determined that a single canister of gel fuel, 6 inches away from a brick (facing the 1.5" x 8" side) will raise the average temperature of said brick roughly 10°F per hour.

The calculator says that a flame of ethanol 2 inches in diameter will have a radiant heat flux of ~90 BTU/(hr-ft^2). (As a note, it also calculates a ~6 inch flame height and 2525 BTU/hr heat output (which at 2.5 hrs is 6313 BTU), so this is probably a conservative calculation)

Also, if an average brick weighs 5.5 lbs, and the specific heat of brick is 0.22 BTU/lb-°F, then the thermal mass of a brick is 1.21 BTU/hr (5.5 lbs * 0.22 BTU/lb-°F = 1.21). If the face area is 0.1388 ft^2, we can calculate the average temperature change of the brick (90 * 0.1388 = 1.21 * T_delta/hr), where  T_delta/hr comes out to be 10°F per hour.

Therefore the average change in brick temperature is 10°F per hr (assuming a single canister and the flame being 6" away). So if 3 ethanol canisters are burned simultaneously for 3 hours, the average temperature of the bricks will be 90°F warmer. For reference, UL testing reference temperature is 110°F over ambient. Also, hot water pipes are 120°F-140°F degrees, and those are often run along wood beams and drywall without any issue.

We can take this a step further by calculating the temperature gradient across the brick. A common brick has a thermal conductivity of 0.048 BTU/(in-hr-°F), so assuming steady state conditions (very, very conservative here), the brick should have a temperature gradient across it of 71.7°F [0.048 BTU/(in-hr-°F) * 3.63in / (90 BTU/(hr-ft^2) * .1388 ft^2) = 71.7°F]. If the average temperature of the brick has increased by 90°F, then the back face will only increase by ~54°F (90-(71.7/2)=54), which is well below that 110°F "safe zone".

Update

I purchased a faux stone fireplace yesterday, which I believe is made out of some cement / stucco mixture, possibly with fiberglass in it as well. It was meant for gas, and has a warning on it to not exceed 22,000 BTU. The thickness of the entire body, including the hearth and back wall, were no more than 1"-1.25" inches thick. Since 3 gel fuel canisters only put out 9000 BTU in total, this should be more than sufficient.


Running wire through ceiling, ceiling joists blocking access to the top of the frame

A doubled joist is 3" wide.

A standard 2x4 is 3.5" wide.

You have a lip on one edge or the other.

Can you not start your hole on this lip taking perhaps a nibble out of the corner of the joist?

Joists support.  If this double joist has a wall under it, what is it supporting that the wall itself isn't sufficient.

In normal configuration the bottom of a joist is in tension, while the top is in compression.  This assumes that it's being supported at the ends.  Gets more complicated when it's supported at multiple points.

Taking a chunk out of the bottom, where it is already resting on the wall below isn't going to make the building collapse.  Because of that wall, there is no tension on the bottom of the joist.


With a light touch on the screws you will be able to attach the numbers. Drill the surface with a slightly smaller bit than the threads, not the shank of the screws. An 1/8" bit may be the right size... Run the screws in and if you like put a small dab of clear caulk behind the number to seal the screw to the number and the screw to the hole so water may not get in. As light as the numbers are, the screws will keep the numbers at the right elevation and spacing and the way the caulk will hold, the numbers will stay until somebody removes them.


If it's stripped, and this is only a temporary fix, I've placed wood shaving in the hole in this circumstance and then threaded the bolt into the hole. The shavings tighten the hole.


You should be looking for something like an IP65 weatherproof junction box.

The designs vary from country to country (as do regulations of course) so it's hard to be more specific.

Ideally you want a bus type connector that has separate connection points for each wire. A single screw-terminal probably can't securely hold so many wires.

Example WAGO 8-way push fit connector and 5-way lever-clamp connector (400V 32A max)


Can I use my dual light/fan dimmer switch on a ceiling fan?

You should not use a dimmer that is designed to control lighting, as that can cause problems. Instead, you should use a fan speed control device, that is specifically designed to control a ceiling fan. You'll also want to make sure the control you're using, is rated for the maximum current draw of the fan you're using.

There's no real difference between the in wall speed control, and a remote speed control module. Both devices control the speed of the fan, external to the fan itself. The only difference is where the device is located (wall box vs. ceiling box).


