"It just is not wide enough to retain optimal heat." My earlier post "Also you must not have read my post as mine is right now 160-165 depending on where I stick the thermometer. Like I said the bin isn't even 1/2 filled and it's at that temperature so your theory of needing that size bin to provide that temperature is just plain wrong." PK's earlier post PK, I do not concede the point. In the beginning of November, I made two side-by-side mesh bins and filled them with exactly the same ingredients in one day. One was 30" in diameter, and one was 40" in diameter. I kept daily records on these two piles as I have on all my piles. The core temp was slightly higher on the 40" bin; but more importantly, kept the temp. up for a longer period of time. I'll give the exact numbers next time I'm on line. I don't think I said the core temps would be higher on a wider pile, but rather the heat would be retained longer. Val - I don't have a problem with racoons, but my dog takes no interest in my piles when smelly day old fish scraps have been put in the middle. Keep in mind that I only add fish when the core temp is 130F or more. This dissolves the fish scraps (mainly bluegill or small) in less than ten days. People who have odor issues often add smelly items when their core temp is not this high. My next door neighbor is adding whole banana peels to a 30F core and wonders why they don't break down as quickly as mine.

I put it down in my living and dining rooms. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. It looks beautiful when you first put it down but it scratches if you look at it crooked. I was very careful to put pads under the legs of the dining room chairs and table. With no weight on the chairs, the floor still scratches. We never use this room so I would hate to see what the floors would look like if someone sat in the chair and pushed back from the table. I called Roy to find out what to do about the scratches and was told to buy a box of Crayons and color them in! I am so disappointed in this floor. I went to a lot of trouble and $600 worth of glue to do this right and the floor is a disaster after just 2 years.

Hi Susan, I guess it depends on what is in the food you feed now. See which one best matches the criteria that The Whole Dog Journal uses to judge foods. I know that the foods that meet these criteria are more expensive. Here is a portion of an article that Patches123 posted in the Iams thread: We look for foods that contain a lot of high-quality animal proteins. We like manufacturers to disclose the approximate percentage of meat, poultry, or fish in their food, but they rarely will, so we look for foods that appear to have lots of animal protein. Ingredients are listed in order or their weight, so ideally a food will have one or two animal proteins in the first few ingredients. Understand that whole meat (chicken, beef, lamb, etc.) contains a lot of water weight. If a food list starts out with chicken, and there is no other animal protein listed until 7th or 8th on the list, the food does not actually contain a lot of animal protein. But if it starts out with chicken, and chicken (or another animal) "meal" (essentially dehydrated chicken) is number two or three on the list, chances are the product contains an admirable amount of animal protein. Animal proteins tend to be more digestible and palatable than plant proteins and offer a wider array of essential and nonessential amino acids. We reject any food containing meat by-products or poultry by-products. ItÂs just about impossible to ascertain the quality of by-products used by a food manufacturer. WeÂve spoken to representatives who swore they used only the finest sources of by-products, but when asked, they all say that! The fact is, there is a much wider range of quality in the by-products available for pet food manufacturing than there is for whole meats. Whole meats are expensive, and because they are expensive, dog food makers insist on their quality to an extent that is unreasonable when buying bargain-basement by-products. So, because the quality cannot be confirmed, we advise that you just avoid foods that contain by-products. NOTE: Some of our past selections do contain meat and/or poultry by-products. To winnow down our list to the very best foods possible, we no longer select products that contain meat or poultry by-products.  We reject foods containing fat or protein not identified by species. "Animal fat" is a euphemism for a low-quality, low-priced mix of fats of uncertain origin. "Meat meal" could be anything. We shudder.  We look for the use of whole grains and vegetables. That said, some grains and vegetables have valuable constituents that accomplish specific tasks in a dog food formula. We donÂt think itÂs worth getting too excited about one vegetable fragment and one grain by-product on the ingredients panel. Our tolerance diminishes in direct proportion to the number of fragments and by-products contained in a food and the prominence on a label; the more there are, and/or the higher they appear on the ingredients list, the lower-quality the food.  We eliminate all foods with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives listed on their ingredients panels. NOTE: Some ingredients  usually fats, and some fish products  arrive at the pet food factory containing artificial preservatives; these do not have to be disclosed on the ingredient list, since the maker did not add them.  We eliminate all foods with added sweeteners. Dogs, like people, enjoy sweet foods. Like people, they can develop a taste for these nutritionally empty calories. To meet our approval, food need not offer the following. But we like it when they do.  We really appreciate it when the date-code or production code is easy to find, read, and interpret.  The more items listed on a product labelÂs "guaranteed analysis," the better.  We like to see the caloric content of the food listed on the label.  It makes things so much easier when all of the food makerÂs contact information (address, phone, Web address) is listed on its product labels.  We feel better when a food has passed an AAFCO feeding trial.  We appreciate organic ingredients. WDJÂs Dry Dog Food Selection Criteria 8:FEBRUARY 2005 Copyright © 2005, Belvoir Media Group, LLC

What ??? If I understand tile is on the main floor and this questio is for the seconf floor where the bedrooms are.I think it will depend on the color of the tile on the lower floor as you will be having the 2 floors meet at the bottom of the stairs. Some pictures would be abig help BTW. Maybe look a vinyl plank and do the stirs in a tile to match the lower floor I awys thin stairs look best done to match the lower level and then the floor cange change at the top of the stairs. We need pictures of the furniture too.