Gotcha, if all your outlets are letting in cold air, problem is more likely to be the insulation in the walls at the sill plates, that can be a much bigger and expensive fix. Sealing the outlets will help but is still a bandaid on the larger problem of cold air entering your walls somewhere. Personally I would still seal my outlets. In my own home where I know the outlets are terminated correctly and that my gfcis and breakers work and everything was installed correctly, I would have very little worry about using the putty on the inside of the outlet box. I'd still be sure to take up as little space as possible inside the box. I would focus on sealing where the wires enter the box which should eliminate the majority of the draft.

While you typically would seal the outside, If you only have access to the inside of the outlet and can pull the socket out of the box you should still be able to seal most of it with fire putty.yiu can see how it's typically used in these pics: https://imgur.com/a/qKRGx0n

Just about every home center should carry 10" wood planks. It really depends on what kind of wood you're looking for and what you'll be using it for. Right now the closest home Depot to me has a couple of different grades of 2x10 in douglas fir and they would happily cut it to 46" for you, but like 2x4s 2x10s are actually smaller than their advertised, I think a 10" board is really 9.5" the grade of wood at big box stores is generally not well suited for anything but construction. If you're looking for something exactly the dimensions you need or a different type of wood I would Google around for a lumber supplier near you, they typically have all kinds of wood and can cut it to your specific dimensions. In my experience, if you want something nicer than construction lumber you should find a lumber supply company.

We use fire caulk in an industrial setting often, it seals drafts and is required to maintain a ratings on some firewalls, there is also fire rated expanding foam available. Depending on the type of gangboxes you have installed even the unused knockouts (perforated or thinned spots for cables to enter the box) could be allowing air transfer and you'd want to cover those if that's the case. You don't want to fill the box itself, it'll make future work impossible and while caulk itself is typically not conductive, the moisture before it cures is. Duck brand among others also make sealing kits for the front of outlets that you can pick up at most hardware stores or online.

I hear you. A lot of my projects are DIY because I enjoy the act, I like woodworking, I like planning projects, I like learning about new things. I don't think DIY needs to solely be about solving the problem, it can also be solving the problem the way you want. Sure I could just buy a mesh network but at that point I could also just pay someone to install Ethernet drops for me.

I've got a tv mounted in my living room, and the router/modem/service connection is on the other side of the house on the same 2nd level. The WiFi is usually adequate but there's just enough signal drop between the multiple interior walls and microwave that we'll get stutters or buffering as the video drops in quality, and then another stutter as it jumps back to a higher res. Ideally I wouldve liked to have run Ethernet into my attic and drop in behind the TV, but the living room ceiling is vaulted. My first thought is to run some plenum rated cable along the HVAC to the living room and enter the wall behind some baseboard, but fishing cable along the HVAC sounds like a terrible time. My next thought is to just run some exterior conduit which would be an easier solution but also the ugliest. Last option is a mesh network/Moca/power line adapter which would probably be easiest and work well, but lacks the diy satisfaction we all love. Plus I'm just an Ethernet fan boy. Any input or advice is welcome.

My guess would be corrosion further along the lines leading away from the fixture that wasn't visible. Corrosion will 100% cause voltage drop in a line. If it were me, I would get some new cable, use the old cable to pull the new cable through and wire that up. Worst case scenario it still doesn't work but you know you've got nice non corroded wiring and eliminated another variable.

That's what I would do. I'm not sure how thick the wood is, but I would start with a 80 grit sandpaper across the whole top. Depending on how deep those stains are, you might need to take off a decent amount to remove anything visible and you wouldn't want to have a low spot. You could do this by hand with some sandpaper sheets and a sanding block (or a 2x4 chunk), but a random orbital sander would be my tool of choice. I've seen them as low as 35$ at a big box store.

Once I got all the stain sanded away I would give it a wipe down with some bleach mixed with water (max one cup bleach to one gallon water). Then I'd move to 120 grit sandpaper then 220, which would be plenty smooth for me on a bar cart, but you could go higher. I would finish the top with a nice food safe wax or oil, like tung oil or beeswax, they're easy to apply, and maintain. If you plan on placing hot things on the cart I'd avoid the wax though.

I think you would be well served with some solderless t tap connectors. I've used them for similar low voltage wiring and theyre a breeze to use vs wire nuts.