Hello! A lot of info, that is good. I joined to specifically "HELP". I have 23 yrs. experience in the horticulture industry. The points made by mjsee,marcinde,bboy,cmniholsdesigns,laag are exceptional!!! You are really creating an "Outdoor Living Space" that will definately give you the "WOW" factor and you will use this outdoor environment. I am not one to side w/ others in this field, for lack of knowledge of some of these so called "pro's" Here is an example: the majority of my work is from word of mouth and fixing CRAP from others. I have driven by job's that I have lost because there was not value placed on Vision, Function, & Workmanship. This is what I see and say time & again "You have to be Shtting me" I could of put three times the profit in my pocket had I done something like that and been done 3-4 wks. earlier. There is really a lot of craftsmanship & experience required in you're project. As I look over the quote it is elaberate in detail, which is good! The person you have consulted w/ really seems to be a visionary. Example: the back patio has two tiers, the hardscape material & style chosen is TOP, it appears there may be some inlays on the patio, boulders are included as part of the structure of the design, two tiers will make things seem much larger and give the feel of individual rooms, the detail outlined is TOPNOTCH! If you have this done make sure the plantings are done on berms, it adds an incredible amount of asthetics. I have done these elaberate "rooms", when they are done the amount of work becomes apparent and you will not regret for one second you hired someone who put there name on the job, paid close attention to detail, and was a visionary. O.k. the price: I thought it was a little high, see what they might do for price on a package deal. This is not a project for "JOE"!!!! Here is a helpful site for the market value of good lanscape: hostadirect.com It appears form the plant material you are zone 5? I have some great friends around Madison. Just curious where does you're quote come from? Preview their other completed projects similar to you'rs, it is well worthwhile to go on a "tour", let them take you. Let me know if I can help more. Later, Rick

dynamike: This is what I did when I took off the deck, and the old spindles. First, I thoroughly cleaned the deck and examined it for any apparent damage around the spindle mounting area. There was no apparent damage, but not leaving that to chance, I then set the deck (sans spindles) down on the concrete garage floor. I took a metal ruler that I used to do arch. drawing with, and measured from the concrete floor to the lip of the spindle mounting areas, going all around the circumference to make sure there was no deflection in the metal stamping that would skew the blades. I also put a wooden dowel rod through one of the bolt holes, marked it where the deck was with a pencil, and then checked that height on the other five mounting holes. Replacing the entire deck is an option, and I am certainly capable of doing that as I have had the thing on and off more times than anyone would ever want to. The thing is, after doing the measurements and examining it, I am not convinced that replacing it would resolve the poor cut issue. Moreover, I am not convinced that such an expenditure of money and time would be worth it. A new deck is about $300.00. Replacing the tin can only is somewhat less, but involves reusing a lot of worn pulleys, rusted and old parts on the top of the deck, like the blade brake assembly, idler pulley, etc. I could do that but I don't really want to at this point. The thing still cuts and if I go over the areas at 90 degrees, it takes out most of the uncut/partially cut areas. I am going to switch to regular hi-cut blades instead of the Gator or OEM mulchers next year in hopes that this will help some until I find a new or used machine. I am not going to blame all Sears tractors, but I do wonder about the design of this one. Metal: My dad was originally an auto mechanic and later an industrial engineer who eventually owned a few auto service stations. I am not a mechanic, but I used to fix my own cars when I was in high school. I knew how to replace/set the point gap, replace brake (shoes back then), replace muffler/ exhaust, change tires, alternators, water pumps, radiators, hoses, belts, idler arms, and always changed my own oil/filer and greased the fittings. Now I am older so I only tinker around in the garage and do not service my own autos which admittedly, present some new challenges that I readily admit are over my head. But on a lawn tractor, other than rebuilding the engine itself, there is nothing I would not or could not do to replace parts or adjust something. I will say this though. The day that Sears makes these basic lawn tractors that guys cannot service and work on in their garages will be the last day that most of us will buy the Sears brand. For a lot of Sears products including tractors, the serviceability and parts availability remains as their biggest attraction.

