Genes, no, I don't use hibernation or sleep or stand by. Let me run this thought through y'all. About the time the computer decided it didn't want to do internet, we had Comcast to come out to check why we got nothing but tiles. While he was here, he took note that we have five TV's and was using several splitters. He unhooked/uninstalled one of the tvs and it got rid of the tiles. Could the splitters have anything to do with this problem? What is such a riddle to me is, why does one computer work on the Ethernet and the other one will not? Hmmmmmm? I've had another AT&T technician back to the house and he found nothing and I took it back to the computer guy and they, again, found nothing. The AT&T guy did suggest hooking up a router and using that. What's the general thought on that idea?

He owes you $12,000? In that case I would hire a lawyer - not chump change! Especially if you ordered face-frame cabs and now he only does frameless - that is a total breach of contract. All I can say about lawyers is you DEFINITELY get what you pay for! Pay more for a really GOOD lawyer with experience in this area - trust me - a bad lawyer is the WORST thing in the world! At least a good vs. bad divorce lawyer, that is ;) -- Melissastar, Along with all the quality problems, we did have trouble getting them to "finish" up (before we fired them). They "disappeared" for a few weeks - and we kept harrassing them about putting in the windows - the ENTIRE project was estimated to be FINISHED by Labor Day (September - broke ground beginning of July) but in late October it was already getting really cold and we had NO WINDOWS! This was why the lawyer advised us not to fire them at the time - we PAID for the windows and siding! So, my mother called up the window place, and it turns out the windows were sitting there for over a month - they would NOT allow them to leave the shop until the GC paid for them! So, my mother was like, "But WE paid HIM for THOSE windows." Sorry, the GC never paid us! The GC had been LYING the whole time - he kept saying "The Anderson Factory is months behind." They finally installed the windows in November - that was when the SH-T hit the fan - they caught me taking photographs of their trucks and license plates! And got really p-ssed! The windows were already on my property, so I really didn't care at that point, but they removed all their tools from the premises (big deal - one of the guys saw my Dewalt jigsaw and was like "What are YOU doing with that nice saw?" And I replied "I KNOW how to build!") -- Marti8A, Do you NEED a GC? Good question! I know that in order to get the permit they required a licensed CONTRACTOR, but not sure if that means GC. We were originally planning to GC it ourselves, and we found our excavator through a reference - he was the guy who recommended our GC. The excavation / foundation guy was cool AT FIRST - all that went well. But once the framers started, it all went downhill. The excavator guy was around in the beginning of that, but we kept complaining, and he even saw the screw-ups, and after the whole roof / closet fiasco he simply DISAPPEARED - and DISCONNECTED his phone! Seriously, the problem here is that we are both FEMALE! There is NO WAY all this would EVER happen if a guy was on the premises everyday. The proof is that as soon as my brother came down from Vermont they actually listened to him - and corrected some of the mistakes. But, when I pointed out the exact same mistakes they told me "You don't know what you are talking about!" -- Funny story: We added on to the back of the house, but I REALLY wanted a Portico over the front door (I HATE the snow blocking the door in winter). I had already designed it to fit between the two different roofs (front is L-shaped with main roof 12/12 pitch and smaller roof 8/12 pitch - front door is in the corner on the short side). That was not in the plans, but during the initial consult I asked the GC if he could build it "Of COURSE!" he said. Well, we checked with the code / inspector guy and he said that as long as it was only over the door / stoop - not a full porch or going beyond the existing front of the house, that he would allow it without a permit. So, one day they show up (hadn't been around in like a week) at 7am and say "We're here to frame the Portico - $2,000 cash upfront" (we had already agreed to that cost). Yeah, they ALWAYS want more money BEFORE they FINISH ANYTHING. But, the portico was separate from the addition, and we were just glad they showed up at that point. We had already thoroughly discussed the design - the bottom was only one freestanding post holding up a hip roof that ties into the valley of the two existing gable roofs. It was supposed to have exposed rafter tails, but they would have come down too low, so I agreed to just squaring out the eaves with fascia trim. Fine, right? WRONG! Well, all of a sudden the guys start arguing amongst themselves in Spanish (OK, this is another whole problem - do yourself a favor and meet the ENTIRE CREW before you sign a contract - just because the GC seems like a normal Italian and the excavator is Irish does NOT mean the guys actually doing the work are Americans - when my brother found this out he flipped!). So, I'm like "What's the problem?" And the GC