A hole in the ground would fill up with water, unless I can find a way to seal it. There are occasionally houses with basements here, but most houses just float on top of the clay. Keeping it dry could be an expensive endeavor, and it would certainly be humid :) (To give you an idea of the humidity here: Even in cool weather, I often have to run my A/C while I use the dehydrator, or the apple chips will never dry. They just... cook.) I'll have to poke around in my cabinets and see if I can find cool spots. I have a storage bench in the bedroom (my coolest room) that's not really used for anything - maybe I'll look into using that. It wouldn't be hard to add a layer of insulation, if it's needed. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

Putting in my plug for a little research before you buy. There are "sterile" varieties now that will save you a lifetime of weeding the all buggering babies they make. It is either the Chiffon or Satin series. You have no idea how prolific the fertile ones and how time consuming it is pulling the thousands of seedlings. The sterile ones are as lovely as any of the other ones. I'm going to look them up now so I can be more assertive in the next recommendation I make. Not the ones I was thinkiing of but here's a start: "Four of them are U.S. National Arboretum introductions: 'Diana' (white), 'Aphrodite' (pink with a red eye), 'Minerva' (pale lavender) and 'Helena' (white with a red eye). You might also run across a new Proven Winners variety called 'Sugar Tip,' which is pale pink with variegated leaves. That one doesn't produce seed." and "Blue Satin" (from Mobot), there is also Rose, Azure, Culture "Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Best flowering occurs in full sun. Prefers moist, organically rich soils, but tolerates poor soils and some drought. Very tolerant of summer heat and humidity. Generally tolerant of urban conditions. Flowers appear on new growth, so plants may be pruned to shape in late winter to early spring. Pruning back to 2-3 buds may produce larger blooms. Easily propagated by stem cuttings. This is a sterile cultivar that does not produce viable seed."

Could you be a little more specific as to your general location? County and State would suffice. This could help with responses. Not an expert, but I have renovated many homes and built two. I have lived and owned homes in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Virginia. Like everyone in the South, I have allergies. I've also lived in Utah, Illinois and New York, but they aren't in the South and HVAC answers would be different. Anyhow, I've lived pretty much everywhere. I also have the world's best HVAC guy. He taught at Carrier's Southeastern training facility. He puts theory together with field practice. He's worked on and redesigned three systems for me at this point. Because your home is not a new build, a lot of choices are eliminated for your application. Proper encapsulation of the attic spaces as an after thought will be difficult to do. With new construction, you biggest bang for your buck is passive insulation. In your case, it just depends on the scope of the renovation to determine their effectiveness. Carrier is currently the best manufacturer of HVAC. In most of the South, if I had the choice, I would install a heat pump. The technology is amazing. The Infinity Units will heat successfully down to 26F. While you can back it up a basic air-conditioner with a gas furnace, unless there is one already onsite, I would simply go with all electric. Heat pumps are more expensive upfront, but save money through their operational costs. The Infinity line is the top of the line. If I were starting from scratch, I'd select the two stage variable speed units. Lots of controversy regarding spending the extra for 20 SEER versus 18 SEER and payback. Your contractor should have those figures. The mid unit is a really good choice, too. I just installed their base a/c unit as a replacement last week. I'm selling the house in five years and upgrading further wouldn't provide a reasonable payback. Thus, my choice. My guy installed April Aire dehumidifiers on all 3 of my homes. Controlling humidity is the key to a healthy house envelope. This is where I spend my extra money. Last, in my last three homes I have installed a GPS or Global Plasma Solutions unit. It acts as an air scrubber inside my systems to kill molds, dust mites and pathogens. It's generally found in commercial applications, but with my allergies it has been a huge success. Since I have installed these in my systems, my seasonal allergies are well controlled. Don't waste your money on ultra violet light systems. They aren't effective due to the volume of air that passes through the system. The GPS unit will do the trick. Most installers won't know what these are, but look it up on line and read about it. Global Plasma Solutions. We bought our previous home with a roof leak and knowledge that there was some mold. We did the repairs and removed all of the moldy material. Still, we suspected that we would never get the mold out of the ventwork. My husband is sensitive to mold. After we installed the GPS and let it do it's work for a month, his reactions to mold disappeared. These gadgets work. Last, encapsulate your basement or crawlspace. It's a good use of renovation dollars. Lots of homes in the South are not encapsulated. Do that and you will reduce a significant amount of humidity being introduced into your home. Reduce the humidity to below 45% and you make any mold inert. That's your goal. This is my 2 cents from a homeowner and not a HVAC guy.

I live in Louisiana - hot & humid. I have an Ikea Akurum kitchen with flat Applad doors - painted white MDF. Over the years the paint has failed miserably and all is cracking and peeling off. I used to have the same fronts when I lived in Europe so it is really the climate and not my 'abuse' of my kitchen. ;-) I'm looking to replace my fronts now and have found several companies that offer replacement doors for the Akurum line. So far so good, but I don't want to have to replace my fronts again in a few years, so what would be the best materials? Solid wood or HDF? What type of paint? Paint myself with a higher quality of paint? Go for foiled doors? I never liked the foiled doors, but maybe I'm prejudiced. Any thoughts?