Sorry not to chime in from the USA, but I thought you were getting good info... There was a controversy about PT wood a few years ago, but it seems to have gone away now - and maybe slipped out of the thoughts of most of us - after all, we don't HAVE to think about it anymore. If you search the Forums for "pressure treated wood" or for "safe wood" you might get a number of postings and a number of opinions. As I recall, the concensus boiled down to 1.) railway ties were probably OK for retaining walls, etc. where your physical contact with them would be minimal, 2.) using them for veggie beds or for paths, where you would be touching them frequently or eating veggies, esp. root vegetables, that had touched or were grown in the 3-4 in. (8-12 cm) of soil next to the tie was probably not a good idea, 3.) it was probably OK to use them for veggie beds if you were raising leaf or fruit crops, but not to plant anything in the 3-4 in. (8-12cm.) of soil next to the edge. I would be VERY reluctant to have them in a path or driveway where I would walk on them barefooted, or where my shoes might pick up any that had oozed out with summer's heat that might be then brought into the house. Personally, I hate the smell of creosote, so wouldn't use them at all. In general, I try to avoid using pressure treated woods, esp. as there is always the problem of what to do with them after they have outlived their usefulness - burning is NOT a good idea, nor is grinding them up to use for mulch. BUT, I do use them for construction (it's called for by code, if nothing else), since I do want buildings, footings and foundations/sills to last as long as possible, and PT DOES rot a lot slower and is less attractive to termites than most plain woods. I can't afford redwood - and probably wouldn't use it anyway because of old-stand logging concerns - nor can I now afford cedar or cypress - their prices have gone sky high - and locust is impossible to get as lumber. So, PT wood is the only way to get the qualities I need. At least, now it SHOULD be safer than the old stuff. I don't remember now if the PCP issue came up at all. I'll have to look it up and see what the relative danger is. Yet one more thing to worry about....

Please allow me to post my opinion and experience on this stinky issue. I am the owner of a HE3T washer, and I am really unhappy with it, mainly because of the smelly and moldy issue, that crept up on us unexpectedly. My wife and I have 4 kids, so doing laundry is a daily affair, and not to be underestimated or procrastinated either... I am on the verge of throwing that ugly beast out of the laundry room for good. It is unbearably revolting to pick up an (alleged) clean towel to dry one's face just out of the shower, and "smear" moldy smell all over you. The vomit factor is very high on this one.... :-( However, I want to highlight a point, and that this issue is NOT an issue with ALL the FL (front loader) washing machines in general. Maybe just US made ones... Overseas, ( Italy ) where I grew up, FL are 99.999999% of laundry machines available on the market and this issue is completely unknown. To put it simply, I am now 45 years of age, I have lived in Italy 28 of those years, and I have never, ever, seen or heard of moldy smell on clean laundry out of the washer. Never. If you knew my mother (she redefines the word "neat freak") you would understand. Just the hint of a remote possibility of having mold in the washer and/or laundry, would bring that washer in the front yard in flames... Seriously, I believe US manufacturers have gone wrong somewhere in the making of this machines. They either cut one too may corners ( quality of rubber, maybe ?) or are attempting to reduce the amount of water in the cycle at the point where the quality of the rinse cycle is not an issue with them, and us as consumers are not part of the equation. I just came back from a one year of living in Italy with wife and kids, and the FIRST thing we notice, ever single time we go over there, is how much fresher and overall incredibly better smell of "clean laundry" they have from their washers. I know, we are weird... and on the contrary, as soon as we are back to the US, and to our $#@! HE3T, we pick up the moldy smell again. The customer/user/consumer SHOULD NOT have to do any gimmicks or use any "special" tablets, in order to operate these washers, or any washer, for that matter, NOT A SINGLE ONE. This washers are NOT cheap and they should just... well, work. Living in Italy for the last 12 months, we used two washers, one that came with the apartment we rented, and besides a slower spin cycle, it worked as expected (put dirty clothes in, put detergent, push the button, wait, get wet CLEAN laundry out, END OF THE story. Then the landlord needed his washer back, and for a "rent discount" he took that one back, and I got my old 12 years old Miele washer out of storage. This Miele has a somewhat smaller load capacity than most, and it worked for a family of 6 for a long time. Same for my mother's Candy ( Italian brand), and my sister's old Italian washer (San Giorgio). That one lasted 16 years of day in and day out operation for a family of six. It is just so frustrating, since I know that as a concept, FL do work very well, I have seen it work for decades... and one more time, we should NOT need to use "tablets" or do complicated procedures to have clean and good smelling laundry. As I said before, millions of people overseas use FL day in and day out, without doing anything else other than 1) put dirty laundry in 2) select cycle 3) put detergent in 4) push button 5( get clean clothes out. End of the story. Kenmore, Sears, whatever, get your acts together !!

Macbirch, we have a house with both. Half of it is slab and then there's a partial basement. FWIW, I can't really tell the difference in hardness between the slab and the basement halves. BUT there is a marked difference in floor temperature. The slab floor does have slab heat embedded which makes it quite toasty and comfortable but it also drives our electric bill into the stratosphere. What seems to be hardest on my feet is the tile flooring throughout the house. It really doesn't matter whether I'm on slab or wood subflooring. I'm looking to replace all of it with cork. I used to walk around barefoot. But my feet have deteriorated (aging is tough) - left foot has morton's neuroma (shoes are bad) and I broke the middle toe on my right foot shortly after moving in - on the @#$@ tile floor - and didn't heal right (barefoot is bad). In both cases, hard cold flooring is awful.

Your toilet requires a 3" drain which is probably the size they would run over to your house to tie into the existing. Both the sink and toilet would also be tied into this same drain under the slab. With regards to your concerns about the slab cracking from saw cutting. No, this shouldn't be an issue. As it relates to your slab and the foundation, you are correct, this we could not tell without seeing pictures or having a better understanding of what your outbuilding is. In the grand scheme of things as it pertains to the plumbing specifically, the only thing the foundation will really play a roll in is the plumber will either have to drill through the wall itself to get out of the garage, or dig under the footing itself if there is one. The second scenario may not be feasible as you most likely would have issue getting grade over to the existing drain you will be tying into. One thing to keep in mind is the number of existing toilets you have in the house. Depending on the code your local area has adopted, if you only have a 3" drain going out to your sewer/septic, you can only have 2 toilets on that drain (some jurisdictions will give you a pass and allow a 3rd. If you already have 3 toilets inside the house, make sure your drain out to the street or septic is a minimum of 4" or you will be dealing with up sizing the main drain as well from your house.