?

I'm occasionally waking up at night to a few ker-Thump feelings in my chest. If I do anything, even roll over, they stop so I can't get a stethoscope and listen. If they're PVCs it would make sense that a slight increase in heart rate would stop them. I ask about the blood pressure because I can actually hear an increase in blood pressure thanks to ear surgery a while back. With every ker-Thump beat I hear a difference in BP.

Its all new-ish wiring. There's never been any problems with the breaker tripping. One of the lights is wired to a 3-way switch, the other is just a bedroom light with a single switch. The CFL bulbs give off a brief dim flash every five seconds or so. It seems like the only possible problem could be a bad switch but crazy unlikely that two switches would be faulty in the exact same way. Any ideas?

I'm working on a project for my church where I need to reshape and refinish a couple of pew ends. Its pretty important to me to match the color and character of the finish to the rest of the pews.

I've already matched the color using stain on a test piece but it doesn't look right. The walnut stain darkens the red oak grain far more than the rest of the wood, completely out of character with the rest of the pews, which have a very even color.

I don't know what all was applied over the years to the other pews, but they started out with something like a golden oak stain and then someone darkened them. I think to match the character I need to use a pigmented finish as opposed to stain and clear finish. Any ideas on either what was used to darken the pews or what I could use to finish them to match the very even walnut tone?

something must have started leaking really bad while i was driving. i noticed the truck starting to rev up like it had a slipping clutch even though it's an automatic. I limped it home only to find that it was about 2.5 quarts low on transmission fluid. (apparently it holds a total of about 3 quarts) It doesn't leak when parked but it must pour out pretty well when i'm driving. The only drip marks i've found anywhere was the one track of them from when i pulled into the driveway this last time so the entire problem only spans the last 50 miles i've driven.

I'm taking it to a good transmission shop on Monday but i'm really worried about how much damage there might be. I'm looking for thoughts on what part might be leaking only when driving as well as any educated guesses on what sort of damage the transmission sustained after the fluid dumped out.

the truck is only at 100k miles but has a few other problems. if this is leading to me needing a new transmission i'll probably have to consider getting rid of it.. money is pretty tight right now.

I've got a bathroom with a very uneven old subfloor. Its 3/4" by 6" boards, about 100 years old and cupped. There has also been rough patching done in various spots. The floor is about 8' x 8' give or take. removing/replacing the subfloor would be a giant PITA and I'm looking for a better solution.

I'd like to glue down 3/8" subfloor plywood to level and strengthen it. I'm thinking about applying subfloor adhesive with a notched trowel and pressing the new panels into it, then screwing it in place.

I'm not concerned about someone wanting to re-do the space in 20 years and cursing my name for using glue. I AM concerned about exactly half of the internet saying you shouldn't glue anything to subfloors because of expansion. I'm also concerned that the glue wouldn't do an adequate job supporting the voids over time.

Another option I'm looking into is leveling the floor with thinset or something similar, then screwing on the new panels for dimensional stability. My gut says glue would add a lot more strength though.

thoughts?

I have a double box next to the front door in the entryway of my house. I'm installing one switch for the front porch and one switch for the interior room. Is there a standard for which switch goes closest to the door and which switch is further away? I know it will work both ways, just wondering if one way is more correct than the other way. I'm in the US btw.

I'm looking for hinges that will keep 20x30 inch panels shut tightly. The panels will be installed behind attic louvers and opened by pulling and tying off a cord. I need them to stay closed against a breeze or they won't do any good.

I'm aware that self closing door style spring hinges have a tension adjustment but I'm not sure how much tension they can provide. Could someone give me an idea of load? for instance if I had my finger between the two sides of the hinge would it feel like it was clamping down pretty well?

thanks!

I'm installing drain tile around the outside of my house's footing. All the DIY instructions talk about putting a filter sock and then washed gravel all around the draintile and a few mention putting some sort of filter fabric on top of the gravel but I haven't found mention of a specific product to use. My house is in heavy clay so I need all the help I can get. So.. should I put some sort of mesh around the gravel? If so, do you have any specific product recommendations or maybe just the technical name for what I'm searching for? Thanks!

97 Civic. I had the passenger side axle rebuilt a couple years ago but didn't touch the driver's side one. I'm now hearing bad sounds that indicate another CV issue but I can't determine which side I'm hearing it on. I lifted up the front wheels and put the car in gear to try to get a closer listen but still no dice.

My only thought is to drive around for a while and then use a laser pointer thermometer to take the temperature of each CV joint and hope one is significantly hotter than the rest. Any guess whether this will work? Any other suggestions?

btw I also suspected wheel bearings. The driver's side had a very slight sound and roughness when I removed the brake caliper and spun it. I replaced it and there's no change to the sound while I'm driving. I think it was just some rust caught up between the hub and surround.

