Ground wire is hot, drop ceiling carrying current?

It sounds like there's an ungrounded (hot) conductor shorted to ground somewhere. Finding the short is likely going to be a tedious task.
Check your work
Did you install grommets or clamps, where the wiring passed through knockout holes in boxes? If not, start by inspecting the wiring where it passes through the knockouts. The edges of these holes (especially on thin recessed lighting boxes) can be quite sharp, and can easily damage cables and wires as they pass through the hole.
Check all your connections, making sure nothing came into contact with ground or non-current carrying metal. This can sometimes happen when wires are pushed into boxes, so check for loose or pulled out wires.
Inspect cables/wires where they are supported, especially where supported by metal staples or clips.
Check existing work
Start by turning off each breaker in the panel one at a time, while monitoring the voltage on the drop ceiling rails with your non-contact voltage tester. When the voltage goes away, you've found the offending circuit.
Once you know which circuit is causing the problem, it's time to start the tedious task of locating the fault.  Do your best to trace out the circuit, and determine all the equipment on it.  Open up all outlets and equipment, and inspect the wiring inside.
It may help to move along the circuit, and disconnect the load conductors (the conductors feeding the next junction) at each junction. Then energize the circuit, and check for the voltage again.  This can help you isolate the problem, and will help you focus on the problem wiring. Once you find the offending part of the circuit, methodically inspect the wiring. Checking for damaged wiring, loose connections, improper wiring, etc.
Unless you get really lucky, you're likely in for a long tedious search. Good luck.


Circuit breaker does not trip - but produces no voltage under load

You  might have a break in a wire, a loose connection, or corrosion. See https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/27285/82


Does there exist backwater valves for sink drains?

I have what I think is a standard plumbing set up

It appears that you have the dishwasher drain hose plumbed directly to the disposal instead of to an air gap. ALSO you have a washing machine plumbed to a tail piece with a dishwasher stub,  Both are not "standard". (In the USA)
Washing machines pump water at a significant rate and may be overwhelming your 1 1/2"  sink plumbing,  2" is code for washing machine drains.
Adding  a check valve is not the correct solution.
The first step it to plumb it properly and then if you still  have the issue   diagnose the problem.


How do I clean a root cellar under my porch to make it suitable for food storage?

Moisture is the ally of musty, moldy.

I would remove the stones, wash them in a household cleaner, such as Lysol. Wash down the walls and woodwork as well.  Setup a fan to dry out the area.  Run a dehumidifier in the rest of the basement during the summer.  Repeat using the fan if musty odors return.

Put down a vapor barrier on the ground, 6 mil poly minimum, pond liner is a very sturdy option.  Make the piece big enough to fold in the corners and contain the stones


Is this tub pop-up drain stopper fixable/replaceable?

No, I don't consider that repairable. Enough metal corrosion has occurred that entire assembly is suspect and at risk of failure. The good news is that it's a fairly easy repair if you have access. If you'd like help with that, post some photos.
No, the metal parts won't damage your pipes. They're probably already out at the street.


It's becoming code in a lot of places to vent your crawl space. Pretty much everywhere if you live in a flood plain in order to get insurance. Whether flood plain or not, many areas are requiring them for everything new. Vented helps to prevent both mold and buildup of gasses like radon in your house. You can get vents which open and close according to the temperature (and water pressure in case of a flood) if you think that would help. People post mixed reviews as to the benefit of these products. Do your research if you go this route.

It is perfectly acceptable and I would say, the best approach to spray foam insulation (similar to "Great Stuff") in a crawl space that is properly prepared for it. It needs to be vented already. It needs to have certain things like pex pluming covered as the foam will eat it. The foam goes right up to your sub-floor adhering to the joists and down the walls a little. And it does wonders for your energy bill.

I owned a 4k square ft house in Montana in a flood plain with 3k square ft of crawl space that was vented with flood vents (automatic open and closing vents). I had the entire 3k square ft of space sprayed with 3" of foam insulation and it cost me about $2800. This was in 2008. -30 degrees Fahrenheit and the floor stays fairly warm. An added benefit is this does wonders for bug protection, completely sealing up your floor. This is the only way to go in my opinion.


There are a wide variety of repair options that might work without damaging/removing tile, including repair flanges that use a compressible rubber sleeve that slides down over the existing pipe.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to see exactly what's what from the pictures. Repair options vary much depending on what you find after removal of the existing flange, so I recommend that you work on that first (hopefully you have a spare toilet...) I assume the foundation is raised (since you spoke of having it leveled) and suggest you get under there to ensure you have not had a sewage leak under the house. Carefully inspect the underside of the subfloor while you are there, because you will need to secure your new flange to it somehow and if it is damaged then you need to plan for that repair as well.

This type of repair may seem simple, and really they are, but the details and tricks gained from experience are often invaluable. If you can't figure a clear path forward after inspection and a visit to a plumbing shop to look at and discuss options... you may want to hire it done.


Running cat 6 networking cable in the attic: what is up to code?

Since you are in a one-family dwelling, there is really only one important article to be aware of.

  800.26 Spread of Fire or Products of Combustion. Installations of communications cables and communications raceways in hollow spaces,
  vertical shafts, and ventilation or air-handling ducts shall be made
  so that the possible spread of fire or products of combustion will not
  be substantially increased. Openings around penetrations of
  communications cables and communications raceways through
  fire-resistant-rated walls, partitions, floors, or ceilings shall be
  firestopped using approved methods to maintain the fire resistance
  rating.

  FPN: Directories of electrical construction materials published by qualified testing laboratories contain many listing installation
  restrictions necessary to maintain the fireresistive rating of
  assemblies where penetrations or openings are made. Building codes
  also contain restrictions on membrane penetrations on opposite sides
  of a fire resistance–rated wall assembly. An example is the 600 mm (24
  in.) minimum horizontal separation that usually applies between boxes
  installed on opposite sides of the wall. Assistance in complying with
  800.26 can be found in building codes, fire resistance directories, and product listings.

In a one- or two-family dwelling, you can use general type cable (CM, CMG, CMX) anywhere other than where plenum cable is required.

  800.154(B)(3) One- and Two-Family Dwellings. Type CM and CMX cable shall be permitted in one- and two-family dwellings.

Or, under carpets.

  800.154(C)(6) Under Carpets. Type CMUC undercarpet communications wires and cables shall be permitted to be installed under carpet.


Why is my brand new PEX clear tubing turning green near the water heater?

I am a professional plumber and I have been using PEX tubing for 20 years and I am also manufacturer-certified to do so.

The only time I've ever seen this green color in PEX tubing it was algae.  The pipe was a cold water supply line that was wrapped with heat tape and pipe insulation, and run above ground underneath my camper. When I removed the pipe it had algae growth along its whole length.

However, the algae will not stick to the pipe. When you kill it, it will just wash away out through your faucets; just make sure you remove your aerators in order not to clog them.

Shut off the water supply line to your water heater.
Drain some water out of your water heater from the drain valve.
Disconnect the supply line from your water heater, so you can pour your bleach in from there.
Reconnect your water heater and run hot water out all your faucets until you can smell the bleach.
After letting it sit for a sufficient amount of time, flush all the water out of your hot water pipes and water heater until no more bleach is detected.

This will kill your algae, but you may still have it inside your pipes. You might need to tap on the pipe to knock it loose before flushing.

In my case I drained the pipe and the algae dried up and fell from the pipe. Or you could remove and replace the affected area.


Can I ground Panel (3) to Panel (1)?

Assuming all panels are in the same building.

The answer is yes, but only if you feed Panel (3) from Panel (1)(see comment from @. ThreePhaseEel). The NEC requires all conductors to run together as a group.


Refrigerator water dispenser runs fast then slow

I have found when you have a “burst of water” followed by a low flow, the inlet valve in the filter housing is not fully opened. The large filter area pressurizes over  time maybe only a few seconds then when you open the valve you get a burst followed by a trickle.
A possible other cause would be media that is two fine and limiting the flow. Pre soak usually eliminates channeling but I would look at the filter seating / length as a possible cause.


Don't mix your (PVC) streams

Electrical PVC conduit and PVC sanitary (supply, DWV) piping may look similar (save for the color), but are made to very different standards.  Plumbing PVC needs to be rated to a higher working pressure for supply piping use, and also is designed to be used from fitting to fitting, with female-female couplers used to join straight lengths together.  However, most of it isn't rated for outdoor use, or for its behavior when subject to ignition sources.  (In addition -- the listing/rating for most plumbing PVC is through the NSF, which isn't competent to issue electrical listings.)

Electrical PVC conduit, on the other hand, while not rated for pressure, is rated for UV exposure for outdoor use and for its ability to resist ignition for a period of time; neither of these are true of garden-variety (white) PVC pipe.  It also is designed so that lengths of PVC conduit can be fitted together without a coupling, thanks to a flare on one end of the PVC, and has specialist fittings available for it that don't exist in the DWV world (such as expansion joints, to keep longer runs from doing the worm due to temperature changes).  Electrical PVC is also UL (NRTL) listed for electrical service, which is a NEC requirement (352.6).

As a result of these differences, they are not interchangeable or even compatible products, so just get the right stuff, even if it costs more.

As to sizing, though...

4 8AWG THHN wires take up just under 96mm2 of fill, while a 3/4" Schedule 40 PVC conduit has 131mm2 of fill available, so you are fine with your conduit sizing.  I would recommend using conduit L bodies whenever possible and prefabricated elbows for inside bends (where L bodies cannot be used) -- this makes installation the simplest, and stands the best chance of not violating the 360 degree rule for bends between pull points.


