Pull out a handful, what does it look like? If it looks like something you would expect to see on the forest floor, then it might be worth trying some of these other tests. Smell it, if it doesn't smell bad to you, then you could probably spread it around the garden. If you want to start seeds in it, here is another test you might want to do before trying a few test seeds. Seal a handful of the compost into a plastic bag. Seal the bag. Let it sit for three days. After three days check, if the bag has started to inflate, it may not be ready for use yet. If the bag has not inflated, smell the contents. If they smell like nice dirt, then continue to a trial of bean seeds or something. Don't worry too much about compost, it happens. The worst things that can happen if you screw up, something might smell bad and you need to add more leaves or it takes too long and you wonder why.

I don't plan on using it on the vanity top, I know that it has too many issues, but what type of maintenance is needed for a marble shower and marble floor (in that shower)? I'm fine with a weathered look, we are going for the look of an old house, so I can handle that (of course I know old houses didn't have two person showers but I can live with that too) For our shower we had at the last house, we tiled it ourselves with regular tiles I bought at Home Depot (ceramic probably, I dont' remember) It required very little maintenance. I'd just scrub it down with scrubbing bubbles and a scrub brush once a month or so. No mold, no mildew, no soap scum, no problems. I loved that :) I have heard that this will not be that easy just for having the glass shower door, but what added efforts will be required if we go with marble or another stone?

David -- I'm sorry for the delay in my response -- I thought I had posted earlier but I must have forgotten to send what I wrote after viewing it. .... thank you so much for the generosity of your time and shared expertise. As it happens it's so hard for me to figure out questions to pose coming from so far away understanding-wise. I'm actually a little confused by your very first comment. I'd like to try to think through it and would appreciate someone correcting my reasoning if you're willing: Isn't the opposite of low voltage not-low voltage? That is, normal voltage? So would normal voltage (that would be 110V, right?) be a synonym for direct wire system? Thus you can't have a direct-wired low voltage system? Please forgive me for such dim understanding ... is this right? Electricity comes to the pole outside of the house at some high voltage. A transformer at the pole steps it down to 240V and then somewhere, maybe the electrical box, it gets split to 110V which is what is used to run all the lamps in the house, basically everything but your ovens. So that's "wired" and that's 'normal' voltage. Then 'low' voltage would have to be further stepped down -- that's what those transformer boxes everyone talks about sticking in their cabinets or in the basement do, right? They must be like the big cylinder out on the pole stepping down electricity from the high tension wires, they must step electricity down from 110V to something lower to run the LED lights.... Am I understanding that right please? Because otherwise I can't fathom this statement: "you are looking at a direct wire system not low voltage". So am I right about this: I read somewhere long ago that those little transformer boxes which are always hot, are always on - that's why they're hot. So they're always on, always drawing current, always setting up electrical fields inside your house, right? ...except now I'm thinking ... these things would always be on if you *plugged them into a plug and then switched them on/off*. So ... if I had one of those switched lamps with a transformer plugged into a wall *it* would always be drawing current through the lamp whether on or off because there was no switch to the outlet. However, if you plugged the lamp into a switched outlet it could turn off the transformer box. Is this right? Because if so then by analogy, the transformers for UCL LEDs could actually be switched and therefore off.... Please if you wouldn't mind following through with this electricity primer, would someone mind telling me if I'm getting this right? I'm asking because this is the reasoning behind my thinking I don't want transformers -- I don't want those things "on" all the time.

uodate: we found one plug in each room that has 2 red and 2 white wires. for this plug, breaking/removing the tab worked, sort of… the switches now control the top plug (so i could plug in a light and control it from the switch), and plugs before the broken tab plug stay on when the wall switch is off, but all plugs past the tab-broken plug recepticle don’t work (with the except of one set, which seems to use the white wire). this includes plugs in a different room from the switch. we tried multiple configurations (breaking both tabs-nothing worked; breaking only the red wire tab-switch worked but no further plugs worked; breaking only white -nothing worked; or no broken tabs-plugs work and if you turn off the switch, they all shut off). so still at a loss…