Steve, one thing rubs me the wrong way and that is the use of impervious material below the path. You're asking for all the water to drain off sideways via the path edge. How much difference that will make I don't think anyone can confirm, but it seems in opposition to conventional thinking about draining path bases. Usually, one wants them to drain as much and as quickly as possible. But you have an objective that is probably not in any book so who's really out there to guide you with authority? It seems like you're experimenting in uncharted territory and would be the one to share, later, how the project turns out. Just remember that if you change your mind later at some later point, it (150' path) would be a lot of stuff to undo. (Or for the next owner of the property.)

Thanks - I think the rocks were the problem also. I never used them before, or since, and haven't had any significant losses. I do sterilize my pots cleaning them carefully with a bleach/water solution before using them. I just wasn't sure whether it was the lava rock or not. I guess it was rocks in general. I probably wouldn't have used them at all except I ran out of smaller pots and was trying to save on potting mix. Last year I bought a huge bag of a bark mix from my home-town nursery. It is what he uses in his pot-ups. It is hard not to notice that when you buy a potted plant there are no rocks, chips etc. in the bottom. I probably wouldn't even use the coffee filters except with 30 or more plants they are everywhere I don't want potting mix running out. Generally I avoid using dirt, but I tried to conserve $ spent on a prepaired mix. My thinking may have been flawed since I was just housing dormant plants during the cold of winter when the mix would have been biologically dormant also in freezing temperatures. I felt I was just trying to keep them from dessicating. Paul - that was a great link. I forgot to mention my soil was infused with a lot of pearlite. This wicking makes sense. The potting mix with its small particles has greater surface area than the rock so gravity is overcome by the wicking, thereby retainging water. Since I was simply overwintering the plants they were dormant and not using the wicked water up, thereby they became water logged. duh on me. Ken-I don't "insist" on any such thing. I only used the rock in 4 pots out of 34, and have overwintered a hundred or more in the past without rocks and with little loss. It seems the problem was using rocks in general rather than specifically lava rocks. Needless to say I haven't used rocks since.

Interesting, kirkhall, and yes, true. Our town considers it pervious so it doesn't count against lot coverage maximums, but at the same time our state DEP considers it impervious so it counts against any allowable building footprint in a wetlands area. Catch 22. Which is why we're going to have to remove a significant portion of all the gravel we have (for the DEP) and replace it with the pervious concrete aggregate shown above. Luckily we're nowhere close to reaching the 3% max lot coverage either way. But it seems a win/win - DH gets rid of the gravel he hates, the DEP is happy, and hopefully, someday we'll get to build our house. And LuAnn, I can't tell from your post if you are just shocked or if you are questioning the validity of my statement. $10-15,000 per month is correct . Yes - per month. Not unusual here. We are hopelessly and forever zip-coded (precisely b/c of people like my neighbor). I remember being shocked when we bought a house in Minnesota, and the guy would come and do my whole lawn (front, sides, and back) for a mere $25 - amazing! You would never find that here. I guess it's not totally $180K per year because they (thankfully!) don't have much done during the 4-5 months of winter. Their workers are the bane of my existence, as I cannot stand listening to the constant drone of mowers and leaf blowers for 8-10 hours a day 2-3 times a week. It's like living across from an industrial park, and I bought this house primarily so I could have privacy and silence and listen to nature. I guess my bitterness is made worse because I was here years before they were, and their property used to be acres and acres of natural woodland until they bought it and cut down all the trees and planted grass. But I digress... They're nice people though (even if a bit OCD about their yard), so that helps temper it. I'm sure they hate that my place is left somewhat wild, and attracts deer and fox and birds and bears. Oh my! To each his own. :-) This post was edited by jenswrens on Fri, May 17, 13 at 19:04

Well I am sorry to say I have had a nightmare with this company starting at the first measure I faxed my plans from my cabinet company. Received a call back with a pretty good price I thought for granite never had it so really had no clue what to expect. First measure the guy came 45 minutes early and by the time I got there for the regular time the appointment was he had left. Second measure went great (except for the fact that I got an ear full from the measure guy) he was telling me how he is so tired of the customer being irate when he gets there because the salesman lie and forget to tell them they need to pay in full at time of measure and they make promises they cant keep. As he was measuring he told me it looked like whoever gave me my quote was way off on the square footage he asked me what I gave him for plans and I explained to him I faxed him the actual plans from the cabinet company. I get a call the following day to be told that there was an error in the price they gave me and the salesman had made a mathematical error and there would be an additional charge of approx. 32 square feet. It was just shy of 50% of the original amount. I explained to him this was not acceptable I am without running water until I get my counter tops and I have a purchase order and I want what I was quoted and ordered. He said he was sorry and he would give me my money back. I explained I wanted my counter tops not my money back. He told me what the balance would be and I said they should at least meet me half way he tried saying I signed off on the paper agreeing to a possible variance so technically I would have to pay for it. After excessive disagreement they agreed to split it with me after they added another $300 to it. I was very mad but I also wanted to get my countertops installed. Now we get to the installation day they tell me they will call an hour before the guy calls me 15 minutes before he is to be at my house. I have to get someone to go over there to let them in because I am an hour away. I get there they had cut the wrong edge in the shop on some pieces and cut the sink hole for the WRONG SIZE sink. it was supposed to be a small sink in it (1/2 of a 60 /40) now I called the store where I bought it and they looked up my order and stated that it says the small sink on the order but the measure guy forgot to write it on something so the store where I bought it says they will have to re-cut it I would have to call Macomb though for authorization. I call Macomb and they say they need to look at it and call me back when they call back they will not fix it they said I signed off on it and therefore I must have changed my mind they said 80% of people do. I was so mad I told the installers not to install it they could take it back along with the other pieces that were wrong and when they get it right they can come back. The lady told me her manager would be calling me right back but he was busy at the moment but he to was going to tell me that they would not re-cut it because I signed a paper agreeing that the measure was ok (they never even gave me a copy of this paper they claimed I signed until that day but I got other copies the day I signed them). The manager never called the installers left with 1/2 of the granite and I have no idea when this job will be finished. So now I have some counter tops and still no running water this is week 4. I will say this they have a nice product but are very shaky every where else. It seems like they do a bait and switch sales tactic and dont accept responsibility for any of their own mistakes. At this company the customer is always wrong.