Homeowner here, but I like to think of myself as being somewhat knowledgeable in matters HVAC, so I will address some of your points. 2story 14.5 yr old brick home in ATL 1st flr 1800ft - 2.5t Carrier AC 90K BTU furnace 2nd flr 1800 ft - 2.5t Carrier AC 80K BTU furnace >I'd like to know how large (square feet) your house is. I suspect they run frequent short cycles. Gas ~ .99 / therm Electric - 9.87 cents/kWh Plan to be in house for 20 years. After ton or reading on this VERY helpful forum, settled on Trane to reduce my options. >Based on some of your following comments, you shouldn't limit yourself to one brand, but rather try to find the best contractor. Difficulty finding contractors willing to do load calc. One reputable owner said customer interview, walkthrough, square footage, count of supplies and returns and consideration of 2 story spaces, windows and 20 yrs exp gets him to the same point as load calc. This true?? >While the above factors are important, he may be lucky and guess the right size, or just opt to replace what you already have, but only by doing a heat calc, (along with his 'expertise', can he be sure. Square footage = rule of thumb. Your cooling loads are likely much more than your heating loads. During the hottest days of the summer, do your a/c's run nearly constantly, and is your house comfortable, humidity-wise? Or, are they running frequent, shorter cycles? Also, you need to know what your latent heat gain (humidity) is. Can't do that by walking around. For 1st flr (system located in unfinished half of basement) 3 ton XLi15 HP on top of XV80 80K BTU At 100% efficiency, the HP would deliver 36,000 BTUs. Why would an 80K (80%)unit delivering 64,000 BTUs be proposed. Highly rated installer quoted the above w/ 4ton blower, adding return to finished portion of basement to promote airflow down there, as we rarely use that space or the 3rd HVAC system. >Are you saying that you have a third a/c serving the basement? These new returns, are there corresponding supplies for the area (are they part of the system that doesn't run?)? 1)Is 4t blower on 3t system good idea? Current is 2.5t As long as the blower, be it multi speed or variable speed, can be set up to deliver the proper airflow, it's not a problem. Maybe he had one in stock. 2)I Like XV80 for dual fuel flexibility and dont see need for 90%+ since HP should handle most ATL heating days. Thoughts? >See above. 3)Is XLi16 worth $500 extra? Dealer says 2 stage makes hard to compare apples to apples w/ XLi15. Says 2 stage offers much greater energy savings and humidity control. >Depending on what your heat loss is, and the size chosen, the HP may not need to run in stage 2. Two stage equipment is for comfort, not energy savings. You still require the same BTUs to heat your house. Likewise, depending on your actual cooling needs, if your HP will run mostly in first stage for air conditioning, it will help in controlling humidity. It is important that a properly matched evaporator coil be chosen. I had considered Trane equipment at one point, but the contractor could not supply detailed info (specs) on sensible and latent capacity of their coils. Upstairs (system in attic) 3 ton XLi15 HP w/ electric strip backup and variable speed blower >Same comments apply from above regarding actual heating needs. 1) ATL winters, 2 story foyer and family room, heat rises makes me think I can do w/o gas upstairs. >With strip heat, you don't need gas. Will I save much in price on variable blower w/o furnace, or should I get the XV80, even though I do not think I will use much gas up there? >In order to make these decisions as to what type of equipment (gas or electric)makes sense for you, you need to know what your heat losses and heat gains (sensible and latent) are. 2)XL16i HP worth extra $500? >Off the top of my head, I would say no. (my guess) 3)Is 4t blower w/ 1 extra return on 3t system good idea? Current is 2.5t >Generally speaking, more return is good. Has your duct system been evaluated and your total system static pressures been measured? I am assuming I should insist on Honeywell VisionPRO IAQ for both? They are an excellent TS and can enhance dehumidification when used with a variable speed blower and combined with other air quality equipment. Also have been told that XV90i no loger offered by Trane. Is it and if so, should I consider it downstairs? That is true. Again, you need to know the (heat calc) numbers to accurately determine which fuel makes the most economic sense as your alternate. Any advice would be appreciated!! Information about wall and roof insulation, make of windows, shading of house, etc., would be helpful. V

I used a brush. One of the good features about Aura is that it is self-leveling so it minimizes brush marks. I can't say that there are none, but some oak grain shows through more than any brush marks. For a primer, I used latex Kilz on about half of them (because I had some on hand) and Benj Moore Fresh Start All-purpose on the rest. I did two coats to try to fill in as much grain as possible. I considered a more aggressive approach to the oak grain cover-up but decided against it. THe overall affect is great for me. I suppose the level of smoothness desired is a personal choice. I'm pretty picky in general about things, but these cabinets went from a 2 to a 9 (on a scale of 1 to 10) so I'm fine with that. If you want a "10", I suppose oil and grain-filling is the way to go. The sink splashes don't really affect the cabinets. But I have no backsplash (yet) under my uppers, but I used Aura (eggshell) on the walls too. They get their share of splashes and wet hands turning on and off the disposal switch - also Aura painted. It is absolutely good as new. The lower cabinets in my primary work corner do get surprisingly messy, but they wipe up just fine. Over the year, I've seen a couple of nicks here and there. I keep a little craft squeeze bottle of paint and paintbrush handy and I dab on a spot if needed. Oh, that was another thing about the Aura claim that appealed to me... unnoticeable touchups. I know regular latex touchups never seem to blend well. Don't know how oil does.

