Outlet Arcing

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Tim Carter

Outlet Arcing | The wire on this outlet came loose and the tiny gap between the wire and the screw started to arc. Many people die in electrical fires each year caused by arcing like this.

Outlet Arcing - Very Dangerous and Lethal

An arcing outlet like you see in the photo above can kill you. You can see how the insulation on the wire has burned away and the actual plastic outlet started to melt.

It was only a matter of time before flames would erupt and spread.

Is Electrical Arcing Dangerous?

Yes, electrical arcing is dangerous and very serious. Electrical arcing is the same process used by welders to melt solid steel to create strong welds. The arcing in your home is not as big, but it creates enough heat to start a fire.

What Causes Electrical Arcing?

The invisible electricity in your house wires has power similar to that stored in the muscles of your body. The electric power wants to move towards the ground. Just as you can jump over a water puddle, the electricity can jump across an air gap between an energized wire and a screw, an energized wire and another wire, or an energized wire and some other piece of metal. When the electricity jumps across the gap, it creates sparks. This is electrical arcing.

How Fast Can Arcing Cause a Fire?

Watch this video to see how fast arcing starts a fire in a normal electrical box in your home:

Are There Special Breakers That Can Sense Arcing?

Yes, you can install arc fault circuit interrupter breakers in your panel to help keep you safe.

Is There Advanced Technology to Monitor My Home for Arcing?

Yes, there's a sophisticated device called Ting that plugs into an outlet in your home. Look below at the photo caption for a SPECIAL promo code. It connects to the Internet via WiFi. The device sends data about your electrical system to a company that monitors your entire home.

This is the Ting Arcing monitor. It plugs into any outlet, connects to the Wifi in your home, and then starts to protect you, your family, and all your possessions. CLICK or TAP HERE for a Special Discount exclusive to Ask the Builder newsletter subscribers and website visitors. IMPORTANT: Use the promo code TIM10 (note UPPER CASE) at checkout for exclusive savings. Note that Tim Carter gets a very small commission from TingFire should you purchase using the above link. Tim only promotes products he trusts and uses in his own home.

An app on your smartphone allows you to check the condition of your home's wiring at any time. Here is a screenshot of the app on my phone showing all is well:

This is the home screen of the Ting App. The green bar at the top shows all is well. If Ting senses an issue in your home's wiring, you get an instant push notification on your smartphone app as you see above, the red #1 above Notifications. In addition, the Ting service center CALLS you on your phone should it detect hazardous arcing! In my case above, that notification told me that I had a minor power outage at my home. CLICK or TAP HERE to purchase one priced with a special AsktheBuilder discount. Don't forget to use the promo code: TIM10 for a big savings!

CLICK or TAP HERE to get FREE BIDS from local electricians to check your house for electrical arcs.

Arcing House Wiring

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Tim Carter

Arcing House Wiring | The wire on this outlet came loose and the tiny gap between the wire and the screw started to arc. Many people die in electrical fires each year caused by arcing like this. This column was shared with my 31,000 newsletter subscribers in the January 26, 2020 Newsletter. Wire nut arcing can also be a dangerous fire hazard. You can even get arcing burying electrical wire underground.

Arcing House Wiring - Very Dangerous and Lethal

An arcing outlet like you see in the photo above can kill you. You can see how the insulation on the wire has burned away and the actual plastic outlet started to melt.

It was only a matter of time before flames would erupt and spread. Circuit breaker arcing is possible too. This is why you need to really make sure the screw fastening the wire to the breaker is tight.

Is Electrical Arcing Dangerous?

How Fast Can Arcing Cause a Fire?

Watch this video to see how fast arcing starts a fire in a normal electrical box in your home:

Are There Special Breakers That Can Sense Arcing?

Yes, you can install arc-fault circuit interrupter breakers in your panel to help keep you safe.

Is There Advanced Technology to Monitor My Home for Arcing?

Yes, there's a sophisticated device called Ting that plugs into an outlet in your home. It connects to the Internet via WiFi. The device sends data about your electrical system to a company that monitors your entire home. Your home insurance may provide you one for free. If not, CLICK HERE to get immediate protection.

This is the Ting Arcing monitor. It plugs into any outlet, connects to the Wifi in your home, and then starts to protect you, your family, and all your possessions. CLICK HERE to purchase a Ting.

An app on your smartphone allows you to check the condition of your home's wiring at any time. Here is a screenshot of the app on my phone showing all is well:

A special alert to this column was given in the January 24, 2020 Alert Newsletter.

January 5, 2020 AsktheBuilder Newsletter 🎁

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Tim Carter

Are you as new here as the New Year? Welcome! I see you're still wearing your party hat. Next issue I suggest you don your adventure hat. Why? CLICK or TAP HERE to discover why.