97 Civic, 150k, Manual trans, had CVs professionally rebuilt about 15k ago. no known work on bearings or suspension. It sounds a bit like if you downshifted too soon but didn't engage the clutch. Its the loudest at about 30 mph whether I'm coasting with my foot on the clutch or maintaining speed. If I put it up on jackstands and lift up the front wheels there's no noise indicating the problem.

My wife says it clunks occasionally while turning left but I've never heard it. I think that's an unrelated suspension issue but not sure.

I'm thinking its probably wheel bearings but anyone else have other ideas?

What I want to do just has to be easy but I can't seem to find an easy way to do it. I just want to network my desktop to my laptops for easy file sharing. What would be the best method to do it? I'm reasonably computer literate but completely networking dumb. Everything in the house has wireless and I'd prefer to use that.

The USB plug broke for my external hard drive so I tried using my universal drive to USB adapter but it isn't being recognized by my computer. Do they use some sort of special formatting that would prevent it? The external drive is a newer Cirago with a SATA drive. I'm using a SATA to USB adapter. My OS is Ubuntu. Any help would be awesome.

2002 ranger was showing p0401, I tested and replaced the DPFE sensor so everything should be working fine. The CEL is still on. Should I just drive around for a bit or should I clear the code using my scanner? I'm a lazy procrastinator so my registration expired today so I'd like the quickest fix.

I'm making ribs for a bunch of friends but there are a couple vegetarians coming. I typically BBQ the ribs for about 6 hours at 250 or so with a lot of smoke and moisture. Does anyone know what would happen if I did the same to a few veggie brats?

I'm pretty sure the water meter is one inch MIP male. I'm replacing my galvanized pipe with copper. I thought I needed one of those brass fittings with the nylon barrier to prevent corrosion but the home depot 'guru' said I can just use a regular copper threaded fitting. Whats the right answer?

2002 ford ranger 4 liter

I drove about a half hour at highway speeds then parked it for 5 minutes. It was down near E but definitely still had gas left. When I tried to start it again it acted like it wasn't getting gas. It would barely fire, then bog down and lurch before stalling. Hitting the gas pedal had no effect. I filled it up with a few gallons of gas and it started right up. The mechanic I was with suggested that the fuel pump maybe overheated and submerging it in gas cooled it down. What do you think?

I need to reduce the speed of a mechanical timer for a dish sanitizer by about 30%. Its an AC 240v gear motor and draws way less than an amp. (its about the size of a plum) My first thought was to add a potentiometer but that apparently only works on DC motors? I looked up motor speed controls and this seems like the most likely inexpensive option: http://www.kb-controls.com/KBWC-23K-H9051-Wall-Mou...

Does anyone know if it will work for my application? If not could you explain what specs I need to look for or find a better option for me?

thanks!

I've been fighting this for a while and there are tons of opinions out there in internet land... When I release the brakes the front pads still rub quite a bit on the rotors. The calipers are rebuilt and seem to be working fine so my next guess is the master cylinder. My understanding is that they have a spring in them that should pull on the hydraulics and release the cylinder pressure. I could also try replacing the brake hoses first but they look fine and I'm really getting tired of bleeding brakes. Any ideas? Tests I can perform, etc?

this has been going on for a while.. When I got the truck a rotor warped within a few months, I replaced the pads and greased up the caliper slides figuring that was the problem since one was pretty stuck. When it warped another rotor I replaced both front calipers since one looked like it had gotten hot enough to partially melt the piston gasket. Now I'm pretty sure its still doing the same thing. Here's the weird symptom: Somewhat randomly but always when the truck has been sitting for a day or so It will brake REALLY hard with only slight pressure on the pedal. It will actually lock up and chirp tires. It only happens when I'm moving forward and if I ride the brakes while backing out of my long driveway it won't happen. Its a 2001 ford ranger with ABS. Its brakes work perfectly when I'm not just starting out and the ABS seems to work fine as well. Any guesses? My next thought is to replace the master cylinder and if that doesn't work I could bypass the ABS module to see if that fixes the problem but I haul a trailer sometimes so I don't really want to lose ABS.

32 year old woman injured her knee playing roller derby. No sudden pain, just a bruised achy feeling that persists when resting or moving. Weight on the joint increases the pain. There's slight swelling about an hour after she got home. The area with swelling could be covered with a dollar bill folded in half and is centered over where the MCL is attached to the tibia. Obviously a minor MCL tear is a possibility but what else could it likely be? Helpful suggestions would be awesome!