Home Improvement

Computers are everywhere these days. You could find them in many forms such as a calculator, automobile controller, TiVo, desk, laptop, Palm, oven, etc. The purpose of this article is to show you how to replace the computer board in a home oven. Not every oven is built exactly the same, so the computer board in your oven is going to vary from the one outlined here. There are two side trim pieces holding the control panel with two screws each: Some ovens have Torx screws such as this one. Keep track of each screw since they are different. You can't interchange one screw with another since they vary in length, and the threads are different. The next step is to remove the two lower screws: The next step is to remove the two rear...

Introduction: Most modern ovens which are built today use a bar which glows to ignite gas for cooking. It is synonymous to a glow plug in a diesel engine. The top burners use a spark ignition which is synonymous to a spark plug in an internal combustion engine. Now, to explain the theory behind the glow bar, there are two designs: flat & round. The bar is wired in a series circuit with the gas valve. When the bar glows, it will continue to allow more current & voltage to pass into the valve until it get to its full brightness. At this point, it will allow the valve to fully open, and transfer gas into the burner assembly. The igniter will ignite the gas, and create a flame. If this bar does not come up to its full brightness, it...

With the rising cost of electricity, it's a good idea to keep lights off when they are not in use. Some places such as attics, closets, basements, hallways, etc could run all day because somebody forgot to turn them off. Installing a simple timer will ensure that the lights can't run more than a certain period of time. The timer that is used here has a 60 minute limit: It's a basic two wire series device which is also known as a single pole, single throw or SPST. An internal spring sets the desired tension to make the knob return to the off (center) position. Before we get started, always remember to turn off the power. Have all of your supplies ready so that you don't have to waste time looking for things with the power off...

There are many different types of keyless entry locks on the market. The one being installed has five buttons in a vertical row, and has a 2-3/8" backset on the deadbolt latch. Here is a picture of what comes in the box: This is the back of the lock with two shafts protruding out: The upper shaft engages a cam mechanism to change the combination from the inside of the door after the code is entered. This is only used to change the combination. The lower one is the shaft which opens the lock from the inside of the door. It's connected to the large knob. The upper part requires a screwdriver to turn the cam to reset the code. The steel door has the hinges on the left side, and opens when you push the door. It's a prehung door...

HVAC (Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning) is generally viewed as something which is out of the reach of the everyday do it yourself handyman. Disclosure: Certain states require certification before working on such systems because the average untrained person might let freon escape into the atmosphere. With this in mind, I take no responsibility for what the reader does while repairing an A/C or refrigeration system. Old freon has to be extracted from a non functioning system, stored in a cylinder, and not let into the air. There are special tools which professionals use on a daily basis, but are out of the budget for people who only plan to use them occasionally. There are ways to improvise without taking short cuts on the way the...

Compressors on most 120 volt refrigerators, and air conditioners require a part called an overload relay in order to start. Think of it as a comparison to a starter on an old fluorescent light fixture. This part will click, then enable the circuit. The parts that are factory installed on most modern day refrigerators are not as durable as the older mechanical relays of older models once used. Symptom: You hear a loud clicking noise coming from your refrigerator about 2 or 3 times a minute. Your food is starting to defrost in the freezer, and the refrigerator doesn't seem cold. You feel cold air coming from the vents, but the compressor doesn't seem to stay on long enough to maintain a sufficient temperature. What do you do? Do you...

My bathroom is very small. It started out as a closet under a staircase. It was very difficult to find a sink which would fit in this confined area. A lot of these super small sinks are made for specialty faucets which could only be mounted in single hose sinks. The sinks, and faucets are also very costly, and not readily available. This sink is 15" wide, and 12" from its front to the back. Although I did see slightly smaller models, it wasn't worth the cost for the extra inch of space. This model is made by Crane Plumbing Products: You need the following parts to complete this task: 1. Sink. 2. Faucet & pop up assembly. 3. Teflon tape. 4. Plumber's putty. 5. Supply lines. 6. Sink hanging bracket. Some sinks such as this one...