You might be a subscriber that's well aware of my impish behavior. If so, then let the 2020 AsktheBuilder Games begin!

New Year Prizes

Did you see the wrapped gift box in the headline of this newsletter? It's supposed to represent a prize.

🎁

My goal for the new year is to shower you with surprises, tips, and special offers throughout the upcoming year. Consider each one a special prize as if you won a competition.

For example, you're going to start seeing at least once a month, special offers on my Stain Solver. Stain Solver is a certified organic oxygen bleach that cleans anything water washable.

I'm guilty of being lax at showering you with all the ways you can save your things using magic Stain Solver.

CLICK or TAP HERE now to watch a few videos that will inspire you on how to save lots of money and be organic at the same time.

If you like what you see in those videos and want to try out my Stain Solver, use this promo code now to get 10% off and FREE SHIPPING to the four commonwealths and forty-four states in the USA that are all glued together.

2020

The promo code only works on the 2.2-pound size for now and it EXPIRES TONIGHT.

Mike's Open Cell Insulation

Yesterday afternoon, I did a short consult phone call with Mike. He lives in Indiana. Mike had invested in another call back in the spring and needed more advice. I can record these calls and send you a link to the recording so you don't have to take notes, but I digress.

Mike decided to convert a bonus room on the top level of his house made with attic trusses (click that link - WATCH the video!) as you see in this photo:

Insulating these spaces is critical. Do it wrong and you can have serious wood-rot problems.

Mike told me how he had used the best insulation team in the area for the job. When I heard this I chortled and said, "Mike, you need to listen to this true story."

I then shared the encounter I had with an experienced insulation contractor last spring in Bar Harbor, Maine. CLICK or TAP HERE to read the story and be prepared to be DEPRESSED.

It's important to realize Mike made a grievous error. He had me call him AFTER the insulation job was complete.

You see, Mike's top-rated insulation crew sprayed open-cell foam DIRECTLY to the underside of the roof sheathing. They also sprayed it so it completely clogged the gap at the peak of the roof where the ridge vent is.

They said, "The air will go through the foam and get to the exterior. It's open cell."

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHA

Mike should stop trusting contractors. Many are ill-informed.

Mike should have taken the time to READ these columns on my website BEFORE he even talked to a contractor:

Attic Ventilation Facts - Great Infrared PHOTO Here

Truth About Ridge Vents - The Incense TEST

PAVs - What Are They, Tim? Well, They're Just About...

Mike should have had me CALL HIM BEFORE he hired the contractors.

It's possible Mike could be replacing his entire roof structure at some point in the future. Isn't that crazy?

Don't be Mike.

WARNING!

Insurance Product and Scarcity

Last week I saw a commercial on TV. It featured Mike Rowe, the guy from Dirty Jobs, popping up out of a trench in a front yard.

He was talking about an insurance product for your home's plumbing lines sold by HomeServe dot com. The person who wrote Mike's script for the commercial was using the most powerful psychological button of all: scarcity.

I've been a master plumber since age 29 and this commercial put my head on a swivel. I sent myself a quick email from the couch to remind me to check into it the next day.

I went to the company's website and it has a soft and fuzzy feel. Being the inquisitive guy I am, I started to peel back the layers of the onion to discover exactly what this company is selling, or better yet, what they're NOT SELLING.

After peeling back multiple layers, I discovered this language:

"Not Covered: Appliances; repair or replacement of fittings or fixtures, e.g., water tanks, water heaters, radiators, bathroom fittings, faucets, toilets, baths, shower pans, shower/bath diverters and sinks, pressure reducing valves and backflow prevention devices, pumps or grinders; any non-conforming drain line, such as a basement or storm drain; thawing of frozen pipes; and damage from accidents, negligence or otherwise caused by you, others or unusual circumstances."

Being a professional writer that deals in words, lots of them each week, as well as an expert witness in building construction lawsuits for decades, the last part of that text really got my antenna up.

If you have a failure in your "basement building drain" - that's the primary drain pipe all others flow into - who pays to fix it? Seems to me they don't cover that.

And WTH is a "non-conforming drain line"? You better get them to define that before you invest in their policy!

What about "damage from ... negligence or otherwise caused by you..."

If you have a grease clog in your drain lines that YOU caused because you put grease down your drains do they pay or do you pay?

Well, if you get into a dispute, you have to go to binding arbitration. You know what arbitration is about don't you? It's about splitting the loaf.

Here's what you need to do before you EVER look at supplemental insurance.

STOP and call your regular house insurance agent and ask if you already have some sort of plumbing failure coverage. There's a possibility you MAY have some relief from your current policy about plumbing issues. You can also take the time to read your policy.

