I did pipe boot connections on my retrodrain through the wall of the pond. Didn't make my hole as large as what Horton suggested--only 1/2 the diameter of whatever size pipe. Most recent was 3" and made a 1 1/2" hole in the centre of where I wanted the pipe. The liner stretches but it takes strong fingers. Easy to do and as far as I know no leaks. Curious why aren't you looking at external pumps for your pond? They are more energy efficient, easy to winterize. I have a priming pot on both of mine even though they are below ground but had a problem with quilt batting getting wrapped around the impeller of the older pump before using a priming pot. I have a Sequel 4350GPH pump that is very quiet uses 175W. This year I plumbed this pump to my sc and the old pump (Sequence 750 4200GPH but only pumping about 1/2 of that due to bent shaft) to my skimmer. I probably don't need both pumps as also changed my waterfall out this year so is smaller. The Sequence is noisy and leaks a little on start up around the shaft. Long story short I love the external pumps. Aquaart carries good external pumps and also the bottom drain that is mentioned either here or other forums. I also like the skimmer--it collects alot of surface stuff like dust! In the fall I run my pond on the skimmer only so that I can remove my drains (have a midwater drain now which is also awesome) before the water gets too cold. Like Horton my pumps/sc are hidden under a deck. Two pummps might be an idea for your pond as you need less flow through your biofilter and more flow through your waterfall. One idea I saw here if you only use one pump and need the circulation (in your case at least 5000GPH) was to pump part of the water back into the main pond and the rest through the biofilter/stream. Aquaart has a diagram of how to do this. As for valves depends on if you have a drain on you skippy filter etc. I have a knife valve between pond and sc on the bd but on the midwater drain which also goes into sc I don''t--I use a standpipe. After skimmer and sc 2" ball valves--I know could have used knife valves there but ball valves are more reliable. My check valves are after the pump but before the ball valves to the waterfall filters. This is to keep the water from the waterfall filters coming back down through the pump and into the pond if power goes off which it does here frequently. Because I have priming pots, sc and skimmer I don't need check valve before the pump. Can't remember when you need check valve before the pump--sorry. Ball valves after the check valves to control flow to filters. I know that I could get away with running one pump now due to the changes I made in adding a midwater drain to my sc (had alot of draw down!) and waterfall changes as the valve on my Sequel pump to higher waterfall is turned down more than 1/3rd. It's just time consuming and more pipe to change it out again. I don't know if you are allowed to use ABS in the US. I use it here as fittings are available and it stands up to my climate. Also because it's black any pipework in the pond lie retro bd don't show as much. You have a fun project on your hands! It can get rather overwhelming but there are many knowledgable people on this forum who can help you. Good luck. Patti

The floor to ceiling shower doors are for steam showers, and the setup for a steam shower is different than a regular shower. The vapor or moisture barriers are different for a steam shower than for a regular shower. A steam shower needs to have a sloped ceiling to drain the condensate. The ceiling needs to be tiled. You are not supposed to use Hydroban in a steam shower, but you can use Kerdie or Redgard in the steam setup. Hydroban will let the vapor through which is why you don't want to use it for steam showers. The Kerdie and the Redgard will not. Hydroban is a moisture barrier and Kerdie and Redgard are vapor barriers. Installers need to know the difference. Beyond that I don't know. Maybe an expert will chime in about what I just wrote. I am only a DYI and have never done a steam shower. I would do a porcelain tile in the surround if it was me. Marble absorbs moisture. Porcelain is so durable and can be beautiful! DON'T put the rainshower in the attic, your pipes will freeze like Raehelen said. And like Raehelen also said, I would use a movable bench. But that is just my choice. I want the flexability in my shower which will be the same size as yours. I will be using a Kohler shower pan that is 36x60" sized. Here is a rainhead shower that I am installing, in the link below. It is in the wall, and I can't wait. Noopd put it in his shower and that is where I first saw it. See the link below where I asked some questions regarding my shower plans and refer to Noopd's shower. There are pictures too. One last point about the the rainhead shower by Hansgrohe, a friend of mine that works for Ferguson's just got back from an educational workshop at Hansgrohe in GA. She got to try out the shower head and Loved it. I bought my plumbing supplies from my friend at Ferguson's. I wanted the convenience, and to support her and the local economy. I have not been disappointed. I have bought a few things on line and that has worked well too. Ferguson's doesn't sell Toto for instance, so I ordered my toilet online. The down side to online ordering is the return if needed. Edited to say that in the link provided, it states that I will be using a smaller shower pan than I actually ended up with. But that might be clarified further down in the thread. You'll have to look :) Here is a link that might be useful: Mongoct, Noopd, or Others, Please Advise Me on My Shower Plan This post was edited by enduring on Tue, Nov 12, 13 at 7:59

I'd vote for the basketweave (and not just because I used the floral on the wall in my kitchen). Mosaics generally aren't slippery - the grout lines make them grippier than a lot of large(r) format tiles. I have these crappy white 6x6's in every bathroom in this house (ugh) and you could like to kill yourself on those with wet feet. The issue with the floral is that onyx can be fragile. I got a pretty decent lot, but I also hand inspected every single sheet, removed the "uglies" and used two sheets to replace the rejected pieces. The marble also has some very distinct gray (which does not appear in your limestone) but does appear in my Corian, so I'm not bothered by it. And yes, I did use bright white grout and no, I would never use traditional white sanded grout on a bathroom floor. At a tile shop you'd likely have more choices in the white/cream family. I just think that overall the basketweave is a stronger choice for your space. If you got a very grey lot of the floral you'd be even more behind on tile - and stuck with it to boot. Lisa

Quote: "Disclaimer: *MY* soon-to-be teen boy will not be stupid. (If I repeat that 100 times will it be so?)" Of course it will (see below for disclaimer). I have four kids, three of them boys, and the baby boy is 22 and a senior at the Univ of Florida. So I speak from experience. Promised Disclaimer: Length of time for avoiding stupid actions may vary slightly with age, but shows a high correlation with the quantity of similarly aged onlookers. Studies show their ability to hold back stupidity will, for average mid-teen boys, last approximately 3/4 of a second. For "good boys who listen to their mother", the time has been seen to rise to almost a full second in some rare cases. Unless a REALLY cute girl is there to witness. In which case, and for every boy studied thus far, the retention time falls to such a short interval scientists aren't able to accurately measure the value.