Okay, I asked my boss (who deals with this stuff) and this is his answer:

"If you slope it at 45* and compact it, as you're planning, it should be fine, as you're only dealing with 4" of grade."

Plants do take awhile to grow, but laying down sod can be a great and faster way too.

Hope this helps.

I'm guessing your deductible is $500 or more? If not, or if the damage is significantly above $500, you got a couple options.

1. Do what the other person who answered this question said.

2. How bad is it? Is the damage enough to possibly cause the deck to collapse? If so, you have an imminent collapse provision in your policy and the insurance company has to immediately pay to replace the deck (which may not be necessary in this case, but what the hell? They use this kind of shit against you when they can...turn the tables.)

3. Have your neighbor go through their insurance company, but agree to pay the deductible (I assume your neighbor can't come up with the scratch right this minute).

4. Or, go with the pay it yourself option if the amount is less than or equal to your deductible.

In the cases of 3 and 4, write something down and have your neighbor sign it. If it's uncomfortable, just tell them you've been burned (no pun intended) before in a similar circumstance and you just want to protect yourself as best you can (which is mostly true, just from what you've written, and might be totally true for all I know).

If they pay you back in a reasonable time period, you can rip up the contract (which is what it is...it's just not a professional contract written by a lawyer), and never worry about it again. If they don't, you can go to small claims court, where you will prevail in seconds.

Not that winning in small claims court guarantees you the money. What it does do, though, is give you (unpleasant, but sometimes necessary) options, of which you can avail yourself, which can be used toward this end.

We also have a teardrop and we have had that leak. We were able to fix it with layers of weatherstripping and a few coats of sealant across the rubber dam at the hinge. All the products for this fix and people who can explain/and or fix try evergreen rv in Shoreline- good people

caulking...if you dont, the water will seep into your wall, down the wall and into your subfloor, ( just imagine water jumping over your shower curtain) it will travel the same way...but yeah caulk is your answer and really easy to do. if not your going to really regret not taking care of this

No its not. tell your boyfriend mold is all around you in your food, in everything. LOL sorry but he hasnt taken microbiology obviously.....its really possible they had a leak a long time ago, they took care of it, but once mold is in the walls, in the floors, its so hard to PERMANENTLY get rid of without replacing EVERYTHING...tell him to chillll

Check out precision concepts construction www.precisionconceptsco.com 206-393-2637 or email precision_concepts@hotmail.com Basement remodels may also be waterproofed without drain systems by the way:-) you can do it with waterproof paint if it doesnt have a history of leaking. They did our basement and we were very happy with the results. Knocked out concrete for windows, earth quake proofed our foundation, built doorways, custom shower panned and tiled our bathroom, built an office, framed, drywalled, painted, plumbed and were talking all from dirt.We had nothing but dirt in the basement, basically a really tall crawl space if you can imagine! Unfinished basement to the fullest when they started! Poured concrete on the floor, installed hardwood on the rest, the works! Made it livable with a mother in law kitchen and did it under the budget. Took about 3 months but we made a lot of changes and they got all the materials which we paid for...id recommend them, pleasant to work with and really great at communicating. They mainly work in seattle and surrounding areas...

I would have thought the biggest draws on electricity would be heaters, heating coils, burners and things that produce heat or coil. Also, things that cycle on their own (whether via temperature change or lighting change).

A Kill-A-Watt in an instructive tool, but it doesn't do much for changing our energy-wasting lifestyle. I mean, just try to live without electricity... at every turn, you use it without thinking.

Look for hidden losses...wall wart converters, instant-on TV sets and monitors, and heaters and coolers that are fighting each other... like running a refridgerator in the uppermost floor of your house, or running a floor space heater in the basement...

I wouldn't worry about little things, like zenner light bulb indicator lights, but look for hidden transformers, incadescent light bulbs, and heating elements.

The answers here have covered the appliances and typical high draw demands of modern households. I have two additional thoughts.

I do not know this about Seattle City Light but in other places I have lived the local utility made moves to save money by cutting back on staff and so meter readings were made less frequently and the monthly bill generated by an algorithm based on typical past usage and recent history. This caused the need to periodically adjust the bill accordingly and so bill amounts fluctuated at times in puzzling ways.

You have made the effort to spot check electricity consumption around your home. I would suggest you start reading your meter on a daily basis. If you have never done this it takes some initial figuring out. If you can't discern whether the needle is just getting to a number or passing it look to the dial to its immediate right (on the initial reading you almost have to read left to right). Then on subsequent readings you can look at the last couple of dials to see the change.