First no mater what the generator’s alternator has stamped on it this means nothing! You do not know the test conditions in either case for the alternator or the complete gen set. And taking things apart probably voided warranty.

I maintain very large gen sets and to provide an example one is a 350kva this gen set is certified for life safety equipment and I have loaded in one extreme case close to 500k it was not a life safety issue but we lost a secondary and we needed that amount of power 490a for close to an hour and the owner said to try it. It did fine.

I have small 5-8k gen sets that can maintain 25% overload conditions but these were designed for heavy duty use

My biggest home generator is similar to yours and I would not expect it to be able to pull more than full surge load any longer than ~15 seconds (the amount of time for most large fans to come to speed) why do I say this because the windings and slip rings are 1/2 the size of my smaller heavy duty models. Without knowing the testing that gen set was certified to it would be best to keep your loads to 80% of the values unless they are stated for use at 100%, my gen sets only the life safety ones are certified for 100% full load (3 + hour run time) with a 15 minute cool down after loading required.

Added per op comment:
The breakers are inverse time and will allow more amperage to be drawn than there listing based on the curves for that brand. 50*240= 12000w  the breaker will hold for a short time well beyond this value normally allow 3-5x for a short time.

code requires the wiring to be sized 125% for motor loads and continuous loads most home loads of any size are not continuous but let’s do a standard de rate of a 50 amp device .8 x 50 = 9000w  that is close but all the loads that are non motor or don’t run for 3 hours or more are rated at 100% so real value is someplace will be in between 9-12kw

Code allows / requires the mfg values instructions to be used per NEC 110.3 in the U.S.  as I have explained some alternators may have some value that may have a different capacity than what is stamped on it. My gen set also has additional 120 outlets to fully load my gen set the fine print shows these receptacles must be used on loads that are isolated from the main, are they cheating ? The total it can output meets specifications.
 Most of the small generators play this game.

This game is just like shop vacuums and air compressors. If you have either of these things that are not true commercial units don’t look two far or you will get really mad because they don’t even come close to the HP rating they advertise.
The only way to know on your gen set is to use a load that is within the testing requirements of the generator and measure the output.
I did this and following there requirements mine passed on a real 100kw testing system at my plant. But I had to have 12 amps on the 2 separate 120v receptacle sets.
You can ask as I did for testing conditions (they even state sea level and 72 deg f temp and premium fuel  (no methanol) the methanol in the fuel I was using was the difference well that and having to pull 12 amps on ea leg through the receptacles. So it may sound funny but it’s not what you see it’s how things are measured.


Why does dryer lint grill have wiring coming in?

It's almost certainly a moisture sensor.  Search YouTube for dryer moisture sensor bar, and you should get a bunch of results showing how to replace them.


How do I rewire my existing garage lighting so that one fixture is controlled by a new switch?

Exactly what you said. Disconnect the first light from the second. Run wire from the second light back to the location of the switch. If it is a single gang box, you will have to remove it and add a double gang box or put a double switch meant for a single gang box in. Tie into the power for the first light and use it to power the new wire to the second light.


You are acting as your own general contractor, which is not unusual at all.

The role you are describing sounds like a project manager.  I know of just one person that provides project management services as a third party for owners on small projects.  Project managers are generally employed by a general contractor working on larger projects.

You basically need someone to provide part time, short term project management services.  If you can't find someone providing this service, you might find a project manager that is seeking full time employment that is willing to work part time short term;  you might find a working contractor, maybe a one man shop, that's temporarily unable to work due to injury.  You may find a retired contractor that's willing to provide this service.


How can I repair a poor drywall taping job?

The whole wall doesn't need a skim coat. That patch just needs touch-up spackle, sanded correctly.

The picture does a good job highlighting what you failed to do: bevel any divots or ridges with a sanding sponge during the final sanding. This is not something you can do easily with a pole sander; it'd be easier with just the paper in your hand if you've no sanding sponge. Use a swirling motion to reduce any deviation to a nominal profile. Fudge it.

It doesn't have to be flat, it just has to not have any ridges that will catch light and show the imperfection. Keep this in mind when sanding the extra coat you're going to put on, to fill these giant voids, that are next to the ridges that are covered in paint and are at this point basically unsandable.

Mudding an optically flat wall is beyond most people's abilities (if not, the general realm of possibility). The closet you're going to get (or ever really need to) is 'looks' flat: nominal.

If you can feel a 'catch' with your fingers, you're not done sanding yet.


