leo_prairie_view, I was curious where you are that you would say "our winters that are really winters", so I peaked at your bio. MANITOBA!!! ZONE 2B!!! Your winter wonderland is beautiful but... not for me! Snow and icy cold is long ago and far away for me. Being one who shivers in August eating ice cream, I like my climate just fine. The seasons change here ... a little ... enough. I'm just greedy and spoiled. I like beautiful ALL the time. And I just recently discovered winter gardening when we can grow things like hollyhocks and larkspur that would melt in the hot months. We have wonderful gullywashers and thunderboomers that shake the house regularly from June through October (but not so much this year.) We are mostly green most of the year. February is our dreariest month but don't tell the snowbirds. The bad part of winter is losing daylight savings time when it gets dark at 6pm. It's awful to have to go in while the temperature is so nice. My DH just moved our lamp post from the front to the back yard, so now I can garden under the lights! (Haven't yet though.) But the days are getting longer. It's light till 6:15 now! Did I say I like green? I love everything to be green - evergreen and not just pine trees. I love my Chinas and Teas, and though I never thought about climbers being a problem is colder areas, I will love having big, blooming climbers (they haven't arrived yet.) It's amazing how MANY classes of roses we CAN'T grow here! But until this year I didn't know we could grow ANY! Thanks to this Forum I have a rose garden that will bloom practically year round. I never paid much attention to roses and plants up in SW Conn. But now it looks so strange and even shocking to see photos of leafless rose bushes and bare twigs wrapped around arbors in snowy winter scenes. It's amazing what longitude and latitude does and how what grows in a place can thrive in that place because it's adapted perfectly. That way we can ALL like our climate because we adapt, too. We can't complain too much about what we can't grow because we're busy growing what we CAN grow. Once you get used to the heat, it's not too bad. And mid-October is wonderful when the humidity just goes away ... Sherry

"With the air tight IC recessed light cans you should still build air sealed enclosures around them because they leak a lot apparently. LEDs are a great choice for these locations especially without enclosures as they have a weaker "mini chimney" effect." in all my projects new and existing I've found many ways to seal IC cans. retrofit with inserts. then seal housing to sheetrock ceiling...from inside the house before putting trim kits in place. even 'air tight' trims don't stop the oversized cuts in sheetrock from leaking. I use a mastic tape made by Hardcast #1402 for all my holes in ceiling. more on this later. this seal described above is the best with no measurable air leakage. building boxes..maintaining the 4" air space on all sides & top of can light..also works, cheaper cost..harder install. problem is the 'legs' of the can lights that are attached to ceiling joists & properly sealing around them. this is where the air leakage occurs. I never use foam..because it shrinks over time, you have little control over where it goes & unless it is fire rated..shouldn't be next to heat producing areas. and yeah..I'm overly cautious about this. this method can be well done..and still leaky. foam installs I've seen online in videos put fg batts around recessed lights and foam them. I don't like this at all, and it is never done on my jobs. best of all is to use ICAT only, and use the hardcast tape to seal the cut between housing & sheetrock. Hardcast brand mastic tape #1402 is a 3" wide strong mastic tape. I perfer it over any other brand on the market. cut it into 1 1/2" wide strips and use it in full width depending on size of opening to be sealed. sticks to just about any clean dry surface...to the point of pulling paper off sheetrock if you try to remove it. so use it carefully. opeings at bath fans, supply boxes, stove vents, recessed lights..I use hardcast. use it once..and you'll understand why. not the cheapest on the market @ $22- $35 per 100' roll. but absolutely great stuff. while it is hard to describe the sealing of supply boxes with hardcast from inside the house..a picture shows it well. I'll attach one to this post. flgargoyle .. foil bubble foil is an overpriced product that performs no better than the cheaper radiant barriers. in my house with a tin roof..I have a single sided foil scrim fraft paper like what is used for ductwrap. I used button cap nails to attach it to the undersides of my rafters. with gable end vents..and 3 hurricanes later I've had to do a little repair on it..but it was worth the few bucks it cost me & the 2 mornings it took to install. good benefit in summer little to none in winter. my attic has fg batts on attic floor, one layer in joist bays the other unfaced layer laid across joists. no ducts, no equipment no recessed lights and a damn near perfect air barrier from living to attic space. ducts are in fur downs inside living space, vs air handler in side living space also. a bit over sized @ 2 tons with an whole house april air dehumidifier..also in conditined space. 4" media filter at return. 15SEER unit the addition I re-roofed last summer, batts in rafter bays 1" R-7 foil foam sheating lathes & gavalnized tin. as rafter/ceiling joists are 2x4 (yeah...go figure) the batts are R-13 with the R-7 gives me R-21 for this large bedroom. prior to this install the room was used for storage as it was too hot in summer & too cold in winter and too expensive & uncomfortable to use. with radiant barriers there always has to be a mininum of a 3/4" air space. thus the lathes on top of foil foam board under tin in addition & opposite install in big attic with rb under rafters with foil facing into attic space. gotta run...but wanted to share my take on things. oh here is the pic of the supply sealed from inside the house with hardcast tape. best of luck

