Baldloonie, Tks vm for your comment! My original think is to use this new installed HP as AC and heat in case the two old heating system faded out in the future. If the HP can't supply enough heat in the severe winter in the Northwest, it may no fully serve my original purpose. I read a lot of comment on this forum regarding HP and they claimed the newer model can generate enough heat even in below 32 degree. Is it true? Is there any HP user in the Northeast can share their experience?

OK, lets go at it piecemeal. What is the width of the range? Is it electric coil, gas, or induction? If installed, or if there is a fixed installation plan, what is the spacing of the upper cabinets on the sides of the range? With respect to air flow: There are several commonly used rules of thumb, one of which is based on total potential BTUs. The BTU method is an indirect method of estimation of needed flow rate, and doesn't account for how well the hood overlaps the range. I prefer the more physical approach based on the needs of capture and containment (what hoods are supposed to do). Capture efficiency depend on how well the hood aperture overlaps the rising and expanding cooking plume (effluent). Containment efficiency is determined by how well the hood air flow through its baffles (or mesh filters) keeps the plume from reflecting out of the hood when it hits the sheet metal baffles or mesh structures. A generally sufficient air velocity is 90 ft/min for gas cooking; induction cooking may allow one to get away with a bit less as it doesn't have a gas combustion plume adding velocity to the cooking plume. Electric coil plume velocities may be in between; the lab measurements that I've seen published don't include coil cooking measurements. (Gas cooking can cause the central part of the rising plume to reach 1.2 m/s.) The necessary air velocity has to exist over the entire hood aperture; we don't get to block off portions of the aperture that we are not cooking under. The aperture has some area -- more if there is good overlap of the plume expansion. Hence I suggest 90 CFM/square foot of aperture to get 90 ft/min everywhere. (You may notice that this is about half of the uprising velocity. We don't need to equal it, only keep it from reversing while the baffle aerodynamics take control of it. Baffle design and mesh flow effects may vary how well a given average air velocity works. I know that around 90 ft/min works for me when induction wok cooking, and that Greenheck suggests for similar cooking a value of 85 ft/min for their commercial hoods. There are types of commercial cooking that call for considerably more velocity, such as grilling, but this is not in the scope of our present discussion.) Ideally, to get good capture to make use of this containment, the hood has to overlap the locus of hot pan bases by about 10 degrees half angle. From this another rule of thumb has arisen that suggests overlapping the cooktop by 3 inches on the sides and front. This overlap is probably too optimistic for some searing or wokking, but many here have reported good capture with this size. For a 30-inch range, this would require a 36-inch wide by 27-inch deep hood. You may not have room for this, or you may wish to depend on the side cabinets to channel the effluent from rear burners and cook the greasiest stuff there. So for a 30-inch range, the minimum hood would probably be 30 inches wide by 24 inches deep (front to back). I suspect for most 20 inches deep is too short. As you may appreciate, the larger hood thus has higher total air flow requirements than the smaller hood, costs more, and requires more make-up air. So you may also appreciate that this aspect of performance alone is in conflict with affordability for a given level of aesthetic design. Wait until we get into make-up air issues. kas

Oh dear. Wood or wood-like flooring (bamboo is NOT hardwood...just a little FYI there) should be NOT be installed before the wet work is finished. In the installation instructions, CaliBamboo is VERY good about pointing these types of things out you will find most of the details (there is something about 'the devil is in the details). The installer is responsible for installing the floor according to Best Practices (NWFA) as well as the manufacturer's requirements. Print off the document and ask the installer how close s/he came to following the requirements. As soon as the installer failed to follow the requirements, the installer voided the manufacturer's warranty. The installer *should have offered a 1 year 'labour' warranty. You will have to check your contract to ensure you have this in writing. Engineered bamboo is tricky to live with. It is tricky to deal with. It is tricky to keep happy. As a homeowner, bamboo requires you to keep very STRICT household living conditions. The installer is not responsible for the living conditions. Bamboo is unstable. It has issues with humidity swings. It has issues with differences between humidity at time of install (acclimating after install) and the final 'living conditions'. If the variation is too big, the bamboo is going to have a problem. A big, big problem. That means a poorly acclimated engineered bamboo that was installed during a DAMP period (like a wet spring + wet work follows = higher than normal humidity) will shrink once the humidity dips back to normal (for the homeowner). Shrinkage is seen as gaps opening up between planks (bamboo shrinks both length and width wise) as well as splitting and cracking (called 'checking'). To slow down shrinkage, you will need to put the humidity BACK to what it was during and just after the installation. To be clear, Bamboo has a very small window of happy. It is the smallest 'living condition' window in the building industry (which is why it is so d@mn difficult to live with/keep happy). So...first things first: find out what your indoor humidity is right now. If it is below 45% you will need to raise the humidity to a minimum of 45%. And you must keep it there. For the next 25 years. That normally requires a whole-home humidifier + AC for summer. And if the 45% doesn't get rid of everything, then you need to get it closer to 50% (55% might be possible depending on how damp it was at the time of install and during the wet work). Once you have stabilized the humidity levels in your home, you can then look the installer for help with any problems that do not resolve. The home needs to be humidified for bamboo. Winter shrinkage is a death sentence for bamboo. For bamboo, even 35% is too low. Why? Because bamboo is not hardwood.

I think you missed the point of what I wrote. If scrim-wrapped blanket insulation were the right product for wall insulation, it would be used in all enclosed walls, not just open unfinished basements or open ceiling warehouses. I have gutted too many dank, stinky, moldy basements with batt insulation and all the air gaps behind/around it. I will never go back to batt against concrete in a basement. The information from Joe Lstiburek is expert, technical advice from investigations and studies for the building industry, not haphazard guesses made by a DIYer or "this is what I do where I live." I have a bunch of framed papers on my wall that I attained by learning from other experts, so I have no problem following his work with this issue.