Copper pipes can spring leaks for many reasons: corrision, freezing and bursting, inadequate soldering, or human accident.  For large holes, cracks, or bends, you’ll need to replace the portion of the copper line that broke with a new piece of copper.  This involves a fair amount of plumbing know-how, but can be achieved by a do-it-yourselfer (you can Google Search for “sweat solder copper pipes” and find plenty of help).  If you’re not comfortable with the idea of cutting, heating, and solder-joining pipes, you’ll need to call a plumber to fix a large/unusual leak situation.

For very small leaks (also known as “pinhole” leaks), one easier solution is to use a repair clamp purchased at your local home improvement store for about $5.00.  Repair clamps are metal sleeves with a flexible rubber pad inside that clamp over the pipe in the area where the leak has sprung.  They are straightforward to use, and can be applied in under 5 minutes.  When applied properly, a repair clamp will last as long as the rest of the plumbing structure.

In the picture on the left, a self-tapping valve for a refrigerator water line has been installed on the main water pipe.  This valve has malfunctioned, and will  no longer completely close (not an unusual problem for self-tapping valves).  The house is to be sold without a refrigerator, so this tap valve must be replaced.  It would not have been wise to replace the valve with another self-tapping valve in the same location because it would suffer the same problem.  Instead, we’ll repair the hole created by the tap valve with a repair clamp, and the new owner can tap the line in another location when the next refrigerator is installed.

The picture on the right shows the small hole created by the self-tapping valve.  This hole size is well within the range of the type of leak that can be repaired with a repair clamp.  You can see in the picture a small area on the pipe where the self-tapping valuve was that is particularly shiny.  This is the area that the rubber pad inside the self-tapping valve was touching.  A repair clamp uses the same principle to close the hole as the self-tapping valve was using to prevent the water from spraying out the sides.

How to Install a Repair Clamp

To install the repair clamp, simply place the repair clamp on the pipe with the flexible rubber pad centered over the hole.  Place the metal clamp over the pad, and tighten the two screws and nuts until the rubber pad is compressed over the hole.  Be careful not to over-tighten the screws, as this could bend the copper pipe.

The finished project is shown on the left.  In this case, a repair clamp saved us the cost of calling a plumber (about $120 just for the visit in this area).  Instead, with $5.00 and 5 minutes we repaired the problem ourselves.

What do you think?  Was this article helpful?  Have you ever used a repair clamp to fix a plumbing problem?

I finally got around to installing a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) on my deck. The PO’s had a regular receptacle which worked about 50% of the time. A soft kick usually got it working. This was obviously something that needed a little more attention.

How GFCI’s Work

A GFCI is a device used to protect against electrical current. It does this by measuring the imbalance of current between the hot and neutral conductors of a circuit. Typically, the two currents are about the same. When the difference becomes greater than 5mA, the circuit is de-energized. This can happen when, say, current passes through a person to the ground.

Wiring a GFCI

GFCI’s are good safety devices but only if wired appropriately. When you examine a GFCI you will see at least one pair of terminals marked “Line” and another pair marked as “Load”. The Line terminals are for incoming power from the breaker. The Load terminals are for powering other receptacles downstream. Be sure to shut off power to the circuit before handling the wires.

I determined which wire was coming from the breaker in this fashion. After removing the old receptacle and separating the wires, I turned the breaker back on and carefully tested each pair to determine which wire was active. Then I turned the breaker off and continued.

Connect the incoming power, black wire to the hot Line terminal and connect the incoming power, white wire to the neutral Line terminal.

In a similar fashion, connect the downstream power, black wire to the hot Load terminal and downstream power, white wire to the neutral Load terminal.

Splice ground wires together and connect to the green screw on the GFCI.

Testing Your GFCI

You want to be sure that everything is working appropriately. Here are scenarios that I tested:

• With the breaker off, there should be no power

• With the breaker on, and the “reset” button pressed, your receptacle (and everything downstream) should have power

• With the breaker on, and the “test” button pressed, your receptacle (and everything downstream) should not have power

I’ve found a basic multimeter to be a must have for working with my home electric. A multimeter is the only reliable way I can know which wires are hot. I use it constantly. Amazon has a great Digital, Six Function Multimeter available for $19.99.

If your interested in a more complete electric guide. Check out Freds review of Stanley’s Complete Wiring Manual.

What do you think? How often do you test your GFCI’s? Ever replaced one?

