>> I wouldn't sentence any plant to spending winter in that stuff if I had something else. Alright, good points. I repotted both into the 511 mix I had. The Makoyana had these cool-looking tubers for parts of its roots. I felt like the one on the bottom left in the photo had to go in the pruning process because that root was just way too long and I would have had to wrap it around the diameter of the pot like twice, which I understand is not a good idea. The other Calathea also had its roots pruned. Now my understanding is the plants may shed some leaves to balance the newly-smaller root systems, and to help them both recover, I bagged them both. >> AFAIK, I've never had a plant die of low humidity, even in OH, running electric heat pump or gas furnace. I've had some good, albeit limited, experiences with bagging plants. Some hoyas seem to recover after a repot better when bagged. An alocasia poly roots started jumping out of the pot just 6 days after being bagged and under lights. Finally, rooting of a long and spindly maranta vine cut up into 7 or so segments was a smashing success this summer. Granted, you rarely get a "control" plant that was NOT bagged under otherwise similar circumstances in order to compare, but the circumstantial evidence is rather strong, I'd say. But you gotta watch for mold or stale odors out of anything bagged and air the plants out often. >> Green, are you planning on placing your Calatheas on the heating mat??? Don't think I would. Well, I mentioned the mat to ask how plants could know if it is winter. I do want to use the mat for some of my plants. Calatheas should not be among them, huh? I see online mentions of them tolerating lows of 60-65. What about helping them heal faster after a repot and root-pruning - does warmth generally help plants recover? For lights, I use four 4-foot 54W 6500K T5 high output bulbs, turned on for 16 hrs a day with a timer. They do not generate much heat, but even if they did a little more of that, that'd be fine because my apartment is generally too cold rather than too hot for most plants. Plants can be very close to the light bulbs, as long as they do not touch.

I, too, was once the victim of a bad tile job in our new basement bathroom several years ago - so I do understand the anxiety of deciding what is "good enough". On this forum after I posted pics, Bill and others said something that resonated - as long as they can do poor tile jobs like that and still get paid 100% of their money and move on, they will continue to do so. Then I realized that if I bought a $50K car and the doors didn't line up, I wouldn't accept it - and they would have to fix it or give me a new car - period. What is the difference? In the end, the tile was done and redone THREE times at the installer's expense. Natural stone ain't cheap. And guess what? I love my bathroom and am happy I stood my ground every time I walk in there. My GC for the basement remodel no longer uses that tile installer so maybe I saved someone else some heartache down the line. Thank you, again, to Bill for being such an amazing resource! And I still donate money to help ensure that bulletproof and stabproof vests are available to police dogs :), which is the only thank you I've seen him request.

It is being done...you have to find a flooring specialist willing to do it and to assume the liability inherent in such a job. Some individuals will accept the risk inherent when working with new products and can absorb some floor failures. I have very little confidence in the willingness of manufacturers of flooring and related products to support the individual contractor by assuming some of the risk...hence, I have refused such jobs so far. Installing a wood floor, especially a solid, and getting a gap free and stable result over time can be a difficult task. Add this relatively new underfloor heating technology and some of us would rather pass on the work and give it to others willing to accept the added liability. Keep looking...I know some of my colleagues do this work...I am sure you'll be able to find someone skilled and experienced to take on the job.

Yes I'm trying to reduce my power consumption at night. I plan to put my seeds on the mats, cover them with humidity lids and wrap the whole thing in a mylar survival blanket--very cheap at walmart or dollar stores. I will remove the blanket in the daytime. I do have a heater but this way I can set it at freeze guard and my seeds will be nice and warm. I plan to use them for the plants I have started too. I have some tall humidity lids That I can use over my plants so Ill put them on a couple of them and then wrap it up with the mylar. I have some mesh trays and I put a couple of pieces of old hockey sticks along the sides of the mesh trays and put my tray with seedlings in that. This way they get the heat from the mats but the roots are not in danger of burning. I did want something to put under the mats so I don't lose heat from the bottom of the mats. I thought of styrofoam or cardboard but the windshield sunshades are the right size and have a reflective surface. This is my first time trying this but I think it will work. I'll be able to tell with my mini-max thermometer just how low it went at night and how warm the plants are. Of course the heater may come on but I won't have to leave it set so high. I must say if that's your bench it should be fine without anything under it. Mine has open spaces between the boards