Does not matter what color the wires are. With switches we see far more problems from people applying what they think they know about wire colors and the odd things that are common practice in switch wiring before the requirement to supply neutral to the switch came about. They unscrew everything and then can't make it work because they lost track of what went where.
All black is fine - just be sure to keep track of which black wires go where, and put them the same place on the new switch.
The old switch may not have a grounding (green) screw.
The old switch appears to be a two-terminal switch with one wire on one terminal and two wires on the other terminal. Mark, tape, or just don't disconnect all the wires so you keep track of which two go together.
Connect one wire to the black screw. (or one of the brass screws, but for the sake of a narrative that will work... lets stick with this.)
Connect the two wires to one of the brass screws. Leave the other brass screw empty, since you are replacing a two-terminal switch with a 3-way.
If you need to, connect a short wire to the two black wires that go together using a wirenut or approved splice block and connect that short wire ("pigtail") to one of the brass screws. This is better than using those "push-in" or "backstab" connections that your old switch seems to be wired with.
The green grounding screw should have a green or bare-wire pigtail attached that connects to the bare or green ground wires in the box, assuming you have ground wires (mid 1970's or 80's there should be.) If the box is metal, those should already be connected to the box, as well.


You are correct in assuming that 18 is actually 18G (gauge), according to Buildex packaging. Typically the second number is TPI (threads per inch) but with metric dimensions the second number is thread pitch (distance between threads). In this case 7mm seems unlikely, so I will assume TPI since I am unable to find documentation stating otherwise. 200mm is the overall length of the screw.


Are clogs in the AC condensate drain common in Florida?

I live in South Florida and I too have to do this. My house has 2 AC systems. One of them clogs up after about 3-4 months, the other never has. I'm not sure what the difference is, but ever since I started putting a bit of bleach in the condensate line every time I change my filters; I've had no clogs since then.

Assuming this is actually your problem, I would suggest that you do the same.


power distribution loss of negative on 120v circut

No. No, you cannot.

Also, if you're talking about Alternating Current (AC) it's not a negative wire, it's a grounded conductor or "neutral" wire.


Kitchen installation plumbing and electricity preparation

In the US the wiring just needs to be protected, normally by 1/2 inch plywood or Sheetrock. With that said the wiring is also required to be 1-1/4” back . If the wires are covered with conduit that would also work. ( not sure what you mean by tunnel).

Added:
With a closer look at the outlet you are not in the us so this may be ok your location would be helpful.


If you want to color maple, you might investigate dyes rather than stains - leaves much more of the grain visible.

If you're going to stain it anyway, poplar (in the lumber trade that almost always means tulip poplar) is a nice, cheap, stable wood. Has a somewhat greenish cast, but dark stain will obliterate it.

Responding to Jack's comment: I've posted this one before - it's from "fowl weather custom birdcalls" and provides a nice sample of what you can do with dyes on maple. I suppose it may be possible to use dyes in a manner that gets less clarity, but my overall experience is that dyes leave more "wood character" visible than most stains do. My personal preference is to let the wood be wood, and use a different wood if I want a different color; but I have seen nice things done with dyes.


I am not exactly sure what your engineer friend means by fire block. He may have meant fire brick or even a flue liner.  In either case, before you use a fireplace for the first time with an unknown history, it is extremely wise to have it professionally cleaned and inspected with a camera. There could be several conditions that can be dangerous, including loose or missing tile sections, no tile at all, dried out and missing mortar joints, improperly sealed thimbles, just to mention a few.


Why do I not always get hot water out of the faucet?

I would suggest that you check the hot and cold water valves or cartridges. Could be an o-ring or seat that is not sealing properly and allowing cold water to mix with the hot.


How to repair a crack along the grain in a solid block of wood from a single tree?

The attached pieces and legs may have exacerbated the effects by not moving with the seat but a piece of pine of that size was probably destined to crack regardless. You can try to weep glue down into it (run a line of yellow glue over the crack then blow it down into the void with an air nozzle) and then clamp out the space but it probably won't be permanent and you could damage your finish with the clamp pressure. Were it me, I'd fill the crack with tinted epoxy and let the piece wear the crack like a badge of honor. Think of a piece reclaimed pine:

Tape off the crack with painters tape. You don't want epoxy all over the finish, just down in the crack.
Mix a 5 minute epoxy to the manufactures specs, then add 5% by volume a Van Dyke Brown (or similar) aniline pigment. Most manufacturers will recommend a product compatible with their own on their website, I recommend West System.
Apply the mix carefully over the crack and then force it down in with a putty knife or shim. Trowel off the excess as neatly as possible and let dry. Repeat this step as necessary (sometimes is sinks in after application) until the epoxy fills the void flush with the surface.
Remove the tape preferably when the epoxy is still sort of gooey and let dry over night. (yes it's 5 minute epoxy but trust me)
Sand off the residual epoxy with 220 and a light touch and then scuff sand the entire piece with 280.
Apply a light fresh coat of your original finish.

Hope this helps, cheers!


Add electrical generator breaker to service box

You are not going to go very far with trying to add the things that you desire to that electrical service box. It is already completely full of duplex circuit breakers AND there is no main breaker in there to interlock with the generator breaker.

You will need to replace that box with a new larger box that is equipped with a proper main breaker and is compatible with a proper agency registered generator transfer switch.

Some things of note:

That generator inlet box looks like it is setup with some pretty small feed wires. You should think very carefully how you should really setup the limited capacity of the generator to feed only a subset of breakers and possibly relocate those to a sub panel.
There is a very sketchy use of a black taped white wire being fed from a  breaker. If at all possible you should be looking at replacing that wire run with a proper colored wire.
The wires jumpered into the lugs where the feed wires are terminated is an extreme hazard waiting to happen. If one of those wires were to get shorted somehow it would not be able to handle the current that those feed wires can deliver and will soon get extremely hot and cause a fire and melting wires and insulation. Disconnect those immediately till that can be properly corrected.
It is next to impossible to decide if this service box is a main-panel or a sub-panel. Along with that it is not possible to see if the ground / neutral bonding is properly handled in this enclosure. It would be wise to get that checked and brought up to code if needed.
With no visible bare safety ground wires it is clear that the grounding system being used here depends upon the conduits that carry all the wiring to this service panel. You should double check that every last outlet, switch and lighting electrical box is properly terminated to metallic conduit all the way back to this service box to ensure that the intended safety goals are met.


How can I test my drill and batteries for faults?

Testing batteries with a multimeter

Charge the batteries for a bit (follow the manufacturers instructions for the recommended charge time).
Set your multimeter to a low DC voltage setting.
Touch the black probe to the negative terminal on the battery, and the red probe to the positive terminal.

If the reading on the multimeter is at or above the voltage listed, the battery is good.  Otherwise, you'll want to replace the battery (Don't forget, many home improvement stores offer battery recycling).


Should I install vapor barrier in my basement bathroom?

No, there's no need to install a vapor barrier between two conditioned spaces. The purpose of a vapor barrier is to prevent warm moist air from traveling through the insulation and condensing on the cooler side, which can easily happen in cold climates. With a conditioned space on both sides, you can allow any moisture in the air to pass through.

There's also no need for insulation except for sound proofing (fires can pass through doors, as can any heat). For sound, make sure your insulation is designed for that, and also consider a resilient channel or similar product that will keep the drywall physically separate from the studs, which is how many sounds travel through walls.


Semi-flush mounting a surface mount (NEMA 3R) panel

Leave yourself strategic access for future wiring, like access doors above and below the panel if the homeowner is game for that.

Otherwise, sounds pretty cool looking.


Wood creaking sound (intermittent, but persistent), how to finally put it to rest

You say it's not your ducts, but I just listened to your video and I've heard that sound before, it's the sound of expanding metal uptight against wood and slipping.  The fact that there's a similar noise coming directly from the vents at times just means that it's coming from hangers that are having trouble holding onto your duct work, some of which has padding between in and the ducts preventing the resonating tinny sound, where as in other places it's not dampened and thus you hear it along the duct.

It's clearly not a critter so it's better off just left alone.

Loosing some hangers may actually be the solution.

Similarly, changing how fast your hvac system heats up / cools can help you troubleshoot. Open all the registers in your house and take note of how often you hear your noise. Now on a day with similar temperature and humidity try the same test with only one register open.  If lower airflow means less noise then reducing your your blower fan speed should help and vice versa.

Other fixes to try if it's still bothering you:

If the sound is relatively new (you've lived in the house before and this is the first season where it's been a problem) you can try to tighten down or loosen all screws and hangers related to the duct.

If the sound has been there for almost as long as you've had the house, you can try adding rubber or plastic spacers to your hangers and anywhere else the duct-work might be in contact with the wood.

However, my guess is that your particular noise is buried inside an inaccessible part of your house, else you probably would of pinpointed the cause of the problem. Thus the next most reliable solution aside from ripping out and replacing all the duct work with properly insulated circular ducting, or a different kind of HVAC system is to add an acoustic duct liner.

If it were my house

If I was experiencing the same sounds those ducts also carry AC, i'd just wrap the exposed duct-work with neoprene insulation to prevent sweating and reverberation of the sounds and the next time I change the flooring add an acoustic padding.

Similarly, I might try reducing with the blower fan speed depending on how accessible that is.

If you are rich and can afford to pay for quiet:

If I were rich, I'd just remove the entire central air system and replace it with a ductless mini-split heat pump system. Not only will this eliminate the noise, but you'll have:

Better zone control.
A large space in your basement freed up where your furnace and control system currently is.
No unsightly ducts running though your basement and taking up
space in your walls if you ever choose to finish off your basement.


What type of aluminum are squares and 72" straight-edge rulers made of?

Aluminum is made of aluminum - processed from rocks.  This is actually a great "How It's Made" Episode.  There is very little that really changes with most aluminum that you buy other than size and shape.  I am sure there are slight differences in strength due to tempering processes and coating but this is usually minimal.  If some aluminum is a lot "softer" than others it is probably because it is not pure aluminum.

