Question:

I have seen our lights flicker, sometimes staying out for three seconds and then they come back on. My husband checked the circuits in the basement and all is well. What could be the problem? I should mention, that our neighbors’ lights have been fine, so it’s definitely internal. At times all the lights go out throughout the house and sometimes they do not.

Answer:

Of all the symptoms that an electrical system can have, groups of lights that flicker is, in my opinion, the scariest. I suspect that you are getting some arcing somewhere. Arcing occurs when wire connections are close to each other, but not fully touching. The electric current jumps the gap, like lightning, and creates some heat. This heat could be minor, or it could be a serious problem, depending on how much current is jumping across the gap, and how wide the gap is.

This is not the same as a short circuit, although both can give off sparks. A short circuit occurs when the hot wire touches the neutral or ground wire, and normally the circuit breaker or fuse will trip, shutting off the power.

Arcing can occur for hours, days, weeks, even years, and it will never trip a conventional circuit breaker. 

Arcing can cause enough heat buildup to start a fire. I don’t want to alarm you, but this could be serious.

Anyway, I would strongly recommend that you call an electrician at the earliest possible opportunity. I suspect that a wire has come loose somewhere, and troubleshooting is not something I can explain in an article. But you can try shutting off various circuits to see if the flickering can be narrowed down to a certain area. Many newer houses have all of their lights on one or two circuits, so it’s possible that the problem is limited to a lighting circuit. I strongly suggest you turn off all lights at night (most people do anyway) and perhaps even the water heater if it’s electric. Turn off the refrigerator at night if its lights are flickering. And make sure you have working smoke alarms. I’d put a battery-powered smoke alarm near the breaker panel, for now, just in case.

Please have this problem examined by a knowledgeable person as soon as possible.

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 In a few month from now, summer will be here and you know what that means - the heat! The best way to save energy and keep your home cool is to install ceiling fans. Ceiling fan performance and energy savings rely heavily on the proper installation and use of the ceiling fan. Here are a few tips to ensure quality and product performance.

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Posted under Simple Home Maintenance

I was thinking about what I should write for the month of February, and I remembered that Valentine’s Day was coming. I thought about when I worked in the construction field and how the men would discuss if only their wives or girlfriends would give them gifts that would reflex their perfect Valentine’s Day.

Posted under Simple Home Maintenance

Posted under Simple Home Maintenance

Laminate flooring costs vary according to the type and amount of laminate that you buy. When you want to find out how much it will cost you to install laminate on one room or your home or the whole house, you have to make up the square footage of the area.

Some of the factors that will affect the cost of laminate flooring include the type of flooring that you buy. Laminate flooring sold in narrow planks of varying sizes comes in 8 mil, 10 mil and 12 mil levels of thickness. Of these the 8 mil laminate is the cheapest. You have to weigh the costs of each of these and get an estimate from the retailer for the total cost of the square footage you want. To find the square footage of the room you are thinking of laminating, use a 25′ tape measurer  and measure the longest length and then measure the shortest length. Multiply (long length x short length). Now add 10% (this allows for breakage and having to cut pieces to fit in various places, so you do need to have extra) to that total and this will give you the total square footage. 

There is also a commercial laminate flooring available, which is the most expensive. This flooring looks almost like hardwood with the joins and beveled edges on the planks. Unlike the regular planks for laminate flooring which are all the same size, each package of this floor contains a selection of three sizes of planks - 16 inch, 32 inch and 48 inch lengths.

In order to install laminate flooring of any kind, you need to have foam insulation on the subfloor. This comes in large rolls and although it is not expensive, it does add to the overall cost.

Another factor to consider is the warranty you get with the flooring. The longer the warranty, the more costly the floor will be. Most manufacturers will not honor the warranty if you install it in areas of high humidity, such as the bathroom, the kitchen or the laundry room.

You also have to consider whether you will do the installation yourself or if you will hire a professional to do it. If you do decide on professional installation, this will increase the cost of your flooring. Laminate flooring can cost .89 cent up to $6.00 per square foot. So whatever flooring you choose, multipy the total square footage by the price per square foot.

