This is very interesting. I suspect he tried to sell his formula to some big company but was not successful. (Imagine computers or tv sets that looked like fairy houses on the outside, lol.) Sure would be useful to us crafters, if its not too toxic. If it looks good, maybe we could order ingreadients regionally and split the cost (EG if any one else in NH VT or MA wanted them I could be in such a group.) I guess I don't object to paying for the formula through his dvd's. When you invent something and spend a lot of time, naturally you want to get paid. Right now I have too many other projects and winter is coming, but maybe in the spring... Kathy

I am a concrete contractor in Houston, TX. (www.conspecinc.com) After reading these treads I am amazed at how little people really know about concrete placement. First, the smaller the job = the more it costs because we are charged a "short load fee" for orders under 6 yards. This fee can be up to $175 "plus" the cost of the concrete. Also - for slab on grade applications wire mesh is much better than rebar (contrary to popular opinion). It has to do with the fact that reinforcement on "slab on grade" applications is based upon the strength of the GRADE not necessarily the reinforcement. The reinforcement just prevents the crack from developing and wire mesh does a better job. I address this on my website. Finally, concrete costs have gone up as the economy (gas prices), drive costs. I charge $6 to $7 PSF for stamped colored concrete and $3.50 to $4 for standard. In Houston, contractors have a habit of putting wood for control joints which ultimately rots out. Not a good idea. I don't use wood for control joints unless requested. Also concrete can be ordered in MANY WAYS! A contractor can order substandard concrete (but the owner does not know the difference), cheap.... but GOOD concrete costs about $80 per yard. In short a concrete patio "should" cost $3.50 to $4 PSF in Houston that is - if you seek quality. Concrete can have "fillers" which after 28 days "will" give you 3000 PSI but "after" this period it will slowly diminish. Good concrete however, increases its strength with age. Good concrete takes 50 years to totally cure. My website gives you the truth about concrete placement.

Old thread but I wanted to update...we chose the laminate for the master. And I'm sorry. Not sorry that the carpet is gone, the laminate is a good improvement but I wish I had gotten wood. When he was doing the floor Dh said, this laminate is nice, let's put it all over the house...I don't know why but I said no, let me live with this a few months first. One good thing, we can (and have) moved furniture all over, around the painter, etc and it's not been a problem, no scratches. Brutuses, I haven't kept up, are you in your house yet? And how do you like your floors, if you're in? Susan

So. The guys finished up their part yesterday and now it's up to me to do the rest. Their work looks pretty good if you don't look real hard at all the details (which I am going to stop doing in a day or two, I hope, since done is done). These are Applad cabinets from IKEA (semi-gloss white--love them!) and their solid beech butcherblock Numerar counters. The sink is a big honking 16-guage near-zero radius corner Vigo from the O site, faucet from IKEA. The shelf was ripped from one 8' Numerar counter and installed on 10" corner brackets from the hardware store which were screwed into studs every 2 feet. I'd originally gotten some of those posts where you have to drill holes into the shelf edge and slip it onto the posts but they weren't sturdy enough for an 11" deep 1.5" thick solid hardwood shelf that will have cast iron pots on it---so I switched to this method (thanks to my daughter for finding it online!). It is STRONG. The parts that show on the wall under the shelf will be patched and tiled over. The undersides of the shelf were routed out so that the bracket is recessed--will see about patching that over with thin strips cut from leftover butcherblock using a circular saw. They also routed out a channel for the LED tape lights (again, thanks to Yllimuh!) so you can't see the tape unless you crane your neck under there which I do not intend to do ever. LOVE the LEDs. The outlets with the transformers are inside cabinets at the ends and they fished the wire through the wall on the side with no uppers. Still waiting for the appliance people to come back and install the DW and slide-in range, which I hope will happen in the next few days. I paid them for installation months ago but it had to wait until now. I am going to get the IKEA "Bursta" table in the 32" square size (with two pullout leaves which i think make it about 60" long?) and keep it pushed up against the wall most of the time with 2-3 chairs around it. It can be moved into the living room if I ever want to have 4+ people at a sit-down meal. Or just pulled out into the kitchen a bit. It'd be cramped in there but it would only be for rare occasions so it's fine with me. I think I'm going to repaint the walls. They are a very pale gray but I think they'll look better the same color as the ceiling and soffits. There are too many planes in there to have different colors going on, even subtle ones. Oh, also, I skim coated the sand textured walls (except for the vertical parts of the soffits) by rolling on thinned joint compound with a paint roller (!) and squeegeeing it smooth with a Magic Trowel (!!!!). It worked amazingly well and was much easier than the conventional skim coating method! It took only 2 coats. I also bought a drywall sander Shop-vac attachment for $25 on Amazon--WAY worth it to not have to drape the doorways and clean up dust off everything for weeks afterward. It vacuumed literally all the dust as I sanded. I didn't even wear a mask. Amazing. Overhead light only LED lighting only from the other end of the room looking at the opposite side - 24"W fridge goes in the first tall empty space and the end unit is a 24" wide pullout pantry