Well, with the real estate market crisis, there certainly were many people with over mortgaged, over priced homes that were in line with resale trends that couldn't be sold, so that can happen to anyone at any time based on market conditions. But my point was, given changing tastes over time, you can't predict what will be "in" and what will be a "white elephant" when you go to sell. My example of an open concept master bath was a case in point. How many "ugly bathrooms" or "ugly fireplaces" have you seen ripped out that were "to die for" when they were installed? So if you are building for resale, in addition to doing what may not be best for you at the time, you are putting money into something that the future homeowner may easily find a drawback, not a feature. (I remember when we bought our 50s ranch that the family had custom built, the woman said, "I found a picture of this fireplace when I was a teen and saved it all those years and we finally built it!" All I could think was, too bad you didn't lose the picture! I hated it!) I just don't like to see people live with things that don't suit their needs just because some real estate agent says 'you gotta have it'. Real estate agents love the 'wow factor' as it makes there job easier. There are more than a few people who've bought a new house for that wow factor of stacked windows, soaring ceilings, great open spaces...and then they struggle with how do they sleep late in the a.m. because they can't cover those 2 story windows in their mbr...or they can't watch tv because of all the sunlight...or the noise upstairs is so loud from the rooms below, etc. If you build for yourself, odds are you will find someone else who likes it too. If you build to be on trend, odds are those trends will change and you'll be dated by the time you go to sell. It's your house, your money....don't let some real estate agent who's job is to "move the iron", not live there, design your custom home for you. That's my viewpoint...YMMV.

There is some great progress being made by so many of you this month, thanks for sharing! @cpartist don't give up! It's taken us two years to get to where we are from when we first bought our land. City and environmental planning seemed like it would never end, then one day we actually got to break ground. Our home exterior is almost done, the final masonry for the entrance is going up today then we are ready for soffits and fascia. We finally found a good carpenter who fixed the old ones mistakes and passed our framing inspection with flying colours. Although it took ripping down and rebuilding some interior walls, which felt like moving backwards, we are now confident it's done right. HVAC is complete and we just got started on plumbing and electrical. The process has been a bit slower than we originally anticipated because hubby has went from general contracting the job to doing a lot of it himself. That's what happens when you are a perfectionist architect who wants to oversee your design/want to keep the borrowing to a minimum. We are looking forward to making more progress on the interior and hope we can move in by Christmas with our new baby. It has been good keeping track of progress on our blog and seeing how far we have come when things feel like things aren't progressing as fast as we want www.casadivillani.blogspot.com

A couple things I do to help the birds during their nesting time is give them places to build their nest. Doves only put down a couple sticks before laying their eggs so I give them platforms that are sort of saucer shaped — to keep the eggs in the nest. I just take 1/4 in square screen, cut a 8x8 inch piece and bend the ends over canes so it doesn’t fall. Also works great on metal arches. I also place them up under the over hang of the roof on our buildings. That way they are out of the rain. Make sure they have more than one easy escape opening. Robins like the roses but they do need a bunch of the canes close to each other so they can place their nest in the ‘hole’. You may want to tie some canes together if your bushes don’t have any. Also if you have a cane sticking straight up with off shoots that form a cone just cut the center cane out leaving just the cone. They can build their nest in it without it falling out. Wrens will fill your bird houses with small sticks so other birds can't use them if the houses are close to each other.

I just helped my friend who owns a cabin in the mountains which has a basement that one wall is at 50% undergrade and the other exposed wall, cinder block. Since mold comes from dirt 100% vapor barrier is crucially important to slowing down mold spores in the air. Though mold is everywhere exposed ground that does not receive mold killing UV sunlight grows uncontrolled. I would suggest never to put wood on top of the plastic because it will wick moisture considerably and rot. I reccomend slab pavers and float them next to each other. https://www.google.com/search?q=4+x4+ft+cement+pavers&sxsrf=ALeKk02V51mbSbLGF1xq4pOhQ9u3cpq95A:1599487146944&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjqnt35mdfrAhWnlXIEHUgkBq4Q_AUoAnoECA0QBA&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=dIckdvbXW2X8QM Better choice pour a 4 inch floor but thats usually too costly. Get www.SensorPush.com ($50) Humidity device with gateway ($100) which will always show you your rooms humidity level. If not conditioning with AC that pushes 50% humidity air to keep air dry you would want fans that evaporate moisture. The biggest concern are critters...mice..chewing electric wires, in furniture...etc. Get www.MouseX.com to drive them away but not kill them so there dying in the walls of your home. I would REALLY stray away from spun insulation above head. Mice nest in this CONSIDERABLY then snakes hunt them as the snakes push and pull your insulation as seen in your pictures. Mice can chew through steel, concrete block and wood easily and any plastic...so the goal is to not give them a easy nesting place. Mice have really made some thouroughfairs in the header joists to previously get into the room. But no mold means no camel crickets or cockroaches which mice eat, no mice means no snakes. So lower humidity so wood beams are under 16% wood moisture content and they wont grow mold and shuts down thebentire food chain. Snakes enter the space from digging under the foundation and coming up right next to the foundation so sealing the plastic to the walls slows the critters down. Sealing the plastic is done best with pin nails shot from a .23 caliber pin nail gun NO MORE than 16 inches apart that keeps the plastic tight enough to keep out snakes. Keep the mice out keeps the snakes out. On top of the 3x3ft or 4x4 ft cement pavers you could put interlocking 3/4 in foam boards and cover with carpet or throw rugs. My friends neighbor works at Trane and got a DEEEAL on central air system system. : )