——

Marie Portis

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 If you are talking about ceramic re-tiling, you first have to take up the existing tiles, because you can’t tile over the old tiles. They won’t support additional tile and will continue to crack, leaving your new tiles looking bad.

Next, you must smooth out the remaining grout so that the surface is smooth. Make sure you get out as much of the dust and debris as possible to get a firm stick with the next thing you put down.

Then, you need to lay 1/2 inch plyboard or cement board. You can use 1/4 inch, but the grout is MUCH more likely to crack, because older houses can settle.

Once you’ve laid-in the plyboard, you need to check the footboards underneath the counters, because they might have to be adjusted with the new floor height you will have. After that, you need a good sealant around the footboards in order to avoid water damage should some spill or you get a leak.

Now, take the tile you’ve chosen and the size spacers you need, if applicable. Don’t buy self-mix grout. Just buy it at the store and apply it with a dental trowel at about a 45 degree angle. It should be about 1/8 of an inch thick, at least, maybe a little more. You want it thick, but not so thick that it will crack while securing the spacers to guide you.

Butter the backs of the tile pieces lightly and start putting them down one at a time with. Start at a center point on the kitchen floor, preferably underneath the opposite wall where you enter the kitchen. This will give it a nice, uniform look, while hiding any partial tiles that you needed to cut to size under cabinets.

For ceramic tiles you will need to invest about $90.00 for a wetsaw that cuts tile. You will need it! You will also need a bucket of warm water and a cloth, because you cannot let the grout create a haze on the tiles. It is impossible to take off once it dries and it will look like a rank amateur did the work. Wipe clean as you go but don’t allow puddles to form in the grout.

Allow at least 24 hours to cure. You are done!

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This is the new motion sensor light switch that I purchased. My current connections:	This is the wiring for the new motion sensor switch.
Switch Connection #1	Switch Connection #2

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I have been a single woman for several years now, and I have found good ways to get work done around the house, without spending a lot of money. The best suggestion that I can give any single woman is to pray before you start any project around the house, because God will give you inside information that you will never think of or imagine.
 

Once I needed my air conditioning changed. So I started getting bids from companies in the $2000 plus range, but my budget only allowed for $900.00. After praying, I felt in my spirit that all I needed was someone take out the old unit and install the new unit. First, I began searching the web to look for someone just to do what I really needed. I came across this website called Service Magic (www.servicemagic.com)  to search for a plumber or heat/air condition company. After filling out their online form, in the note area I put in my search request that I only was looking for someone to take out the old unit and install a new unit. Service Magic sent me a list of contractors in my area to choose from. I enjoyed the rating system they offered, which allowed you some insight into the company or handyman you were trying to choose.
 

Secondly, I looked in the phone book for heating/air conditioning supply stores and asked them a lot of questions concerning the type of air conditioning unit I currently had and asked for advice on what was new on the market that would benefit my situation. I explained that I was looking for a air conditioning unit that would fit the square footage of my house. I was told that my house only needed a 3 ton unit. At that point, I called around for the best price I could find for that size unit. I found a supply store in Homewood, IL that would deliver the unit to my home for free. The unit only cost me $550.00. I called and set-up an appointment for the plumber to come out the same day the unit was being delivered to my house. The plumbers fee was $200.00, which was to take out the old unit and install the new one. I saved $50.00 on my budget cost because since I was an electrician, I was able to wire up the unit myself.  However in a single woman’s case, she could find an electrician the same way she would find the plumber.

Now that home improvement is a booming business, there are handyman sites online that you can use to request help with one aspect of a project. Also, Home Depot and Menards has a section in their “Contractor” department where they allow local companies and handymen (and women) to leave their business card for contracting their services. There are many ways to save money, but the biggest way to save is to look to your Savior.

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The best definition for a load-bearing wall in layman’s terms is a wall that holds your building structure together. The best way to check which walls are free from holding your building structure and a wall that is load-bearing is to go in your basement and look at the direction your 1st sub floor ceiling beams are going. For example, if the beams are facing the front of your house, any wall going in the opposite direction is NOT load-bearing, but any wall going in the same direction IS a load-bearing wall. If you are considering a wall on the second floor of your house, check your attic beams and follow the same principle to determine which walls can be removed.

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