If you don't have separate wall switches for the fan and light, or aren't using a remote, the blue gets attached with the two blacks.

In this case you must use the pull chains to control the light and fan separately. Other than a remote there is no way to control them separately.


Can I split a 208/120V 3-phase circuit into 3 separate 120V circuits and keep the shared neutral?

This only works with genuine 3-phase power.  If you are using a "phase converter" to fabricate "3-phase" from a single-phase supply, Do Not Do This.

What you would be creating is called a multi-wire branch circuit (MWBC).  There are several articles on here on how to do MWBC's, such as mine here, or you can Google it.   You will need to pigtail neutral, mark the wires as grouped wherever they are near other wires, and as Kris points out, use a 3-pole breaker.

The circuit breaker would need to be sized for the thinnest wire including the ground.   Sometimes 4-conductor circuits are installed with a smaller neutral than the hots, in that case the smallest wire decides the breaker size.

Also if you are feeding common USA 120V receptacles (i.e. NEMA 5-15 or 5-20), the breaker can be no larger than 20A. There are special rules which permit 30A for lighting circuits.


How do I secure "hanging" front facing pavers?

Try the Gorilla Ultimate Construction Adhesive. Your four year old will be grown up before you know it and won't be a problem anymore. Good luck.


Well as you said the light was not working in the first place. Replacing the switch apparently wasn't the problem. Your next step would be to investigate the light fixture itself.

What type of light fixture is it? Flourescent, compact flourescent, LED?

When you say "71 volts across the circuit", do you mean across the switch? When it is on or off?

We need more information to help you.

Happy Sunday!


Preventing a frozen pipe on an extreme weather night

What you have done sounds like a good start. Some additional steps I would take on the coldest nights is to allow the faucet to drip. You want it to drip as slowly as you can. Moving water takes longer to freeze than still water. In addition leave the cabinet doors open so that some of the kitchen heat will warm the pipes in the cabinet. Again these are steps for the coldest nights. On really cold stormy nights I put the heat on hold @68 degrees rather than setting it lower. This gives me a cushion in the event of a power failure.


Your terminology is correct: they're called tombstone (or bi-pin) fluorescent lampholders. In particular, those in the photo are locking or turn-type, a nice safety feature that makes it less likely for a lamp to fall out of the socket. A search at Amazon.com for Fluorescent Tombstone Lampholder found more than 30 similar devices.

N.B. There are two types, shorting and non-shorting, also called shunted and non-shunted. Be sure you examine your socket (you may need to pop off a plastic cover) and get the same type. Also, if you're converting from fluorescent to LED, check the type needed for the replacement tubes -- it might be different from your current lampholders.


What options do I have to replace a failed service panel?

OK, are you ready?  We are going to shortcut installing a new main panel without having to fuss with all the existing circuits, which will stay in the old panel.  In brief:

Have the power company pull the meter.
Disconnect two circuits entering the bottom of the panel that won't have slack for
Pull the old panel off the wall and temporarily hang it.
Extend the conduit coming from the meter
Fit a piece of plywood spanning the 3 joist bays.
Mount the old panel to the plywood so it is about 6-8" to the right, and a little bit higher so all the cables will reach.
Mount a new panel to the left of the old panel, so that it lines up with the conduit from the meter
Run new service cable from the meter to the new panel, including neutral
Add a 50A breaker in the new panel that feeds the old panel's "Lighting" area
Have the power company seal up the meter box and light you up
Bring over the "main breaker area" circuts at your leisure
Move those 2 circuits from step 2 to the new panel

Making room for 2 panels

That joist area is weird.  I was hoping to lay a new panel in the next joist bay over, but they're all odd sizes and too small.  I doubt a standard 14.5" wide panel will fit where the old one is, and swapping a panel is a multi-day job for a novice.  I want to get you back up.  The normal way you handle that is to mount a sheet of 7/8" plywood across the entire joist area, so you have a tabula rasa to mount whichever electrical gear you please.

So I want to pull the old panel completely off the wall, unhook it from the conduit linking it to the meter, and pull it out and swing it aside.  All the wires have enough slack except for two cables in the lower left, which we'll unhook from the terminals and remove.

Then the old panel can be shoved to the right 6-10" and mounted on the plywood, of course.   The upper wires don't have slack for this, so that will necessitate the panel be moved upward several inches also. That's fine.

