" I'd be willing to bet a weeks pay the mastic from yesterday's still soft." I was hoping that Bill was making enough to let me retire, but I won't be getting his week's pay. I pulled off some tiles and yes, except for the grout lines and a thin rim around each tile they are as wet as they were when put up. I called a tile contractor I found through the NTCA website about 75 miles away who does Kerdi and talked to them. If they take over Âthe job, I think they're wanting to just start ALL over in order to warranty their work. The new people raised some other questions about the original install and job too. He's a really nice guy, but unfortunately we've lost our confidence in the original installer plus see the photos and give opinions. I think that we'll just keep the tile, pay for the job not finished and start over. Otherwise, I'd be such a wreck looking over his shoulder while laying, grouting etc that I'd be insane. The good news is that it was only one wall and the tiles are cleaning up beautifully... a minute with the hose and the scrubbrush and you'd never know they were on the wall. So I'll "only" lose the floor tiles and the 3/4 payment that we've already done if we start over. Sigh.... (When giving opinions on the tile be kind as it's my design and I LOVE the tile I picked!!) http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk247/gsimcoe/?action=view&current=100_3305.jpg http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk247/gsimcoe/?action=view&current=100_3306.jpg http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk247/gsimcoe/?action=view&current=100_3307.jpg http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk247/gsimcoe/?action=view&current=100_3311.jpg

No need to "rough up" anything. Use silicone caulking to adhere the marbles to glass. I've glued those marbles to many items and grouted them and others on the Garden Junk forum have, also and that's about all you have to do. If the glass is dirty you may want to clean it well with something but that's it. Many suggest the GE Silicone II but it's up to you. I use the Mainstays cheap stuff from Wal-Mart and it works also. GL

thanks all. --probably thought I'd gone away, taking so long to answer. It just seems one "challenge" follows another. The time goes by and you try to hold things together or repair things including your body and sometimes, things just keep coming. Hopefully, I'm forgive for being long time in answering. It's been in & out of docs. for me and tonight, wife goes to hospital. I managed to get a small, very small, strip piece of the paneling off, intact. I used a blow dryer to heat it. The adhesive cement is very, very strong. the blow dryer took a long time to heat the wood--I thought it was going to scorch , before the paneling came loose, but I finally got it. That 4"x4' section took over an hour of work! There does seem to be though a magic temperature, if I can get up to it, the adhesive softens enough to let me hammer a putty knife between it and the wood, other wise--no go. the putty knife won't cut it and the piano wire I tried to use, broke. I hoped that was the piece that would give me access to what I needed to work on, but no. I'll have to remove at least, maybe two, of the full 4x8 sheets. If I destroy this Walnut, there will be no way to replace it. And I do not want to have to figure out some other way to refinish the basement--I guess I could glue sheet rock to the walls, if I glue enough shims in first. I just hope I can get the panels down. You'd think that 30+ year old glue after being so old and going through freezes and thaws would be brittle and give way, but it sure doesn't. Probably the easiest way is to pry the furring strips from the walls and try to put them back up? Because of the unevenness of the concrete walls the strips are glued on both horizontal and vertical. And to get them off, I'll have to take down the entire wall! -- ouch! Is that the only way? I did such a great job putting this stuff up, I can't even see the finishing nails I used to make certain the panels stayed attached to the strips while the glue set. Then of course, I dabbed a bit of paint, the same color of the dark, vertical seams they are in, on the nail head. they are virtually invisible. To find them, I hope a magnet will work. If I pull off the furring strips, they won't be a problem. If I try to take off the paneling, I'm not certain if I have enough room to drive them through the panels before they hit the concrete. What a job. In removing the one little piece of paneling, I learned that I'm going to have to pull an entire corner of the ceiling tile down, as well. It just gets worse and worse...or maybe I should look at it as an exciting challenge? Let's see if I can do it? --yeah, right :( Instead of using a hair-dryer to try to heat the wood, what about trying an electric iron? Think I could do that without scorching the paneling? If so, how high of heat would you set it to and what would be good to put between the bottom of the hot iron and the paneling? --I don't think laying an iron, directly on the walnut, would be very good for it. Or should I just give up and try to separate the furring strips from the wall, leaving the paneling attached. --What a nightmare it was putting those up--absolutely nothing was plumb, level. It took hours and hours to get them level and plumb. Maybe there's an expert way to get these down--it'll take at least 4 people to take a wall all in one piece, especially to not cause damage to any of the panels. Then, how do I get it back up? Is it time to throw the walnut away and put up sheet rock? Bob

Are you checking the temperature of the wax before you pour? The hotter the wax (when poured) the bigger the dent will be. Pour at the coolest temperature possible and you will have little or no dent at all.