Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
13
votes
2 answers

Mystery telephone wiring device in old house

This mystery thing is mounted to a ceiling joist in the basement of a 1940s house. I have a couple of questions: What is it? Is there any reason I couldn't rip it out and run new Cat 5e's from the NID to the wall jacks, just for the sake of…
alexantd
  • 263
  • 2
  • 5
13
votes
9 answers

Is it possible to dangerously short a U.S. power outlet with multimeter probe?

I was recently told that the common 120V electric receptacles (non-GFCI) found in North American homes can be extremely dangerous to measure using a multimeter. FYI, this came up while I was checking proper connectivity of the wiring directly using…
Travis
  • 131
  • 1
  • 4
13
votes
2 answers

Is my p-trap installed correctly?

I just moved into a new house and am having a problem where the sink takes longer than normal to drain. Also, while using the shower, there is a gurgling from the sink. I tried some drain cleaner, but these were supposed to be newly installed lines.…
Jon Moore
  • 139
  • 1
  • 5
13
votes
3 answers

Bang sound and breaker has tripped, anything else to check?

Today I heard a moderately loud "bang" sound whilst in the house, similar to someone dropping a heavy book, and the upstairs sockets all lost power (sockets has its own breaker). I noticed that the breaker had tripped (not the RCD) and after…
SomeoneLostPower
  • 141
  • 1
  • 1
  • 4
13
votes
3 answers

Did I Make a Major Framing Mistake?

I am an absolute ameteur trying to frame my basement remodeling project by myself and I've learned a lot since the start of this project, but I am worried the parts I didn't know are going to come back to haunt me now. When I first started this…
senfo
  • 429
  • 1
  • 5
  • 15
13
votes
6 answers

How do I temporarily fix the hole in a porcelain sink?

How do I temporarily fix this hole in sink? I need it to hold at least for a few days.
Michael Ver
  • 251
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6
13
votes
2 answers

Contractor work caused a water leak in the house - UK

I’m renovating a kitchen, together with small hallway and a cloak room toilet. I hired a company to do all the work although I now realise I don’t have a formal contract with them, only with their sister company for supply and installation of…
kacpr
  • 271
  • 1
  • 6
13
votes
9 answers

What type of screws/anchors to fasten a closer to a steel door

What are some proper screws or anchors to use for affixing something to a steel walk-in door? The example for this question will be attaching an automatic closer to an exterior steel door. The door is a typical residential steel walk-in door, which…
Bort
  • 490
  • 5
  • 11
  • 24
13
votes
7 answers

Outdoor burst pipe best practice for the winter

We had an outdoor tap (faucet) fitted in the summer last year here in Edinburgh UK. The temperature here often dips to just below freezing over the winter. Outside, at least. The plumber suggested we should turn off the water under the kitchen sink…
paul_h
  • 305
  • 2
  • 9
13
votes
11 answers

How can I cut this recessed PVC pipe?

The top of this pipe is gouged where it needs to seal with the new shower base. I need to trim off a few inches from this pipe so I can glue on a clean piece. the hole is 10" square. The pipe diameter is 2 3/8". What's the best tool I can use that…
Platinum Goose
  • 4,368
  • 5
  • 25
  • 34
13
votes
6 answers

Wiring a reliable temperature switched outlet

I have an electrical wiring question. Background: I'm building my house by contracting out the daunting parts. Through a lack of good communication with the plumber, my plumber ran most of my PEX pipes through the crawlspace under my house instead…
Patrick
  • 233
  • 2
  • 5
13
votes
3 answers

What are the implications of driving a drywall screw too far into the sheet?

I'm not gonna lie. The early stages of my very first home improvement project completely smacks of novice DIY'er. I did so many things wrong that I've since learned from, but the first mistakes are still glaringly obvious, one of which being how I…
oscilatingcretin
  • 5,932
  • 53
  • 99
  • 114
13
votes
4 answers

Should an optical cable inside a house be run in conduit?

I am hoping to run a fibre optic cable from the office/study to the "server" room where I'll have my NAS. The idea is to use a 10 Gbit/s connection. We are building and are currently framing. Should I run conduit and put the fibre in it, or is it…
pookieman
  • 233
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6
13
votes
3 answers

Running Service to Outbuilding

We just built a house and wanted to run 400 amp service to the house to keep options open down the road, but I fear my contractor didn't account for my future plans and did what easiest vs what I wanted. Part of our basement is finished, and the…
cvgnew
  • 139
  • 1
  • 5
13
votes
4 answers

Is this cord bend ok on electric range?

Will this be okay for a 40 amp range? The box was set a little too low. I wasn't sure if they bend what cause any issues.
Mstar
  • 149
  • 2
  • 8
1 2 3
…
99 100