Question: Last night I had way too many electrical things turned on in the bathroom and the power went out for all the plugs and lights in the bathroom, as well as two bedrooms.
What can I do?
Your Handyman: It sounds like your circuit breaker correctly did one of the jobs it is designed to do, which is to protect your home’s wiring from getting overheated when your appliances are demanding more electricity than the wiring can safely provide.
Modern conveniences like air conditioners, hair dryers, toasters and coffee makers use relatively large amounts of electrical wattage. Without the protection of a circuit breaker, the electrical wires in your walls could get dangerously hot trying to supply all the needed power when multiple appliances are in use.
Most homes will have a circuit breaker box located on an outside wall where the power wires from the utility poles connect to the house, and sometimes an additional smaller circuit breaker box or sub panel will be located on a wall inside a closet or in the garage.
The circuit breaker box should always be approached with caution and should not be opened when standing out in the rain or with wet hands.
Usually, you can easily see which circuit breaker has “tripped,” or turned off, by just looking at the position of the switches.
However, the circuit breaker needs to be pushed back into the ON position but not held in the On position to reset its internal mechanism. Holding the breaker in the On position if there is a short in the circuit could burn out the breaker, in which case it would then need to be replaced.
Really all you can do is to not run additional appliances on the same circuit. If the power does not come back on after resetting the breaker, or you have any concerns about safely accessing the circuit breaker box, it is time to call an electrician.
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Question: We live on Santa Barbara’s Mesa, and our wood fence is as old as the house and is precariously leaning downhill toward our neighbor’s home.
The fence is built on the top of a small cement block retaining wall in our neighbor’s yard, and the wall is also in bad condition and should be rebuilt.
The problem is that our neighbor is not interested in replacing either the retaining wall or fence even if we pay the entire bill.
In the meantime, my husband and I are worried that our fence is going to completely fall down and then we will have no privacy at all in our backyard.
Any suggestions?
Your Handyman: You’ve probably heard the old adage that “Good fences make good neighbors.” Being on friendly terms with your neighbors is important, but having the private use of your backyard is just as important.
Many of the homes on the Mesa were built in the 1950s and ’60s. That is a long time for your wood fence to survive the effects of weather, termites and dry rot, and it’s probably past due for replacement.
However, if the fence is supported by a crumbling retaining wall that your neighbor will not allow you to rebuild, then it makes no sense to spend the money to build a new fence that may collapse when the wall finally gives way.
It sounds like the only realistic option is to install several metal support posts on your side of the fence that are set in concrete and then attach them to the fence with metal deck screws.
This should support the old fence for at least a few more years or maybe even more.
The expense of installing or maintaining a fence that sits on a property line is usually shared by both neighbors but often one party either can’t afford the expense or just doesn’t want to cooperate.
Hopefully, your neighbor will come around sometime in the near future, be more cooperative, and maybe even agree to share the expense of both a new retaining wall and a new fence.
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Question: My wife and I are both in our 80s and are a little unsteady going up and down the steps to our front porch.
The steps and walkway are concrete, and we didn’t have any handrails put in when they were originally made, but we sure need them now.
Is it possible to have a handrail installed without going through all the expense of putting in new steps?
Your Handyman: There are a couple of different possible options for safely installing a handrail on your concrete steps that will give you a sturdy handgrip while going up or down them.
The easiest would be to have an ornamental iron handrail with posts all welded together as a single unit and fastened to the steps with concrete anchors.
A metal square of about 4 inches by 4 inches is welded to the bottom of each post, a hole is drilled in each corner of this base plate, and it is screwed down to the cement using expanding concrete anchors.
Holes are drilled into the concrete using a rotary impact drill, the concrete anchors are inserted in the holes, and the base of the anchor mushrooms out when the nut on top is tightened.
When done correctly it is more than strong enough to support the post. A decorative metal “skirt” is then slid down the post to conceal the base plate and anchor heads.
Usually a handrail is about 34-inches high and needs to be of a size that allows you to easily grip it when needed.
There are many welding and wrought iron shops in Santa Barbara that can both design and install a handrail that will be an attractive addition to the front of your home and provide you with a safe grip.