We all think it will never happen to us:  a house fire, a hurricane, or some other calamity destroys our house and everything in it.  Of course, these disasters happen every day to people across the country; they aren’t uncommon.  All of us have homeowners insurance to pay for replacement items, but in the event of a disaster, could we prove to an insurance company that we actually owned all the items in our homes?  For most of us, the answer is no.   In the worst losses, it’s very hard to determine from the remains of the house the original quality of the items that were destroyed.  This makes a bad situation even worse.

A home inventory gives you the evidence you need to get fully reimbursed in a disaster.  Taking a home inventory is probably simpler and less time consuming than you think.  In the event of a catastrophe, an inventory can help you quickly and accurately characterize your possessions for your insurance company, ensuring you get fairly compensated for your loss.  There’s other reasons to take an inventory too.

Why Should I Take a Home Inventory?

An inventory is essential to protecting you from further damage in a distaster.  An inventory: 

• Ensures you have the right amount of total insurance coverage for your home’s possessions.
• Ensures you have specific coverages for special coverage items like jewelry, rugs, collections, and more.
• Provides a complete list of items that your insurance company should reimburse you for in a disaster.
• Gives you evidence for tax write-offs for casualty losses that aren’t covered by the insurance company.

What Items Should Be Included in a Home Inventory?

In an ideal world, you would include every item in your home in your inventory.  The more information you have about your stuff, the more likely you are to get fairly reimbursed in a disaster.  That said, it is impractical to keep an up-to-date inventory for every individual item in a house.   Here’s a few general guidelines:

• Focus on high value items first. Make sure you have all the details on these items recorded (at least a model number, purchase price, purchase date, and a picture of the item).
• For items that are similar in nature, like clothes and DVDs, record items together and simply note the quantity of the total.  Take a high-resolution photo of the items.

What’s the Best Way to Record the Information?

Keep it simple.  A home inventory should be useful to you in the event of an emergency, not cumbersome and hard to figure out.  You can list your items in detail in a typical word processing document, or better yet, a spreadsheet.  Either way, create a new section (or spreadsheet sheet) for each room in your house.   If you choose a spreadsheet, you should create columns for category, name, description, quantity, price paid, year purchased, picture name (with the name of the picture of the item), and total value (quantity times price).

You’ll also want to set up a root inventory directory for pictures, with subdirectories for each room of your house.  You’ll likely have 5-15 pictures for each room in the house.  If you choose a document format for your inventory, you can paste pictures directly into the document.  If you use a spreadsheet, you might choose instead to reference the picture name in the spreadsheet.  Either way is acceptable.

You could also consider taking a video of each room.  Videos can help you remember information better, or fill in the gaps where pictures are insufficient.  Videos cannot be faxed or e-mailed to people easily, however.  You should view a video as a back-up for pictures and recorded information since you may be working with an insurance adjuster over e-mail or fax, and they may not be used to working with video.

Where Should I Store my Home Inventory?

When your inventory is complete, you should archive the files and store them offsite.  The easiest way to do this is to e-mail the archive to yourself using an online service like Gmail.  You can also burn a CD of the inventory and store it at the house of a nearby family or friend.  Whatever you do, don’t store your only copy at home (for obvious reasons).

How to Avoid Getting Overwhelmed

If this is the first time you’ve considered a home inventory, it might seem downright overwhelming.  You have a whole house of stuff, it’s probably hard to decide where to start. If that’s your situation, start small.  Pick a single room to inventory.  Most rooms take about 1-2 hours to inventory.  If you inventory 1 room a week, the average single family house could be inventored in just over 2 months. 

What do you think?  Have you taken a home inventory?  What other tips can you offer to make a home inventory better?

Image by HAM Guy.

Fred and I picked up my Brazilian Walnut hardwood floor a few days ago. 27 boxes and they are heavy! I opened one of the boxes for a preview and it looks amazing. I’m very please with the color and variation. Click on the picture for a larger version. Corey, hope this helps you decide.

Why Acclimating Hardwoods is Important

Now the wood is sitting around my house. Doesn’t seem like an important step but it is. Wood is a porous material that will expand with increased moisture and contract in more arid conditions. By sitting in my home, the wood will achieve the moisture level (and size) that it will be after it is installed.

Be Ready for the Hardwoods

Make sure your home is ready for hardwoods before you pick them up. For a new house, make sure jobs such as drywalling are completed. Moisture can evaporate from the walls and be absorbed by the wood. Doors, windows, heating and air conditioning should be installed an operating. These are all elements that can alter moisture levels. Double check that the sub-floor is in good order and doesn’t have a moisture level higher than 12%. If your installing above a crawlspace, make sure the 6mm black plastic is intact.