is like, well, those two roofs are different pitches - we cannot do it! WHAT?!?!? You've been working here all these months and you JUST NOTICED that the two roofs are not the same pitch? What the bleeping Hell does that have to do with anything anyway? So, he's like, "A hip roof is always a square - the same on both sides." No, actually NOT if it's a rectangle like the house RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!! So, as the guys are fooling around with some wood up on the roof, trying to figure out what to do, I say "Give me that wood!" I took the wood, climbed up on the ladder, put the wood in the valley and showed them that the ridge goes from the top of the valley and slopes down to the post on the outside corner. Then, the short hip rafters connect from one roof to the ridge beam and the other roof to the ridge beam, and then ledger boards are carried across from below the eaves of each original roof forming the "square" that surrounds the stoop and attaches at the top of the post. Oh, well "That would be called a "B-stard Hip" because the rafters would be different on each side - it will look weird!" the GC said. What? I replied "I DON"T CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT! OF COURSE the rafters must be two different pitches - the CURRENT two roofs are TWO DIFFERENT PITCHES!" Are you sure that's what you want? YES! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT! Well, that's strange, so I'll have to call your mother to make sure a "B-stard Hip" is OK. Fine, on the phone we go, and I had to explain WHY it has to be a "B-stard Hip" because of the different pitches. I assure her that I know exactly what I'm talking about and that it is EXACTLY what it SHOULD look like. "Fine, I'll do it, but it will cost an extra $700 because we'll have to calculate two different pitches to cut." WHATEVER - JUST DO IT! So, finally they are going to start the work. They had to remove the fascia, trim and two batts to install the ledger boards into the old house. When he removed the 3" long screws holding in the batt, he said "You were serious? You really DID use 3" long stainless screws?" with a really scared look on his face. "Yes," I said, "I had to go through the 3/4" thick batt, the 3/4" space between the boards, the 3/4" firring strips and then into the sheathing." "I TOLD you I wasn't going overboard." (This was in reference to how to install REAL board-and-batt siding - he'd only ever done the fake plywood with strips of wood for decoration.) So, from the time that they arrived at 7am and spent HOURS arguing with me, it was 10:30am by the time they even started removing the old roofing to build the portico. My internet had gone down the day before and Verizon was supposed to come fix it - the guy arrived at 1pm and the whole portico roof was already framed out. After he left I went out there and OH MY GOSH - IT WAS PERFECT!!! It fit between the valley perfectly! But, they spent more time ARGUING with me over how to build the bloody thing than it did to actually BUILD it! At the end of the day as they were putting up the new felt paper on the roof we went out to look at it and I was SO HAPPY! I was jumping up and down for joy and hugging them! And they were like, well, that was a lot of work, calculating all those different cuts. Yeah? "But it looks like it has been there since the house was built - EXACTLY what it SHOULD look like!" They only installed a few temporary 2x4's, not the actual post to hold up the portico. That would take ANOTHER WHOLE MONTH to get to! So, when they removed the old copper flashing that was inside that valley, they left it in front of the garage and I took it. It was a huge 24" wide and very long piece of copper. The guys were like "Where did the copper go?" I said I took it to make flower boxes out of. The next day when the roofers came to do the rest of the roof, I went out to get the copper from the other valley and it was GONE! They STOLE MY COPPER and immediately drove it off! I was P-SSED! They probably got $50 for that copper at the scrap yard, when in reality it was worth at least $2,000. THIEVES! We were really mad because we actually wanted them to leave that copper in the valley, but they claimed that you cannot install Ice and Water Shield on top of it. BTW: Copper is MUCH better than Ice and Water Shield. So, the portico looked awesome, and we finally FORCED them to get the cedar post and put in the concrete pillar and post bracket, and the beadboard for the ceiling. They wanted to put another post on the one side of the house with ground underneath it, but since they couldn't do that on the walkway side I said no (the roof would settle crooked then over time). The Ledger was made of double 2x12's and I was going to install the fascia myself, but the GC insisted that it be made of 2x10's (not normal 5/4 board), so I quickly ran to Lowes, found the nicest 2x10's they had, brought them home, sanded them smooth and primed all sides before they were installed. Also, while waiting for them to show up to install the post, I realized the ledgers were just installed using nails, so I installed a whole bunch of stainless lag screws into the house framing and heavy-duty brackets where the ledgers meet the house. Well, they dug and poured