Is it still leaking or has it oxidized enough to stop the leak? If so, paint over it and forget about it. Waiting for oxidation is what the manufacturer suggested. I don't like it, because there is no ETA. Meanwhile, our new wooden floor is about to start rotting under it. If it's a pipe threaded plug that's leaking, redo it. The manufacturer is giving us the plugs, but the plumber wants several thousands of dollars for that job. Supposedly, the old ones need to be "drilled" out... Perhaps, we can get someone else to do it for (much) less, but it is still incredibly frustrating.

When you folks post these complaints, please make clear which company you're talking about. I had to read all the way down into the comments section to determine the offending company was Mr. Rooter. However, in the body of the complaint, the writer says 'a national chain plumbing company with Rooter in the name.' Now most people are going to assume you meant Roto-Rooter, which is the most recognized name in plumbing and drain service. I work for Roto-Rooter and we received a form email on our web site slamming us for doing you wrong and there was a link to this page. Unfortunately, the person who filled out the form on our site did not leave a real email address so I was unable to let him know that it was not Roto-Rooter who wronged you, it was Mr. Rooter. People often get confused about the two companies and in this case, many reasonable people would read your initial complaint and assume you were talking about Roto-Rooter, a company that has been around almost 75 years and has a great reputation. I'm sorry for your problem and wish you had called us instead. Here is a link that might be useful: Roto-Rooter home page

Your contract is with your contractor, not the plumber. What does the written contract say about re-work? About substituting a contractor? If your contractor won't respond, the best incentive is to keep hold of the next payment installment until he does. Really though, you should sit down with a written list (and pics) of all the issues you've had with this sub and then ask the GC what he's going to do about it. If your contract provides for it, insist on a new sub. Even if your contract doesn't provide for it, insist that the GC address the issues. When he sees the whole list in writing, he may decide he can't afford to use these guys.

If you clean the tip of your moisture meter and dip it in a cup of distilled water, the meter will tell you the water is dry; this because the meter actually measures electrical conductivity. So if you have a given volume of water in a given soil, the higher the TDS (total dissolved solids or roughly - salts) the wetter the moisture meter will tell you the soil is. A wooden dowel, used as a 'tell' is more reliable. If I do heavy root work on tropicals, I habitually reduce the canopy by a very large fraction to keep the plant from A) collapsing, or B) from shedding branches that might be an important part of the composition I'm building. Example: From this root mass to this:You can see the huge roots I severed, and that was only the first rootwork session. Since then, I've pruned the root mass back to just about even with the soil level in the image below. We actually have a tool designed specifically for this chore, called (what else?) a root cutter. The tree is F benjamina. The foliage mass, on the same day, went from this: To this: I'm not sure what this means: There is no other location that's suitable for this big tree. Given this condition, should I supplement the lack of light with the Dyna-Gro in a month or so? You can't counter or remedy a lack of light by supplying fertilizer. In fact, you need to be careful about not over-fertilizing in low light conditions. Dyna-Gro's Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 is a good choice for low light conditions though, because it's nitrogen sources tend to reduce likelihood of the coarse growth that occurs when using fertilizers that get their N from urea. More about using a 'tell' please forgive the weird formatting, which happens on all the word documents I write and save to share): Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al