GUTTERS: Yes, you want to get water away from your log home at all costs. There can be challenges; we have an alpine-style home with a vaulted ceiling. However, roof comes to a deep V on corners that create a magnificent rain chute. This is not necessarily wonderful when it dumps onto your deck! Because of generous overhang that comes with a log home, end of that V projects far from walls and doesn't make a logical angle from which to hang a downspout. On one corner I satisfied myself with an old-fashioned rain barrel, and on deck side we had to divert water to pergola we built against house, and ran a gutter along edge of pergola.  

OVERHANGS: You should have at least a 1' foot and preferably a 2' overhang to protect your logs. This overhang needs to be taken into consideration when designing your roof line. If you have overlapping angles, make sure you are not creating a water trap or a snow trap. There are times your overhang might bump into another angle of roof. You may actually have to raise part of roof a little to make clearance.

DOOR SWINGS: This can be one of most annoying errors you can make and not catch until too late. Think of what your door is covering when opened all way. Is it covering another doorway? Will two doors bang together? If you are in a tight space, will it open all way at all? When we installed our bathroom vanity, we didn't think about door swing until plumbing was already hooked up. The door cleared vanity by one whole inch; it could have been worse. You can compensate by swinging other way (before it's already hung, or your hinges will be on wrong side). Or, in design phase you can use a narrower door. Or get a smaller vanity.

ELECTRICAL:  The electrical and plumbing layout will not come from your log home architectural drawings. The manufacturer is not concerned about where you put your outlets. Once plans are firmed up, time will come for you to sit down with electrician and mark exactly where you want your outlets, switches and light fixtures. Local code will determine minimum distance between outlets, but anyone will tell you to put in more than you need; eventually you will probably use them anyway. Even if you don't need it, put your cable and telephone into every room; it's so much easier and cheaper to do it up front. Also remember, you can't ever have too many lights in a log home. Plan ahead for those fixtures - especially ones in ceiling. They will not be pretty to add later on. 

DEAD SPACE: If you are building a huge log home, you've got so much space it doesn't really matter. But for most of rest of us, every inch counts. There are some approaches that might maximize your floor space. First of all, do you really need hallways? Some space-saving designs arrange rooms so they all open into a small hallway. I prefer none at all. Also, consider that every closet door creates dead space. If you can arrange your floor plan so that closet door swings into a place which is already dead (for instance, another closet door or a foyer), you might open up room a bit. Does your loft serve a purpose or is it merely an open hallway from room to room? Can you put a piece of furniture on it? If not, perhaps it would serve to give it an angle and make your "open to below" space a little smaller.

Hopefully I've helped a little bit. I learned many of these tips hard way, and I'm sure there are plenty more I haven't bumped into yet. After all, a custom home is one giant learning curve.  

So moral of this tale is: “Don’t confuse dishwashing with dishwasher”.

3 Rinse additive

This is something that gets forgotten once free sample bottle that came with dishwasher has been used.

Its job is to make water run off dishes faster so they can dry quicker. Without it there would be little beads of water on everything at end of cycle. Glasses especially would appear to be water stained or be left with a gritty residue.So if poor cleaning is a problem, check rinse additive level.

But remember, only one or two drops are added per load. A few ounces of rinse additive lasts a very long time. Such a long time that customers often think it is not being added, and blame additive for problems it has nothing to do with

To refill, look on dishwasher door for a cap or plug that is removable. It is often overlooked because time between fill ups can be months. Also, appliance manufacturers could help solve this problem if more of them added some sort of “Hey, I’m empty” indicator. Frigidaire dishwashers have a neat little indicator. Right next to soap dispenser is a clear plastic eye that changes colour when additive is empty. So every time you add detergent to machine you also see this eye staring back at you. White if empty, and black if full. Simple, effective, and smart.

4 Proper loading

Lastly, don’t forget that how you load dishes can drastically affect how well they are cleaned.

Proper loading will allow water to penetrate all nooks and crannies. Try following suggestions:

·Cups and glasses on top rack with bottoms up ·Plates on bottom rack all facing same direction ·Bowls either rack, but all facing same direction ·Utensils in utensil holder in a mixed fashion (some knives, forks, spoons together in each compartment) to allow gaps between them ·Large items, such as a spatulas, laying down on top rack ·Pots bottom up wherever space allows (on their side okay if positioned so that water will drain out)

Placing dishes and utensils in an orderly manner really does make for a better wash. It allows water sprays to penetrate dishes thoroughly. Try it … it works.

The analogy I offer customers is: If you were going on a car trip would you pack car efficiently, or just open doors and throw everything inside so that passengers had to fight with luggage. I think you get picture.

Dishwasher efficiency

If your dishwasher is having a mechanical problem result may show up as poor cleaning. Anything from low water pressure, broken pump, not draining fully, or even a blocked filter could be cause.

So how do you know if machine needs repair? You don’t. But, by checking all previous problems first a lot of more common causes of poor cleaning can be easily eliminated.

Also, you have probably heard this a million times before, but before telephoning for service read you owner’s manual. It can include some valuable information. It will usually give you a checklist of items to test before calling for service.

Summing up

You now know what is needed to make dishes come out of dishwasher sparkling clean. Hot water, good detergent, rinse additive, and proper loading practices. That’s it – that’s all. Provide all four of these things to dishwasher and your cleaning success is guaranteed.

So load up machine, go get yourself a liquid refreshment, put your feet up and let dishwasher do all work.