Steel is an alloy.  There are literally thousands of different steel mixtures.  Depending on how they want the steel to turn out they add (or take out) different minerals - including aluminum sometimes.  Steel is basically a mostly iron alloy and a lot of its properties are subject to the amount of carbon.  I think if the carbon amount hits 2-3% steel becomes very rigid but also is very brittle.  A ruler would not have a high carbon % in the alloy because it would need to be very flexible (relatively).

Steel for the most part is "stronger" than aluminum but it depends on the alloy composition and the tempering process (which has a stronger affect than it does on aluminum).  The strongest steel is much stronger than strongest aluminum.


How can I fix this persistently leaky shower faucet?

You say you replaced the seats. The seat is where the usually rubber washer on the end of the stem seals against the back of the valve body. If you put your finger in the hole where the stem goes you should be able to feel the surface where sealing takes place. This surface can get scratched and allow leaks. In fact, the leak can make the scratch worse over time. Also, debris can become trapped in this space during repair and prevent sealing. So, make sure the seat is not scratched, it can usually be replaced if it is, and make sure no debris is left behind before closing up. Additionally, there is usually a washer made of paper fiber or hard plastic that sits between the valve body and the stem above the threads. If this washer is worn or missing leaking can occur at that point.

Finally, you say you replaced the seats and it got worse. It is possible the seats are not tight or are installed incorrectly, crooked, or cross threaded preventing the washer from seating. Check for that.

Good luck!


Whole House Humidifier on All-in-One Heat Pump and Freezing Temps

You should be able to install a steam humidifier, and inject steam into the supply duct.  Though to install one, you'll have to have access to the main supply duct inside the home. You'll also as have to have a source of water and power.

Obviously these types of units are available from many manufacturers, and offer a variety of features and pricing. However, in general, this type of unit tends to be more expensive than other types of humidifiers.


Are bubbles in new exterior paint normal?

Those are very good questions you asked the contractor.

The result of the paint job is unacceptable. Besides being unsightly, the paint job will not have the longevity you want or expect, as the bubbles will pop or split on their own, and form a nice little place to hold water against your siding. The bubbling is most likely due to painting on a damp surface.


As bib stated, it is in the color/grain of the wood.

If you used red cedar, redwood, and perhaps douglas fir the striping will come naturally if the sap wood is included. The darker wood is the heartwood, towards the center of the tree, the lighter is the sapwood, which is around the outside. My guess is that redwood was used. No stain at all. The finish coat will change the color a bit, enhancing the grain of the wood. Most outdoor "clear" finishes give some "ambering" to the wood it covers.


How to fix baseboard header periodic buzzing

Check the contacts in your thermostat and in the relay for your heater. It sounds like they're not opening completely when the desired temp is reached. If it's an old mechanical thermostat with the mercury switch, look for slag floating in the switch, in which case you'd want to replace it. If this is a rental unit, check with the landlord before doing any work and see if they'll correct the problem.


Can't find the circuit board of my HVAC system

You may not have a C wire. The C is a common used to provide a constant power circuit (C is the Negative or Ground) for the thermostat to use.

In this furnace there are only 2 wires that a manual thermostat or battery operated on will connect which turn the furnace on.

Your only option is to run another wire (Or use another if there are extras) and connect it to the negative pole on the transformer (LOW VOLTAGE SIDE).

Its often the blue wire but I would need a better angle on the transformer to tell for sure on that particular one.

You should also check that the output is no more than 24v. If its anything else it could damage the thermostat.

CAUTION: There are live 110 lines into that transformer. Make sure your power is shut off at the breaker before touching anything in there. Make sure its covered when your done.


This is best summarized by referring to building code:

Building codes vary, but this seems to be a fairly typical set of rules (at least in the US) such as in the Florida plumbing code. If in doubt, certainly check with your local inspector / authorities.

One of the reasons for these rules is because if a tee were used incorrectly the waste can go backwards and then sit and harden thus creating a clog. With a wye and a 45 stuck in it (or a long sweep 90), then its forced to keep moving.

Although a wye or tee may superficially appear to perform the same job of redirecting flow by 90 degrees, their performance is not the same. In a wye or long-sweep 90 the flow is positively directed in a specific direction. But in a tee there is not a smooth flow transition at the junction. As if a cable were sent down the line at a tee there is a roughly 50/50 chance of going one way or the other; water won't be any different.

A second case to consider is where a vertical pipe serves both as a drain and a vent. Wyes are incorrect for this application. If you use a wye for the vertical for a trap arm, when the trap is installed and if the pipe is properly pitched, it puts the trap weir above the wye inlet which theoretically can cause the trap to siphon: with a wye the fluid passing through the junction would temporarily block air movement which will not occur with a tee.

As somewhat of an exception, typical building codes (e.g., both IPC and UPC) allow a sanitary tee to be installed horizontally provided the straight inlet-to-outlet portion of the tee is vertical and DOES NOT receive the discharge from any fixture (in other words it must be a dry vent).


Product or technique to plug a pipe from the inside?

You should be able to find caps that just pop on, or in the pipe.

Or you could get a test plug, if you really want.

(source: petersenproducts.com)


If you can use duplex breakers, is there ever a reason not to?

Double-stuffing has its limits

In addition to any limits that your loadcenter places on the use of double-stuff breakers, there are also limitations on the breakers themselves due to the smaller effective frame sizes involved.  As you have noticed, one of those limits is that double-stuff is incompatible with AF or GF functionality, or with other special functions/ratings such as the HID rating used in some commercial work for breakers that are used to switch heavy lighting loads on a frequent basis, or the Switching Neutral function used for fuel pumps and some generator transfer situations for that matter.

There are other restrictions in play here, though, and chief among them is that the smaller frame size sets an ampacity limit on double-stuff breakers.  While a 1" or 3/4" frame can normally handle 125A/pole, double-stuff frames are limited to 50A/pole for 1" breakers (HOM, QP, BR, THQL) and 30A/pole for 3/4" breakers (CH, QO).  Furthermore, double-stuff breakers are also limited in terms of their ability to interrupt large amounts of short-circuit current.  This isn't an issue in most light-duty situations, but their 10kA fault current limit becomes a consideration in multi-family and commercial work where larger services are found.

Finally, double-stuff breakers are limited in their ability to accept breaker accessories; for instance, they can't be used with generator interlock kits and require special lockoff devices.  This also extends to electrical accessories, as these breakers are not available with features such as shunt trips that can kill the power remotely or auxiliary/alarm switches for indicating the status of the breaker to some automation system, either.


Run power supply wire through garage for security camera

To help with terminology I've added some notes to one of your pictures showing the names I use for the parts. The rubber strip is a "weather seal" and the painted white wood is a "jamb."

You can drill horizontally into the jamb. You'll need a long drill bit for this; the hole may have to be 4-6 inches deep from the interior surface of the lumber on the wall. This bore is illustrated with the line segment marked "1".
Next, drill vertically up into the jamb as illustrated with line "2". If you've positioned the drill well the two holes will intersect and you'll have an L-shape passage through the wood.
The wire can be fed through. It may be necessary to feed something else through first -- a small/light gauge wire, a string, etc. Creativity is key here. For example, if you're trying to get string through the long horizontal bore but it hangs up on the rough wood, try inserting a drinking straw first and push the string through that. It'll get you to the far end of the hole where a small hook or tweezers may be able to grab the string.
Before drilling the actual door jamb tou could practice the technique on a scrap of lumber from somewhere. A home center, lumber yard, or construction site may have a piece they'll sell or give to you.


Adding an Outlet downstream from a switched outlet

Following your scenario, modify the wiring like this:

This requires adding one conductor to the run between the switch and the existing outlet. If your wiring is in conduit then this should present no serious problem.


Why would a light switch be wired with the neutral wire?

If all you have is one wire entering the switch, then the power for the switch might come from the light, and you just have a switched hot.

The white wire should be marked with tape to indicate it's not being used as a neutral.

Unfortunately, if this is the case, then you don't have a neutral available at this switch which is necessary for most of these automation switches. If there are other switches in this box it might be possible to re-route the power for this light, but I'd need to know more about where the power is coming from, what else is there, and how the light is connected in the ceiling box to help. Otherwise, the only way to this would be to run a new wire to the switch location -- either a new 14/3 from the light (so you have hot, neutral and switched hot), or a new power feed with 14/2 from the panel.


It will depend on your book load, and whether your "hard maple" is really sugar maple or not.

There is, of course, an easy way to deal with the calculations these days. Do be sure to read all the "notes" below the calculator. Shelf thickness (or "depth" in beam speak) cubed is indeed the correct factor, and why even small changes in thickness make large differences in stiffness.

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

For lesser woods, 48" is a heck of a long unsupported span for a thin shelf. Actual sugar maple at 8 x 3/4" will do 50 lbs per foot within the "acceptable" range and typical book load is given as 20-40 lbs. Mind, that is based on the strength of "clear, straight grained samples" and "initial sag only." At 35 lbs/ft that shelf reaches the suggested target of 0.02 in/ft to allow for additional sag from sustained loading.

Silver maple is "borderline" at 40 lbs/ft. red, black, and bigleaf are "acceptable" at the same figure. All are somewhat less stiff than sugar maple.

IMPE you should be able to get 13/16" planed from 4/4 rough. If you want the appearance of a thinner shelf you can cut a long taper on the bottom front edge, which will reduce strength somewhat, but not as much as thinning the whole shelf width.

At a higher level of difficulty in the "absurdly thin non-sagging shelf" direction you can mount steel rods, say 16" in from the ends and drill holes in the shelf (the difficulty is in getting the wall-mounted rods and the holes in the shelf to agree) for "invisible supports."


I looked up the property (I think I found the right one).

