I noticed water dripping from my kitchen ceiling. I informed my parents about it and they decided the best thing to do was rip part of the ceiling off? I am very worried about this as I think it may contain asbestos like one of those popcorn ceilings. Thanks for reading.
123100
School in South Korea removed asbestos over the past few weeks. Now I am all paranoid.   Is this asbestos? Found these dime-sized chunks by my desk.          Higher resolution images are available here:    There should be 4 pics. If not clear enough let me know.
5754
I have a contractor coming in to tile my home.  My floor is a post tension concrete slab, home is only 4 yrs old.  The contractor said they could just tile right over the linoleum, but after reading about the risks online, I decided to rip it up and they said they would just tile right over whatever material is left.  I can easily rip up the top layer of the linoleum, but the felt/paper layer adheres to the concrete 100%.  Should I be spending time/money/energy on getting all the felt paper up as well?  or is the contractor right that there will not be any issue?
60200
The plastic tubing supplying filtered water to our refrigerator currently runs below a suspended ceiling. I want to reroute it above. How do I disconnect it without damage from either the union or tee, so I can reconnect once moved? The tee is labeled NSF-51 Parker Parflex size 4. The union has no discernible markings. I believe I would rather disconnect the union rather than the tee. I didn't want to just start tugging. I have found similar fittings for sale online, but no instructions for use.  Here is the union:   And here is the tee:
108640
I recently purchased a early 1970's home that has this interesting outlet installed in the master bedroom. It is the only outlet in the entire house like this and I'm not real sure what it is for and if it should be removed. I haven't checked it for voltage or current yet as I don't have a multi-meter handy.    Just by looking, can anyone identify this for me? Is it safe, should it be removed? I haven't been able to see what it's wired to in the attic yet either as the wall is hard to get to in the attic.
109390
In the poor student or youth worker days it was popular to have never ending soup; a large pot on the stove that was topped up with new and leftover ingredients when available.  Normally the pot was stored in the fridge overnight.  Food items added were sometimes plate leftovers from fellow flat (share house) mates, who would in turn be eating the soup, too.  Most days other ingredients would be fresh(ish) vegetables, beans, grains, and fresh meat products sourced from the local butcher as money allowed.  Brussels sprouts where banned, and so were strong spices (you added those to your bowl before serving).  Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot.  Fresh bread was sometimes baked in the oven while cracked bones were browning, but the oven was often an electrical and environmental death trap.  The pot kept going till the summer holidays, and no one got food poisoning in my time, or from any student stories I have ever heard.  This sort of activity is recorded in history as being a popular resource-saving idea.  Are there any real food safety implications with this method of cooking? And have any actual studies of this technique ever been published?  I still recommend this money-saving idea to current students, not keen on bad practices being continued though.
13142
Made a kit on Saturday, 1/2 lb. Caramel 80 specialty grain, 9.15 lbs rye extract. Kit came with the Wyeast American Ale smack pack. When I got the yeast pack out of the fridge, the pack was already smacked, so to speak. The inner sugar pod had already been breached at some indeterminate time, and so the yeast had eaten and gassed, etc. Since I had no idea when this had happened, I figured I was better off using some of the dry yeast I had on hand. So, I pitched 1 packet of Safale-05 Saturday around 5PM.   Sunday went by, blowoff tube was quiet, and I started thinking one packet wasn't going to be able to deal with 1.075 SG. Sunday night I went to my fridge full of jars, pulled out the jar of S-05 culture, made 2 pints of starter with a half cup of dextrose and poured that in Monday morning. Before opening the bucket lid to add the starter Monday morning, the blowoff tube was burping a little bit, so I figured the extra yeast would make sure everything got going great. Since then, silence. No activity as far as I can tell. It's pretty cool where the bucket is, air temp around 64, and the bucket was sitting on the tile/concrete floor. So I put it in a tub this morning and filled it up with 65 degree water. Did I pitch 32 oz. of infection/disaster into a fermentation that was doing ok? Or is the cool temp keeping things from getting going?
