cindywhitall - No worries, your comment is spot-on and pretty much sums up my situation. Jackfre - I hear you, but despite my well-earned cynicism I'm too honest to take that path (tangled webs and what-not). If there's only one party acting with integrity through this, I want it to be me... ...but today was an interesting day and there may be hope for a decent resolution. First, I talked to my homeowners insurance company about my claim - and they seem ready to cover any damages from the lighting strike and support replacement of the HVAC system. However, they will only cover the replacement - not the repairs that have been done so far. Second, I had a technician visit from the HVAC company - someone who has yet to be involved with my repair. He was interested to hear my story and as I gave him the rundown - and he saw the status of my system - he clearly felt that it had not been handled correctly. There were sloppy connections on the zone board (as I found) and the air handler error code indicated deeper damgage - which he confirmed with testing. He agreed that with lighting damage the repaired unit could have lingering isssues that would only get worse over time and replacement is the best solution - a real concern for a brand new system that we hope to get 15-20 years of service out of. He didn't have the authority to offer me any immediate help, but will be taking my case to one of the business owners tomorrow morning. As I see it, the first diagnosis was hasty and incomplete which set us up for a series of repairs that have been both expensive and ineffective. I'll ask them to refund the repairs and replace the air handler - which will be covered by insurance. Hopefully I find a sympathetic ear. If I knew three weeks ago what I know now, this all would have gone much more smoothly. As I've been reminding myself since the storm, at least no one was hurt (my wife saw sparks in the lving room when the lighting sruck), nothing caught fire, and the weather has been relatively mild while our AC is out. Plus, I've finally gotten around to making some nice window screens for the kids' bedrooms.

I laugh whenever I hear people saying that they want the "best quality for the best price"... Don't WE ALL? Since it's subjective, you will never find confirmation of what you are seeking. A wise person will understand this and then make a logical choice based on the limited volume of intel that they can collect in the timeframe they have. For me, that was about two weeks as my old system was still functioning correctly. Our new systems were installed last week so look up my posts on here for more details (if you like) One question nobody on here has yet asked is ... "Where are you planning on installing the furnace? Higher efficiency units may be unwise in an attic so... I recently put in a 80% Lennox (in the attic) as well as a 96% Lennox (in the crawlspace) each with a significantly more expensive A/C condensor for about 30% LESS than your quotes so while prices differ based on installation and location, I can tell you that my 3-ton SL18XC1/SL280 (80% furnace) was $7,100 after rebates. My SL18XC1/EL296 (96% furnace) was $7,350 installed & that INCLUDED the new S30 icomfort T-stats & the 5" Merv 11 Filtration cabinets in each system. As a comparison I did get a comparable Trane Quote of the same price for a XR14 system so, at least in my market, the Trane & Lennox Signature Series were comparably priced. In fact, the Trane dealer bumped their system up to a XR17 for the same $7,500 price point in an attempt to win the business.

Pull the plumbing please. I'd make a thin cardboard template in one piece, fold/curl it to get it out of the cabinet, then figure where to cut the cardboard so it can be reinstalled through the cabinet front without folding. Cut the new plywood floor according to your cut template. For the advanced class, tap the cabinet front off as well as the adjacent cabinet fronts. Rotozip or multi-tool the cabinet sides off just above the bottom dadoes. Template the cabinet bottom and install it in one piece into the dadoes. Hot melt glue the cabinet sides back on; maybe some blocking too. Reinstall the cabinet fronts.

You fix it by removing everything down to the studs. After you have removed -- rather than tried to repair -- that messed up drywall, you install new drywall, and tape, mud, and finish it. If it is going to have exposed corners, you should install corner bead before taping, which will protect from damage.