Home Improvement

I've built a small office for myself with outlets all over the room. They are all on one circuit I'd like to protect them all with a single surge protector.

I imagine their should be some product similar to a GFI outlet that would protect itself and everything past it on the circuit. I could mount it next to my panel and run the wiring straight to it before continuing on to my office. But I can't find such a device.

The two closest things I've found are a whole home surge protector which seems like overkill. And this outlet from Leviton which is a surge protector, but only for itself. It won't protect anything else on the circuit.

I could obviously use a power bar with a built in surge protector but part of the idea of having a bunch of outlets around the room was to remove the need for a power bar and keep everything cleaner.

Does anyone know if what I'm imagining actually exists?

First time homeowner here so please forgive the newbie question. I'm in Texas so our houses aren't built for the cold. We're going through freezing temps at night right now, with temps getting up well above freezing during the day. I woke up this morning to my kitchen faucet not having water (at all) when turning it to the hot setting. It's the type of faucet that you just turn left (hot) and right (cold) and lift to open. The cold water side is fine. The two other faucets found in the two bathrooms have hot water without issues, but they have separate faucets for hot and cold. I've been religiously dripping all our faucets every night since last week. Is it possible something froze? And what I can do to start figuring out the problem and possibly fix myself?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Here's what it looks like under the sink. The upper left tube is what I believe is the hot water, the right for cold, and the bottom goes to the dishwasher.

Update: Water finally came out! I left the faucet open on hot, then ran hot water on all the sinks and showers in the bathrooms to get the water heater pumping. After around 10 minutes, water started to trickle and eventually went full blast. I'll make sure to drip the hot water as well and not just cold from here on out! Thanks to everyone who responded!

My power is generally pretty reliable, but when it does have issues, it often flickers violently. More than once, I thought the control board in my fridge got fried, but was luckily able to do the refrigerator equivalent to Ctrl+Alt+Delete and reset it.

I have an extra 800W UPS laying around, so I figured I'd give it a try and see if it would run it. I'm not really looking to use the UPS to keep it powered during an outage, just to deal with the power flickers/surges/brownouts that may damage it (surge protectors won't protect against brownouts). Any additional cooling time during an outage would simply be a bonus.

To my surprise, it works. Not only works, but only seems to draw between 110 and 160 watts (compressor on, door open). However, I expected it to draw power in the 700-900 watt range. Granted, the last time I worried about refrigerator wattage was years ago when I lived in the boonies, had an older fridge, and had to resource-manage when I was running from the generator on a long outage.

Is that normal for a 26 cu ft refrigerator? I'd say it's probably close to 10 years old. AFAIK, the UPS reports the wattage draw correctly (at least, the values were within expectations when I was using it with my desktop workstation). The manual for the fridge says 115v / 10 A but it doesn't seem to use anywhere close to that.

Additionally, are there any hidden risks to running a refrierator from a UPS? It's a pure sine wave UPS, so the power should be as clean as or cleaner than utility.

Finally sucked it up and replaced our worn out water pressure regulator. Installed a shut off valve as well so I don't have to shut the water off at the meter every time.

The old copper with globs of solder is not mine. Whoever installed the water lines when this house was built should not been allowed near any tools, ever.

Case in point:

I’m not sure Home Improvement is the correct sub for this, but I’m looking to replace my dual flush actuators with metal ones instead of these chromes plastic ones that corroded due to the bleach fumes from using bleach bricks in the tanks. I’ve stopped using them, but I still need to replace the actuators or buttons and I want something more robust.

Edit: went ahead and ordered duplicate replacements.

My wife turned on the wall switch and the pendant light over our dining room table went out. The fuse outside didn’t blow—none of them needed to be reset. I checked for power in the light’s hanging cord, but nothing. I pulled the wall switch to check for power and nothing there either. Thoughts?

Context: I found what looks like a regular mildew (white, fuzzy and organic, in somewhat large splotches, easy to clean with vinegar, only found on the wood beams) in my basement when my dehumidifier broke and it was particularly humid this summer in my area. I've cleaned it up to the best of my ability and I have a new dehumidifier that should handle the total square footage in my basement.

It looks like my cleaning is working for the mildew, but it sparked a visceral fear that I didn't know I had which was the fear that there is mold in my house. As far as I can tell, I don't have any but I do have some sites in my bathroom and kitchen that look like they could be good areas for mold to start growing. I.e. I have to fix the sealant around my tub, there are some gaps at the back of my old cupboards in the kitchen, and the vent fan above the stove doesn't actually vent anywhere, it just runs the air through a charcoal filter it looks like.

Are there any tips for what I should look out for regarding the starting signs of mold growth or any kind words that can bring my fear addled mind some peace?

Thank you.

Edit: Ok no worries guys it was definitely just the tub leaking! It just took several hours for it to stop dripping afterwards which is why I was confused at whether or not it was the tub or something else. All is well! It's a very infrequently used shower/tub so I hadn't noticed anything prior.

