zep et. al.: Sorry I didn't get back sooner but with my limited experience, I was a little leary of doing the uninstall of network adapter. However I finally realized that at worst it would only mess up the laptop and not the other devices that are connected and working on the secured network. So: I just uninstalled and rebooted. The adapter did reinstall but I am still not getting a proper connection although things have slightly changed. The secured network got connected, but did not even ask for the security password and simply went to 'validating identity' and simply hung. It didn't even time out. I checked firefox to see if it was expecting a password there, as was the initial case to get connected to the Guest Network (where I am again now), but it couldn't find the server. You may recall, that previously the issue was that the secured net would ask for the password, but find it unacceptable and give 'limited or no connectivity. Is there a way to force the network to ask for the password?? Any other ideas? Eventually, I will probably find a way to get a knowledgeable person out to my house where they could diagnose this. FYI, I am creating another post about security updates that may tangentially be connected to this thread. I apparently successfully installed sp3 but 'security update' keeps wanting to install it AGAIN! I was worried I might not be able to shut down to reload the adapter, but I was able to cancel the update.

You know that old saying about expensive stuff ... if you have to ask how much it is, then you can't afford it. That's what I thought as I read your post, regarding the feasability of your proposed timeline. To me this sounds like a lot of work to get done in a fairly short, finite, time span, GC'd by a non-professional without long-standing (and on-going) relationships with all the inter-locking subs and trades. Your project probably doesn't come with the promise of additonal jobs for them over many years so you won't have the leverage a good GC would have to make the necessary, but impossible, things happen to keep such a complicated project on schedule. Is the end date a hope, or a hard date with a CO issued and move in readiness? If you could stand to have it carry on into the winter, then it would be more do-able, I think. The complications will come in integrating all the various tradesmen. For example, you're getting a new roof, but before the roof goes on it would be better to know exactly where the vent stacks for the new furnace and the new bath and kitchen are located. Yes, you can add them later, but you've a better chance at a no-leak roof if they're up before the roof guys get there. You're putting in radiant floor heating (love it BTW), but that means every single tradesman has to know where those lines are, or one gets punctured. Kitchens and baths are notorious for needing sustained, cooperative layers of tradesman. GC's will know which crews get along, which can be counted on to work the extra hour or two in order to prep for the next guy, etc. Do you have to do all this at once? (Regular readers here will know where I'm headed and can skip ahead....) I think old house renovations are best done after you've been in the house for some time. The ideas you have now, especially if you're not working with an experienced old-house minded architect, are surely not going to be as good as what the house will tell you is needed after you've been there for some time. The other reaon to slow things down is that old houses are (in my opinion) must vulnerable to to regrettable owner-caused (though entirely well-meant) damage when they renovated at the beginning of the ownership. Take, just for example, your plan to install radiant floor heating. If you have more than one story, that means you'll be pulling the ceiling of the first floor for access. What the heck you say, you're already planning on pulling the plaster in the walls for insulation. Okay, but I didn't hear you say you'd need to have the walls replastered. Perhaps you think it doesn't matter: sheet rock, even skim-coated sheetrock, vs old plaster, same difference, right? Um, no. Plaster is a lovely-to-live-with amenity that many people just casually disregard, not realizing how intergral it is to their buildings. And you won't know this until you've owned and lived with an old house for awhile and studied the unique concerns that old houses raise for thoughtful, respectful, owners. And of course, there's the money. I would plan on having at least 75% more cash on hand than the wildest estimates you have if you go ahead with this amibitious plan to get it all done by a date-certain. All old house projects have the virtual certainty that more funds will be necessary than you planned (or hoped), but combined with a tight deadline, sometime the only thing that will get you there is extra fees for overtime, express shipping, replacement materials, more expensive solutions, etc. With old houses, there's always a dynamic, usually reciprocal, relationship between time and money: more of one, less of another. Sometimes, more of both. Almost never less of both, alas. And, if you start out with modest experience, tight funds and a very amibitious deadline, you're only setting yourself up for misery and stress. (Read some of the "I hate my house" threads as cautionary tales.) But as discouraging as I know I must sound, I don't want to discourage you from using this resource. Please consider this an invitation to keep coming back for help and encouragement. Welcome to the company of old-house afficionadas. Molly~

Thank you all so very much for your suggestions! I think I will splurge and buy the infrared paint stripper. And the 5 in 1 tool and copper stripping brushes sound like a great idea. On another note, I just finished restoring all my 1940's upper and lower kitchen cabinets. It was fairly easy because I didn't have to deal with stripping paint. The paint on them was an off white, so I prime spotted in the chipped paint sections, and then painted over them. Actually, the whole process was quite elaborate with sanding in between coats putting a nice old fashioned beeswax over them. They literally feel like satin when you touch them. I used simulated milk paint (Olde Century), and it is very thick and you have to work quick because being latex, it dries quickly. I will have to post pictures when I put it all together. I am, however, stripping the paint off on the outside of the cabinet "boxes". So far so good. It came off with just a scraper! The wood underneath is in good condition and once I got started I couldn't stop because I was so curious to see what the wood underneath looked like. But, since I painted the cabinet doors, I will be painting the boxes too. I have a tiny kitchen and keeping the cabinets wood color would be too dark for the room. The only thing I am having professionally done is having the 8 drawers over the lower cabinets replaced. The gunk and stench was too much. I let them air out for over a year, and to no avail, it still smells horrible. Plus, I couldn't for the life of me get the built up gunk of almost 70 years off of them. I had a carpenter come over yesterday to measure and will call me this week with a price. Like I said, I'm so grateful to have all the tips and help from all of you. When it is all put together, I will certainly post pics! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Here the scheme is shown graphically. I reiterate, the only layer NOT tamped when installed is the sand setting bed. It gets tamped at the same time as the brick. BTW, I don't know if you've thought about pattern, but running bond is probably going to be your best bet. Some bricks are sized and shaped to be used in conjunction with a mortar joint and those will not work out in many patterns without that mortar joint spacing. You may have some of those, or you may have a mixture of slightly different sizes, which makes keeping some patterns consistent, impossible. (In that case, the pattern would start "drifting" and becoming cattywampus (however that is spelled!) Running bond will work with all brick as long as each row is comprised of like-width bricks. Exactly how you're going to combine concrete or concrete pieces along with the brick, using such an installation system, remains a mystery to me. It would be easier to set them separately -- along the lines of what Gardengal has suggested -- as one would set flagstone. I could see a scheme where you use the typical brick-patio-on-sand method as described above, and concrete pieces installed as one would install flagstone, placed separately but adjacent to one another. Doing that would require advance planning so one would definitely want to PLAN this out on a piece of paper, measured to scale, prior to starting any work.