Author Topic: handyman-ness  (Read 135334 times)

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Online michigancat

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #300 on: November 07, 2014, 11:10:18 AM »
How hard is it to put in new light fixtures? I want to put up a new ceiling fan/light in the kitchen and dining room.

Handyman Level: Beginner(Past experience - Flapper in toilet, scraping wallpaper/repainting, built elevated garden bed)

I know absolutely nothing about electrical wiring so my current plan is to invite my Electrical Engineer friend over to show me how. He is an Expert Handyman who has basically gutted and rewired his entire house.


****Ben Ji's Dad Side Story**** Senior year of High School my dad decides to do some handy man electrical work in my parents bathroom. Crawls up in the attic and gets to work....When he is finished the light in the bathroom would not turn off, just constantly on...Refused to admit defeat and would just stand up on the toilet to unscrew the lightbulb when he wanted to light off....if he wasnt home and the light was unscrewed/off my mom would make me stand on the toilet and screw it back in. Eventually he caved and had to call an actual electrician to fix the wiring.

It's a good progression IMO. You can do it!

clams brings up a good point - why build a fence?

Offline Emo EMAW

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #301 on: November 07, 2014, 11:10:25 AM »
How hard is it to put in new light fixtures? I want to put up a new ceiling fan/light in the kitchen and dining room.

Handyman Level: Beginner(Past experience - Flapper in toilet, scraping wallpaper/repainting, built elevated garden bed)

I know absolutely nothing about electrical wiring so my current plan is to invite my Electrical Engineer friend over to show me how. He is an Expert Handyman who has basically gutted and rewired his entire house.


****Ben Ji's Dad Side Story**** Senior year of High School my dad decides to do some handy man electrical work in my parents bathroom. Crawls up in the attic and gets to work....When he is finished the light in the bathroom would not turn off, just constantly on...Refused to admit defeat and would just stand up on the toilet to unscrew the lightbulb when he wanted to light off....if he wasnt home and the light was unscrewed/off my mom would make me stand on the toilet and screw it back in. Eventually he caved and had to call an actual electrician to fix the wiring.

I think with your buddy there you're golden. 

Offline WillieWatanabe

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #302 on: November 07, 2014, 11:11:41 AM »
How hard is it to put in new light fixtures? I want to put up a new ceiling fan/light in the kitchen and dining room.

Handyman Level: Beginner(Past experience - Flapper in toilet, scraping wallpaper/repainting, built elevated garden bed)

I know absolutely nothing about electrical wiring so my current plan is to invite my Electrical Engineer friend over to show me how. He is an Expert Handyman who has basically gutted and rewired his entire house.


****Ben Ji's Dad Side Story**** Senior year of High School my dad decides to do some handy man electrical work in my parents bathroom. Crawls up in the attic and gets to work....When he is finished the light in the bathroom would not turn off, just constantly on...Refused to admit defeat and would just stand up on the toilet to unscrew the lightbulb when he wanted to light off....if he wasnt home and the light was unscrewed/off my mom would make me stand on the toilet and screw it back in. Eventually he caved and had to call an actual electrician to fix the wiring.

that is PEAK dad-ness.
Sometimes I think of the Book of Job and how God likes to really eff with people.
- chunkles

Offline WillieWatanabe

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #303 on: November 07, 2014, 11:12:46 AM »
How hard is it to put in new light fixtures? I want to put up a new ceiling fan/light in the kitchen and dining room.

Handyman Level: Beginner(Past experience - Flapper in toilet, scraping wallpaper/repainting, built elevated garden bed)

I know absolutely nothing about electrical wiring so my current plan is to invite my Electrical Engineer friend over to show me how. He is an Expert Handyman who has basically gutted and rewired his entire house.


****Ben Ji's Dad Side Story**** Senior year of High School my dad decides to do some handy man electrical work in my parents bathroom. Crawls up in the attic and gets to work....When he is finished the light in the bathroom would not turn off, just constantly on...Refused to admit defeat and would just stand up on the toilet to unscrew the lightbulb when he wanted to light off....if he wasnt home and the light was unscrewed/off my mom would make me stand on the toilet and screw it back in. Eventually he caved and had to call an actual electrician to fix the wiring.

It's a good progression IMO. You can do it!

clams brings up a good point - why build a fence?

friend has a day care at home. required or something. pets maybe?
Sometimes I think of the Book of Job and how God likes to really eff with people.
- chunkles

Offline CNS

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #304 on: November 07, 2014, 11:13:14 AM »
Ben ji, super pud. 

is there an existing ceiling fan where you want to put the old one?  If not, you do have to make sure that the junction box is secured for the weight of fan.  If not, you can buy anchors to give you that support for like $15. 

Other than that, there is like three or four wires(four if you have a separate switch at the wall to turn the fan on separately from the light).  The fan's manual will tell you where to put what color wire.

Assembling the fan blades and stuff takes longer than hanging and wiring. 

Offline Skipper44

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #305 on: November 07, 2014, 11:14:48 AM »
also, we didn't put enough concrete in each hole. only did 1 bag per hole, except the corner posts which got 2. oops.
Has it actually been an issue?  The hard as hell clay in NE KS prolly would hold up the typical non privacy fence alone if you could dig the prefect hole.

Offline _33

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #306 on: November 07, 2014, 11:18:42 AM »
Ben ji, last summer I put 2 ceiling fans up on angled ceilings all by myself and they worked.  The lights worked, the fan worked.  The feeling you get when you flip the switch and everything does exactly what it's supposed to do is so unbelievable.  I cried a little.

Offline ben ji

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #307 on: November 07, 2014, 11:20:06 AM »
Ben ji, super pud. 

is there an existing ceiling fan where you want to put the old one?  If not, you do have to make sure that the junction box is secured for the weight of fan.  If not, you can buy anchors to give you that support for like $15. 

