By its own admission it appears that 'dirtslinger' has done exactly what it accused me of doing,__ introducing non native species. (http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ponds/msg0322262730946.html) posted March 30, 2009 In reply of Mar 31, 09 at 11:03 it states: "These are not turtles found in this area- I really doubt in the wild they hibernate for 6+ months." Then take a look at thisabout the 'Red-eared slider' from Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider) "It is a native of the southern United States, but has become common in various areas of the world due to the pet trade." And in the paragraph 'U.S. State Law': "Some states have other laws and regulations regarding possession of red-eared slider because they can be an invasive species_______". And as far as "Please stop spreading bullfrogs around!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog "The American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana), often simply known as the Bullfrog in the United States, is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or "true frogs", native to much of North America."

"Also, out on the farm, a formal dining room seems a bit out of place, while an open country kitchen, with a big work table, woodstove and lots of light sounds just right...at least for me!" Many people expect a "farmhouse" to look like that thanks to images in magazines of remodeled modern kitchens. The reality was that after a long day toiling in the fields, being able to close off the hot kitchen from the dining room so you could eat in relative comfort was a blessing. In the country at least, it wasn't until the widespread use of electric fans, water coolers and air conditioners was the kitchen considered to be a room anyone wanted to hang out in; before then it was just a hot, steamy, and pretty much no nonsense work space for preparing meals and washing up afterward. There was a reason women of any means at all hired someone else to cook. ;^) I would never, ever open the wall between the kitchen and dining room here. Mainly that's because there's a whopping 15 to 20 degree difference in the temperature between the two rooms in the summer after I finish making dinner. That said, since we bought this farm, we have done some rearranging in the 100+year old house. The bathroom had been created by taking a corner of what used to be the screened sleeping porch at the back back and closing it in; MOL just crammed in a closet directly off the kitchen. We moved the bathroom to the other end of the porch, away from the kitchen. And we've been working to open up the wall between what had been the former porch and bathroom and the kitchen so when we're done there will not only be room for the washing machine, but also a tiny, walk in pantry, a place to sit and take off muddy boots, and a small table and chairs with a window looking out over the backyard toward the west. As further sacrilege, I'd like to one day move the bathroom off the back porch all together and put it in the middle bedroom, and turn that part of the porch into a laundry/utility room. You can't get to the second bedroom without going through the middle bedroom, and in otherwise similar sized homes the same age and with an otherwise similar floorplan, that space is actually a small, short hallway and a bathroom. I'm guessing that the family that built the house needed the room to sleep more than a bathroom, as they didn't even add one until almost 60 years later. So as far as eventually moving the bathroom into the house itself, you could say that I want to upgrade the floorplan to the high end version of what was available when the house was built.

Typical porcelain tile in the 5/16" to 3/8" thick range will weigh in at roughly 3-1/2 to 4 lbs per sqft. Your 20x20s weighing 10 lbs? They fall right into that range. So your first question, no, the tiles are not too heavy for the walls. Or for the modified mortar used to adhere them to the walls. As to installation issues, yes, the flatter and more plumb the walls are, the easier the installation. Thinset coverage? The installer will want to set a tile and then pull it off the wall, check thinset coverage, and adjust the trowel size if needed. If the walls are flat he can use thinset. If the walls are wonky and a thicker setting bed is required to keep the face of the tile in plane, then the installer can move on to a medium-bed type of mortar. Setting mortars come in low-slump formulations to help prevent tile creep, but shims and tape can be used as well if needed. Tile waste? Figure out a pattern for your exact wall size considering the exact tile size and the exact grout lines you want. In a perfect world with 20" tile, three tiles on the back wall and 1-1/2 tiles on each side wall will cover a 60x30 tub surround nicely. Added labor with large format? It's all in the prep. If the walls and corners are plumb and in plane, then the installation may be a breeze. If the walls are wonky, then to get a great installation, the pace of installation can slow dramatically.

Thanks for the additional input everyone! Right now we have put Zinssier Gardz over the old paint (there is no peeling, it is quite thin paint actually). The Gardz is made to create a good surface for the new plaster to adhere too. I've been in and Hepa vacuumed and cleaned all the surfaces with a lead specific cleaner and removed all the plastic we had in there. We'll be covering with a new coat of plastic and tape soon and start the skim coating. The goal is to do 2-3 very thin coats using a thinned joint compound and a magic trowel. Trying to get it as smooth as possible to keep sanding to a minimum. It will just have to be a very careful and selective sanding to get ridges. The wall isn't going to be totally flat no matter what we do anyway, it's old plaster after all. I have been wondering if the kind of primer we use over the skim coat matters? Would an oil based primer be better for any reason? Another coat of the Gardz to help harden then a white primer? This definitely hasn't been fun and we'll have some hard choices going forward with the rest of the house which is all covered in wallpaper. It might just be new wallpaper for us for now. Possibly paint over it. I did that in my daughters room because her room is wallpaper over paneling so it was a temporary fix until we can drywall but it worked well. However the older parts of the house downstairs have many, many layers of wallpaper so I'm less inclined to think painting over them would work well. All of our woodwork is stained (thought the stain could very well have lead too, we haven't tested because we haven't messed with them) and luckily the windows themselves were replaced with vinyl windows so we're not dealing with painted window seals.