24290
You can try it with your own uncooked spaghetti if you want; it almost always breaks into three when you snap it. I am asking for a good physical theory on why this is along with evidence to back it up. Or, a reference to a good study previously done on this would also be satisfactory. The math behind everything would be a great bonus if it exists.  My hypothesis is that a strand of dry spaghetti has two main pressure areas being put on it due to how brittle and how high the length to thickness ratio is, and that they snap at almost the same time due to the manufacturing process of the strand causing it to have a very consistent breaking point. Also that vibrations from a first break could influence the causing of another. I'm not sure how this could be tested, though.
18405
About 2-3 months ago I decided to start my own batch of vinegar.  I started with some Braggs apple cider vinegar which contains the mother, and I added some old wine and some fruit juice to the mix.  I kept it in a dark and warm place, as per instructions online.  A few layers of cheesecloth were placed on top to allow it to air, without letting anything else get into it.  When I recently opened it, I found a layer of what appears to be a yellow-orange mold on top.  There are also some small worms or maggots living on the top, but that doesn't seem as problematic to me.    As you can (sort of) see in this picture above, there is definitely a mother at the bottom.  The mother has grown since I last saw it.  I am not sure what to think about that top layer though.  Is the vinegar batch completely spoiled?  Picture #2 (a closer look at the top)
15309
I've got an old house with some asbestos tape on the heating vents, and some old floor tiles which are asbestos suspects as well; duct cleaning firms won't do cleaning on the vents with the tape present. Do I really need to call in the space suit guys to get rid of it? If I just cover it with new foil tape, will that encapsulate it safely?  Should I just rip it off myself?
97778
In Short  Our kitchen suppliers have told us that the kitchen should only go in 6-8 weeks after the heat has been turned on in our new build. Their concern is how dry the house is, I assume the issue they're talking about (in technical terms) is relative humidity? Would I be right in saying as long as we are achieving a reading of 50% or less humidity-wise, there should be no issue?  The reason I ask is we're working off a deadline which will only allow us 5 1/2 weeks of lead time with the heating on otherwise the whole thing gets pushed back 1-2 months.  TL;DR - A bit more background below  House Area: 250m2 Construction Type: Concrete Block  Our floors have been poured 4 weeks ago:   Upstairs: 50mm liquid screed Downstairs: 100mm sand and cement   The plastering was completed 5 weeks ago (gypsum all around and skim on ceilings)  I have been opening all the windows during the day and removing all condensation with a window vacuum before I close them up again at night.  For the past week the house has been receiving heat at night via 2 x 2.5kw heaters running for 8 hours.  The heating is to be provided by a heat pump (air to water) and distributed via underfloor heating, we also have a heat recovery system which should take some moisture out.  Recommendations  We've be told not to install dehumidifiers as it will crack the plaster, so is there anything else we should be trying or anything that we are doing and should stop?  Another suggestion was to isolate the heat to the kitchen by taping up openings to other rooms? My thinking was the moisture would be drawn from other rooms once these temp barriers were removed?
82627
Well, my MBP cable has gone yellow after a while. I've tried cleaning it with water, and also toothpaste (with whitening) and that doesn't seem to have removed the yellow stains. I guess I'll try mouthwash next; I may have to gargle that myself first. Anyone have the same problem? I haven't been keeping it in unusual places, in my bag and on the desk.  On the left is the whiter clean cable.
3432
I am making this  for pulled pork, planning to do 24 hours at 75 deg C. After coming home from work, I discovered I did not suck the air out properly and there is a big bubble in the bag, causing it to float to the top and for the top of the meat to be not submerged properly. I have now put a bowl on top of it to weigh it down for the next 12 hours. Will it still be safe to eat? Will it taste good?