This will allow a new main panel to mount to the left of it.  The top priority for its positioning is to line it up with the conduit from the meter, which we extend to meet it.  It also needs to be be spaced so it's easy to run a bunch of conduit nipples between old and new panels, though you could do that with cable and clamps I suppose. If the spacing allows use of premade conduit nipples (including offset nipples) that's a timesaver.

The new panel needs to be taller than the old panel (so those two cables can reach it).   It needs at least 24 spaces (not circuits; spaces) to be able to accommodate existing circuits.  Normally we shout real loud for the biggest panel possible, because more spaces are just a few dollars more now but expensive and regret-heavy later.  However in your case you'll have an easy upgrade path down the road, so I'm not so worried about it.

Fixing defects in the meter pan

You will need to have the meter turned off or pulled in order to proceed.

The old wires are obsolete and worn. So you will need to get into the bottom half of the meter pan to replace the wires (use #2 copper for 125A per 310.15b7, and you can just tape the wires with colored tape, you don't need white/black wires).  The power company may be able to turn power off remotely, but they'll have to physically come out to replace the seal on the meter pan.  They may inspect your work at that point, so have it be tip top.

Note how the neutral is a bare wire. Use an insulated wire.

Pulling the old panel off the wall

The two taut cables coming up from the bottom need to be unhooked at the breaker, neutral and ground bar, the clamp loosened up or removed, and the wires carefuly fished out of the knockout and moved aside.

Then remove the cloth wrapped service wires and remove the "nut" holding the conduit to the back of the box, along with any nails or screws holding the panel in the joist bay.  Be ready with a rope to hang it through the old conduit hole, so it's not dangling by cables.

Then fit a plywood piece so it will fully back both the old and new panel. It can be L-shaped.  Figure out where the meter conduit will come through and make a nice big hole there.

The conduit from the meter will need to be extended; I can't tell if it's EMT or threaded pipe, but with the plywood test-fit you can see how much length to add.   Now mount up the plywood.

Pick the right knockout in the new panel to meet the conduit from the meter, and mount the new panel.   By the way, the reason I dislike fitting a new panel into the joist bay is your new panel's knockouts may not align. Here, you can make it align!

Then position the old panel as discussed, lining up knockouts between old and new panel as much as you can.   Fit the nipples/short sections of conduit if you're doing it that way (it really is the easiest if the knockouts line up, and don't be bashful about using offset nipples to make it work). Once the nipples are fit, remove the rope, fit a knockout cover in the old conduit hole, and mount it to the plywood.

Wiring up the service entrance

Assuming your power company wants a 125A main breaker, you will need #2 copper wire (you can use #1/0 aluminum if you don't mind fighting the stiff wire).  It can be black, but mark the neutral with white tape.

Run a neutral wire from the meter pan neutral lug to the new panel's neutral lug.

Then run a hot wire from each of the lower lugs on the meter pan, to the main breaker in the new panel.

Figure out where your grounding rod and electrode enter the system.  That needs to come into the new panel one way or the other.  If it comes into the meter, extend a green-marked or bare wire from the new panel to that location.  If the grounding is not proper, you'll need to make it proper at this point.

If you used metal nipples/conduit to connect the two panels, the grounds are handled.  Otherwise you'll need to run a #10 ground wire (or larger) from the new panel's ground bar to the old panel's ground bar.

Now you can call up the power company and tell them to "light it up".  At this point, the top area of the new main panel will be hot.  Avoid it.

Wiring up the old "Lighting Section"

Get a GE brand accessory ground bar. Fit it in the old panel.  Remove all ground wires from the old panel's neutral bar and move them to this ground bar.

Now, remove any grounding straps or screws from the old panel's neutral bar.  Run a white #6 wire from this neutral bar to the neutral bar in the new main panel.

Pull the "Lighting section" breaker (upper left) out of the old panel.  Note it trails two #6 cloth wires.  Follow them to where they go.  Got it?   OK, from each of those destinations, run a #6 black wire from there to one of the terminals on a new 50A breaker in the new panel.   All 3 wires should go through the same nipple.

Now you can turn that 50A breaker on, and light up the "main lighting" section of your panel.  Welcome back.

At your leisure or need, move those two dangling circuits to the new main panel.

Wiring up the old "Main Breaker" section

At your leisure...

