Mary!oklisten...lmao...this..is..for..real...i..dropped..water..on..my..keyboard..and..my..spacebar..key..doesnt..work..any..more..lmaoooooroflol you..will..hate..me..by..the..time..i..finish..typing..but..hopefully..i..can..get..thru..it...lol!!!! first.i.have.to.comment.on.the.clean.seeding.water.theory.....i.just.don't.see.how.that.would.work...there.is.already.TONS.of.biojunk.in.your.pond.and.bacteria.is.bacteria.....there.is.no."clean.water".bacteria....am.i.making.sense?...i.am.about.to.lose.my.mind....rofl!! ok..short.and.sweet.now....we.lost.a.lot.of.bluegill.in.the.cleaning....but.no.koi.....the.bluegill.ended.up.in.the.very.bottom.of.the.pond.in.the.muck.and.scraping.on.the.rocks.when.the.(stupid).pond.people.were.trying.to.catch.them.....b/c.of.that,i,think,it,hurt,them,and,caused,major,bacteria,issues...they,weould,show,up,w/,fin,rot,and,hairy,patches...sosad...then.dead. since,cleaning,the,pond,it,is,clear,again,for,the,first,time,in,two,years!!yay!!!.... issues,or,what,i,would,do,differently,next,time: i,would,do,it,myself-for,sure..not,hire,it,out(we,did,almost,all,of,the,work,anyway..they,were,unimpressive!!!!!!) um....i,really,cant,think,of,any,major,issues,other,than,not,having,those,idiots,catching,my,fish....!!! here,was,the,sequence,we,followed: 1)drain,almost,all,water 2)while,draining: clear,junk,out,of,marginal,areas,as,pond,gets,lower if,you,have,water,lilies,in,pots...pull,them,out,and,trim,or,do,whatever,you,need,to..(dont,fertilize,them...fish,poop,does,that)...i,recommend,replanting,in,bottom,of,pond,in,gravel,if,your,pond,bottom,is,such...otherwise,in,pots,w/gravel. 3)clean,pads,biofalls,bags,etc,while,draining 4)when,level,is,low...catch,fish,and,put,in,holding,pool,or,whatever...cover,so,they,dont,jump!!!mind,the,sun,tho,and,dont,cook,them 5)when,all,are,caught...drain,rest,of,water,and,spray,down,sides 6)refill 7)reacclimate,fish...obviously,put,plants,back i'm,tired..the..end..lol

We raised our family in a 3,000 square foot home, which took a lot of cleaning time if you ask me! The next one we built was about 2200 square feet and lived in that for several years. I liked the house, but hated living in a subdivision. The one we just finished building, and plan on staying in until they carry us out of here is about 1700 square feet. We designed, engineered, and built this house ourselves. It is plenty big for us. We will be able to age in place here. There is plenty of space in each room for easy wheelchair access. Since we don't give a hoot about what anyone else thinks, or for "resale" value, we designed with fewer, but larger rooms. We have one large master bedroom, a really nice bathroom, a half bath, large kitchen with the laundry room and large walk in pantry right off of it, and the great room that is open to the whole kitchen, but sectioned with a sewing area and a living room area. When family comes to visit we have a couch that pulls out into bed and high quality air mattresses. We can close a pocket door on our hall that closes off our whole master area for complete privacy. Lots of windows that bring nature right inside. We also have a full wrap around porch that we use constantly. No one has minded "camping" out here and we have such a good time because everything is informal. We built a log home, and it is a simple rectangular home that is a replica of the simple old time Florida homes. No bumpouts. No convoluted rooflines. Every person that has come to visit says this is an awesome house and hates to leave. You can have a smaller, simple, but well built, and tastefully decorated home that no huge home can ever match in atmosphere.We decided a ruby red bluestar range, wood walls and ceilings (never have to paint again) and the fantastic porch were way more pleasurable than having square footage meant only to impress someone else and would never use. We have a glass of wine or cold beer in a frosted mug every evening on our porch while watching trhe sun set.

