The sliders have to be able to keep the heat in when it freezes, and be resilient to high winds so I'm thinking the $500 price point may be a compromise between aesthetics and durability.Thanks @Jill F.

The top foot was just mud, theres actually still snow on the ground, and the soil is very wet and easy to dig, even when i dug by hand..bout 2 feet down theres like clay or some harder dirt that is a pain to get through.. plus even the mud was freezing come around 8 tonight.. by 9:30 when i left i was walking on top of the mud tracks the bobcat made, without getting muddy!

[2] Freezing water in the cracks might open them more over time.[3] Someone spent time and money putting what looks like stucco over the blocks.

"Moisture and dirt are entering the basement near the stairwell""Additional support columns/beams lack visible hardward securing them into place"Engineer noted there is no structural component dug below freezing level on any of these supports which would need to be done to get the foundation supports to code"Signs of water penetration noted on the basement walls"Picture showing proximity of nextdoor house"The soil slopes towards the foundation, or is flat, and must be corrected to prevent water from finding its way to the foundation" (This is the side of the house with the failing retention wall in the basement and has extremely limited access) The engineer recommended potentially just paving cement between the houses to seal it and recommended against a french drain as installing it would go below the level of the foundation already.  

When a freeze is forecast, service providers wrap their own home / property pipes first.

It can freeze.

Lenders have been known to freeze lines in past financial crises.

If the lending market freezes for some reason it'll hurt all of us. 

I currently have 3 x 50 gallon tank heaters shared among 6 units - and I pay for water and electricity for the hot water heaters.I've recently been investigating tankless due to lower operating cost - but they have a higher upfront cost - and feedback from plumber is that cold winters (here in the midwest) can result in them struggling to keep up when the temperature drops below freezing. 

So we tarped the suspect roof area & waited for the freeze thaw cycle to complete & no more drips.