There are five remaining breakers in the "Main Breaker area" section.  Follow their wires back to the cable where they enter the old box.  One at a time, for each cable...   (And you can do this in any order)

The water heater cable (black-white) looks like it enters the bottom. Unhook its wires carefully, remove the clamp whole, and swing the cable over to enter the new main panel. Punch it down to a 30A 2-pole breaker.

The dryer cable will need to be extended.  Pull its hots off the breaker and its neutral off the neutral bar, and extend it with #10 black, white, red or black.  Bring that into the new panel (all 3 wires through the same nipple) and punch it down to a 2-pole 30A breaker and the neutral bar.   (It is currently on two singles, which is wrong.)

The other two cables (range/oven) may have enough slack to reach through a nipple and land on a breaker in the new panel. However, their neutral wire also needs to come over - don't skip this step!

Also, any knockouts which now are an empty hole, fill them with a knockout cover.

And I think we're done.  Whew.

With everything depopulated out of the old "Main Breaker" section, you could try pulling the bus assembly out of there and see if it's fixable.  If so, you have a free 12-space subpanel.

Future

At this point, the upper "Main Breakers" area of this panel is abandoned - you can't feed it, the lugs are fried, and you can't backfeed it.

The rest of the panel is now a subpanel of the new main panel.

In the future at your leisure, move circuits one at a time from the old panel to the new one.  Remove any routings through the old panel.  Eventually nothing will come into the old panel except the 50A feed to the lighting section.  Remove that.  Now nothing is hooked to it, and it can be removed.

The empty space can accommodate a new subpanel if you ever have the need.


Why does my AC unit make the floor in the next room cold?

Do you like spiders and field mice?  You do? Great, you're gonna love this.

There are some pipes running underneath the trailer, between the air conditioning unit (ironically called the condenser) outside, and the air handler or mini-split inside your trailer (ironically called the evaporator even though it condenses water).

Those pipes are supposed to be wrapped with insulation.  I'm betting they're not anymore, as it has degraded or a mentally ill rodent made a meal of it. (clearly not the rat from Ratatouille.)   You would need to go on down there and have a looksy, and replace it with insulation from the building supply if so.


What could cause my outlets to not have enough power?

I am going to guess that the outlet that the lamp is plugged into is the same one each time you have tried this.

You may want to try plugging the lamp into one of the other four outlets. If the lamp does not come on then read on here.

It is clear that the lamp outlet is wired in a daisy chain manner such that power feed comes first to the lamp outlet and then continues on to the other four outlets. The most probable cause of the problem is that there has been a failure at the lamp socket. When you plug in the lamp the tines on the plug cause the metal material in the socket to move around such that the downwind sockets receive power. Remove the plug and the metal moves and opens up the circuit.

This strange behavior almost always happens when the electrical wiring is attached to the outlet using the back stab holes on the outlet. The fix is to replace the outlet with a new one. Attach the electrical wires using the screws on the side of the outlet. There are two good types. One where the wires wrap around the side screw. The other type is where the wire enters from behind and then tightening the screw clamps the wire into place. Both these used with copper wire can provide years or reliable service.

On the other hand the back stab type connections where the wire is poked into a hole to simply be retained by a spring clip are noted for failure and should not be used.


It depends.  If it's a 4-wire connection (hot-hot-neutral-ground) you are good to go.

If is a 3-wire connection (hot-hot-neutral and no equipment safety ground), you have two choices (or not):

If the neutral wire is a bare wire, you can permanently recharacterize it as a ground wire, and use the two "hots" to drive a 240V-only load (but not a 120/240 load like a dryer).  You move the ground wire from the neutral bar to the ground bar. (in a main panel they may be the same bar).  This option is not available if the neutral is white or gray.
You can convert it to a 4-wire connection by retrofitting a ground wire.  Fortunately the ground wire need only be #10 and can follow any viable route back to the panel, any other #10 ground or conduit, or the grounding electrode system.

With that matter taken care of, you can redirect/retask it to another purpose so long as all splices are made in junction boxes which are accessible.

If it is already a 4-wire connection, or if you are making it a 4-wire connection, leave things in a state where you can convert it back to service for an electric range.  Some jurisdictions require you provision this service, and easy convertibility meets the requirement.


How to open a PVC ball valve with a broken handle, stuck closed?