Where to connect C wire on older furnace

Connect the blue C wire to the junction of the thin white wire and the thick dark wires

If you follow the yellow Y wire from the thermostat to where it goes in your furnance, it goes to a thin red wire.  Since we know this wire is what energizes the coil of your A/C's compressor contactor during cooling, we know that the cable with the red and white wires in it goes off to the A/C, and that the white wire in that cable must connect to C in order for the A/C to work.  From this, we can determine that you can connect your blue C wire for your thermostat to the junction of the thin white wire with the two thick, dark wires; note that you may need to upsize the wirenut at that junction to fit everything into it.


You circuit is wired without bringing the neutral wire to the switch box and so only the HOT wire comes to the switch and the switched wire goes back to the fan.  For a traditional (i.e. dumb) switch, this works fine.

When you try to use a "smart" switch, and your electronic timer switch is such a switch, you have to supply power to the switch itself and that requires a neutral.

Two options:

Rewire the circuit between the fan and the switch to include a
neutral wire.
Fall back to a mechanical timer switch that doesn't
require any power of its own.


Spray the area with some vinegar and let it sit or 30 to 60 minutes, then wipe off with a cloth or sponge. Vinegar is better than bleach for killing mold because it soaks in below the surface to kill the mold roots. Bleach only takes care of the surface mold. I have used it on my stained deck and it has always worked great and didn't affect the wood color.


what drill bit size to pilot drill hole into stud for 15/64" lag bolt

When you're drilling and tapping threads into metal to accept a machine screw, you have to use the precise right size drills and taps.  But you don't need to be real precise with lag screws in framing lumber.  Without a pilot hole or with a too-small pilot hole the wood may split.  If the pilot hole is too large, obviously the fastener won't hold.

Look at the lag screw, observe the diameter inside the threads  (R, the "root diameter") in the illustration below) not the thread diameter (T).  Match up a bit that's slightly smaller than the root.  It sounds like you have 1/4" hardware and a 3/16" bit would be fine.


For starters, you generally don't want to put new grout over old grout.  I won't say it can't be done, but your results may be inconsistent.  Though it takes more time and effort, it's worth it to get rid of the old grout, or at least most of it.  Grouting over old grout means your new grout will be pretty thin, and the old stuff might show through.  Definitely get rid of any loose existing grout, if nothing else.

As far as epoxy grouts go, they aren't for the faint of heart.  They have a shorter working time (they set up faster) and are much less forgiving than conventional grouts.  They're also not easy to remove, should you end up with excess grout somewhere.  Personally, I'd say if you have to ask, epoxy grout is probably not for you.  Obviously, I don't know your skill level, but that's my opinion.  As a non-professional, I personally will stay with the standard cement-type grout.

A few other pointers that people don't always think of:

If your tile has a glossy finish, I wouldn't use sanded grout.  The sand can scratch up and dull the tiles.  If you have the standard 4.25" square wall tiles, they usually self-space to 1/8" which is doable with either sanded or non-sanded grout.
Remove and replace the grout, and then go back and seal it (usually after 48 hours of drying).  Don't use the shower until it's been sealed.
Use caulk instead of grout between the bottom row of tile and the shower pan or tub.  Grout doesn't last long there.  Besides, you need to keep water out, and grout is porous (that's what the sealant is for).
(Very important) You have to reseal grout regularly.  How often depends on the sealant (some will last years, others need redoing every 12 months or so).  A lot of homeowners don't know that, so I bring it up whenever people are asking about tiling and grouting.

Tile work of any kind rewards thorough and meticulous preparation and execution.  You can't slap together a tile job and expect it to turn out looking great.  This isn't an accusation, just a boilerplate disclaimer.


well pump pressure range too much from highest to lowest

Your water storage/pressure/booster tank could be low on pressure. I would check it out and make sure it is set for the proper psi as the pump. 50psi pump cut off out mean the tank should have 50psi in it when full. Ideally a tank should be a mix of about 50 air and 50 water. If you have trouble with this, your newer tank could have a bladder or balloon issue.


Because this is an indoor run, I'm not entirely sure why conduit would be helpful, except in eventually pulling more cables, as you mention. That said, I pulled CAT6 through 3/4" PEX, and that was difficult. If you have 1/2", you're not likely going to be able to pull it through at all if it's terminated, and you probably can't get any more cables in there afterward.

Overall, I don't see a point to it.

If you wanted to do it, you could. You could probably use a PG fitting to connect it to boxes on either end. Keep pull tape in the PEX so you can pull more easily in the future. It helps to have twice the length of the run so you can hold it on either end, attach your cable, and pull without losing the pull tape on either end.


How can I get the drain apparatus out of a pedestal wash basin?

I have owned/installed a pedestal sink once before. The sink was mounted to the wall and the base slid into place after the plumbing was done. It was not a structural part and just covered the drain. Your's looks just like it.


120 volt outlet not functioning properly

You mentionned the voltage being 120v. I assume this is when there is no load on the circuit.

Most likely, when you draw higher amperage, the voltage drops in a bad connection. This could be:

a bad backstab connection
a loose wire nut somewhere along the path from panel to outlet
a damaged wire somewhere in the path
way too long wiring (unlikely)

Since you're able to use a voltmeter to measure the 120v, you can also measure it while there's a load. (use something safer than a saw, if you're going to look at the voltmeter at the same time, say a toaster :-) )

Once you confirm the voltage drops, just walk back along the path, and figure out where the drop occurs. Either at the outlet backstab or at a loose nut would be my guess.

Fix it by redoing the nut correctly or not using the backstab.

Personnaly, if I'd trace it back all the way to the first connection after the panel, I'd call the electrician.


"Connect the ground wire from the branch circuit to the ground screw"?

That's an excellent question and it can be quite confusing.
If you're using a plastic box, it won't have a ground screw, just connect the two ground wires together.
If you're using a metal box, there will be a ground screw. In this case, your idea will work just fine.
You could also wire a "pig-tail". That would be the ground wire coming in with the rest of the power supply cable, the ground wire from the fixture, and an extra piece of bare ground wire all held together with a wire nut. Then, the other end of the extra wire goes to the ground screw.
Either way you choose to connect to the ground screw, be sure you wrap the wire around the screw clockwise so that the wire gets pulled into the screw as you tighten the screw. If you wrap it counterclockwise, it will get pushed out from under the screw as it tightens.


Adding recessed LEDs to existing ceiling fan/light circuit - where to tap?

Ed Beal has it right but you need to think about how you want to control the lights. If in parallel with the fan any time the fan is on the LEDs will also be on which is okay if that's what you want. So with the wall switch on, the LEDs will be lit. You can turn off the fan with the remote but the LEDs will be on as long as the wall switch is on. In other words you can't have the fan on and the LEDs off.
If the wire gauge is sufficient you can pigtail into the fan light which will be the wires coming out of the wireless receiver going to the light. In that case the LEDs will activate whenever you turn on the fan light with the remote. Just a thought.


How do you call a concrete water catching thing under outdoor water tap?

I would call it a "basin".

A "catch basin" often refers to something else:  A box that pipe(s) drain into, and another pipe drains out of.  The bottom of the box is lower than the outlet pipe.  Sediment can settle in the catch basin, and not flow into the outlet pipe.

If you bought a shallow concrete sink basin or bird bath basin that drained into a hose, you could drain the basin with only a modest amount of work.  Route a hose from the basin's drain to a place you want to water.  (You could put the hose 4 - 12 inches underground, to improve æsthetics and avoid tripping hazards.)  At the end of the hose, attach drip irrigation tubing.  Unfortunately, Netafim-style emitters would not work in this application, because they need a 2 psi pressure differential to emit water.


How to make paint stick to a stud screw?

These types of screws have been used for decades with no rust issue created by the drywall mud. I don't mean to step on any toes, my apologies, but there has never been an issue with mud popping off screw heads in my experience from rust. There is no sign of rust on the screw head, nor rust "bleed" on the drywall. Although I have seen it happen in extreme cases, BUT the mud was still intact.

The issue that I think is going on is there movement of the drywall off the stud allowing the screw to push the mud off the screw head. Check this by pushing on the face of the drywall to see if the drywall screw pops out a little when pushing on the drywall. If so it will require a few more screws to keep it from happening again. The added screws will need to be placed 2" away from the screw above and below the one that is there now. Push on the drywall to get the drywall to meet the stud before you add the extra screws. Two screws may be enough, depending how far the space is between the drywall and stud. Careful when adding screws, the screws need to stop JUST BELOW the surface, any deeper and if you break through the outer paper layer, the screw looses its hold, add another screw...

The picture you have looks like the screw is just so barely past the outer paper layer. I see the paint layer, the texture layer and the "roll" of the paper as the screw drew in, it looks a little much, so be careful how deep the screws are set, or you will have the same problem again, only now 3 screws. By the way, good pic, it shows good detail.

With the textured surface on the wall, a little latex caulk can be carefully placed over the screw head and the excess wiped off with a damp sponge or cloth, leaving the rest of the surface around the screw original. Let that dry, say a couple of hours or longer, it will shrink, and maybe apply a second coat to build it up a little more. Cleaning around it may be tedious, but it should result in a surface after painting that will blend in well enough to make the issue disappear.

Touch up the paint only at the spots repaired with a small brush. You have a paint that has a sheen to it and to use a wide brush or roller will show up different in the paint. Small brush, touch up ONLY the dry caulk. Or maybe you will be lucky and the way the paint goes on will not be a concern. But in my experience, the paint will "flash" (not the same sheen) where the new paint meets the old. If it is flat paint this will not happen.


How can I transmogrify a fixed monitor post in to a variable height monitor post?

This is a bit out there and seemingly off track, but please bear with me.

We have a premium shower system which includes a shower head holder on a vertical bar:
  Except our showerhead is much more substantial than in this photo and exerts fair bit of torque on the slider assembly.  So much so that we barely have to tighten the slider.

As a result, we tend to leave it fairly loose so we can adjust it with one hand and only a little force by providing relief of the showerhead torque.  It then slides easily up and down.

