It depends on how cold. The ground insulates tremendously, so when in-ground, even if its extremely cold air temp, say -20, -30 F, its much, much warmer in-ground even an inch or so down. When they're above ground, they can tolerate moderate freezes, probably ok for sure down to about 25 F, and possibly as cold as maybe the mid teens. But if allowed to get much colder, they're toast. I know this the hard way, from losing bulbs that were above-ground when the weather was too cold. It probably also depends on the species, some may take colder temps than others. You probably won't know for sure unless you either cut a few open and see if they appear firm and solid, or the tissue is soft, watersoaked. Or, if you plant them and see if they start to grow roots and shoots. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and at least see if they're alive. Maybe there were buried in "stuff" in the car and didn't freeze as hard as you think. I've left fruit and other groceries in the car in winter, buried under "stuff", and they have survived far colder temps than I thought they would.

I think this probably means plumbing fixtures and lighting fixtures but I would clarify this. If the only project in the contract is the bathroom, and you are buying all the fixtures yourself, you and and your contractor may want to rethink the contract. The contractors I use do contracts like yours if they are responsible for supplying everything because they charge above their cost to determine the allowances. (They mark up the prices on what they pay). When I did a job where I was supplying all of the fixtures and a certain amount of the finish materials, they would do time and materials contracts (materials being construction materials I didn't supply). This is generally more expensive in terms of labor because it is an hourly rate. In any case you want to clarify exactly who is supplying what, and how this affects the overall budget. Again, when clients supply certain materials, and pay X for it, the contractor does not subtract X from the allowance, it is usually X minus something.

Sanding is always best, but anything will dull the sheen, which is really what you want. You also want to remove any grease, grime, dirt...anything that may get in the way for the paint to grab hold. You can do that by washing if you don't want to sand...many people will do both. You don't want to use steel wool becuase the small bits of steel that get left behind will rust out with a latex paint, but you can use the synthetic pads that are available now. Still, sanding to me doensn't make that much of a mess, does it? You are only sanding enough to dull the sheen of the existing poly. It really shouldn't make that much dust.

Rounded edges up? Interesting, that's what I thought but I called George at East Teak this afternoon and he recommended the opposite! He said the face with square edges is meant to face up, however it can be done either way. The way my boards are milled, the face with rounded edges is very slightly narrower than the face with square edges. So that when two pieces are butted up against each other tongue in groove (and I'm just lightly pushing the boards together by hand, not hammering them), the faces with square edges actually touch each other without a gap, while the faces with rounded edges leave a gap (maybe 1/16", maybe a little less). I know others have mentioned that T&G ipe boards should leave a gap when tapped up against each other, but that doesn't seem to be the case with mine. The boards are touching on one face even when lightly tapped together; regardless of whether that face is up or down, the boards are still touching. So now I'm concerned that the boards won't have room to move and I might get swelling and buckling. Are my boards milled differently than most? So which side do I install facing up? Here are my thoughts on each option: 1. Install with square edges up, and no gap on the surface. This is what East Teak recommended, and I like it because it doesn't leave grooves between the boards that can collect dirt and gunk. But this might not be ideal because I guess rain water could "pool" on the top of the decking. 2. Install with rounded edges up, showing a gap on the surface. But since the square edges on the bottom will still be touching, it seems that would let rainwater into the grooves between the boards where it has no place to escape out the bottom. Seems like this would be even worse than rain water pooling on the surface of the deck! I'm really struggling here... Since one face of the boards will be touching when installed regardless of whether I have that face up or down, it doens't seem like either option would make a differnce regarding potential swelling/buckling. A few more pieces of information - this flooring is for a screened porch and the roof has a 18" overhang on all sides, so the flooring shouldn't really see a lot of rain. And the floor also also slopes 1" in 10', so it does promote some runoff when rain does hit it. Also, the ipe is kiln dried. Any help would be appreciated!