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The main shutoff to the house no longer shuts the water completely off. The valve also feels spongy. Is this something I can just replace a cartridge in or replace parts, or do I need a new valve? Thanks.

Due to flickering power, we are replacing our original panel (1956-built CA house) with a new 200-amp, including new wiring up to the connection with the power company's line over the house. I am leaving this to a professional (getting 3-4 quotes) , but I need some guidance in specifying the...

Left drawer slide pulled out of the box, particle board end where it might be reattached is disfigured. You can see how the drawer slide attaches into the end with two small staples. Rather than try to rehabilitate the disfigured end of the drawer side to reattach like it was, I am thinking of...

The teeth on this (at least 30-yr-old) shower valve on both the cartridge and handle are too worn to engage so I guess I need to replace both. I can't see any identifying info on the valve body so my inexperienced guess is that I should first remove the cartridge, take it to HD or Lowe's to...

In my ungrounded, 1956-built house, this switch used to control a receptacle below and 3' to the left on the same wall. Someone previously connected the wires so the receptacle is now always on, leaving the switch unconnected. I would like to use this J-box for a Lutron DVCL-153P dimmer to...

1950s Southern California tract house with about 1200 SqFt attic. Basically, noodling on Home Depot's website, it looks like blown-in cellulose is about 1/3 the cost of fiberglass batts or rolls. But the center of the attic is decked and used for storage, so I am concerned about the dust issue...

We are contemplating a major remodel of our mostly original 1200-SF, mid-50s, So Cal tract house. I know this is a DIY forum, but I'm in my 60s with no DIY experience in some areas so some of the work will definitely be given over to professionals; "we" (my wife) are even open to the idea of...

Looking at a major/total remodel of our 1200-SF mid-50s L.A. area home. Way past a weekend DIY project; we will have to have most of the work done professionally. We have buttonboard interior walls and stucco exterior. Walls are beat up, patched, etc. enough that I would like the walls to...

This is a follow-up to my earlier post where a jar lid fell down into the lint trap housing and was hitting the blower motor blades. I removed the lid and cleaned out all the lint I could from everywhere and the next load I did, the dryer (on Auto Dry) stopped before the cycle was finished...

This happened suddenly, put a load in and started it up and it sounds like a Model T. It doesn't shake or vibrate excessively, just a loud rattling noise. My son cleaned the lint trap before starting and the top of the dryer gets a lot of junk stacked on it so it is not impossible that...

Google tells me a 100W incandescent bulb puts out about 1600 Lumens, but LED downlights that say they are "100W-equivalent" typically say they are 850-1100 Lumens. If I wanted to switch from 200W (3200 assumed Lumens) incandescent lighting to LED downlights, do I buy two "100W-equivalent"...

I have an original switched outlet in my 1950s house. No ground, just wired with black and white wires in a sort of paper sheath. In the switch box the neutral into the box providing the power and the neutral from the box going to the outlet are connected with a wire nut and the hot wires are...

This has been in the house at least 25 years. When you turn the handle, it "slips," meaning the handle will turn but not necessarily turn the water on or off. The feeling is like when you have a geared mechanism with worn gears that don't always engage. You have to push the handle in really...

I have a typical mid-50s CA tract house, 1162-SqFT, 3-bed/2-bath. Been here 25 years and I just mapped the electric circuits and some of it seemed odd to me. The breaker box has four 15a breakers and four 20a breakers; I hope and assume that the circuits all have the appropriate wiring for...

I will have a lot of questions and few answers, and I appreciate being able to get guidance and advice from those who know.