I just realized that we will be installing a preformed niche or recessed shelf in one of the shower walls. Won't that compromise the vapor barrier? Is there a way to handle that. I did install the poly in horizontal strips but I'm not sure I can easily place another strip behind the shelf and won't that inhibit water from traveling down as it will run into the shelf? What about screwing grab bars, etc, into the tile, won't those also compromise the barrier? I was kind of wondering how the staples and hardie backer screws would affect the barrier too since they puncture the plastic as well, we had a hard time keeping the staples from tearing when it was a big sheet, that's why we went to strips and overlapped them. After reading some more posts, it sounds like I do not need to install a water proofing barrier since I have the vapor barrier in behind the board. It also sounds like I need to use a penetrating grout sealer, not a topical on walls and floors and that Aqua Mix will work AND is low VOC. So now my questions are: 1) how to insert a wall shelf with vapor barrier and hardie already in 2) can items be screwed through the wall into the barrier without causing problems? 3) is it ok to use a steam mop on the sealed caulk floors? 4) is Aqua Mix Seal and Finish the same thing as the Gold version? 5) is the Aqua stuff for sealing both wall and floor grout on both ceramic and slate floors? 6) do I need ANYTHING else to seal or finish the walls or floors? Thank you so much!!!! Now I have to go paint and install wood floors or we will never be done with this. kj

Drastic mold removal from HE3 I finally got rid of the mold and the smell! No amount of cleaning of the machine would have solved my problem. I checked the entire machine and could not find the source. So I decided to rip the machine apart! To see pictures of the inside of the machine go to the following link: http://www2.tdux.com:8090/images/personal/2006/Washer/ You might have to cut and paste this to you browser. The mold was inside at the top of the front and back of the machine and caked behind the drum. As of now the machine works good as new believe it or not! The odor is gone and the clothes are clean once more! If they had used stainless steel behind the drum most of the mold and debris would never have collected and if they had of added a few carefully placed cleaning jets and a special cleaning cycle then this problem would never have happened! I took a big chance tearing the machine apart. I do not encourage anyone to take this drastic measure but I figured I had nothing to loose! I could not keep using the machine the mold and smell was making my family sick! NOTE: I would only use the special detergent they suggest!! The picture of the back side of the drum shows about 1/2 inch layer of mold/detergent and dirt. This would have been drastically reduced if we had started out using the correct detergent! NOTE: Always remove clothes as soon as wash is complete! leave door open and open soap tray! This will help to dry the machine! NOTE: The mold would have never happend though if they had of designed the machine correctly!!! Any comments? Email duck@tdux.com Here is a link that might be useful: Mold

