gardengal, I didn't know that Quikrete made a casting sand and I don't see one on their web site. You can always contact Quikrete. Maybe the person was just using the bag that their Quikrete sand came in to carry their casting sand mix. Maybe if you look at Quikrete's web site you'll recognize the bag. I've just used builders sand. It's a coarse, angular sand. neshane, The original poster is talking about the sand that's use in a casting mold, not making cast leaves. You use a frame to contain the damp sand, tamp it then push the piece you want to make a copy of into the sand or carve a shape in the tamped sand by hand. Then you put your cement mix into the cavity and let it setup. Billie

Can never have too many brownie recipes! Are they cakey or fudgy?

Hey, thanks for the replies! OK, well, fortunately, the rust is appearing only in isolated spots. At most it would take a gallon of primer to coat all of them. This is on a gable roof over a 20x50 foot workshop. So yes, it's a lot of roof, but I'm only planning on addressing the problem spots. The flaking isn't the zinc galvanizing - that doesn't flake off anyway. It just seems to wear away. The rusted areas seem to have a some history that is different from the rest of the roof. They look like they had a heavy application of some kind of primer that has cracked and lifted over the years. Underneath it's more discolored than rusted. I suspect these may have been areas that lacked galvanizing in the first place and were given extra primer to compensate. Anyway, most of these areas I chipped off the old primer/paint layers and got down to sound metal. The galv steel is also a heavier gage than what I've seen at the home improvement stores; I'm a bit reluctant to chuck it out when it just needs some touch up. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been painted for at least 25 years, and that's not bad. So I'd even consider blasting/primering/topcoating the entire roof, I just want to make sure it's the right products. I did some web research and found a fair amount of info since I posted. I don't think I saw the Sherwin Williams site yet, though. So far it appears to me that zinc-bearing primers are a bit complicated and not necessarily the best solution. Although I could see cold galvanizing the corroded areas (after wire brushing) and then using a suitable pimer. Also, so far, it appears that the most compatible primers with galv. is a latex based primer, similar to what Rustoleum offers. I am gradually losing my reluctance to use a latex-based primer on galvanized. I will visit the Sherwin Williams site and see what they have to offer, as well. Here is what I've learned so far about zinc-bearing primers, it seems that they fall into two categories: those with inorganic base, and those with organic base. The inorganics are basically cold-galvanizing but are also porous and do not provide much in the way of a barrier. The organics have a lower zinc content and a higher barrier performance, but ironically do not provide much in the way of galvanic protection. Then there there are the one-step epoxy systems that claim to dispense with the need for primer, but on an old weathered roof that probably never been clean enough, I'd probably go with a primer/top coat solution. Once I do get a good solution for the shop roof, the roof over the 2 car garage has totally shed its silvery paint. The underlying galv coating is still in great shape, no rust; I've been waiting for Mother Nature to finish off the paint there before I recoat it. Any recoating will probaly wait until next spring... the weather is a bit dodgy these days for full roof painting.

Lowjo1, I was looking at Encore tile several months ago. It has been a long time, but I do not remember them having a field tile like the one in the picture you provided. My best guess is that the field tiles are actually stone vs ceramic tile. Encore can be contacted through their website, they should be able to tell you what it is. Your kitchen is beautiful. IMHO, I think the Encore backsplash would make a sparkling statement, especially set in stone. They offer so many beautiful choices and combinations. Just for your information, we were considering a different collection of theirs called Treasures, but decided it was too busy for us because of the wide color variation. I think the Vecchio collection you are looking at is fairly consistent in color.