Second, stop and really read the fine print you see in the policies offered by companies like HomeServe. Be sure you understand the language.

Third, consult with a plumber and ask what are the odds of certain failures. In other words, what are the chances that a pipe behind your wall suddenly fails? Is it 2 percent, 0.05 percent, or 50%?

Finally, understand that in the case of HomeServe if you find you have a problem and try to buy the coverage to take advantage of it, good luck with that! There's a 30-day wait period after you buy before the coverage kicks in!

Can you imagine buying house or car insurance where the agent says, "I'm sorry but your car and house have NO COVERAGE for the first month. I hope nothing happens!"

That's laughable. Think about that. Why would HomeServe not want to cover you immediately like most other policies?

CLICK HERE for FREE Quotes from Local Contractors

Why is Your House Cold as a Cucumber?

Dave reached out to me two nights ago because he was quite observant and saw the P.S. I put at the bottom of each issue of this newsletter. Last issue I shared a link to a topical column this time of year.

You simply can't believe how many houses are uncomfortable and HOW EASY it is to ensure it doesn't happen.

CLICK or TAP HERE to discover how you can be warmer in your home.

This is an absolute MUST READ if you're thinking of building a new home or a room addition.

WATCH THE VIDEO in the column for sure.

That's quite enough for a Sunday morning.

Remember, the Stain Solver 2.2 offer expires in HOURS. CLICK or TAP HERE to get some.

I'm permitting you to purchase multiple bottles, but not too many. SAVE some for the other customers for goodness sake.

Promo code: 2020

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Clean Everything - Including Dentures! - www.StainSolver.com
Send KELP! www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. What about circuit breakers? What about a house sentry that tells you if DANGEROUS arcing is happening while you snuggle under the covers or are away? CLICK or TAP HERE for secret info.

Garbage Disposal 101

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: I averted a near Christmas Eve disaster. I was making 75 deviled eggs for thirty guests who were soon to arrive. I turned on my disposal to grind up the eggshells and ended up with a pool of smelly egg water in the sink! I was able to get the water to drain after 45 minutes of plunging. My one-year-old granddaughter’s squeals of delight from her highchair as the plunger went up and down buoyed my sinking spirits. What are the do's and don't's of using a disposal so the plumber isn't on the guest list at my next party? How can I keep my disposal smelling fresh? Mary Gene K., Cincinnati, OH

Have you had a plumbing disaster like Mary Gene’s during a party or large family gathering? They’re more common than you might think because the extra people at your home create a higher volume of water in kitchen and bathroom sinks as well as toilets. This extra amount of water and waste often overwhelms partially clogged plumbing drain lines.

I’ve been a master plumber since age 29 and have this love/hate relationship with garbage disposals. They’re handy machines if you don’t like to throw food scraps away but realize they can wreak havoc on plumbing drain systems when used improperly. Allow me to create images of what happens when you use your garbage disposal.

While it’s not a perfect analogy, imagine a giant ready-mix concrete truck filled with a slurry of sand, small rocks, and water. Drop the chute and discharge this mix into a 12-inch-diameter city sewer. If you don’t add a significant volume of clear water immediately after dumping the sand and gravel into the sewer pipe, the pipe will start to choke off. The clear water is needed to transport the sand and gravel to the end of the pipe.

Use a clear food blender to create a more realistic example of what happens inside your disposal. Save about a pint or even a quart of food scraps that you’d normally shove into the dark black hole of the disposal. Add enough water to the blender to make a food-scrap smoothie. This food sludge is exactly what your disposal creates and you hope it’s going to magically flow down your kitchen drain line!

Eggshells and celery are two of the worst things you can put down a kitchen disposal. The eggshells resemble the small rocks and sand I described above. Celery has tough fiber strands that can get wrapped around the moving parts of the disposal. I’d never put either of these food scraps down a disposal.

It’s very important to realize the inside of many kitchen drain lines is by no means smooth and wide open. Old galvanized iron drain pipes develop a scale inside the pipe over the years. A new steel pipe that had an inside diameter of 1 and 1/2 inches might only have an inner diameter of 1/2 or 3/4 inch after years of use. I’ve seen these horizontal and vertical pipes completely choked off with deposits.

Modern plastic PVC or ABS plastic pipes can also have deposits, especially hardened grease, clog them. Expecting a slurry of ground-up food scraps to flow like water through partially clogged drain lines is akin to getting three people to pass through a normal door at the same time.

In my opinion, the best way to use a garbage disposal is to add the food scraps you wish to grind up and then place the stopper at the top of the opening so you can fill the sink halfway with water. Once you have added the water, pull the stopper out and immediately turn on the disposal.

