You are right, people are more important than any possessions but I'm sure glad you found that ring. As for the purse thief, well, they will pay for that action eventually, Grandma taught me that "what goes around, comes around" and it sure will. Thankfully, I"ve never had to deal with floods or tornados destroying my own home, although I live in an area that is prone to both of those and have had family members who have had homes destroyed. There are always items you reach for and then realize they are gone and those can't be replaced. At least everyone is safe, so I'm thankful for that, and you and your fmaily will continue to be in my prayers. Annie

Quote: "Now that we've been shot-creted and getting ready to plumb is it too late to add the over-fill hole/slit above the tile? " The overflow is in the back of the skimmer. You might ask them if they can retro an overfill into your skimmer. An autofill is an absolute must in my opinion. I can't imagine having to drag a hose to the pool daily to top it off (temps are running in the 100's here and we're losing 1/2" to 3/4" of water a day to evaporation). We use the autofill just like a replacement for a hose- we turn it on when the pool needs to be filled and turn it off when it's done. The nice thing is that unlike a hose we don't have to worry about checking on it to turn it off at just the right time. We also don't have to worry about unrolling and rolling up a hose! Usually I'll check the pool level when I get home from work, if it's low I turn on the valve and then turn it off later that evening. Our PB actually tried to talk us out of this 150.00 add for the reasons listed in other posts above, but man am I glad I stuck to my guns on it!

you really need to post the whole first floor layout and elevations to see window placement, overhangs etc. Also which direction is north and what climate are you in? Most folks here will not comment on isolated parts of a house because a house has to work as a whole and all parts need to be in relation to one another. While the layout looks fine as is if you only have windows on the ends it will make for a very dark home

Agreed. If it's just a typical crawl space vent, outside of a flood zone, and you are building in the eastern half of the country (humid), it's probably not too late to do an unvented crawlspace, a much better way to build.