I hear ya, fp... Gib Lewis, Speaker of the House, Texas: "I cannot tell you how grateful I am -- I am filled with humidity." Gib Lewis again, addressing a group of wheelchair-bound people on Disability Day: "And now, will y'all stand and be recognized!" Madonna: "I want to be like Gandhi and Martin Luther King and John Lennon - but I want to stay alive." William E. Peterson, football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height." (Move over, Yogi Berra.) Greg Norman, pro golfer: "I owe a lot to my parents - especially my mother and father." Bob Dole, Viagra user: "You read what Disraeli had to say. I don't remember what he said. He said something. He's no longer with us." Bob Dole again: "The Internet is a great way to get on the Net." Dan Quale, potatoe head: "The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." (Dan, meet Bob. Bob, meet Dan.) Angelina Jolie: "Sadly, we have to stay in five-star hotels when we have paparazzi following us. We did stay in a one-room shack in the middle of the Cambodian jungle because nobody else was there. But when you have kids, especially a six-month-old baby, you need clean water and salad for them." (Salad?!) Tara Reid, whoever she is: "I make Jessica Simpson look like a rock scientist." Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler chairman: "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?" Barbara Boxer, California senator: "Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, 'Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again." Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines: "Filipinos want beauty. I have to look beautiful so that the poor Filipinos will have a star to look at from their slums." Linda Evangelista, skinny model: "I don't diet. I just don't eat as much as I'd like to." Andre Dawson, Chicago Cubs outfielder: "I want all the kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I want all the kids to copulate me." (Screw that.) Charles de Gaulle, dead French president: "China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese." (Charles, meet Dan and Bob.) Joe Theismann, quarterback, proving that helmets don't work: "The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."

Its either that or play the lottery. Since I am a glutton for punishment... Nah I love it! I am going to post a customer testimonial here that made my day and makes it all worthwhile. I hope she doesn't mind. ------------------------------------------------------ From my Restore-A-Deck message board: Hi! I have to report fantastic results using your product on our Ipe deck. We followed the directions exactly and the deck looks SO GOOD. I am so shocked ... your product went above and beyond our expectations. When we built the deck 2 years ago it was so nice and 2 years later we figured that we would never be able to get back that "like new" look. For those of you ready to use this product, follow the directions and we even learned a few things. Two people is better. We mixed up step 1 in a 5 gallon bucket so we always had plenty of cleaner when our bug sprayers were running low. We each had a 3 gal. sprayer and I even had a spare sprayer in the event a sprayer went down (they always seem to clog when you don't want them to). When my husband was rinsing after the Cleaner I went ahead and got a 5 gallon bucket ready with Brightener solution. I cleaned my 3 gallon sprayer out really good and loaded up with Step 2 Brightener and used my spare 3 gallon sprayer for Brightener. When hubby was done rinsing we both could go right into Step 2. We did 90% of the deck in step 1 and then went over it with the Brightener. Wow, the stuff is great. What we did wrong was NOT doing the ENTIRE deck with Cleaner. This didn't screw anything up other than the fact when I was applying Cleaner to the stairs and outside spindles, I was getting cleaner on the freshly rinsed deck that already had steps 1 and 2. We just ended up making more work for ourselves because we had to go over parts of the decking a couple of times. So clean your entire deck, rinse, rinse and rinse again. We used a pressure washer. I probably would be out of water if I were using a hose. The pressure washer is more economical to use. We did use the pressure washer after apply the Brightener and it worked out great. We also did this on a cloudy day. Today was PERFECT. You don't want to do this in the sun because you need to keep Step 1 wet with solution. Let's see what else, well, once we have a nice dry deck then we will apply a sealer. What a lot of work; however the results were WORTH IT!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tammy ------------------------------------------------------- Tammy, you are very welcome! If you happen to read this, verify that this is your post so I don't get hate mail for making fake posts LOL