For some reason, I was just browsing your documentations. I seen that there were some current posts from Garden Web and figured you made a final post here closing the book on your nightmare. Here is my guestbook entry from Nov 05: Lisa, Nice to see you forging ahead with good details. I'm sure you could go on the road with all of your field experience. What has been amazing fom me throughout this whole process has been your calmness regarding this whole mess. You are pretty amazing. I'm sure many others would've folded under the duress you've been put through. Another thing that amazes me is how well you grasped the whole concept of what was wrong and what the proper fixes should be. When bombarded with literally hundreds of differing opinions, you have managed to stay on task and make all the good decisions. I'm smiling for you and wish you and your family a happy ending to this problem.. Unfortunatley, the last sentence didnt come true and for that I am truly sorry.

A sponge is not the right tool. Toss it. I recommend a Chinex brush for CC. It loads nice and releases the paint quickly and evenly. I don't know how your husband paints so it's hard to help beyond a few suggestions. Keep a wet edge. Paint dry to wet. Load brush and paint 6-8 inches. Do not paint from the can. Do not scrape the brush. Tap it side to side in the paint pot. CC does indeed dry fast and it dries level when applied properly. You must apply it faster than other paints. Practice will help. Michael

Why do I enjoy this writing stuff so much? Is it because I like twisting peoples words? Or is it the unwinding of their own words? I like to be a helper. But I just get sidetracked when I read certain things. And I have to say, women have a way of stepping in it, making it so much fun to tease the fair sex. I mean here we are discussing possibly the most universal problem of modern life, keeping the toilets in good repair. Now, after all this, our dear original poster throws her hands up in frustration and declares: "(I) Really appreciate all of the input." Well, Pomona, thats what toilets are for. I think we all appreciate that. But we have to make sure it flushes away. Do us a favor. Dont give up. If we cant help you help yourself, this forum might as well go away. To that end, I promise: no more funny business. I will try to be instructive and invite the whole readership to support this. We have to keep this ladys head above water if you dont mind my saying so. So here goes. A toilet is possibly the best invention of civilized mankind. One reason for that is that it is so simple and so efficient and so easy to maintain in virtually any household. (Although, I worked on one just yesterday that hasnt been used in five months because the handle assembly was broken. If the ladys 35-year-old son wasnt a pot-head, he could have fixed it for her.) By the way before I forget I purchased a nice Jacuzzi brand toilet yesterday for another family. I shopped at Lowes and couldnt locate the elongated model I wanted, which I would expect to be in the same bay as the round one. The nice lady showed me where to find it. Then she went and sat in a chair. But I couldnt confirm that it was the one I wanted because the box was stuck under a rack and the whole thing was printed in Spanish. Im talking Flint, Michigan, United States of America. Anyhow, I mention this because I am slowly learning Spanish because of all the stuff I buy in the Big Box Stores. And so by reading both sides of the box and comparing words, I see that the Hispanics have had to devise a word that didnt used to exist until modern times (more or less): "Inodoro." I tried to find the Latin connection having once been an altar boy (albeit a closet sinner) but I could not find one. Finally, I realized that it might mean, odor-less. You know, like when people say, "Where is the bathroom?" when you know darned-well they are planning on taking a dump, not a bath. In the tropics, they say, "Por favor, Im interested in the odorless, if you know what I mean." Now the English, in the days of Victoria, applied the old name to the new contraption. It became known as a "water closet." The English didnt want to say what they were up to, either, you see. And for that reason, we have that mysterious toilet drain elbow being called a closet bend. "Toilet" is, of course the French word, pronounced twa-lay. Well, that almost looks like a good name for a double bed. But it, too, is an oblique reference to cleanliness obviously a dishonest term, since the French have no idea what that means. "Commode" is a great word. It ac-commod-ates ones immediate needs. I like that. It says what is says. I certainly dont want to call it the stink-free. And I think Mexico could do us all a favor by coming up with a better word. After all, "the odorless" suggests that these huge cities have been formed around one gigantic outhouse maybe two. Mexico City has more than 12 million people not counting those who live in Texas and California most of the time. That is a big task to handle for the lowly toilet. Thats why they are so simple, efficient and repairable. Well, times up. Hope this helps Pinoke

Ok, I understand. I was trying to just get to the point and didn't realize how helpful you all would be. I'm thankful for your consideration. My dad is an engineer and did the inspection. That being said the areas that need fixing are very obvious and I aim to do that. I have a price to take down three trees in front of the house for 1,000. The others I can handle with a chainsaw. I'll do the painting myself and have a contractor fixing the porch and putting new gutters. The contractor will also install new top cabinets in the kitchen to match the already replaced cabinets on the bottom. That's 5k. Also all the floors will be sanded and poly for about 3k. Does everyone agree that the foundation that's exposed should be dark blue to match all the shutters? I'm planning on sanding and painting the front door the same color as the shutters. I was considering putting the key stone window trim above the front windows as well. I will do a lot of the lawn maintenance myself. I am planning on replacing some of the lighting. And do consider the fans to need replacing. Does everyone agree that the columns can stay as they are? I need to see what happened to make them lean toward the road. If they can be salvaged I can save a lot of money there however I thought 10 inch pillars and a colonial railing and fence would add class to this house. The railing that's there is very water logged and they used siding that doesn't match the house.