Lady Vix, I write this only because you say you are new to this and something caught my eye in your last post. You said "you weren't going to go down to the bank and sign the papers until ......" And then I checked your other posts a quick scan didn't bring up any mention of a mortgage application or approval. So I want to point out that it's not as simple as buying something like a car where essentially you just sign papers promising to pay a certain amount and then you're good to go. With a house you have to apply to the bank for a mortgage on a specific house and they not only evaluate your credit, but they also require you to pay for an appraisal (not the same thing as the tax "appraisal" or the relator's comprehensive market analysis.) Then they decide how much money they will agree to lend to you as a mortgage. You have to come up with the rest. (These days banks' appraisers are being very conservative about values.) There's tons of paperwork you have to submit to the bank and then they will tell you if they will give you a mortgage for this house and how much down payment they require. They will give you an good faith estimate of the closing costs (which may include a lot of fees). You may also have to refund to the seller a portion of the year's property taxes. Plus you will need to have homeowner's insurance, etc. You are spending lots of money on inspections, but you need to get the mortgage app process going right away because if you can't get a mortgage (and banks are reportedly being extremely choosy these days and requiring much bigger down payments than in recent years), you could be wasting a lot of money on these inspections. If you have been to a bank and have been told you are "prequalified" you should know that means nothing Sorry! You need a mortgage approval, which you can only get from starting a mortgage application. Sometimes it takes more than one attempt from different banks. And this typically takes weeks, or even more. If you already have this covered, meaning you already have a mortgage committment/approval on this specific property, ignore this. If not, get to the bank, TODAY! Good luck! L

"racket, I think you've made your opinion clear. Now if someones has a leak at the equipment, or the tile is falling off or the deck cracks or a liner rips or a scottish terrier drowns in a pool you can say 'I told you so'. " We sell salt systems, but do with reluctance and caution. Many builders up here are in the same boat. I am not sure the premise of your post, but its kinda dickish. My intention was to educate on real world issues I have had with salt, not anecdotal tales. We don't have a pool store so we lose money by not selling salt. "Bought/Used about 100 lbs of tabs and 40 lbs cal-hypo and 25 lbs calcium, 75 lbs of alk up, 50 lbs pH Increaser. Rough cost $800/yr " 40# tabs $80 at costco 50# calc $30 50# bicarb $30 each or $60 50# soda ash (not needed in a gunite pool) $30 $200.00 $800.00 for 4 years. Salt system installed plus salt = $1,500 After 2 years circuit board fails, pay $400 installed. After 3 years flow switch goes bad pay, $200 installed After 4 years cell dies, pay $700 installed. $2,800 for 4 years plus you need to still buy chemicals mentioned above. This seems to be about par for the course. "Truth is pool treated with chorine burns eyes,with SWG swim under water all you want with your eyes open,no problem...." I have been in hundreds of commercial pools over the past year, and the skin/eye irritation occurs in both types of pools. Not completely true. This has to do w/ pH level more than what the water is being sanitized with. The salt helps a little bit. I don't think that salt system should not be installed, but I feel that care should be taken when it comes to the design of the pool, and what types of materials are used. I install them on 1/2 my pools, but if the pool has a automatic cover I won't warranty the damage from the salt after 1 year.

We sell kitchens to everyone. We simply insist that our customers make sensible decisions that we know will work. We won't sell a kitchen if it doesn't work, or is dangerous, or against building code. For example, many kitchen designers and appliance suppliers were guilty for a decade of selling and recommending high CFM blowers without replacement air systems. So they knowingly or unknowingly poisoning their clients. We always refused to do this and require that our recommended appliance sales people insist on selling our customers the replacement air systems they need to be safe, whether they want it or not. I believe all professionals should "first do no harm". Giving people what the want is the easy road. Helping them make good decisions is harder but is also why our company grows at a rate of about 30% per year.

The perm rating for exterior-grade plywood is what it is despite any physical defects typical in the material. While it has a low perm rating, it's a poor candidate to install under sheetrock as a vapor barrier. In my market, 1/2" CDX plywood costs roughly $.55/SF compared with 6 mil polyethylene sheeting which costs $.05/SF .... @Charles Ross, looking back at the picture I posted the plywood has a perm rating of .70 and the polyethylene sheeting has .06 --- the picture states anything with a rating less than 1 qualifies as a 'vapor barrier'. So the question of which is better I'm not really arguing, just expanding the conversation to show that there are different materials to use as a vapor barrier as well as the location of which to install it (climate concerns). With that said, what is better in terms of the rating regardless of cost or installation problems or concerns? Here in the south they not only put up plywood but then also wrap the house, usually in Tyvek. But the home I live in was built in the late 70's has either asphalt coated paper or some sort of aluminum coated paper. Another important difference is in my area the product is installed on the exterior of the house. I think a wrap would be a harder install on interior walls. I think if it were me I would choose the 'Vapor barrier paint or primer' for homes in the north where vapor barrier should be installed internally. The rating of the 'vapor barrier paint or primer' according to the picture I posted a few clicks above was rated at 0.45 which is almost half of plywood... but much higher than polyethylene at .06. Due to the ease in which the 'vapor barrier paint or primer' can be applied, the higher rating and no interference that the ply wood make due to the thickness of it, 'cracks and crevice' problem I mentioned... But the question is as someone who doesn't do this sort of thing... what is the difference of the rating between these different materials.... short of costs, installation methods or problems with such. Is a rating closer to 1 better than a rating closer to 0? That primarily is the point to everything I posted, it wasn't a venture off into the weeds. (What's the best in terms of the rating?)