I use it as a solvent to dissolve old, hardened grease in bicycle bearing races and the rare Water Displacement function it was actually designed for. When I need a lubricant or penetrating oil, I use the proper product for that use.

I have never even heard of anyone's eggcrate getting blocked up. Gauze or similar materials like fibreglass screen would actually be more likely to get clogged, due to the smaller holes. And what's more permanent than plastic? What I keep under my terrarium, in the stand, is the bucket full of RO water for the misting system (one way of making rain), extra lightbulbs, a towel or two for cleaning the glass, a small toolbox containing extra rocks, driftwood, aquarium silicone, airline tubing (for no apparent purpose), and extra tubing and other components of my misting system; and if my terrarium was more accessible (it's against the wall, behind the kitchen table, so it's actually quite a pain in the butt to try to get stuff out of the stand cabinets), I would also keep a misting bottle for manual misting. I also have all of the outlets that I need hidden down there, so that there are no cords showing out the back sides of the tank and stand. Oh yeah, and if my tank wasn't right next to the kitchen, where I keep scissors, I'd keep a pair in the toolbox as well, for trimming rotting plant material, etc. Chopsticks can also be handy, as can fishing line or wire for attaching new epiphytes to stuff. As for rain, a misting system will not be able to run off of any water supply connected to your tank, because the misting heads would quickly get clogged with the miscellaneous debris that gets into the water. I've heard of something called a pneumatic rain system, but have also heard that these often don't work very well. A hydrofogger would mimic fog (duh), which isn't exactly rain, but has the same effect of 'watering' the plants and keeping the humidity high. 'Rain walls' are quite common, and can be run off of tank water. They are basically a tube with holes in it across the top edges (but not the front) of your tank. You could have it running constantly, or put the pump on a timer (probably smarter, because very few plants want to be that constantly wet). How exciting that you're nearing completion of the design process! It's really great that you're putting this much thought into it. I wish I had. . . live and learn! =)

Interesting thread! I have a 1951 ranch-style home (called bungalow where I live) but it's aluminum siding not brick. I like the idea someone posted, of planting boston ivy. We did that on our 1903 brick home, which was a big, solid-looking square - ivy softened the look. Another point - I LOVE to paint, and have painted the back of my home a different colour (grey/blue) than the front (taupe). So the OP could do different trim colour on the back to see if he likes it. I took the shutters off my house - although "period" for the time, they are not functional and I hated them. Finally (!) my SIL, who is a painter, suggested that I paint the eavestroughs the same colour as the roof, so they blend in. I also painted the downspouts, the same colour as the siding. White downspouts just make people notice something not decorative, in my opinion.

This is something I deal with every spring since I live up north (zone 4b) and I always pot them , usually put them in large cardbord boxes and place them to my glass wall porch, in a shaded location beside the house wall (which is the warmest place) and if weather forecast says it’s going to freeze during the night I either put some cloths over the boxes or if really low temperature is expected, move them indoors for the night and back to the porch in the morning. Usually in the spring time the temperatures rise during the day so the risk is actually only during the night and early morning hours and not every night. Nowadays I have a heater system in the flooring of the porch so I may just put it on for a few hours just to rise the temperature a bit and avoid moving the boxes in and out.