Homeowner Forum / Repair / September 2008

I need to run hot water pipes to the various appliances in my home.  Some
of the appliances (lavatories, and sinks) will use relatively small amounts
of water at a time but will be used frequently, while others (tubs &
showers) will be used less frequently but will use much more hot ...

The plastic washer on the outside bottom of the tank for the flapper unit is
stuck or glued on..
How do  get if off ?

Do cell phone batteries just die suddenly or do they usualy loose
loose the ability to hold a charge, mine is 1.5 yrs old but today the
phone is dead, it has been holding a charge

I've never really understood about MM readouts for ohms.
I have here a Chinee-Sears digital MM (maybe $15 on sale) and a circuit that
should measure 450-550 ohms. I set the MM to 2k ohms, the MM reads
say .500.

Suppose a house has radiant barrier housewrap, then 1 x 2 furring
strips on the outside and topped with 4 x 8 hardie concrete siding.
Would there be any problem if I installed foil backed fiberglass in
the wall cavity with the foil facing the interior?

MY 3 year old house built on a concrete slab has a new crack I found
(the 6th one) in the floor of a room where I was removing builder
(Veranda Homes LLC) installed carpet. The crack is 14 feet long and at
one end was a bad patch job that was  a 1 1/2 foot hole.

In need of replacement Apcom thermostats(upper ad lower). Any good
on-line source?
TIA,

To avoid voltage drop (and power loss) at startup, I want to make sure
that the power cord to my 15 year old Craftsman table saw is 12 gauge
(or upgrade it if it is not).
There are no markings on the cord and no reference in the manual. The

My wife and I just buy a house in San Diego, and we are first time hom
owner, so we know little about home improvement, such as flooring -
hardwood floor and ceramic tile. Can anybody recommend some goo
contractors?

Isn't is obvious to the most clueless that the tanks to be covered
with a hairnet or pantyhose type covering?
Surely there are dozens of materials that will withstand the heat and
vibration of lift-off NOT reentry.....

Hello. I have a craftsman 10" sliding compound mitre saw.
When set for a 45 degree bevel, the blade strikes the left plastic table
insert.  There is no adjustment possible on the saw, and it looks as if
it would slice at least 1/4 " off the radius of the insert.  All other

Does anyone know where I can find a manual for a Roper gas range,
model# F8957WD, Serial# 7X64378? Does anyone know how old this unit
is?

Can anyone suggest a good method to remove paint (could be oil based) from the
"antigue'd brass" hardware of a door lock, without messing up the origional
finish?

We are building a 6 sided gazebo and we've been able to only stop some
of the racking in some directions. We still have some racking
occurring and would like to take care of that completely.
This is a URL that shows our progress so far and should show pretty