Hello all. So I have a comparable question though I believe I may be a bit more savvy in my method. I am raising my primary garden veggie bed and attempting to re-start a 12 x 13 ft vegetable garden and am considering dumping several --6 to 8 inches of wood mulch (or more!) on it in the next few weeks with the idea that a lot will break down over the winter and be ready for some top-dressed compost around new veggies in the spring. I have HEAVY clay soil here and have fought this yard for 4 summers with very little luck. My veggies are average at best over the last few years; I've brought in YARDS of sand; composted horse manure; real topsoil; mushroom compost and surround the veggies with my vermicast each spring. Today, I just finished putting a limestone rock border around the area and it could likely handle approximately 14-18 inches of mulch. My clay soil (soil is probably a misnomer and I hate to even call it that) EATS all amendments I add and I am at my wits end. With 6 or 7 months of time for an obviously heavy amount of free mulch from the city, I can likely get at least a foot on there. How much do you think it will break down in 6 months? Hopefully I won't get walnut mulch again which happened at a different house. At this point in the year I'll get some greens left which will get a bit of thermophilic composting going on so I'm expecting a bit of heat, but I think I'm ok with a foot of wood mulch. I'm going to remove the asparagus I have planted there prior and I'll be able to start 'fresh' with a new spot in the spring. I can (and may have to) remove a few inches in the spring if need be which I'm willing to do. I SO want to drop two feet on there and then 'skim' it in the spring. This clay is a beast and I'm trying to prepare for next year. I am a seasoned gardener and I'm getting schooled by this awful soil and I can't afford thousands of dollars in compost over the next several years. I dump hundreds of dollars each year into this spot and am underwhelming my wife's expectations. The raised piece is my last hope. Thoughts?

You can get a fine shower from a handheld. If I'm installing just one head in a shower, I recommend the user go with a handheld. They're more versatile, and there is no performance penalty. Understand that many manufacturers use the same shower head for fixed and handheld applications. Same head, just a different presentation. Example, here's the Grohe Relaxa Top4, which is what I have in my shower: Fixed: Handheld: I'll agree with raehelen too regarding the bench. I'll encourage you to eliminate the built-in bench and go with a movable wood stool or bench. Again, more versatile. And more comfortable to sit on. Two heads in a 65" shower is not excessive. Regarding the rainhead and pressure. You are correct, many people who use a rainhead as a daily shower head to shower an shampoo do indeed get frustrated with it. It's not really intended to function that way. But those who use a rainhead for the "rainhead experience", they love the rainhead. If your two heads will be used for functional showering, I'd recommend a fixed head on one wall and a handheld on the other wall. Make the handheld hose long enough so it can be used to wash down the walls. I probably install more Grohe than anything else. When you do change shower heads, there sometimes is a transition when going from what you're used to to what you now have. The new head isn't worse. It's simply different. For your plumbing layout, consider having the supply valve(s) located just inside the shower so you can turn the water on without having to step into the shower. The idea is to eliminate getting hit with a cold spray when you turn the shower on.

Got a question. My shower has 3 body sprays that never worked right because they were hooked up with the other shower heads and therefore had no pressure. I opened up a part of the wall on the outside to see what I could do. The body sprays have a 1/2" presure balance system hooked up to a regular valve coming from the shower heads. I bought a Moen 1/2" posi valve to hook up to the body sprays and separate from the shower heads. My main is 3/4" branching off to the 1/2" balance system. My question is the 1/2" posi valve has small holes inside for the water, would it benefit me to use a 3/4" posi valve to mix more water or would that just turn down the pressure. I hoped I explained this right. I cannot redo the 1/2" balancing system without taking all the tile and cement board off and really creating a mess. Thanks in advance.

afaik. each province has its own code, and they all allow 1.5" drains. Everyone says so, but I've never seen it in writing. Check with a Master Plumber. Any Master Plumber. They are professionals who do not lie. They know 100% for certain what is required and they tell you the truth, when it concerns their expertise; also you do not have to hire them first before they answer questions about their area of expertise. Each Master Plumber will give you the same answer as the previous one and the next one. Ditto, do not decrease any "drain line in the direction of flow." The trap size has to be the same as the drain size. Many people conclude that a 2" trap can be reduced to a 1.5." pipe after the trap. Use a 1.5" trap if the drain line is to going to be 1.5" diameter. This is very serious, not to be disregarded. Ask a Master Plumber if you need to hear it again. You may wonder why you see on the internet that showers need 2" ... I feel that this forum is the right place for this discussion. It find the 2" diameter requirement for showers to be overkill. I'm surprised that after many years of searching, I've never seen an internet comment from an experienced Master Plumber telling me how Code changed over the years. I'm 100% certain that a 1.5" drain line used to be Code everywhere, for showers. I'd like to know what discussion went into voting for the new size, 2" diameter. (?) Here is a link showing 1.5" is OK in NY. http://publicecodes.citation.com/st/ny/st/b900v07/st_ny_st_b900v07_7_sec009.htm Code has changed over the years and will continue to change in the future. I'd like to think I'm helping to air out the issues which leads later to clearing up confusion about 2" shower drains. Imagine all the people who have been forced to do a lot of extra work for no reason !! When a 1.5" drain already plumbed could have been used, they ripped it all out and put a 2" drain in. I'm not a plumber. Since this is a discussion forum, I'm posting this here as part of a *discussion*; everything I have written here concurs with the previous post from an expert who knows, and who shares, precisely what is code today. Code has changed over the years and will continue to change in the future.