I'm guessing it's likely the tub drain itself that was leaking or it's possible one of the outflow pipes leaked from there. Either way it's not an urgent fix thankfully! I just posted this a bit hastily I suppose. I appreciate the comments!

Hello. So the other night I had a tub filled up with water for a prolonged period of time. I do not typically use the tub in that bathroom. The tub water was stagnant and thus the leak would not have been caused by inadequate caulking between the tub and wall.

Today I have awoken to find that my ceiling below the upstairs bathroom is wet and there is a dripping noise in the wall downstairs roughly under the tub.

I have drained the tub about 20 minutes ago, but there is still a slow, but continuous dripping noise in the wall below the bathroom. Since the dripping noise is still occurring at the same slow pace, does that mean it is unlikely to actually be dripping from the drain or pipework that drains from the tub?

My unit has a shared wall with the neighbor, so there is a chance that there is actually something leaking from their unit instead of mine.

Is there a way I can troubleshoot this a bit further without immediately ripping out the walls? Even if I can't find the exact source, just narrowing it down to something with the neighbor versus my own bathroom would be helpful.

I can't call a plumber right now because we literally just had a hurricane so they are going to be tied up for a bit.

Thanks all.

I acquired this older Black & Decker Hedge trimmer and it seems to have a special kind of cord. Any idea where I could find this cord or what its called? I have not been able to even figure out what the cord looks like yet.

UPDATE: I cut off the extra plastic to get access to plug it in and the tool doesn't even work anyways. Time for the garbage.

Hey, apologies if I'm not using the correct terms, I'm going to do my best to describe the issue.

This is a photo from my shower. There's a glass "wall" and a glass door. The door is connected to the glass wall by a hinge. The glass wall was glued to a metallic frame but it looks like the glue is not holding it in place anymore.

Is it a DIY job for a new homeowner after the millionth thing broke down this month and is ready to step into traffic? Or should I just hire someone? What profession am I even looking for to get it fixed?

If it's an easy enough fix, what keywords do I use to look up a fix and the materials needed?

Any other useful information or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Update: thank you all for the comments. I don't think I have the skills to do this project by myself and don't want to risk glass all over the bathroom floor. I've contacted some people who fix windows and stuff, and they've agreed to this work at a reasonable price.

How bad is this crack? I just noticed it today but I assume it's been there a while and happened after an earth earthquake we had a few months ago.

Is this something I can just fill in with mortar and keep an eye on?

I plan on reaching out to our insurance company to see if they'll pay for it but if not we're pretty strapped for cash at the moment.

Renting a room in an old house. The landlady is one of the rare good ones and cooks for me somtimes so I'm trying to be handy where I can.

This light in my office died, and a few others in the house are in dire need of replacing. Rusted and covered in decades of caked on dust, probably hazardous.

I keep seeing units like this. https://a.co/d/iU3hAd3

But I'm wondering if I should get a few of those or get another bulb style ceiling lamps and just use LED bulbs?

You know the temperature thing you turn round from like 0 to 5 depending on how hot you want it to be? Well I think, in trying to turn it off I may have turned it too far. As the it just keeps turning but in a jerky movement and the number doesn’t change if that makes sense? Like there’s a little plastic arrow that points up at the setting it’s on, so that you know what setting it’s on. But now it’s like the whole thing is turning rather than just the plastic cover with the numbers on.

So I think (well I’m hoping cos the opposite would be worse) that it’s now turned completely off and there is no way to turn it on. But because the whole thing is turning and the numbers don’t change up or down regardless of which way you turn it, it’s possible it could be on any one of the 0-5 settings but only stuck as showing on 0.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

Another before:

It's green Vermont slate, figured out that it was originally painted black and marbled. Victorian thing, faux marble mantels. Fireplace is also Victorian faux, red brick, would have had logs and a red light. I'll be putting in a gas insert at some point.

Started at 220grit, and worked up to 1000. Finished with a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits:

Didn't realize slate could be this pretty and figured:

I made these for a friend but others kept asking me to make more, so I put them on Artisans coop. I've tested them up to 45 pounds so far. What do you all think?

I fixed my roof a few years ago, and have part of a roll of tar paper sitting in the basement. I’m now re-laying some hardwood flooring. Can I use that leftover stuff as underlayment, or is there some subtle but important difference between “flooring” tar paper and “roofing” tar paper that means I ought to go buy some other product?

(If it matters, the house was built in the 1940s and uses materials typical of that era. I’m just doing repairs/small modifications, so I’m patching in like-for-like stuff.)

I moved my business into a new building, and there is a doorway i want to put up a door in it. However the doorway is about 1/4" narrower at the bottom, than the top. Neither of the top corners are square. I am looking for the easiest way with the least amount of work and knowledge needed to hang this door. It is only a barrier, it is not for security. It will be closed most of the time, so i am not worried if it is going to naturally swing open or closed.

Also, the cuts for the hinges on the door and the frame do not line up. I am fine with buying a new door, but I would rather not replace the frame of i can avoid it.

Any suggestions?