Homeowner Forum / Repair / November 2003

    I've been living in the same home for 25 years now, and have had the
same problem for those 25 years. Every year, my main house sewer trap cloggs up.
For the past 5 years, i've been cleaning it twice a year, and that solves the
problem, but there's got to be a reason why this ...

I have 2 power outlets right behind each other - one on the inside on my
house, the other on the outside.  I want to plug in some lights to the
outside outlet and instead of going outside to plug/unplug the cord alll the
time, I want to install an on/off switch inside my house to ...

Do septic users have similar concerns that sewer users have with noxious gases?

I'm replacing the baseboards in my 1948 home.  The outer walls of the
home are cinder block coated with plaster.  The original baseboards
were nailed with 8d nails directly through the plaster and into the
block.

I'm not sure what the exact name of what I'm looking for is called, but I
can easily describe it and hope that someone reading this may know where to
get these at.
What I'm trying to locate is a 2-piece plastic item that would temporarily

I purchased an old style candlestick phone with a 4-prong adapter in
place.  I removed that adapter (found red, green and yellow wires) and
connected the red and green wires to the modern prong (clipped off the
yellow).  The phone can dial out and I can answer it okay, however, it

I need to re-grout a bathroom ceramic tile floor with badly discolored
grout.  The grout line width is 1/4 inch.  What is the easiest (and best)
way to remove at least 1/16 - 1/8 depth of the old grout?  Is there a power
tool that won't damage the tile?

I own a 2 story brick veneer wood frame house.  The second story is
smaller than the first so some brick walls sit on the roof.  If it was
a perfect world there would be be strong framing under the brick, the
brick would sit on angle iron, and flashing and weepholes would be

I have (3) 30-amp, (3) 20-amp, and (2) 15-amp fuses, all new in the package
(the 15-amp package has been opened, but the two remaining fuses are new
and unused.)  Standard edison base, time-delay. (Type "T/TL")  GE brand.
We upgraded our electrical service, so we no longer need ...

Hi Bruce!
B > In the past few years, I've bought two king size Sunbeam electric heating
B > blankets.  They were the mid- to high-end models.  After less than a year
B > the first one would no longer heat, and we sent it back for repairs.  The

Hello All;
I am about to finish my basement and have 2 strange sheet metal hvac runs..
they come out of the main stack on the furnace - same size openings then for
some reason they cross over one another.. ie.. the left side comes out and

In my opinion,Kero World kerosene heaters don't get enough oxygen
(air) to the flame. There is a metal collar around the base of the
flame which has tiny holes in it (and too few of them)to allow enough
air through to support complete combustion of the fuel.

About twenty five years ago I came upon a traffic light that had
fallen off of a county truck.  I removed the light bulbs and used
them for my front and back door entrance lights. They are still
working today.

I just installed a new gas cooktop to replace our old one.  It is a GE
JGP336BEDBB 30 inch Glass cooktop.  I got it installed and everything
seems to be working well, but I am concerned about some yellow flames.
If I turn it on without anything sitting on the burner it has periodic

I clean out my lint pretty regular.  My wife noticed a burning smell
and smoke coming from the dryer.  No noise was made other than a
normal dryer sound.  Of course the dryer got shut off and unplugged!
I've been taking it apart and looking at a possible lint plugging, I