Homeowner Forum / Repair / April 2008

I am putting a new wax ring on the toilet.  Which way does it go and
do I put it on the toilet bottom or the closet flange part when I
install the toilet?
There is the flat side of the wax ring and the other side which has

The previous owners of our house had ceiling fans installed in two
rooms and 15 years later they still work great. In fact, on high in
our one small room the fan turns the room into a tornado!   In other
rooms, admittedly cheaper fans were installed by me and they are

I hated to do it, but 95% of all the spammers are using Gmail
addresses.  I just added gmail to my kill files, and hardly anymore
spam is being seen.  Those of you friendly posters who are using a
gmail address are being urged to quit using gmail addresses.  I hate

After visiting 2 Lowes and a Home Depot trying to buy paslode gas to finish
a fence today, I came home and did a little research to figure out why it
was not in stock anywhere except at 84 Lumber.
I found an article at this site (not mine)

I guess I have two questions.  First let me explain this situation.
I have an existing EMT conduit that runs from my panel in the garage
to a junction box in the attic 80 feet away.  From the junction box
another pipe to go to the outside to serve the pool pump.

I just changed flapper inside the water tank hoping it would fix the
leak. I'm willing to change the valve mechanism because I don't like
the ball floats and the rusty twig that holds the ball. While I'm at
it should I also change the overflow pipe as well?

I live in Ottawa, Canada and noticed that in the last 3 weeks several
ladybugs inside my house around the windows.   I'm trying to find out
how they get in.   I checked all around the windows and there doesn't
seem to be any openings for them to get into.   Any ideas on how

http://www.gorillagripper.com/videos/index.html
I don't recall seeing this posted before. Seems pretty efficient, but kinda
pricey at $50. I prefer the commercial video - you'll see why. No
affiliation, etc.

I can remember when I was a kid that you could dial a 4 digit phone
number and hang up and your phone would ring.
I am having trouble with an AT&T cordless phone.  My standard phone
works fine, but the cordless won't ring.

This is the inside of a very large old brass Russian samovar (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar);
http://freeboundaries.com/inside.jpg
What you see is a very thick layer of minerals, possibly 100 years

A suggestion:
If you have a little time open each spam and view the header.
Actually just open it and then click *Forward*  You should see the whole
header.

The water pressure in my subdivision has always been low. We moved in
as the area was being developed so we just assumed that the pressure
was low as houses were still going up, etc...
Well, now it's eight years later and our pressure is still poor. For

Just got a call from my supplier here in SE Iowa and their contract
price for next year (if prepaid) is $1.929.....current price off the
truck is $2.099. For comparison purposes we contracted 800 gallon at
$1.569 last year. I realize that propane is normally less expensive in

I don't have a basement and have little storage space in my small,
one-story home in upstate New York.
I've been storing a lot of things in the crawl space under the house
but the humidity down there has been taking its toll. The crawl space

Hi. REquesting recommendations - I need to replace a 14,000 BTU air
conditioner.  I'd like one that is energy star compliant and quiet.  The one
I'm replacing, an old Kenmore, is very noisy.  I checked Consumers Union's
rating but they didn't rate any unit above 12,000BTUs.