Homeowner Forum / General / April 2004

I'm moving from an apartment to a house next month and want to make
sure that my family members are the only living things I take with me
;)
Since living in the apartment, I've noticed a few silverfish, but

Time to replace the old water heater, and I don't want to pay $350 -
$500 for installation.  I can easily place a winch in the attic above
the access hole for lowering the old and lifting the new heater.
Question is how to attach the cable to the heater itself?  Would like

Electrical code question.  Let's talk about an over-current protected
feeder: The circuit that begins at a big breaker in the main panel,
and feeds a whole subpanel.  In my case, this is a 125A feeder.
As everyone knows, and as is clearly explained in the electrical code,

I have a problem.  We have a whole house fan that we use this time of year
to cool the house.  Last year we replace our gas water heater with a newer
model.  Since then, I have learned the hard way that if there are not enough
windows open for the fan setting the fan will suck air ...

I am scheduled for an appraisal this week for a refinance on my house.
I don't really have my house "under construction", but I have torn
some of the walls out, put in new insulation and drywall, and that's
all finished including the mudding.  I haven't painted yet, it looks

I am building a home which is being finished with portland cement
stucco. My question is: What do they put on the house for the final
coat? Is it just portland cement + sand? If so will it be water tight or
at least not allow water to damage the inside insulation or drywall? the

We are planning to put Central Air in our ranch home of about 3000sq.
ft. We have two added rooms with very high ceilings and southern
exposure, in addition to the rest of the house which is easier to
cool. After 6 estimates we had concluded that we would have the

I live in an area where it gets really hot on some days. Some people place
black film on their windows to keep out the sun. There is a local company
that is selling totally black window screens that cover the entire window.
Those screens look great but I have a question:

OK, I've got soap scum built up on my bathroom shower door and in the
future will:
1) Squeegee
2) Try Rain-X for prevention

There was a puddle of water coming out from under my refrigerator -
not from inside, definetly from underneath. It was a fairly big
puddle. I mopped it up and it doesn't seem to be leaking any more. The
water smelled like frig water (that off smell ice gets when it gets

I have a stove with a sticky burner control.  This is one of the 4 that
control the flame on the stove-top burners.   This is slightly worrisome
because it is an electronic ignition system.  When the control sticks,
the igniter continues to spark after lighting the burner.  I'm ...

So, anyone have any ideas as to why mortgage rates are rising again?

In a day and age when you can buy anything on the Internet, this
should not be so hard....
Years ago I purchased a very simple, inexpensive wall lamp.  Made from
plastic, it looked like a wooden board with a candle sticking out,

I'm having a hard time determining how much cash I should lay out for
a down payment on a house, mainly because I'm such a stickler for
saving (a habit born of low-cash post-collegiate times).  Over time
I've managed to put about $60K in savings.....annual income is about

In shopping for a refinancing of my current loan, I recently got four
"good faith estimates" from various lenders about their fees.  Since
my mortgage is fairly small ($125k) fees are an important part of my
decision.