The spinning cutting heads in the disposal transform the food into a slurry and the weight and volume of clear water in the sink starts to force it through the drain line. The added benefit is the clear water rinses the sides of the disposal as the last food leaves the machine on its way to the sewer plant. I’d then allow the water from the faucet to run at least another 30 seconds after all the water has emptied from the sink.

I’m not a big fan of using a garbage disposal with a septic system. There are two schools of thought to this and years ago a major disposal manufacturer created a disposal that dispenses special enzymes to help gobble up the slurry once it hits the septic tank. Installing a new leach field is very expensive should you overwhelm your septic tank with organic material. It’s just so much easier, in my opinion, to compost food scraps or throw them away.

The secret to a fresh-smelling garbage disposal is to keep all the inside parts clean. You do this by making sure the disposal is rinsed with clear, or even soapy, water after it’s ground up the food as I described above. It’s not hard to imagine the vortex of spinning water, much like you see in a blender, that’s rinsing the sidewalls of the disposal as the water leaves the sink on its way to the drain pipe.

Here’s another tip to prevent party disasters. Every two months or so, I pour ten gallons of boiling water down my kitchen sink to help keep the insides of the drainpipe as clean and grease-free as possible. I save partially soiled paper towels and use those to sop up grease from all pots, pans, and plates so I put as little grease as possible down my drain lines. While we plumbers are almost all great guys, we want to be with our families during Christmas, not on our knees taking apart your kitchen sink drain lines!

Column 1334

December 31, 2019 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Tim Carter

Are you a new subscriber in the past several days? This is NOT a normal newsletter. I rarely publish a newsletter the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Hang in there for a regular issue.

Have you been around the block with me a time or two or two hundred? You know that I'm about to save you some sweet moola AND get your stuff squeaky clean!

Happy New Year!

The new year has already rung in for my friends Down Under like Phil and Russell. It's so much fun to have electron pals and I'm grateful to you if you communicate with me on a somewhat regular basis.

Are you old enough to remember having a real pen pal? You know, one where you write a real letter with a pen using cursive script? I've just started to revive this practice with my kids and it's fun! I sent each one a special Christmas letter last week.

I'd to give you an idea of how much pleasure I get creating this newsletter for you. I often share one tiny morsel of my past with no expectation of what might happen when you read it.

Sometimes it creates a tsunami of replies that I savor much like getting a SKOR candy bar from a friend! Yes, I'm a sucker for SKOR bars.

It happened last week.

You may want to re-read my Christmas newsletter issue.

The story about the Christmas tree my Dad loved allowed you to relive a childhood moment! Can you believe I had a tree like that?

I'm serious when I say that your responses are each a special prize. It's very fulfilling knowing I rekindled a fond memory that brightened your day.

Tony, who lives just 40 miles south of me in Manchester NH, sent me a link to a fascinating history story of these iconic aluminum Christmas trees. Thanks, Tony!

FLASH Stain Solver SALE

I'm sure you've seen advertisements saying:

Inventory Reduction SALE

That headline is accurate. The business owner is desperately trying to reduce the amount of her/his inventory of a product(s)!

I'm trying to do the same in the next five days as we have WAY TOO MANY two-pound containers of Stain Solver at the fulfillment center.

First, what is Stain Solver?

Oxygen Bleach

Stain Solver is a certified organic powdered oxygen bleach. You mix it with warm or hot water and it cleans THOUSANDS of things that are water washable. My wife and I own the company.

This is a great product, seriously.

CLICK or TAP HERE to watch a bunch of videos of me showing you how to use it.

It's fabric and color-safe so I use it to get out tough stains in clothes. CLICK or TAP HERE for the most unbelievable photos ever sent in by a customer.

It cleans mold and mildew. CLICK or TAP HERE to see how my sister used it.

It restores cast iron or Corian Sinks. CLICK or TAP HERE for unbelievable before/after photos.

I could give you countless examples of what it cleans.

Start off the New Year with CLEAN STUFF!

Go buy, one, two or even THREE of our handy 2-pound size of Stain Solver now.

Use this promo code: 2020

You'll get 10% off PLUS FREE SHIPPING to anyplace in the contiguous 48 US states and commonwealths. Is there more than one commonwealth - Virginia?

This FLASH SALE ends in just a few days. I'll send a reminder, but I URGE you to BUY NOW before we run out of this size.

CLICK or TAP HERE to order the 2-pound size now.

This FLASH SALE is only on the 2-pound size.

