Sorry Mari, I did not see this thread. Check this site http://www.sialis.org/blackflies.htm. These can kill the babies if there are many of them. Very slowly take a hamburger flipper and lift the nest without removing it. Have a helper sweep out what is under the nest into a paper towel. Gently lower the nest back into place. Look at what came out. If there are more than 20 bugs or pupa you may need to take further action. Let us know what you find and we can help. I'm not sure if dung beetles are a problem if thats what they are.

beegood...you are sadly mistaken! HOSP can and do kill other birds all the time. So far this year I had one adult Tree Swallow killed and five eggs smashed by the HOSP. I did trap and kill that male HOSP too. Now in another Tree Swallow box a HOSP went in and pecked two nestlings to death, pecked two more but somehow they lived and seem to be ok, amazingly it left two alone...not sure if they were hidden under the other four or what. HOSP are like rats with wings and need to be disposed of. They are a non native invasive species and should never have been brought here! Donna

Everyone is mentioning epoxy grout or unsanded grout. What is the difference? Which is the best? Unsanded grout is the more conventional of the two. It's basically portland cement, pigment, and dry polymers to give it strength.it's the normal grout used in grout joints under 1/8" in size. Epoxy grout is just as the name implies. It's epoxy based, and is tough as nails. Epoxies make several claims. They claim to be more color fast than normal grout. They claim to be alot more stain resistant than normal grout. They claim to be much stronger than normal grout. In all three cases, the claims are valid. However, in residential installations, with the exception of maybe countertops, it's my feeling that epoxy grouts are bigtime overkill. Common sense in picking grout colors will go just as far. In addition, epoxy grouts are about 4 times as expensive as conventional grouts, and if you're having a pro do the installation, there's usually an upcharge for grouting with epoxy. Personally, depending on which epoxy, I'll charge 1.50 to 2.00 a foot more just for grouting with epoxy, because it's that much more difficult to use. One other thing to think about-- if you decide to go back to the white grout, you definitely don't want to use the epoxy. Because of the color of the epoxy resin, white epoxy grouts tend to take on a yellowish hue. Also, you talk about using hex tile-- the choice is then epoxy or SANDED grout. Otherwise you'll end up with a grouting nightmare, due to pin holes and shrinkage. Trust me on this.

It looks like you will be getting light from both the top and bottom of these sconces, and so I would try to do a test installation before doing a permanent mount. I have a portable wall that I use for testing the sconces that I design, but you might be able to make something similar yourself with a half sheet of plywood and a "J" box. You will need to add a block of wood next to the hole that you cut for for the J box, for mounting the J box. Here's part of the drawing I used for building the sample wall, showing plan, back view, and side view. The rectangle in the center is the hole for the J box. This drawing does not include the base we made to hold the wall.