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Thanks, thatgirlinnewyork - very, very helpful!

I just finished renovating my kitchen and changes all the appliances one month and a half ago, but two weeks ago i just used the new dishwasher for the first time, i can tell the machine is running, but apparently there is no water in the machine, but it seems the pipe is connected. So my questions are what could be the problem and whether i can fix it myself. Also i have tried to contact the contractor who did the renovation, but they dont answer my email or phone call, what can i do? should i try any legal approach with them? i am very upset, because it is obvious that they did not install the appliances correctly... hope you can give me some suggestions. It is my first renovation project.. Thank you very much.

meh on the portable a/c units. they're not very strong, take up space on the floor, instead of your window, and the pans need monitoring and emptying--never encountered one that did a decent job of cooling or circulation.

What is the gurus' take on portable air-conditioners? I am thinking of those free-standing units that can be moved from room to room. Other than expense, what downside(s) is/are there?

woman with vibration up and down common line in a building: we had the same thing happening for a couple of years in our old building, which was built in the late 20s. it mystified residents and the building alike--so many things were explored.

it came down to the plumbing riser. the catches up and down that riser were mostly original ones. if someone ran water strongly or flushed, the low vibration would ratchet up temporarily, then return to "normal". the old catches wouldn't close completely, and would cause the vibration.

the (condo) building was too cheap/intimidated to do anything large-scale about it, as it would have required replacing the catches up and down that riser for 18 floors, and shutting down water significantly. so their (not so) brilliant solution was to replace them, one at a time, as each resident complained, never quite fixing the entire thing. check this out and get the building to do the right thing! good luck!

An addition was added onto the back of my home about five years ago. I recently noticed an oval shaped wet mark about 1 1/2 inches wide and about six inches in height on one of the outside walls. The home is vinyl-sided. Is this rain leaking through? Is it from the siding or the roof?

Opening both halves of double-hung windows for ventilation is a problem with windows like ours which have a screen only for one half. I open one window on the top and another below -- does that do the trick?

QUESTION:
Our home is build on a crawl space the bottom of which is sand. The water table is kind if high where we live because we are about 1100 feet from the water, but we do not get water or fludin the space. The problem is is VERY humid there in the summer as confirmed once by a workman and another time by my husband. I am afraid that the wooden joists will rot. I don't think a dehumidifier would make sense because because the space is difficult to get into to empty and there are small grills around the perimiter of the foundation so I would be dehimidifying Long Island. Can you suggest a solution. We do have a power outlet in the space.

i have central air in my house in Fairfield CT It is REALLY expensive to run so I shut it off during the day and put it on at around 9 at night. Am I really saving money?

How do I fix insulation coming up through my central air vents? The ducts are in a very difficult to access crawl space. The air is still blowing fine.

The air conditioning does not seem to be distributed throughout the rooms properly. Some rooms are warmer than others and these are not necessarily rooms that have exposure to the sun. What needs to be done to re-distribute the air properly? Re-doing the ducts and relocating the registers? If so, how do you determine the route and location?

There is a dark stain on the cement of the front patio that is in line with the air conditioner. This side faces the street. Is this from the air conditioner and how do i clean it?
I love you guys!

A window air conditioner drips. Green stain on the brick exterior of the building and the street below. How to stop the drip? How to clean the stain?

A 10,000 BTU LG air conditioner fell on to my terrace from a tenant on the 7th floor of a 15-story building ... It fell at 1:30 am ... and tenant denies losing his AC ... This could have killed someone if the AC was above a sidewalk or if it happened while I was on the terrace! Complained to landlord and DOB ... but was told there is no law covering proper AC installation ...

Do air conditioners let in mosquitos? My wife and I have observed that when the AC is off, we get mosquitos enter into our bedroom at night. Is this feasible?

Live in a co-op and the person above had their enire apt rewired and has installed recessed lights throughout. Being that my apt has the original wiring from 1950's would this have any pull on my load? I've noticed my apt has been warmer in certain rooms. Just curious. Thanks.

How difficult and dangerous is it to replace a normal overhead light with a ceiling fan? Should this be left to an electrician?

What is the lowest temperature I can set my thermostat in the winter that will be safe for the house? Can it be set to 55 degrees just to keep everything from freezing? My house is old (1904) with plaster walls and radiators.

SUMMARY:
We want to put down 16" ceramic tile in the hallway and kitchen. Hallway currently has smaller ceramic tiles. Kitchen has vinyl resilient, circa 1981. What's the right way to do this? What if the vinyl contains asbestos? How do we test for that?

DETAILS:
We want to put down 16" ceramic tile, on a diagonal, in the hallway and running seamlessly into the kitchen. Hallway currently has smaller ceramic tiles. Kitchen has vinyl resilient, installed probably when the house was built in 1981. The right way to do this would be to take up both the existing surfaces, level it and put down the new tile. But until only a few years before, some resilient had asbestos, right? Can we put ceramic over the resilient without it cracking (will be moving in new appliances)? Is it okay to put it over the old tile (do we need to level the old grout lines)? Unfortunately, putting down cement board over everything, then the new tile, would raise the floor too high.

I have a house in the Hudson Valley. There is something dark brown destroying my wooden porch where it meets the concrete steps leading up to it. The brown thing has now moved on to tearing apart the concrete steps. A friend says that this is a "wood mushroom" that is a serious problem, but offered no advice other than to get rid of it. I would be grateful for any help.