Perhaps that adding a single ring to glide closely around your post could use the same principle.  It would be about 10.2 cm interior diameter, probably 5 mm thickness, and about 2 cm high.  Weld to one side of the ring a vertical bracket to attach bolts to fasten the monitor arm.

I don't expect any artistry awards, but maybe this is clearer?


Paver Patio with Backfill Settlement Around Block Foundation

This can be a tough one to answer, I don’t like to pour next to block walls after seeing pours crack the walls.
always settling is kind of true as you add it compacts more but you want some voids in the gravel for water to flow.
For me I would rather have to flip some pavers than take a chance of the angled pad cracking your wall as it settles.
I used to think all block walls leaked but realized it was mostly old block walls that had dirt and not rock back fill. I would recommend plastic sheeting at an angle like you planned with the concrete to slope away for drainage and to contain your sand.
Then in 4-5 years add sand as it settles.
The pavers will also help to deflect water away from the wall but buy not having a solid mass of concrete there will be less lateral force on the wall and this may be your best option but you will probably need to add sand.


Fly in my house (Santa Clara County, California)

You may want to consider getting some fly paper. It is a sticky sheet that has an odor that attracts flies and they get stuck on when they land on it. Very efficient.

There are also fly sticker products that are a strip of the extremely sticky material that pulls out of a small round paper canister. These come with either a loop on the end for hanging or an integrated thumb tack so you can hang them from the ceiling in the room where the flies are most apt to congregate.

Growing up on a mid-west dairy farm in the '60s it was a common problem to have flies in the farm house so there was almost always a fly sticker hanging from the light fixture in the center of the kitchen dining area. Once the flies land on the sticky paper they may buzz for a short time before they give up and succumb to their fate.


Connect A 3 way swotch to an existing three way switch

You will need to run 4 wires and a ground between the switches,

the neutral which will be capped off due to code reasons

2 travelers which will be connected to the other switch

and a live either from the power source or to the light

and finally the ground to the ground screw.


A penetration of this barrier is not of concern. Forget about it. It is probably not a vapor barrier, but is there to keep the blown in insulation from working its way into the box and around the box.

In new construction all the boxes are placed on the framing before the drywall is installed.


Toilet not always flushing fully, what could be wrong?

I will describe the test you need to do to check the toilet.

Remove the tank cover, be sure the tank is full of water to the full mark.
Push the flush handle.
When the rubber flapper flips up, reach down and hold it in the up position until all the water has drained from the tank.

If the toilet flushes completely under this test, but not on it's own, then your flapper is closing too soon, or the tank is not filling as much as it needs to do.  The flapper is a real easy replacement, if the tank is not filling, then the fill valve needs to be replaced.

If it did not flush completely, time to spring and spend 200 bucks for a new Class 5 toilet.  Which toilet to buy is a whole new topic.

Good luck.


Wire type coming directly into outdoor box from indoors

It's commonly done and gotten away with.

But. It's also wrong - Any outside box or conduit should be treated as if it will be full of water - even "perfectly waterproofed" things will fill up with condensation, unless you go to the bother of pressurizing them with dry gas and maintaining that dry gas pressure.

Code is clear on outside conduit, perhaps less so on outside boxes not fed by conduit, which might be why it's gotten away with in terms of inspections.

Have some delivered, or go to the store.


240V, 40A stove outlet was split into two 120V, 20A circuits, how do I properly isolate the neutral from ground?

EDIT:
The OP realized after reading this that she doesn't have an actual sub panel. I started answering in a comment and it was just too long.  ;-)

Well... so what you really have is a 3-wire "Edison" shared-neutral circuit with a bootleg ground. The 3-wire circuit is legal, but the bootleg ground isn't. Technically, since the old wire is probably #8, the neutral is big enough to carry whatever current might end up on it without overheating and starting a fire, so that's a bit of comfort. However; you could still end up with problems. At best, the problems might be unwanted radio frequency interference in whatever you plug into those outlets. At worst, if the neutral failed (in the main panel or in the re-purposed stove outlet box), you could maybe end up with something dangerous.

You have at least two possible solutions:

1) Install GFCI outlets. Disconnect the neutral and ground wires from each other, and put the little stickers on the outlets that say "No Equipment Ground." This is safe, legal and acceptable as long as you keep in mind that some sensitive electronics might experience unwanted noise. But nothing will catch on fire and the GFCI's will protect against electrocution.

2) Run a separate ground wire back to the main panel. You could get away with pulling a single wire rather than pulling all-new 4-wire cable. In fact you could pull a bare copper wire of sufficient size as long as it's protected from mechanical damage (you can't run a bare wire in metal conduit without bonding the conduit). But you could also pick up green-insulated wire by the foot at your local box store. Don't run a ground wire in any color other than green. You could also, of course, just pull new cable. If you do that, you could pull 12/3 NM cable (with ground), or could could pull two 12/2 NM cables (with ground). If the run is really, really long (100 feet or more), maybe you'd want to pull 10/3 or 10/2, to reduce voltage drop. But #12 wire is adequate for 20A circuits.

And a caveat/warning:  I presume that the original two-pole 40A breaker was replaced with a two-pole 20A breaker (and not with two independent 20A breakers, either)?

If the 40A breaker is still there, then you don't have two 20A circuits, you actually have two 40A circuits. The original wire will handle this, but the 15A or 20A receptacles that are now attached to the old circuits are not rated for 40A, and therefore the breaker will not protect those receptacles (which is illegal).

ORIGINAL: It used to be permissible only for detached structures and then only under strict conditions for a sub panel to be fed with only three wires and the grounding and neutral conductors to be bonded, but not any more. Even when it was allowed, imagine a mistake or fault running the return current through the metal panel, the metal case of your microwave, coffee maker, hand tools, your hair dryer, or any conduit between the panels, and so on.

Here's a good answer, which calls out relevant NEC sections. That answer relates to a sub panel in a detached out-building, but the same rules apply to a sub panel inside your house, except that you don't need dedicated grounding rods for a sub panel inside the same house (the panels aren't so far apart and the structure isn't so big that you have substantially different voltage potential to ground in different parts of your house).

If there aren't 4 wires in the cable between the sub panel and the main panel and you want to fix it up right, you should pull new 4 wire cable (3 conductors plus ground).

The neutral (grounded) and grounding conductors need to be isolated from each other in the sub panel.

The neutral bus will be the one(s) mounted on a plastic standoff, like the hot buses are. The neutral (grounded) bus bar is the one on your right in the first picture below, mounted on the black plastic standoffs. If there is a screw that goes through the neutral bus and into the panel itself (a metal connection from the neutral bar to the panel), it should be removed in a sub panel. The grounding bus bar is the one on your left, bonded directly to the panel housing.

In the second picture, the neutral bus is the one in the top right corner of the panel. And incidentally, the panel in the second picture is wired up incorrectly. It's obviously a sub panel, but you can see that it is only fed by three wires, and the neutral and grounding buses are electrically bonded together with a couple of white wires. To be corrected, that panel in the pictures needs a 4th wire--a ground wire going all the way back to the main panel, and the neutral and grounding buses must be disconnected.

There are different designs that accomplish the same thing. In the next two pictures you can see one method of bonding (or isolating) the neutral (grounded) and grounding buses. This would be connected (bonded) in a main panel, and disconnected in a sub panel.

So... if your sub panel was designed to be used as a sub panel, there will be some kind of disconnect for the neutral and grounding buses, or there will be a place to install an isolated neutral bus.

Of course the grounding wires and the neutral wires should be connected to their own buses separately, not mingled.

The reason for disconnecting the neutral and grounding conductors in the sub panel is to assure a low resistance path in the event of a fault, and to ensure that the neutral current never returns on the grounding conductors, which can energize the housings of appliances and electrical boxes/panels and electrocute you. In the case of a neutral failure, the ground could end up carrying all of the circuit's current, energizing the housings of your appliances, tools and the panel itself, but the circuit would continue to work without tripping the breaker.


Unfortunately, no. If you read the Wikipedia article on color balance you'll learn that it is actually quite difficult to maintain true color when capturing and displaying digital media.

For instance, the article has a pair of renderings of the same image of a lily:

The left image is as-shot by a digital camera; the right image is adjusted so that a gray surface in real life would appear as gray in the image. You'll see that the images are clearly different, but even that's too simple, as the author of the image couldn't account for your (or my) web browser and computer display, which will likely further tamper with the color rendering.

Your best bet is to continue working as you have been, and if you find no match close enough for your taste, figure out how to manufacture such a match by either blending different colors of grout or feathering the edges of the patch.


How to remove grating from bathroom sink

The grating is likely part of a threaded barrel that sleeves through the porcelain of the sink and comes out the bottom. This barrel has threads on it under the sink, and a wide and thin nut is threaded onto them squishing the barrel and grating against the sink and securing it.

To remove it, disconnect the P-trap beneath the sink first (have a bucket handy) and set it aside. Then find this wide thin nut up against the bottom of the sink and unscrew it. You'll probably need a big adjustable wrench or a pair of "channel locks" AKA "water pump pliers" to remove this nut. Also look for any drain closing mechanism that may be present here and connected to the tube and grating you're trying to remove. There are different styles of this mechanism so just take it slow and assess for yourself how best to disconnect it - it's usually just a matter of a finger turned nut or a small metal clip to be removed to free the connection.

When you do finally remove the grating and barrel you'll find a soft waxy substance beneath the rim of the grating between it and the porcelain of the sink. This is plumber's putty and seals this joint. You'll want some fresh stuff on hand when you go to put everything back together (it's cheap and widely available). You simply make a small rope of the putty and lay it in there using more than you'll need (after getting the old stuff out of there and cleaning the joint well!), and tighten the nut down squishing out the extra putty which is easily wiped away.

And maybe you'll get lucky and the clog is just in the P-trap, or you can clear the clog without taking the grating and tube apart from the sink if it is in there once the P-trap is out of the way. And hopefully the clog is present somewhere close to the sink here and not further down the line!


