David L. Farquhar, computer security professional, train hobbyist, and landlord
The other night I heard a boom. It turned out a picture we’d hung with 3M Command strips fell. I’d rather that not happen to you, so in this blog post, I’ll cover how much weight Command strips can hold.
How much weight Command strips can hold varies depending on their size, and there’s more that goes into it than just weight. But they hold a maximum of 16 pounds in the case of the large version, with smaller versions holding considerably less.
Purple Power is an extremely versatile and effective cleaner. But is Purple Power safe on paint? That’s not exactly a yes or no answer. In this blog post, I’ll talk about the caveats of using Purple Power on paint.
It’s annoying when you push the button on your garage door opener to close it, and the door comes down a bit, seems to change its mind, and then the garage door goes back up on its own. There’s a workaround for this and there is also a fix. Fortunately this is usually something you can fix yourself.
Your garage door goes back up on its own because its sensors can’t see each other. Holding down the opener’s button usually overrides this, and for a permanent fix, make sure the sensors near the door are aligned and clear of debris.
When you go to a big box store to buy lumber, some lumber, often sold as appearance boards, has square edges. But construction lumber like 2x4s, also known as dimensional number, has rounded edges. In this blog post, we’ll explore why dimensional lumber has rounded edges.
Rounded edges on dimensional lumber, such as 2x4s, make it easier to process, handle, and deliver the lumber without damaging it during production and shipping. It also makes it less likely to damage drywall when using it for framing.
Can a light switch go bad? The answer surprises some people, but yes, being an electromechanical device, there are parts in a light switch that can wear out or become oxidized over time and eventually stop making good electrical contact. In this blog post, I’ll explain how to tell if your light switch is going bad and if it’s time to replace it.
Wiring conventional outlets and switches is usually pretty easy. As long as you match up the colors and match the right colored wires to the right colored pairs of screw terminals, everything just works. But with ground-fault circuit-interrupter (GFCI) or arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) outlets and occupancy detector switches, there’s an indicator for line and load. And if you mix up the line and load, nothing works. In this blog post, I’ll cover the difference between line vs load when wiring and how to find which is which in your electrical box.
In electrical wiring, the line is the upstream voltage from the source. The load is the downstream voltage to devices further along the circuit.
If you are in the market for a replacement garbage disposal, the unpretentious, unglamorous Ace Hardware garbage disposals deserve your consideration. That’s because they are InSinkErator garbage disposals in disguise.
What are tamper-resistant outlets? Tamper-resistant outlets are a special electrical outlet, sold in North America, designed to prevent injury or death from toddlers or children inserting a foreign metal object into the outlet and causing electrical shock or electrocution. They have an embossed “TR” to distinguish them from earlier types of outlets. You can buy tamper resistant versions of various types of outlets, including standard duplex outlets, and ground fault circuit interrupter outlets (GFCIs).
Milwaukee is a popular brand of power tools, often used by professionals and one of the biggest rivals of DeWalt. Meanwhile, Lowe’s is the second largest home improvement store chain in North America. It would be natural to expect Lowe’s to carry Milwaukee tools. But the relationship between Lowe’s and Milwaukee is complicated.
Lowe’s sells a brand of cart and dolly called Milwaukee that has no connection to Milwaukee power tools. Lowe’s hasn’t sold Milwaukee power tools since 2007, and Milwaukee’s parent company’s relationship with Home Depot makes it unlikely that situation will change any time soon.
Where to buy steel wool isn’t a difficult question. It’s clear from the Google search results that any hardware store, home improvement store, and even one of the large discount store chains carries steel wool. But finding it in those huge 100,000-square-foot stores is another matter. I’ve even heard people lament that nobody seems to sell plain steel wool anymore, that all they can find are SOS pads that have a cleaner embedded in them. In this blog post, I’ll reveal the secret of where to find steel wool in big box stores.
You can still find plain steel wool today, but the trick is to not look in the cleaning section. It’s usually in the part of the store that sells paint, wood stain, and/or sandpaper.