Andyhev,
Your solution is a lot more elegant than mine is. I think I'll go back and implement it. It will make re-opening the site so much easer, at that point all I have to to is delete the newly created public_html folder with the temp index page and rename public_html_old back, and as you say, everything should be as it was. Thanks for the tip!
By the way, how did you know bobs my uncle?
QHF