Because this was built 1900s-ish, assume you need to replace all plumbing and electrical. Assume all paint is lead paint. Assume there's asbestos somewhere. Assume you'll need to strip all walls to the studs.
Thankfully, the water damage does not appear to be flooding-related, but from rain.
The water damage appears to be highly localized in specific areas, but bad enough that there's holes in the floor at those points.
The roof appears flat, or generally unsuitable for the climate. This is going to be an ongoing problem for the building.
There's unlikely to be any insulation. (This is actually a good thing for a building with this much damage, as it means the structure can dry out properly, but you will need to fix that.)
The listing talks about the certificate of occupancy. Basically, until the building is fixed, you don't get to live in it. This will generally require you to finish your work, not just fix the roof and make a couple rooms livable. Talk to someone about what that means in that particular city.
The structure at the back appears to be sagging a bit. Not sure if it's a trick of the camera or not, but I don't trust it.

My non-expert opinion: the basic structure appears to be sound. However, you won't be able to move in until most of the work is done. (RV in back yard might work, depending on city rules.)  For a structure this old, there are serious health issues associated with some renovations that a professional would be better suited to handling. This is definitely hard mode for a DIY project. Restoring this is basically a full time job over months.


Best way to get 20 amps to outdoor office 150' from breaker box

Run 2-2-2-4 MH feeder from the panel to the office.
The reason is the distance and very severe voltage drop on 120V circuits.  Normally I'm pretty slack about voltage drop.  However 200' at 120V is so bad even I have to stand up and take notice.
And it isn't even a case of 1 wire size bump (to 10/2)... that might work at 100' but at 200', just off the cuff I can tell you that you'll need a second bump to 8/2.
And now we get into a costing problem.  8/2 UF-B is $1.28/foot.   Well, heck.  2-2-2-4 MH feeder is $1.27/foot.  Why are we putting in 40A/120V cable when we can put in 90A/240V cable for less money?  It simply doesn't make any sense!
Of course you can't land #2Al wire on a 120V receptacle (can't land #8 either)... so the cheapest solution for landing #2 on a recep is just running a subpanel.

Use a 60A feed breaker (the wire is good for 90A but 60A is the cheapest breaker that'll take #2 wire).
The subpanel needs a disconnect switch (being an outbuilding).  I would select a 12-space or larger subpanel that is convertible to main-breaker (don't convert it yet).
I would simply connect the feeder wires to the subpanel's main lugs and install ONE 20A/240V breaker ($10).  That will serve as the main disconnect since it is the only breaker.  You can power up to two 120V/20A circuits off of that.
Voltage drop will simply be a non-factor for a 120V/20A load.
Later on, if you want to grow that into a real subpanel, you simply retrofit the main breaker and install as many breakers as you please.
At 200', voltage drop at 240V isn't a big deal.  You're allowed to plan to use up to 72A on that circuit, and at 72A you'll have 3.52% voltage drop.  That's no big deal.
So yeah, if you want to install seven 2000W Cadet heaters to make the building warm up real fast, go for it.


What are some ways to appropriately hang things on a wall?

Basically you need to look at two things:

What you are hanging (how heavy, will it sway, is it a vertical load or does it have a horizontal component)
What are you hanging it on (wallboard, plaster, old crappy plaster, stud wall, concrete wall, brick, stone, solid wood...)

Then you pick the right fastener at the intersection of these two.

Assuming you have a newer house, and are mostly hanging pictures, the old "nail into wallboard" will work okay. Just tilt it downward so the picture wire slides toward the wall, not toward the nailhead.

You can also use things like the 3M "command" strips, which work great if you follow the instructions and don't exceed the load. Don't be stingy with them.

Hanging heavier things like mirrors or glass picture frames, use the appropriate wall anchor for the wall, and/or nail or screw into the studs. With the right wall anchors, or rails or other structure attached to the studs, you can put an enormous load on the wall (tons) without problems.

If you have an old house like mine, don't even bother trying wall anchors into ancient crumbly plaster...find the studs. Hard-won lesson. ;)

Using a stud finder can be a bit of an art, so practice on a wall you don't care about. (Mark the edges of the stud, then drive a very fine nail into the wall board and see if you were right. Then, pull the nail and spackle the hole.) Also note that they read differently depending on what kind of wall it is.


Can EPDM roofing be applied directly over XPS panels?

Always follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions. One of the largest roofing companies is Johns Mansfield (JM).
There’s many considerations including attachment to roof structure, splicing, fitting around vents, conduit, etc. If you use their accessories, fasteners, etc. it’s more likely that the system will be weathertight.
Here’s their product description:
https://www.jm.com/en/commercial-roofing/epdm-roofing-systems/membranes/
Here’s their insulation and cover board options. I don’t see XPS, but I do see a lot of polyisosanurate  options.
https://www.jm.com/en/commercial-roofing/roofing-insulation-and-cover--boards/
As you can see, the insulation comes with an isolation board to isolate it from the membrane. In addition, they recommend Fesco Board to install on the roof deck to isolate the insulation and membrane from the roof structure.


Does a return air cavity in a wall need to be lined?

In terms of sealing a return vent, it is sufficient that the drywall and studs are compressed to create a channel in the wall. No need to caulk the corners, unless there are gaps. No metal lining needed.
For wall to floor transitions you can cut sheet metal to create a custom fitting (box), and seal its metal seams with tape or mastic duct sealant. Lip the metal over the drywall and screw it through the drywall into the stud. The grill will cover this. Screw the other end of the box to the return duct.
Most return in-takes I have seen have no additional sealing. There is a grill in the drywall, a cut-out in the bottom plate, and a blocking horizontal stud behind the drywall above the opening. Sometimes there is a metal return air box, but no additional sealant.
In stead of lining a drywall channel (because it has gaps and cracks), you can use round ducts and squeeze it into an oval or ellipse to fit in the wall cavity (e.g. a 8" duct in 2x4 framing). Since this is more restricting than a rectangular duct/channel formed by the drywall and studs, you'll have to calculate the area of the oval's cross section to make sure is sufficient for the required air flow.

Image from http://www.ductworkinstallation.com


Nest thermostat E74 error - no power to Rh Wire

Bit of Nest history

Nest often has a sub base issue. Usually the issue is contained to the cooling side. Rh is power input for the heating side. So that wouldn't be my first guess.

Test

Remove Rh and G and connect them together with a wire nut or simply twisting together. It doesn't have to be a very good connection, it just has to be a connection. This will bring your fan on. Now what you will want to do is, move to a location where you can hear the fan running. If it is running that confirms power. If it's not running you will need to identify the issue it may be a breaker, the furnace switch is off, the fuse in the furnace is blown, or one of many other power related issues.

If it's running

If the fan is running you can remove the RH wire from the G terminal and connected to the W wire. Now after a few minutes you should have heat blowing through your vents. If you do have heat blowing through your vents then I would suggest calling nest and getting them to replace your sub base they usually do it for free.

Conclusion

If you're unable to resolve the problem due to it being a power issue then that is another question which I am happy to help with but for now try the method outlined above and let us know how it worked.


What's the purpose of 5.5mm concrete drill bits?

Simply, they're for 5.5mm plugs.

Red screw plugs are normally either 5.5 or 6mm, it's not the case that the manufacturer is advising a smaller drill size to account for poor quality.
5.5mm tend to be a little cheaper though as they're normally made by companies that sell only to tradespeople in boxes of 1000 without spending on packaging or marketing.
Fwiw, 5.5mm plugs in a 6mm hole will do quite a good job...which is good because 5.5mm bits are relatively rare.

It's a bit of a discrepancy in (uk) standards...in that there really isn't a standard. The UK isn't very good at adopting standards in the construction trade.

Want some blue plugs? The 8mm or 10mm ones?
Want 7mm plugs? Brown or grey?
Want some 40mm waste pipe? Sure, how big is it? 41mm, we wouldn't want to be the same as the other guys.
Want to wire a house? Can I interest you in a ring main?

Incidentally, 7mm are pretty common but not nearly as popular as 6 or 8mm.


If both surfaces to be joined are fairly flat than contact cement will bond them together with a strong grip. Use the contact cement that isn't labled as "green" or "environmentally safe". Get the type with high VOC's it is stronger and will hold longer.   If any of the surfaces aren't flat you should use an adhesive that is thick or gel-like. I've had great performance from the adhesive labeled "Goop" or "Shoe-Goop". It is sold in a clear and black tone. It sets-up in 12 hours and full cures in 24 hours. I like that when cured it doesn't become solid or brittle, but still bonds with tremendous force and remains resilient. This is a very good adhesive for plastic to plastic as it will "weld" them together.  Also any type of construction adhesive, urethane caulking or hot glue will hold the pieces together, but not as strong as the first two mentioned.  And to use the contact cement (for the strongest bond) apply it to both surfaces in a light coating. You must than wait for the cement to "tack" or become "dull" in color before joining them together (be focused on their placement. Once joined it is very hard to remove).


What could cause a furnace to short cycle?

Have you checked the temperature inside the furnace?  It is possible the pilot light went out.

Disclaimer: I don't hold any special knowledge about furnaces.  They are dangerous if tampered with. Re-lighting pilot lights can blow your house up. I don't recommend anything.


I had a similar  project at my son's home so we dug a 100 foot trench about 2 feet deep, the deeper the better, added 12" of gravel (rocks), laid in 4" schedule 35 perforated drain pipe, a little more gravel, and then a layer of top soil. Planted grass seed and all the water drains into the ground. You can not bury a flexible hose but can lay it on top of the ground, YUK.


Estimate ROI of installing battery pack like the Powerwall

I've looked into the ROI of batteries and solar and I haven't found something as nice as an online calculator, but a search for "Powerwall Return on Investment" does pull up several blogs and studies about the topic such as this paper on the Stanford website.

  We will now calculate the yearly cost of electricity for a family consuming 20 kWh Off-Peak, 0 kWh Peak, and 10 kWh Partial Peak for the entire year for each state average, A.

