tbalonick

Some back story first: I have a home in Arizona built in the 40's. During the last rains I had some water seeping in past the base boards on an exterior wall. I stripped all the plaster off the wall and found that the bottom sill plate had completely rotted. This was because the dirt was too high on the outside of the house and destroyed the stucco and paper and went through to the plate. This also rotted out the bottom inch or two of the wall studs. The dirt issue has since been dug down and fixed and a weep screed installed.

Heres the question, since my 2x4's are actual 2x4 and not nominal (1.5x3.5) will it be an issue replacing these with nominal 2x4's?

I cant seem to find anything in code about this but replacing just the bottom sill plate and the studs it will have the interior back half inch of the top plate not supported since it is also an actual cut and I'm torn if this would lead to a poor load displacement.

I know I can use 1x4 or 1/2 inch ply to essentially pad out the studs and sill plate but this just doesnt seem like a good option either and actual cut wood is pretty hard to come by these days.

Thanks for your consideration guys.

My home is from the 1940 s and thus doesnt have a true reliable ground. I just finished pounding in the 8ft grounding rod. My question is, can you directly bury the #6 wire from the rod to the main panel or should it be run in conduit? Is there a depth recommended for the wire if direct bury or is 6 or so inches fine? I read through the local code as well as the national code and didnt see anything specifically so I figured I d double check before I just did it. Thanks for the help.

If it helps pinpoint an answer I m in Arizona.

I understand that bandwith is created by a physical medium that data is transfered though. But is the physical bandwith raised based on the quality and type of material used? Does bandwith = how fast the electricity can travel through a material? If so what is there somewhere to find more information on the speeds of this? And to dig deeper on how exactly it works and how it relates to the larger scheme of the internet and isp s and whatnot?

So I've never missed a payment on a card and have near 0 debt. Recently I started getting calls from a collection agency notifying me I have a medical debt thats in collections from 2012 for an ambulance ride and other medical expenses in the city I lived in at the time. While I didnt have health insurance at the time I also havent been to the hospital at any point living in this state. I did confirm this is from a real law firm and the debt is official paperwork (they sent me out a copy and its effecting my credit score). They were very unhelpful when I explained the situation - I was wondering how to go about disputing this and getting it removed from my credit report? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I had an incident recently with the aforementioned motorcycle being stolen out of a grage i run. Theres clear video of the thief coming in under a gate and driving off with it 7 minutes later. I work mostly with cars (which at that year couldnt be stolen that quickly) so im not sure about motorcycles but id imagine they wouldnt hotwire that quickly and easily being that new? The owner seems very nonchalant about it so something just seems fishy to me, wanted to see your opinion on if this is possible without a key?

Okay story time: Im from Arizona and was driving to San Diego California thanksgiving weekend. While in California heading down the 8 I got pulled over and was cited for doing 89 in a 70. At no point did I ever pass the officer, I was told I approached him at 83 earlier down the road and then at 89 now (~20 miles later). I finally got my mailed official court citation today and contrary to what the officer said the ticket says im not eligible for traffic school (I have never taken it before) and my only option is to pay the $345 fine.

Now my questions:

1. I see many traffic lawyers advertising $100-300 representation on these types of tickets and dont even have to be there, is this a reputable and smart option and do I have a reasonable case to even try?

2. If #1 isnt an ideal route - should I just call the court and ask why and/or request traffic school as an option?

3. Should I just pay the fine and move on because I have no chance?

I like option one only because this is both the cheapest and seemingly most ideal route. Its not an issue of not being able to afford this ticket, its an issue of I know what speed I was going and it does not match up with the citation and I also can not afford to have my insurance rates go up any higher.

Thanks again for any help and insight!