That's enough for New Year's Eve. I need to go out and tackle cleaning up the remnants of the 36-hour sleet storm that buried me under 6 inches of sleet and then 2.5 inches of snow.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
GET STAIN SOLVER - www.StainSolver.com
Morse Straight-Key Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Do you know how to pick the correct extension cord so you don't BURN DOWN your home?

AsktheBuilder Christmas Issue – 2019

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Tim Carter

Merry Christmas to you! This is my annual Christmas newsletter and if you're a new subscriber in the past ten days or so, trust me this is not a normal AsktheBuilder.com newsletter.

Give me a few weeks to show you how I can save you time and money with your home improvement projects.

A Special Time - Christmas

You may celebrate Christmas as we do here at my home. If not, I wish you happiness however you choose to observe the days around the winter solstice.

Over the past few months, I started a project where I'm doing a brain dump of my memories of growing up. At this point, I'm just writing stories.

I plan to record some videos as some of the tales are far more suited to that medium.

Christmas at my house growing up was celebrated on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure why it was that way as I never bothered to ask my Mom and Dad. I just knew I got my presents earlier than most of my friends on my street, so I wasn't about to complain!

Some of our gifts were put around the tree days before Christmas. We were told to leave them alone and not touch them. Hah! That's like saying to a cat, "Leave that mouse alone. Don't chase it."

I have clear visions of shaking wrapped boxes, even trying to peek under the seams of the wrapping paper. The desire to discover what was under the colored paper was stronger than the craving for ice-cold water on a blistering August day.

When I was small, our Christmas tree was decorated with the coolest ornaments that glowed and bubbled. They must have been filled with colored alcohol and the heat from an interior light bulb caused the alcohol, or some other liquid, to boil and bubble.

Then for a few years, we had this antiseptic bright silver aluminum tree - I kid you not - that was illuminated by a slowly revolving four-color disc illuminated by a flood light. The colors, I think, were green, red, yellow and blue. It was hideous thinking back on it, but my Dad sure liked it!

When I was about 19 or maybe 20, the CB radio craze was in full swing. I really wanted one of those radios! I remember a long tall thin box that had my name on it leaning against the wall. Surely it was an antenna for the radio that must have been in another box! Yay, I was going to be on the air, breaker breaker!

I couldn't wait to rip off the paper from that tall thin box! When I did, I was so disappointed. It was a 4-foot level. What? Are you kidding me, a silly level? You can't get on the air with a level!

Christmas is a time of traditions for many families. One of mine, and my son does enjoy it too, is boiled shrimp. I really look forward to eating chilled shrimp cocktail with sauce so hot that it rivals lava flowing from a volcano.

I thank my Aunt Margaret for introducing me to this succulent food. CLICK or TAP HERE to read about my first time eating the white crustaceans!

Water Christmas Tree While Away

Two days ago, I recorded a fast video for you. We had to travel for three days and there was no one to water our fresh-cut tree. I knew it would run out of water in a day, so something had to be done.

A month ago, my son helped set up some smart plugs here at the house to control grow lights down in our basement.

He said to Kathy the day before we left, "Have Dad hook up some sort of irrigation system to one of the extra smart plugs."

Bango! That's all the inspiration I needed.

CLICK or TAP HERE to watch how I kept our fresh-cut tree watered while we were 250 miles away!

Taking a Break

I started another tradition about ten years ago where I spend the week between Christmas and New Years planning what's going to happen in the next 51 weeks.

That means you get a break from me for about 12 days or so.

I'll be back in your Inbox after the New Year.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful Happy New Year.

Based on how my 2019 ended, I'm pretty sure 2020 is going to be one of my best years ever. I hope that's how it turns out for you too!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Get Super Clean - www.StainSolver.com
Old Morse Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Is your house COLD? Brrrrrrr. Do you know why? CLICK or TAP HERE and allow me to help you get WARM!

Water Christmas Tree Away Video

Posted on December 23, 2019 by Tim Carter

Water Christmas Tree Away | It's so Very Easy!

You can use a smartphone, a smart plug, a submersible fountain pump, and a little common sense to water your Christmas tree while you're away from your home.

You can use this same method to water plants in window flower boxes if you can't be at the house each day.

CLICK or TAP HERE to purchase the smart plug I used in this video.

CLICK or TAP HERE to purchase the small electric pump you see in the video. Be sure to get the PULACO mini-submersible pump.

You need lots of water in a bucket.

CLICK or TAP HERE to get these same smart plugs.

Asphalt Sealer – Be Careful!

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Tim Carter

Ask The Builder · 62: Seal Asphalt Driveway

DEAR TIM: I had a new asphalt driveway installed back in the fall. It’s gorgeous and I want to keep it looking that way. I was told not to seal it until the spring. Is that correct? Is it possible to put on too much sealer? I don’t want to waste money so I’m looking for the solution that is the least amount of work over the long run if that makes sense. Does climate play a part in asphalt maintenance? Maggie M., Topeka, KS

Maggie’s got some great questions and you might have wondered about a few of them as well.