How to Acclimate the Hardwoods

The wood will need between 3 and 7 days to become fully acclimated after it is delivered. It is best if you can spread the boxes out on over the sub-floor. If your floor is delivered on a damp or rainy day, give it extra time as it may absorb extra moisture. Do not let them sit in a garage or on concrete substrate as the boards can absorb moisture and warp before they are even out of the box.

What Happens When you Don’t Acclimate

If you don’t acclimate your floor, the dimensions of the boards will change. Boards that absorb more moisture can swell and buckle. Boards that loose moisture can cup and gaps will appear. Either way, your beautiful floor will never be the same.

Testing Moisture Level

Not sure how to test for moisture? Amazon has a great Wagner MMC220 Extended Range Digital Moisture Meter. It doesn’t use tips so it won’t damage wood and it can scan to 3/4″ depth.

What do you think? Have you ever seen a floor installed that wasn’t acclimated?

Howdy folks!  We need some help… A good friend of mine, Andy, sent me a question and asked if we could help.  Frankly, I’m not sure what exactly to do given Andy’s budget constraints, but I thought someone out there might have some creative ideas.  My only idea is posted at the end, and it isn’t a cheap one.  I think Andy’s open to anything, however temporary it may be, so please weigh in!

Andy:  The problem is on a porch outside one of the apartments. At a guess, it’s probably fifty to sixty years old.  The concrete has settled over the years.  The problem is that it is no longer even with the house.  It also happens to be next to/outside of a crawl space.  As you will see in the pictures the porch has settled into what looks much like a funnel, so all of the rain water runs down this funnel and into the crawl space and that slowly drains into the laundry room and other parts of the basement.  The pictures will best show you what I am talking about, I don’t really know of any other way to explain it in words.  I am not sure if the information will help any but the concrete is about two inches thick.   I also have learned that this has been a problem for many years , it just got worse over the past few months . 

I am looking for a somewhat long term fix, I want to do it right, however I am working on a very cheap budget.  I am looking for the best cheap solution. I am sure you can understand this.   I am open to ideas; I also welcome any questions you might have about it or the photos.  I have more pictures if you need or want them.

This is a view from in the basement across the crawl space this best shows the problem from the inside:

This is a picture of where I took that inside shot, as you can see the problem of the water seeping out after it drains through the dirt in the crawl space.

This is a shot on the porch, as you can see there is a gap at the base of the house. That is the problem from the outside. You can see the water still laying there a day after the rain. There is also power and cable wires that need to stay so I have to work around them:

This is a low side view:

A low front view of the problem. I didn’t get a picture of it but so you know there is a door just to the left of this picture:

Fred:  The only think I can think to do here is to tear up the old patio and have a mixing truck brought in to pour a new one.  Obviously, this is an expensive route to go for a fix like this, but I can’t think of anything else that wouldn’t present problems within a few weeks.  (The things that come to mind in that range are tarps, etc).

What do you think?  Does anyone have any ideas?

Jocie, a large part of Jocie’s family, and I gathered in North Carolina for Memorial Day. Her Grammy owns a great house right on Lake Gaston which is fun for all ages. After coming back home, we found an awesome surprise. Amy had filled out our flower beds. She planted several different perennials. She is quite the green thumb. Thanks Amy! I am a curious person and wanted to know more about each (hopefully it will help keep them alive too).

Dwarf Coreopsis

Dwarf Coreopsis is a full sun perennial that does best in well drained soil. It has a bright daisy like, yellow bloom that can be expected in late spring to mid summer. Deadhead these to extend the flowering season. Dwarf Coreopsis can grow to about a foot tall and about a foot wide. Slugs are a potential pest to keep away

Black Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susans are a short lived perennial native to the east coast. It’s the Maryland state flower (shout-out for Maryland) but has become common throughout North America. It has a brown center with bright yellow petals. Black Eyed Susans do well in many soil types with full sun. They grow 2 - 3 feet tall and bloom between June and August.

Limerock Ruby Coreopsis

Just like the name says, this plant has a bright ruby red bloom. This plant prefers average soil moisture and does well in many soil types with full sunlight. It forms a bushy green mound about 1 foot wide with masses of bright red daisies. And it is supposed to attract butterflies!

