Homeowner Forum / Repair / September 2008

I am interested in buying a house but found a big crack in the
exterior of a foundation wall between the basement and the garage.  It
is verticle and has uneven surface between both sides of the crack.
Do you think it is a serious problem?  Here is the picture of the

I realize that this isn't exactly home repair but I'll try posting it
anyway.  My mother has a foam back support covered with denim, that she
wants me to attach permanently onto her office chair.  Double-sided tape
is not strong enough.  Don't want to drill any holes through the ...

So the converter boxes have been out for a while now...  do any of
them stand above the rest of the field?  I don't think I'm ready to
start purchasing new TVs yet, nor am I getting very far with wiring my
whole house for cable, so I might as well go ahead and get my coupons.

Two of the 20+ year old appliances in our home are nearing the replacement
stage - the dishwasher and the electric stove.  I'm guessing that newer
appliances are more energy efficient, but in general, do they put less of a
"load" on the circuit that's servicing the appliances?  ...

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
lighter that the walls where I used the roller.

I'm having intermittent problems with an exterior post lamp (light
sometimes works, sometimes doesn't and it's not the bulb). I pulled
back the wire from the fixture itself through the post bottom, but
damaged that run while removing (~6'). Upon cutting and stripping that

I have a basement and I would like to have underfloor hydronic heat on
the first floor. Is there a version that puts pipes between the joists
under the first floor's subflooring,i.e. in the basement ceiling?
Many thanks in advance!

I noticed that there is a small nick in the plastic sheathing of a run
of Romex cable in my basement (it was installed & reportedly inspected
by a licensed electrician about 4 years ago).
The bare copper ground is clearly visible through the nick but the

I would be interested in purchasing one of these:
http://www.radiatorshowroom.co.uk/contemporary-radiators.html
for use in the United States. A. Are there distributors of these
products in the US and B. would they be compatible with US pipes?

Anyone have a contact in Memphis that you would recommend for fence work?

Greetings All,
I have a new bathroom on the 2nd floor, and the shower has a low pressure
problem. The sink and toilet are ok, but obviously they use much less water
than the shower. I have city water using a 1 1/2" main line and the vertical

In the process of selling a home and the inspector detected two duplex
outlets with "reverse polarity".  He states that the installer reversed the
breaker box as well and that is why they work (?)
What must one do to correct this polarity issue?  Advice, examples, etc?

I know plenty of folks who didn't use their upstairs bath due to leaks
then realised the leak was via the chromeware (faucets, valves).
Other than conventional caulk, are there fasket kits for this?
What are the search buzzwords?

Recently I caught 5 mice (2 in one morning, whew!), and every morning
I
wake up I see new bitemarks on my body from what appear to be bedbugs.
I also kill at least 2 silverfishes every day.

Our relatively new yard is in transition and we currently have no patio or
deck.  I would like to assemble something semi-permanent that would be easy
to do, as well as easy to disassemble when we upgrade to an outdoor "room".
My idea was to use 2"x6"x12' pressure treated lumber ...