I found this thread because I just got off the phone with my wife who informed me that replacement slings for our set of six Telescope chairs will be $780.00! That is a very tough pill to swallow, and like many here we weighed this heavily against just getting a cheaper set from HD, Costco, or any number of stores. Our set is about 10 years old to date (purchased summer of 2010) and the aluminum frames, table, and umbrella have held up extremely well (we do store them inside for winter though). Ultimately, I decided to stick with these and pay the exorbitant price for a few reasons: - The rest of the set is extremely high quality. I feel good each year when I pull it out of storage - heavy duty powder coated aluminum construction that has lasted well and still looks 9/10 after a spring wipe-down. - It does bother me how much importation has changed - pushing us toward a throw-away-away-and-buy-another culture. I do feel like we enjoy additional quality on these American made items (not always the case). - Less and less stuff is American made any more. As an engineer and a maker, I miss the days when we made most of the best stuff here. This set still exemplifies that quality. It's a little thing, but something I rarely get to enjoy these days. - After 10 years, with very little degradation (other than the fabric slings), I know what to expect from this set, and feel confident that they will last another 10 years easily with new fabric. The convenience of going 10-12 years between having to think about this, or take a gamble on something potentially less durable is worth something to me. Surely, I'll be feeling the sting of this bill in about a month (so good thing I'm writing this now!), but I thought I'd share what tipped us to reinvesting in this very expensive set. Pic when new April 2010:

You vetoed the Lowe's one, but when I went to HD to order the matching Blanco dispenser for my faucet, the fellow there encouraged me to buy their $14 one, (which looked very very similar to the Blanco Rados one). I was in the throes of everything having to be good quality, and was ready to poo poo that idea, but when the Blanco one turned out to be $220 via special order, I reconsidered his suggestion. Have had it in place and used every day without problem for 5 years! So glad I saved over $200!

i'll be doing a lot of it myself. not changing out the sink or putting in a faucet tho - lol! I'll have to hire someone to do that for me and move the appliances around. I think I can put down some laminate flooring but it'll take me a long time. I guess I've got some of that tho. I'll have the electrician come back to replace some light fixtures and check out why I don't have cold water inside. I do at the outside spigot. He'll probably have to replace my water heater too. maybe he'll try flushing it first. the water smells. He needs to replace the handle on my water pump and maybe hook up the dw. bf will still do the outside work. He can't do a lot of things now because his balance is off. Things like getting down on the floor and under a sink would be very hard for him and he'd have a heck of a time getting back up. shoot, I do and I've got both of my feet! He can't drive his big trucks anymore either so he has to hire someone to haul his equipment out here. Once out here he can manipulate the forklift and grader fine. He's finally found someone he trusts to drive the flatbed, is putting insurance on it and replacing a few tires. Hopefully then I'll get a decent set of steps up into the new place (he has 'em I think). Or he might move one of the steps I have into this place. They are both way too heavy to move w/o the forklift. I also faxed him a very long list of things that need done yet. typed it up, type size 12 (his eye aren't so good either) and i think it was double spaced - but very little margin top and bottom. Plus I scratched in a few more things by hand before i faxed it to him. I'm also hoping I can get him to cut some of the laminate planks for me when he's out here. At least til I get comfortable doing it myself. So far I've been afraid to try it. My sister used to have a young guy she knew do odd jobs for her and he did good work so I'm gonna call him and see if he wants to earn some extra money. He's probably in his early - mid 20s now - bought a house to the E of me the other yr so he's only a few miles away. He's a big guy so moving appliances around or lifting the sink won't be a problem for him. I just hope he wants work. my sister told me the other wk she thought he had a gf now so maybe he doesn't have any spare time. puppy and I are spending the afternoons over there. She plays and i try to work (or nap in the a/c). She's a pest tho - all she wants to do is play! I can see that whatever flooring I put down won't look new very long... not the way she skids thru the house chasing her toy (that someone throws as far as she can to get a few seconds of peace). I finally found my level today so I'm going to attempt to put up some shelves tomorrow. I moved the level and haven't been able to find it for wks. Hated the idea of buying another one... I'd already checked for studs and marked them so I hope it flies right along after I mark up the wall with a level line to drill the braces in. I'm sure this is more than you really wanted to know - lol!

It is personal preference! But, here's my setup: To determine which side to put the SD & GD air switch with a single bowl sink, first, decide which side to put the SD. (1) If you have a soap bottle now, which side is it on? Most likely that's the side you're more comfortable w/having the SD & that's the side to use. (2) If you don't have a soap bottle now or you're not sure you have the bottle on the correct side for you, then imagine yourself washing your hands (go through the motions at the sink to make it more real!). Which side do you naturally want to go to to pump the soap? That's the side to use. For us, we put our left hand under the dispenser to collect the soap and use our right hands to adjust water temp. For us, it worked out better to have the SD on the left...so we put the GD switch on the right...even though our GD is in the left, large bowl. Once you've decided which side to put the SD: If you only have the 3 (faucet, SD, air switch), I recommend putting the airswitch on the opposite side of the faucet from the SD. If you also have an instant hot water, filtered water tap, or other (like side spray), then put the GD on either side...it's so low-profile that it's location is not much of an issue. HTH!