Ok, you can do one of two things or both. Drill a 3/16" hole into the black valve stem and screw a 1/4" x 1" lag screw into it. When the screw tightens up against the valve stem turn the screw another quarter of a turn and the valve ball could/should open. The valve stops are on the handle and valve housing and since the handle is broken off, the valve ball can be opened by turning it clockwise with the lag bolt. Once pressure is released, you can replace the valve.
Now if that's too much work, just drill a hole in the valve housing where the PVC enters the top of the valve and catch the stream in a bucket. Remember to close the valve feeding the filter and use a cordless drill when drilling into pressurized water pipes. Once pressure's released, replace the valve.


How do I fix a slow draining garbage disposal?

Sounds like the chewed up gunk from the disposal has largely blocked the drain pipe.  Try a plunger first (block all other connected drains) but that may or may not be effective depending on how far along the clog is.

If the simple solution doesn't work, you'll have to open a clean-out (or the U-trap) and use an auger to break it out.  You can rent a "snake" from Home Depot that attaches to a power drill.

As @Chris Cudmore said, avoid fibrous material.  Corn husks are the worst.

Important:  If this happens again, you may have a plumbing problem!  Disposals are often connected to existing plumbing that is not sufficient to handle them.  The drain should be 2" pipe with limited slope (or vertical) and must be the direct path to the main sewer with any other connections merging into the pipe from above.  Otherwise, you get places where the gunk can stick for a moment and have water move back along the other path giving time for the gunk to stick even more until you basically have concrete blocking your pipe.  I'll give you 3 guesses as to how I know this... and the first two don't count.


1/2" Styrofoam will give you about R-2.0 to R-2.5 insulation. The best you can expect from any reasonable 1/2" material is R-3.0 to R-3.5, so it's not too bad for what it is. Obviously you will get much better R-values from much thicker material.

Vapor barriers should only be installed closest to the warm side of any insulating assembly and nowhere else. While Roxul is largely water resistant, you still do not want water condensing inside the insulation, it reduces the insulating value and promotes mold growth. You also do not want to block any moisture that gets this far from being able to escape by having additional vapor barriers farther in from the warm side.

So you must remove the existing vapor barrier. Never install insulation on the warm side of a vapor barrier. Unfortunately, styrofoam also serves as a vapor barrier, so you should remove it as well before installing the Roxul. Better to give up that R-2 than risk moisture being trapped in the Roxul. The one and only vapor barrier should be on the warm side of the Roxul.

Note that this is assuming there is no risk of water ingress through the basement walls. If there is any risk, you should be using an insulation impervious to water such as XPS, and some positive drainage scheme must be in place behind the insulation to allow water to drain to a sump for removal.


Replace electric water heater with gas tankless (electrical connection)

In the panel, move the white wire to the neutral bar, and move the black to a 20A breaker.   Fit a 15A or 20A duplex receptacle.  And you're done.

You can use up to about 19.5 amps of power off that receptacle, since the water heater won't take much.

If you want two full circuits good for a total of 30A@120V, in the main panel, leave the black wire on the 30A breaker, still move white to neutral. Then fit a subpanel, of any size.  Black to a hot pole, white to the neutral bar, ground to a different ground bar that is isolated from neutral.  Only every other row of breaker spaces will work. Fit two 15A or 20A breakers and use each one for a different circuit.   If you place the breakers in the wrong row, don't bust out more knockouts, switch the black wire to the other hot lug.


F.A.U. and W.A. abbreviations on circuit breaker?

If you have a outside compressor this requires a separate circuit than the air handler or forced air unit.  Wa to me would be water if you have a well. The double 50 is most often for an electric range.


It's not possible to predict what will happen if you break the circuit between the converter and the lamp. The converter may fail catastrophically if it is switched on without the load it was designed for.

If you could be confident that the converter is nothing more than a step-down transformer, perhaps with a load limiting resistor, then you could insert the relay between the converter and the lamp. But since this product is touted as a superior energy saving device, it is likely to use a TCBH1 power technique that requires the lamp to be permanently connected.

Therefore I recommend inserting the relay between the power socket and the converter.

1 Too Clever By Half


Should I trim or bend the lip to a strike plate?

Cutting it would be okay so long as you keep enough of the bend for it to function properly. Having said that, the tab on that strike looks exceptionally long to me. You might want to see if you can pick up a new one that has a more appropriately sized tab, it would be way easier than modifying the old one.


