Home Improvement Stack Exchange
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1500 questions
14
votes
2 answers

Screw with two grooves?

Hi there: this screw from my bathroom vanity handle has broken. I'm curious about the two grooves that you might be able to see on the remaining screw. Do they serve any purpose? Should I be trying to find a replacement that offers those two…
spindoctor
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8 answers

Can I paint over wallpaper?

So I have a wall that has a very hard sort of textured wallpaper. Recently though the wall suffered some damage that turned into a hole. The hole has been patched, and now we need to paint over that. Removing the wallpaper is not an option. How can…
Kredns
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10 answers

How do I limit the water flowing through my neighbor's fence into my yard?

Our neighbors yard is elevated and they water their yard a lot. The water flows over into our vegetable garden and floods it. I would like to add a barrier. Some ideas have been slim pavers with a plastic sheet, or a tree root guard. I looked at…
Tchai Quentin
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14
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4 answers

Is this a stress fracture or natural cedar characteristics on a swing set?

This a 3 year old (lightly used) weather exposed swing set. Should I be concerned about the cracks?
Marinaio
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14
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20 answers

Expedient repair for water damaged drywall behind tile

I set out to repair cracked grout at the top of a course of tiles on the wall immediately above my bathtub. After scraping out all the damaged grout I discovered that the only other thing holding the tiles in place was the caulking between them and…
zwol
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14
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1 answer

What are the disadvantages of having electrical conduit penetrate my foundation below-grade?

I'm having an electrician wire a lamppost in the backyard. His initial proposal was to do something like this picture shows: (The diagram is from this article.) The conduit's rise from the ground and entry to the house would be in a prominent place…
ArgentoSapiens
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14
votes
5 answers

Safe to screw on a paper towel holder way above socket?

I'm probably overthinking it, but I'm trying to mount the SimpleHuman horizontal paper towel holder. It turns out that the best place for it is in the middle of the inner wall (5.1 inch wide) but above a socket which is located on the bottom of the…
Zhanwen Chen
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14
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5 answers

Masonry bits dulling after 3-4 holes

I'm using an 18v makita hammer drill with a 3/16" Bosch blue granite turbo concrete bit to drill 2" deep holes into concrete-filled cinder blocks. With a fresh bit, it takes about 15 seconds to drill a hole. By the 4th hole, it slows to a crawl and…
Tyler M
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14
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7 answers

Can I run CAT6 FTP cables parallel to electrical cable in the same conduit?

Can I run CAT6 FTP cables beside to electrical cable (220v 1 amp) in same PVC Trunking ?
Hamza
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14
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1 answer

Why are adjacent breakers for unrelated circuits ganged?

I'm looking at electric panels in some newer residences and seeing something confusing: Circuit breakers that are adjacent to each other, but that cover unrelated circuits, are ganged, as shown below. By "unrelated circuits" I mean circuits that…
feetwet
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14
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5 answers

Are these pigtails inside the panel and outside a junction box allowed?

I am concerned about a newer electrical panel's installation, where one of the older load wires, at the main electrical panel, appear to be shorter in length, appear not reaching the desired circuit breaker's location, as a result, the Electrician…
H1991
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14
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4 answers

Can tankless & conventional water heaters join forces?

Although I have properly maintained my nearly 20-year-old 40-gallon (150-L) Kenmore natural gas-fired water heater, I have been considering replacing it with a natural gas-fired tankless water heater unit, a Rinnai 180,000BTU (190 MJ), which I…
H1991
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14
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3 answers

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

This is on the water main for the house, just downstream of the main shutoff valve. Water is going up in the picture, as the arrow shows. Is it a strainer? A check valve? Pressure regulator? It appears to say "Parts No. 135CM2" but I couldn't find…
hamboy
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14
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6 answers

How can I repair this gas leak on my new range? Teflon tape isn't working

I'm trying to install this GE gas range, so I attached everything and tightened all the nuts. Unfortunately, there's gas leaking at the base of the stove (where the flare connects to the stove). I first tried without teflon tape at the base, and…
rbhat
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14
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5 answers

How can I fix a framing mistake so I can drywall?

I’m demoing a kitchen and discovered that the top plate sticks into the room a half inch farther than the studs. The current drywall is attached to the studs and therefore is even with this top plate which leaves the problem of how to drywall the…
Rob Sampson
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