Not at all, and I don't remember writing anything that should leave anyone with that impression. If I had to identify the crux of the thread, it would be that to take advantage of highly aerated media and their sharp drainage, it's essential to start with a very large volume of coarse ingredients, and there should never be enough fine material to fill all the spaces between the large particles. When you add a marble/perlite) to a jar filled to the rim with sand or peat), aeration of the medium in the jar DECREASES, and continues to decrease as you add more marbles/perlite. It is only when you have added a volume of marbles/perlite) so large there is not enough sand/peat) to fill all the desirable pores between the large particles that aeration begins to INCREASE. This is called the "threshold proportion". Al

Yes, I stated that I'm not worried about the aluminum, all the same I won't use aluminum sulfate either. Although it may be safe, I worry about toxic levels. Just because lead is in all soils doesn't mean it's a good idea to add more. Same with aluminum. And if you mix turface without a mask, you will be exposed to it. As far as water absorption Axis noted that turface holds 95% of it's weight in water. Pumice only holds 15% and DE holds 142% Try diatomaceous earth in your tests. Optisorb is about the largest size available to home gardeners. Axis makes an excellent size, but is for commercial use only. Numerous studies document it's use as superior to most other amendments. Such as " Effects of diatomite on soil consistency limits and soil compactibility" by Ekrem Lutfi Aksakala, Ilker Anginb, , , and Taskin Oztasa Or "Effects of diatomite on soil physical properties" by the same authors. Also "Sustainable effects of diatomite on the growth criteria and phytochemical contents of Vicia faba plants." Mona M. Abdalla* Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. The Axis company also has great info on all amendments. As far as particle size, do a test. Fill a pot with sand, and one with gravel. Stick a pole in, and see which one gives more resistance. It seems to me gravel would. But I might be wrong? I don't know physics well enough to figure it out on paper. Ah and pumice is further dashed to the ground and called a fake, not a single user rises to defend. Well we can agree to disagree, my day job is a laboratory researcher,or was, I'm retired. If turface has various pore sizes then it is not very well made. Thanks for pointing that out. So you do not believe the manufacturer? Controlling pore size in fired clays is often accomplished with the use of polymers such as Polyethylene glycol. This process is extremely important to control how well purifiers work, or how well they hold up with the addition of salts. You are incorrect about the pore size. Yes pore sizes differs, but that process is used to make different products, and is very controlled. Turface is meant to have small pores size or it would ineffective in it's intended use. The porosity of fired clays is extremely important to have a consistent product such as fired brick used to built houses. Varying pore sizes will compromise the strength of the brick. Selling a product and manufacturing one are very different things. The pore size I reported is for calcinated clay. Range of pore sizes is from .1 -.01 microns. Median is .045 . Plants need a .2 micron minimum pore size to utilize. This info is from a study by Andreas Kalytta-Mewes, Kathrin Mattern, and Armin Reller University of Augsburg, Chair of Solid Body Chemistry Georg Armbruster Soil Laboratory. The pore analysis in the study was conducted by Quantachrome,Bavarian Institute of Applied Environmental Research and Applied Technology. Of course it appears none of these sources trump Al. Who has not provided any data at all to back his claims. Please prove to me that pore size is bigger, thinking Al is right because you sell clay products is not proof. After saying all this will turface work? Yes, it will. Works pretty good! Is it ideal? No, it's not, but what is? It's still worth trying for sure. It didn't work for me, but that means nothing. it has worked well for others. It would be nice if it allowed easier access to stored water, but it does store water, and air, and it lasts a long time, maybe 20 years. That's decent. It's a decent product, or appears to be. It would not be on the market if it didn't work. I know it's not meant for potted plants, but it is meant for grass. DE seems a better product, it has it's own problems. it is marketed though for plants more than ball fields, although it is marketed for that too. It's marketed for large commercial gardens. I use it in my garden. I use turface too for my grass, works well. Just not that well in pots for me. All i said that it didn't work for me. Sorry blame me, it's what you usually do when the mixes fail, you blame the poster. Many have said DE doesn't work for them. I actually believe them. All gardening is local. This post was edited by Drew51 on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 15:33

After the deck is down I bolt the handrail posts to the rim joist after daping out the post 1 1/2'' x how ever wide the rim is. This way the posts land on the decking. The only other way is to install the posts in the frame and roof around them, this is just asking for a leak the chances of all the flashing/modidied holding perfectly are slim plus the width differance from the botom to the top if the posts are going to be wrapped. With all the black modified melted into the flashing it dosent look all that good so a person would want the posts wraped. To do this system a real good Roofer needs to be employed who will run a starter course just like using compo,slow down,pay attention to detail, deal with the fire danger,install all needed flashing, use a quality base sheet, and not tell you using mastic is just as good as torching the material down. In all the upstairs projects I have out we have had one faliure,it had to be at my house of course. While we were puting down the decking some how me or one of my guys droped a screw and steped on it pushing it into the roof. It took a year before the water damage showed up in the sofit plywood. Repair encluding deck removal,temp brace a couple of posts,soffit repair, a quick flash with the torch was done. Attention to detail is important for the Carpenters as well as the Roofer. J

I doubt the company is on here tryinv to get people to buy their product. On their website they state the excerpt below about ESHC hydrocarbon (formerly known as EC 1800): Please Note: ESHC was developed to remove fresh and aged petroleum hydrocarbons from both hard and porous surfaces. Earth Smart Solutions has not tested the effectiveness of ESHC to remove Thompson's Water Seal from wood decks and does not guarantee it's effectiveness when used for this application.