Weve had issues with our new bosch dishwasher as well. First if all, the installation process is a pain-we had bought it to replace our old dishwasher which was fairly new but in order to install the bosch dishwasher, we had to have an electrician and plummer come to rewire and reroute/set up the water lines correctly for the thing to even run. Then we had issues with the power cord and had to have a technician come out and repair/fix that. I also hate how you cant control it/buttons arent accessible unless the door is open. There is inadequare space for dishes, doesnt effectively clean dishes even with high quality dish detergent, rinse aid, and meticulous placement of dishes. Lastly, its annoying how it gets stuck on auto and you have to reset the thing and rerun it just so you can switch to a different mode. I have used many different brands throughout my life-rented in my 20’s and early 30’s including whirpool and LG and never had issues.

We started our remodel in January and it was supposed to be done by the end of May. Here we are halfway through July and have at least several weeks to go. We added a garden garage on the basement level and a family room above. We added a laundry room on the main level and expanded a big closet into another bedroom above the laundry room. We also annexed the old laundry room to add a desk and butler's pantry to the kitchen, swapped the kitchen sink and dishwasher locations, reused old cabinets, and added some new cabinets and new counter tops. My biggest problems have been the contractor's health issues, the framer's health issues, the trim carpenter's mother's health issues, rainy weather, and bad attitudes. Also, money. The general asked for a payment in advance of when it was due (red flag) because he had bills due on other jobs that were done before mine. All of the subs have told me they won't work for him again because he doesn't pay. I'm preparing lien releases this afternoon. Also, I purchased most of the items that were in allowances (like kitchen cabinets, counter tops, appliances, lights and plumbing fixtures, carpeting) myself because I got better prices on everything or at least could get what I wanted when the suppliers for the general didn't have what I wanted. When I said I was going to subtract the money that I was out-of-pocket for the allowances from the second draw, he flipped and said that would be a breach of contract. I did some quick calculations and figured if I went ahead and paid the entire draw, I wouldn't owe anything at the end, so I stupidly did pay it all. Now, with all the mistakes that have been made, I think he will end up owing me money at the end! Here's a short list of the problems. They poured the foundation wall for the laundry room wrong and now the laundry room (and the bedroom above it) are 6" less deep than they should have been. They poured the floor of the garden garage sloped the wrong way so it doesn't drain if we get water in there. Then they cut grooves in the floor so water would drain when we washed off the mower, but they are crooked and jagged and overlap at the doorway leaving a little "pillar" of concrete that will surely break off. They left the downspouts off the front of the house for months, so with all the heavy rain we've had, all the water washed under the foundation and soaked through the walls of the garden garage, ruining the drywall and paint with mildew. The gutter installer ran a downspout so it washed uphill on the new family room roof and caused a water leak the first time it rained after that. They had to repair the drywall and repaint half the room, as well as extend the downspout to the gutter below as it should have been done. The electricians installed a ceiling fixture 10" out of alignment with the one across the room it was supposed to line up with. Now they have to move the fixture, repair the drywall, and repaint the ceiling. They tore up the daylight drain that ran across the backyard and caused it to plug up. Wasn't a problem until it got hot and we turned on the air conditioner. Then the condensate had nowhere to go and flooded a room in the basement. They tore up the TV cable that ran across the yard even though I told them where it was before they started. They also tore up the dog fence wire in several areas. Now they say we are responsible for getting them repaired. They put vents to the outside in the crawlspace under the new laundry room, but they are blocked off with tyvek and now the whole basement smells "like a basement". The plumber was re-routing the pipes under the kitchen floor for the sink/DW swap and got called away to an emergency. He didn't come back to finish that day and when one of my kids took a shower upstairs that evening, water started pouring into the floor of the kitchen and the ceiling of our theater room in the basement. Luckily I got my hand over the open end of the pipe before it flooded the electronics, but the ceiling was ruined and the chairs and carpet got wet. In his favor, the plumber came back that night to cap the pipe that was accidentally left open. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. If I'm not standing watch every second that someone is working, something gets done wrong. Yet I overheard the drywall guy say to another sub, "I wish [the GC] would grow some b---s and not let the homeowner get involved in our business." This from the guy who slung drywall mud ten feet away so it got on kid's toys that should have been well out of harm's way. He also tracked it all through the house on our hardwood floors (that are not being refinished) and did a lousy job to boot. I'm so done with these morons. I've lost my sense of humor, I don't trust anyone, I just want my kitchen back. If I hadn't overpaid, I'd tell them all to get lost and hire someone else. A word of advice to anyone else contemplating a remodel, put deadlines and penalties for not meeting them, into the contract. Add that things you buy on your own get subtracted right away from the allowances.