i have posted before about coating glazed urns inside with roofing tar-to make waterproof.i think you can use the same method for terracotta.you can read about my method at www.cottonarboretum.blogspot.com OR see below: Making glazed pots into FOUNTAINS, and cleaning them Posted by arbo_retum z5 ,WinchstrMA (My Page) on Mon, May 1, 06 at 14:38 SEALING/WATERPROOFING THE POT: We have converted three large chinese red glazed and blue glazed earthenware pots- to fountains. we have plugged up their bottom drainage holes by putting black duct tape underneath the hole, and then from the inside of the pot, filling the hole with 'Bondo'. after the Bondo has dried, we apply a thin opaque coat of roofing tar to the entire inside of the pot, up to the glaze. once that has dried thoroughly, the pot is ready to put in place,fill with water , and insert a pump, which we put on bricks.over the pump's water 'nozzle', we then put a piece of tight-fitting black pvc pipe , cut long enough to make a nice fountain but not too high or low. (this height issue and the water fountain 'look' that you want are what takes all the tweaking.)you may also want to play with various pump sizes. ELECTRICITY: even though electricians don't recommend this, we then plug in the pump to an electrical outlet using outdoor green electrical wire- like you use for outdoor xmas tree light.we don't bother to bury the wire(unless it crosses a path); we put mulch/shredded leaves over it to hide it as needed, and we do not take it up for the winter. the one drawback to this system, where we plug up the hole, is that you can see the electrical wire that hangs outside the pot, but that can sometimes be camouflaged. we use sealed pots for fountains but also for growing waterplants (cannas, elephant ears, water iris, waterlilies). we bring in our pots onto a screened porch but in z.5 they can be turned over and left outside if they are raised up off the ground. CLEANING: the ugly white milky lime deposits we eventually get on the outsides of the pots-i clean in the fall or spring.we tried Lime-Away but it didn't work well. Instead i devised this system: I use XXXX grade-the finest- steel wool dipped in BOILING vinegar(i plug in an electrical fondue pot next to the pots i'm cleaning to keep the vinegar boiling!!)I go over the outside glaze once-gently but firmly, keeping my st.wool very wet w/ the boiling vinegar. then i let the pot dry. if it still has lime, i go over it again and let it dry. then i coat the pot with a thin coat or 2- of butchers wax, buffed with towelling. the pots are placed on columns/pedestals in the gardens. i personally feel every garden needs some form of water. what a difference it makes.our gardens are on a busy main street so we have fountains and waterfalls spread throughout the garden. the sound is soothing and inviting and helps mask the street noise. i hope some of you find this info useful! best, mindy

I like the battery rundown protection feature also. It will save a lot of batteries and alternators, not to mention the frustration of finding that the car won't start and having to jump start it. Also, any battery that's run down to the point where it won't start the car should ideally be charged with a battery charger at a slow rate. Alternators hit the battery with a strong charge and in many cases the battery won't ever recover unless it's charged more slowly. A car battery that's never deep discharged can last a very long time. I've had them go 10 years before. Leaving the lights on to the point where the battery is stone dead -- not even enough voltage to produce a glimmer of light in the headlights -- will essentially ruin its chance of a long life. I'm not necessarily saying run out and get a new battery if that happens, but at least charge it with a charger and don't just let the alternator do it. And realize that the lifespan of the battery is cut every time that happens. Here's what a good battery can do for you: Last March I had the alternator fail in my Blazer. I was 70 miles from home. It was night, so I had to have the headlights on. I had a Wal-Mart EverStart battery about 1 1/2 years old, never deep discharged. I turned off all accessories except the lights and started heading toward home. I made it 69 3/4 miles -- it finally quit when I was on my road and could almost see my house. I think that's pretty good for headlights on and no alternator. So now that battery has been somewhat deep discharged, but nowhere near as bad as leaving the headlights on, because those will just keep sapping power until it's down to nothing. The Blazer's computer apparently shuts things down when the system voltage hits about 10 or 11, because it was showing 11 on my tester when I got home; probably under load that would be 10 or maybe less. (First it shuts off the overdrive in the transmission, then the ABS, and finally the ignition system.) According to the charger, it was at 41 percent. So I charged it with the charger, replaced the alternator, and that battery is still in there, doing okay. But it may not last as long as it would have if that hadn't happened. (On the instructions that came with the replacement alternator, they said if the alternator has failed and the battery is run down, it is not just recommended but is absolutely necessary to charge it with a charger and not just expect the alternator to bring it up, because doing that will shorten the life of the alternator.)

Thanks for the reply, womanowned. I fear the state of decrepitude on the flagstone we have has forever soured me on it, so I likely would not use it in our remodel. We've owned the home and pool less than a year, but I would say the flags began to wear to the point of looking very bad years and years ago, not that we have gotten 37 years of good life out of them. Previous repairs/bad mortaring jobs indicate they have been outside their serviceable life for some time. We have a plain chlorine pool, not salt, but I don't know what all the pool has been in the past. Much of the plumbing/pumps/filter are all fairly recent, so may have been part of a previous overhaul. Might post some photos tonight just so everyone can see what 37 year old flagstone looks like. :) If anyone else has a comment about the epoxy fix, I would sure appreciate it! Thanks!

Yes, you can do it yourself if your handy, it's not that hard. You can probably find a video on youtube showing you how to do it. Basically just chisel the old grout out and replace with new cement. Just have clean water a sponge with you at all times. As long as you don't let cement dry on the stones it'll look great.