Sure, when I used to use CPE/Noble/Oatey/CPVC, I wrote about their membranes. Matter of fact I still write about them on occasion, but much less on this forum. We've had a slew of threads about PE behind cement board shower construction. If a DIY wanted to try floated mud walls, we'd write about those as well. But it's not generally a DIY-friendly method. When I used Wedi years ago, I wrote about Wedi. When I used Kerdi, I wrote about Kerdi. I prefer cement board over fiber-cement 95% of the time. I prefer fiber-cement over cement board 5% of the time. Each works better for me in certain circumstances. I do think that for moisture control, a topical membrane shower is superior to a membrane buried within the shower wall or buried in the shower base. I don't want cement board walls or presloped mud bases getting wet. I build fairly tight houses, and moisture control is important to me at each and every location in the house. A major point for me is I don't use foam presloped bases. Most every shower is a custom size so packed deck mud works best for me. Wedi told me "...our shower is all inclusive, you use all or none." Kerdi said "...sure, use our foam base or use the membrane over deck mud." I settled on Kerdi as being the membrane for me. Unlike RedGard, it works as a shower membrane and as a steam room membrane. I prefer easy 100% coverage of sheet membranes versus the "I hope I didn't get any pinholes" roll-on membranes. And that's my personal limitation, my personal concern. Kerdi is readily available at the retail level in my area. Kerdi is easily transportable. If Wedi would improve their distribution network they'd make inroads into DIY residential showers. They'd take market share away from Schluter from the builder side of it as well. And there is the big difference. A builder who is set on a product that works for that builder is going to use that product. A DIY person, which is what this forum is geared to, needs to have a retail distribution network in place so they can access these products at the retail level. All this relates to how I build and how the product works for me. So yes, more often than not I do Kerdi showers. If a Wedi guy, or a CPVC guy, or a Kerdi guy, or a floated mud wall guy wants to post, have at it! Heck, how often do I hear about hot-mopped pans on this and other forums? Do I ridicule them? Not at all. It's a regional thing, and I respect that. All are welcome.

judie, maire cate, geogirl & work, Thanks so much for your helpful replies. I know I sound kind of dufus-ish asking this kind of question--I can hear it said in a creaky old voice "so gosh, what kind of contraptions are the young folks using these days?" : ) We're thinking of the laptop as being used for note-taking, primarily, rather than research like the school computers would be. Geogirl, your point about most kids still using regular notebooks is exactly what I was looking for. I do wonder what will happen if she's got nothing but pen and notebook, though -- I'm sure DD isn't the only one of her age to be better at typing than handwriting! When I hear her type I think how strange it was that I worked my way through college because of my typing speed--10 years of piano study didn't go to waste after all LOL...but today that ability is completely taken for granted. She could have asked her friend (who's a sophomore) a couple of weeks ago at camp, but she got shy and didn't (I think she's got a complete fear of coming across as a clueless homeschooler). Maybe this will be a good time for her to overcome her embarrassment and let her friend be her 'big sister' in a way...or maybe I'll call the office and ask myself. work, that's really interesting about not shopping for supplies until after school had started--makes sense. So all these 'back to school' sales where we used to get all our supplies (10 notebooks for $1 - ahhh...one of my favorite weeks of the year : )) are really jumping the gun for public schoolers, I guess? I know they had lists for elementary school kids, but I didn't remember whether there were some for h.s. kids too. This has all been incredibly helpful. Thanks again!

hapagrrl: As you seem to have ruled out Whirlpool, Costco is probably no help. Costco does have an unwritten, very liberal satisfaction/full refund guarantee but they only carry Whirlpool brands for the types of fridges you want. A couple of things to check out or bear in mind if you do decide to consider buying large appliances from Costco. If you want delivery (which is usually included in the price), check the "shipping and terms" tab on Costco's product page. Used to be that some areas could not get delivery of fridges. Sometimes whole states --- say, Montana and Alaska --- and sometimes just particularly rural or remote areas of certain states. Sometimes there might be an extra charge for delivery to them. Read the tab to see if there are restrictions for your area. Another thing to bear in mind is that, while Costco.com will deliver the new fridge (and haul the old one, if you want), Costco rarely comes to retrieve one you decide to return. You have to haul it to a Costco warehouse yourself or else arrange for somebody to do it for you. Although you are ruling out Whirlpool products, l still suggest that you call around to servicers to see what you can find out about what the problems are. As plllog says, the problems might be mostly minor things -- broken support brackets, cracked crisper drawers --- or they might be major ones. Seeing numbers of reports of compressor failures might or might not be significant. FWIW, some percentage of early product failures (as noted by practigal) is inevitable for every mass produced product. There is even a name for it: "infant mortality." Thing is -- Whirlpool sells so many refrigerators that even a tiny percentage of compressor failures can translate to a large number of complaining people. And, there is nothing like inept or intransigent warranty service to push a dissappointed customer into a vitriolic, internet-posting crusader. Plus, these days, there are shills and trolls paid to muck-up on-line reviewing. Anyway, if you do get some feedback from services, please let us know what you learn.

Romantic, I'm going to make this easier so you have some time left in your day Get yourself a wringer washer, some phosphates, some old vinrage Lux Flakes, and a big ole soup pot. Put the soup pot on to boil..bring it to a rolling boil, fill the wringer with HOT water than dump in your soup pot of boiling water, make sure that water is blistering HOT, than dump in, oh, about 1/2 cup of phosphates, and let it agitate 2 minutes, its very important that the phosphates be introduced to the water first to have time to bind up the hard water minerals when using soap, than add a healthy amount of Lux soap flakes and let agitate again, start adding your linen, you want to see a nice thick layer of creamy froth, so keep adding the soap until that's achived. Once you have a good 2 or 3 inches of froth allow the linen to agitate 30 or 40 minutes. Now you can stop agitation and start running the linen thru the wringers..empty machine and fill with HOT water again for rinsing, continue to empty and re rinse 3 or 4 times, hey soap scum is hard to remove...now you can hang everything on your fences or line. I can promiseyou spotless laundry that is fresh smelling and unbelieveably soft. Or you can throw it in your TL'er add some store bought detergent, some HOT water and just a smigeon of Downy to the rinse and guess what beautifully clean and soft clothes. Joking aside we need to know what your issues are in order to help you.