How do you get rid of brush marks when repainting

Are the brush marks from the previous painting very deep? Sanding might be an option if they are very heavy brush strokes.

Another possible solution is to use a heavier nap roller. This will help fill in tiny gaps and is meant to provide better coverage for walls that have a textured surface. But keep in min that the heavier the nap you use on a flat wall the more you will create the orange peel effect. I personally don't mind that but just wanted to point that out.

Be careful that the paint you're sanding isn't old lead-based paint. You don't want to get that in air and breathe that in.

Any way to provide a photo so we can see what you're working with?


Disable the timer on an exhaust ventilator

If the timer is in the fan, it may not be possible to disable the timer without disabling the fan itself.  Based on the labels (L,T,N), I would guess that L is the switched input for the light and T is a switched input that starts the timer for the fan.  You can test this by disconnecting the T terminal (make sure you cap the bare wire before turning the breaker back on) and see if the fan still functions with the switch.

If it doesn't, you're probably looking at altering the internal wiring of the fan to bypass the timer (not something I would recommend or consider safe).  If this does turn out to be the case, I would take the covers off of the fan if possible to see if there is a timer duration adjustment in the fan someplace.  You may just be able to turn it down to zero (or a considerably shorter duration).

That said, it sounds like you are trying to disable a feature of the fan that is there to ensure that the fan is on long enough to remove moisture from the bathroom. The reason fans are equipped with timers is so you can leave them running long enough to work without having to go back later and turn them off (and/or having to leave the lights on while they are running). I would ask myself if the reason you are trying to disable it is worth running a risk of issues with mildew and the host of other problems that can stem from inadequate ventilation.  If it's a noise issue you might think about just replacing the fan with one that is quieter.


What is this thing inline with my dryer vent?

Acme Miami Model 9460 Dryer Vent Booster

If the vent has a long run to the external opening (up to 100 "effective" feet), this unit has a fan and a pressure sensor to automatically turn on when it senses dryer outflow to help push the exhaust air out.

When properly adjusted per instructions, the fan motor should come on when the dryer is in operation.


You can branch off the 3-way switched circuit of the can lights to the a new single pole switch that then in turn switches the reading light can. However in this scenario the reading light can light will always be OFF when the rest of the can lights are OFF.

There will not be a straightforward way to mix the two 3-ways with a 1-way to control the added can light so that the the added one can be ON when all the other can lights are OFF. The simplest is probably going to be to tap into a live circuit power source and then just independently control the reading light with that one way switch.

There are some types of smart switch setups that can be configured to get the can lights to work somewhat together and still allow independent control of the reading light but you would have to carefully research the various technologies and find the one suitable for your application. Be prepared to spend a fair amount of cash as the typical smart switches cost upwards from 8 to 10 times what a common manual switch would cost.


Is that the only thing that will run on propane?

The amount of other appliances and length of run determine pipe diameter.

I have propane in my place and it starts with 1" outside the house @10 PSI, then it hooks to a regulator that goes down to 3/4" Corrugated stainless steel (CSST) and 1/2 PSI. Then from there it branches out to all my appliances in 1/2" CSST by means of connectors that allow the branching off to other sizes. That does not mean it will work with what you need, these systems are usually designed, but you could prep for the largest possible diameter...


You can neutralise the acid by mixing with alkali.  However, be careful.

You will need quite a lot of something like baking powder.  Or if you have any left over - cement powder.

Add a small amount to the acid - it will foam and release gas (Carbon Dioxide).  Don't add too much at once or the bucket will overflow and you will get acid everywhere.

Keep going, small amount at a time until it no longer foams when you add more.  You now have salty water that can be poured down the drain.

I repeat, be careful because of the foaming and you will need a lot of powder.


Lighting from the right or left of my desk?

The only thing I can think of is that right handed people would probably prefer the light coming from the left—and vice versa—so that one's arm is not darkening the paper being written.

As for computer lighting, my 40+ years of experience as a software engineer (a heavy computer user) is that there should be a minimum of lighting around the computer to be able to perceive and enjoy the screen's dynamic luminescence and color range.  Bright lighting causes glare, obscures the images, and reduces the range of colors perceivable.

It may be helpful to have a desklamp beside the computer for when a book, paper, etc., needs to be viewed in the otherwise darkish room.


Can I ignore the neutral wire in a switch box?

For an ordinary single pole switch, it doesn't matter which brass screw gets which wire

A single-pole switch just opens and closes a circuit -- it has no sense of polarity or "line/load" requirements.  As a result, the two brass screws on a standard snap switch are interchangeable with each other.

The neutral is easy to handle

A dumb light switch has no use for the neutral, so you simply need cap off the existing neutral pigtail with a wirenut.

P.S. your wires are in cables

What you see in the back of your box is a typical North American wiring practice in a house -- two two-wire-plus-ground NM cables entering the (plastic) box via built-in cable clamps that grip the cable sheathes, with one cable being fed from an always-hot power source and the other passing switched-hot off to the fixture, while neutral passes through the box without stopping.

Don't forget to attach the bare grounding pigtail to the green screw on the switch, by the way.


I don't know if you checked with Kohler on this but they have a lifetime warranty on acrylic/plastic tub surfaces if you are the original owner. Depending on the nature/cause of the damage you might be able to get it covered despite it's age. If they don't cover it they may still be able to help you with advice on a method of repair. Give it a shot.
Here's a link: https://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/1353553-12.pdf


How would I mount opposing knobs on a bifold door?

I don't ever recall seeing a "kit" for this. When I've had to do it, I just got the two knobs and cut the head off one of the screws. If the screws that came with the knobs were too short, then I got a longer screw and cut the head off. There are double threaded studs out there but they are usually too big for what you want to do.


Please help! Exterior Sliding Door Leak on Interior Slab - No visible threshold - 1980 construction

Often contractors will use styrofoam as a “blockout” for something to be installed later and they are not sure of the exact size of it.

That is to say, the contractor could have installed the styrofoam 10” wide so the sliding door frame and threshold could be installed 1/4” below the top of the finish floor slab. (They even sloped it so any infiltration from moisture would drain outside.)

If the threshold is installed 1/4” below the finish floor level, then when it leaks under the threshold, water won’t run into the room. It will be stopped by the lip of the concrete slab. (Unfortunately the recess extends too far into the room.)

To me, it looks like the sliding door is damaged (missing part of a threshold) and the entire unit needs to be replaced. When you replace it, you can set it in a bed of sealant and a flashing “pan” to keep it from leaking.


Is it okay to reuse Alumiconn connectors?

It seems that the manufacture does not suggest to reuse the connectors.

For instance, this document here states "Do not reuse" in the "product specifications & measurements" section.


I wouldn't know, but I did some brief poking around & found some items you might find useful.

I'll summarize what I gleamed to answer your questions:

The Real (see 3rd bullet point) Tatami just goes right on the floor with nothing beneath, Tatami's are made to breathe. From an old Blog Wood Used Under Tatami Mat, scroll 2/3rd's down to 2004/8/10.
Just not fitting them tightly & Etiquette of the room & of the Tatami. See YouTube video Japanese Tatami Room Etiquette
I didn't run across anything about Standard or Premium. But, Standard would seem to have a synthetic foam core & Real Tatami or Premium has a rice straw core. You'll have to ask the manufacturer, dealer or retailer about Standard's floor treatment or breathability.
I didn't see any tutorial, but the video in Bullet Point 1 gets into it a little & there doesn't seem to be much of anything to it beyond throw them down & butt them tight.
I did find something on cleaning though. See YouTube video Tatami Tips.


Deck stairs pulling apart and railing wobbly

Hard to tell whether you have screws or nails holding everything together right now. It is either nails - which can, relatively easily, come apart, or screws which can come apart but not as easily.

If you have nails then I would reinforce using some long (e.g., 3") screws and you should be set. I would want two screws into the end of each tread. The railing is sometimes a bit trickier, but screws to supplement the existing nails is a good start. If that doesn't take care of all the wobbling of the railing then you may need to replace parts or add some additional supports. Of course, if you find any cracked or rotted pieces, or if anything cracks when you drive in screws, then you need to replace those pieces.

If you already have screws then I'd be a bit more concerned as that may be a sign of the wood rotting (and therefore not holding the screws any more) or that there is just too much movement of the ground causing everything to come apart.


How do I find and dispose of the dead animal that's presumably in my ceiling?

Oi! this reminds me of an experience I had about seven years ago.  Horrible smell with no obvious source.  Turned out that the cats had killed a rat and hidden it behind the books on the bookshelf.  Only noticed it because of an awesome slimy trail of maggots.

Anecdote aside, my recommendation with this particular occurrence is to wait it out: rodents tend to decompose in a relatively short period of time, and the smell will dissipate within another week.  If it persists you're dealing with a larger animal - say a full grown opossum or bigger - which leads to the really pertinent issue:  how did the offending critter get to where it got before it died?

As a self-respecting homeowner you should do whatever you can to prevent entry by pests into your home.  Sometimes this involves a thorough investigation by a professional but for the most part an observant individual can determine likely points of entry and fix them.

Most modern houses are covered by siding/doors/windows in every location with three major exceptions:  foundation line, crawlspace venting, and eaves.  All apertures can be sealed with some combination of welded wire, steel wool (coarse) and possibly adhesive by a determined homeowner.  The more aesthetically pleasing approaches are less simple and more costly, but there are lots of solutions out there.

As far as your storeroom goes - I recommend rocking->taping->mudding to close any access points for the critters, same with any unfinished space that is prone to pest invasion.

Hope you have a better olfactory experience in the near future!


Wooden piece without a screw hole - is this correct?

Considering that the material appears to be particle board, one can presume that the screw is pointy enough to create a hole as it is threaded into the wood. You may get away without a drilled hole but expect to see a disruption of the surface on a scale smaller than the volcano in Hawaii.

