Thanks for your replies! These aren't things "I" have to have... most of these came from a thread from about 3 years ago and I wanted to eliminate things that are unnecessary or overkill which I know is quite a few. Allison, I apologize for the length. I, many times, have opened loooong posts and quickly returned to the main page. Thanks for coming back. ;) David - I should have removed Cat 7 from the list. Electrician already told me he uses Cat 5. You're right they were copied, that's why they don't make sense. As far as expense, if I pre-wire for many of these will that cut down a lot on the price initially? I should have added that in my first post. This is a whole house remodel and addition, and unfortunately we won't have a garage anymore, just a storage area, so the outlet for the extra refrigerator will be in the laundry room. I'm deleting extras now. I thought the 4 light switches were a bit much myself. Thanks for your help.

I live in SW Virginia, right above the NC border and the prior system was 3.5 ton. While I don't currently have gas, the local gas utility (and I do mean local, it only services our municipality yet is not publicly owned) will connect my house at no charge. I'm nervous about getting gas, however, because our local utility rates are fully 70% higher than that for the rest of the region thanks to our tiny utility. They also offer no rebates for appliance upgrades on account of their tiny size and I've heard that the rates tend to fluctuate more rapidly than most. A new lineset is included in all three quotes, as well as a honeywell 8000 series for the carrier and amana, not sure of the thermostat on the Trane. None of the quotes specified heatstrip, at least that I know how to read on the quote. Is there any workaround regarding demand defrost? I assume from your comments that the 25HCC does not have that as an option.

I just realized that my post didn't get posted yesterday so I will try again! As I said I am right there with you! I have 12 x 12 covered deck that isn't quite finished yet but I did find an armoire for $35 at the local fleamarket that I painted last year and put up against the house on the deck for storage. I also have a kitdchen island cart painted out there. Dh just got an air compressor so I've bought a paint gun and plan to use a better quality paint on both of them. Just off the deck steps there is a huge patio that we poured last fall for a hot tub. The contractor decided to use up the concrete and it ended up being alot bigger and that put enough room for the hot tub on the other side of the door into the garage. So... I painted an old set of outdoor furniture and put it on there but it just isn't enough and I had gotten the air mattress idea from here and planned to build a daybed like I've seen on HGTV. My dh is not well so it wasn't looking good about getting it done. But he would love a place to pile up out there. After this post, I went to a local antique/thrift store and found a full size iron bed that will be perfect once I either paint it or use a marine grade wax on it. I can't wait to see it in action. The only problem is a cover for the air mattress that will look like it belongs out there. I will try to post some pics over the weekend. I plan to borrow my mom's truck tomorrow and pick up the bed. You encourage me! Alicia

Yeah, Spike would literally "send" you to Disney! And a last name? Thank you Marg near Rapid City! I have been thinking fondly of the Spike days lately and wondering what Spike did after selling out to IVillage. Anybody know? THS is such a great place. Spike did a great thing in creating it for us. Did he create the whole Garden Web? I used to hang at Buying and Selling, but hope never to move again, so have not been back in a while. I just ventured back today, saw the mention of "shoes" and had to check it out. Gyr Falcon, back when Spike ran things, you would get a warning if you got out of line, then would find that you could not log on if Spike decided that you violated again. As said above, when you logged on, you would go to the Disney web site, instead. People referred to this as "riding the spinning cups" or "spinning with the cups," as in the teacup ride. Somebody on the forum would notice that one of the regulars had not posted in a while, and would ask about them. Had anyone heard from them? Another regular who was in touch through email would reply that the person was,"spinning with the cups," or "visiting Disney." You could try apologizing to Spike and maybe get back on THS. Sometimes, the ban was only temporary. Other times you could try to re-register as some other name (probably from a different computer, too), but then had to be careful about folks knowing it was you. At one point, the whole Building a Home regulars went off and started their own forum at a blog site because some regulars were banned. Does anyone know is that site still going?