Asphalt driveways, some call them blacktop or hot top, are really a magnificent surface if they’re installed correctly. I’m hoping Maggie’s drive had at least 8 inches of compacted base stone that extends at least 6 inches wider than the actual asphalt paving on each edge of the drive. This extra stone ensures if a truck or car tire tracks on the edge of the drive, it won’t crack from lack of lateral support.

Asphalt driveways are much like concrete. The ingredients of both pavements are quite similar. Both contain rocks of different sizes and sand. Asphalt driveways then incorporate liquid asphalt cement to bind the rocks and sand together. Concrete relies on Portland cement that’s activated by the addition of water.

When the asphalt material is made, it’s tumbled in a giant mixer where the sand and rocks get heated, uniformly mixed, and completely coated with the proper amount of asphalt cement. Once the asphalt material is installed, compacted and cools, the lightweight oils in the asphalt cement need to evaporate.

This curing process takes a minimum of 90 days in ideal conditions where the temperatures are above 70 F or so in the daytime and don’t drop below 50 F at night. In colder climates, the curing might extend out six or even nine months. Don’t seal your new blacktop drive in its first year to ensure it’s fully cured.

In fact, you may not want to seal your new asphalt drive for several years. The reason new asphalt pavement is jet black is that the stones and sand are completely coated with the liquid asphalt cement. It can take several years before this coating wears off exposing pieces of stone. The pavement will then start to change color as you start to see the color of the stone matrix. This is your signal that it’s time to think about sealing the asphalt.

Climate plays a very big part with respect to the importance of sealing asphalt. I live in New Hampshire where the winters are brutal. Water that enters tiny cracks in asphalt paving freezes. Water expands as it freezes and this can start to widen cracks over time and pluck out individual stones in the asphalt paving. High-quality asphalt sealers can prevent this water damage if you monitor your asphalt making sure you seal the cracks.

The ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun also pose a danger to all asphalt paving. A certain amount of UV light contains active photons. These energized particles act like miniature torpedoes and can blast apart the asphalt that’s holding the sand and stones together. Asphalt sealers can act as sacrificial coatings that prevent the UV rays from attacking the asphalt cement within the pavement.

You can put on too much sealer. It’s important to realize asphalt sealers are coatings. You need to put on a somewhat thin coating following the coverage instructions on the bucket. If you apply too much sealer too often before it wears out, it can start to peel and look horrible.

The best practice is to apply a great sealer and then let it wear off over a few years before you consider applying another coat. Once again, you’ll know when it’s time when you start to see lots of the stones with no coating on them and/or you start to see very tiny cracks that might be as wide as a piece of paper.

You may want that jet black look every year. I know a few people that do. If so, I urge you to buy the cheapest lowest-quality asphalt sealer you can find so that it wears off in nine months.

Climate does pay an important role in asphalt maintenance. Colder climates punish asphalt paving far more than warmer climates. Here in New Hampshire, we deal with wretched frost heaves that crack asphalt paving as if it were an egg being tapped on the side of a skillet.

Should you live in a cold climate it really pays each summer to clean your asphalt drive well. Check the entire driveway and inspect the pavement for tiny cracks. If you see them, then, by all means, begin a routine asphalt sealing program.

Column 1333

What Do Circuit Breakers Do?

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: Several weeks ago, I read your column in our paper and you talked about installing electrical wiring. I found that very interesting, but now I’m very curious about circuit breakers. What’s the primary purpose of circuit breakers? Are there different types of breakers? What do the numbers on the breakers mean? I’m deeply concerned about house fires caused by electrical malfunctions. Is there any new technology that will give me peace of mind? What else can I do to prevent electrical fires? Valerie B., Kenosha, WI

You may be like Valerie and wonder about those nondescript black rectangles in the electrical panel in your garage, basement, or hallway. The odds are you’ve never had to touch one and if that’s the case that’s actually very good news. On the other hand, if you find yourself routinely resetting a tripped circuit breaker, you should be very concerned.

Circuit breakers are trustworthy guardians of your life and your possessions. Their primary purpose is to protect the integrity of the wires hidden behind your walls and ceilings. A circuit breaker will turn off the power to the wires should it sense too much current passing too quickly and/or if the current draw is so high it begins to overheat the breaker.

Wires behind your walls can be damaged if they heat up. The insulation can melt and catch fire. I’m reminded of a near tragedy at a close friend’s home a little over two years ago. My friend made a mistake of plugging in a portable electric space heater into an outlet that was controlled by a dimmer switch.

