Comments for Remodel Blog

Comment on Troubleshooting PLS 2 Palm Laser Level by Scooter

Scooter — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 04:11:10 +0000

very helpful CVAN. how disappointing to have a level malfunctioning. we took it apart and found the very same problem. My PLS 2 was probably the same vintage as yours. Now operating again! Woohoo and cheers!

Comment on Electrical Receptacle Tester & Code Updates by Kees

Kees — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 05:10:08 +0000

Hi Dorian — Thanks for writing. Unfortunately I am not able to answer your questions. There may be several reasons for the problems you are experiencing. I recommend hiring a qualified electrician to help answer your questions. As to whether or not the replace that GFI, you could always try it. If it doesn’t help you can just return the unit you purchased. Good luck!

Comment on Electrical Receptacle Tester & Code Updates by Dorian Brown

Dorian Brown — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 21:29:25 +0000

Greetings. With hope you are into answering questions from them that know not what they do…
a nonresponsive CFCI receptacle (no power, and the test/reset system has no effect) on one of my house’s circuits shows a reading of “correct” on my tester (like your yellow one, but with the test button). However, 2 normal and one more GFCI receptacles downstream of said GFCI rec give the reading “hot/reversed grnd”, and those downstream recs also cannot power even a light bulb, though I did see a tiny flash a couple times when plugged into various of the downstreamers. Said GFCI rec appears pretty old; certainly has been there since before we moved in over 10 years ago. Over a year ago I had to replace one of the downstream recs for the same outage problem {excepting said GFCI, which then was functioning fine). My suspicion is that I can fix this by replacing said GFCI receptacle. Does that sound correct to you?

Comment on ‘Catch A Contractor’ — Is It Worth Watching? by Mark

Mark — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 02:49:12 +0000

Corolla is a former construction worker-he was never a contractor! Skip is licensed in NY, not CA! Both misrepresentations of who they actuallyy are, oh yeah, Skips wife is licensed in NY, not here!

Comment on Hitachi C10FCE2 Compound Miter Saw – One Small Design Flaw, Easy To Fix by Luigi Fulk

Luigi Fulk — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 03:13:06 +0000

Nice share, I’m really appreciate your post. Thanks.

Comment on Troubleshooting PLS 2 Palm Laser Level by Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:26:12 +0000

Thank you for sharing all these details.

Comment on Structural Crack Monitor by Greg Lowitz

Greg Lowitz — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 19:14:11 +0000

Kees,

Just saw your question. Yes – something we’re actively exploring. Cost of sensors that work reliably across temperature and outdoors (in rain, snow, etc), and battery life (or power availability) are a big factor for long-term wireless monitoring. There are many tradeoffs to ensure accuracy. For example, you don’t want it to appear that the crack moved 0.5mm just because the temperature or humidity changed (unless the crack really moved). This is just one example but there are many other challenges to overcome that balance cost, accuracy, wireless range, complexity, and so forth.

Comment on Ready For Winter? 10 Home Maintenance Tips! by Gutter Cleaning Adelaide

Gutter Cleaning Adelaide — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 11:30:28 +0000

Gutter cleaning is one of the most important tasks outside of the home. Often a lot of water damage can be caused if the guttering is not regularly cleaned.

Comment on Structural Crack Monitor by Kees

Kees — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 03:29:40 +0000

Hi Greg —
Cool to read about enhanced CRACKMON features. Besides more robust construction and installation features, geotagging and serial numbers are of interest. Taking that a step further, how about making these devices Wi-Fi enabled? Even if the cost doubled or tripled, it would still be cheaper than sending an engineer for a site visit. I would love nothing better than to be able to visit CRACKMONs online, and update clients on what is happening. Viable?

Comment on How To Build A Second Story Deck With Tube Steel Posts by Kees

Kees — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 02:51:15 +0000

Hey Greg —
Thanks for sharing info on the Concrete Show and fiber-reinforced rebar substitute. I wonder how GFRP will perform in real-life seismic activity. The issue of different shrinkage/expansion rates of dissimilar products has been haunting construction for time immemorial, and it has been fueling construction defect lawsuits for a long time. Hopefully engineers will eventually agree on a solution that is acceptable across the industry.

As to rebar coatings, the color I keep seeing on CalTrans projects is purple. As I am sure you know, color as been used as an indicator of many traits, not all of them obvious. Just for fun, I will contact CalTrans and find out what that color denotes, and I will share that here.

Stainless steel rebar? Awesome! Most of our projects are with well-heeled clients, but thus far I have not seen an engineer courageous enough to spec stainless steel. If I ever meet one, I will be sure to send you photos!

Thanks, too, for the link to the article. Very informative!