I have been trying to purchase a bank owned short sale home for roughly 6 months now. In that time i've been given the key to the property and have been sprucing it up slightly in order to pass inspections to approve the loan. Well recently the loan completely fell through because the lender has dropped the ball and they want to tell me I'm out a large amount of money (including my earnest deposit)

While I know I could fight this and likely win, I'm aware arizona has an Adverse Possession law that states something to the effect of living in the residence for two years (of which I have for 6 months for the most part) and I figured i'd ask here what the legalities of that are. Is there paperwork to fill out? Is it legal to just continue staying here to ride out the "squaters" time until it just becomes my possession? (currently I have permission to be on the property from the bank until it goes to auction in 2 weeks or my lender gets it togehter)

Basically I want to know how this all work in layman's terms? All I want is to bring this house back from its state and restore a piece of history thats been vacant for over a year now. And if they wont take my money and let me make this happen then I want to take it and make it happen if thats possible, as crazy as that may sound. It has never been about the money.

Thanks for any advice!

I recently purchased a 69" screen 16:9 aspect ratio for home theater use. Now its time to buy a projector. Any recommends? Its going to be used mostly for movies/gaming but it doesnt have to be the best or anything. Are there any cheaper projectors that would still look good at this size/ratio, trying to avoid spending a grand on one, looking in the ~300-ish range.

I have a WD 1.5TB Caviar Green Sata 16mb cache model #WD15EACS. It came in a WD enclosure but the usb 3.0 connector on the enclosure broke. I took the enclosure apart and took the drive out and put it in a SIGG 2.0 enclosure. The drive spools up and the usb enclosure is recognized by the computer but it does not see a drive at all, neither in computer or in disc management. I have another hard drive the works perfectly in the enclosure so that isn't the issue. Any ideas?

So yesterday I was playing badminton for the first time in a while. I turned to hit a shot and stepped awkwardly on the outside of my left foot with full weight, it wasn't a quick stop or turn, it was real slow just a really bad misstep. I didn't hear any popping but it did hurt, much less than it does now. I was able to keep playing for about an hour with only minor discomfort.

When I stopped and got home 30 minutes later I noticed the pain was much worse but only when I tried to fully extend my leg. Now its the next day, I can bend my leg completely with only minor discomfort but when I go to fully extend it I can't and it hurts badly, shooting pain from the center of my knee up my whole thigh. No swelling. When I try to walk my knee just wobbles and gives out if I put any weight on it when shifting my weight.

Hopefully that all makes sense, any ideas what this might be? I worry its an acl injury but I figure the motion was far too slow for that. And if it helps I'm a male, 6'1", 220lbs.

I have a volvo 8.1gi marine motor on a 2004 boat. I need to know what the torque specs for the head bolts are? (and any other torque specs you may have cant hurt) and also if those head bolts are reusable?

Thanks!

I live in a guest house on a property and am wondering if this would be the correct way to specify that on my address. Its written out something like this:

John Doe

987 N. Something St. Attn. Guest House

Nowhere-ville, AZ 85224

Would that be acceptable on a legal document such as a deed?

I have an old 3 speed C4 automatic trans in a 1967 Mustang with a 289 V8. The issue is that its shifting very late between all the gears. (Doesn't shift to 2nd until about 35mph or so and slams gears) It downshifts just fine and normally. Letting of the gas or blipping the throttle wont get it to up-shift earlier either, the only thing that does is physically moving the shift level to the second gear position. I'm suspecting a bad modulator but am not 100%. I have it hooked up to vacuum directly from the intake manifold which I'm assuming is correct. And I checked the modulator, although it isnt leaking fluid from the nipple i did back off the adjuster screw and it had no effect on the shift. Any other ideas?

Also I know this trans takes type F fluid, but I have ATF+4 Dextron stuff in there right now. I know thats not real good for the clutches (unless its had a rebuild which im unsure of) but could that actually cause the extreme late shift? I figured that would also have cause a harsh down shift if it were fluid/clutch related. Thanks again for the help!

So I want to make a mask out of aluminum. I have a bunch of bulk aluminum sitting around so that's no problem. I was going to build a charcoal type setup in a drum with a blower to melt the aluminum. I was going to start by making the mask out of clay, hardening that clay and then forming a clay mold of the mask and then bake that and drill a hole in the top and fill it with the molten aluminum, then just break off the clay and sand the mask smooth and detail and whatnot. In theory it all sounds good to me.

