Yeah, I have an Orbit timer setup with three different valves, each valve runs three sprinklers (I wish I had put in an underground sprinkler system, but oh well). I haven't measured how many inches yet, but I run each valve for 15 minutes (45 min total) each day, until it starts to runoff. Now I'm down to 15 minutes each valve every 3 days since it's only in the 90's now. It does take a lot of water, but it's well worth it and water is dirt cheap here...imagine that in the desert! (I only pay about $25/month for about 2500 cubic ft.). Soil is rock hard clay, no sand, you literally have to use a sharpened pick axe to dig it up. What I did to prepare was pick axe the whole dirt back yard (about 8" down), then mixed in a truck load of compost (about 30% compost). There were some areas where the grass grew great until the heat kicked in, so I dug those up last week and reseeded (I didn't dig down deep enough so the roots stopped growing). I water at 5am, and humidity is only like 10% usually, so yeah, no fungal disease worries here! In the peak of summer it gets down to the 80's only, now it gets down to 50's. We freeze overnight in Jan/Feb as well. I was amazed to see Tall Fescue growing here too (since it's cool season grass), but a lot of lawns here are fescue and that's pretty much all the stores carry. I use the generic Contractor's Mix from Lowes (which is one of the cheaper bags, but I've had great success with it), I'll have to check what cultivars are in the bag and report back.

This is not technical, but opinions after living with radiant floors for several years: One thing to remember is that we must adapt to a difference in how we think about heating. With F/A, wood, radiators, etc. we have a tendency to look at the outside thermometer registering cold, and then turn up the inside thermostat. Or maybe we walk by a window and feel cold seeping in -- and turn up the thermostat to compensate. That's often habit, but the habit is based on the fact that most houses are/were poorly insulated and often let cold or drafts into the living area -- so if it's cold outside our subconscious says oooh, it's gonna get cold in here, turn up the heat. You almost have to live with radiant flooring to really realize that one just doesn't need to play with the thermostat. If your house is well-insulated (and to an amazing extent even if it's not well-insulated) you set the thermostat for the temperature at which you are comfortable, regardless of what's going outside and you leave it there. And another thing which is rarely addressed is the fact that many (most?) people set the radiant flooring to 75 and are on the warm side of comfortable regardless of whether or not it's frigid outside. No matter what your source of heat, it takes less energy [and less $] for 75 than for 80°. Yes, if the cat stands in an open door peering out at a snowstorm there will be frigid draft coming in... no matter whether you have F/A or radiant. The difference is that F/A will have to warm up that cold air with more not-very-warm air and meanwhile you have both cold and F/A warm air blowing around you. Brrrr. With radiant, you have --and keep-- warm feet which physiologically makes you feel warm because the temperature of the floor has not changed. Yes, the open door's cold air is mixing with the warm air but it isn't blowing onto you to make you feel cold. Talking about vacations -- or a length of time away from home -- should take into consideration that radiant flooring does not make any ultra-high demands on its system. Radiant is meant to *maintain* an even temperature, not jerk it up with a blast of heat like other heating methods. So it makes sense to turn off a furnace while you aren't home because a furnace requires a blast of heat to warm the volume of air; long blasts for lots of warmth and short blasts when there isn't much difference between ambiant and desired air temps. Unless you are going to be gone for lots longer than it takes to cool-off followed by heating-up the radiant flooring, it does not make sense to change its temperature. Modern houses with radiant flooring are almost always considerably better insulated than their F/A counterparts, and it takes days not hours to cool off. And last, there are often comments about the length of time it takes to "warm up the house" with radiant heat. Especially if one lives in an area with a great variety of temperatures. Ah, excuse me, but if I'm comfortable at 75° what difference does it make what the temperature is outside??? If the house is highly insulated and draft-free it makes very little difference whether it's 10° or 50° outside. In my area outside temperatures with daily 40-degree variations are common for weeks at a time, regardless of season. Okay, not so common in the summer, but we don't need heated houses in August. On the rare occasion that it gets umcomfortably warm inside, I open the window. Low-tech but effective. Oh yeah, in July and August I turn on the A/C, not so low-tech, but effective. The point is, 75 is 75 is 75 and if your feet are happy at 75 it doesn't matter what temperature the outside air is. A 'warm house' is a side-effect of radiant because its main purpose is keep you comfortable, that is, maintaining your comfort with an even temperature.

I have about 3 dealers around the same price. They vary in different ways. 2 dealers include the Trane rebate, 1 is not in the rebate program yet as he is new. He said that he is reducing his price to compensate for it until he gets into the program-he is one I quoted the prices from. On my most recent email to him very late last night, I asked him, "I heard you about the Trane rebate program but let me know if it goes through, wouldn't it save you money as well?" I haven't received a reply yet. Was the prices mentioned good? Concerning the tax credit, One company has it in its estimate but I am keeping it separate. I want to compare apples to apples. The other two don't put it in their estimate because it is up to me to follow through on it. Interestingly, the "A" rated company from the BBB is the one that includes it in the estimate, The "B-" and the new company don't. All the companies (about 7-10) said that they clean out the lines. Only one, the "B-" company replaces them. I wished the average temps were true. One thing about this area is the humidity. It is dripping. Again, Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

This person is so full of cr*p it's out of his/her ears. I say that because his/her story keeps changing. Don't waste your time anymore. For example in one of their other threads they said this: "This lot is over 4 acres, but unfortunately only half an acre is buildable (above the 100 year flood line) no no wet land." Now in this thread the OP is saying this? "I am dividing the lot into two so a rectangular plan is the best plan for that lot. I will build two houses. One to sell and one to live." So does anyone really believe the OP is going to build two houses on 1/2 an acre in an area of supposedly million dollar homes and on land where the majority is unusable because it's wetlands? And in someone else's thread the OP said the following: Ok, if you live in TN then you don't need Feng Shui. In Florida, a lot of houses were bought by Chinese buyers and they relied heavily on Feng Shui. One time I moved the back door 3 feet over so that way it is not a direct line of fire of the front door and that house was sold three weeks later after 8 months on the market. I think we've all been had. I'm also guessing this person has never built, owned or sold anything.