I pull the weeds back 6 inchs or so from the base so there was no need to get anywhere near the the base of the plant. He just gets in a hurry and more or less waves the weedeat back and forth on the hill side. That hydrangea bed is on a fairly steep slope were our upper driveway was cut into the hillside. This last incident has made me decide to move plans forward to put a rock retaining wall in so I can multch the hydrangeas. The steepness prevents me from multching right now.

I would use mastic and a chip brush to apply. I would seal all of the returns and supply vents. The time you waste will pay you back in $$$$ and comfort. The more you seal other things like pipe runs and where wires come up into the house and into the attic area the less air you will not waste time heating and cooling. I would have to say for the average builder if you spent an extra $1,000.00 in sealants and time (yours or the builder's) it would probably pay itself back in less than 5yrs. This is talking going beyond what quite a few other builders do. I have a quote in front of me for sealing things that I am doing myself after the 'builder thought it was a waste' home was built. If these things were done at the time of building it might have cost an extra weeks labor and less than $1,000.00 materials. Seal returns in walls and floor joists $400.00 seal around baseboard trim (remove and reinstall and paint) on outside walls $3,000.00 wrap and seal supply ducts $1,840.00 Seal recessed lights $75ea x14 add one 6x30 return in hall wall $800.00 Doing this after the home is completed is a total pain in the rear compared to taking a little time and doing it at the time of the build. It might seem to be a waste of his time or money but he isn't the one that will be paying the utilities. I would say from the sounds of this guy that you might be best to do some research on the net and ask us and others what to do and how to do it cause I doubt he cares to do it right. Best of luck,

I did consider failing to mention asbestos a bad sign. I thought that they would either rip it out without any precautions or else the crew would show up to do the install & see the asbestos that the estimator didn't. Your situation may be different since the contractor previously acknowledged. I do think that the contractors who notify homeowners of problem and refuse to expose their workers (unless they are trained/licensed to handle asbestos, of course) are the responsible ones. I think we'll probably end up spending about $2200 to have it removed with full report & documentation of remediation. The state and county offices charged with regulation were very helpful to me on the issue, giving me the regs, names of testing labs, and saying which remediation companies had good track records.

The pot it’s in is a glazed pot with an attached tray base with holes allowing water to flow out from the soil. I don’t let water sit in there. I do have the pot sitting on top of another tray which I fill with water. There is no way (as far as i know??) for this water to get into the soil because the pot is glazed and there are no holes through the bottom (they’re on the sides inside the attached tray). I read that it’s a good way to give the plant some more humidity. Is that not true? I like the glazed pot because it seems to hold more moisture than unglazed but not as much as plastic. The way I check the soil is just by touching it a bit below the surface. Is there a better way you’d recommend? Any ideas why the soil would look so old and deflated after only a year? I mixed in a significant amount of perlite. However greenclaws up above mentioned it looks “peaty” and sure enough i just looked it up and the base mix I used is mostly peat moss and peat hummus . What do you want in the mix instead of peat? I will look for an African violet mix. I have never found a good potting mix for this plant, I hope i can get African violet mix here. I would love to make my own potting soil but have not had luck finding the separate components. I felt lucky for finding a bag of perlite! It’s all just pre-made bagged stuff. Even at greenhouses. thank you all for your input. I wish I knew what was the primary stressor on the plant. Was it the direct sunlight? Sounds like the cold isn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t looking great even before it got cold. Is it the potting soil being all used up or whatever is wrong with it? I can repot and then put back in the room where it gets good light but protect it behind a sheer curtain. Does that sound like a good plan?