What does Deadhead Mean?

I had no idea what this meant until this post. It basically means pruning away old blossoms to prevent seedpods from forming. Without seedpods, some plants will bloom again in an effort to create more. That’s how it can extend the flowering season.

What do you think? What plants did you just put in?

We recently finished running romex wiring to 20 receptacles and 4 radiant heating zones in the basement. The job required about 500 ft. of 14 guage, 2-wire Romex for the outlets, and 50 ft. of 12 guage, 2-wire Romex for the heating zones. I’m not an electrician, so I asked a relative who is a licensed electrician in our county to supervise and check my work. In addition to supervising, he makes the final connections to the main electrical box.

Most of the work installing new circuits is spent between two activities: running and securing the romex throughout the framing structure, and wiring the receptacles and fixtures at the electrical box endpoints. This post is focused on the running and securing part of the job.

Through the whole process, I found Stanley’s Home Wiring Guide to be extremely helpful in ensuring I got everything right. Here’s a few quick tips from my experience that will likely be helpful to another do-it-yourself electrician who’s framing their basement. Remember, electrical codes vary by locale. You should always consult with a licensed professional before undertaking an electrical project.

1. Measure twice, cut once. This old adage is crucial to saving money on electric work. Copper prices at all-time-highs – a cut wire that’s too short to connect to the proper location in the main panel and the target electrical box renders the Romex wire unusable for that run. If you make this mistake, hopefully you can use the mis-cut for other areas.  Of course, mis-cuts usually add up to many small, unusable pieces of romex that are only good to a recycler.
2. Don’t Splice Wires in Walls. Spliced wires outside of electrical boxes are dangerous. They can pull apart while you’re running the wire, or later when the electrical work is being serviced.
3. All Electrical Boxes Must be Surface Accessible. You cannot install a box “somewhere in the wall” that isn’t easily accessible from the finished room. All electrical boxes must be accessible from a faceplate in the finished room.
4. Secure Wires Every 24″ or less. Always use fasteners that are approved for the guage and number of wires you are securing. Multiple wires can be secured together using a large nail-in staple. If a wire is cut or knicked by a fastener, you MUST re-run the segment. A knicked wire will cause the wire to heat up at the thinnest point. Running the wire through holes in studs/joists counts as securing the wire for that segment.
5. Keep Wires Atleast 1.25″ Away from the Surface of Studs/Joists. Cutting holes in joists to run wire is fine as long as it doesn’t effect the structual integrity of the building. Remember, a standard 2×4 stud is 3.5″ wide. You should drill holes in the middle 1″ of the 2×4 to avoid requiring nail plates.
6. Add Nail Plates Where Wire is Close to the Surface. If you can’t avoid running Romex close to the surface, you must protect the surface with an approved nailplate. Since nail plates can cause drywall to stick out over the framing member, you may want to counter-sink the nail plate by slightly grinding/sanding out the stud or joist where the nail plate will be used.

What do you think? Did I miss something in my list? Was this post helpful to you?

Brick exteriors and brick veneers need to be repaired as age takes its toll on them. The pass through point for air conditioner hoses and other vent systems can deteriorate even faster than the rest of the structure. Check out this picture of my friend’s home. He was beginning to worry that bees were using this hole to set up a new hive.

It’s important to address small gaps in the wall before they get too large. If you repair a cracked joint early, it will reduce the likelihood of it growing larger as moisture seeps into the joint and expands.

You can find easy solutions like Great Stuff, a spray-in product that will expand to fill the gap. This will block the opening but won’t look good after long. Great Stuff turns brown over time (after which it doesn’t look so “great” anymore). A better solution is to using a concrete or masonry patch.

How to Apply Concrete Patch

First, clean out the area you working with. Dirt and debris create a poor application surface. An old paint brush will usually do the trick.

Spray a little water into the area to be patched. You want the surface moist but not pooling water. This step helps prevent your patch from drying too quickly, which would result in a weak patch.

Add water to the concrete patch powder and mix until you get a nice thick paste. It should be the consistency of heavy mashed potatoes. If it’s too soupy, it won’t stay on your wall; if it’s too thick, it will be hard to worth with and won’t adhere and harden to the underlying surface. Add more powder/water until your reach a thick, pasty consistency.

Work the patch around, filling all gaps. And smooth it out as it begins to set. Be sure to check the instructions for what size gaps you can patch and how long it takes to completely cure. This picture was taken just after the job was finished.