  Cost Per Day  =   (20 kWh × (1 -.202) + 0 kWh × (1 + 0.819) + 10 kWh × (1 + 0.202)) ×
  =   27.98 kWh × A

  Cost Per Year =   365 days/year × Cost Per Day
  This means that in California, the cost Per year using our PowerWall 2 strategy would be $0.188 kWh × 27.98 kWh day × 365 days year = $1919.98 year.

That's the type of calculations that you need to do.  From what I've read you're looking at anywhere from 8-12 years to recoup the investment on this or a solar install.

My personal opinion is that this is a cool thing to do as a hobby and it may eventually pay for itself, but there are so many better ways to "invest" money.  Look at typical 10 year returns on any other $7k investment.  Another thing to keep in mind as you read is that most of these "studies" ignore battery degradation to simplify the calculations and they assume electric prices will be constant for 10 years (ha!).  And then what about the install costs?  And what if anything needs to be replaced or diagnosed?


AFCI breaker trips on the second start of table/miter saw

Arc Fault detection is done in the breaker with an electronic board and a set of sensors feeding it, connected to a trip relay. In the electronics, there is a microprocessor that is looking at the current sensor data using an "Arc Signature Filter" algorithm. Every mfr of AFCI breakers and receptacles has their own version of this Arc Signature Filter, it is their "secret sauce" so to speak. The concept behind the Arc Signature Filter is to look at the current and discriminate "normal" patterns of arcing that might come from certain equipment, from abnormal patterns. Those patterns have characteristics of amplitude, frequency and periodic discontinuities that set them apart from what might otherwise be considered normal.
The type of motors used for small appliances and power tools, called "Universal Motors" that have brushes in them, are the very thing an AFCI Arc Signature Filter is looking for. But in reality, it's a matter of how extensively the mfr investigated it with regard to ALL of the different types of appliances and tools that use them.
So now comes the Miter Saw. The big difference here is that, unlike your blender, vacuum cleaner or hand drill that all use Universal Motors, the Miter Saw adds another element to it, called "Plug Braking" to make the dangerous saw blade stop quickly when you release the trigger. It does this by briefly reversing the motor to make it stop. So again, being a brushed motor, that means arcing of those brushes when you STOP, not just when you run. So my suspicion is that this comes into play with the "periodic discontinuities" aspect of the Arc Signature Filter. The fact that you turn it off, then turn it on again, adds up to something that the filter is interpreting as an arcing fault. You could confirm this by waiting a while before turning it on again.


Holes near the bottom of the wall are "weep" holes that let any water that gets behind the bricks drain out.  These, however, are not weep holes and look like they were drilled to mount something to the wall.  Perhaps a hose rack or reel?
In any case, yes you can fill them in.  They are small enough that you could use some mortal-colored caulk.
By the way, you should probably address that crack also.


There are essentially two possible reasons:

There is a ground fault in the wiring/fixtures/appliances it's protecting
The GFCI itself is faulty

It really depends on what's on the circuit to determine if there is a fault somewhere. 15 year old wiring is likely to not be a huge issue. There could be water in a junction box. Simple receptacles and switches aren't too likely to have issues (though it wouldn't hurt to open them to take a look at the connections), but anything with active electronics in it (dimmers, USB chargers, etc) could definitely be the cause. Same goes for other fixtures -- lights, ceiling fans, etc.

You could replace the GFCI and see if it still happens -- if so, there's definitely a fault. If you don't have another GFCI already, this is a somewhat expensive way to test (though if it's fault, you'll have to buy one anyway).

If you happen to have another one you could swap in, that would be a cheap and easy way to test. Swap two, see if it still trips and if the same breaker trips, or the same circuit trips the new breaker.


what do you call a female single socket extension-style plug?

It's called a trailing socket (1-way).

Examples: 1. 2, 3, 4


Room lights flickering when I connect my desktop computer when running on Inverter

Your desktop computer's PSU draws electricity in a more complicated way than something like a light or fan does. Nothing's really working incorrectly... it's just that the inverter and the power supply weren't built for each other. The power supply is sucking power when the inverter doesn't expect it, causing a dip in the voltage; then the inverter up-regulates the voltage to compensate, only now the PSU isn't drawing any power and the voltage goes too high.

Replacing the PSU with one that does "power factor correction" may fix things. (Be careful - manufacturers of cheap PSUs will flat-out lie about whether a PSU does power factor correction, as they lie about other specs. Buy a trusted brand.) Alternatively you can use a voltage regulator, such as this ugly little box, to isolate the weirdnesses of the PSU and the inverter from each other. A good voltage regulator like that one will instantly solve a wide range of power issues. (I swear by the APC Line-R, but other people prefer the Tripp-Lite brand.)


There is no need to give the panels 100% coverage.  Just get some on the edges and a few good daps here and there. As long as it sticks to the wall, you should be OK.  Once you backfill the bottom, the panels shouldn't go anywhere.


Prevent Dirt Movement Down Slope Through Gap Under Fence

To further isherwood's comment on your original post, once your neighbor's dirt is piled high enough on his side of the fence, the dirt and water will start to come through the gap between the bottom 2 boards instead of under the bottom board. Then you're back to the same problem, just higher. Until the bottom board rots out.

Harper's comment about working with the neighbor to reroute the drainage on his side and lowering your fence to restore his view is probably the best suggestion.

If the neighbor is unwilling to work with you, then your best bet is probably going to involve a fair bit of expense on your side - installing a 2nd French drain on the other side of the walkway to capture his runoff before it hits your walkway.

Getting the water off on the uphill side will eliminate the flooded walkway, leaving just the dirt behind (if there's fine enough filtration on top). This will, unfortunately, require some regular maintenance on your part to keep your uphill drain clean. It's one of those trade-offs in life - clean the drain or walk through the puddles.

After getting some estimates to tear up half your walkway, install the drain, and reinstall the walkway, you may want to go back to the neighbor with some cash in hand and offer to help pay for the drainage work on his side instead. Note: I'm not suggesting you pay for all of it, or even the majority of it, just some as a goodwill gesture and because it will be cheaper (and less disruptive to you) than doing the work on your side. A cash contribution toward the work and an offer to lower some of the fence to restore at least some of the view without giving up too much of your privacy may go a long way toward getting this solved properly. If you go this route and the neighbor is agreeable, I'd suggest putting it all in writing before starting, just to be safe. I don't think a lawyer would be necessary - generally putting it on paper with both your signatures (each of you retain a copy) should be sufficient. That's a question for law.se, though, not here.


Wall plastering in Taiwan: Plaster sets VERY fast (10-15min). What can I do?

The working time of setting-type plaster is a consequence of that plaster's ingredients. In the US, setting-type drywall compound (e.g. Sheetrock Easy Sand) can be had in a wide range of drying times from 5 to 210 minutes. If your mix is getting crumbly after 15 minutes, you might just have the wrong product.

Combining setting and pre-mixed compound is not something I've seen recommended. Final dry time, strength, shrinkage, etc. will be hard to predict. Perhaps you can work out something that does what you need this way, but I think you'd be better off finding a compound that gives you adequate working time when following manufacturer instructions. You can also find plaster retarder and accelerator that should let you adjust the setting time.

Alternatively, you can try to make do with what you've got by mixing setting-type compound and quickly filling the big cracks, and then top-coat with the pre-mixed or drying-type stuff. That will let you cut out a bunch of the waiting, but then fine-tune with a slower-drying plaster.


For most woodworking tools, there is no particular need or benefit from a "glassy" or totally-rust-free surface. A moderate case of smooth, tight, non-flaky rust is immaterial to the function. I put paste wax on (bowling-alley wax - unlike most floor waxes it does not have abrasives in it - you also want to avoid silicones or you may have finishing problems on your wood products) but until you reach the point of rust-stains on the wood or something like that, a bit of rust is not an issue. If only you'd bought yours used, someone else could have gotten the new off it for you and spared you the agony of seeing it become a tool in use, rather than a shiny thing that hasn't been used.

Most of the tools that get moderate use have a tight blackish layer - not shiny silver, not rusty orange.


I had that problem when I moved in. The back part of my house has a crawlspace where rats easily chewed holes in the siding. I replaced the bottom 2 feet of siding with metal lath on 2x4 framing and plastered it with cement mortar. I dug it below grade so they couldn't get under it. It looks like concrete, even though the plaster/lath is only 1/2" thick. Just to be sure, I poured a 3" concrete walkway around the outside perimeter. The materials were cheap, and no more rats.


Can I use the wiring for a range hood for a new outlet?

Sure. They're (presumably) no different than would feed any standard outlet or light. Install a rated remodeler box and go nuts. You'll probably need to use a GFCI outlet if it's not already protected by one upstream.


Is it possible to replace the lock on this door that has been painted on?

How can I remove a Mortise Lock and deadbolt from a door?

The paint's no problem. Cut around the door knob escutcheon with a sharp utility knife, so it doesn't rip chunks of paint off the door. Do this anywhere there's paint-glue holding in metal parts. Scrape the paint out of the groves in the tips of the flat head screws using a screwdriver or the knife if you have to.

How do I replace mortise locks with bored cylindrical locks?

That post says don't. Replace it with another mortise lock. Other posts mention having a hard time finding a match for their hardware, you might want to see if you can get yours working again.


New RV refrigerator sat outside in hot weather

I would saw NO as an answer.
Why would you return a perfectly good refrigerator? The operating temps inside the compressor while running far exceed 100 degrees.
I know my RV when sitting in the sun the inside temps go beyond 100 if I forget to turn on the solar vent (a fan that is solar powered drawing in cool air pushing hot out).


What's the minimum vent diameter required for my drain line?