If you get in the habit of doing this the same time each day (say as you leave for work, keep a pad of paper in your car to record it on) you will get a daily snapshot of the previous day's usage. This may help you to figure out what is happening.

If you have a kill-a-watt already, you're pretty far down the right path. FWIW I've had 3 of their power strip versions fail on me at work, so don't buy those, use the single-outlet ones.

I would definitely suggest flipping all your breakers and looking at your meter to see if anything is draining it. Not only that, especially if you lived in a shared building, do this at night and go walk around to see if any lights turned off. I did this once when I got a couple unexpectedly high power bills and found out I had 1 common light for the building on my power circuit for some reason and it was costing me $20/month.

John Bailo says look at bigger appliances, I say look at smaller things. Space heaters/fans, pretty much all electronics that are expected to pull over an amp of power, even things that plug in to charge can pull "vampire current" at full charge. Is someone leaving something on that isn't obvious and draws a fair amount of power like a PS3? Or a printer? My 5 year old $30 Brother laser printer pulls a ridiculous 1-2amps if I just leave it sitting on.

Overall I'd guess the simplest explanation is probably correct: SCL fucked up your billing and is slowly fixing it, and you're just using a little more power than you expected.

edit: SCL has a year of power usage history on their website last I looked.

I think you're doing some good analysis.

Checking the meter with the breakers off is a good idea...but how about checking it with the breakers on one at a time? Maybe you have a short somewhere that's draining current, or have added a device whose power pack is consuming the extra load.

The refrigerator, hot water heater tend to outweigh all other uses...any chance there is something wrong with them? Have you cleaned the coils lately, or is it old and needs defrosting?

One thing that PSE (my utility here in Kent) has is really nice web reports on energy usage. You can for instance track the year to year changes for each month and even track them against temperature changes. I assume you have done these analysis as well one way or the other.

This is why I love participating in QLand, your question sent me reading all about teardrop trailers - of which I was previously unaware.

The leak (technically speaking) is because of a failure of the creation of a complete seal of the hatch door. The funny thing about water is that it will flow through any opening (in this case a failure of closure or maybe even a wrinkle in the rubber seal) and can find its way along the internal structure as gravity takes it.

You observe the external cosmetic damage of some wood (and even perhaps you have some delamination of some paneling or plywood) but the actual structure of the door and kitchen area may not have significant damage. You do need to get it thoroughly dried out. The next concern is to figure out where the leak is actually occurring and get that weather seal complete and competent to stop water intrusion. Anyone that attempts to deconstruct the hatch door to replace wood would want to know how it was originally put together so I think a clear consultation with the builder and getting copies of the original plans for that area would be a good asset. I assume the reason you are not taking it back to the original maker is because of distance. I would hope they would stand behind their work and give you all the cooperation you need to get this corrected.

The actual work could be done by any skilled woodworker but if you want to track down a place specializing in travel trailer repair I would call up some local RV workshops and ask them. I did find this website ( http://www.teardrops.net ) that has a manufacturer's directory ( http://www.teardrops.net/mfgs.html ) with some listed in the Seattle and greater Washington area and they may provide you with some good references for local skilled and trustworthy repair people.

Fritz's Drain Service. He's awesome.

Stay clear of Mr. Rooter - bad! Bad! Bad!

Yikes. The gurgling sound is worrisome. It sounds like you're missing a trap (very seldom does the vent pipe plug...unless there were a bird nest or something). But it's more likely missing a trap or the trap isn't working properly (cracked, leaking, etc).

Do you use this shower? Try running water in the shower for about 5 minutes and then flush the toilet. If the trap is working, you won't hear a gurgling noise. If you DO hear a gurgling noise, then you'll probably need a plumber. Unfortunately removing the shower bottom and replacing/installing a trap is a pain in the butt procedure.

It's not super likely, but perhaps it's not a trap problem, and instead connected to some type of plugged drain (so you can try pouring some boiling water down the shower drain and use one of those plastic zip-strips to pull up any hair clogs). I don't really think that's the issue, but as those are both easy things to try, you might want to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the snake is going to be any use in this situation, especially as you had the line video inspected and it was clear/in good shape.

Darn! If you get to the point of wanting/needing to hire a plumber, there are a few small local companies that I can highly recommend (the company I work for just focuses on rooting and repair of the pipes underground outside the house, not so much of the inside plumbing issues).

