Walt, thanks for all the info you have provided. It has been a great help. I think it was you that said my adjusting the valve on the briggs engine in my wifes gilson was the worst case of shade tree mechanicing you had ever heard of. Probably. Except, I was repairing cars (and tractors) since I was 10. I didn't know service manuals existed. I had no feeler gauges or torque wrenches. My mentor was my dad who preferred to drive horses to tractors. He never worked on his cars, but always took them to a mechanic. I Put the wrong head on a 41 chev when I was 11 years old. It took me an hour to remove it and put a different one on and adjust the valves. Anyway, you have told me several times that retorqueing the head won't work. And I have changed several headgaskets that were bad (just as you described). However, I had a new experience with a '75 VW rabbit. It was running badly, so I did a compression check. I had given up on tuneing worn out engines, which is why I always did a compression check. Sure enough, the compression on the center two cylinders was low and the same. I screwed in my air hose adapter, and the air from one cylinder squirted out the other. Sure proof the the gasket was leaking between the two cylinders. On changeing the gasket, I found the egr pipe had rusted and fallen off leaveing a large hole in the intake manifold. Pluging this and the car ran much better, of course. Now back to that head gasket. I inspected that rabbit gasket as well as I could and it was perfect. I concluded that it only leaked when cold and when hot, expansion sealed the leak. Therefore, retorqeing the head bolts would have fixed that one. My grand daughter had a chevy cavailer which was running bad. When I checked compression, some readings were rather low. So I retorqued the head bolts. The compression came up and the engine ran much better. Conclusion: If caught early, retorqeing can seal the headgasket and it is much easier than replaceing the gasket (If I replaced the gasket, I would also make sure the head was flat, probably by rubbing it on some emery paper). Also, new gaskets must be tougher than the old ones were. And did you know that coke cans are .004 to .005 inch thick on the center of their sides? So I left the intake in that range. The exhaust is under .010, and probably .008 (it could have been as low as .007). I'm sure you have seen these gaps quite wide. Intake would have been .015 to .020 and exhaust in the .020 to .025 range before my adjusting. As to her engine numbers, she used the numbers she had showed the guy to pull up a parts diagram of her engine on the briggs site (mod-287707, type-022501, code-970311ZD). She kept asking why the head gasket in the book (and in her hand) didn't look like the one on the briggs site. So I made up a story about 'L' being the cumbustion chamber shape of a valve-in block (What's a valve, what's a block). Girls!!! If I was doing a repair for money, I would do a complete job. A customer wants a working repair. Not a maybe. And doesn't want to pay extra for a second try at fixing it. I would always replace a bad starter, not change the drive gear and/or brushes. Probably replace the short block on an engine that is smokeing or useing oil. Kids are fun! But I try not to help. A little advice when they are stuck, usualy with a science lesson. Oh, In your bolt numbering scheme, I didn't know which bolt was to be number one (I now think you meant top center). On the other hand, I kinda don't believe it matters if you go around several times and take each bolt up just a small amount. So I used the sequence in the 'L' head manual, skipping the bolt under the exhaust which was still hidden and of course the one that was removed for the push rod galley. Oh, I was asking if they retorqued the flywheel nut. What a couple of stooges!! JerryO

jerryO, not to say the least that I have put the screws to my air filter problem, Now I can't get my mower back from the B&S dealer. I checked today with the manager and he says the ignition is OK, the cold compression is OK and the leak down test went fine, soooo, what is the problem, he doesn't have a clue, he has to check in with his B&S representative to see what to do next. I'm beginning to think I should have called the Sears repairman in the first place, but than again the Briggs tech said that to get the cover replaced under warranty I would have to go through the B&S dealer, that Sears wouldn't know what to do if it is not on their parts list. So I guess I will have to wait and see what they (B&S) decides to do next. I'm beginning to think that there might be a bad diode on the one cylinder that is missing, I hope that they checked for feed back in diodes. Well there is one good thing that has come from this, the air filter cover dosen't leak any more. The thing that grippes me the most is that the tractor was doing great until I found dirt in the intake elbow of the carb, now it has been over a month sense I used my tractor. It's a good thing that I still have my old garden tractor with the good old reliable Vanguard engine, it still runs as good as the day I first bought it new, thirteen years ago, some things just never change do they? jerryO by adding the two extra thumb screws to your Intek's, do you think it might confuse the repairman that works on your engine the next time? just kidding. Dan

