Homeowner Forum / Repair / May 2006

Is there a way to fix a small leak in a swamp cooler pan? The swamp
cooler over 14 years old. The pan is rusting and there is a hole about
the size that a 16d nail might cause. I'm hoping to be able to patch the
hole and not have to replace the swamp cooler quite yet.

Greetings All,
 I plan on using Hardiboard as a backer for bathroom tile and it will
sit on 3/4 plywood. What is used to bond the Hardiboard to the ply?
Also, the Hardiboard doesn't have tapered edges like Durock does, is it

Any suggestions for removing the smell of dog urine from carpet?  Up to
and including professional services?  I've tried the Miracle Pet and
Enviro Pet enzyme based stuff, but the smell keeps coming back.
The unfortunate thing about the enzyme stuff is that it appears to have

Recently we have noticed that our clothes have a mildew smell to them.
Most noticable are towels.  When you use them they smell like mildew.
Anyone else with this type of washer have this issue?
We use the recommended detergent type.

hopefully someone can diagnose this problem. My Kenmore electric dryer
won't start sometimes.
Last week when my wife tried to start it, the dryer hummed but would
not start. After trying a few times to start it, it looks like

Refer to the thread entitled "How to upgrade outlets and switches"
wherein the OP seeks to replace some incorrectly-installed grounding
receptacles with either non-grounding type or GFCI's. I also had a
similar problem but with only one outlet. For some reason the ground,

I have an old house and several of the interior doors squeak quite loudly.
Is there anything I can do to fix this problem?
Thanks a lot.

We are attempting to skim coat over a stomp textured ceiling (400
square feet). Scraping is
not an option. Pics of ceiling available at:
http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~mrubinst/ceiling/index.html

I had some limestone delivered to my home (7 cubic yards to be
precise), and they dumped it on my driveway right beside the house.  It
has been raining for 3 days and we've been unable to do the patio work
we had planned.  As such the mountain of limestone is still on my

Have the chance to remove some squeaks and replace a water-damaged
section of plywood subfloor and several places recommend drywall
screws.  Why not deck screws?

Long long ago they made paint for numbers on watches which somehow used
radioactivity to glow for years.  They also used it on instrument dials
in planes, etc.  It was not dangerous when used for its intended
purpose just as your radioactive smoke detectors in your house are not

Someone in a country other than the USA has done a study of the
effects of 20% ethanol/80% gasoline on engines by running a weedwacker
and an outboard motor on such a mixture.
He reports:

I have a peculiar problem with the light in my bathroom: when the room
gets a certain temperature, the room light goes out. This is a hundred
year old house and the wiring is not all that great, but I never heard
of a problem like this. Does anybody have any ideas why the light goes

My new home is close to street and am looking to buy for bedrooms
upstairs - where the noise is maximum - french-style windows, with 2
windows, both double-pane, that is the interior-window opens toward
interior and the other exterior window opens to exterior.

When I tried to replace the drive belt on my Toro mower I found that the
drive gear pulley was extremely loose.  Does anyone know how to replace
the drive gear unit?  I assume it is the gear because when I activate it,
there is a lot of noise (growling.  When I lift the rear end of ...