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My ranch house was built in the 70's. About 3" of insulation was blown in between the roof trusses at that time. No vapor barrier was installed before ceiling sheetrock was installed but my house is very dry anyway. After I bought the house I added 6" of pink insulation between the trusses. It was a tough and inconvenient insulating job because of the trusses. The pink insulation caused the blown...

We need to know the voltage and current ratings of both the thermostat and the motor. Also what colors are the wires that come out of the motor?

Hello Everyone!!, I am refinishing an old door from inside my house, and I am having some troubles. I have a paint stripper that has citric acid in it and it works really well. In fact within two days, I have removed about six layers of paint. The only thing is that there are some inlaid panels. I have been able to remove most of the paint, but I cannot get it out of the corners and along ...

We currently have a 6' wide x 6' tall sliding glass door (that was installed inside-out) and are planning to replace it with a 5' wide x 6' tall door. This is going to give us room to expand the kitchen counters. We're not sure what needs to happen when we frame out the new door in regards the 1 foot space left over. The exterior of the house is stucco. What goes outside the insulation that ...

I recently bought an old farm house with 12 foot ceilings.I know that the ceilings were that height for allowing warm air to rise in the hot summer.There is no insulation in the attic. Would it help to heat and cool the house better if I added insulation in the attic? I think so but am not sure. Any suggestions?

I have a poured foundation with the interior walls that look like bricks. I would like to surface one corner of my family room with either real or imitation bricks or stone. This will be about four feet out from the corner in both directions as a surround for my wood burning stove. Any ideas on the best products to use? Also-any tips on getting the bricks or stones to adhere to the existing ...

I would like to use my attic space for storage. In order to be safe, I would like to lay plywood down to create a floor. Would laying plywood over blown in insulation reduce its efficiency? thank you, ch

I am adding 2 little recessed lights in my hallway. I already have an existing light switch and a fan switch in the hallway. I would like to pull the power from the existing light switch for the new recessed light. the new recessed light switch will be exactly next to the other light switch. Does anyone have any ideas of which wires I need to connect to make the new switch work. I tried ...

I am looking for any advice on the proper use of vapor barriers in a basement. We live in western michigan and are about to finish our basement and turn it into an additional bedroom and a family room. The concrete walls go up halfway (daylight basement) and there is a concrete floor. All of the concrete has been painted/treated with the water resistant coating. We are going to frame in the ...

Had a contractor finish my basement and he built out a couple of walls to create closet space. He didn't hang doors and the width of the closet is 96 inches wide. The only option I could see is two sets of bi-fold doors but I'm not sure how that will look. The widest sliders I saw were 72 inches wide. Anyone have any other suggestions on enclosing a closet that wide?

Hi, I have to replace a few electrical outlets in the house.The plugs are too loose in the sockets and they fall out. Anyway, on the new receptacles, there are two screws on each side - one side for hot { black } and the other side for nuetral { white }. Both blacks go to one side and the two whites go on the other side. My question is, does it matter which black goes on the top screw or the ...

OK, I really need your help and guidance. I have block walls with 1/2" drywall glued over them. When the work was done, the installers butted up against the ugliest door frame known to man. I have looked at it too long and want to redo it. What I would like to do is remove the molding and drywall to the inner edge of the door opening all the way to the wooden stop where the door closes. ...

I have a 1970 house that I want to lay tile in the kitchen. I have pulled up 3 layers of vinyl to discover pressboard over a subfloor.I was told to mix mastic then attatch the backerboard. When I got home I read the directions on the mastic and it says not to use on pressboard. Please Help

Hello Everyone!!, I am refinishing an old door from inside my house, and I am having some troubles. I have a paint stripper that has citric acid in it and it works really well. In fact within two days, I have removed about six layers of paint. The only thing is that there are some inlaid panels. I have been able to remove most of the paint, but I cannot get it out of the corners and along ...

I recently bought a home with a sump pump sort of in the corner of the unfinished basement. The sump pump is in an inconvenient area. Basically its in the way. Previous owner says water would pool there during heavy rain or snow melting, I live in the North East. I think I should relocate, but I would like alternatives, or just guidance if I was to relocate the sump & hole.I do have photos ...

i have a problem we are remolding the kitchen have compley gutted it and started tiling we got all the tile the store had of the color we liked and the store ordered more for us then after already started tiling store called us that they are no longer able to get that tile we now have a 6x6 area alredy tiled in the center of our floor with this color any suggestions on what to do now thought ...

Bought a 3-story house, huge. Drywall shows a bubble over most nails, some are sunk,and some of the drywall paper looks to be lifting under the paint. Should I just use drywall screws, remove nails, and remud? Some of this is in the ceiling on the middle floor and especially the walls. Trying to rip out drywall and redo would be cost prohibitive.

On DIY's Bathroom Renovations, Amy Matthews stated that there was a paint-on waterproofer that could be applied to the blue(green) moisture resistant drywall before applying tile. She didn't say the name or type it was and my husband and I were wondering if it was the same product used for basement waterproofin... like UGL? Does anyone know?

We just had our septic pumped out and TON of roots taken out at the same time. The toilet is now acting funny, when you flush it raises to the top and then slowly drains out instead of just flushing out like normal. It is only 1 toilet doing it, the lowest one in the house (same one that overflowed, see flooring question for more) In any case, is it the septic again or just the pipe to this one...

Hello Everyone, Happy Labor Day! I have a question regarding installing a digital thermostat to replace and old mercury style one. The main problem that I have is that there are two superfluous wires from the original thermostat labeled "B" and "O". Otherwise all of the sockets line up. Any one had experience with this kind of situation before? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks...