Personally.....I dont even need to take a plant out of a pot....not just citrus but any plant.......I drill extra drainage holes in my pot in the first place and that has included terracotta(masonery bits/be careful....3mm then 5mm then 7mm) as well as plastic......typically 5 or 6mm holes.....with my citrus i put some onion bag mesh at the bottom to stop mix coming out.(cut to size) All you have to do is lift the pot above your head or tip it on its side carefully and look for signs of roots coming out the holes.....then its time to repot. If you are really slack and go away and they are rootbound...plants will often try to push themselves up and out of the pot as well but the lift and look/tip on its side is all i ever do. if you pick a container that is 3 to 4 inches bigger all around than the rootball....that will eliminate stagnant water sitting in the pot....i killed a lot of citrus using too big a pot! water just sat there going off.Some plastic pots have some big drainage holes on their sides.....they are good for spotting the roots.

Based on my experience as homeowner (not a professional), I'd say a 2 ton or 2 1/2 ton AC system would be the max you'd need. I'd be very leery of anyone saying you needed anything larger unless they had the facts to back it up. American Std is made by the same company that makes Trane, so it's not a low end brand. 13 SEER is now the mininum you can buy. Your wiring will probably be ok, but you can discuss that with the salesmen who come out, they take all that into account. Get a lot of estimates, at least two on each brand. Keep in mind there's a 30%/$1500 Federal tax credit on more efficient models. I found that with the tax credit included that some of the mid-grade systems were actually more expensive than some of the upper end units.

Whoa, if you get a degree in industrial arts you get to acquire carpentry textbooks along the way?!? Sweet! Kim, I've always enjoyed/appreciated your contributions; given the wisdom of trial and error that was behind them, I see why they stood out. My mom got us a couple of the Reader's Digest fixit books (have to run downstairs, one of them might be the very one you have); I like the way they are encyclopedic and detailed. I know Jane Powell but not the Small Houses books (do you mean The Not So Big stuff by Susanka, or the Small House anthologies from Fine Homebuilding?) Thanks for mentioning books; I think I might start a reference book thread for this forum. Hey Casey, THANKS for taking the bait. And you are NOT a bloody genius, you are an old house DEITY for crying out loud! Would you please start your own show on youtube? Or maybe just a house tour? Even Petch house has youtube videos. Or, do you already have a project blog and everyone knows about it but me? Actually for someone with a degree in historic preservation, I am impressed with how low-key your posts come across; they read more like an old friend who's "been there" and wants to pass along lessons learned along the way, it's really very nice and encouraging. But if you ever want to browbeat me feel free; I would take it as a compliment. To be honest if I post about something I'm thinking of doing to my house, and you don't opine, I figure one of two things is going on: 1) you're not on the forum; or 2) you're politely disapproving. Most of the time I assume it's 2 because you seem to be pretty consistent around here. But I just want to say, and I hope I speak for many, that I love love love your posts, especially when I'm searching on a problem I'm trying to solve and something from you pops up! (PS I finally got around to using that general finishes gel varnish you recommended and it was fantastic, thank you; I will post photos to the woodworking forum sometime before the next census.) Oh, and I love the way you "aged" the color tones in the new pine beadboard in your kitchen; reminds me of the pine in my grandmother's kitchen. When I was really little I used to look at the gleaming pores and think it was the closest wood could get to 24K gold.

Hi mcdaisymom, We too, are in Texas (Arlington( and just finished with the whole pool design thing. Will sign contract Monday and get on the schedule to re-route some electric that runs thru our yard and get on dig schedule. We did not know what size to go with either. We have never built a pool before and had no concept of how many gallons or SF. We just had an idea of what we wanted. Diving pool, grotto, tanning ledge and volleyball area. We also had the pool area master plan drawn up - things we would like to do in the future, so we did not have to tear out in order to add. Then we held our breath. Amazingly, the whole master plan came back at a price we thought the pool alone would cost. In the end, we did have some other related expenses-like the re-routing of electricity-which costs $1761 (no quoted in pool price) and we are going with pavestone decking to tie into our existing patio (pool co. does not do pavestone) which is an added expense and more expensive than the exposed aggregage decking-so we eliminated some accessories to the pool, like a fire pit, that we can always add later. Really talk about what you want in a pool and then discuss with the builders you get bids from. Go with the whole master plan and then add or delete as necessary. Good luck