If the construction permits, place the wood at the brackets, mark the screw location on the wood. Place the wood on a solid surface and begin to drive the screw into the wood. This will allow you to apply sufficient pressure reducing the chance that the screw will strip out the hole being created.

Once you are satisfied that the screw will progress well enough, remove it and place and fasten into position.

You could use a nail and tap it in the same manner but it might be a bit more difficult to remove it. Maybe tap in stages, wiggle and remove, repeat, then drive the screw.


Why is my new pine fence turning black? Can I stain right over it without creating a bigger future headache?

That is natural aging , the most rot resistant wood redwood turns gray within 5 years , cedar within 3 and that’s in Oregon.
If you stain it a color or paint it it will hide the aging but this is normal with most any wool product, pressure treating keeps it from rotting not aging.


Exterior mirror to bring more light to a window

You can get vinyl adhesive mirror film (often from theatrical stage equipment suppliers) whcih may be cheaper and more robust than glass mirror when applied to a suitable exterior substrate (eg plastic correx or foamex board)

A tinted mirror might reduce birds flying into it, and be aware that a mirror or lens reflecting direct sunlight onto furnishings has been known to start fires.


I am not sure why some would say no to wood frame, I have done this for years if the basement is dry. Remember if this is a living space it will require outlets every 12' or no space further than 6' from a outlet excluding doorway spaces.
I put 2x4's flat on the wall , I run the power to junction boxes in the ceiling and drop 1 wire to the shallow outlet boxes because there is not enough room in a shallow box for more than 1 wire and 1 outlet. I think this looks much better than surface mounted in conduit and it is cheaper. I would not add a vapor barrier it would trap any moisture in the wall and insulation possibly creating a mold breeding ground.


What is this small hole and why is it there at the bottom of sink?

This looks like it's tied into the overflow system for the sink. Your old drain pipe might have covered it up. If the old gasket will fit on the new drain pipe you could just reuse it or get a duplicate gasket from your plumbing supply store. I would hesitate to just plug up the hole because you never know when your plug would fail and you'd have a big leak. It could also compromise your overflow protection. You could also just put the old drain pipe back on the sink if you can't get a new exact match.


I've never seen a tub with brackets like that. Usually the lip of the tub gets secured directly to the framing. What brand/model of tub is that? Can you find info online? Many tub manufacturers have installations instructions that indicate how things like backerboard should be applied.

Different sources including this Family Handyman article on Backerboard around tub indicate that you should stop the backerboard 1/4" from the top of the tub lip and the tile should canteliver over it to 1/4" above the tub.

If you look at this installation manual for a Kohler tub it tells you to use 1/4" furring strips to extend the backer board over the lip.

If you can find the manual for your tub I'd go with what they recommend. If you can't, or the brackets aren't part of a normal tub install I'd contact the manufacturer of the backer board to see if it's okay to chisel out some recesses for the brackets. If you want the backer to go over the lip use furing strips and chisel out some space for the brackets. You're still going to have an issue with securing the bottom of the backer to framing since the brackets will prevent the screws from going in. I'm not sure the brackets were supposed to be there to be honest.

Also see this post on using some sort of waterproofing over the backerboard What are the pros and cons of adding a vapor barrier behind shower backer board?


Upgrade bathroom light and separate exhaust fan

Old school: probably not, unless the guy who wired that ceiling was generous with the wire.

Cool new tech: Yes.  They make electronic switch controls which are designed to solve a different problem:  "I want a light AND fan, but my bathroom is wired for a light only."   This consists of a smart switch that goes in the site of the regular switch, and an electronic control module that sits in the fan housing.

Now, I'm guessing your old fan has a vent - that is to say, a pipe leading from the top/back of the fan to the great outdoors. That will be a consideration.  Which is to say, if your fan/light combo is going where the fan was, that's not a worry.  But otherwise, you will need to be up in the attic reconfiguring that pipe... and while you're up there, you might as well rearrange the wiring to your preference also.


There is no problem with thinset adhering to Redgard painted backer. Just make sure there isn't a vapor barrier installed behind the backer board or you'll trap in the moisture. Hopefully, you taped all the seams on the backer board. Use a fortified thinset. Let it set 5 to 10 minutes before applying. Set the tile and wait 24 hours before grouting. Good luck.


What is the name of these silver curtains used to reflect heat energy back outside?

Solar curtains - beware I haven't seen any that look much better than aluminum foil.


Should I caulk the gap between a wood threshold and concrete?

I would use Quad sealant. It is paint-able or comes in colors.
I would use a paint stripper to remove as much paint as you can,  I like the citrus based strippers. Mask off the door jamb and the wood floor inside and apply the stripper, use gloves and a disposable brush.  After it does it's job of loosening the old paint you can scrape it all off. (It may take a couple of applications) You could also strip the brass threshold piece, it is removable, and polish it up.
Once you get as much old paint off as you can you sand smooth, fill any voids and sand again. Use a  the pointy end of a 5in1 tool to clean out the gap, you do not want any old paint, stripper or debris left in there.
The Quad can be applied before or after painting, it depends on if you can get it in the color to match your paint or you need to paint to match.
When you apply the Quad you need to mask off the concrete and the wood, it is tenacious stuff. (* The key is to practice first so you can get a feel for how much to apply, not to much*)
They recommend that you do not tool it, but i find you can smooth it if you dip your finger in a soapy water solution, or better, mist it with a spray bottle) and gently run you finger over the surface. Remove the tape immediately.


If you have a spare wire at the stat then half the battle is done. Now you need to confirm it's viability at the source be it furnace, boiler, air handler etc.

If the connected equipment is a furnace or air handler and is under 10 or so years old it will almost certainly have a common terminal on a board. Not all boilers have a convenient C terminal.

You simply power down the system and connect the wire in question to the C terminal. Make sure the wire at the stat end isn't contacting anything. Close the access door, power on and at the stat test from R to the wire. If you are reading around 23 - 28 or so you're good to go. Power down make the necessary connections to the Nest and power up.

If your situation differs from the scenario outlined above, edit the question with appropriate details. Good luck!


Redoing insulation in the basement of the home I recently purchased

Have you looked into closed cell spray foam?  It forms its own moisture barrier as well as being a great way to insulate.  No need to remove any framing as it will cover all areas and seal them.


No.

Steel bits need to be very sharp to do their job. In fact, unless you set a depth gauge just barely through the metal, you'll wreck the cutting edge with every hole when you contact concrete and need to resharpen.

Concrete bits create holes by pounding and disintegrating the material. They have cutting edges, but that's mostly to focus the impact and clear debris. They become dull over time as well, but it doesn't dramatically affect their performance.

Ideally you'll drill your plates in advance, then use them as guides for drilling the concrete. Herb Guy offers some good advice on that note: "Try to find a local welding, ironworks or machine shop. They can punch or drill those holes for faster and cheaper than you ever will and make the S/S plate hole's ø 1/8” larger so the hammer drill tip and anchor shields/wedges pass through."

Otherwise, I suggest having several of each type of bit on hand. The steel bits will need time to cool after several holes (unless you lubricate with oil), so you'll want to rotate them, and the concrete bits occasionally throw their carbide teeth.


Depressurized pressure tank - how to pressurize again

The tank should be empty but with no air in the bladder the water may not have been pushed out. It sounds like your compressors not properly seating on the Schrader valve, I have filled pressure tanks with bicycle pumps in the past it takes a while but any pump should do the job if it has a standard valve stem adapter. Your observation that there is no pffft makes me think the supply side of that valve is not opening when attached to the tank.


Why can't Bosch Detail Sander be converted as an oscillating tool?

The sander ans accessories are designed for each other.  The sanding pads are special sizes for that sander.

Not only are the accessories and sander made specifically for each other, but sander does not oscillate nearly fast enough for cutting.

If you pick up a dremmel multimax or milwuake multi-tool you will realize how fast they oscillate - you can hardly see that the bit is moving because it is so fast.

So I doubt that modding your sander to be a multi-tool would be dangerous - but I think that Bosch support was dead on: it wouldn't work.


Lineset sizing for multi-zone mini-split

I would do what the oem tells you but 3/8 on a 18k sounds a bit small to me but  the oem should know.
I am sure the last 18k I installed required 1/2” on the low and 1/4 on the high.
I would rather use the larger ports for your larger (18k) inside units as throttled suction line will reduce their efficiency.
yes you only have 42 max But if the return line is throttled on the larger ones they may suffer more because of the under sized suction line.
I may be out of line here as I don’t know the brand or control system but if in parallel with the flow controlled in the head unit go with a larger suction line on the 18k units and skip using the adapters
They would not make the suction line on the inside units 1/2” if it did not need it in my opinion. But I only do hvac part time.


"It depends"

I own a duplex (upper and lower unit) rental property built in the late 40's early 50's.  The original ceilings were made up of double layer plaster board which is very heavy to begin with, and it was nailed in place.

A tenant left the water running in the kitchen by mistake in the upstairs kitchen and the drain was blocked.  The water soaked into the ceiling below and caused a substantial part of it to collapse.  Some sections collapsed before others.  One section fell, hit a tenant on the back of the neck/shoulder area, and had to be hospitalized.  While the upstairs tenant was at fault, we got sued, and my insurance eventually paid the medical bills.

In your case, having been built in the 80's, there is less chance of this being a concern.  However, the facts as you've laid them out are:

1) The contractor was negligent with his tools by using them in an area where water drainage could cause damage;
2) The contractor does not wish to fix the issue.

You should insist upon him fixing / replacing it, at his expense entirely, and get a lawyer just in case.


Is it personal preference or code to connect grounding wires and neutrals to separate buses?

At a sub-panel, the separation is mandatory.