Finished! Here is before and after of the kitchen: Before: After: So we used general finishes water-based stain (rosewood) to darken the wood and take care of any wood variations, followed by a few coats of general finishes gel stain (georgian cherry), which really smoothed out the open grainy-ness of the oak. My husband wanted the color to be very dark, without any light/dark variation, but you can still see that it is wood. The gel stain is great, because you don't see any paintbrush marks. I applied the gel stain with a sock, and just rubbed it in (rather than wiping some on, and wiping excess off with another sock/rag). I then applied one coat of Aqua Zar water-based polyurethane in semi gloss, then a final coat of Aqua Zar water-based polyurethane in satin (because we didn't want it too shiny). I had heard that if you use several coats of satin only over dark stain, it gets cloudy. The satin over semi-gloss looked great. After much deliberation, I opted for the Aqua Zar water based because I wanted something without fumes (we have children/pets), and that would be quick. In retrospect, I think that I could have used an oil-based polyurethane, or even general finished gel topcoat, and it would have been fine. Overall, the project was very easy and came out great! Thanks for everyone who provided input! Diane

Wow, here I am almost 8 months later and there is very little progress toward our bathroom! No word at all from Jim, the contractor. I wonder if he is still doing the commercial job or if he even wants our work. Plus, Toby, our dog, is even older now - 16 - and on prednisone, so he is peeing a lot. He has doggy dementia, too. He is not terribly confused, not enough to put him down, but there is no way I want new, clean grout on that floor. The bathroom is on hold until he decides to take a trip over the rainbow bridge. I have just contracted to replace the last four windows in the house. The aluminum sliders will be gone in 6 weeks or less! We are getting an awning window for the bathroom with a blind in the glass that can be raised and lowered. It is our sunniest room, and light from that window lights up the whole end of the hallway. I wanted the option to raise the blinds up. The three bedrooms are getting double casement windows with blinds in the glass. Hey - I don't clean, so the blinds are a major, major plus for us! Now I have to get windowsills for all three bedrooms. And for the bathroom, the need for a windowsill is forcing me to decide on the counter top for the vanity. It seems to me that they should be the same material. Tomorrow I am going to try to find the Cambria Quartz source for the area. I want the place where I can get a leftover piece of someone else's slab, since I need such a small piece. My vanity is only 18" x 46". I am hoping for the color called Parys. [houzz=https://www.houzz.com/photos/cambria-countertop-2010-traditional-kitchen-phvw-vp~2704735] Since I still have not chosen the color for the wall tiles in the bathroom, the color for the vanity top is going to determine what direction we go, since it is the next critical decision that I have to make. I like Parys because it is dark and will contrast with the white sink. It will also contrast with all the different wall tiles I have considered. I especially love the glowing blue bits in it. It reminds me of my favorite stone I use when making jewelry, Labradorite! It has that chatoyancy, that glow when it catches the light just right. Opal also does that. Parys just glows in any light. Other things I have made progress on have to do with the vanity. I have sanded it and have decided to replace the original drawer pulls. No way will we enjoy finding the little bail that recedes into a groove on those babies. I am going to fill the holes and then drill one center hole and use a glass knob with chrome in the center. I had already purchased three of them to use on the new cupboards that I was adding into the wall across from the vanity. I have also removed the metal floor protectors on the bottom of the 8 vanity legs and discovered that the small feet that can be leveled that I purchased will fit into the ends of the legs. Holes have to be drilled for them. Because the floor will be made waterproof, and sloped toward a drain, if I did not put levelers into the feet of the vanity, the whole thing would be unlevel and the sink would not drain properly. A and C below make up my leg levelers. Yes, I do try to think of everything. When you have THREE YEARS to do nothing but plan, you do a lot of planning! I have also purchased the shower plumbing - the rainhead, the shower temperature balancing valve, and three volume controls, one for the rain head, one for the shower head, and one for the hand-held, and the controls will each have those labels on them! I already had the shower head. I still have to decide on the hand-held system. I also purchased a really cute hand towel holder. I don't like the rings because the towel gets bunched and does not dry well. This one is from Ginger and it has two bars that move on a swivel, independently of each other. The bars are 12 inches long and the holder holds them a good 2" away from the wall. Plus, since they swivel the whole way around, if one is particularly wet, you can pull it away from the wall and it will hang perpendicular to the wall as you wait until it is dry. In this picture, they show the arms out away from the wall. Normally, they will hang closer to the wall that the thing is mounted on, I would think. For instance, I plan to hang it on the wall to the side of the vanity. The arms would be folded up close to the wall most of the time. I suppose you could install it on the wall next to the medicine cabinet and have the towels hang over the vanity area, if you liked.