***"rural property, has never died from being hot, only a restart issue, restarts when cooled"*** Before going any further with this, pull the sheet metal shrouding and check for mice activity (nest building, food caches). Mice activity is often the cause of overheating. The critters can destroy an engine if they pack enough material into the duct work. Even small amounts of material can block enough air flow to create problems. And yes, use a spark tester to confirm the loss of spark if you don't find any duct work blockage.

My soapstone has been in for about 18 months now. You can have a lot of fun testing but in the end putting lemon, ketchup, wine, mustard are just messes to clean up. They won't teach you anything since soapstone will not stain. It just won't. It also won't etch like marble. It will ding, however so if you really want to test it, take a can of soup and let it slip form your hand. Or a large can of tomato sauce. That's one that would cause my blood to run cold, for sure. Drop your can opener on it. These will likely leave dings either large or small. Many dings don't just magically disappear with a quick oiling. Hand sanding is one method of getting rid of scratches, but if you have one of those salt&pepper soapstones that sort of looks spotted- you'd find that after a hand sanding, there would be an orange peel texture- not completely flat. This is because the softer spots wear away faster then harder spots when sanding. Of course, that orange peel texture itself will be sensuous and wonderful, but it won't be strictly flat. These are the real tests for soapstone. They'll answer whether the patina of soapstone is really for you. It's also fun to see how different treatments darken the stone. As another scientist on this forum, I will advise not to use olive oil. No it's not horrible to let it get on your counters. But to use it to oil them over a long period of time would potentially be a big mistake. I went 20 years with not dishwasher. My handwashing of my pots and pans focused more on the INSIDES. As consequence, the outsides have a sort of a glossy almost sticky deposit. This is 20 years of incomplete removal of olive oil. It's fine on the outside of my cherished pans, but not on my counter. It won't build up fast enough to notice. But once it's there, how do you plan to remove it?? it does not come of with a good washing, or even a tough scrub. Another scientist suggested that it is not even soluble in acetone, which would normally be the way to remove your dark coating on the soapstone slabs. Why use this gimmick when there are better options? I have a dark hard soapstone. After 18 months, I still have stuff left in my first tub of Bees Oil (Mineral oil plus beeswax) from William's sonoma. My counters have stayed dark for a really long time. I'm sure I only really oiled them for the first couple of months. After that, it's only when I want them to look especially pretty for guests. They always look gorgeous really, and never show rings or faded spots except perhaps under the espresso machine which has had fewer passes with the oil/wax. I keep the same cloth in a baggie and reuse it with no washing every time. It's ok since I wipe my counters before oiling. You need no special cleaners of any kind for soapstone- I clean with a warm wet cloth. Harsh soaps will remove more of the residual oil deposit and lead to white rings happening more often (like around a soap dispenser). Personally, I have a squirt dispenser of dishsoap on the counter. I keep it full of 1/4 strength dish soap, which is more environmentally friendly, lower cost, and certainly just effective as "ultra concentrated" soap. It also makes my soapstone look not quite so mangey where the soap dispenser sits. good luck!

I find it odd that people do think I set tile. It's so funny. What do you think I do all day long? That's me in the Ardex Tee. One full day. I blogged before and after this shift. Note the colour of the sky threw out the video.... I think the price of my Laticrete products is higher because I live in Canada on the opposite coast. My guess is the transport fees inflate the pricing.... So on a large job you get hammered a couple hundred bucks. But you get the piece of mind of one system from one player. Laticrete coming out with a sheet membrane was a game changer for me. This has dramatically reduced my Noble orders. Once Laticrete come out with a Laticrete-Flex Flashing. They will be golden. Still waiting for that new product to make it's debut....

This house just popped up on my Pinterest feed, and it made me think of this thread. It has the same spaces as the four houses in question ...and it's just under 2500 sf. It's a much better layout ... I like the connection between the laundry and the master suite ... the main living areas seem more proportional and comfortable ... it has a nice, big pantry convenient to the garage entrance ... and it'd be very possible to re-do the area near the garage entry so you could have a third similar-sized bedroom + one bath. https://www.architecturaldesigns.com/house-plans/handsome-craftsman-house-plan-69677am