I've found this:

  Vent piping should never be less than half the diameter of the fixture
  drain it serves, and usually should be closer in size. For example,
  waste pipes of 3" and 4" diameters should be serviced by a minimum 2"
  vent pipe. And regardless of piping size, no vent should be smaller
  than 1 1/4" pipe. Dual vents which are to service more than one
  fixture should be slightly larger than required for a single fixture.

source: plumbing-basics.com


I have a neutral wire, what do I hook that wire to?

I need a little more information on the wiring to give an answer. Typically the white neutral wire is bonded to ground, but only at the panel. If this is a switch box, the white wire could be bringing power to the box or returning power back to a light/outlet/switchable device.  Essentially, power has to feed "into" the switch with one wire and back "out" through another.  It's supposed to be marked/taped though to designate this.

Alternatively, it could simply be an unused neutral leg that was brought in with the hot leg and should just be capped if not used. Newer building codes require you to run a neutral leg to switch boxes so that things can be "run" from the box. For example, you would need the neutral to install an outlet/switch combo at the switch box. Or using a motion sensing switch might require a neutral leg as well.

Can you provide a picture or some history of what type of fixture was in the box?


As noted here: Is PEX exposed to the environment OK to use? you do not want to expose the material to UV light of which there is plenty in outdoor sunlight.

If it were me I would plumb the outside connections in copper and then switch to PEX inside the building structure.


Concrete on its own is a porous material. It may slow water down, but will not stop it.  It is possible that the outside of the wall is waterproofed, but it's not a guaranteed.


Shower Runs out of hot water after a few minutes but sinks stay hot at the same time

I replaced the unit and I now get hot water. I think the old unit was simply not able to consistently provide hot water any more


Best Removable Glue for Gluing Metal Towel Bar to Stone

You can use 3M Command Strips. You just need the strips themselves, and not the hook. Attach one side to the bracket and the other to the granite. When you move out, just pull down on the strip to remove.

Depending on the size, some of the strip may be visible. You may be able to trim it to size though.


Should I replace or patch a plaster ceiling?

CAUTION ALERT !  Dealing with a failing plaster and lathe ceiling can be very tricky. Before you make the decision to tear it down, which as Chris mentioned, a messy job, or simply put drywall over the existing plaster, you need to carefully evaluate the soundness of the lathing to the strapping or joists.  What I mean by that is, are the lathes still firmly attached to the joists and the problem is the plaster "keys" failing from around the lathes, or are the lathes themselves falling away from the joists?

With that said, covering the old failing plaster with drywall is fine. If the lathes are solid to the joists, then putting drywall directly over the old and using screws long enough to reach the strapping or joists will work fine.  However, if the lathing itself is failing, then you must install strapping 16 inches on center, perpendicular to the joists, securely screwed to or ring nailed to the joists. The purpose of strapping is twofold. First reason is to support the failing ceiling securely to the joists. The second reason is that if you just screw drywall to the failing plaster and lathe, the weight of the ceiling will be against the drywall and could pull the screws through the drywall board allowing it to sag or joints to crack now or in the future.

I must say that even though tearing down the old ceilings is a big job, it certainly gives you a clean start and an open view to correct any old wiring problems, add new lighting circuits, install new flush mounted electrical boxes, and install new level strapping etc.


You're describing an end branch that is supply-lamp-lamp-lamp-switch with 14-2 cable on each segment.

You have a clear grasp of wire function and you laid it out in black and white (/2 cable is black and white).  Trouble is, you're colorblinded.  I'd like you to color-code your wires, and I think this will suddenly become obvious.

Get some red tape

(And black too, while you're at it.)

And now tape your wires.  First rule of wire is tape both ends at the same time, don't mark one end then forget to mark the other or you'll lose your mind.  Second, once you have taped a wire, the wire is now that color.   You don't need white tape since you cannot mark colored wires to be a neutral.

Start with the thing that is required by Code: marking your retasked white wire.   Your white wire which is always-hot, mark that with black tape.  Black is the color of always-hot.  **

Now you have a switched-hot wire in that switch loop.  You used the black wire which is fine, but mark it with red tape.  Red is the color of switched-hot. ***

That was easy.

Whatcha got

Now go to your last lamp box (nearest the switch), remember a marked wire is that color, and you see a very obvious problem.

Neutral/white lands on the lamp, as it should...
Switched-hot/red lands on the lamp, as it should...
Always-hot/black upstream is nutted to always-hot/black switch loop...
but nothing carries switched-hot upstream to the other lamps.

Open up the next lamp and you see white/neutral to the lamp, as should be, black/always-hot to the lamp, and that's why they're always on.

Fix it

Now you see, to control the other lamps, you need switched-hot running back to the other lamps. So you need /3 Romex, which conveniently contains a red wire.  That's straightforward and I trust you can figure it out.

However there is another Code requirement.  You must now run real-neutral on the switch loop.. The reason is for future support of smart switches.   So you also need the always-hot, switched-hot and neutral triplet down to the switch.  That means you have to use /3 cable on the switch leg also.

That means you can just do the works in /3, which gives you access to native wires with all the right color codes, and I just wasted your money on tape :)

**    This is a convention (but a very smart choice when working in Romex.)  If some guy in a factory wanted to use pink-with-green-stripe for always-hot, that's his call, as long as he is consistent throughout the facility.

*** That is also a convention, but one which plays very well with the fact that in /3 cable, the third wire is red.


How to deal with the mess when working with Tuff-R

Tuff-R is polyisocyanurate foam.

For styrofoam (polystyrene) using a hot wire cutter to melt rather than crumb the foam is less messy, though with more fumes/smoke. You probably don't want to try that with polyisocyanurate, since the fumes given off by it are far more toxic, per a brief search.

For any sort of foam being cut (sawn) to crumbs(some types don't melt), vacuuming while cutting is helpful.

If you can make your cuts with a razor knife or similar non-crumbing tool rather than a saw, that can help, but may require more effort to make the cut.


Where should the first I-joist be set parallel to the rim board?

...usually if you read the 20-odd pages of documentation that come with your I-joists they will tell you what to do, and a great deal of what not to do. Or ask the person who punches the numbers into the computer to size & select your specific I-joists what their layout program (based on the same manufacturer's data) expects you to do. The number of I-joists you get will be based on that. It's not common to just sell you I-joists at random - they are an engineered system and the specific series and size need to be chosen to fit your building loads - every place I know that sells them provides that service as part of the pre-sales process.

One issue with "just a rim board" and then going (12/16/24 inches, depending on your layout specifics) is that the wall bearing on the rim board is wider (thicker) than the rim joist, and asking the floor-spanning plywood to carry the inside part of the wall load without direct support might lead to problems. Depending on the thickness of the wall, the first I-joist might want to be set at the inner face of the wall, rather than just sistered to the rim board. For a thin wall that might be the same, for a thick wall it might not.


How do I remove this fastener under my bathroom faucet

This is a toggle nut with some type of locking device extending down through it.  It must be removed from above.  Some type of cover on the faucet itself is removable. From there you will see the top of the bolt that is threaded into that toggle nut. unscrew that bolt and the toggle will drop away.


Tankless sub-panel water heater use = buzzing?

Could be several things, among them:

There is a loose neutral connection in the heater circuit or elsewhere and when high current flows to the heater, the loose neutral is causing flicker and it is causing what's called "common mode noise" (electrical noise related to ground) that is getting picked up by your sound bar.
The overall added load of your water heater is too much for the service and is causing a voltage drop, in which case you need to call the utility about making sure you are being given enough capacity (i.e. the size of their transformer).
Similar to #2, but is being caused by you have under sized conductors that are causing the voltage drop under load.

My first choice would be #1, given that it is getting picked up by the sound bar.

Is it dangerous? Possibly. Loose connections and/or voltage drops under load are never good things and will not "go away" by themselves.


Connecting 3 wire timer to 2 wire circuit

No. The white wire to the old timer is actually the load, not neutral (and technically should have some black tape over the white insulation to mark it as such).
Unfortunately, your switch box does not have a neutral wire (they were not required in switch boxes until relatively recently, 10-15 years ago).
You need to return the new timer and find one that does not require a neutral connection.


Use Quik Trak panels over the existing T&G chipboard and lay your new floor over the panels. Much cleaner than the screed method, and likely cheaper than starting over.


Can I wire a one-way parallel light switch?

An alternative is using a switch with indicator for the attic. That has a small light that will light up when the light is switched on.

Otherwise you will can use a double pole switch for the attic and wire the second pole in parallel with the pantry light.


Protect a 6 inch air hose from physical damage

The best thing is to use rigid ducts instead of flexible ducts. A little harder to install as you have to figure out (and possibly do some cutting) exactly what pieces to use for your specific installation, and typically you need to attach several pieces together instead of one long tube. But avoids a lot of the issues of lint collecting inside every "crinkle" in the tube, tube getting easily crushed, etc.

Hopefully with rigid duct you can rearrange things so that you don't have ducts sitting right on top of the dryer (or other appliances).


Advice on Furnace water leak, should I worry?

Water spilling out of a furnace is definitely a problem. As you've experienced, at the very least it may lead to soggy rugs/carpets and the ensuing mold. You also noted that there's rust and damage -- those also are not normal; they are signs that leakage is causing your furnace to literally desintegrate.
There are two common sources of water in a furnace. One is condensate from the exhaust; this occurs during heating season. When natural gas or propane burns one of the byproducts is water. It's a vapor as it leaves the burners but it condenses to liquid on the walls of the exhaust pipe and normally drains back into the furnace. The other source, if you have refrigeration-based air conditioning, is condensate on the evaporator coils. This is humidity that has been drawn/chilled out of the air.
Both liquids can cause problems, but it might be worth noting that the condensate from burned gas is somewhat acidic. That'll cause accelerated decay of the metal furnace cabinet.
So, what to do about the water? There should be some drainage tubes or pipes arranged to catch that water and carry it away, usually to a nearby floor drain. When there's water spilling out where it doesn't belong the first thing to check is that these drainage tubes and the catch basins that feed them are all connected properly and aren't blocked.
As for that loose band clamp around the coupling: it looks like an oversight. It should be snug. You wouldn't want furnace exhaust gases with carbon monoxide and other harmful substances leaking into your home through a loose fitting.