Most dimmer switches are only rated for a moderate amount of current passing through them. The usual limit is about 600 watts. The heater was able to draw 1,500 watts and the inside of the dimmer switch got so hot it melted the switch and started to burn. Fortunately, my friend’s wife was in the room, smelled the acrid smoke from the burning plastic and they switched off the power. Had they been elsewhere or asleep, the outcome could have been far different.

It’s important to realize the plastic insulation on wires can do the same thing. If the wire gets too hot, then the insulation can melt, start to burn and create a devastating house fire. The National Fire Protection Association reports that between 2012 and 2016 there were 44,880 residential house fires in the USA directly related to electrical failure or malfunction. Thousands of people died and were injured in these fires. The total property damage estimate exceeded $5 billion dollars. Those numbers should place your head on a swivel.

Another key point is the wires in your home are not all the same size. This is what the numbers on the breakers are for. You need to match a breaker to the minimum size of the wire on a circuit. For example, a 12-gauge wire is normally rated for 20 amps. You’d then use a 20-amp circuit breaker to protect the wires on this circuit.

There are quite a few different circuit breakers. The most common one is a single-pole breaker that operates much like a single wall switch you might use to turn on and off a light in a bathroom. This common breaker takes up one slot in the electrical panel.

You can also purchase unique tandem single-pole breakers where two different circuits are controlled separately yet the two breakers only take one place in the electrical panel.

There are other breakers used to control appliances that need extra power. Your electric oven, electric clothes dryer, a well pump, and exterior air conditioning compressors are great examples. These require a breaker that will switch off all power to the appliance if it senses a problem on either of the two wires that are required to provide the extra power to the equipment.

Decades ago a breaker was developed to protect your body from electrical shocks in wet areas. You may be familiar with the ground fault circuit interrupters, or GFCIs. These breakers can be found in the electrical panel or they might be a point-of-use tiny breaker right on the face of the outlet in your bathroom, kitchen, garage, or an exterior wall outlet.

Not too long after the development of the GFCI, a newer breaker became available that could sense electrical arcing in a circuit that can lead to fires. These are arc-fault breakers and the National Electrical Code has adopted the widespread use of these throughout most new homes. They are a very good idea.

I’m currently testing the latest technology - TingFire. You can now purchase a plug-in monitor that is constantly checking all the wiring in your home for minor arcing that will eventually grow and lead to major arcing that would eventually trip the arc-fault breakers. The new monitor is connected to the Internet and you get an alert via email should it sense a problem in the early stages long before it could cause a fire.

I suggest you do preventative maintenance on all outlets that draw lots of current like your bathroom, kitchen and any other area where you plug in things that consume lots of electricity. You should check to make sure the wires are tightly connected to the outlets. You should also make sure that outlets don’t move when you plug something in or you pull the plug out of the outlet.

Column 1332

December 15, 2019 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Tim Carter

Quick question: Are you a new subscriber? Are you ready for some fun and tips that will save you sweet moola? Good. You're at the right place.

Have you been a subscriber for more than a week? I'm pretty sure the reason you continue to open these newsletters is to see if they've rescinded my Internet privileges here at the sanatorium! 😉

Make Up Not Out!

I'm involved in a fun project of curating lots of the stories about me growing up. As I get deeper into this project, I find myself basking in memories so thick I have to brush them away from my face! Trust me, it's liberating to turn the skeleton key unlocking the attic door of your mind. Dusting off certain memories can reward you with quite a bit of pleasure.

CLICK or TAP HERE to read one of the stories.

Just today I was thinking about my first kiss and making out. It happened at Versailles State Park in Indiana when I was maybe 12 or 13. I'm pretty certain I was wearing brown shoes, but I digress!

What I really want to talk to you about is makeup air, not make out kisses that might take your breath away for goodness sake, silly!

CLICK or TAP HERE to discover more about what you see in that image above.

But, for the full story, CLICK or TAP HERE to understand WHY you should consider a makeup air vent so you DON'T DIE of CARBON MONOXIDE poisoning!!!

Repointing Fireplace Mortar

A few days ago, I received a question via the Ask Tim page on my website. The gentleman wanted to know about tuck-pointing mortar INSIDE his fireplace.

fireclay
I know that's not the best photograph but what you're looking at are the actual high-temperature firebrick in the last house I built.

What's that gray stuff in between each of the brick? The exact name?

Are you SURE you know? Come on, be honest. CLICK or TAP HERE and let me know if you were right.

I'm willing to bet you don't know what it is. In fact, I'm willing to wager you one delicious giant Aglamesis dark chocolate pecande, but not the one on my desk! You should only be so lucky to have a prize like this!

