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When I built my house, I planned on an emergency standby generator but I didn't buy it right away. I installed the Kohler RDT transfer panel outside between the meter and the house panel. We've lost power a couple times since finishing the house, and as a stop-gap, I installed a 50A inlet...

I'm almost done building my house. I don't need a pellet stove for any reason and I'm purposely not installing it before the final inspection. What my wife wants is a pellet stove on the first floor. The first floor is wide open and 36x36 with off-set stairs in the centerline and a small...

I've been living in a camper for 3 years on my parents' farm and I'm nearing completion of the house I'm building on the farm. I've been using a 40' sea container as my shop the whole time. Although I'll have a garage in the house, it won't be a working garage and I don't want to clutter it up...

I am building a house. I had the inspector out today to inspect things other than framing. He noted to "be aware" that all openings greater than 48" needed a 1000# framing strap. He pointed specifically to the 6' wide french door opening. The idea was to tie the top plate to the jack studs...

I am building a house with a radiant slab for the first floor. We plan on dying the concrete with Delta Dye black and sealing with TS210. There is one large crack from front to back that not only has separated a good bit, there are bits chipping off in some areas and one side seems to be lower...

We are building a house on a slab. The concrete is about a month old at this point. We're maybe a month away from drywall. The wife and I decided we want to do acid stained floors in some sort of grey or slightly darker (not black) color, but a little more exciting than just sealed concrete...

Sorry, this isn't for a garage. I'm building a house. The first floor is wide open except the stair case and I want to do almost exclusively recessed mounted ceiling lights. They must be dimmable and LED. The area I'm working with is 36x36 roughly. It will have a living room area, dining...

I'm about to start building my house. It's on a slab and I'm using 2x6 exterior walls. The retired builder helping me will want to use pressure treated sill plates without sill seal because that's what he's always done and it's allowed. I've considered putting sill seal under the PT sill...

I'm in the process of starting to build a house for myself. I have an outdoor wood boiler, so hot boiler water is free and unlimited. The house is planned to be on a slab with 2" foam insulation underneath. My plan was to staple the PEX in loops to the foam and pour the floor on that...

My parents' house is 90 years old. There is a covered porch on the front that has a concrete floor. I don't think it is as old as the house, but it is still quite old. The concrete floor is about 20" above ground level. As best I can tell, it is not suspended off the ground but either fully...

I just moved out of my house and into an RV for what will likely be a year or so. I have most of my tools in a sea container that I'll use as a shop in the mean time. I sold my (somewhat) portable Craftsman table saw that I was never in love with and didn't use too often. I would like to...

I am selling my house, garage, land, etc. We have bought a big 5th wheel RV to live in on my parents' farm hooked up to power, water, and septic. We are having two sea containers delivered--one for storage and one for my garage stuff. Not much time to talk about it right now, but give me...

I'm setting up a 40' 5th wheel RV to live in for a bit while I build a house. It has two AC units and the typical power draw for a giant RV like that. With both AC's running, the whole thing will run on a single 50A plug by drawing two 120v circuits off of that big 4 prong 240v plug. I...

I have a set of SK Suregrip (green square handles) screwdrivers that I like a fair amount. They don't slip out of screws often and they don't roll across the table. The problem is, I was cleaning a carburetor the other day on my work bench and used copious amounts of carburetor cleaner. It...

I bought the 12k BTU MRCOOL DIY mini split for a room I'm building and insulating on the end of my house. I have the space and location to mount it on the ground on the back of my house, but I think I'd rather wall mount it on the end of my house instead. Two questions about mounting it on...

I have a 12x28' sun porch area on one end of my house. It has a poured slab foundation that is ground level in the back and about 3' above ground level in the front. I am going to remove all of the glass doors on the sunporch and frame it up, insulate the walls, sheath and drywall it in. I'll...

I have a 2 car plus small work space size block garage. It is not insulated and I doubt I'll get around to it before I move. I do have 200A service to just the garage and a panel with several slots left in it. I was thinking about hanging one of those DuraHeat 10,000 watt electric garage...

I need a drill press. I want a floor standing model and I'd like to be able to go pretty slow with it for larger holes if need be. I don't mind buying used, but I'm almost leaning towards new. 110vAC please. It can have a dedicated 20A circuit in my garage. I don't even know what's good and...

I'm trying to drill 6 holes in 1/4" mild steel. I need the holes to be 1-1/8", but I could go as large as 1-1/2" if needed. I've tried cheap fluted drill bits without success using my drill press and cutting oil. Suggestions on a bit that will work and last?

I have a cinder block 2-car garage with 9x7 garage doors. They are old and wood and falling apart. I think the garage was built in the late 70's or early 80's. Some of the pressboard panels in the wood garage doors are starting to swell, rot, and fall out. I need to replace the garage doors...