Hello azee_2009, OK I originally thought it was going to be a rooftop greenhouse, but after rereading your second post I wasn't sure anymore. As far as the construction I used to build mine, it could be applied to a rooftop situation. By just building a sturdy base for the electrical conduit posts/poles. Similar to the baseboards I made for mine. The weight of it will keep it in place. The poles for my greenhouse only go down in the ground about 8-10 inches, and there is no cement holding them down (just the weight of the greenhouse structure itself). I just posted the link/information to give you some ideas. That greenhouse looks much nicer than the one I built. Although much more expensive too. Not including the subterranean system, and the hydro systems inside, I built my whole 10 by 20 foot greenhouse for about $800. Ya, heat will be challenging. Our outside temp today was about 92 degrees, but the temp inside the greenhouse was 108 degrees. When the temps here reach the 120 mark, greenhouse temps would likely be around 140-150 if I didn't have a multi tiered cooling plan. Cross ventilation is great in some circumstances, but it wont help much at all to blow 120 degree air on your plants when it gets hot. Given the best circumstances, swamp coolers may bring the temps down about 20 degrees. But if humidity isn't carefully controlled, they may only provide a difference of between 5 and 10 degrees at most of cooling effect by themselves. Just to clarify, when I mention high humidity, I mean in the greenhouse. That will depend a lot on temperature inside the greenhouse, water vapor given off from the hydroponic systems inside. Not to mention the biggest factor, how many plants your growing, and how big they are. Plants breath out water vapor (called transpiration). The water vapor (relative humidity) in the greenhouse will get higher and higher unless it's ventilated. But ventilating a cooler greenhouse with the (hot) dry outside air will only heat up the inside of your greenhouse. I have searched the web a lot & every where i have read that Double Poly Sheet that makes air pockets between them retain heat within the greenhouse & reduce heating costs about 50% compared to single poly coverings. So how would i be able to use it. As i have to fight against high temperatures. The air pocket in-bitween the two layers of poly is an insulation pocket. Air pockets are the best insulation there is. Insulation will protect against heat just as easy as it does against cold. If your greenhouse is cooler than it is outside, the insulation (air pocket) will help keep your expensive cool air inside the greenhouse stay cooler longer. If you have no way to cool the inside of the greenhouse, then it wont help much. The air pocket is just insulation, not a cooling or heating layer. It just helps block the heat transfer from one side to the other. Blocks heat from getting out during winter, and blocks against heat from getting in during summer. The 4-5 inch's between both layers you describe should be plenty. Typically it's only about one inch between layers. Though I would expect that you will still get much better results with a air blower between the two layers. The reason is if you blew the cooler air in between the layers, it won't give the air pocket a chance to heat up. Thus keep the heat transfer between the inside, and outside layers to a minimum. I want to know the link & name of software you are using to create 3D images. I want to download it to make someone understand what i mean. I use a free program called Google SketchUp. They have a pro version you can pay for, but I've always used the free version, and like it very much. I save all my drawings into a folder so I can expand on them later without starting over. Before you post your drawings, you'll need to remember to export and save it as a 2D image. Otherwise it wont be in jpg. format, and people that don't have Google Sketchup wont be able to view it. Before I built my greenhouse, I did a lot research online to figure out what would work the best for me, as well as my budget. Here are a bunch of the links I have got bookmarked from those searches. I know it's a lot to read over, and it's been a long time sense I looked through it myself. But a lot of it is in lists of topics. I just read through what was of interest to me. Arched Greenhouse PRESENTATIONS REFERENCE SOURCES Horticultural Engineering Greenhouse Energy Cost Reduction Strategies POLYTHENE GREENHOUSE FILM FACTS Chapter 11- Greenhouse Site Selection Chapter 12- Greenhouse Structures Chapter 13- Greenhouse Control Systems Chapter 14- Greenhouse Energy & Resource Alternatives "Greening" the Greenhouse Greenhouse Glazing Greenhouse Energy Conservation Strategies Greenhouse Energy Conservation Strategies: Temperature and Scheduling Managing Greenhouse Temperature

Sometimes I agree that real and faux marble shouldn't be paired but I really like the tones in your two pictured samples. I think you're right that stark white isn't great and that some tonal variation would be. I think either of those woild be pretty. If you're going to use the marbles, I might get more sample blocks, just to make sure the pattern/effect isn't too dizzying when repeated. There was a thread about London Sky ( faux marble) quartz started a couple years ago, in which people showed their real marble backsplashes with it. That might give you some idea if you hate or like the pairing. Grays will have different undertones - not all are greenish. Your wall looks like more of a purple undertone on my screen so if you're thinking gray, you do need to work with that wall. But a light gray, maybe with a bit of texture and/or color variation in the tile, as your marble has, could be pretty. Look at Tilebar, if you haven't, even just for inspiration. Strictly for example, this tile is Montaug Fog, from thst website. This is what I mean by variation and your samples have it. Even if you move to gray, I'd be looking for something besides a flat or strictly one color tile. Love your kitchen so far!