Comments for HandymanHowto.com

Comment on How to Repair Rotted Window Casing – Part 3 by Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:58:17 +0000

I live in the humid southeast (Atlanta, GA) area where moisture and termites are the main concerns versus the chronic fire hazards often seen in California and other western States. One should always use materials that comply with local Building Codes and that are appropriate for your particular situation.

The 2×4 corner boards on my chimney are rotted and I’m replacing those with the Azek product. The painted but untreated 2×4’s couldn’t take the heat from the asphalt shingle roof and are falling apart.

Thanks for reading,
Bob Jackson

Comment on How to Repair Rotted Window Casing – Part 3 by Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:27:59 +0000

Regarding Synthetic Brick Mould Products, in Southern California synthetic wood products are not allowed for use in outside structures like decks because of the fire danger. I would imagine that exterior moulding has the same concerns. These type of projects evidently don’t have the fire rating of the Douglas Fir #1 grade lumber that was required for my deck. Of course this doesn’t stop the local home improvement centers from stocking synthetic wood and very few people contact their local building & safety office to pull required permits. That being said, I have some exterior moulding that needs replacement around the windows inlaid in my french doors and I might consider synthetic moulding because I don’t believe it would interfere much with the fire rating of my steel french doors.

In your application I don’t think synthetic wood should be recommended in fire prone areas because once a fire burns through the synthetic moulding it would have easy access to the interior structure of your house defeating the very fire resilient stucco and cement board siding.

Comment on How to Repair Drywall Ceiling Water Damage – Part 3 by Dave Cottrell

Dave Cottrell — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:55:23 +0000

Great article! I have seen and repaired a ton of water damaged drywall! With regards to sanding, make sure you don’t over sand the repair area. As stated in the article, you want to sand to smooth the high spots. You are not trying to remove all the low spots (imperfections) at this point. Only to feather and get a generally flat surface to put the final coat on. You will see a lot of imperfections when you are done sanding, before the final coat of mud is applied. If you are sanding the area smooth before the second coat, it will be very difficult to get an overall transparent repair when you are finished.

Good luck in all your repairs!

Comment on How to Fix a Leaky Shower Drain – Part 4 by Eddie

Eddie — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:21:18 +0000

Great presentation. You saved me a expensive plumbers visit. Did the entire job for about $14. Hardest thing is finding the parts, the work was easy and quick.

Really Appreciate It!

Eddie

Comment on How to Watch Netflix Instantly on your HDTV – Part 1 by Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:53:20 +0000

> Well how about a solution for those of us with new PCs but no HDMI port? Buy a Boxee Box - coming this summer (2010) by D-Link. It streams NetFlix and more! I was tempted by the Roku NetFlix player and I think Boxee will be a real winner with its huge variety of the supported media formats. I may drop DIRECTV when I get my hands on a Boxee. My teenagers watch online content almost exclusively and my satellite TV viewing is down to maybe 3 hours per week for content I've saved on TiVo. 200+ channels of uninteresting blather for $95/month. Now if I could subscribe al a carte to the few channels that I like and skip the other junk for $30/month, that'd be a good value. > Perhaps a tutorial on how to use the ATT Uverse set top box and bring in Netflix that way?? That'd be cool, but AT&T Uverse and Verizon Fios aren't offered in my area.

Comment on How to Watch Netflix Instantly on your HDTV – Part 1 by hultsman

hultsman — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:29:03 +0000

Well how about a solution for those of us with new PCs but no HDMI port? Grrr. Perhaps a tutorial on how to use the ATT Uverse set top box and bring in Netflix that way??

Comment on How to Build a 2×4 Deck Rail on a Concrete Patio – Part 3 by Stefanie

Stefanie — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:15:19 +0000

Ok, we finished our railings this weekend. after a rough start on Friday, my husband and i pulled through and with some great advice from Bob (the original author of the above post) we ended up with a great and sturdy solution. again, here was our situation: 15x33 concrete patio that's about 30 inches off the ground. the outside of the patio is cinder blocks with one layer of bricks on top of the outer edge. we needed to put up railings to make place secure for our 1 year old son. when we started on the first side (short ends) we used anchors to secure the posts to a base and the concrete. in the store they told us to use nails for the bases, which was a mistake. each time we nailed on to the base the anchors loosened. so we changed to screws which made a huge difference. the other thing we were unaware of and nobody at the store told us either, is that the bases we used really need support from the top too. of course we don't have that, so to make the railings real sturdy we followed Bob's advice and used buttresses on the back of the 4x4 posts. you can see his drawing if you scroll up the page. that made a big difference especially on the long 33 feet run. thanks again :) Stefanie Concrete Deck: Buttress Post: Post Mounting Bracket: Finished Deck Rail: Rail Fastened to Wall with L-Bracket: Reinforcing Bottom L-Bracket:

Comment on How to Install an Ethernet Jack for a Home Network – Part 3 by Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:06:11 +0000

You don’t need an Ethernet switch like the Netgear FS108 that I used unless you need:
A) More Ethernet ports (8, 16 or 24 ports) for connected devices. Most modem/routers only have 4 available RJ-45 ports.
B) Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) for things like network cameras, etc.

You can always start with a basic modem/router combo and add an unmanaged (e.g. the FS108 like I have) or managed (if your traffic management needs warrant it) Ethernet switch. It’s very easy to grow the network, so no need to worry.

Comment on How to Install an Ethernet Jack for a Home Network – Part 3 by JAY

JAY — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:22:16 +0000

Good write-up! I have a modem/router combo unit and I hope to network my house by summer-time. I don’t have a switch but I don’t think I need one. Do you think it would work with just the modem/router unit?

Comment on How to Install an Ethernet Jack for a Home Network – Part 1 by Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:53:36 +0000

> Is there a reason you wired your own Jacks rather than just using a female/female coupler?
I wired my own jacks because it provided a standard RJ-45 wall jack data port and I’m able to make the Ethernet cable run any length to suit my needs. Had I used Ethernet patch cables with factory installed plugs, I can only buy standard lengths, e.g. 10ft, 25ft, 50ft, 100ft. Bulk cable is a cheaper way to go if you plan to do a lot of jacks.

> Is the connection more reliable when you wire your own ports?
Wiring your own Ethernet jacks is very reliable if you use quality materials (not all Ethernet cable is the same quality) and are careful in your work.

> Was it because it’s easier to fish out the bare cable?
Fishing bulk cable might be a little easier compared to fishing pre-wired Ethernet patch cable with a plug. My concern would be gumming up the plug on the patch cable when wrapped in duct tape to the fish wire. When I pull a run of bulk cable, I just cut off the last 6 inches or so that I wrapped in duct tape to the fish wire.

Thanks for reading,
Bob Jackson