Hi all! Thanks so much for all the great feedback & suggestions. Currently we purchased and planted one podocarpus. My husband loves this one the most so that said it will likely be all along that back wall. Cetacea33 I love your pairing of the pitts with bougainvillea and will thinking I may try that along our east wall. Been obsessively searching on everything I can read on Podocarpus G. and MOST are saying the roots are no problem with this guy. I have seen mature ones as trees planted alot around So Cal next to buildings, sidewalks you name it and I have not seen any visible lift. Then, about 1 in 10 webpages, I can find someone saying they DO create root problems. I am so confused, there is conflicting information out there. I see a lot of pictures of them as privacy hedges and even a few around a pool similar to my situation. If anyone out there can give me more info on the life and times of a Podocarpus it would be much appreciated!!! Thanks again to everyone and I value all your imput! =)

I've painted over 3,000 kitchen cabinets and I've never used lacquer. Some guys are married to that stuff and that's why they push it. YOU DO NOT NEED LACQUER. Lacquer is one of several hundred options. A quality 100% acrylic enamel or a hybrid like Advance, Cabinet Coat, etc. work well on kitchen cabinets when the substrate is properly prepared. Properly prepared is super, super clean with Dirtex or Jasco TSP substitute, sanded dull, primed and two coats of quality paint. The paint is probably soft due to excessive coats and improper drying times. Some questions for your painters. 1. What did they use to clean the cabinets? 2. What primer did they use? It should have been D&E specified primer. 3. What is bleeding through? A rough surface? The paint is slow to dry. If there is any dust movement in your house, the finish will be rough. Change the air filters and switch off the furnace during painting.

The three major light spectrums are red, green and blue. Plants don't use the green light, but reflect to back off. That is why our eyes see plants as being green in color. The effect of blue light on plants is directly related to chlorophyll production. Plants that receive plenty of blue light will have strong, healthy stems and leaves. Red light is responsible for making plants flower and produce fruit. It is also essential to the plant's early life for seed germination, root growth and bulb development. Your tree is not getting enough blue light to build healthy leaves. Your tree would be much better off receiving a full spectrum of light. As other have written, if possible outdoor light would be the best. - Silica

Your plumber is not being very accommodating. When he did the original install he should have leveled the toilet by shimming appropriately. The toilet would now have been properly installed(level) and if the gap is unreasonable then that now becomes an issue that needs to be resolved with the tiler or GC. We install cabinetry all the time on non-level/uneven floors, the cabinets must be level so we shim and adjust accordingly. We can't just plunk and install the cabinets on a non-level floor and then just say the cabinets aren't level because the floor is not level, that's inexcusable.