Full disclosure: I work for a great local family-owned sewer company (Aces Four Construction). We also provide rooter services. And if you call the office, you'll probably get to talk to me, and I'm nice *smile* Tom's correct about most of the rates being in the $160/hr range (Aces Four's is $150/hr. And if it can be done just using the small auger machine, we just charge the $95 for our service technician's time) (although I've heard some horror stories of other companies charging WAY more). I've given LOTS of information/tips on hiring contractors in this previous question (ways to check BBB, and the state, and other review sites) http://questionland.com/questions/22038-recommendations-on-a-skilled-and-affordable-plumber-this-would-be-for-a

Allow me to provide some guidance here, as well. Be wary of any company who isn't upfront about their rates. Be wary of giant "EMERGENCY SERVICE" signs, as these companies can be looking to prey upon your panic/need for an immediate resolution. Also note that companies offering evening or weekend service tend to be much more expensive than those of us doing the more standard 7am-5pm Mon-Fri thing (because overtime rates cost more). I've seen some companies that advertise "1st 15 minutes free" and not giving info on their further rates. This is shady, especially as it may honestly take more than 15 minutes to unload the van and set up the equipment. Most residential rooters take about an hour, so that's really the amount of time for which you should get a quote.

If it's just the tub that is slow draining, you may be able to clear it yourself *fingers crossed* The boiling water trick is a nice one to try, as is using one of those plastic zip-strips to get hair clogs. But sometimes it needs an auger or more powerful machine. And I want to echo Tom's advice to NOT use any of the corrosive "Liquid Plumber" type products. They rarely help the clog and they'll damage your pipes.

Is the tub the only place you're having an issue? If so, it's probably just a small clog, and you can maybe get it using the hand snakes that you can rent or purchase at Home Depot. Although you may still prefer to hire someone to just get it taken care of. If you're having other drain issues (like gurgling or a back-up in the lowest drains in the house (floor drain, basement shower drain, etc)), that can indicate a bigger issue in the sewer line underground outside your house. That's when you should for sure call someone with a big cutter/cleaning snake to help clear the blockage (most often invasive tree roots...searching for free nutrients and water in your sewage. It's a glamorous business I'm in!!)

Good luck!

If it's only the tub that is draining slowly, the clog probably isn't one that requires professional attention. In fact, it is probably just a plug of hair and congealed soap less than a foot down into the drain.

Take a wire coat hanger and straighten it. With a pair of pliers, bend a very short section at one end (as short as you can: as close to 1/8 " as you can make it) into a 90 degree angle. Push this into the drain as far as it can go, then start spinning it slowly as you gently draw it back up. You're trying to pull up as much of the plug at once by tangling it around the bent end of the coat hanger. Do this a few times to get as much gunk out as possible.

If this doesn't work, try a snake. One like this is sold at almost every hardware store for less than $20, and it works well: http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-Products-88250--25-Foot-Clearing/dp/B000VLETJ6/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1328747537&sr=8-14

It's worth spending the money, because Roto Rooter is a hassle. The only have heavy-duty industrial snakes with thick cables that probably won't fit in your tub drain. If they have to dismantle anything in your bathroom to get at a better cleanout point, they will charge you for it. They may also insist that you first spend at least $100 for them to send a camera down the drain to identify where the clog is. It's just not worth it if there's any possibility you can solve this yourself.

The good news is that they all seem to charge around the same thing. The bad news is it is north of $160. My sample size is small but over 20 years I have used 3 different companies and have talked to many other homeowners about whom it is that they have used. Roto rooter and others advertise $99 or something like that but somehow always wind up charging $160.

Russ's advice is good. Avoid using lye (liquid plumr etc) if you can. I also prefer to use a big stew pot that can hold a few gallons of boiling water. I have burned myself doing this but that just gets mixed up with all the other burns and tattoos on my hands and arms.

Most clogs can be handled by even the most incompetent "not so handymen" including myself. As a matter of fact, it's one of the few things I do around the house myself.

There are different models of snakes available that are inexpensive. I have a hand shake that goes about 4 feet in to a pipe that works well most of the time. I also have a 20ft snake that fits on the end of a drill or can be hand cranked that works ok.. Doing both the boiled water and snake have worked very well for me. The snakes cost around $20-$50. Before you even try that use a wire hanger and see what happens.

There are alos various combinations of salt, boiled vinegar and bkaing soda you can try. Try google as I don not remember the proportions.

Do try a couple of tea kettles of just boiled water down the drain (after pulling and cleaning the drain control/shutoff) before thinking you need a somewhat expensive intervention with a professional service. It can't hurt to see if it makes a difference. If it does help, do it daily for a week and see how it goes. Tub drains are notorious for small clogs of hair and soap/shampoo residues that are not necessarily very far down the line and can be encouraged to break up and move along with some very hot water and/or even a drain cleaner used according to instructions.

