IIRC, my living room transitions from just over 7' at the front/back walls to maybe 8.5 feet in the center

Thanks! I raised the opening height and width, and made the 'window' part of the opening. Looks a lot better (besides just getting rid of the paneling) We had to buy 2 cars in the past few months which really put a halt on buying materials for a while, but I think we're getting back on track now. Th...

I haven't posted any updates lately but I've been busy. At this point, all of the kitchen walls were gutted, reframed to be 16" OC and new drywall was put up. When we started this project months ago, I bought some mold-resistant drywall that was going to go in the master bathroom but we ended u...

it looks like it would lift right up out of that track. It's possible whoever installed the mirror put some type of sealant or adhesive in the track before dropping the mirror into it. With the top hardware removed, try to lift just the top left or right corner straight up .. almost like rocking it ...

I think maybe it's because the bathroom is small and a single door would be too big if it swung into the bathroom? I had a single door in the master bath, and it would hit the toilet when opened. A few quick ideas would be to replace the door with a curtain, or maybe an accordion style door. I'm rem...

Is back stabbing outlets bad? When I changed mine, there were a few that were done that way. When I installed the new ones, I back stabbed them the same way. It was mainly when outlets were daisy chained together.

I think we just like to err on the 'safe' side The last thing anyone wants is to suggest something that is potentially hazardous.

This is from a post on another forum from 2006, but: The National Electrical Code, in article 210.21 (B) 1, 2, and 3, describes the requirements of single and multiple receptacles on a circuit. The use of multiple 15 amp receptacles on a 20 amp circuit is permitted. A duplex receptacle is considered...

will those 2x3's have sufficient strength to handle remodeling that includes add-ons to the exterior walls? What type of add-ons did you have in mind? I mounted a 54" LCD TV to an interior 2x3 wall that I reinforced by adding additional 2x3's so they'd be 16" OC. Seemed pretty solid to me.

getting it out is the easy part .. you could just cut the shower pan into pieces with a sawzall (assuming it's fiberglass or something) and remove it piece by piece, pulling the overlapping wall away just enough to unscrew or remove the nails holding the shower pan in place. Assuming the shower pan ...

Ugh I'm so dumb sometimes. I read the post, but for some reason I was thinking "dimmers" instead of "timers" because I too was curious why they don't recommend halogen bulbs. Maybe it's because they give off heat and can be a potential fire hazard? You might not want heat-generat...

One of these works:



Is there an existing lock on the outside?

found this on the internets regarding dimmers and halogen bulbs: The halogen lamp is designed to prevent the tungsten from depositing on the inside of the bulb wall and darkening it. Because the halogen action stops working when the bulb wall temperature falls below 260 degrees Centigrade, which may...

If the deadbolt just doesn't fit into the strike plate, just run up to Home Depot and look for a 'universal' strike plate. Something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Prime-Line-B ... jhOWtK-ozI

Plus electricity is scary to me. I hear ya .. when I first moved in, I would go outside and turn off the main power going to the house before doing anything electrical. I've gotten more brave since then, and now I just shut off the main switch in the breaker box. Even then, I still test an outlet b...