Bev27, if that "less than 20 years" is on a replacement roof, that's about all you get in So-Fla. I do not know why original tile roofs last 25 years but replacement tile roofs only last 16-18 years... BIG MYSTERY!?!? You'd think the tract home builders would be using the cheaper underlayment, etc. Might have to do with trusses sagging over time...? (FYI: if you ARE on your original tile roof, when they strip it off, every ceiling in your house will crack a little, because the trusses will "bounce back" when that tremendous weight is removed. No biggie, a bit of spackling and paint... but save the interior re-mod/re-paint 'til after the roof job. ;') I'm in Ft. Laud, got the worst of Wilma, and the houses with cheapie thin shingles took flight, while those with heavier higher quality shingles were fine. If your area of SW FL has not yet adopted the Miami-Dade codes (as Broward has), then it's up to you to get familiar with them, and get quotes based on that... e.g. RING-SHANK NAILS, closer nail spacing, etc. That said, NO, you do NOT want to downgrade to asphalt shingles. The concrete (not thin clay barrel tiles) tiles will last 2.5-3 times longer than shingles, PLUS the esthetics, property value, and COOLING COSTS issues. If upfront cost is an issue, the recent run-up in values should give you plenty of equity to borrow against. Having my own home plus rental props in So-Fla, I realize that I am really just RENTING MY ROOF... yep, it's about $100/month/property! (OOPS, that's 2003 pricing... ) The experience vireyafl had in Andrew with CEMENT-glued tiles is no longer a problem if the new EPOXY FOAM is used--it's rated for 208MPH! Make sure you get that too. The METAL roofing sounds promising, but of course the problem is finding a roofer that KNOWS how to install it properly. Perhaps mfrs. websites list roofers they have certified via training and inspection of their jobs. Of course since the attic is well-nigh useless in So-Fla, I'd REALLY rather have the all-concrete roof (pre-stressed T-sections anyone?), and only have to worry about caulking up the seams every N years. ;')

I have a TON of soffits, or vents under the eaves of the roof, and a continuous ridge venting system, blown insulation and baffles. This roof has definitely seen better days. I too have a PO who did very little if any maintenance in the past 6yrs as he is elderly and has mobility issues. He wasnt originally going to fix any of the major issues with the home, but decided to go ahead and do it. He is also paying for the house to be jacked and foundation(joists) to be repaired, plus any plaster/structural damage that occurs during the lifting process. The gutters in this home need major TLC, but they are also being replaced with the new roof. So now I guess it's color (I want something other than black), and type of shingles. I need something rated very well for fire, wind(very bad storm winds) and overall lifetime. I get to choose between 3-tab and architect(laminate) shingles. I can't get him to agree to metal roofing darn it. But as long as we have a good roof this winter and NO leaks, I will be a happy camper.