95605
I built a carriage house is SC about 18 mos ago which I visited almost monthly. I took possession from my builder in mid May. In June, the can lights in the master mad e a sizzling noise when I turned the switch on and then died. I called the electrician and he came over and re wired them. Every month when I come back down the electric has been off and the clocks are flashing. I was down in August and the air conditioner had shut off and it seems the thermostat went bad. The fan in the freezer portion of the refrigerator also went bad.  We replaced the thermostat and the fan. I keep questioning my builder and he first called the power company. They came out and told me that some animals ate my wire and they fixed it. I was at the house the very next day and the power went off again. This does not happen to any of the neighbors. I keep questioning my builder. He is now telling me it is arc breakers which are required here. Problem is that his electrician hanged these out the first time. Now last week the ceiling fan in the family room burnt out. There is power tot he switch but the fan itself is dead. I keep telling my builder there is something wrong. He insists not. I can’t believe all this is normal. I’m 53 and never had such issues.  Can anyone shed any light on what might be going on??? I don’t want my house to burn down and I’m super tired of paying to replace everything. Thanks in advance!!!
79523
I'm just getting ready to lay down the grout after successfully tiling our master bathroom. I've been told in no uncertain terms that I must remove the spacers between tiles (or else grouting over them can result in cracking of the grout). That makes sense -- however, I'm also reading on the box that I should "clean the grout joints". They show a tool that appears to be scraping excess mortar from the joints.  Do I need to be worried about scraping down the hardened mortar so that the joints can be completely filled with grout or are they talking about simply removing any loose mortar? Although none of my joints have mortar that rises above the grout, many of the tiles have some sections where the mortar is higher than others. I'm reading elsewhere that it's ideal to get rid of all excess mortar between tiles before it hardens (whoops).  How important is this?  Update:  As of September, 2011, it's been 9 months since I completed this job and things have been solid. I scraped only the areas that were high (close to or slightly above the tile). From this purely anecdotal evidence, it seems logical to conclude that it isn't necessary to be too much of a purist about clearing out all mortar between tiles before laying down your grout.  Update 2:  As of April, 2012 I've found only one tile that may have a slight issue. On one of the center tiles that gets a lot of traffic, I must not have put down a perfectly smooth layer underneath because I can hear an occasional slight shift. The joints along the edge still look great though.
83421
I was chatting to the guys at my LBS the other day about how they get my bike so clean when I take it in for a service. They said they use compressed air to clean it.   They warned I shouldn't use any high pressure water because it can get into the sealed bearings and cause damage. I also noted on the  (right at the end) that you should "Never spray your bicycle with water under pressure".  How much of an issue is this? Rinsing the bike with the hose is such a convenient way to wash off loose grit and then the soap after washing. How do you clean your bikes?
638
I took apart my cooling platform Something like this :  And I found something like this inside :       I wonder why around the hollows are the "canyon like" structures.  PS: I also drop this platform on the floor, maybe this could be a reason ?   EDIT :  Everybody seems (except Brandon Enright answer) to ignore the word "dust" in this question. Those structures are not in the plastic itself. It is dust ON the plastic.  Proof :     Completely wiped out with my finger :
88115
I have an old prefab cottage made of wood.     its walls have become leaky. When it rains sideways (happens a lot because we're so close to the sea), water seeps in from in between the beams, and through the knotholes.     This is, of course, ruining the wood inside and I need to do something.    The weather conditions here are extreme: in summer, there is zero rain, and temperatures can reach up to 40°C (104°F). In winter, there are rare but intense rainfalls. I guess the nearby sea makes the air very salty.    I have considered - and discarded - a number of options, but of course I'm open to being corrected! I am really out of my depth here.   Varnish it - the most obvious solution I guess, and would take care of the leaks, but that'd have to be sanded down every couple years, right? I'd like to avoid that as it would be a lot of work. Especially since with our extreme weather, the cycle is going to be very short. Use silicone to fix the leaks directly - I've been told that might not hold together well, and silicone that can withstand the sun is extremely expensive around here. It could be hundreds of Euros to do the job. Plaster the walls - an interesting option as it would also add a little bit of insulation (it gets mercilessly hot in the cottage during the summer), but I've never done this before, it seems tough to do and it would of course alter the look of the building.    Obviously, I'd like the solution to be as cheap as possible, and as long-lasting as possible.  What would you do?