Whaas: Yes, pines and spruces can exude sap, but that sap is not enough to cover large wounds, and even if it were, it would not prevent rot. Pine sap can for a time can create a barrier that can delay fungal infections, but it is not itself a fungicide. In fact, I have had a lot of experience with large wounds to both pines and Norway spruce trees--the fungal rots enter these trees faster than in most, and the rot spreads very, very fast. Before I hit on the liquid copper fungicide, I experimented with Captan, and with Bordeaux mixture. With both I saw fungal fruiting bodies within two years--maybe just 1.5 years. But, if one prunes off smaller side branches from pines and spruces, there is virtually no risk of fungal rot entering those kinds of cuts. With red pines especially, the cut surface is impregnated with pitch, and is very, very rot resistant. But this is not the kind of situation I am recommending this fungicide treatment for. The cuts I made on about a dozen white pines, for example, were to remove 1/2 of a forked tree, and the cuts were generally about 8" by 12". My forester who saw what I had done said that I was wasting my time trying to save such trees. Hah! He should see them now. White pines with a tight "V" shaped fork will eventually split in storms about 90% of the time, hence my acting to save them. Every one of the trees I cut this way about 27 years ago is now a beautiful, straight white pine tree, 100 feet tall, and as healthy as any tree can be. I have also had a few white pine and spruce trees clawed by bears, leaving large areas with the bark removed. I have treated these trees also, and no rot has appeared in these either. With the spruce, sap did cover a part of the damaged areas. With the white pine, sap actually covered very little. But, even had the sap covered these areas, there would have been a delay of just three, or maybe up to 5 years--not nearly enough time for the callus to cover the wounds. --Spruce

fish, The membrane "as is" is no good due to the fasteners that have been driven through it about an inch above the existing mud. If it is indeed installed on a flat subfloor, then that's a no-go too. Both of those are not just poor techique, they are code violations. Moving on... If you want Kerdi you want a Kerdi drain, too. Kerdi membrane on the walls and floor is not compatable with a non-Kerdi drain. A CPE or CPVC membrane in the floor is not compatable with a Kerdi drain. So the installer giving you the CPE membrane with the intention of using Kerdi? It's doing you no good at all. They don't work together, there's no synergy. It's not 1+1=3, it's 1+1=0. It's not a double bonus, it's a double negative. If he can break out the mud around the existing drain, remove it and install a Kerdi drain at the proper elevation, then feather in new deck mud to match the flange of the Kerdi drain to the slope of the existing mud, then bravo. But do realize that unlike the 2-part clamping drain that you have now, which is height adjustable after is is installed, there is no vertical adjustment to the Kerdi flange after it is installed. So if your installer just wants to patch a Kerdi drain in place, he has to be pretty darn precise when he installs the drain. It's a "one and done" shot to get the drain at the correct elevation and to get it level. I highlight "level" because the flange on the kerdi drain has a large diameter, it's like a frisbee. It needs to be spot-on level and at the proper elevation for your floor to drain properly.

Hi Rohan, Not a pro here, so this is just my opinion as a fellow renter. Obviously I don't know your weekly rent, but I'm not sure it'd be worth it to go through the trouble of finding someone to do it (and paying them) or having to DIY (it's not your own place). When I'm renting, I'd rather pay my normal rent which I've already taken into account in my budget and not have to care about doing works and the consequences if it's badly executed / if it starts rotting again after I change it / other unforeseen issues. Let the agent do their job. Cheers, Mehdia

I amplified it a little to prove a point, and the analogy, while grossly exaggerated, holds. An example between the two extremes is that your cat Fluffy breaks a leg falling out of a tree, so you feed her through a wood chipper, and head down to Petsmart to see about getting a replacement. There is no false hope in giving helpful advice. She knows that the situation is dire. The fail in tossing it is that it would be giving up when the going gets tough. If we need to examine it further, there are three possible outcomes. Option 1: Lets assume she tries cinnamon and whatever else is recommended and the plant dies. The plant is dead, but she gets some small satisfation that she did the best she could and didnt throw in the towel. That is not optimum, but lets call it a neutral outcome. Option 2: She throws the book at it and it somehow pulls through. Well thats a better outcome, a real happy ending. She knows she brought it back to life and all of us helped in any way we could, and we all live happily ever after, the end. Option 3: she takes your suggestion and chucks it. There is no possible positive outcome, no sense of satisfaction. She gave up on the living thing under her care. The only lesson is when the going gets tough, you give up. Insert your favorite world-changing historical battle that was won through sheer grit and perseverance here. Trying to save it could produce two possible outcomes, one of which is a resounding win. Throwing it away can ONLY result in a fail. There is no alternate world in which tossing it achieves a positive outcome.