No, you don't have to forget everything and learn new! First, have you had satisfactory cleaning with previous machines, with same sorting, temps and products? Then do the same routines. F/L laundry is not all that different from T/L, nor is it magic. Basic priniciples: Many (but by no means all) "non-toxic" products don't clean very well. If the product wasn't working well before, it probably won't work any better in a Miele. I haven't used Persil for years, but 3 scoops sounds like a lot. Have you tried using less? Is your water particularly hard (i.e. you live in Europe of Us mountains or desert?) Your water company can tell you if you have public water supply. Detergent build-up (or incomplete rinsing due to excess product) causes dingey results in every kind of washer, but particularly in F/L. Before you make yourself crazy with options cover the basics: Sort by color first; then by either soil level or toughness of fabric/fabric content/proposed wash treatment, whichever quality(s) impose most the extreme constraints. For example white lacy underthings are separated from brown Carhardt work overalls (duh!), but they are further separated from white kitchen towels (sorting there based on proposed washing needs, not color). The brown canvas work pants are separated from the brown linen blouse (even though each can take serious heat in the wash) because the brown work pants are much dirtier than the blouse and so need a longer/rougher cycle than would be good for the blouse. If you have to make compromises, for economy or efficiency, say white lacy underthings (which need gentle, medium temp wash, probably not very soiled) and a couple of white cotton shirts (could take higher heat and might have collar soil and a BBQ splotch) then wash at the temps and action for the underthings, but pretreat the extra soiled areas of the blouses. Priniciple: combining is OK, as long as the temps and cycle choice won't damage the most demanding items. Add pre-machine pretreatment for additional items to ensure cleaning of all in one load. So in your example, if you must wash normal dark clothes with sweaty soil (presumably dark) clothes then pretreat/presoak the sweaty clothes first, then wash with similar colored clothing. Machines can't wash different things differently in the same load, nor can any machine reliably remove stains that ought have been pretreated beforehand. Your whites may have set-in stains, that nothing short of soaking Clorox will remove. Try further subdividing your whites into smaller categories that can take the most extreme heat and experiment with product and cycle combos. What sorts of stains are you trying to get out? Old washed-in and dried-in blood: nothing removes that. Yellowing from deodorant and perspiration: sometimes that can be lessened using tough detergents and STPP. General collar and cuff grime-ness: detergents that remove fats and oils, along with STPP and a pretreater like Shout often works. Specific stains like ketchup, BBQ, grease, oil, all take pretreating before washing. General yellowing of whites is caused by using a detergent without optical brighteners (OBAS) which are flourescent dyes added to detergents to replace what is being washed out of the fabric. Many non-toxic detergents leave out OBAS. (I don't like them myself and choose a product without them, but am willing to put up with the results, your preferences may be different.) Almost all white and light colored fabrics sold in US today have OBA applied on the bolt. As clothes are washed (particualrly at hotter temps, longer periods and stiffer wash action), these OBA dyes are lost in the water. An OBA-carrying laundry product reapplies that to some extent. (It can also lead to blotchiness on much-older fabric that never had OBAs originally like old linen table cloths or sheets.) I only use the extended wash on very soild items like cleaning cloths or work clothes. I use hotter temps for many things than most people(regularly 190F for cotton and linen whites, for instance). I always consider risk for possible fabric shrinkage before using hot temps, though. Hot temps are hard on elastics (some), too. This primarily affects my choices in clothing and linen purchases, more than my laundry practices; I try not to buy what I can't wash the way I like. I'd consider trying some different laundry products, too. I think it's better for the environment to get clothes clean in one go, rather than endless re-washing, so I'm not hung up on "non-toxic" definitions. I try to pretreat effectively to make sure I'm getting stains shifted before I put things in the wash. Clothes are expensive (and for a non-shopaholic like me, boring to acquire) so keeping them in good order saves money and fuss in the long run. FWIW, I use regular (non-HE) Cheer powder as my regular detergent, and have for more than a decade. It has served me well in my F/Ls (Mieles and Askos). I tried dozens of detergents, but that was what worked best for me. It is hard to find locally, but Target still carries it. I keep a full selection of additives on hand: Charlie's All-purpose liquid, sodium percarbonate, Shout, Hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, acetone, grain alcohol, STPP, borax, Dawn grease-remover, Clorox, mineral spirits, Gunk-off, De-solv-it, dye remover, etc., plus I keep an assortment of special-purpose detergents: wool, silk, down, Perwol powder, Ivory soap powder and washing soda along a couple of the "sensitive products" in case I get a finicky guest. But I use Cheer powder day in and day out. It's relatively cheap, works well with my water and is quite effective, for me. (And non-stinky at the dosing rate I use, about 1 1/2 Tbs per load.) I use no fabric softener or rinse additive, at all. If you can be more specific about your sorting habits and particular laundry challenges, I'd be glad to make additional sggestions If you had clean clothes before, then you can easily have that again from similar products and routines. If you didn't have success before, you will have to consider changing products and routines to get there. Just changing machines isn't going to make that big a difference, though, for the majority of your laundry. What it does is give additional options for out-of-the-ordinary challenges. HTH, L

Right now your floors are my FAVOURITE colour. They are a soft wheat colour. This is the colour that millions of N. Americans are trying to put into their homes. It is a HIGHLY desirable colour. The finish also appears to be lower gloss (low gloss satin or possibly matte) which again is a HIGHLY desirable colour. How old is the floor/finish? Wood floors normally *require (physical need of the floor) to be refinished every 20-25 years. That's where the cost benefits come in. The longer a floor can go between refinishing the cheaper the price per square foot per year becomes. As mentioned by G & S the Bona water based products (with three children I would work with the HIGHEST COST product = Bona Traffic HD) or the Loba 2K Supra AT system. They are very pricey but there VOC content is very, very, very low. They carry their own stain lines which are also LOW VOC. To find someone who works with these special products (including RubioMonocoat or Bona Craft Oil or Loba Oil finishes) you will be working with the creme-de-la-creme of the flooring world. The people who are comfortable using these high-end finishes will be booked up months in advance because they are SOOOOO good. On a personal note, I love the colour of your floor as it is right now. If it were my floor I would wait the decade or two before I put money into it. This is assuming the finish is fully intact and fully functional. And yes...if this is Maple you will need to be prepared for some tough lessons to learn. Maple is tricky to stain. After that it gets tricky. And then it becomes tricky. If that weren't enough...it gets tricky. It is so tricky it can take a multiple attempts (ie. crying and hair pulling) to get the stain even. Oak is easier. Better check which species this is before making any plans.