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1500 questions
28
votes
6 answers
What are the pros and cons of a whole house humidifier?
In the winter, my house (~2500 sqft) becomes unbearably dry. Last winter, my wife and I used a tiny humidifier for the master bedroom to keep us from completely drying out, but since then I have been exploring a whole-house solution, complete with…
Nate
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28
votes
4 answers
Why is there a jumper between these circuit breakers?
I was replacing defective/broken outlets in my folks' house this week, in preparation to sell it. So I went to the power panel and hit the appropriate breaker for the area I was working in. No problem until I got to the laundry room receptacles.…
William Brown
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28
votes
1 answer
Can you identify this tool that looks like a pyramidal rake with an integrated sliding plate to compress the tines?
Found when cleaning out the garage. It slides to open up as shown in the photos.
Jason
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28
votes
8 answers
Why do British houses have "indoors" windows in some rooms?
Example:
I've seen this many times. Apparently, it's a thing that in the UK, they have rooms with windows that lead to other indoors areas, located high near the ceiling.
What is the purpose and history of this practice? What is the point to have…
H T
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28
votes
1 answer
How do I remove this wall plate with no visible screws?
I'm amazed how complicated this wall plate is to remove. It is made of plastic and accommodates a phone jack and a coaxial cable. Please see the images that accompany this question.
I've searched it thoroughly and there are no tabs anywhere on the…
Mark
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28
votes
4 answers
How can I get roof rain runoff into pond with an aboveground wall?
I'd like to collect rain water and have it run through a filter and then into a pond.
The problem is, I can't simply run a pipe underground.
\\
|\\ <-- house roof
| \\
|
| pond
| <--house …
Village
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28
votes
5 answers
Is this 230V steampunk metal robot lamp safe?
I bough a steampunk robot lamp from ebay. It is made out of (painted) metal fittings. After receiving it, I was a little concerned regarding safety and disassembled it. The plug suggests that this is a class II appliance, but the individual wires…
someonr
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28
votes
1 answer
Seemingly overbuilt basement wall - load bearing?
I'm doing some prep/exploratory work before I begin finishing my basement. Home was built in 1980 and has a cement block foundation. There is a seemingly random wall framed in the otherwise unfinished basement. I pulled one side of the sheetrock - I…
cxd213
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28
votes
6 answers
Is it normal to use a grinder to finish a new driveway?
Yesterday we had new concrete pads poured. We expected pour-day to be the last day. I saw them out there finishing, but when we went out that evening after everyone had left, it looked half done. There were unfinished areas, dips in the concrete,…
Nicholas
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28
votes
5 answers
Marijuana smoke migrating to my condo!
I just bought a condo which is a three-level townhouse and was built in 1980.
I am adjacent to my neighbor and share a common wall. My neighbor, an older couple, smoke weed frequently and do not air their home.
The smoke gets to my side and it is…
Na Sim
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28
votes
3 answers
Now I realize I used too many GFCI outlets. How can I reclaim them?
Yeah, so the building inspector redflagged a bunch of outlets for not being GFCI. Before I understood how the LOAD terminals work, I just replaced every single one with a GFCI outlet. Most had a second cable for onward power, so I just attached…
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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28
votes
3 answers
Why are the inside diameters of some pipe larger than the stated size?
I'm looking over some specifications for black pipe. I understand why dimensional lumber is smaller than the stated dimensions, but why would the pipe manufacturers give you more volume than what is expected?
Does anyone know the history on this?
…
gnicko
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28
votes
9 answers
How do I prepare an already painted wall for new paint?
We are repainting a number of rooms in our home, do we need to put primer over the existing paint?
Are there any other gotchas that we need to prepare for before repainting the walls?
Noah Goodrich
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28
votes
13 answers
Locating source of excessive energy use
Background Info: My house is all electric.
Last month when I got my electric bill, I flipped. It was triple that of any month prior. Now I know the cold (heating) can affect this so I decided to turn my thermostat back, even though I never had to…
hack3rfx
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28
votes
6 answers
How to improve HVAC system to make upstairs rooms more comfortable?
My home was built in 1985 in the US with conventional HVAC design of that time. Wooden frame house. It has central air conditioning (ducted) and we upgraded to a natural gas furnace recently. We experience both hot and cold temperature extremes in…
allquixotic
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