At a main panel, it's optional because the neutral and ground bars are bonded, and are allowed to be the same bus, so it is legal to blend them together.  However... If that panel is ever made a sub-panel, separation makes things a whole lot easier, not least, it assures you left enough wire length to reach the right buses.

Separating neutral and ground also reflects that the person actually understands what they're doing, rather than simply blindly following recipes by rote.

The core concept is that Neutral Is Not Ground.  They are completely separate things which must be isolated, except in the one place they are intentionally bonded for a specific purpose.

So when you see Irish spaghetti** on the neutral bar, that tells you the installer doesn't really have the reason for the rule at the front of his mind.

** Irish flag being white, green and orange(copper)


You could do either, as your main panel seems to have capacity for both a double-pole breaker (240V) and a single-pole.

Adding a sub-panel in the garage would give you more flexibility both for adding things to the garage and by taking up less space in the main panel (2 spots vs. 3). So that would be my preference although it might be a little more expensive up front.


First, stop the leaking. Use tarps or whatever. Next, I’d try to dry the roof structure out before installing the metal roofing. (Yes, the roof structure should be dry before installing the roofing.) I’d also check for mold, (as you say the roof has been leaking for 3 years). It may not be safe to stay in the house and continue breathing that air.


Is it normal for these to have a low voltage even when switch is off?

Yes. The internal resistance of your multimeter is very high (mega ohms), so even a tiny leakage current (fractions of microamps) through the capacitance that exists between wires running in the same conduit will be enough to read something on the multimeter.

Could that be what causes my RCD to break?

Nope, by 5-6 orders of magnitude.
I don't think the culprit is that wire nut. 300mA is a lot of current. Even if the wire nut was submerged in a bucket, I'm not sure it would pass that amount. I mean, it's pretty hard to trip a 300mA RCD unless a wire gets loose and you get an actual short.
The other wire nut only has two holes, so unless they're Live and Earth, if water gets on it it won't trip the RCD.
I'd suspect a junction box somewhere, or maybe a wall socket, or a switch, or something that gets really wet. Or it's not the rain, it's the wind instead that rattles some loose wires. Or the rain causes the mice to go back home, and as they get bored they chew on your wires. Or the insulation on some wires has been damaged, and they touch something that gets earthed much better when it rains than when it doesn't, like a metal gutter.
PS: you should really install a 30mA RCD, they're lifesavers.


Is the water valve continuing to leak after I shut it off normal?

As keshlam points out, old valves don't always seal completely; try to be quick. Also, even if think you've drained the system, it may drip for quite some time. Pipe-fitting doesn't mind a little water; apply dope and screw it on.

Note- The T&P valve is to be piped to near floor level, with no threads left exposed to be perhaps capped by someone; cut them off.


It sounds like the defrost cycle is not working. Ice builds up on the evaporator and eventually blocks the air flow to the refer section. Defrost is set to occur usually once or twice a day. Most common failures are the defrost timer or the defrost heater. Sometimes though, it is the defrost termination sensor that is found strapped to the refrigerant return line. If you can locate the timer, check that the timer motor is turning . Some timers can be advanced with a flat blade screwdriver in order to start the defrost cycle.

The heater will be found embedded in the fins of the evaporator coil. (good luck trying to replace the heater) When the defrost is working you should be able to see some of the water from the melted ice. The water drains from the evaporator into a catch pan located under the unit where it evaporates. Squido


Non-dimmable LED on dimmer. Fire hazard?

LED lights are made up of two parts the LED itself and a driver which transforms the house power to the operating power of the LED. The smoke is more than likely coming from the driver of the LED if it is non dimmable. The obvious is it was not designed for dimming and that would cause it to burn up. So if you have LED's that are non dimmable then you need to take them off of the dimmers or replace the LED's with dimmable drivers.

Stay safe and good luck


How can I determine the color / temperature of my current fluorescent bulbs?

The temperature will likely be printed on the bulb somewhere. Take a couple out and check, and they are all likely the same. If not, you can compare the color to an image like this:

There is no "standard" for fluorescent lighting, as they come in a variety of temperatures. That said, fluorescent bulbs are more traditionally associated with the institutional bright white light, which would put them on the higher end of the temperature scale (closer to 6700K).


I would only drill that stone as an absolute last resort. That not only damages it in an unrecoverable way but opens it up to faster degradation from weather, especially if you're in a frost zone.

Get some aluminum wire for bonsai (example). It's anodized in a suitable color and very easy to work with. You could also use coated steel gardening wire (per Tonny's comment) or even coated copper electrical wire. Wrap it around the stone and twist it at the light location, then use the tails to attach the lighting. As Criggie suggests in a comment, you could use a wiring strategy similar to how sparkling wine bottle caps are done:

You could also use decorative metal strapping (examples). Wrap it around the post, folding at corners, and use a bolt to cinch it on the outside corner. If you leave a gap between the straps you could attach S-hooks or similar to the bolt shank.

Whatever route you choose, protect the wire well from chafing to prevent damage and shorts. (Thanks, Chloe.)


You'll need to get power to it somehow.  What I'm thinking is surface conduit from your existing switch or light to wherever you need to go.  Simply run the switched-hot through the surface conduit to where you need to be.

Surface conduit such as Wiremold is fully code legal and allowed for permanent wiring, which saves  you doing some goofy, illegal horked up thing.

Or if the problem is getting switched-hot to the switches, but you can run always-hot to them, then go with X-10 or some other smart-switch control system, of which there are plenty today.  (X-10 goes back to the 1970s).

You could also consider low-voltage lighting if you don't want to use surface conduit, the rules for cabling low-voltage circuits are relaxed as compared to mains circuits.


Turning old AC wiring into a simple 120V outlet?

Thanks so much for your response(s), guys! The box is in a somewhat hard to access place, so it took some time to figure out how to access it fully... no metal conduit, but... as I cut the old stucco around and wiggled the box... I found the ground wire jammed far back behind the box in the wall!! Yaaay!


wiring of occupancy switch in 3-way situation (odd-looking instructions)

Yup, I agree with your read. That is exactly what's going on.

I am fairly impressed that UL even allowed this... I seem to recall seeing a bulletin from  NFPA  to the effect of "alright UL, it's time to stop approving things that use ground for more than ground".  Although it may be still allowed since it is surely a millivolt current.

Regardless, it's rather ingenious.  It liberates two wires completely, so for instance if the other switch is a remote spur, you can now use black and white for onward power.

Still won't let the put the sensor at the remote spur, that would require 4 wires (line, load, neutral and sense) plus ground.


The pergola is much like a stick framed house--the framing itself resists vertical forces (gravity) but in and of itself, has no resistance to shear forces (side to side). For a house to stand up on its own, the sides need to be braced against shear forces...typically that's done with plywood sheathing. Barring that, diagonal bracing can be used.

On the pergola, since it's attached to the house, the house is acting as shear resistance on 3 sides of your pergola, but the front is the weak spot, as you've found out.

Some potential options:

sink the front two posts into the ground several feet and surround with concrete (typically you'd want 1/3 of the post in the ground
add diagonal bracing. 45 degrees is the strongest but for the pergola, likely not a requirement. If 45 degrees brings the braces too low, you could consider a different angle. Or make it an architectural detail...perhaps bringing the braces on the outside of the posts (extending the top beam)
metal reinforcement. Pick up some metal L-plates. The bigger the better and attach them to the post and beam.
add a railing to that side of the deck and diagonal brace that (tensioned cables, wood panels, diagonal rails, etc.)
add tensioned metal cables diagonally between the tops of the two posts. Not sure you could enough of an angle to make that work or not, though.
add diagonal bracing to the TOP of the trellis. Create a giant 'x' using wood beams or, again, possibly tensioned cables. That will transfer the horizontal shear forces on the front back to the ledger and house.

You will have to do something, though. Even a 'wiggle' of a couple of inches will cause problems over time as the wind rocks it back and forth. The hardware may not fail but eventually the wood where the hardware connects the members will fail with wear over time.

Of the options I listed, I'd probably start by getting some large L plates. It's likely the least expensive option and you can hide them fairly easy on the inside of the posts and beams. Alternatively, you might be able to use some heavy duty metal shelf brackets. As a bonus, you might find some with some architectural detail that will look nice.

PS: After re-reading your question, I have a few structural concerns:

you state your beam is a 2x6 with 2" notches. The notches means your beam is really just a 2x4. While there isn't much of a load (just the joists) a 2x4 can't really support any force without noticeable defection over time. I'd be worried that in a decent storm, there could be enough force to eventually snap it. That would be worse-case. Best case, though, I think it'll just start sagging after a season or two and look ugly. I'd consider under-mounting an un-notched 2x8 or even 2x10. As a bonus, that can help with resisting some shear force.
I can't tell if the house-side is actually connected to the house. You do have 2 posts back there so now I'm thinking this is maybe a free-standing pergola. If that is the case, then you have no shear force resistance on any of the 4 sides--so you'll need to apply whatever solution to all four sides if that is the case. [EDIT: I just saw your comment in the other answer, the back is, indeed, a ledger. So disregard this one]
you mentioned that you attached the beam to the posts with a screw. Note that a) screws have very little shear force resistance (compared to bolts, plates or even nails) and b) one screw isn't going to cut it. If it's truly being held with one screw on both ends, they could snap quite easily with minimal force. Simpson hardware and/or through- or lag- bolts should be used to make those connections.

Again, these are all assumptions so apologies if you've already accounted for those issues--but if not, please do consult local codes. I'm concerned that the structure is way under-built and a good wind storm can send large pieces of wood flying in every direction--dangerous to your home and anyone in the vicinity.


Cannot drill far enough to mount curtain pole

I'm guessing here, but it sounds like you're trying to drill into stone/cement/concrete. If so, you need a drill bit meant for rock and a percussion/ hammer drill. You can buy cheapy hammer drills that won't last very long (harbor freight comes to mind if you're in the US), or rent them.

