Home test kits are pretty much useless as they are notoriously innaccurate. Your best bet is to have the test done through your extension office (I guess, because I'm Canadian and we don't have extension offices up here). Here is what a typical soil test result will look like (mine from the spring): As you can see, it measures pretty much everything of importance, especially pH, organic matter, calcium, micro-nutrients, etc. Then, at the bottom, it gives a reccomendation for inputs. These are largely geared to a scale of agricultural production, but a "home and garden" test may be better suited to small scale. Without the test, I would not have known that my soil had a fairly high pH (thus I do not add lime, I add sulphur), had a high organic matter level (it was a former cattle pen), and was high in zinc, copper, iron and especially boron. This knowledge allows me to cater my inputs to what the soil needs, and also alerts me to watch out for specific problems with plant growth. A couple of valuable tests you can do at home are the following: 1. Soil texture/composition: Using a large quart mason jar, fill the jar with about 3-4 inches of your garden soil. Dig a small hole, about 6-8 inches deep and try to get all levels (topsoil and subsoil). This soil should be then well sifted, and then pulverized until it is a very fine, even texture. Into the jar with the dirt, fill with water, leaving about 2 inches of air. Add a drop of dish soap to the water, and seal the jar tightly. Tape a piece of masking tape to the side that runs from the bottom to the top of the water level (this is to make the marks that you will be making below). Shake the holy bejezus out of it. After five minutes of vigourous shaking, when your arms can't shake any more, hand it to someone else and have them skake it for five more minutes. Then, set the jar down in front of a bright light and start to record. After one minute you will see a defined layer - this is the amount of sand in your soil. Then after about twenty minutes, you will see another definite layer - this layer as this is the silt. After about three days, you will see one more defined layer - this is the clay. On top of the clay you will see a bunch of settled junk like weed seeds and such. This is the residual organic matter and need not be much concern. After everything has settled over a few days, this is what you will see: The bottom layer (up to 0.75" is the sand) - disregard the weird looking lines in this layer, that is just a reflection of the wood table. Then the silt runs to about 2". Then the clay up to just about 2 3/4". If you then do the math for this sample, the sand is 27% (that would be 0.75/2.75), the silt is 45% (1.25/2.75) and the clay is 27% (0.75/2.75). This means that my soil is a silty-loam soil, confirmed by practical experience. That being said, there are patches of my garden that are more sand, or more clay. I know these areas and know what to plant there. It is great to run tests, but getting your hands dirty and exploring the soil is very important. 2. drainage: related to the soil composition test, a drainage test will be very valuable. Take a standard, empty coffee can and cut out the bottom. Dig a hole about 4-6" deep with the same diameter of the can. Put the can into the hole and press down to seat it firmly. Then, fill the can with water. If after an hour your can has not fully drained, then you have a fairly slow draining soil (typical of clay based soils). However, if your can is fully empty after, say, 30 minutes, you have alot of sand and will have problems with nutrient leaching. In both cases, obtaining the data is relatively easy. Knowing what to do with that data is the start of your gardening experience. Hope this helps. Michael

In our area of the world turf grass needs about 1 inch of water per week, providing it is not too hot, too windy, and too dry and then that grass will need more water. The best way to determine how much water your system provides at any one time is to place several straight sided tin cans around and measure how long it takes to deliver that 1 inch of water and run the system that long once a week, or more often if the grass is showing signs of needing more. When mowing the more of the grass blade you leave, to a point, the better since more grass blade exposed to sunlight helps that grass produce nutrients that feed the roots that grow more grass plants. 3 to 4 inches is a good height. Recycling your clippings right back, mulch mowing, is also good since those grass clippings can supply 1/2 that grasses Nitrogen needs each year and will help provide some of the organic matter your soil will need. How much additional organic matter your soil will need will depend on how much is there. The best thing to use to add organic matter to that soil is compost, but not more than about 1/4 inch each application, much more could smother the existing grass. Molasses may introduce soil microorganisms but if the soil does not have adequate levels of organic matter they will have little to feed on and if the soil has adequate levels of organic matter the molasses will not be needed. Many people do go out and buy "topsoil" and most often they get what the seller is selling which, as you found, may not be what you want so you need to know what you want and specify that. Just going to somplace that advertises "topsoil" for sale is like hiring someone to paint your house and they choose the color. You might get what you want but then again you probably will not. We have a landscaper around here that mixes a soil that is about 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay, and 5 percent organic matter and if I needed some soil that is what I would buy.

To answer your question, NO. A load test (or heat calc, Manual J are common names) is much more involved than what 1 contractor did. First of all, your orientation to the sun and shading. Your exact house, on an adjacent lot, turned 90 degrees could make substantial difference. The heat calc also takes into consideration, your dimensions, insulation, number, placement and quality of windows, outdoor and indoor design temperatures, infiltration, etc. It takes a good bit of time to collect the data, then it needs to be crunched (by computer). Both contractors are guessing. One determined square footage uses the x sq ft/ton of a/c 'rule of thumb'. The other, will just replace with what was there. Neither knows for sure what the requirement is. The calc determines your sensible and latent heat gains. It can also determine the amount of airflow required for each area, and along with Manual D, can determine sizing and layout of your duct system. If on the hottest day of the year, your a/c ran nearly full time, it might be sized correctly. On the other hand, a unit that is oversized, will run short cycles and you will not be comfortable (especially at low cooling demand days). V

First off, your CYA is a bit too high for a SWG or any time of chlorination. With splash out this should reduce over time or you can do a partial refill but in meantime, you will need to maintain a FC level of at least 5 ppm for a CYA of 100 ppm. Otherwise your CC levels will start to climb and algae may bloom. Also, SWGs tend to make PH climb so you will always be fighting that. It is important to keep PH below 7.8 so that the chlorine will be more effective and it will be easier to keep PH lower if you also lower TA. TA will come down over time if you keep PH at the lower end of the scale closer to 7.2. Muriatic acid is the cheapest solution to lower both PH and TA. If you are interested in reading more on how to maintain a SWG pool, please read the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Water Balance for SWGs