Fantasic replies, and made me laugh quite a bit, too. Thanks! Ironically, given the tone of the suggestions, I've been trying to ration my online time because I'm studying for my board exams for my independent license in mental health counseling - which is why I'm just getting back to this. Needless to say, I love the idea of marital compost harmony by each just doing one's own thing. Duh, wonder why I didn't think of that before? It had occured to me already that if one builds a 3-bin composter, one could fill the outer two bins simultaneously for the first round of rotting, and then hopefully dump them in the middle when there's enough less bulk. So we'll try it - his & hers composting. :-) BTW, my hubby now has 1 job offer & other interviews still upcoming, so he's much less stressed. Still, why not try the math vs. hunch experiment - sounds like fun. What's the rough balance between leaves & horse manure, anyway? I was going to fudge it with about 5-6 parts leaves to 1 part manure. Plus whatever weeds I have on hand at the time, which is always tons. Maybe as much as 1 part. Lots in our neighborhood are about an acre, so we're close enough for smell problems, or I wouldn't care in the least if I got it wrong. My veggie garden is in the front yard (best sun), though, so the neighbors already think I'm nuts. ...Meanwhile, I find myself eyeing the vast amount of shredding at work (mental health agencies generate tons of shredded paper) and wondering if it would mess up my pile too much. Actually, I am now eyeing anything and everything and wondering about composting it. P.S. FWIW, I know how to use an abacus - I was fascinated by them as a child. I've seen a slide rule, but I don't know how to use one, though.

Why not hit up your local big box store, aka "The evil orange", aka Home Depot. Most everything they sell is from China!

I-joists are a good example of why cost information is the wrong place to start a design. The cheapest floor joists are those short enough to be of dimension lumber but if you are pricing I-joists you have already decided on longer spans. As a span gets longer, the joist selection is determined by deflection rather than bending strength which involves increasingly larger top and bottom chords or more efficient deeper sections until at very long spans the design selection is determined by the stiffness needed to prevent floor shake or bounce for the comfort of the inhabitants. This information is not found in manufacturers' tables, building codes or engineering formulas. The manufacturers offer tables that use a higher than code deflection limit at full design load like L/480 but at the longer spans commonly found in today's homes, that isn't good enough. My point is that the design criteria for a long span I-joist changes as the span increases so the only reliable cost savings principle is: shorter is cheaper. When you find you are getting close to the maximum allowable span of a particular joist section you should be thinking of modifying your design criteria rather than adjusting room dimensions for cost efficiency. Some engineers design long span I-joists from a published table using the column for 19.5" or even 24" o.c. spacing when the actual spacing will be 16" o.c. Some believe in special bridging systems. I've been forced to use doubled LVL's instead of I-joists to reduce structurural depth or match the depth of a shorter span. Recently the bottoms of first floor I-joists have been required to be protected and that can add stiffness. Cost is rarely the determining criteria for joist selection. There is no correct way to design a house but there are effective and ineffective design sequences.

Picture above is our compomise on a laundry room vs laundry closet. We added two pocket doors, one on each sise, so we can close off the laundry area if needed for noise and/or appearance. We were fortunate to have space for two entrance paths from garage/hall bench, one direct to kitchen (not shown - but left side of door in background) and one through laundry to kitchen/dining room to make it possible. We had a separate laundry room in prior house, but we always folded clothes elsewhere and didn’t stack up baskets of clothes in laundry room anyhow. I do miss a laundry sink, not as big of deal now with kids older and out of the house.