Check out:
http://www.newwood.com/

they are in Elma and Alki Lumber will order it for you. I think they'll order Trex as well. Newwood is in 8x4 sheets, though, not dimensional lumber.

I have worked with Trex, there are lots of other brands - some are all plastic and others use wood fiber or fiberglass fiber as part of the mix. Pay particular attention to the recommendations for how much support is needed in the substructure. Joist spacing can be as short as 12 inches for some products. For all I am aware of the material is not recommended for the substructure, but instead is intended to be used as the top skin and rails of a deck.

Different hardware/lumber chains carry different brands, they all have pros and cons and come in a different colors and finish textures.

Try specialty lumber stores like dunn lumber near gas works or Comptons in sodo. They may have to order the colors but can price them. They're quite pricey ( a friend recently used them on a deck and theyre around 40 bucks a 8 foot section) but do last forever my moms have been on her deck for 12 yearsand all she's done maintenance wise is pressure wash them about every 5 years.

Have you considered using Flor carpet tiles?

Here is a link: http://www.flor.com/

The reason why I suggest them is that you can easily replace small sections. They come in squares of various sizes and you can mix and match colors (or have just one color). They might be a little more expensive at first, but if you ever need to replace a section of carpet I think they would be way less expensive.

Cat pee is strong stuff. I'm not sure there is any carpet material or treatment that will allow you to reliably clean a carpet in place. One thing that might work is replaceable carpet tile. At least one company (http://www.millikencarpet.com/americas/residential/carpetpanels/legato/Pages/default.aspx) makes carpet tile with a non-adhesive, sticky back similar to post-it notes. If you need to clean a tile or two, you pull them up and clean them by hand. You could probably perform a much more thourough cleaning and drying with the piece off the floor. If you keep extra tiles on hand, you can replace the soiled ones while you clean them.

I installed this tile in a basement bedroom because I was worried about flooding. Sure enough, we had a flood last year. A regular carpet would have been ruined, but I was able to gather up the carpet tiles, air dry them, and put them back down when the basement was dry again.

The tiles are good, with a nice texture and substantial padding, but not perfect. In some places, I can see the edges of the tiles where they join. They cost a bit more than regular carpet, even though you have to install them yourself. Lastly, you can't install them as an area rug; you have to do it wall-to-wall.

We bought the tiles at Home Depot, but I'm not sure they sell them there anymore.

Are you sure you want carpet at all? If the cat is going to mark your carpet 5% of the time, and a cat pees maybe 3 times a day, you're going to be dealing with cat pee in your carpet once a week. You say that hardwood is not an option, but there are a lot of laminate "wood" floors you could install that wouldn't absorb liquid at all. I don't think they cost more than carpet.

I had to do this when I was a kid. Acetone and a belt sander works. It' a long, slow miserable job, but it'll work.

Loooooooong story, but some of us thought we were painting a trail marker on an old chimney. The property owner thought it was graffiti.

Acetone and a belt sander took it off.

I'll echo sublevelthree's answer. Yes, it can be removed, but it will be a lot of hard work. Pastels? Really? Oy!!!

There are still cobblers - go give some money to one and they'll fix that right up - it won't cost much and you'll be happy the FIRST time.

Broadway market has one.

Bats. After following the excellent suggestions about standing water and screen patching, put up some bat houses. Bats eat squitos -- and what's more green than that??

What kind of netting is it? Is it a screen like you find on windows or is it the more pliable mosquito net material? If the latter, maybe you could buy more and completely replace it. That would probably look better than patching it.

There are also sprays you can put on the netting itself (much nicer than putting the stuff on your body) that add an additional layer of defense.

Mosquitoes breed in standing water. Find it and get rid of it. That could mean a pond, a puddle, a waterlogged plant pot, an old automobile tire, a blocked gutter...anything with standing water in it.

If the standing water is on a neighbor's property, and they won't get rid of it, or if you live in a out in the sticks somewhere, where you are surrounded, you're screwed.

You could repair the netting. Use duct tape or screen repair tape (http://www.amazon.com/Window-Screen-Repair-Tape-Silver/dp/B003PS2S18). But you'll still probably need some kind of mitigation -- citronella candles, which don't work very well, or bug spray, which does but is kind of nasty.

But not as nasty as mosquitoes; some people who are allergic swell up with raised welts bigger than a quarter when they are bitten. Other people, like me, are for some reason unsavory to them and rarely get bit. Maybe it's the blood alcohol concentration....