Recent content by maddfrog

Thanks for that thorough explanation. I haven't put a hose on it yet. It's not leaking constantly, so I'll have to experiment with it a bit more to see if I can figure out when it 'leaks'. It may be behaving as designed.

I recently replaced a frost-free faucet in the garage that was soldered in with a new Prier frost-free threaded model because the old one split over the winter because the hose wasn't disconnected. Since installing it, I've had a small leak that seems to come from behind the handle. I tried...

That's a good trick! I've always squared the hole, screwed a piece of wood behind with small gaps on the sides, and then filled the whole thing with mud - no tape. Some mud squeezes into the gaps to help hold it in place - sorta like the spaces between lathe strips. Takes a long time to try...

I originally thought it was movement somewhere, but the bead is fastened to the underlying stud with 1 1/4" drywall screws every 6 or 8 inches along both sides - nothing's moving. It's also not from drying too fast - I mudded all four beads at the same time from the same bucket, so I should...

I recently ran into a situation that I've never seen before and I was wondering if anyone else has run into it. I've been remodeling my basement playroom. As part of the project, I wrapped the center carrying beam of the house with drywall where it stuck below the existing finished ceiling...

As promised, here are my impressions after working with the peel-and-stick tape: 1. There are holes all over it, presumably to let air out, preventing bubbles. The down side is that those holes can cause your knife to chatter when doing corners, resulting in a washboard texture. I usually...

This one does at least have silver and brass screws, so I was good there. As far as the grounding goes, if I connect the ground wire to an extra screw in the box, does that actually ground the fixture if the box is non-conductive? Wasn't sure if was tongue-in-cheek or not...

That was the conclusion I reached in the second part of my last post. Thanks for confirming.

So it sounds like it doesn't really matter what I do with the ground wire in the ceiling fixture - I could just as easily cut it off. It's a plastic box, so connecting the ground to the box won't do anything. I think I'll connect it to the box just to keep things neat in there and to have...

I'm trying out some tape I just picked up at the orange box - it's self-adhesive. You peel the backing off and stick it over the seam. It has a lot of perforations to allow air to escape, preventing air bubbles. I've only done a few joints with it so far, but I like it. I've done a lot of...

I'm installing two new lights and a switch in an unfinished basement. The wires to the existing fixtures are all 14-2 with a ground wire. I purchased two plastic ceiling boxes and two simple porcelain light fixtures. When I started the wiring, two questions came up: 1. The light fixtures...

"flushable" wipes? I have a couple of small ones and my wife likes to use Kandoo 'flushable' wipes. They may be flushable, but they often slow down the toilets in our house, especially if more than one is used. It's quickly remedied with a plunger, but it's a hassle nonetheless. They have...

I painted my kitchen cabinets a couple of years ago. I sanded just enough to remove the gloss and then primed with Kilz to prevent the original stain from bleeding through the top coat. I top-coated with Sherwin Williams ProClassic latex using a brush. I was amazed at how well it leveled -...

I've heard people suggest putting the mortar in a large trash bag and then setting the tub into that to keep the mortar from sticking to the tub, presumably to make it easier to remove. Anyone ever tried that method?

I recently installed a Kohler Memoirs on an 11 1/4" rough-in and there's 1/4" to spare.