Temporarily moving 2 walls off of a slab

There are a number of good ways to do this. Here's the first to come to mind if you're hoping to keep the wall upright. No jacks involved. In my experience, they're more trouble than they're worth when things are being moved laterally.

I would separate the walls, if that's not difficult. A "cats paw" nail removal tool and a few minutes would probably do the job. You could cut the nails, but you'll have scarring on the lumber, and sometimes that's more difficult than it sounds. This procedure should work well either way, though.

Place a series of 8-10' levers with fulcrums along the wall, perpendicular to it. 2x6 laid over would probably work well. The near end of the lever should be just below slab level. The lever height at the fulcrum should be roughly level with the new slab height. The fulcrum should be near the temporary resting position, 2-3' from the slab. There should be clearance under the far end of the levers to at or below grade near the slab.
With plenty of helpers, pry the wall off the slab onto the levers. Two people should have the sole duty of balancing the wall, which, if kept vertical, should be manageable. The others should monitor the levers and help pry. Flatbars driven under the wall and then lifted should make this step easy.
Once the wall is completely off the slab, helpers should stand on the levers to lift the wall to the new height. This should be easy for average adults if there are enough levers (three or four per wall). The far ends of the levers should be a few inches below the height at the fulcrums, so that there's a slight rise to the new slab location.
Now place blocking under the near ends of the levers, next to the slab. Leave room for concrete forms, etc.
Shift the wall into its temporary position and brace well to heavy stakes in the ground. I'd use three if the wind is expected to remain calm, more if not.

When time comes to replace the walls, the levers should be at a suitable height. Just slide the walls into position.

Of course, you could always just lay the walls over and drag them out of the way. If you have enough help this is feasible. Four to six healthy adults could handle the walls individually.

Also, consider leaving the original sill plates attached and just add new, treated 2x6 underneath, flush with the sheathing on the outside. If they're solid, don't waste the considerable effort to change them, or just change the bad portions.


What do I do about re-seating this old flange?

Wow, that's a pretty advanced state of decay. I'll guess that the pipe is cast iron and hope the stuff you see that looks like dirt is finely crumbling bits of rusted pipe. It looks like the end of the pipe is broken away such that it would be hard to make a reliable gasket seal between the toilet and the pipe.

It's worth noting that it's always important for a toilet to be securely attached to the flange. Any amount of rocking will eventually cause a wax ring gasket to fail. If you do attempt to make this work with some kind of gaskets, having the toilet secured to the floor would be especially critical.

Since you're kind of warming up the DIY muscles... how do you feel about replacing that flooring? I'd be thinking real hard about breaking out a hole in the concrete floor. It might have to be 1-2 feet long on each side -- large enough to be able to remove the gravel or dirt beneath, cut off the failing portion of the pipe, and install new pipe, elbow, and closet flange. Finish it off with a bit of new concrete mixed in a bucket or wheelbarrow and then new flooring.


This is an easy one.
With the power off, take the black wire off the 2nd switch that connects the 2 switches and remove the jumper and wire nut.  These will be used to make a pig tail.
Connect the single red with the single black and the short wire removed from the 2nd switch using the wire nut.
Connect the pig tail to the first switch. Now you have 2 wires connected to the switch going to the loads and the hot supply from the outlet on the other side.
That's it.


What is the proper way to use a hand plane on wood?

The concept of a plane:  It uses a very sharp chisel like blade mounted in a body to remove a thin layer of wood.  In practice, you use both hands (for control and even pressure) to slid the plane in the direction of the wood grain to remove a thin layer of wood at a time.

For effective use, you will need the piece of wood you are planing to be firmly held in place.  Use clamps, not someones hands, to hold the wood.  The blade on the plane needs to be razor sharp (reason for not using hands) to effectively grab the wood and shave it.  If it is dull, it is just going to skip and mar the wood.  You will need to find the right amount of pressure you will need to pressure to keep the blade in the wood.  Also don't try planing off too much at once.  The deeper you set the blade, the more likely it will mar the wood.  Start razor thin at first and gradually cut more as you get used to it.

For best results, do full strokes along the wood.  Where you start and stop it is easy to create mars in the wood.  Also if you do short strokes it is easy to create an uneven cut.  A good way to see if you are cutting evenly into the wood is to create a scribe line where you want to plane the piece to.

As @Keshlam said in the comment, use some scrap first.


Ant infestation: do I need to replace siding/wall

With the carpenter ants you may need professional help. I have had to do some extensive repair work in the Pacific Northwest for carpenter ant damage I would be examining the area you have identified as an entry and several stud bays on either side. You may be lucky and they may not have harmed the structure , and siding / Trim. In 1 case I had to replace about 10’ of exterior wall that was only holding in place with the sheeting. I don’t mess with these guys because if you don’t kill them they move to another wall and start chewing it up. After several houses I started biting the bullet when I found them and removing the Sheetrock / lath and plaster having that area sprayed with some stuff only chemical applicators can get, also the inside and outside areas of the foundation. After that I never had a reoccurrence. It really depends on how bad the damage is if it all needs to be replaced but if you are seeing any kind of dust , bodies they can be hollowing out the studs until there is nothing left. If the wood is stable it may be ok to leave alone but I would get some pro help, the stuff they can put on the exterior of the foundation and at the base of the siding can last 10 years, plan to re do it if you have had problems or you may find a wall gone we just got lucky in one case it was found on the inspection.


Where on motion sensor is the battery on the 2550 bravo. I don’t see it When opened

I suspect there are multiple alarms and the readout on the panel controller is mashing the errors together and what you have is a SYSTEM BATTERY low plus another alarm such as one of the motion sensors is triggered so you are reading it as a motion sensor low battery.
According to the manual for the 2550 it powers the motion sensors from the panel there are no batteries in the sensors themselves.  The panel uses the standard lead acid Gel Cell.
Most of these alarm panels are very similar in how they work and most are designed to dial a telephone number to an alarm monitoring company that you pay a subscription to.  I assume you have one of those since a residential burglar alarm that sounds off in the middle of the day (even for a long time) is going to result in the neighbors ignoring it. Many of those panels allow remote service techs to dial into the panel, the usual procedure is the panel lets the phone ring 15 times or so then answers. (if it's programmed to do so)  Call your alarm monitoring company and see if they have a service department that can do this and if so their techs can pull the codes.
However before spending any time on this look at the lead acid gel cell in the panel.  If it is more than 3 years old, replace it.  If you can't tell how old it is replace it.  Make sure to date when the battery was replaced.


What to call a store that sells end mills?

Machining and Machine tool supply

Tool and Die Maker's Supplies

Wood Machinery Tool Supply


How can I rewire two separate light switches on different circuits to one?

Shared on/off, separate dimming? Home automation (smart dimmers linked by a controller and a few simple programs) would probably be the easiest solution, and maybe the least expensive.


What material can I use for this custom corner desk?

For an inexpensive and easy to work with material I would consider MDF. In particular there is coloured MDF available. The colour is throughout the board, not just painted on the surface, here's an example:

The benefit of this is that simply scratching the surface will not remove the colour. It also gives the MDF a neat texture as the colour is not 100% solid.


Can I convert a Sunbeam Radiant Control T-20C toaster from 120V to 230V?

It’s unlikely that you can internally convert it. That would require finding two series strings of heating coils of the same resistance, and moving them from series to parallel.  Nothing but a teardown will tell you if something like that exists.   Even so, the switch may not be rated for 230V, though that’s probably not a huge issue.
That is an absolutely exquisite toaster.   They aren’t made anymore because of incompatibilities between their operating principle and a new UL White Book requirement. As such, they should not be trashed by risky behavior with cheap “power converters” found on the Internet or at junk shops.  There’s a special hell for people who take such risks lol.
The good news is, AC frequency won’t be a problem, so you just need a reliable source of 115/120V.  A proper transformer of sufficient ampacity is a fine answer.
You can overload a heavy transformer somewhat since your usage is momentary: Heat is why we care about overloading transformers; the iron and copper have significant thermal mass and take awhile to get warm enough to matter.  Same way little car starter motors can start a big engine.
Do not use cheap “power converters” unless you very carefully watch their power output on a scope.
Proper AC voltage conversion requires a transformer.  If it’s done electronically, there are a variety of ways to do it, in a wide spectrum of accuracy <-> cheapness.  At extremes, cheap “triac dimmers” for lights make a very ugly AC waveform, that works for incandescent lights intended for that same voltage, but is a mess for anything else.
You really have to watch out first for the spec of the converter, and second for “cheap overseas trash” overstating its capabilities.
Diodes won’t work.
That’s another example of way too far on the “cheap” spectrum.
Without a diode, running a 115V resistive load on 230V means you are doubling the voltage, and Ohm’s Law means you are doubling the current. Watt’s Law says if you double both voltage and current, you get four times the power/heat.  Needless to say this will instantly fry the toaster.
Now, somebody gets the bright idea “use a diode; block half the AC waveform”.  Now, what did I just say?   Applying 4x the survivable heat, 1/2* of the time, let’s see... do the math...

4 x 1/2 =

Anyone, anyone, Bueller? (Hint: 2x2=4)
That’s right... 4x the heat 1/2 the time is still double the survivable heat, and will again fry the beautiful toaster.


On the number and shape of my swamp cooler motor cord terminals

That looks like an Adobe P2-911 plug and it is proprietary. There's another version Adobe made (I believe it's for the 230v motors) that has a 5th round pin. The flat bladed terminal is for keying the connector so it can't be plugged in upside down. You should have a 115v cord with 2 hots - one for high speed and one for low speed, 1 neutral, and 1 ground.