Oh, and the only thing you don't want to drill into is electrical/plumbing/gas. Everything else is fair game. (Though, now that I think of it, if you're unlucky enough to have a steel beam across your window, you'll have to revisit your strategy.)


You could just use a 12V automotive heater like this on amazon (but really any store with auto parts should have them):

The benefits are:

It's a tested heater that should not burn down your building (unlike a true DIY using some type of "hot box" that might even invalidate your home insurance)

Don't forget to keep flammable material well away from it or any heater / light bulbs

It's designed to use 12V from automotive-like batteries, that are often used with solar panels, so all you need is a 12V socket and it's "plug and play"

I'd recommend trying one out in person, I tried one once that was barely warm and you couldn't even feel the air a foot away, while others are almost like a hair dryer (but designed to run safely longer than a hair dryer)


Why does my house water pressure rise higher than the regulator setting?

The regulator keeps the incoming pressure to 60.
The issue you are seeing is probably caused after using hot water , the cold water in the hw tank is at 60 and now being heated so the pressure rises.

To prove this to yourself if the pressure is at 70 open a cold water tap for a few seconds, now the pressure is at 60, if the water in the hot water tank is heated there will be no change in pressure (not much anyway).
Next go run a hot bath or at least 5 gallons of hot water with the faucets off at first your pressure will be 60 but over the next 1/2 hour or so as the water reaches temp it will go up to 70 as you have observed.
This is normal and with that small swing I would say your system is working perfectly.


Need to understand my home electrical meter to see why bill is so high and/or if neighbor is on same meter

They're kilowatt-hours. If you use 1000 watts for 1 hour, it'll add one to the current number displayed.

It's like an odometer on your car. It only counts up, and will never be at 0 except when it was brand new.

Where is your neighbor's meter? If you can't find a second one, chances are you're paying for their power too.

If your neighbor has their own meter, they will have their own circuit breaker panel too. If they're separate, then just turn off your breakers randomly and see if it affects your neighbor. If he complains that his heat or fridge keeps turning off then you know it's on your electrical service.

Best time to turn them off would be when they're home and trying to cook. That way they'll notice if their oven or fridge loses power.

If there is only one meter, then don't turn any breakers off. You're definitely paying for both homes if there is only one meter.


With your existing condition I would add another trim profile over the original flat trim that has the nasty beside it. The projection of the new trim profile will help conceal the rough caulk job somebody left. Here is a sketch to help illustrate

It can be any size you choose, I would not make it too big, but if you prefer a larger width, there nothing holding you back.


What size gravel works best for a driveway?

Driveway gravel is usually sized by the stone that is mixed with the sand.  Example: 3/8", 3/4" etc. A good driveway packing gravel is 3/4".  Another good choice is 3/8" stone dust. This material packs down very hard and smooth.

So when you call to order your material, ask for 3/4" packing gravel or 3/8" stone dust.


Looks like a silverfish which are a common pest.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverfish
https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/occasional-invaders/silverfish/


How to remove bad smell from rubbish chute?

To some degree, your garbage chute is always going to smell a bit like garbage.  There are however some things simple and complex you can do to reduce it.

First, you need to clean it and ensure that any stuck food/grime is dislodged.  Give it a hose-down (pressure washer if you can) and then disinfect/deodourize it.  If there is crap stuck in there, it doesn't matter what else you do, it will keep smelling.

Make sure that whatever you throw down it is in a sealed bag; do not throw loose scraps down.

If it doesn't already have one, a flap on the opening will help keep some of the smell down - usually you have to push you garbage through it and then it springs back closed.

If you can control it, empty the garbage bin at the bottom frequently so food does not sit down there rotting (and smelling for ages).

As a commenter mentioned, positive pressure in the room will keep the smell from leaking into the room.  Condo's use this mainly for fire prevention but it also helps keep smells at bay (or in the originating condo at least).  A fan alone will not create the pressure, you need to be bringing in outside air at a faster rate then it escapes so that there is always positive pressure.


If the refill hose is placed into the overflow tube (as opposed to clipped above it, as it should be), it could cause a siphon issue resulting in a continuous lowering of the tank water level.

This would normally cause the toilet fill valve to cycle on intermittently (to fill the tank when the level drops low enough to actuate the fill valve float mechanism), as opposed to continuously (you wrote "keeps running"). However, the "running" noise you are hearing might be the sound of the siphoning process itself. video explanation

This phenomenon is well known and can happen with most any fill valve (I won't say all because I just don't know). Your fill valve should have been equipped with a clip or tube guide to hold the refill hose above the overflow tube or to hold it just inside but not lower than the tank water level.


Why would the light switch control the fan and the fan switch control the light?

You've likely just swapped a couple wires, if you even have to do anything. If the fan and light are controlled by simple snap switches, then you don't really have to do anything (other than relearn which switch is which). If you have specialty fan controls and/or dimmers, you'll want to switch things around.

In the ceiling box above the fan, there should be a wire connected to the blue wire of the fan, and the black wire of the fan. You'll simply want to swap these wires. So take the wire that is connected to the blue fan wire, and attach it instead to the black fan wire. Then take the wire that was attached to the black fan wire, and connect it to the blue fan wire.

If the wiring is more complicated than I've described (or a remote module is used), please post some photos of the wiring before proceeding.


The device you're after is called a while in use cover, or "bubble cover" more informally.  Get an extra duty one -- they're sturdier than the regular, cheapo flavor.


Oh boy!!! You definitely want to remove the wallpaper. Paint over wallpaper just doesn't work. You'll never know when it will just start to bubble up. I just removed all the wallpaper in my living room and used hot water in a spray bottle with some "DAWN" dishwater soap squirted into the bottle. Sprayed the walls, let it soak for 5-10 minutes and peeled it off the walls. I had no damage to the walls. Then had to go over it a few times to get all the paste off the walls. It's a messy job but you really need to do it. You really need to soak down the walls.


How can I convert 4 ft fluorescent tube fixture to be used as a plug in fixtures?

You have the right idea, but some of your terminology is wrong.

In general, ALL household electrical work involves connecting the various lights, heaters, motors, computers, etc. all together with black to black, white to white, ground to ground.

This kind of a connection is called PARALLEL (not series).

To be specific, each of your lights will have a black wire and a white wire (and probably a green ground screw).

Your plug-in cord should also have a black wire and a white wire and a green (ground) wire.

To make it work electrically, you want to connect all 4 of the light's black wires together, and hook them to the black wire of the plug-in cord. You could use a really BIG wire nut to hook these 5 black wires together.

You also want to hook all 4 of the light's white wires together and to the white wire of the cord. BIG wire nut number 2.

You also want a ground wire from the green housing screw on each light coming all together electrically, and connected to the green ground wire of the plug-in cord. Big wire nut number 3.

Now, the best way to go about making those many connections can be as much art and skill as it is science.  Depending upon how the lights will be arranged, you might find it better to do something like the following...
1) at light 1 you have just the cord coming in, and the white black and ground of light 1, and an "extra" wire that will go off to light 2.  Hook all 3 blacks together; hook all 3 whites together, hook all 3 grounds together.
2) at light 2 you have the "extra" wire from light 1 coming in, the black/white/ground from light 2, and another "extra" wire that will be going over to light 3...  again, all 3 blacks together, all 3 whites together, all 3 grounds together...
and so on down the line.

This kind of a connection is called a "daisy chain parallel connection".  It is electrically the same as if you put all 5 black wires into a single BIG wire nut, and similarly with whites and grounds.  Since you probably don't want all 4 lights stacked tightly against each other though, it might be much more practical.

Even though you have the juice going from one light to the next to the next...if you draw it out on paper you will see that since all of the blacks are tied together and all of the whites are tied together...the juice is actually not flowing electrically THROUGH one light and into the to the next.  Electrically, you could draw ALL of those black wires as one big dot in your diagram.  Since the black wires are all hooked together somewhere, then as far as the electrons are concerned, they are all hooked together...period.

If it helps you to visualize it, draw it first like the BIG wire nut example at the beginning of this post.  Then draw it again but take that one BIG black wire nut and draw it as 4 smaller wire nuts right next to each other, with tiny little connections between them.  Your one BIG wire nut has changed into 4 smaller ones, but those 4 small ones are all hooked to each other.  Can you see how that is electrically the same?  Do the same with the BIG white wire nut and the same with the grounds.  Now just keep spreading them further apart in your drawing until they are spread out the way the lights will really be arranged in the room.

Or another way to look at it is...each light has a black/white/ground.  If when you're done, each of those black wires can "find its way back to the black of the plug-in cord" (doesn't matter how it gets there as long as it's always black); then you're golden.  Obviously, same for the whites and same for the grounds.


Correct transition for pvc conduit to liquid tight flexible conduit on a concrete slab

Your plan will work but depending on the distances in each direction, pulling the large wires that a hot tub requires could be tough. Think about using a PVC LB similar to the one pictured below. It's neat and clean and you can pull wires much easier with the LB access. You would have to stub a small  piece of PVC to the LB and use a female adapter to accept the liquid tight straight connector(Thanks to @ThreePhaseEel).


Can the A/C temperature through a vent be significantly lower than in the air handler?

Low R22 pressure (presumably suction pressure) combined with correct superheat typically means that there is too much compressor capacity for the airflow.   This can happen when there is a clogged air filter or weak blower motor, or less often an undersized interior fan coil mismatched with a larger capacity condenser.   I have seen systems where, unbeknownst to the owner, there were two filters installed inline, one was at the return air grill in the building and that one was being serviced; the other was at the air handler in the attic, and that one had never been serviced or removed and was completely obstructed.

