Sorry sshrivastava, I have been checking back for responses on another post in this forum, but not this one. Thanks for your tips. I have just received my box of Bi-O-Kleen over the weekend and have done maybe 4 loads of laundry so far. My problem now is that the detergent doesn't completely rinse out of the dispenser and the Asko manual doesn't recommend that you use any detergent that doesn't completely rinse out. So I posted a question and someone responded about residual moisture in the drawer and drying it out before putting in the powder. I still have some clumpy powder, but it seems to be getting less. I have increased the temperature for my washes and now wash my daughter's clothes on the normal cycle at 120 degrees and mine and my husbands clothes at 140. The towels and sheets usually get a 160 or 175 degree washing. There aren't a lot of stains on the adult clothes (colors anyway) to notice a huge difference, so I'm really waiting to see how the whites come out after a couple of washes with the Bi-O-Kleen premium! Thanks for all of your tips!

Everyone has their own approach to this situation. As a retired architect and educator, let me give you the architect's side. You have put yourself in the hands of an experienced professional for a situation which you have little expertise or experience. Your role is to share your "Needs" (essential) and "Wants (optional), as well as information about your site and your budget. If you have preliminary ideas about the architectural character of your house you should share them in an initial discussion. Your architect should listen well and respond with preliminary design studies, explaining what the studies do and do not. Preliminary design often works best if you and the architect work on the designs together in the office, s/he sketching and explaining, you listening and responding, until a sound direction is established. Once the preliminary design directions are established and agreed to, the project becomes more and more specific and the process tends to move more and more to automatic. By the time of the construction drawing and specifications, the process will be largely automatic by the architect and any necessary consultants. Like working with any professional--attorney, accountant, architect--you must establish a relationship based on mutual respect, trust and understanding. Some humor also helps. If you disagree over something, discuss the pros and cons, and like any adults arrive at a mutually acceptable decision and move on. You may question your doctor's advice, but you do not question her/his expertise. Same with the architect. Arrive at a decision and move on--there's a lot to do in the design of a house. Finally, as for aesthetics, the design of a house is a balance (read, compromise) between interior functioning, exterior massing and detailing, and siting. All of these must successfully be integrated with one another for a successful house design. The great mistake many consumers make is to spend inordinate amounts of time initially studying and resolving the floor plan frequently resulting in a large, complex grouping of interior spaces without a parallel and similarly rigorous study of the exterior possibilities and the important siting of the home. This approach is a mistake because by the time a highly detailed plan is fully completed it's often impossible to hang any sort of reasonable exterior design on it. One is left to simply put a roof over it and some exterior materials on the walls. This is why so many tract home appear so similar and appear so large, overinflated and out of scale when viewed from the exterior. Thus, work early with your architect to explore and develop both the inside, he outside and the site plan together in the preliminary stages. You'll be glad you did later when the project goes on automatic and the construction drawings and specifications are produced. A final word: seriously consider retaining the architect as your representative during bidding and construction, unless you are a construction expert yourself. Lots of things happen during construction and you (and most consumers) need a knowledgable and experienced representative looking out for their best interests. Good luck on your project!

Apparently I'm all alone in the no clean up camp. Either that or nobody else will admit to it. I leave everything, including the 8-12 inches of oak leaves that routinely fall on my main hosta beds. After the first killing frost I simply walk away. The birds do love the scapes, checking those out all winter long, even when there is no hope that any seeds remain. It also gives me a nice number of volunteer seedlings every spring. I have not had any problems with pests or disease in the 25+ years I've been doing this, and yes, even the mini hostas will come up through the oak leaves, which by spring have composted down to almost nothing. I do walk through regularly when the hostas start to show green, and manually remove any oak leaves that have pips coming through or showing underneath (alright, I mostly use my foot, but pedally just sounds odd). This is for the hostas in my upper gardens, which are mostly for public viewing. My lower garden a work in progess, and is mainly for growing out divided plants, lining out small divisions, but also has some more landscaped areas. And by landscaped, I mean 98% hostas, but grown more as specimens, with 2% astilbes, bleeding heart, ferns, and a few other perennials. This area gets no attention at all until I'm ready to start dividing hostas in the spring. Maybe a little weeding if I'm feeling up to it, but for the most part those hostas make it all on their own. That area gets some oak leaves and lots of walnut leaves. My only slightly coddled hostas are some very small minis that live in a bed that generally doesn't get many oak leaves. Things like Manzo, Kifukirin Otome, and few other tinies live near cedar trees, but in a mostly sunny area, in a slightly raised bed, and they overwinter very well.

you'll want to test your water pH. Marble is typically between 7pH and 10pH. Lower pH will etch your stone. Higher pH water generally is a result of water hardness-i.e. calcium- which means you will get build up. A whole house filter can help and also using neutral pH cleaners regularly as described above by others. Again, neutral pH is always relative to the type of stone. DO NOT skip on applying sealer every year and I'd even recommend twice a year. Eventually you will need to polish at some point, but removing etching costs a lot more when polishing than just doing a top polish to bring back the shine, so take care of the stone. Feel free to call AAAStonePro.com, IG:@AAAStonePro, if you have anymore questions or when you do need a polish further down the road. I'm always free just to educate other on the proper care methods and treatments.