As an update to my post from 2+ years ago (photo of Marine Blue board and batten above), the siding is unfortunately, even worse today with more locations warped. The siding was purchased from Wimsatt Building Materials located in Grand Rapids, MI and installed by a local contractor. Sadly, I was placed between a contractor and Royal Building Products who each pointed the finger at one another. I was even asked by Royal to remove siding from my house and postal mail to Canada a piece so they can review it! Sure, I'll grab my hammer and tear off a piece! Nope. This begs the question, bad product or faulty installation? According to the Royal Building Products website one of the benefits of this siding is "Won’t warp, buckle or sag." It even reads that to this day. I tend to disagree and have proof if anyone would like more photos. Now that I have ranted again, I will mention that I absolutely love the color of the Marine Blue and plan to hire another contractor this spring/summer to remove and install new siding. Unfortunately, this will be out of my pocket entirely. I want to choose Royal Building Products again, but need to have Royal Building Products provide me with an "approved contractor" contact information so that if (when?) the product fails, it is 100% on them. Maybe they would even consider offering a product discount or a trade-in value for my existing pieces? :D

There's a difference between "anti-fracture", "crack isolation", and "decoupling" when it comes to membranes and tile. Some are defined by the industry. Some are just stated by the manufacturers. I'll toss out what may not be a perfect answer...since there really isn't a perfect definition of the three terms within the industry. But here's my "sort of" best definition: If you have active movement in a floor, for example, a wood framed platform floor than has a little vertical flex to it, then a decoupling membrane like Ditra or Strata-mat would be a good choice. If you tile over a concrete slab that has existing shrinkage cracks in it, A crack isolation membrane can absorb some horizontal movement if the cracks move. If there is vertical up/down movement though, all bets are off. Crack isolation membranes usually aren't "whole slab" coverage types of applications. They are just applied where the cracks are located. Anti-fracture membranes usually are "whole slab" coverage membranes. Now, if you tile over a slab that has movement joints cut into the slab itself, the best installation is to have the grout joint in the tile fall directly over the movement joint in the slab. Instead of hard grout, the tile joint over slab's movement joint gets filled with a soft material. It could be caulk, but it normally would be a commercially made type of soft expansion joint material. If the tile grout lines can't be lined up right over the slab movement joint, then an anti-fracture membrane can allow the tile joint to be offset from the slab joint by a bit. Again, the anti-fracture will help with horizontal movement. But any vertical movement? You can have tiles popping off the floor. All that written? Even though a product like Ditra isn't an official "crack isolation" or "anti-fracture" membrane, a lot of folk use it over slabs because of its waffle structure. Strata-mat will likely be used in the same way. A lot of what I wrote is predicated on slab versus wood subfloor too. While Ditra would be used over both, the others are usually just used over slabs. "Do people use Hydroban to cover their floor instead of Ditra?" Not really. HB is listed as a "crack isolation" due to the fact that it can bridge gaps, and it does have a little flex to it, so it does offer some shear protection. But that protection is really just against shrinkage cracks, usually just in thinset. It won't protect much against any vertical flexing. I do know that some folk have used up extra HB on a bathroom floor "just because". They might paint it on the cement board in front of the tub or shower to provide a bit of waterproof protection prior to tiling. I've never seen it used for true "wet room" protection. Mostly just because they have extra HB left over, so why not use it? I have seen it used on kitchen countertop substrates, prior to tiling. "Don't they both have anti-fracture properties? Or, is the decoupling action of Ditra more than an anti-fracture function (of Hydroban) ? " On a floor, yes, I do think the "decoupling" nature of Ditra would provide more protection against movement than the "crack isolation" protection of Hydroban. Example, that outdoor balcony I have coming up? I'd primarily use either Ditra of Nobeldeck even though to a certain extent Hydroban would also be appropriate. The reason? The tile will be exterior in a freeze/thaw environment. The tile will be in direct sunshine, so thermal stress is an issue. Being thicker in structure, both Ditra and Nobeldeck would provide more shear protection than Hydroban. With it being outdoors, I also want to use a modified thinset. That pulled me to NobelDeck versus Ditra. And to top it all off, in case the project gets delayed, Ditra could suffer and degrade from UV exposure if left uncovered for too long. Anyhow, a long-winded reply... Good luck with bringing the crops to market! There was an interesting article in the paper this past week about GMO corn again being susceptible to rootworm, and about how the water level in the Nebraska aquafer has gone down over the past decade and how both of those issues are affecting corn (and other) crops.

Amazing thread! Great tips. I began salvaging the old double-hungs from our 1913 house we sold to a builder -- he gave me 7 days to get everything out I wanted and was amazed that I pluck so much: all the doors, windows, stair rail, cabinets, even the lovely trim around all the doors and windows. I used them to rebuild a house on our ranch in Texas. Fortunately I had a skilled carpenter who built the house around the salvage material. The next house he built required more windows, which I found through a demolition company who called me whenever they had a house with windows in good condition. Great way to harvest shiplap as well. We're in the process of building again, and this time my "picker" got windows that need work, so I sent them to a carpenter who is framing them so the crew can just slip them in like a store bought. The key is to get the entire window out, in the frame, and don't forget the weights! You'll save a lot of money if you don't have to build the frame and all the mechanisms of the weighted window. My attempts to deal with the vinyl replacment contractors has FAILED -- they simply refuse to take the time to pull the window out in the frame, like the pictures show above, they leave the frame and rip up the sashes as they pull them out. Crazy!!! I offer them good money, too. Fortunately we live in a neighborhood where anything pre-1940 is being bulldozed and replaced by McMansions. That's the best place to hunt.

Roxanne I'm sorry you're in the same boat. They are no longer responding to emails and have basically used the report their former claims person put on about our vacuum and standing behind that for any issues. We've moved Beyond The White surface scratches, we actually have cracks that are starting to appear, in addition to the delaminating planks, and now we're seeing some of the peeling or stain dropouts like Kathy has. If they seriously want to stand behind a vacuum causing all of this damage to engineered hardwood, what does it say about their product? Funnily enough, they included a paragraph in their warranty with regards to vacuums after our issues cropped up. Unfortunately for them, it's not the warranty that was in place when we purchased the product. Their customer service is absolutely non-existent. The warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on and they're flooring is absolutely abhorrent.