Home Repair Clinic

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All advice offered free of charge, and hopefully worth more than the price paid!

Welcome!

~Jim

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Then the Home Repair Clinic wants YOU! Please join in, offer your experience and wisdom, and promote your How To articles at Helium and elsewhere.

Leave a message right here to introduce yourself.

I'm Jim, nice to meet you!

Please post your Plumbing questions to this thread.

Thanks!

~Jim

Please post your Electrical questions to this thread.

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~Jim

Please post your Carpentry questions to this thread.

Thanks!

~Jim

I lay or repair ceramic tile for kitchens and bathrooms every week. I'd be happy to answer your questions, or find you an answer if you can stump me. Please add your questions about ceramic tile right here.

~Jim

New to Helium, about 6 months or so, see my bio. Chuck Harding.  I'm a retired remodeling contractor.  I'll help if I can.  Let me know.

Hi,

I just purchased a generator (5500 watt).  I would like it wired into my home wiring. I want to be safe, so I have looked at transfer switches but they are pricey.  Some switches I have researched look simple and I like to build things.  Can you suggest a plan; I have looked online and can't find a do-it-yourself plan?  I have looked at a Reliance Transfer Switch Item #: 100020 sold by Northern Tool. It looks like two breakers mounted back to back with a common link between the two that insures that when one is on the other is off. It appears to me that current from the generator or utility (depending on which is being used) are being back fed through the breaker to power a panel of designated circuits that is separate from the main panel, is it safe to back feed through a breaker or are these special breakers? Any information you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm sending out a request for some assistance here. I know the store-bought transfer switches are pricey, but haven't a clue about building your own.

It's Christmas Eve, so grabbing a helpful reply for you here may be tricky. I'll do the best I can.

Merry Christmas!

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio

Also, learn more about ceramic tile here:

http://www.helium.com/zone/923-diy-ceramic-tile-floors-walls

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio

Months later: I've sent you a fresh message, Chuck, thanks.

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio

Hi Mike,

Sorry to keep you waiting. I've consulted with an expert from among our Helium membership and received a long, emphatic response from him. Several paragraphs, in fact. I'll condense that response here:

"Don't do it."

Unless you're an electrical engineer, highly experienced electrician, or have one of those to advise you. This is a dangerous, mandatory-inspection task. Get it wrong and suffer potentially thousands of dollars in damage, injury, even death.

It's not worth the risk and the few dollars saved up front. Buy the right switch from a reputable supplier. Please.

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio

I found you! I think I am really going to enjoy this! My "help" may be more from how not to than how to though. :) I can tell you I learned not to cut drywall with a circular saw. Strange thing but then you have to clear the area for several hours due to a very thick white cloud.......

A lesson well learned, Barbara!

I still remember most of the mistakes I made when I first worked with drywall -- and I cringe.

:-)

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio

Hi Barbara,

Yes, cutting drywall with a circular saw would be a bit of overkill  :)  The good thing is - lessons learned the hard way are not soon forgotten. Id be happy to offer some tips for your next project. Please feel free to ask any questions!

I have to say that I can across an article while rating - it recommended cutting drywall with a sawzall. I did not know whether to laugh or cry but it did not get my "happy" vote. :)

A sawz-all, Barbara?!

I'm fine with the use of jigsaw or holesaw for fixture cut-outs, but a sawz-all?? Nyet!

And always use SHARP utility knife blades when scoring, cutting. Also learned that one the hard way...

Tina, great to see you!

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio    A tasty mixture

Mansions Zone - Drool-worthy!

How-To Zones - Shocking!

Sawzall?? Now that's funny!

Jim, I have to ask... when you learned the hard way about only using sharp blades, did you screw up the cut, your hand, or both? :)

Thanks! Good to see you too!

Dull blades wander, Tina.

They also make nasty little ragged cuts in both drywall and skin. That would be "both," I guess.

A long, long time ago - when I had won a contract to remodel my employer's newly-acquired sporting good store - I'm pretty sure I cut sheets of drywall by passing them thru a table saw. This would have been in the early 80's, so the memory is foggy; but if I did, can you imagine the mess I must have made??

Man...

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio    A tasty mixture

Mansions Zone - Drool-worthy!

How-To Zones - Shocking!

Your memory is not foggy, the air was......

I have a confession of my own, Jim. When I met my husband in 1980, I thought drywall was something you did to a damp basement wall  :)

Good one, Tina!

And then there's ...

• Rock Lath
• Sheetrock
• Plaster board
• Wallboard

Can't they make up their minds?

The first time I used drywall for a small project, I picked up a 4 x 8 sheet and promptly broke it. I had no idea how flimsy the stuff was. The delivery guy just laughed. "Never used drywall before, have you?"

Nope, I was a carpenter back then. Boy, was I embarrassed. Notice how clearly I still remember that incident?   :-)

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio    A tasty mixture

Mansions Zone - Drool-worthy!

How-To Zones - Shocking!

The time I used the circular saw to cut the drywall was when I was finishing my basement years ago. I took on the project all by myself and it was a learning experience....... There was a nice gentleman, master of all trades, where I was working at the time. When I told him I had completed the project he asked me, "Did you screw it up?"

I replied that I probably had but it was not intentional.

He then said, "NO, did you use screws to hang it?"

As a matter of fact I did but I was laughing to hard to reply.....

LMAO, Barbara!

That reminds me of an old joke ...

Um, wait, I can't tell that joke here.   :-)

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio    A tasty mixture

Mansions Zone - Drool-worthy!

How-To Zones - Shocking!

Just imagine my years as an electrician. On the hunt for some self-tapping screws to mount something. Area full of all male workers and one asks, "what are you looking for?"

Without thinking I reply, "I need a screw".

Need I say more?

...cleaning up the coffee I spewed onto my laptop's monitor...

:-)

~Jim Bessey  -  steward for Home & Garden

   My Portfolio    A tasty mixture

Mansions Zone - Drool-worthy!

How-To Zones - Shocking!

Just remember I told you I had many funny stories to tell.