Concrete slabs (and any masonry foundation) are almost never a perfect euclidean line, straightness-wise. A chalk line will be struck 3 1/2" in from each corner for the plates, and the sheathing will be outside the slab in most places, maybe flush with the slab wherever the forms bulged out. If you must have the sheathing lap down over the slab, you may need to adjust the snapped line to account for the "high spot" of any bulge, or grind the concrete. Furthermore, the framer may need to float the walls over the slab even more if it is not perfectly square. Casey

Chulaman- Good questions and you are obviously doing your homework here. I think your choice on spa pump and controls is a good one. 4 different jet settings should accommodate most everyones expectations and comfort levels. Regarding the pool circulation and cleaning. I would offer a few other options to consider if interested. By the way, I did similar research when I was building our pool and surprisingly our pools are about the same: volume is 35K gallons, with Paramount PV-3 infloor cleaning system and chlorine generator. Ultimately, I decided to go with a 2.5HP 2 speed pump to do the task of circulation, filtering and cleaning. With this setup, I run the PV3 at 1.5 hours a day at high speed and the rest of the filter/circulation cycle is done with low speed. During the winter, low speed is only ran for about 4 hours/day and during the summer, low speed is ran for about 8 hours/day. This has provided enough chlorination and filtration as my pool is always crystal clear and chlorine levels have been in check. This winter, I had the chlorine generator down to 10% and last summer I had it up to 40% and it provided adequate chlorine, even in 35K gallons. My pool though is somewhat shaded, so this will probably make a difference on chlorine needs and your pool may be need more chlorine. HereÂs some options I considered: Two uneven single speed pumps in parallel. With this setup a 1HP pump was in parallel with a 2HP pump and this gave 3 different flow rates possible: 1HP, 2HP and 3HP depending on need. Two uneven 2 speed pumps in parallel. With this setup a 1.5HP 2 speed was in parallel with a 2.0HP 2 speed and this gave a possibility of 8 different flow rates with all the combinations of high and low speed between the 2 pumps. Ultimately, I decided to keep the system simple with a single 2 speed pump used in conjunction with large plumbing and minimum 90Âs, tees, crosses, etc. Variable speed pumps did not make much sense in my application. I did a lot of homework here also on true efficiency benefits of variable speed vs 2 speed and there is not much difference between these two technologies with the filter cycles that I described above. The plumbing design is much more important than the pump technology if you really want to save energy month after month. Once I really started to bone up on plumbing and its effect on system efficiency, I realized that the addition of a tee and checkvalves in the plumbing system added additional backflow on pumps, so the parallel pump ideas hit the trash can. If you want to really learn more about plumbing design, I can provide a few published documents that have wonderful information on plumbing design and things to consider when designing the plumbing. If your pool was much bigger, say 70K gallons or more, I would say parallel pumps would make a lot of sense for filtering and cleaning. But, for 35K gallons, parallel pumps is overkill. Especially two variable speed pumps in parallel, unless cost is of no concern and you just want to tinker with different configurations and technologies. Hope this helps.

Sorry I've been MIA - I've been down with the flu (I thought flu season was over!!!) and, unfortunately, I'm still not over it yet. I haven't had time to read through all the posts since last week, but I will try tomorrow or Friday, if it's not too late. From the last post, it looks like you've moved into a very different layout. Just keep in mind a few things: 9" deep cabinets are really 10" deep when counting the doors and another 1.5" or so counting handles. Don't forget casings & trim around doorways - unless the architecture of your house has no casings except when there's an actual door (that's how our house is). Try to eliminate zone-crossing if at all possible - it's not fun dodging an open DW, for example, when going from the cooktop/range to the refrigerator. Try not to have the Cleanup Zone back-to-back with the Prep Zone unless you have at least a 48" wide aisle b/w them. You want to avoid backing in to an open DW door or fighting over floor space w/someone cleaning up. Even if the island is a secondary Prep Zone, I would try to have that 48" aisle. Finally, remember that as your kids grow up, they will be helping in the kitchen - so plan for a multi-person kitchen, not a one-person kitchen.

quartz is man made from real stone, crushed and compressed with resin material. carrara is a type of marble. you can use regular cleaners w/quartz and most granites. marble requires a specific cleaning safe material. just keep trying at the fabricators shop or a stone yard. I'm sure every place has a 6" leftover piece after cutting! what are you doing for your countertop? any extra material from that? or, just see if you can purchase a ready-made backsplash piece of quartz. ( i think the big box stores also sell these) (check over w/their kitchen center and see if they will let you purchase one long enough. but if they charge you a few hundred for it, tell them to pound. shouldn't cost you more than $60 for a 6' long strip. they (home depot) have this 36" long threshold for your curb, but it's not long enough this is quartz on the curbhere too. In a pinch, just get a 24" tile in the white ceramic to match your subway tiles and cut a few of those. you'll only have 2-3 grout lines on the curb. use a schluter metal strip for the border