Recent content by Gozo

With the switch in the off position, essentially the hot goes nowhere, so nothing should happen. I’m guessing it’s a 3 prong grounded plug. If there’s a short from the neutral to ground AND the hot and neutral are switched, it’ll pop the breaker. Have you checked where each wire goes (and the...

I’ve got the corded one from Harbor Freight. Had it about 4 years or so. Use it on those tough ones where I can’t get a breaker bar in there. Hasn’t let me down yet. Make sure you use an impact rated socket; ask me how I know. 🙄

Drill Doctor. Years ago I had a box full of dull drill bits. Drill Doctor sounded like the perfect solution. It just made them duller. Complained to the Drill Doctor company and they recommended the the face angle was off and had a doohickey that would hold it in the right position while...

I made this thing out of the older busted snow shovel. Makes it much easier to lift and toss the snow. Two arms to do the work vs. one. Much less “oh my back” afterwards. The 2nd handle’s on a hinge type thingy.

Lots of good technical insights here. I’ll add my practical observations. Probably 20 plus years ago, we got tired of constantly cleaning and refilling our room humidifiers. Our HVAC guy suggested a whole house system hooked into the duct system at the air handler (heat pump system). It was...

I’ll look into the dye and maybe a penetrating sealer for the spalled areas. They’re not where I was chopping (even so, never chopped through the ice, just fractured the layer and used a plastic snow shovel to shove it aside), but primarily under the areas where it had weeks of melt/freeze...

Didn’t find anything recent that was really applicable, so asking here. Not technically garage floor, but the driveway leading to the garage. The past 2 weeks we’ve had very unusual weather, like so much of the east coast region. Snow is not unusual, nor is ice, but we had a good 3-4” of ice...

And here’s a link to the patent: https://swlattorneys.com/toilet-paper-patent/ I keep it on my phone as my wife is an under person and requires “proof” of why I turned the roll around. Kinda sad we’ve been married so long that this type of thing is all we have left to fight over.

@morkus emailed me that he thinks these are the brackets he needs: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dolle-RAIL-0-75-in-Silver-Shelf-Bracket-33150/203530081? Could be, but from the looks of it, I wouldn’t park anything heavy or valuable on it.

I’ve had some small luck with, when opening the can, putting a small wipe of silicone grease on the threads. Makes it easier to open later and gives a better seal to keep the solvent in the can. I’d swear the stuff evaporates through the smallest gap one molecule at a time. Have gotten a few...

A friend asked if I knew what type of bracket these shelves used. He said that he had them up years ago and it was a long strip the notch in the back went in to. Attached below some pics I got. Being it’s such a long board (and as I’ve found out the hard way in the past), I wondered if there...

I like the stainless steel compression rings. You don’t have to fight to get them slipped on and you can pretty much get the clinching tool in there in the most inconvenient angles. Probably did 100 of them in 1/2 and 3/4” sizes about 10 years ago on a remodel project and have had zero leaks...

If you’re in an area with freezing temps, consider a freeze proof sillcock. They’re generally long enough so you don’t have to worry about any hidden connections within the block. For me, I’d avoid Skarkbite connectors and use either compression fittings or ideally soldered. Practice on some...

If doing that much work, might as well take advantage of the safety features available. I redid some circuits and added some over the years (without inspections - shhh..) and used AFCI on the bedroom circuits and GFCI on those near water (bathrooms, dishwasher, laundry). Found out they’re not...

Is it OK with the current CA regulations to have a garage door without a power opener? Lot of folks around my area (not CA) bend over and open and close the garage door by hand. I did for years. A neighbor has a full wood shop with loads of power tools and a vacuum sawdust collecting system...