@karinL The vent is supposed to be a crawlspace vent. The reasoning behind it was to let air flow underneath your house so there is no moisture build up and no mold. however, these never worked well, and you still get moisture under there. Many experts are no longer putting these vents in and instead opting to cover the dirt in the crawl space with a thick plastic barrier and put in a dehumidifier. Also, you are supposed to have more than one for "air flow", I only have one for some reason. So....... its pretty useless. @ karen47401 I use google +. I "share" my pics from my phone to my google+ page, and then when I am writing a post I type in You go to the pic you want to share on you google+ page, or any other pic host, and right click on it. then click "Copy Image URL" and put it in between the "" on the img src thingy. Hope that helps

I use TWP 100 Pecan 120 on a 14x25' deck. initially I applied 2 coats & right after the 2nd application it rained. I covered it with 2 large water proof tarps with no adverse effects. Looked better than I could have ever imagined. 3 years later I, contrary to my wife's input, & washed it with a triphosphate/bleach/hot water mixture (followed the Triphosphate box instructions) with a dark red cleaning pad 6" x 9". I cleaned 4 boards at a time going with the grain & going the 14' direction. I dipped the pads (cut one in 1/2 to cover the entire bottom of the applicator with 5 rubber bands holding the pad to the application. No rubber bands broke either & cheap ones at that. No sanding whatsoever! It happened to be hot & sunny the entire time, but you take what you can get. After cleaning each 4 board section, I rinsed the sections off going away from the uncleaned boards. I had to give a 2nd coat to a couple heavily greened areas, I waited only one day, even as it rained the very minute I finished the job. I waited only one day to stain. Steamy & sunny. Looks wonderful. Used an old car washing glove for the balusters, dipping in the stain & wringing it out. One can cover the entire baluster in one swipe!

I took a little road trip this weekend and happened to notice a fence that made me think of your post. It took some time finding what the style was called, but I think this is similar. It is not solid on the bottom, but has a second set of pickets that are so close together, nothing from the bad neighbors could blow through. And the advantage to the open pickets is a well aimed leaf blower will clear your side of the fence and will simultaneously blow their leaves away from your fence without you having to move off your property. I completely understand not wanting to access the fence or a hedge from their side. I have neighbors like that, too. Ugh! From what I can see it's called a puppy picket. I know this is taller than what you want, but this is the idea. Another example (I don't care for the top portion of this fence, but you can see the idea of the double pickets at the bottom, with more open pickets at the top). I am linking because the pic is large and I can't seem to reduce it. Here is a link that might be useful: puppy picket This post was edited by olychick on Wed, Nov 5, 14 at 11:17

Virgil - It's not required by code. But our elevations have one drawn so the city won't bless off our house without one. So our options are: 1) Put in a permanent railing....wood, nice, traditional. City loves us and we move on. Will spend $$ on a nice railing. 2) Put in a temporary cheap railing. City loves us and when they leave, we take it down. Will spend some $ on a cheap railing which will ultimately be wasted when we take it down. 3) Resubmit the drawings without a railing. More $$ for basically pulling another permit. Plus dealing with the city again. But then we don't have to put up anything and can focus on another project. At this time, I don't know the cost differential between nice railing, cheap railing and the additional permit cost. So from a cost perspective, I can't factor that into my decision at the moment.