spataro51 I used what's called Baseboard Thermostat. You can find them at Homedepot and Walmart. Very common. The difference between one of these types and a low voltage type, is that the baseboard thermostat is designed for the high current that a baseboard heater requires. It will handle 15 amps without a problem. Here's a picture of how I connect it up to a wall plug. All mounted on a stick. DISCLAIMER: THIS IS FOR DEMO PURPOSES ONLY. IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS ON YOUR OWN, DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK. ALSO, PLEASE HAVE A BIT OF ELECTRICAL BACKGROUND BEFORE ATTEMPTING AS YOU COULD CAUSE A FIRE IF NOT CONNECTED CORRECTLY. PLEASE NOTE. Do NOT use any kind of Extention cord to make this. Use only actual House wire and heavy duty, 3-prongled plug. Plug only into an outlet with nothing else in the line. Also, for such a small structure, I had the blow dryer set to its lowest heat setting. On this dryer, this consumed only 400Watts of power (approx.) In this picture, you can see the blow dryer and the thermostat on a stick. Below (out of view) the thermostat, on the same stick, is another box with a wall plug in it.

Ethiojazz your main factor when it comes to tile/coping this time of the year is going to be freezing temps. If the mortar is wet and it freezes overnight, the water in the mix will freeze, creating many little voids in the mortar - which can potentially lead to problems down the road. But - there are a couple "tricks of the trade" that can be applied here to prevent this from happening. In addition, temps in the area are kind of jumping around (i.e. one night it's freezing, next night it isn't). So there is still time ... On the other hand, the only real "damage" done if you wait is just in scheduling. If you're having a deck done, 99% of the time you'll need the tile/coping installed first. So this would hold up decking progress. If you're doing a regular concrete deck ... obviously this would not be much of a hold up. Now, if you're doing flagstone, or pavers ... yeah, you'll lose some time.

When you say "what glass", are you talking about which level of LoE coating? Or are you talking about 2-pane vs 3-pane? You say "glass options" but don't say what those options are. Or, are you asking about fiberglass (the Integrity) vs other materials? Or something else? For UV protection, there is LoE 180, 276, or 366. The LoE 276 is what's usually offered standard. A higher level of UV protection would be LoE-366. Are your windows shaded or are they getting full exposure? On the one hand, in your climate where AC is used fairly often, the LoE-366 might be better. On the other hand, a tint can sometimes be seen with LoE-366, especially on tempered glass. The upcharge for 366 is not a lot. You might explore with your contractor the idea of 366 on some windows and 276 on others.

I'm trying to build my soil and I have read stories where even the hardest clay changes simply with top dressing every year. It takes much longer this way (years), but the stories have been convincing. I'm leaving the autumn leaves in my garden and I take bags of leaves from my lawn and keep them rather than giving to the county. I try to shred the leaves but we find the process messy and unpleasant (loud shredder) but I usually get a bag or two done which worth about 5 bags unshredded. I use the shredded leaves as a bottom layer of mulch for my vegetable garden and any leftovers for my ornamental garden. The whole leaves are used for the ornamental gardens and back "wild" garden. On top of the leaves, I put shredded hard wood mulch for the ornamental garden and natural bark mulch for the vegetable garden. I use much less than if I only used mulch as I have the (completely free) layer of leaves underneath. My vegetable garden gets turned a bit every year as I plant new, so I have seen the best change in my soil as the broken down mulch from the previous year is incorporated into the top few inches as I break up the soil and create a smooth planting base in the Spring. I'm starting to compost again and hope to have my own compost to use as another layer. My county doesn't do this, but others nearby will deliver for free to residents truck loads of compost (I'm so jealous). You might want to look into your local services to see if they either deliver or allow pickup of mulch or compost for residents. I'm really excited for you and your project! I think you will have an amazing woodland garden!