We had Microseal applied. It did nothing to help that spot. The tech had no understanding of how to care for velvet and told me I should saturate it with water if anyone spills on it. I told him that is against what Robert Allen suggests for this particular velvet. The Microseal did nothing to ruin the pile/nap of the fabric but, since then (after the four day cure time), it seems to get crushed from sitting on it and these crush marks are permanent. Is this normal for velvet? I'll take a photo of one of these crush marks.

This Neff oven (example) runs on 220-240 volts at 60 hz so it should be usable out of the box. The problem would be buying it and having it shipped to the US; and, of course, there would be no one here to service it if it broke. Interestingly, Neff is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSH which also owns Bosch and Thermador.

This was considered a really deireable choice a long time ago and there were many houses in Calgary done from Linwood. I am not sure what issues you are concerned about? There are tons of pics on google of all sorts of different plans.

Hey, Mike! Long time no see! :-) Hope all is well with you and yours! Here on the farm, I use our well water for everything, including my goats, laying poultry, my turkey sisters, in the house, etc... but we have pretty decent water drawn from a good aquifer. Our water isn't treated with anything, so no chemicals. It has natural minerals in it, like a bit of lime and whatnot... but it's good water, and many minerals are good for us. There is also a fairly good sized creek running through the property, but without knowing everything about its upstream source, I decline to use it for my indoor plants. Though, the native plantings near it seem unaffected in any way. Still... If you are concerned in any way, you could have the sources you use tested for excess anything, much like you'd test water for an aquarium. Knowing your concern with mediums used, I'd not think it anything related to that. What about temperature, or other considerations I may not have thought about? During the spring and summers when I move certain indoor plants out to my greenhouse for extra attention, they are submitted to some rains... though the majority of their water comes from a spigot in our basement. Personally, I won't drink tap water from a town or city that treats theirs. And for certain uses, like preserving fruit jellies, butters and jams, we do buy some distilled or bottled drinking water. I would say... if you aren't sure, test your sources of water... even if for your own peace of mind. Some studies and reports might indicate that rain water isn't as pure as we may think it is. Ideally, I'd love to obtain water from a natural spring or an artesian well. Unfortunately, those aren't a part of our farm, though we do adhere to organic practices, otherwise. Would love to hear from you when you have some time to talk! I believe you have our number... but if not, hit me up on fb messenger. Happy Gardening! :-)