Drew is full of it and aparently never reads any studies that get posted showing that Turface increases the available water in various container media. Turface DOES NOT hold onto water so tightly that the plants can't utilize stored water. There is a point as the mix dries where water that is held in the turface becomes unavailable, but that can be said of plain old garden soil too. Much of the water held in turface is available. That said, the moisture retention curve for axis (DE) is better at holding water that is available to plants than turface (calcined clay) You can use the sifted turface in your garden. Studies have shown it toimprove both sandy and clay soils.

Hi jenny: how do I like the faucet? Well I really like this one a lot for the purpose I am using it for. It is installed on my island for the smallish prep sink. It is a bit dainty looking for our main sink which is a very large (36") single bowl stainless apron sink. For the larger sink we have the bridge faucet by franke which belongs to the same suite as the 3 paddle I showed. The larger one I have had a couple of quality issues I don't think I should have encountered with a $1200 (at the time) faucet. The smaller one no issues. As for ease of plumbing: that sort of depends on a few factors. The pipe itself is an absolute breeze to run as it is very flexible small diameter pipe. I am in the fortunate situation where I have completly open access into all ceilings and walls as my entire house had been gutted and is being rebuilt so I am able to plan for these things ahead and it makes it simple. If you need to start taking apart walls/ceilings/floors etc in order to run the pipe that is when things get at least very messy and maybe even challenging to some. An RO system has a pressurized storage tank which may give you enough pressure at your faucet, but if not then you will need a pump to help deliver the water. I wouldn't say the pump is difficult if you take your time and follow instructions etc. I hope it all works out well for you. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. No dumb questions here.

Thank you Annz and Sherrilyn. Yes, it was the granite installers who set the sink. I should have known.... Supposedly the granite installers are "one of the best" according to our gc, as well as our neighbor, who used a different gc than us, and our plumber. But this "one of the best" granite installer screwed up our original granite installation by mistemplating and/or mis-cutting one counter top so that it was about 2 inches too short on one end. The end result was a month's delay and we had to go out and pick NEW granite slabs because our original ones were one of a kind and unavailable to match the rest of the install that was okay. So I didn't end up with the granite that I loved (what I have is okay, but I don't love it) and now I'm afraid my sink is slipping. I have heard through someone else that this GC is no longer using this granite installer. Hmmm... So far the GC has not returned our call, but tomorrow my husband will make a more "urgent" one. I have a pit in my stomach about this because I don't know if once an undermount sink is already in, if it can be adjusted. I looked underneath and it looks like it is clamped onto the plywood subtop. Sherilyn, the floor in front of the dishwasher looks okay, but you have a good point in that our floors are not level so water could run underneath and pool at the sink. That is what has happened with this sink leak where the water pooled in the cabinet and then ran down the back and forward. The damage is actually not right in front of the sink, but a little to the right. I suppose I will have to call the floor guy, although my husband said the floor may flatten down a bit once it's dried. I am skeptical about that.

Assuming you have a 9x48 resin tank which should have 1 cu ft of resin and you use a medium salt dose of 9 lbs you get 26,000 grains of hardness removal. Using the formula at the above link that results in a setting of 660 gallons because I find 60 gpd per person more realistic than 75 gpd. That includes a reserve calculated in. Ideally you want a softener to regenerate every 6 to 7 days unless there is iron and then more frequently. I think your small 1 cu ft softener will regen every 4 to 5 days. You could increase the hardness removal capacity of your 1 cu ft of resin by increasing the salt dose at the expense of salt efficiency. At a high salt dose of 12 lbs you'd set the gallons at 750 using 60gpd per person.