I would encourage you to Google zinsco panel failures or federal pacific panel failures just look at the images and you will see why I don't believe they are available. Anyone that has replaced a panel from a failure will tell you the only thing that prevented the home from burning was the sheet metal enclosure. This is not just these 2 panels brands but even the big boys like square D, siemens and cuttler hammer. I had a big 3 phase burn holes in a buss on 2 legs and this was only a 30 amp breaker in a panel full of 100+ amp breakers. Bad things happen all the time even with top of the line equipment.  Would you trust your home to a plastic panel after looking at a few of these images?
Yes some of the parts are plastic but as you will see in many of the failures the plastic is gone but the enclosure is intact.


How to handle 1 inch gap between bathtub tile and drywall?

There is a 1" quarter round ceramic available. Local home centers here stock it.

You could also rip down bullnose edging.

If you're bold enough, you could try to mix up some colored sanded grout on the stiff side, and try to run a chamferred edge detail.

Lastly, although it might be ugly, you could install vinyl quarter round.


Mounting a pull up bar on hollow concrete block wall

Please be very careful to ensure that there is sufficient block wall above your attachment point to stop the whole wall toppling forward under load.

Children have been killed by basketball hoops fixed to brick fascia's above garage doors when they slam-dunked and swung on the hoop. The brick fascia collapsed forward onto the child crushing them.

I expect you want at least several feet of wall above your attachment point, even better if the roof is providing good downforce to hold the wall together.


What type of outlet could this be in picture?

That is an optical coupler from a utility meter to allow a meter reader to electronically read the meter with a handheld data collection device.  They are usually on the meter itself, but in this case the meter must be inconvenient to access so a remote coupler was used.


Connecting 6 gauge aluminum wiring to 10 gauge copper with AlumiConn

Use a mechanical lug connector ("Polaris" or equivalent)

AlumiConns are only rated for a maximum of 10AWG wire.  For fatter work, you'll want their bigger brothers, mechanical lug connectors (sometimes called "Polaris connectors" after a common brand name) -- the smallest size of them is generally rated for wires anywhere from 14AWG to 4AWG, and as a rule, they are dual-rated for aluminum and copper wire.

You will also likely need a box extension ring or two, as mechanical lug connectors are quite chunky compared to wirenuts or Alumiconns, and you definitely need an appropriate connector to attach the flexible conduit to the box, as right now, it's violating several Code sections by flapping around in the breeze like that.  If the extension rings aren't enough, then you'll have to replace the box with a small (6" by 6" by 4" should be ample) NEMA 1 (indoor) pull box, likely with a flush cover. These are what is used instead of a junction box when splicing large wires, and are available through electrical supply houses.


Lots to answer here.  I would have posted this as a comment, but I have too much to say.
I have an 8 zone hydronic (in floor concrete) heating system...probably "over-zoned", but that's a different issue.
When you say "the manifold" that implies only one zone. I have 8 manifolds.
PEX is awesome and will last a lot longer than 35 years.
There are a lot of considerations when designing an infloor system. IE: what is your heat source? Electric boiler, Propane boiler, Natural gas boiler?  Air to water heat pump? Geothermal heat pump?   I love my in-floor heating, esp, during the winter, but bear in mind it's SLOW SLOW SLOW to heat up a space. You can't do typical night-time setbacks on your T-stat by more than a couple of degrees. Also, of course, in-floor heating doesn't give you A/C.   My house is set up with an air handler and ducting for A/C as well as aux heat for when the in - floor heating system can't get up to set point.  That's done via a fan coil from the boiler to the air handler and is controlled by the T-stat as Aux-Heat.
As I've said here before, and hate to say it bc this is a DIY site, but you should at least consult a pro in this field to give you a design, with tubing layout, temp loss calculations...you don't want to screw this up...it's hard to fix later.


Can I use construction adhesive alone to attach pressure-treated wall plate to concrete floor?

I have found liquid nails on a few jobs in the past that did appear to work but is not code in my area. The 2x4 placed flat on the wall only needs an inch and a half to be code. The minimum wall thickness for a single story here is 6" and 8-12" on taller structures. Most modern basements were poured with forms that have straps or snap pins holding the forms from blowing out. These go all the way through so I don't think there would be a problem with Tapcon or expanding anchors. I have used both on my homes and jobs with no negatives. Tapcons will strip out if over tightened so I now use 3" long Hammer set expanding anchors. They are a bit more expensive but I have never had one pull out on studs or back planes for electrical panels.