My New House & Workshop

[Jim Oaks]

Lowe's /Home Depot sell a concrete repair caulk in a tube that would work well for that.

I bought some of that, but some if the gaps are way to big. Once it's all done I'm thinking I may spray some foam in there to fill most of the void, and then finish it off with hydraulic cement. I've seen it mentioned several times and a few videos talking about using it and how fast it sets up.

 

[Rick W]

Put masking tape on the block wall around the hole, and on either side of that crack, back about 3 or 4 inches from the opening. Then use the expanding foam. If it oozes out of the hole, it will sit on the tape. Once it’s dry/set, you can cut it off the surface with like a kitchen knife, pull the tape, and then you can carefully dig out a little bit of the foam so you can lay the caulk on top of it. Paint the wall and it will disappear.

You don’t have to use rustoleum for this one…

 

[sgtsandman]

Fun Fact; The code now requires the light above the sink to be GFCI protected. Not the one in the ceiling, but the one above the sink. Basically if you can put one hand in the sink, and touch the light fixture with the other hand, it's supposed to be on a ground fault circuit.

Another Fun Fact; You are required now to run a neutral to all switch boxes. So that basically means you need to run the wire with the extra red wire in it.

If it's not going to be inspected, don't worry about it.

I'm a bit confused on the neutral thing. Isn't there already a neutral in 3 wire? Or is this a bonding thing above and beyond the ground being in every box?

 

[sgtsandman]

I bought some of that, but some if the gaps are way to big. Once it's all done I'm thinking I may spray some foam in there to fill most of the void, and then finish it off with hydraulic cement. I've seen it mentioned several times and a few videos talking about using it and how fast it sets up.

They rolls of foam to fill the cracks before you seal it. Or is the cracks too big for that as well? I think it is meant more for filling cracks in driveways, but it might serve the same purpose in a cinder block wall.

 

[franklin2]

I'm a bit confused on the neutral thing. Isn't there already a neutral in 3 wire? Or is this a bonding thing above and beyond the ground being in every box?

The way you used to do it, yes there is a white wire going to the switch. But that was because the romex came with a white wire. You would take a piece of black tape and put it around the white wire, the white wire became a hot wire. Power coming in on the black wire, power leaving the switch going back up to power the light on the white wire. So in the old days, a switch leg had 2 hots and a ground, no neutral. Using the ground as a neutral is a no-no.

I have heard the main reason they made this rule was to accommodate the new fangled automatic light switches. They all have a "brain" or electronics in them to detect motion. To run the brains, it needs 120v power, so you need a neutral to get 120v power from the hot wire and the neutral. So the newer automatic switches need 3 wires, power, neutral, and switch leg to the light.

Yes, they do make 2 wire motion switches. They "stole" some of the 120v power, probably 5v or less, and used this for the brains. This small 5v got it's neutral through leakage through the light fixture. The problem now is, if you use LED lighting, there is not enough leakage through the LED fixture to steal the 5v, so the 2 wire motion switch usually doesn't work with LED lighting.

You can thank the government for some of these new rules.