Other than that, there is like three or four wires(four if you have a separate switch at the wall to turn the fan on separately from the light).  The fan's manual will tell you where to put what color wire.

Assembling the fan blades and stuff takes longer than hanging and wiring.

Yes, already a fan/light fixture in the kitchen so that should be pretty pud.

I'm more worried about this monstrosity hanging in my dining room. Currently it is controlled by a "Dimmer Knob" on the wall but I've noticed that if I leave the lights on for a long time the plate around the "Dimmer Knob" get warm. Obviously not good.



When I replace that albatross with some new fixture's I'm guessing I'll have to put in a new "Light Switch" on the wall?

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #308 on: November 07, 2014, 11:21:10 AM »
The dimmer knob is just a variable resistor that burns the extra electricity off as heat.  So that's normal. 

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #309 on: November 07, 2014, 11:23:18 AM »
Replace the dimmer with a switch.  Two screws and two wires. 

This entire thing will take you like 1hr and roughly 58 min of that will be putting those little rough ridin' screws in wood blade and blade arms, and then screwing the blade arms to the fan motor while in the air, above your head, and making your shoulders feel super weak like that of a 7 yr old girl. 




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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #310 on: November 07, 2014, 11:24:26 AM »
The dimmer knob is just a variable resistor that burns the extra electricity off as heat.  So that's normal.

Seriously? I'm worried that if I leave that crap on all day It will start an electrical fire or something and burn my house down. Is that possible?

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #311 on: November 07, 2014, 11:26:19 AM »
Just replaced the motor on our air compressor to save the operation. Not even my job. :gocho:

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #312 on: November 07, 2014, 11:26:35 AM »
Replace the dimmer with a switch.  Two screws and two wires. 

This entire thing will take you like 1hr and roughly 58 min of that will be putting those little rough ridin' screws in wood blade and blade arms, and then screwing the blade arms to the fan motor while in the air, above your head, and making your shoulders feel super weak like that of a 7 yr old girl.
yes, a ratcheting screw driver or even those usually worthless electric screwdrivers are a god send for this

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #313 on: November 07, 2014, 11:28:15 AM »
The dimmer knob is just a variable resistor that burns the extra electricity off as heat.  So that's normal.

Seriously? I'm worried that if I leave that crap on all day It will start an electrical fire or something and burn my house down. Is that possible?

I do think it is possible.  I mean the design should be approved by a third part lab that certifies it as safe but crap still happens like improper install.

We put in two ceiling fans this summer you can dim the lights via remote, so all that crap is contained in the fan electronics which I'm hoping is safer.

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #314 on: November 07, 2014, 11:29:34 AM »
The dimmer knob is just a variable resistor that burns the extra electricity off as heat.  So that's normal.

Seriously? I'm worried that if I leave that crap on all day It will start an electrical fire or something and burn my house down. Is that possible?

I guess anything is possible, but dimmers get warm for the reason Emo explained. But just don't leave your lights on all day - save you money and peace of mind. Two birds with one stone.
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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #315 on: November 07, 2014, 11:30:49 AM »
Just replaced the motor on our air compressor to save the operation. Not even my job. :gocho:

thats pretty handymany

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #316 on: November 07, 2014, 11:31:09 AM »
The dimmer knob is just a variable resistor that burns the extra electricity off as heat.  So that's normal.

Seriously? I'm worried that if I leave that crap on all day It will start an electrical fire or something and burn my house down. Is that possible?

I guess anything is possible, but dimmers get warm for the reason Emo explained. But just don't leave your lights on all day - save you money and peace of mind. Two birds with one stone.
also make sure the bulbs in the fixture are not too high for the rating on dimmer

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #317 on: November 07, 2014, 11:34:44 AM »
Yeah, current dimmer/light fixture has been there since like 1980 and the house has not burned down so we should be good. I just noticed it would get warm a couple months ago and figured that was bad.

Thanks guyz!

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #318 on: November 07, 2014, 11:37:34 AM »
dimmers are pretty safe.   if you put multiple in the same box there can be some concerns, but even then you just oversize the box.

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #319 on: November 07, 2014, 11:39:22 AM »
Buy a modern dimmer which uses a triac.

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #320 on: November 07, 2014, 11:46:03 AM »
Just replaced the motor on our air compressor to save the operation. Not even my job. :gocho:

thats pretty handymany
I'm a god-damned american handyman hero.

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #321 on: November 07, 2014, 12:49:47 PM »
Guess who installed ALL THE BLINDS in ALL THE WINDOWS of his house? :excited:
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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #322 on: November 07, 2014, 12:57:11 PM »
Yeah, current dimmer/light fixture has been there since like 1980 and the house has not burned down so we should be good. I just noticed it would get warm a couple months ago and figured that was bad.

Thanks guyz!

just be sure the mounting box is rated for a ceiling fan. changing it out can be a bitch but the retrofit kits they sell make it easier.

also flip the breaker since apparently just turning the switch off doesnt necessarily do it especially if there are always on outlets wired through the same box and you shock myself.

Offline CNS

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #323 on: November 07, 2014, 01:02:20 PM »
Your ceiling box will be fine if it has been hanging that monstrosity from it for years.

When changing the fan itself, not the dimmer, just turning off the switch is fine.  Puni, I am worried about the possible wiring issues in your house.

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Re: handyman-ness
« Reply #324 on: November 07, 2014, 01:03:46 PM »
I got a volt tester thing from home depot when I was changing/fixing outlets at my house.  I discovered that my place was wired strangely and the breaker box was incorrectly labeled.  I could've done the job without it but am glad I bought it for the peace of mind.