Homeowner Forum / Repair / July 2008

I'm having new new kitchen cabinets for the first time.  Normally, I would
do this kind of work myself, but with my day job/travel, I don't want my
family to be without a kitchen for the several weeks it would take me to do
it myself.  To save some badly-needed cash however, I ...

I have a heater in my garage that runs off it's own zone on the house
hot water system.  This will be the first winter.  My concern is that
it might freeze if I lose power.  I don't want to put Glycol in the
entire house.  A co-worker told me about a heat exchange system that

Folks,
I'm redoing my shower stall. I'm interested in tiling the shower
ceiling, and putting a recessed light fixture in place, as well.
Are there any issues with installing  a recessed light in a tile

The boards on my deck are about 1" thick.  I want to add on to my deck
and the boards are now 1 1/4"  Apparently sometime recently they made
them thicker.  I am not willing to replace the whole thing.  So aside
from shimming the end boards on the old deck and thus having a hump,

Our church has an old Stanley sliding security gate.  It works well, but
we would like to extend the effective range between the receiver on the
gate and the portable transmitters from 170' to 300'.  Is it possible?
If so, what are some possible solutions?  Thanks.  Mike

This is a remodel issue. Want to run a drain pipe in the crawl
space from a laundry room sink and it will need to be level for
about 18" just before it hits the sanitary tee that leads to the
waste line. The reason is there is a dryer vent in the way. I'm

I've used the plastic quick connect couplers on the front and back
hoses for years. Over time they'd degrade and break or crack so early
Spring of 07, I replaced both hoses with longer ones and all the
plastic couplers/adapters with brass ones (that was a bit of an

I just bought a biscuit joiner.
Need to join (salvaged) 3/4" pine boards to make kitchen cabinet.
What size biscuits to use?
I'm guessing #20s.

I am in the latter part of the planning stages for a bonus room
addition above my garage.  There will be an enclosed stairway from the
first floor of the living space that goes to the bonus room through
the garage.  The outermost wall will not extend to the garage floor,

I have a wetness problem in my basement, which you can see on this
picture:
http://freeboundaries.com/basement.jpg
I was wondering if the stucco that was plastered over the stone is

What are the pros and cons about powerwashing a wooden picket fence
(42 inches high fwiw).  
Am I right about the cons:  
It will take a long time to get at the fence from all angles,

Am shopping for a new, side by side fridge.  Almost all the models
have that through-the-door ice and water dispenser, which strikes me
as a needless complication.  They are rare but I have found one or two
models that don't have it.  They seem to use a little less

I am going to be finishing off my garage for a woodworking shop.  I’m
interested in hearing about what would be the best order of doing
this, particularly the ceiling.  Right now I have about a 19’ span of
2x8’s going across with no strapping.  So, should I first put

One of the plumbing contractors (a bigger company) that gave me an
estimate for a water heater has a clause about Alternative Dispute
Resolution in the contract.  Basically it says that they use an
arbitrator to settle all disputes.  It says I would waive my right to

Stucco should NEVER be painted with house paint. If you're seeing
professionals "paint" stucco, chances are they're "dashing" the
stucco. Dashing is done by mixing a slurry of cement with colorant.
They use a large brush and either "snap" the brush to splash the