Repair Guy: All acid is boxed...once out of the box and placed in light, its going to start degrading...so you want it in a box if you can get it. At our Lowes....I've actually seen crates of Acid brought down from storage still wrapped in plastic on pallets go completely in a week...well there was like 4 boxes left on the pallet. The customers were pulling the boxes off the pallet before they could even be moved to the right place. At our Pool Warehouse, they had the same 20 less about 6 boxes or so for a whole month of visiting both places. They are right next door....I do in and out of both stores at least once per week. Anyway, all you have to do is look at the acid. If its yellow or orange, its old. If its relatively clear, its new. My last post had a typo. I myself, buy from the pool store. Yes, I can see its older than the stuff I have purchased at Lowes Why? Because its cheaper. I would buy whatever it was cheaper unless it was really orange indicating it had been sitting for many months.

You're starting a great hobby that should give you lots of enjoyment! Although I am just an amateur hobbyist, I will try to answer your questions: 1) You may mount your photos in a variety of ways. Mounting them on cardstock first is called "matting." You could also mount them directly onto the page. You can use glue stick or photo splits (little 2-sided stickers for the backs of photos) or you could use old-fashioned corner mounts. Most people use a variety of techniques. 2)You can print backgrounds with your computer. 3)Some inkjet ink is acid free, some is not. No one really knows how colorfast they are. 4)Color swatches are okay, but are probably not archival, so you might think twice about them. 5)Everyone is different, but when I do a page, I usually use these steps: Choose photos that are sharp, interesting, and thematically related. No amount of embellishment or paper crafting can compensate for poor photos. Examine the colors and mood of the photos and choose the colors of your papers and other page elements accordingly. Decide if you want a one-page or two-page spread. Set the paper out and start setting the photos on the page to determine placement. Fiddle around for awhile with this. Be sure you have a photo that will dominate the layout and become the focal point. Determine where journaling and page headings will be located. Decide if you are going to crop or edge any of the photos, then do so. Mat any photos that you decide need matting. Begin mounting photos onto page. Stare at the pages (which are bare except for the mounted photos) and decide what embellishments, like stickers or whatever, you need. You may decide not to put on the things you had initially set aside for these pages. Also, make a final decision on what kind of lettering you want to use. Do your lettering and journaling, leaving room for embellishments. Add embellishments last. Place sheet in protective sleeve. Whew!

I don't mean to hyjack this thread any further but I'd like to quickly share something that I found fascinating since we're talking about leg braces. The leg braces that were made decades ago were mostly made of strong steel/metal and leather for durability. They were quite heavy to wear. Although, growing up wearing one, I got used to its weight. Currently, the leg braces are constructed with light and strong materials such as titanium alloys, plastic, etc.. It all began when this material was used for aerospace. Basically as I was told, it started when titanium alloys was used for the space shuttles. Being light and strong, titanium alloys began to be used for medical products such as wheelchairs, arm and leg braces. What a break through. When I first wore the new model leg brace, I had to learn how to walk all over again. Being so light, I didn't need to kick or use as much effort to walk with the new leg brace. LOL, I had to keep having to adjust my balance. It was certainly a heavenly moment for me. Plllog, you've heard about the connection between women and shoes? Well, when I learned that I could use any shoes I'd like (well... not all types), it opened up a whole new world on me. It was like a heavenly door opened up and an endless shoe styles shining from one end to the other. I went nuts about shoes for awhile and learned which shoe style worked and which didn't with the leg brace. Then, it was the colors, and which outfit should they be worn with, and etc., etc.. It was fun and frustrating at the same time... but mostly fun. Seriously, being disabled isn't all bad. I can write a whole new books of fun & learning experiences that happen to people with disabilities, or with a challenge, and wouldn't normally happen to people without. More than enough to keep me out of feeling pity about it.

Obviously a walk-out slab is at grade and not considered a basement at that building face so along the exposed slab edge it must have the under slab vertical insulation required in the Prescriptive Path chart of the IECC (if that is the compliance Path selected and assuming the slab is not heated. The IECC does not require insulation under a full basement slab because the heat lost to cold outside air is usually much greater than the heat lost to the earth below a basement slab. The rate of temperature loss through a material is proportional to the temperature difference between the surfaces. The temperature of the earth below a basement slab is permanently a bit warner than the temperature of well water which varies in the US from about 43 to 73 degrees. If the design temperature of the basement air is 70 degrees the temperature difference would vary from about 27 to 3 degrees. Therefore under slab insulation might be cost effective in North Dakota but not so much south of Kansas and Kentucky. In Michigan the difference would be about 20 degrees so insulation under a slab would be modestly cost effective and would also decrease condensation so R-5 (1" extruded polystyrene) should be adequate but if the price is right, 2" XPS can't hurt.