The most likely cause I can think of for colder air at “the vent” than at the air handler is the temperature across the evaporator coil is very uneven, say 34 degrees on one side and 50 degrees on the other side.  In some ductwork situations air supplying one set of registers comes primarily through one side of the evaporator coil while air to other registers comes primarily from the other side of the coil.  A proper trunk and branch system with taps near the air handler discharge could do this, for example.  Typically, an evaporator will be much colder on one side than the other if the system is low on refrigerant charge, because the refrigerant prematurely boils off completely before it crosses the coil.  Low charge will also usually cause low system suction pressure, but the superheat will also be notably high (typically 30F or more at the compressor instead of 15F).

My take on your post:

Low 40s at a register is too cold for a properly sized system.  High 40s is the safe lower limit for AC.  Low to mid 50s is typical.  Your system has either too little airflow or too much compressor.  Look for airflow restrictions or an improper blower speed setting first.  If in doubt, have someone measure the airflow.  Your system should supply roughly 400 CFM per 12000 BTU of compressor capacity.  For example, the air handler for a 48000 BTU system needs to push about 1600 CFM.
You cannot have a temperature at your supply vent that is lower than the temperature leaving the air handler.   You are misreading the temperature at the air handler.   If you are reading the temp at the suction line exiting the air handler, for instance, then the refrigerant inlet side of your evaporator coil could be much colder.
If you measured the air temperature leaving the air handler and had a warmer reading than one of the supply registers, then there is possibly a large temperature spread across your evaporator coil (30s-50s), and your system may be low on charge in addition to the airflow being too low for the cooling capacity.  Superheat would also be high in this case.   Have someone else recheck the superheat.  If in doubt, crosscheck this with the subcooling at the condenser.  The subcooling should be around 8F-12F.  Less than 8F is very likely low on charge.  If the system is not low on charge, then this inconsistency is simply a case of the temperature at the air handler being read inaccurately.


These are used to tie rebar wire around rebars - twisting the wire around the rebars, and then cutting the left over. Rebars are used prior to pouring the concrete to strengthen the concrete, hence the tool name.

They are also called "end-nippers", and are useful for cutting or grabbing things close to the
surface, such as nails or the like. Finally, they can be used to cut tiles, however I have no experience with this function and can't comment on it.

See this nice little PDF that shows a picture of the two uses of this tool (no affiliation, just what Google came up with).


An "I" beam. I have pulled engines from cars and see triple 2x8s bend over a 5-6' span.   No way are you going to carry a dead load of that much weight right at the center with less than an I beam...  I mean you could but the wood would be much much more expensive than a basic I beam.


Identifying three wires for two bulb fixture

There should only be a single hot wire for a three way switch.  The other two wires are known as "travelers" connecting the two switches. I would disconnect all of the wires and ohm them out one at a time from switch to fixture and fixture to fixture.

At the very least, disconnect power, disconnect the wires at the fixtures, and check for power.  Once that is identified, the other two will be a quick swap if you guess wrong and nothing will get damaged.

Either way, once identified, you should be able to mark and reconnect them  correctly.


Will adding more 2x10’s to the 4 existing help and if so how many in total would be required ?

This is very common for older stick framed homes that were not engineered and the code very minimal. The reason is obvious, it is not constructed strong enough

What you did with the 2x10's is called 'sistering' or 'sistered.' The way that you did it does not add strength to the roof structure as a whole, as you have learned.

  Or is there a better solution?

Answered directly and simply

Yes

Answered more fully aka 'How' or 'What' is a better solution

It's complicated. It depends on the particulars of your roof framing, the wall layout of your home, and other issues. It involves not just the old framing member sizes, locations, wood species etc, it also includes the connections of the members and other things like constructability issues (how to get members into place at minimal cost)

Generally this is a project for a structural engineer. I'm guessing that you may note like that idea, for reasons. But there is no answers to be found here, from friends, and probably not from contractors, it's simply too complicated an issue.

There is ONE option that might be plausible for your situation: you can make the ridge into a post and beam system. This reduces the rafter spans in half. You'd need a beam of course, and posts, and footings (the existing foundation also surely not able to take these new point loads)


Need help planning an electrical renovation

Your planning is a bit...off
Thailand, like most places in the world that aren't in North America, uses IEC style nomenclature and wiring, from what I can tell (the actual standards aren't available in English, but the two threads I found on the topic on a Thai expat forum are thoroughly steeped in IEC terminology, such as RCD/RCBO, metric wire sizing, 400Y/230 LV distribution everywhere, and so on).  As a result, 15A isn't even considered a standard breaker size, and Thai wiring rules apparently limit 1.5mm² to 10A anyway, with 16A circuits requiring 2.5mm² wire instead.
Given this, and the fact that Thailand, while having a legacy of using NEMA 1-15/5-15 plugs/receptacles (which is wrong, since those are a 120V config, not 220-240V), now uses its own plug standard (considered a "Type O" in the IEC taxonomy) rated for 16A/230V, you'll want to run your general appliance branch circuits as 16A circuits with 2.5mm² wire.  You may be able to use 10A circuits for lighting, though, so do check with someone locally knowledgeable about that.
Wet area receptacles (kitchen/bath/outside) as well as water-heater type appliances will need RCD protection, although it may or may not required panel-wide, best I can tell.  Eurostyle consumer units with DIN rail breakers may be permissible, although if you're going above about 24 breaker spaces, special IEC-rated versions of North American panelboard construction are available and may be preferable to the more traditional "consumer unit" construction.
Likewise, your service sizing will be...small by US standards.  It seems that 30/32A and 50A are common service sizes in Thailand, with larger services delivered as three-phase.  Speaking of large loads, note that that 2kW water heater will be perfectly happy on a 16A circuit, although the air conditioner may or may not require something larger.
Other than that, and any provisioning requirements the Thai standards provide, I'd provision:

two lighting circuits (so that one trip doesn't wipe out the whole house's lights)
a dedicated spur for the fridge
two kitchen receptacle circuits
a bathroom receptacle circuit
a circuit for washer + dryer
your water heater and AC circuits
and circuits for bedrooms and living spaces as Harper describes (basically, splitting each room across 2 receptacle circuits shared between adjacent rooms)

Last but not least, Thailand apparently uses TN-C-S grounding, similar to what we do over here in North America.


What is this cast-iron device on my water supply pipe?

It's a pressure regulator. The screw at the top turns in (clockwise) to increase the pressure, and turns out (counterclockwise/anticlockwise) to decrease the pressure.  The plug at the bottom (adjacent to the screw) can be where a pressure gauge goes for the low pressure side, but it's plugged off.  The other plug towards the input is where you can loop back into the high pressure side.


Can I sweep blown insulation to one side and replace with fiberglass batts?

Cellulose (the typical, but not the only, blown in) is much less air-permeable than fiberglass. Some tests even show it works without a vapor barrier, though I certainly put one in anyway on my project using it. It also has an R-value that increases in the cold, and no seams.

Fibreglass batts are considerably more air-permeable, have seams, and have an R-value that reduces with cold temperatures - which is not great if insulating to reduce heating costs.

So: doing what you describe is both possible and better than doing nothing, but inferior to (and probably more expensive than) blowing in more cellulose. If you have a near-religious objection to more blown in, by all means level out the blown-in and add fibreglass batts, rather than not adding anything. If, (as seems unlikely from your comments) you'd like the best insulation job for your money, consider adding more blown in.


What should I do with abandoned cinder blocks?

Depending on your location, build a planter. This included the base and the wall surrounding it. You could do a traditional rectangle or something modern like these...

http://pocketgrow.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/8ba626a0e2155abfa3bd213bdbba202e.jpg


Attaching a ledger board - only partial rim joist

The way I see it, you have two options to make things correct:

put blocking between them and a header joist over them to tie it together (It would be the equivalent of a 1-1/2 inch cantilever).  But you'd have to deal with siding over the little bump-out
cut back the joists 1.5 inches and put in a rim joist and splice it to the other joist with a tie plate.  Cutting back the joists will be a real pain.

I'd be tempted to just put in the blocking and sheet over it with something pretty good like half inch laminate, however I'm pretty sure that wouldn't pass an inspection.


Gas Dryer suddenly trips any GFCI Outlet immediately upon being plugged in, but works fine in non GFCI

Same problem here: plugging in gas dryer, with dryer off, immediately trips GFCI.  GFCI is new;  dryer is old. I doubt the "fluctuating current" argument:  a washer, with its different cycle starts/stops, is going to generate more "fluctuating current" events than a gas dryer. (Also the dryer is off when I plug it in.)  I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the dryer, removing all lint, and brushing dust off of all components.  Still trips when plugged in.  So I disconnected/isolated hot in the dryer's control panel:  still tripped when plugged in. Then I also disconnected/isolated neutral in the dryer control panel: still tripped! New test:  without the dryer, ran a test lead from ground in the outlet to the gas pipe connection: trip!  Measured a small AC voltage (30mV) between outlet ground and gas pipe. Next step (in this case) is to talk to some people about grounding requirements for gas supply pipes.


Rather than build the retaining wall would it not be better to break out the old and crumbling foundation clean out the area. Then build up the necessary forms to permit new concrete to be poured. From the sounds of it this shed wall is easily accessed from both the inside and outside and so getting the forms built and the concrete poured should not be too difficult.

This solution seems like it would be a lot better than stealing two feet of width all along one side of an only 16' wide shed.


How to attach cables to ceiling using curved nails or hooks

The trunking is fairly rigid and can be put in most locations without gluing it to the wall or wallpaper.  It merely serves to cover and contain the wires which are already safely covered.

You could cut the trunking to fit the run you want, enclose the wires and then use simple wire loops around the trunking in two or three places, held close to the wall with a screw and a plastic anchor.

You probably can find white coated wire to match the trunking.


Can you apply surface-bonding cement over stucco as an exterior finish?

Yes as an exterior (no as an interior).

The general rule is that the hardest surface must face the side that water would be attacking from.  If you reverse it, any water that penetrates cause a pressure build up when it meets the harder surface and cause the softer material to crack.