Question 1

Burning old deck boards in woodstove?

Accepted Answer

I have a fairly large pile of redwood boards left over from our old decks. There are a few pieces I may plane down to recycle into something usable, but most of it is just short bits and pieces.It would all make great firewood for our woodstove, but I'm concerned about burning lumber that has had a few coats of deck stain applied over the years. The majority of the stain has weathered away, but I don't want to cause any problems in our woodstove or chimney.Would these boards be safe to burn in my woodstove?Thanks,Anthony

Question 2

prehung door question

Accepted Answer

I 've attempted to install a 48" x 80" double prehung door (made by Masonite, from Home Depot) into a pre-framed entry way in my house, and it's turned out to not be as easy as I thought.  When I bought the house, the door way was simply finished with dry wall.  I started by pulling off the dry wall from the inside, to expose the 2x4's all around the inside of the door way.  After pulling off the dry wall, the exact width of the doorway is 48".  I figured since it was 48", then I needed a 48" x 80" prehung door, which they sold at HD.  Little did I realize, that 48" was the interior measurement of the prehung door frame and that the width from stud to study would need to be an inch or two more.  What's the right way to proceed on this?  Should I even think about trying to pull out one of the 2x4s on one of the sides to give me an extra 1.5" - 2" or so?  Is there another size of a prehung doors that would better fit my dimensions?  Or do I just need to hire a carpenter to build a custom...

Question 3

Approx Weight of treated 4 x 6  ??

Accepted Answer

Anyone have any idea of the approximate weight of a pressure-treated  4 x 6timber,   8 ft long ?These are treated at  .40  rating.   I assume they are made of yellow pine??   I know the weight would vary by how long the posts have been outside,asorbing air moisture, etc etc, but I am looking for an approximation, basedon posts that are   3 -4  months aged.Thanks for any info  !!--james--

Question 4

Paint, Is there a big difference?

Accepted Answer

[AD  Moore[/AD], [AD   Moore[/AD], Sherman William, Glidden, Berr, Etc...In Painting the Exterior of a house, is there really that big of a Difference in the Paint itself, or are we just talking colors or?I was recommended some Benjamin Moore paint and for this project I need to cut some costs. Will Glidden or Home Depot Paint work just as well?Thanks,   Scott

Question 5

Old Behr Deck Stain Usable?

Accepted Answer

"gmark" wrote |I have a few 5-gallon cans of Behr Waterproof Deck Stain -- no. 300, clean  up with water, natural color -- that have been stored in a garage for  several years.  Are they still usable?  They've never been opened. |  You can open the Behr cans and see if they can be stirred OK. If so then they should be fine to use. It's only when they gel that they're lost.   For what it's worth, some info about deck stains might be useful. I build and stain decks regularly and find the current market very frustrating. In the switch from oil to water we just don't have good products for most things. Though if you already have an acrylic stain on your deck then you're probably stuck with it, unless you replace the wood or sand the deck.    I wouldn't touch anything Behr, simply because it's Home Depot and quality is not their top priority. To be honest, I've never actually tried anything but a gallon of their wall paint, once.    Generally I'd avoid any paint HD carries. Even reputable...

Question 6

How do  you kill weeds in cement cracks?

Accepted Answer

The sidewalk in front of my house butts up against the cement curb.  There's a long crack between the two. Weeds grow out of it. I've tried weed killer. I've tried the ground clear stuff that is supposed to kill everything and prevent regrowth. I'm not just spraying 'em, I'm pouring the concentrated stuff down the crack. But still the weeds keep coming. How do I make it stop?

Question 7

Heat Pump noise and Neighbor

Accepted Answer

I am having some major problems with my heat pump.  Long story shortwe had oil wanted gas, wasn't available on our side of the street, wehad no heat due to broken oil furnace, the dealer told me about a heatpump, but never explained to me what it was.. and being an idiot, Ididn't ask the right questions... I had no idea this would iclude ahuge piece of machinery outside.  The installed it right under ourbedroom window, and about 7 feet away from neighbor's bedroom window.Neighbor has MAJOR issues with this... we are trying to be a goodneighbor without going into debt over it.  We have a Trane XL15i,which is suppose to be pretty quiet, but we live in older homes so thesound is noticeable.... We just put up a fence to the cost of 750, andthis has been no help to her!!!Any suggestions as to what our options are to reduce noise????Thank you!!!!

Question 8

6 x 1 or 5 x1 sawn timber as decking boards?

Accepted Answer

Would there be any significant problems in using 6 or 5 x1 rough sawntimber for decking boards?It would be treated, and joists spaced as appropriate.The surface would then be sanded smooth.I cant seem to find any local suppliers of 'proper' deck  boards whichare smooth sided (at a reasonable price) , and I have some rough sawntimber available.Splitting may be a problem, but I'm not sure how much of  one it wouldbe.dg

Question 9

price of propane

Accepted Answer

How come Amazon is charging $38 for 3 14-ounce cans of propane  one else is much cheaper, exceptWalmart is charging $3.58, less than 1/3rd the price, even though buyinga smaller quantityHome Depot dosn't even list 14-ounce cans!  And I think Lowe's doesn'teither.

Question 10

Oil tank questions

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We have a small (1200 lt) oil tank (no gas here). Being that small means thatwe often run out in winter or when the price is high for some other reason.Luckily I was able to avoid the price rise in September as well as the morerecent one, because of luck when getting a refill.So I'm looking at either adding a second tank of the same size or replacingwith a 2400 lt tank. Adding a second might be easier, so I have somequestions, if anyone knows.1) Is it legal to have more than one tank?2) I had a sense there is a limit to the amount one can store in a domesticsetup with tank above ground. Is this so? 2500 lt came to mind.3) If I can have two tanks, are there any regs about how to wire themtogether? I'd imagined just taking the feed from each into a Y-junction andsending that towards the boiler.

Question 11

Connecting the new light switch

Accepted Answer

This is a single switch for a single ceiling light, so just one cable of two wires and an earth goes in the back. The old switch has 3 terminals 1, 2 and Common. The new switch has 4 terminals L&N Out, L&N In.Where do I put the wires in the new switch?TW

Question 12

USB outlets, phone chargers and vampire appliances

Accepted Answer

I saw a thing in the guardian about wasted power from appliances on standby.  It said that a phone charger left plugged in is still drawing a little power because it's a transformer. Obv the amount is tiny because the thing isn't getting hot even but I have 10 or 20 USB sockets around the house, ordinary twin plug wall sockets plus the usbs. Have they got transformers in them? they must have, bu they aren't very big or warm even. Are they wasting power and money day and night? If not, why not?Round the study here there are half a dozen transformers plugged in and some seem warm, some stone cold. Why is that?phone, modem, printer, laptop, laptop, monitor, phone charger for instance.

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