If you were wrong and accepted the bet, then email me and I'll give you the address to send me my pecande!

Compact LED Flashlight!

Are you looking for a fabulous flashlight? You know, you can't have too many flashlights.

Honesty Moment: I do have a tendency to hoard flashlights like I do jackets. It's nice-to-know information about how many of each I have!

Your eyes are locked onto the Coast G10 LED flashlight.

I'm here to tell you this LED flashlight is one that you MUST HAVE. It's an excellent prize to give to someone who might put it on a nightstand. It could come in handy in a power outage. You might find it useful to find small chunks of pecans that spewed from your mouth as you were savoring that dreamy caramel and dark chocolate pecande under the covers.

CLICK or TAP HERE now to see lots of different photos of the G10 and to discover WHY I'd have one of these Coast G10s on every floor of my house and in my car and truck.

CLICK or TAP HERE to order one before they sell out. This is the perfect stocking stuffer for all those on your Christmas list.

I LOVE the quality of Coast products. I've had their flashlights for years.

Penny-wise or Pound Foolish

Each day, I get quite a few questions at my Ask Tim page on my website.

All too often, the questions are quite involved and require quite a bit of typing. I've answered hundreds and hundreds of questions like this over the 25-plus years I've been doing Ask the Builder and know that each time I provide an answer the homeowner comes back with two, three, or more followup questions.

It's not a prudent use of my time to do this as you might expect.

This is why I developed my 15-Minute Phone Call product.

But here's what you need to know. Those questions I can't answer in 15 seconds or with a fast "Yes" or "No", I send this:

"Your situation requires lots of typing and I know you'll have more questions. I can solve your problem over the phone for an affordable price. If you're not happy with the call, it's FREE."

Here's the sad truth:

Only one in fifty homeowners decides to make the investment in the phone call that can save them HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of dollars.

I'm convinced that those who ignore the offer of my protection think, "Hells bells about investing in the right answer! I'll go find it for FREE online!"

Well guess what? There's a good chance you'll discover the wrong answer long before you uncover the right answer. And if you don't know the RIGHT answer, then how do you know if you stumbled upon it?

Don't be foolish. Don't HOPE you have the right answer. You only should hope for things you can't control like the weather.

Deluxe Shed Plans

Are you paying lots of money each month to store a bunch of your stuff at one of those steel buildings somewhere? SCREW THAT!

Build your own shed - a DELUXE one - and have all your stuff where you can get it easily. What's more, a great shed ADDS VALUE to your casa.

Here's my Christmas prize for you.

Normally these amazing super-detailed plans cost $19.95 at my shopping cart.

Purchase them now. I'm offering them to you for a LIMITED TIME at the unheard of price of $9.95.

You don't have to build the EXACT shed as I did, but you can use the plans for inspiration or you can modify them to your situation.

You'll discover all the information you need on the SEVENTEEN PAGES of the plans!!!

CLICK or TAP HERE to get these INSTANT DOWNLOAD plans now.

Listen, that's enough for a Sunday.

Don't forget to get a pecande and send it to me if you were wrong about the firebrick mortar!

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
So Clean I Beam - www.StainSolver.com
Morse Forever - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Riddle me this:

Do you know how to identify what circuit breaker controls WHAT outlets and lights in your home? Can you do it ALONE without SCREAMING ten times from the garage, "Is THAT THE ONE?!!!!!"

Would you like to see how I discover what breaker controls WHAT outlets in my house? I thought so.

CLICK or TAP HERE now.

Outlet Arcing - Very Dangerous and Lethal

Is Electrical Arcing Dangerous?

What Causes Electrical Arcing?

How Fast Can Arcing Cause a Fire?

Are There Special Breakers That Can Sense Arcing?

Is There Advanced Technology to Monitor My Home for Arcing?

Arcing House Wiring - Very Dangerous and Lethal

Is Electrical Arcing Dangerous?

How Fast Can Arcing Cause a Fire?

Are There Special Breakers That Can Sense Arcing?

Is There Advanced Technology to Monitor My Home for Arcing?

New Year Prizes

🎁

2020

Mike's Open Cell Insulation

WARNING!

Why is Your House Cold as a Cucumber?

Happy New Year!

FLASH Stain Solver SALE

Inventory Reduction SALE

Start off the New Year with CLEAN STUFF!

A Special Time - Christmas

Water Christmas Tree While Away

Taking a Break

Water Christmas Tree Away | It's so Very Easy!

Make Up Not Out!

Repointing Fireplace Mortar

Compact LED Flashlight!

Penny-wise or Pound Foolish

Deluxe Shed Plans

Expert Advice For Your Home