Geez, can't a guy even trade in "old blue", a 1995 Astro van with well over 200,000 miles on it but which finally blew its tranny-for a sleek, totally clean used Toyota 4-Runner, without getting yelled at by Ken? No, he can't! Info is solid though as some have pointed out, even in MI, the endpoint of the 'do not prune, etc.' period can and probably should be moved to August just to be on the safe side. Now Ken, not sure if you've ever enjoyed a beer out in the yard, but if you have, you've probably seen the main insect vector, the picnic beetle, maybe even spitted one or two out of your mouth. They love yeasty, fungusy smells and this is relevant as it is the smell of the fungus itself, which if present on an oak that has been pruned or otherwise wounded, attracts them. More often though, the pathogen moves from tree to tree via root grafts. This as much as anything accounts for its patchy nature. Some arboricultural firms have been offering to severe these root grafts between oak trees with a machine called a 'vibratory plow'. That is one of the means by which an oak near to another oak with the disease may be spared. For that matter, the pathogen responsible for oak wilt is a kissing cousin to that responsible for Dutch elm disease and the latter also used root grafts to move from elm to elm down many a city street terrace. Resistant trees-those in the white oak group-still can be infected but for some reason are much more able to overcome its effects. Obviously, the ultimate answer is to plant only maples! Ha...couldn't resist! +oM

That's what puzzles me, I don't see a pdf file listed. I've copied (see below)what I received from my contact. She says that she sends this email to about 50 addresses and I'm the only one that has a problem with it. There is no pdf icon anywhere in the email. Subject: Come 'N Take It newsletter Date: Jan 28, 2010 4:10 PM Sorry it's a little late, but here it is. The second page pertains to our upcoming anniversary dance and a list of ideas and items we will need for the decorations. Thanks y'all and Yellow Rock! Just double click on to the pdf icon and it will open. If you want to print it, just drag it on to your desktop and print from there. Please let me know if you have trouble receiving and opening the file. Thanks again! Nancy

If all those dotted lines indicate the roofing plan, that is an incredibly complex roof! You also have a complex foundation, a HUGE amount of covered outdoor space that is not counted in the square footage but cannot be built for free. And, that very open livingroom/diningroom/kitchen area is going to require some careful engineering and some very expensive joists order to keep the second floor and the roof from caving in on you. I too think you need to get a second opinion on cost to build from someone in your area who might actually take on the project. In my area I'd guesstimate that that house would cost you close to a million to build and I'm in an area where building costs are probably about mid-range for the country. I can tell you that the foundation, roof, and exterior walls of your design are far more complex than my 3200 sq ft home, 3 bedroom home with semi-detached 3 car garage (900sq ft) which we finished in mid 2010 at a cost of slightly under $600K. And no, we did NOT run up the cost of our house with expensive finishes throughout. Our tile, which is used thru half the house was bought on sale for less than $3/sq ft and the hardwood flooring used in the rest of the house was bought on sale for less $5/sq ft. Our baseboards and window trim are stained pine, not one of the more expensive hardwoods. Our countertops are silestone, not granite, and they do not have one of the fancy ogee edge that can run you $20/linear foot... just the simple rounded edge that is included at no additional charge when you buy silestone. All our appliances came from Sears on sale. I purchased every single piece of lighting in my house on sale and and my biggest lighting splurge was for a stained glass chandelier for the dining room that cost less than $250. I admit also splurged on a clawfoot tub ($3K) for my masterbath but I doubt you can find a tub like the one you've pictured for less than $3K. And yes, we installed a home elevator at a cost of about $30K but we did all the interior painting and staining ourselves so saved the labor cost on that. We also splurged on windows and doors. Probably could have saved $20K by going with a builder's basic. So I figure $550K to build my house without the elevator and with less expensive windows but with someone else paid to do the painting. To build your design, even if you are equally frugal on fixtures and finishes, would probably cost 1.5 times that much. And if you want granite countertops, fancy light fixtures, hardwood trim, etc., I think your costs could easily be double mine. I think you should look for a house design with a similar room layout but with less exterior jigs-and-jogs and a MUCH simplified roof plan.

I rearranged your drawing to illustrate my suggestion (see previous post). I was thinking in terms of using the cabinet sizes you'd drawn, except for the pantry cab. The wider pantry cabinet leaves more elbow room against the perpendicular wall, but you really need only the width of the left fridge door, m/l. I like HD pro's last suggestion to change the size of the cabinets between the fridge and range, and to make the pantry pull-out 15". (Our last comments cross-posted.) I took the liberty of changing the uppers to accommodate the wider hood. If you've already purchased the hood, ignore that part of the following illustration: It seems to me that the bulk of the large range overwhelms the 32" fridge, but that might just be the perspective of the drawing--the range is drawn more like 5' on the graph. It might look different IRL. I adjusted the width of the range, for comparison: Good luck, and please come back to show us pictures of your beautiful new kitchen!