Now here's the question(s)! Would that idea work? If so what type of clay should be used? Is there anything else I should know to make a good quality mask the first time around? (always nice to get rid of some of the trial and error) If you have any better ideas please share them but this is sort of a backyard budget build so nothing crazy like CnC machines and pressure sand molding cause I just don't have that sort of equipment. Thanks for the help!

I recently bought a sony 5.1 surround sound/dvd player combo and a ps3. I have the red/white cable going from the ps3 to the audio system/dvd player. Then i have an HDMI going from the audio player to my tv. Also i have an HDMI going from the ps3 to the tv for the video. I went in the ps3 and went under audio and set it to go from the red/white cables. Then i put my audio system on the component mode. Not getting any audio until i switch the audio setting back to HDMI and then ill get audio from the tv speakers only, none from the sound system. Im not real familiar with audio/video stuff so any help is really appreciated.

I just got a 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4WD, L6 4.0L. The previous owners overheated it and melted one of the pistons. I just sent the head out for machining and now am looking for a new piston to throw in there. Here's my problem, I cant seem to find a stock cast OE piston, everywhere I look I can only find Hypereutectic pistons. Even the machine shop tells me they cant find the OE piston, and I'm told that the Hypereutectic pistons have a larger ring land gap and are a tighter clearance than the standard piston so I would have to change out all the pistons when the rest of them are just fine. I know I can get a stock piston from the dealer but there almost $200 which is crazy. So what should I do here? Would just putting in one Hypereutectic throw anything off? Thanks for the help.

Also if it helps the machine shop says the piston is the C stamped one which is in the range of 3.8763in - 3.8767in. (I forgot to check myself before I sent it over there so I'm going on there word)

And if your wondering why I dont just pull the block and redo it all, im too cheap and even with the melted piston the jeep ran and got good compression on the other cylinders so I don't want to even mess with the others.

I have a 1987 Pontiac Fiero 4cyl 2.5L engine. For some reason its now overheating at idle. I know the ECM is supposed to switch the fan on past 235F but its isn't. It cant be the fan or the relay because when I switch my A/C on the fan goes on just fine. I'm not 100% sure that my temp gauge is accurate but i know this thing was well over 235F cause it popped the purge valve on the radiator cap and boiled the coolant I have in there and overflowed the overflow bottle. Only 2 things I think that are causing this is either the coolant is now mostly water (its a new car to me and I have a feeling its either low on coolant or is pretty much all water its just way too hot to check at the moment) or my coolant temp sensor is faulty causing the ECM to not read it properly and thus its not switching on the fan. (but I am getting a reading on the guage which leads me away from believing its the temp sensor) anyway, im just brainstorming because im stuck. Any help would be awesome, thanks. Also when im not at idle it cools just fine, only idleing is when I have a problem. Also not the thermostat cause I can feel it go into open loop. Only thing ive messed with recently is I plugged my EGR vavle which has nothing to do with temp stuff so i doubt that could be any cause.

I just bought a mini 4.5V DC 3.2mW 650nm Red laser diode. Sort of in impulse boredom buy and I was just wondering what the best way to power it would be. Hopefully some suggestions of something affordable and reasonable because I know I can buy a power supply but that seems like a bit of overkill for something of this size. Thanks for any help.

I have a 1987 Pontiac Fiero, the 2.5L 4 cylinder engine. Ive looked at many different source (ranging from google to more reputable things such as alldata) and they all tell me that my exact year/make/model has a recall for engine fires. (which pretty much all the fieros have) I even have the exact recall number. Yet when I call any GM dealership and even the lower levels of corporate they cant seem to find anything about this recall. Just curious what further things i can do to have them check out my car and fix this recall! I know its and old recall (the recall was announced in 1990) but they don't expire and id rather not have my car or myself catch fire... Thanks for any advice on how to pursue this one.