Homeowner Forum / Repair / November 2006

In the Emgo motorcycle tools catalog were wire twisting pliers.  I
just had a thread in alt.home.repair about what these pliers were for
(because I just "inherited" a pair, just like the ones in the catalog)
What do they do with motorcycles?

What are some simple ways to measure the grade of my patio?
Without ranting and raving, I contract with a quality reputation
company to put it in and they subcontracted it to a fly-by-night
contractor who appears to use day laborers.  I want the measurements

My son had (as in not anymore) one of those 'Drinking Bird' novelties -
which I now find out is a glass vial filled with Methelene (Methylene)
Chloride mixed with a red dye.  The vial broke & we now have a one foot
red patch on our white vinyl floor.

I'm looking for a ladder for my loft, but I need it to be a specific
height. It has to be at least 190cm, and no more than 210cm. (It's a
wierd kind of loft- don't ask!)
Trouble is, I can find a ladder of that length anywhere. Anyone got any

Hello friends,
Is there something wrong with my sink countertop?
Take a look at this picture:
http://www.geocities.com/phul/www/CounterTopSunkenDown.JPG

I live in a 50 or 60 year old house with one tiny bathroom and 2
females.  The bathroom needs to be renovated (I've been putting it off
for a couple of years, but the tiles just fell off the walls into the
bathtub last weekend.)

I have a shower in my new house with 6"x6" ceramic tiles with 9x9
2/3"x2/3" glass tiles interspersed.  I sealed the grout with Tile
Perfect Stand n' Seal Grout Sealer.  About 20 minutes later, I heard
"tink .. tink tink .. tink" and saw that the grout was popping off the

The shower in my master bathroom is no longer staying hot.  It's
hot enough for me if the knob is all the way over to the hot side,
but not hot enough for my wife.  I used to set the handle to more
or less the center, so something has changed.  The downstairs

Yes, I recently had my roof replaced but they did not build a cricket
behind my chimney. I want to build one myself, but am not sure exactly how
I need to measure for it. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

I have been working on cleaning my slate floor for a while now.  Back a
month or two ago you guy gave me some cleaning suggestions for cleaning the
tile.  After trying the suggestion along with other things, I finally got
the coating off the floor.  Below if the description of ...

    Has anyone used the Honeywell L7224U electronic aquastat on an oil fired
boiler yet ???  In the past 6 years, I have had to replace 3 L8148A control
boxes. The circulator relays keep going bad. It is not the relay contacts, but
rather the relay coil fails to hold the relay in ...

my sump pump is in an earthen pit and ground water seeps in causing the
electronic float switch to cycle on and off about every 90 seconds. I am
looking for a delay off switch that would delay the pump from turning
off for 10 or 15 seconds so that the of-off cycling would be ...

One of my chimneys is in a sad state of repair. Motar and pieces of brick
are missing in spots. Would it be that difficult for me to repair my own
chimney or should I call a professional to repoint it?
Its a bit late in the year for it now, the weather is getting colder. This

11-10-06, 9:26 AM EST
-Garage Door Does Not Stay Up When Manually Opened Fully
-It comes down about couple of feet & settles there
-This causes problem for my minivan to come out when we loose power

My washing machine drain pipe recently was having trouble keeping up
with the spin cycle discharge, so I had the line snaked.  All appears ok
now, but I'd like to prevent this in the future.  Has anyone had success
with lint trap or filter for their washer?