Homeowner Forum / Repair / September 2008

I recently moved into an older house. There is a light switch by the
front door that doesn't seem to do anything. All the light fixtures
inside and outside have good bulbs in them and switch on and off.
Why would there be a switch by the door with no light?

Please excuse if this is a repost.  The first  didn't go thru.
Bought 4 gallons of Home Depot (Behr) latex paint for some room painting.
I used roller and edge tool to paint the first room.  It looks great.
However, on the second room, the part where I used the edge tool shows up

I have bleached oak kitchen cabinets, with a pink tint to them.
Would golden oak laminate flooring look OK, or would you go with
a bleached oak laminate to match the cupboards?
My home is 12 years old, and I know the bleached oak cabinets are

I have been pricing things around for appliances and all the prices seem
the same.
Sears has 20% off now if you buy 3 and no payments interest for 12 months.
Seems like the best deal.

We just recently got our windows replaced in our house, and
consequently, our old blinds and such no longer fit. We had crappy
cheapo miniblinds anyhow, ready for a change. But I'm shocked and
appalled at the cost of blinds aside from the aforementioned crappy

I keep seeing free hot tubs on craigslist and wonder if I can put a
couple to work.
I'm considering building an in ground, concrete swimspa next spring.
Can the pumps, bubblers & fittings be adapted for use in a concrete

I recently moved into an older house. There is a light switch by the
front door that doesn't seem to do anything. All the light fixtures
inside and outside have good bulbs in them and switch on and off.
Why would there be a switch by the door with no light?

My lawn mower is in servicing, so I borrowed my friend's and use it
for 90 minutes or so.
I then put it back into my trunk, except that it could only fit when
tilted (with the spark plugs down, the handle up, outside of the

I have seen drywall installers run a small tool over edges that they have
cut.  Is this to create a bevel?  What is the tool, it appears to look like
a small plane?

I'm building a set of stairs on my deck and CANNOT seem to find a
straight answer on this. I'm using closed outside stringers spaced 36"
and will use metal tread brackets to attach two 2x6 treads for each
stair. Some info I've found says I DO need a third stringer in the

We are back to this DIY project.  Our old one had the top subsume when age
damaged the mortar while we were gone.  We had it spec'ed for repair and the
cost wasnt terrible but we'd elected to take it out and pour a wider base.
While doing the taking out, we found the bottom 2 feet ...

We just installed Mohawk laminate floating floors throughout hour
livingroom, hallway, kitchen, and dining room, but I wanted to ask
what others with similar installations have used to keep things clean.
Also, how paranoid should we be about keeping them try?  The cleaning

I'm finally finishing that bonus room project, and am investigating
insulation options for the cathedral ceiling.  The roof structure is
standard 2x6 rafters on 16" centers with OSB sheathing and shingles
above.  I need to achieve R30, and would like to do so without loosing

Just a normal propane fired furnace with an "A" coil and a compressor
outside. When the thermostat is set to auto fan and cool the inside
circulating fan in the furnace comes on but the neither the outside fan
nor the compressor come on. There are two breakers, one in the main

I've an unheated garage many years old.  One side the concrete floor
meets the wall (wood beams) just fine; but on the other side a gap of
about an inch or two can be seen along a length of at least 20 feet.
Critters see it too and worm their way into the shelter...