the concrete for the post, but it couldn't be installed until the concrete set. When they left the guys said to me "Don't go priming that post while we're gone!" Yeah, I'm OBSESSED with priming all wood before it's installed! Of course, I did prime it, and after waiting a few weeks they never showed up and I installed the post myself. I still have to finish the trim (tried making giant curved brackets by hand - NOT a good idea!), so I'm planning on making an arched valance below the fascia instead with stepped corbels along the posts (I installed floating 2x4 posts with really long lag screws under the ledger boards). I don't think they ever even noticed that I installed that post without them! Note: GW won't let me submit the word B-stard Hip, but yes, it was that profanity that he used to describe a hip with two different angles on each side. It actually looks NORMAL (each side above the portico - over the stoop - is the same) - only the edges of the hip rafters where they meet the two different roof pitches are cut differently. Oh yeah, my mother loved it when she got home - she agreed that it looks likes it's always been there, but she was REALLY MAD that the GC kept calling her up at work to argue about it. Also, everyone who sees it cannot even believe it's not original to the house. Now, I cannot even imagine the house without it! As for snow, well, it works quite well, EXCEPT with blowing snow drifts! I'm going to build a half-wall between the posts along the side without steps to keep the snow from blowing in from the side of the house.

"NO EXCUSES EVER." But you are now making an excuse. "I got neither the PAPER BILLING nor the CUSTOMARY EMAIL." Your excuse is that you didn't receive a paper bill or an e-mail. "I pride myself on never having paid a dime in interest (other than my mortgage) due to my fiscal responsibility, personal convictions from age 17 to now 72." But your fiscal responsibility failed you if you, with all your experience, failed to make a payment because you didn't get a reminder. Your fiscal responsibilty is what should have alerted you to the fact that you had a payment due. "NO EXCUSES EVER." Apparently not true. "One would not know about 'back up email alerts' etc, unless there had already been a problem." Not correct. I'm aware of the option to receive e-mailed alerts and text-to-cellphone alerts because I like to know when my payment has been received. I pay my bills through my regular bank's Online Bill Pay feature. I have it set to send me an e-mail when the payments have gone out of that bank, and I have the credit cards configured to send me a text to my cell when the payment has been credited to my account. In setting that up, both on my bank's web site as well as the web sites for my various Visa cards and MasterCard cards, as well as my Discover card, I saw all the options that are available for alerts. Being aware of the options/possibilities doesn't mean that there have been problems. Through my Online Bill Pay, I can also have my bank issue a check as payment to any company I choose, or any individual I choose. For example, our gardener -- I pay the lawncare company each month through the Online Bill Pay, but the bank sends the company a check. I receive an e-mail when the check has been sent, and I receive an e-mail when the check has been cashed. It doesn't mean that there has been a problem, nor does it mean that I anticipate a problem in the future. It's simply that I work in the technology field, and I think it's cool to take advantage of what technology has to offer.

I am a fabricator. A plywood underlayment for 2CM is typically complemented by a 4CM drop edge which masks the underlayment on the edge. the plywood is really just a spacer as it does not contribute significantly to the structural integrity of the overhang. For 3CM quartz a "fussy" fab shop will grind the underside of the overhang to remove the printed Logo's from the OEM. If requested the fabricator can polish the underside but the fab shop polish will not be of the same quality as the surface. However, it will be good enough to look finished on the underside. Polishing the underside is NOT an option typically offered by the fabricator. In my business we've learned to ask the question when the layout of the room, and particularly the stairway location, means the underside will be readily visible on a regular basis and not just when someone is on the floor looking up. Another option is to make the overhang "double thick" where 2 pieces of the engineered stone are mated back to back so a factory finish is on both sides. This is an easy option for 4CM assuming corbels are used or the double thickness is extended back over the cabinet. Finally, some natural stones that are crack prone have a fiberglass matting epoxied on to the back of the stone to help it hold together during transport, fabrication, and install. A competent fab shop will remove this backing as a matter of course. I am always annoyed at the poor quality evidenced by a job where the backing can be felt and seen on an island overhang and even on the narrow countertop overhangs. If you really want a great looking underside the best way is to double up the material back to back. It's an expensive way to do it for a variety of reasons.