Our bouncer is a wet/dry one with a bounce area and a slide. The only part that burns the grass is the part that holds water (that does not blow up) so literally a lining of plastic. It does not burn the grass under the bounce or slide areas. We have the pirate blaster from blast zone Canada. We also have direct sun all day long. I was wondering if I tarped underneath that part if it would help stop the burning of the grass or if filling it with water would stop this? I don't think it can really be avoided. Just to note: The grass does come back it basically only seems to burn the tips. I can send pictures if necessary.

"Second, with all the hoop-style greenhouses I've noticed there needs to be a bending of PVC. Is that really a good idea? Will it snap?" PVC is very bendy when warm, just don't try bending the bows during a blizzard ! It's wise to put in a ridgebeam of 2x4's glued in a "T" shape to give the bows support. I attached my bows with "U" shaped conduit brackets. "Use Schedule 80 PVC - it is heavier, grey (therefore more sun resistant). It can be purchased at most large discount stores, Lowes, Home Depot, etc." Unfortunately Sch. 80 is a special order around here. I did the rebar-inside-PVC trick. I'd sure have ordered the Sch. 80 if I'd known I could. "So is there anywhere where I get about that much plastic sheeting for a lesser price? " I've canvassed the home centers and never found any good film wide enough. I don't know where that stuff came from the author of the plan used. I found that I could use our industrial sewing machine to sew 10ft pieces of 6 mil plastic together. However, you can buy cut yardage of decent four year greenhouse film. I went to our local greenhouse and asked where they buy their plastic. They'd just taken down their three year old plastic and put up new, so I said, "Can I buy the old film, please?" They said "sure... oops. Cut it up for scrap." So if you could find this kind of deal you'd have good plastic for a year or so. Ask for testimonials from people who've bought recently. I used the cheap stuff and it has lasted a year with one or two small rips so far. Or you can buy a "solar pool cover". It's a very good, thick type of film designed to be a good insulator. A solar pool cover is peppered with trapped air bubbles and I wish I had one. Ask CactusFreak, I think he uses one. People who do love it. It costs more but if you want to have anything growing when snow flies, it'll pay for itself in the first year. One important tip is to build the greenhouse with two foot high wooden sides. These "kneeboards" give you much more headroom, and they reduce the length of the bows you'll need and, more important, they mean you can use a smaller piece of plastic to cover. I sure wish I'd known that tip last year. ""And will it be hard to heat a hoophouse if it has big holes in the plastic (like near the ground), or is there a way I can make it near air-tight?" You can set up the plastic to be rolled up toward the top of the HoopHouse when you don't need heating and roll it back down in the Fall. That gives you lots better ventilation and prevents overheating. I'd like to figure out how to retrofit my hoophouse to do that. ********* If you happen to have a hill on your property, there's a great money saver called a "Pit" greenhouse. You still use the bows and cover with plastic, but you cut into the hill on the South side. The earth forms the North wall, and insulates your greenhouse from the cold winds. Properly constructed, a Pit greenhouse will never get below freezing in Zone 5. A clever trick is to dig down enough to put in a walkway in front of the plants. The cold air that creeps in sinks and fills the sunken walkway where the earth warms it to above freezing. We have two hills that might work, but I'd end up killing trees to do it. :(

Maybe I was generous. At 10 FPS, inch and a half pipe will do between 60 and 65 GPM. Todays recommended maximum FPS is 10 on the return and 8 on the suction. These numbers are based on safety and friction loss.You can push higher volumes of water through but your friction loss will increase very quickly. A 1.5 HP Super Pump will exceed these velocities. If I was generous, the reduced flow numbers would dictate an even longer run time for his pump, increase his power consumption, shorten his motor life, etc... only adds to the benefit of having the high efficiency motor of an Intelliflo with it's ability to be dialed down to both reduce power consumption and reduce friction loss by running slower.

1. We are big Stargate SG1 and Atlantis fans. We've discovered that looking up, from under water, at the water coming off the slide looks just like when the Stargate engages. Also, putting your face through the "sheet" of water coming out of the waterports is like the scene where they first walk through the Stargate. We've had a lot of fun with this and our imagination. I know...we're totally geeks. 2. We've made up various rules for retrieving diving sticks and rings and other pool toy objects. The most strenuous is retrieving them one at a time and having to place them on the porch which requires getting completely out of the pool. Now that one will provide your exercise! 3. We love playing with the Toypedoes. They really glide under water. We assign points based on which step you can get it to land on. 4. We made a see-saw out of noodles. 5. We just have a tremendous amount of fun playing "keep-away" with a $.96 inflatable beach ball. Great cheap fun. 6. The most relaxing thing in the world is to simply put on a mask and snorkle and just float around the pool face down. We had abalone shell added to our PebbleTec and we pretend we are treasure hunters and have found an underwater land full of diamonds. Again, I know we're weird, but it's fun. I'm glad you started this post. I can't wait to see what others do as well.