Welcome to the Home Improvement Forum!! This is where all you Tim Allen wannabee's can ask questions and give advice on home improvment. This forum follows all of the guidelines in the forum rules section. In addition to the site rules: 1- Please use the Search function before you ask a question, if you still can't find the answer you needed then post away. This will help keep down on the clutter and make my job easier. 2- When you have a question, please be as specific as possible. Questions like "how do I fix my plumbing?" are a little tough to answer. A more appropriate question would be "how do I stop the slow leak around the base of my toilet?" 3- If you ask for an opinion, be prepared to hear things you might not like...

Since I started working on my Dodge Dart about 4 years ago, the Pumpkin lost it's home and had been stored outside. For three years the Mustang was stored outside under a cover. Since the Dart has been finished, I moved the Mustang back into the garage, but we needed more room to store vehicles so I could work on new projects in the attached garage. To fulfill our needs we're building a 30x40 garage in the backyard for storage only, not as a shop. We broke ground on the project today getting the pad cleared of all the oleanders, piles of rock, sand, etc. Now we're just waiting on the county for our permits. :thumbsup: Unfortunately, unlike Jeff, I won't be doing any of the construction on this garage as I'm woodworking challenged;) We...

Edited below First, I have to say I do not work for this company in any way, but I have just recieved some great customer sevice, for the second time, From Eemax, inc. This household water heater is the shiznit, I can't begin to express my satisfaction. For those who aren't familiar, this kind of water heater has no tank, and heats water on demand instantly. It's size will fool you, 12" x12" x3" deep. Since it heats only the water as you use it, and doesn't store (maintain) hot water, the electric savings are huge! My house is all electric, and I have noticed a 40.00 per month difference in my bill. This is after using the product for about 20 months now. I used to stay in the shower until it started getting cold, but now we NEVER run...

Here's some pictures of the work and progress with my house. It's been a long slow journey, I feel like an army of one when I need help the most. The cast iron sewer pipes are just about rotted through so that will be urgent soon.

Hi, About two years ago we decided to get a new roof put in, as the previous roof was pretty old and had several tiles broken, while it wasn’t leaking we decided to take a preventative measure and just get it done. We own a detached house with straight pitch roof towards back and front of the house, the roof is a modern dry ridge ridge roof with a membrane. About a year later, our roof started leaking around the ridge side where the chimneys were. we took some photos called the roofer and got him to come and have a look, he looked at it, sent a message a couple days later that after inspection there was nothing wrong with it. And its wasnt the roof fault. We spent a few months trying him to return our calls with no result, eventually...

I know this is off topic, so mod...please put it where it needs to go. Anyway, I re-epoxy'd my garage floor with a more expensive two-part epoxy paint...looks great! The previous floor covering was a one-part cheapo applied in the summer and in the winter my wet tires parked overnight caused the paint to pull off when I backed out the next day. In both cases I did a massive job of prepping the floor before applying the paint. So, being a bit gun shy, I'm looking for some kind of mat that I can place under each tire to contain water...keep it from getting under the tire. I've been told this new epoxy should be ok, but I'm wanting to be extra cautious. Any suggestions on what to use? Most of the auto parts stores don't seem to have...

The hardwood floor in our bedroom suffered some water damage recently so I decided to repair it. I thought I'd post up the process here for anyone else that might have to go through it. My wife, daughter and I installed the flooring in our house a couple of years ago. The flooring is Armstrong Bruce pre-finished, 3/8" thick engineered hardwood. The tools needed for the job are as follows: Circular Saw Flooring Nailer Brad Nailer Hammer Pry Bar Chisels Visegrips or Pliers Flooring repair color sticks. Miter Saw, Table Saw or Radial Arm saw Router Table Masking Tape First, here's a picture of the damage. We had a leaky humidifier that messed up a bunch of boards. I began by marking all the boards that I needed to replace. To...

I have a 580 sq ft deck that needs a stain in the worst kind of way. I'm not sure its ever been protected since it was built (2006). I wanted to do it last year after we bought the house.. but you know how that goes. Anyway, I want to get it going before its too late. So I swung by the Home Depot and got some Behr 2-in-1 Wood Prep. It removes mold, mildew, algae, and fungus. My deck isn't too close to any water or trees, so its in pretty good shape aside from UV damage. So, Home Depot only have Behr stain (well, Thompsons Water Seal but that doesn't count). Does anyone have any experience with it? My plan is to shoot it on with the airless and go behind it with a painting pad. What do I need to plan for? The can said a...