Co detectors last about 10 years and most will chirp to indicate an "end of life" senario.


How to cut floor joist for stairway headroom?

That's a pretty tall order, you are into structural and would, in most areas, need a engineer or architect to sign off. It would almost certainly involve pouring a concrete footing for the post to rest on along with doubling some of the joists and using joist hangars with the proper structural nails. It's not super difficult but the amount of work required to do the job properly gets exponentially bigger as you add elements to the job. Cutting the stairwell into an L shape adds a lot of work. It's definitely the right thing to do looking at the picture. But it's not as easy as adding a post.

Here's an example of an L shaped stairwell

DIY chatroom

This doesn't necessarily apply to you, it depends on where the load points are above. An experienced contractor could easily figure it out but they is little you can do if something goes wrong. With a architectural stamp you have someone liable for any failures.

Just to throw out an idea

Red is a post

Blue is a double

Green is a cut joist

The post could potentially be placed further right but it depends on how long the stairwell is and the code in your area.


1880 Home with Ballon Framing - Roof Soffit Question

Wire mesh for birds/squirrels (while permitting ventilation) louvers (usually small metal vent louver strips) to block birds and light (to an extent) if blocking light is important to you. If blocking light better than simply using louvers is desired you might need to construct a soffit externally which would typically have the vent louvers in the bottom. Some sort of internal baffle could also be arranged, if more convenient.
Unclear what your insulation and associated ventilation needs are, but typically "cold roof" setups require vents at the eaves and other vents at or near the peak (typically gable end and/or cupola vents on that era building, as built, anyway.)


is this due to termites? any idea what's causing the wood to turn to sawdust?

Not termites , may be something called "powder post beetles" ( which I have never seen).  Carpenter ants leave coarser sawdust.
You should check it out.


That sludge is really just a mix of soap, water, skin cells, hair, tooth paste and all the other lovely stuff that goes down your drain. I doubt it is fungus.

You can't really prevent it.  There are all sorts of chemical and non-chemical mixtures you can try to clean it out, but I think removing the trap and cleaning it out is the best bet. If the trap is easy to remove, why pour harmful chemicals down and into your water supply?

If the sludge is soft and comes off easily, you might have some luck filling the sink with really hot water and then draining it quickly.


Bad to seal holes around gas pipes with cement?

The feed through a foundation or wall in my state requires a listed flanged pipe.
I don’t know what the coating is but there is a coating to prevent corrosion from contact with cement products.
The flange prevents movement of the earth causing a failure inside the home but I live in a seismic zone so movement is a possibility.
Would I go back and update an old home? Probably not unless a a service change was needed or insurance required it.


The bar is rotating because there is little friction between the bar and your supports.  Glue some soft rubber strips on the supports where the bar sits and you'll be all set.
On a side note, one limitation a lot of people have in strength training is in their grip strength.  This is manifest by the ubiquitous use of lifting straps.  If your grip is strong you won't need to prevent the bar from rolling.  That said, to each his own.


Is a mix of copper and galvanized pipe a problem if dielectric unions are used where they meet?

Dielectric unions reduce the rate of galvanic corrosion that occurs when dissimilar metals are in electrical contact.  They don't eliminate it but they slow it down.  How much does occur also depends on the mineral content of your water.
You should always use a dielectric union when there is a transition between one metal and other.
Dielectric unions are not needed between metal and any type of plastic pipe.


First off, understand how a refrigerator moves cold air around between the freezer compartment and the cold food compartments. Here is a generic diagram.

So make sure you have not stored something in a way that is blocking the airflow. If not, then find and inspect those air pathways to see if there is ice, mold or some other material built up and blocking it. I have had a small piece of cellophane from something get caught in the vent and cause this.

If that's not it, roll the fridge out and vacuum the dust off of the evaporator coils. Diminished capacity will allow the cooling to handle the freezer, but not much else, so the temperature controls will often prioritize the freezer.


Sometimes draining just a few inches of water from the tank will provide enough relief in pressure to stop the dripping, if it is indeed siphoning back from the tank.  It's also possible that you just need to wait a bit longer for all the water to drip out.  Opening all the other faucet valves and flushing the toilets with the water off will also help drain the system.

I would avoid the bread if you can, though it will flush though the pipes OK, it will gum up all your aerators and valves.

If you do need to work on a pipe with water in, they sell Pipe Freezing kits which you apply upstream of the work area. These will give you 15-30min to work on the pipe while the ice block you created melts.


I don’t like getting rid of moisture once it’s inside the house. I like keeping all the moisture on the outside of the house.

I see there is at least one crack in the concrete block wall (in the mortar joint), which will allow moisture in the house.

Water flows in the direction of least resistance. A channel design assumes moisture will enter the house and then “flow” in the channel to a sump pump. That allows standing water that can start mold, etc.

Moisture is either coming up from below (a rising water table) or its coming from the surrounding ground water in the saturated soil.

If it comes up from a rising water table, it will enter the living space from below through the crack between the foundation wall and slab.

If it comes from the surrounding ground water, it COULD enter the living space through the wall, especially if the EXTERIOR side of the foundation wall is not sealed properly.
Either way the moisture enters the living space it will need to be collected and disposed. I think the best way to collect it is on the exterior side of the foundation wall in drainrock and a perf pipe laid 6”-8” below the interior basement slab.

To keep the subsurface water from seeping through the wall, I recommend installing a moisture barrier on the exterior side of the foundation wall and install a 2” thick plastic mesh on the wall to allow water to flow down to the perfect pipe. If dirt is allowed to be backfilled against the wall, the dirt could hold the moisture giving it a chance to seep through the wall.

Once collected it needs to be disposed by extending a solid pipe over an embankment or in a collection well and pumped away.

This may be the most expensive method of solving the problem, but it’s sure to work.


Can I reduce the size of my hot water heater vent or direct the vent out the exterior (house has high efficiency furnace)?

This is one of those questions that is very difficult to answer properly with the info given. Although it sounds like you may be able to downsize the vent/flue because to the change over to a high efficiency furnace, there are lots of considerations depending on the exact equipment you have. The water heater is a different application as well.

In your particular case, I think it would be wise to bring in a qualified HVAC tech to analyze the situation and give you a safe plan ideal for your needs and location. Never cut corners when fire and poisonous gas hazards can result.  Good Luck


Why is my furnace blowing hot air outside through a PVC pipe?

It's a high efficiency gas furnace, and that's the exhaust vent. DO NOT cover or plug it!

A normal furnace relies on the stack effect, to carry hot exhaust up and out of the building. Since high efficiency furnaces extract most of the heat from the exhaust, the exhaust must be forced out. Since it takes less energy to move the cooled exhaust horizontally, HE furnaces typically exhaust to the side of a building rather than the top. As the gases are cooler, PVC, CPVC, or ABS piping can be used to carry the exhaust to the outside.

In a normal furnace you'll typically only see one motor and fan (blower), which is used to draw in cool air and blow warm air throughout the house. In an HE furnace you'll also find a draft inducer or purge motor and fan, which is used to draw in combustion air and push out exhaust.


It sounds like your antenna is for terrestrial broadcast TV, in which case it should be OK.  You want it to be facing the transmitter as squarely as possible, but a little bit of variance won't affect the signal reception too much.  If you have digital TV broadcasts in your area, you may not even notice anything at all.  Furthermore, if you do find that it's a problem, you can always secure it with wires later.

Satellite TV is more finicky: since the transmitter is much further away, you need to have the dish pointed more accurately.  But satellite dishes usually have a sturdy base, and are smaller than terrestrial antennas, so they don't move as much.


What's this wiring contraption in my closet?

The device is simply a junction block for telephone wiring. Normally, it would have a square cover that's held in place by a screw that goes into that center hole.

The false buzzing cannot be caused by this alone; there must be wiring errors elsewhere in the building.


Why does my furnace drip bucket fill up so frequently?

Depends what it's dripping.

If it's a high-effiency condensing boiler (despite not usually boiling the water these days, a central heating device that heats water is referred to as a boiler, while furnace refers to those that heat air, in the usual vocabulary), it may be dripping condensate (mostly water) from the exhaust. This often has a somewhat purplish coloration (just as a possible diagnostic/disambiguation point) from the non-mostly-water fraction. Those are usually directed to a drain, or to a collection bucket with a condensate pump that pumps to a drain.

It could also be a straightforward leak, (usually) from an overpressure/overtemperature valve - look for that type of valve on the pipe that is dripping. If so either the valve is faulty and needs to be replaced, or the furnace controls are slightly out of whack causing it to actuate.


Can I Install Floating Cork Floor without baseboards?

You can essentially do whatever you want. Safety doesn't really play a role but there are some things to consider.

For instance, a floating floor needs expansions gaps where it meets the wall and between transitional areas.

The gap is supposed to be at least 1/4" and usually no more than 1/2". If you do not have this gap covered, how do you intend to keep crumbs from getting under there, or the edge of the flooring from lifting up since it is not nailed down?

Asides from that, it may look ugly and incomplete.

If you do not like the idea of a baseboard, or if budget plays a role, then you might want to consider at least using a quarter round trim.

Note: I have assumed you do indeed have expansion gaps.


rewire ventilation fan to use pull chain instead of wall switch

The switch must be in a listed and labeled enclosure, or the switch itself must have a built-in enclosure. The switch should also be rated for the voltage, and current, to which it will be subjected.

You'll also want to make sure the switch is attached in such a way, that normal use will not rip it from the enclosure. Pull chains can be subjected to a lot of abuse.


Your putty (or better, wood filler) approach will kind of work, but that isn't a good solution for holding screws in wood.  Those products tend to crumble and don't bond all that well with the wood, so they don't hold up well for this use.

BillDOe's dowel solution is a standard way to get strength roughly equivalent to the original wood.  There's a simpler version of the solution.  Fill the old holes with glued wooden toothpicks.

