Man I feel your pain, I did the exact same thing last year. Thought I was being smart getting one of those arrow brand kits on sale. First decent windstorm and the roof panel flew off into my neighbors yard like a giant aluminum frisbee. The screws stripped out of the holes within like two weeks, and the whole thing just wobbled around. I ended up patching it with some scrap plywood and a tarp just to get through the season. Why do these companies sell these things if they can't even handle a little bit of rain and rust? You figure the big box stores would have some standards for what they put on the shelf, but I guess not. What are you thinking of doing for a replacement?

Yeah the "it flexes with the wood" thing sounds good in theory but it falls apart fast. I had the same issue on my deck a few years back. What finally worked for me was sticking with oil based primer first even on the pressure treated stuff. Let the wood dry out a full summer then hit it with a solid oil based paint. Hasn't peeled in three years now. That neighbor probably meant well but sometimes people pass along what they heard without actually trying it themselves.

Cold water actually minimizes inflammation and slows down that initial purge reaction, so if you're seeing less purging it might be because you're disrupting the skin less, not because of trapped bacteria. Lukewarm water is just as likely to push stuff around if you're not being gentle either way.

That laminated map from 1994 is a time capsule. I remember when Century III was still pulling in crowds, but looking at that list of places like Sbarro and Pittsburgh Pita it hits you how the food court was the social hub, not just a place to eat. You could sit there for an hour just watching people go by. So heres my question - did the map show any weird regional chains you never heard of, or was it mostly the usual suspects? Im curious if those local spots disappearing first is what broke the malls back.

Wait, you "still had to bust out the torch to finish" after all that time with the heat gun? That's wild to me. I've never had that happen but I'm honestly shocked it didn't do the job on its own if you gave it enough time. Maybe my pipes are just thinner or something, I don't know. Still, if you're crawling around in a crawlspace for that long and then need the torch anyway, the heat gun seems like a waste of time honestly.