Hello all, I have a pretty typical 4 panel sectional overhead garage door. The motor pulls from the center, the spring is a torsion type, there is one track on each side, and 5 rollers on each side. Maybe 3 or so months ago the rollers started eating themselves. I didn't notice any changes in the door set up, so I replaced the rollers (standard type). Now again the #1 (not the bottom, the next one up) and the #2 rollers have been destroyed. It looks like the tracks are twisting. The puzzling thing is this door is 25-30 years old, and I have replaced rollers over the years (I have lived in this house for 7 years). The springs and operator motor have been replaced. The culprits in my mind are the tracks or the hinges themselves. How...

If your WiFi gets weak you can do this

I like milkshakes! In the late 1940's early 1950's my grandfather drove a truck by day and ran Smitty's tavern in Talmage, Nebraska at night. Between the 2 jobs he brought in 125- 130 dollars per month which made the 25.00 per month refrigerator payment easier to swallow. In those days refrigerators cost more than rent. Part of Smitty's tavern was this milkshake mixer made by Gilchrist. Going out on a limb Smitty sold more beer than milkshakes with his burgers. It was used until 1955 then stuck in storage. The cord was old cloth wrapped stuff with cracking noises inside every time you moved it so I wanted to replace it. The problem is this design. Raymond Gilchrist had a unique mechanism for sure, however when he took...

I have been looking at property in Northern Arizona lately and it got me thinking if I do go for it, I should design my own building. I have been messing around with a old drafting program (Visio) designing my ultimate man cave / shop / house. It will all fit inside a 60x80 building. I have two versions so far. I really like what I came up with for the master suite. The walls dividing the sleeping area from the changing/bathing/pooping area would not go all the way to the ceiling to keep it more open. The doors into the living space from both bedrooms would be hanging sliding doors, as big as would fit. The 2nd room would probably end up with a shower and no tub, since no one uses tubs anyways. I would also put a spa outside on...

I have owned a pool table for about 6 years now and have never had it set up in my own place. I got it when I was living in a 1 bd apt, but couldn't pass up the deal (from my step sister and her husband), so it went in the garage for a couple of years. Then my friend asked if he could use it until I had a place to put it, so of course I said, yes. It had been at his house for the last 4 years until today. New felt and new bumpers so it feels like a brand new table. Cost almost as much as I paid for the table too... Here is what the room looked like before. Here is now, with a few progress pics. The rest of the furniture moved to the next room. I still need a rug.

I have limited electrical knowledge and I’m trying to help get info for a friend. She has a stacked washer dryer unit that she wants to replace her old separate washer and dryer with. The existing dryer plug is three prong 220. The stackable has four prong. How can we tell if it would be as simple as switching the plug receptacle box to four prong? Or would need to have new wire run from the panel? Somebody told me it depends if the old wiring is single phase or three phase? Here’s the new dryer’s plug and info sticker. Can anyone tell just from this?

The wife and I need a new shower head for the master bath. Not looking to spend a fortune, but we want something nice that'll last. Requirements: -Must have a hand-held... whether it's a 'hanging' hand-held or a head with a diverter and separate hand-held, it doesn't matter... just has to have a hand-held. -Most have a relatively coarse spray available. We both tend to like a coarse spray pattern. I can't remember the last time either of us changed to a massager setting or the slow trickle spray... -Cannot be gold/brass/bronze. Nickel, brushed, chrome, silver or white work. -No fins sprays... the ones with like needle-streams of water hurt (and tickle the scalp for those of us folicularly-challenged folks) Lowes and Home...

Our current 50 gal gas water heater is about 10 years old, we know it's days are getting numbered. Hot water doesn't last as long as it use to, and it seems to take a long time for it to catch back up after the dishwasher or washing machine. Water still comes out piping hot in the morning though. So we're starting to think about it's replacement and going to a gas tankless water heater. Our home is a 2 1/2 bath home, and the water heater resides in the garage in a closet. the gas line into the house is literally on the outside wall of where the current tank is. So running a 3/4" line is easy. I also have all copper water lines in the house. what i want is to run the the dishwasher and take a long hot shower at the same time...