What do you think? What have you used to patch your brick or masonry? What tips do you want to pass along?

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that Jocie and I are planning to install hardwoods. Well, we are finally starting to make some progress. This past Saturday we took a trip to Lumber Liquidators. Here are a few things we considered while making our choice.

Hardness

Different types of wood result in different levels of hardness. No wood is impervious but some resist dents better than others. Brazilian Walnut is one of the hardest woods available. While American Cherry is extremely soft. Some people prefer the de-stressed look while others want their floor to stay as dent free as possible. This picture compares wood hardness and stability levels. Click on it to enlarge.

Finish

You can purchase woods prefinished or unfinished and each has certain benefits. Unfinished wood can be stained to match existing woodwork. But it’s an additional step and it takes time for the smell to dissipate. Prefinished woods will have a uniform factory stain that often includes a warranty.

The hardwoods we checked out all had an oxide based finish. Oxide finishes have two benefits over polyurethane finishes. First, it will help strengthen the wood and keep it dent free. Second, polyurethane can yellow over time.

Board Width and Length

• Strips. Strips are the typical, linear tongue and groove. They range in width between 1.5″ to 2.25″.

• Planks. Planks are very similar to Strips but have different widths. Most start around 3″ and increase in 1″ increments.

• Parquet. Parquet floors are hardwoods arranged into a pattern, usually a geometric shape of some kind.

• Length. Typical installations incorporate boards with different lengths and are laid with a lot of variation. One alternative is using boards all the same length.

Wood Grades

Wood can come in different grades: Rustic, Natural and Select. Rustic grade contains the most irregularities. It will have varying grain patterns and plenty of knots visible. Again, some people want this look so it mostly comes down to preference. Select grade is the most uniform. This wood should have the least knots and grain variations.

Top Choices

So after our trip we narrowed it down to a few choices. Check out the pictures.

Brazilian Cherry Select / Brazilian Mesquite Select / Brazilian Walnut Select

What do you think? What would you choose? What did you install in your own home?

This week’s Before and After is brought to you from our old and new home office. 

When we looked for a house three years ago, one of the criteria for our purchase included the home having at least four bedrooms… One for us, two more for kids or house guests, and the remaining one for a home office.  We had a home office in our prior home and had grown accustomed to sitting in it for hours working on our computers (which both happened to be desktops).   This year, I upgraded my 7-year-old PC to a new Dell Vostro 1400 laptop, and all of the sudden Kim and I found ourselves trading the laptop back and forth on the first level.  Rarely did we walk upstairs to use our desktops.  In fact, we only did when the other person was on the laptop and we were forced to.  This led to the purchase of a second, identical laptop for Kim.  The office started seeming more like Siberia.  There’s were still great resources there, but who really wanted to visit.  We’d much prefer to sit in front of the TV with laptops on … laps.

At the same time we began to find our home office too confining, we received news from friends, BJ and Kimberly, that they will be moving back to the area from Scotland so BJ can pursue a Ph.D. (Congrats, bud!).  They are planning to stay with us for a few weeks/months while they shop for a place in this area and get established in jobs, etc.  Since Lori is already living with us due to the house fire and we’re not sure when she’ll be able to move back into the townhome, it seemed like the signs were all pointing in the same direction: downsize the home office to make room for more people.

Kim and I had talked about moving the computers to the first level of our home once the kids were big enough to use them, anyway.  The catalyst of more house guests just sped up the move.  We started combing Craigslist for a computer armoire that would house all of the computer stuff in one place, and would fit in with the rustic/country look we like.  Since we like using our laptops on the couch, and the kids can use them sitting at the dining room table, we didn’t need to be able to work at the armoire sitting down.  We found a woman about 30 miles away in Crofton selling a Pier 1 Imports solid pine armoire in very good condition for $50.00.  We contacted her, met her at her storage unit, and hauled it away in our minivan on the same day.  (This armoire retailed on clearance for $300.00.  Yep, we LOVE Craigslist).

The pictures below show the result.  We’re still in the process of cleaning out the office upstairs and Craigslisting lots of things we no longer need.  We’re also still looking for where exactly to store our file cabinet, the only other essential thing from the office.  Our master bedroom closet is one option for the short term.  Once we finish the basement, we’ll either build or buy a pine file cabinet to go with the armoire.

Before (the Home Office):

After (Office in an Armoire):

Now it’s your turn!  If you’ve had any great Before and After successes recently, link in your posts below (and be sure they have a link back here).