You break the toothpicks in half and alternate fat side or thin side in.  Dip the toothpick in wood glue, and stick it in the hole.  Add more until you've filled the hole and can't push any more in.

Find a nail that's a slightly smaller diameter than the body of the screw (the core under the threads), coat it with a little Vaseline, and tap it into the middle of the toothpicks while the glue is still wet.  This will compress the toothpicks into a solid mass and create a pilot hole for the screw.

When the glue is dry, remove the nail and trim off the toothpick ends sticking out from the surface.


Can wood floors be refinished half a room at a time?

No.  You really can't.

There are several reasons why:

Dust.  Sanding dust will get everywhere.  Ideally you want to move everything into one room, that will hopefully not be refinished, seal off the door and do everything at once.
Equipment Rental.  It is simply not cost effective to rent the sanders for multiple small periods of time.  If you try and do half a room at a time, you'll be paying many times the price over doing it once.
Finish Quality.  When painting anything, the general rule is to always maintain a wet edge.  That is, in the middle of an area, keep painting until you get to a wall or other natural boundary.  If you let the paint/stain/varnish/polyurethane dry in the middle of the floor, you'll end up with an unsightly ridge when you go back to finish the job.


Toilet supply line seems connected somehow that I can't see, what do I do?

Yes pull harder. The plastic has some flex but because it is “straight” it is kind of spring loaded pushing it self back.


How can I fix composite deck railing that wasn't installed with brackets?

Without seeing a picture it is hard to say.

My experience with wooden furniture is that when you put it outdoors bad things happen, especially if screws and nails are used to hold it together. It is pretty rare to see a deck older than 10 years that does not look like a potential termite habitat.

In general, putting corner braces under the railing would certainly provide a lot more support than a screw through the top. Unless you bolt the corner braces you will still have the screw deterioration problem. This can be mitigated by using brass or stainless steel screws. Bolts, of course, tend to have that Frankenstein look, but at least they hold the wood heap together.

My guess is that one to two years from now we will start getting questions about decking deterioration from you.


I can't be certain what you've actually done here but I do know what you have there, whether it's the new or old one, is a 3-way dimmer. Sounds like it'd be the new one because the old one doesn't sound like it was wired as a 3-way is done having only 3 wires (g,r, blk).

A grounded 3-way switch has 4 wires: a ground, a feed from the source or return to the light, and two travelers. What you had originally doesn't look like a good fit for the new one.

Why is it shorting out? Could be a number of reasons. But you'll probably have to clarify what you mean by the fixture to the left as we have no clue of where/what that is. It's most likely either the way you've wired it or contact between metal parts and wires in the box seeing as it looks pretty full. It may not be anything you've changed as far as the wiring and may be the shifting of the wires. Perhaps the bare ground is now sitting on a wire that has a bit of wire exposed out of the wire nut.

A couple things you could try:

If you're installing a device in a packed box, put a wrap of electrical tape around the back side covering the terminal screws.
Use a continuity tester to see if you have some unwanted contact between the ground/neutral/hot, or metal.

In the end, if I'm correct in assuming you have the wrong type of switch, I'd return it for the correct one, it should be cheaper and then it will be a correct match.


As with many other things (a question about thermostats comes to mind, where various higher-rated thermostats are used simply because it is cheaper to spend an extra $1 on the heavier switch than to stock 2 different items), limiting the number of SKUs (stock keeping units) is important in a lot of businesses. So you won't find a big box home improvement store stocking every possible register size, just the most popular.

Four solutions:

As @bib suggested: Use the shorter one and add a wood filler strip. The only catch is that if the shorter one is too short, you might lose some airflow, but it would probably work just fine.
As @Alaskaman suggested: Clean & paint the one you have. If the problem is cosmetic, that is the easy fix. A little more work but no worries about matching up the screw holes or the overall height or anything else.
Try an HVAC distributor. They are typically wholesalers and will charge walk-in customers more than they charge their regulars, unless you can convince them that you are a tradesman (perhaps a handyman who only occasionally needs HVAC parts) and not just a homeowner. But even at 2x price, it won't cost much. If they are reputable, they won't sell you refrigerant or a whole furnace/air conditioner. But they'll sell you registers (which is what you need), tools, filters, small parts, etc. as long as you know what you are looking for. In this case, I'd bring the old one to the store (which will likely be off the beaten path with a bunch of warehouses or car repair shops, not a shopping mall) and see if they can match it. Since they deal with people building or renovating houses & offices and not just fixing little things, they tend to stock a larger variety of items.
Special Order: Some big box stores have catalogs of special-order items available. It might take a week to get, but with "deliver to store" there is often no extra shipping or special order charges. Ask at the "pro desk".


Why does my A/C "bump" and cycle super fast at night?

Okay. I've finally figured this out after two fruitless visits from the HVAC service people, a new logic board, and new blower motor capacitor. Warranty jobs, fortunately.

It turns out the culprit was our Nest thermostat. It was hooked up without a C wire. In this configuration, to charge its battery, it periodically closes the Heat circuit for very short lengths of time. Furnaces see that short signal and generally ignore it. With our old furnace, it was no problem with either heat or AC; everything ran fine.

However, with our new furnace (an Aire-Flow, in case you're wondering), when the AC was blowing, having the Nest close the heat circuit freaked out the logic board, which responded by stopping the blower motor while leaving the AC compressor running. I'm not sure why it seemed to happen more at night — maybe something about the times the battery charged?

Anyhow, the solution was to connect the C wire (for whatever reason, the furnace installers didn't) both in the furnace and in the Nest, and everything seems to be working.

It would be nice if the Nest warned you about working without a C-wire, but hey, it is what it is.


Fixing metal grille on a wooden radiator enclosure

The metal mesh can usually be purchased in sheets at home improvements stores, then cut to size.  A sheet isn't very expensive (last I looked, under $30).  So, it is probably easier to just replace as opposed to taking it out and trying to cleanly remove the dent.

More research shows they come in 3x3 sheets, and you'll want to ask for "decorative metal screening".


What type of gutter screens are attached to the roof itself?

Without being able to see it, I am speculating, but I used to work for a roofing and gutter company and this sounds very familiar.  Please keep in mind that the company I worked with is in the Carolinas and roofing methods do vary by region.  It sounds like you have asphalt shingles.  There are 2 relevant things to know about asphalt shingles.  (1)Along the edge of you roof where the gutters are, there should be 2 layers of shingles, the second one being called a starter course.  (2)On the bottom of asphalt shingles is a bead of sealant, very much like an adhesive, that is designed to heat up when the sun hits the roof and seal to the adjacent row of shingles.

There are many different types of gutter guards (including screens) on the market.  Some of the most popular guards install by sliding the upper lip between the starter course and first course of shingles.  After a few years of being in the sun, the guards can get bonded to that sealant pretty good.  Also singles tend to get brittle over the years and it is probably good that the gutter cleaning company left before they did any damage.

There is also one other situation that I have seen numerous times.  Occasionally, I have run into situations where the guards were not installed correctly.  Particularly, I have seen cases where the installer lifted up the first course of shingles and actually nailed the guards through the shingles.  Most gutter cleaning outfits would run as soon as they see this.  Not to fault gutter cleaning companies, they are just not outfitted to handle such a situation.

I would suggest looking for a roofing company that also does gutters.  They will tend to be larger firms and are likely to offer free evaluations.  I would gather data on the age and type of your roof, gutters, and guards ahead of time if possible.  The reality of the situation is that cleaning your gutters is going to be more involved than the $75 guy with a truck and a ladder is going to be able to handle.  The good news is that if your roof, gutters and guards are set up correctly, they should only need to be cleaned once every 5-10 years.


Will using a Chimney Balloon to insulate my fireplace block the ventilation of my water heater and furnace?

You should check whether there's a single flue for all three utilities, or multiple flues. Generally (and I think this is code, at least in the USA) fireplaces shouldn't share their flues with anything else, including other fireplaces. My (1960 Massachusetts) house has two fireplaces, a furnace and a gas hot water heater; it has one flue for each fireplace and a third shared flue for the heat and hot water. If they're separate, then you don't have a problem.

If indeed a single flue services all three, then you'd need to find out where the furnace and water heater's exhaust join the flue. More importantly, I'd be worried about safety even without the chimney balloon; it would be easy for carbon monoxide from the water heater and furnace to come down into the fireplace and into your living room.


Is deck joist sistering a sloppy repair?

Sistering board on the exterior is problematic.  Without a gap between the two boards, water gets trapped and rotts them from the middle out.  Same reason ledgers without spacers are a problem spot on houses.  If you sister the joists, make sure you put in a spacer to allow air flow between the two boards.

Or do not sister and just install another joist nearby.  Not pretty layoutwise from the bottom, but not really noticeable from the top for the layman.


Should I attempt to get to a potentially damaged trap and check it out myself?

I question whether busting up the concrete right away is the correct thing to do, it seems a bit premature to me.  I would try to get a camera with a locator down there so you can at least get an idea of where the sewer goes and then break up a localized section of concrete if the image is too poor.

Most of what is required to do this is just manual labor - busting up the concrete and hauling it away, and then digging until you get to the sewer - could be a few inches or several feet deep and your concrete is probably about 4" deep.

You would most likely want to rent a jackhammer from your local tool rental.

Assuming it was a crushed pipe, you'd need to remove the old section and replace it.  You don't mention what the sewer is made of, but this might involve cutting and gluing PVC, or be more complicated and involve connecting different types of materials like clay or cast iron to PVC (as the patch).  Each one of these would be a good candidate for a new question.

You'll need to be mindful of any other buried utilities and if it is clay, expect to find some tree roots (sometimes really big ones!).

Definitely DIY-able but be prepared for a lot of back breaking work, and assuming the backup doesn't drain on its own (usually some liquid can still move), a lot of filthy sewage water.  Make sure you take precautions to protect yourself - gloves, eye protection, mask, rubber boots.