Most Popular
1500 questions
19
votes
5 answers
How to avoid breaking electric wires, telephone wires, and water pipes in the garden while digging
I'm located in France.
For a house (built over 30 years ago) I have to pull new cables through the garden (about 20 m - 30 m). The cable has to avoid certain trees, bushes, obstacles and arrive at a certain point.
Earth is rather hard (clay) and I…
gelonida
- 321
- 2
- 10
19
votes
2 answers
What is this measuring tool for?
I was going though my dad's and his dad's tools and found this tool. The two iron pins can go up and down and be locked by the screws.
Is it a measuring tool? How do you use it?
cindy
- 191
- 1
- 3
19
votes
5 answers
Is there a benefit to having a switch control an outlet?
In my house there is a switch in every room that controls an outlet. I’ve asked my electrician to remove that so that the outlet is always on.
He says it’s safer to have a “control switch” but I can’t think of a good reason why.
What am I missing?
Shamoon
- 335
- 1
- 2
- 6
19
votes
5 answers
How to get a wrench into this location to remove this nut
How do I remove the nut from this vertical motorised valve in the following picture:
The valve itself is a few mm next to the pipe and I have tried quite a few tools to remove this and nothing works. I also can't get any tools behind it either so…
Dave3of5
- 291
- 2
- 6
19
votes
3 answers
Can white bread be used to temporarily plug pipes for repair?
I've been digging on the Internet, for a solution to soldering a dribbling pipe.
It seams logical, but I wanted to check if anyone has tried this, and if they had any problems getting the bread out.
Or is it a known urban myth?
reggie
- 405
- 3
- 10
19
votes
1 answer
Can you identify this tool?
Does anyone know what these metal tools in the bottom left of the photo are? I found them in my crawlspace and to me they look like some sort of medieval torture device.
dvanderb
- 301
- 2
- 5
19
votes
4 answers
Buying a home with 2 prong outlets but the bathroom has 3 prong outets
I'm looking at a home for my family and trying to assess the amount of work needed (no home-inspection is present). I saw that most of the electrical ports have 2 prong outlets and am worried that I might have to add grounding to the entire home…
gran_profaci
- 303
- 2
- 7
19
votes
8 answers
Can I hang this heavy and deep cabinet on this wall safely?
Do you think it possible and safe to hang this cabinet on this wall with no support below it?
It is 38 x 90 x 100cm and weighs something like 30kg, It is intended to fill it with dishes and such so it'll get even heavier. The wall is reinforced…
Ralpharama
- 301
- 1
- 2
- 6
19
votes
8 answers
What are these capped, metal pipes in our yard?
We've owned this home for 5+ years now, and these pipes have been bugging me. Even moreso now that I'm looking to do some landscaping right over one of them.
The house was built in the 60's in a Philadelphia PA suburb. We have city lines for natural…
Marisa
- 315
- 1
- 2
- 7
19
votes
5 answers
What are wrenches called that are just cut out of steel flats?
There are wrenches that are used to get into tight spaces that are just flat pieces of metal with a hexagonal hole cut out of them. Often they come with things like table saws and are used to move the arbor nut and change the blade.
Is there are a…
Tyler Durden
- 6,889
- 10
- 53
- 101
19
votes
12 answers
Should hardwood floors go all the way to wall under kitchen cabinets?
I’m putting in hardwood floors and I am at the spot where kitchen cabinets would go. The last strip is going to be narrower than whole flooring boards, and usually I would rip the boards going elsewhere in the room. Should I just leave the last few…
David
- 1,057
- 2
- 19
- 35
19
votes
4 answers
How do I remove a flush mounted ceiling light fixture dome?
My bedroom has a very nice looking flush mounted ceiling light with a glass dome. However, all the bulbs have gone out and I cannot get the glass out to replace them. I'm 5'4" and standing on the bottom corner of my bed I can reach up with my arms…
Katey HW
- 293
- 1
- 2
- 7
19
votes
5 answers
Should I dig a separate trench for CAT5e wire to shed?
I am renovating a shed which is going to require doing at least a 100' trench for power from the house. I also want internet via a hard wire out to a a WAP in the shed. My question:
To avoid EM interference, do I need to run a separate trench just…
David Atkins
- 191
- 1
- 2
- 5
19
votes
3 answers
How do I replace this cast iron toilet flange?
I have a big old gawd awful cast iron (at least I think it's cast iron, the house was built in 1940) toilet flange that is in sorry shape.
See?
There will never be a better time to replace it - as we have the floor above and ceiling below it open,…
The Evil Greebo
- 25,851
- 16
- 90
- 124
19
votes
7 answers
What is the cause of this short in the outlet receptacle?
My dishwasher was plugged into this socket, and then this happened, tripping the circuit breaker.
So I assume there was a short in the outlet, but how could that have happened? I replaced the outlet and plugged the dishwasher back in, and all…
Patrick Szalapski
- 575
- 2
- 10
- 22