I have an older mattress and my 3" memory foam makes it wonderfully comfy. I got it when I had sciatica and it made it possible for me to sleep. I don't have any problem with it being too hot, though I've heard others complain. I can't sleep with feathers, they make my nose bleed, and I've tried latex foam, and while I like it as a pillow, it doesn't work as a mattress topper for me - it's too soft and doesn't "push back" like memory foam. Good luck.

Igloochic, I don't in fact work for an induction distributor. I was deliberately non provocative in my post because I know, if I do not understand why, that many people are sensitive to the subject. I DID try to go out of my way to point out that my opinion is not shared by everyone and to include links to sources, such as the EPA that are generally considered credible. I find it dismaying that my remarks were were linked to a "terrible issue" and that I am accused of shilling for some corporation. Rocks and gas HAVE been killing us for years. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US per the National Cancer Institute. It is associated with "15,000 - 22,000 lung cancer deaths each year". Please see the link to the National Cancer Institute for more information. http://www.cancer.gov/cancerTopics/factsheet/Risk/radon One of the reasons that indoor gas appliance use is now affecting asthmatics and allergy sufferers in a way that is showing increasing attention over the years is because houses are now being built to be more energy efficient. In other words, are newly "air tight" homes don't have the air exchange the older homes did so air quality issues in the home are much more prevelant. Please see this link by the United States Enviromental Protection Agency. It will provide several links to other articles by the same governmental agency explaining that the process of "weather" proofing your home can decrease interior air quality as well and additional mechanical means of bringing in the new air to flush the old affected air should be instally. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/ia-intro.html It's possible that you can match my links to the Eviromental Protection Agency with some more "silly links" that say induction use will give you cancer. I was never making a statement about induction. I was only speaking about statements our own goverment is making about gas appliances in the home. As for having sex on the countertops I doubt that would be an issue. But if you were having a good time on the countertop for about a few hours a day (the average time spent standing at that same countertop for prep/cooking/clean up for several meals) then I might be worried. I am NOT telling you not to buy gas. Nor am I telling you to buy induction. What I am saying is that the phrase "I have asthma and I live in a house with gas so it must be fine" in nonsensical. If you are perfectly well and live in a superinsulated house with gas appliances that would mean something.

"Are you sure all these receptacles are not chained off the first GFCI? If you push the test button on the GFCI do the other receptacles stop working? " Positive. They're on totally separate circuits, for one thing. If testing the GFCI on one circuit causes outlets on totally different circuits to stop working, there is a big, big problem somewhere. "There's nothing wrong with all the bathroom receptacles on a single circuit with one GFCI as long as there's nothing else on that circuit. " No, but it is weird. I've not seen that before, ever. However I am unused to some of the shoddy things I've seen in newer tract housing. That's as opposed to some of the things I've seen in much older homes - such as wiring so old that it was still legal when the wiring was put in to have in-line fuses. My guess is that wiring it this way was a way to save money on having to put in another GFCI for the 2nd bathroom. Not putting one on the washing machine outlet was just sheer incompetence. But its still shoddy because now if someone in each bathroom switches on a hair dryer, you risk overloading that circuit. A hair dryer can draw 12.5A - and 2 of them on the same 15A circuit (and lets hope Dad isn't shaving at the other sink at the same time - or, come to think of it, running his OWN hair dryer, in this day of equal opportunity primping) is not something you want to do on a regular basis. "There's nothing wrong with the refrigerator being shared with a dining room receptacle if it is a 20A circuit (and it feeds nothing other than receptacles in the kitchen and dining room and like areas). " There most certainly is. There are power spikes on lines running something with a motor like a refrigerator. Plug your computer into a line on the same circuit as the refrigerator, and see how far you get. (Well, actually, the microwave would be worse, but it still wouldn't be that great). It's not even in the same room - there would be no reason for anyone to suspect that that outlet is not on the same circuit as all the other outlets in the room. This is not an attached dining "area". It is a totally separate room that is listed on the floor plans as "home office/formal dining". The dining "area" is on the other side of the kitchen, congruent with the living room. I doubt that you can lump THREE areas - kitchen, "dining area", and a "dual-use" office/formal dining room all into one under building codes. Also, it is a 15A circuit. Given that there is an outlet in the hallway that is closer to it than is the line for the fridge, I fail to see any advantage to hooking that one circuit in to the kitchen, fridge or no fridge. For all I know - I haven't checked yet - the microwave could be on the same circuit. I kind of doubt it, but at this point I have no idea what circuit the microwave is on (its built in) which raises the potential for problems should I find out the hard way that my Vita-mix is on the same circuit as the microwave. If for no other reason than I end up having to run out in the snow and switch the breaker back. The microwave also ought to be on a dedicated circuit - but it clearly is not. My guess is that it is on the same circuit as the rest of the outlets on that side of the room, which puts anything you have plugged into those other outlets at risk when the microwave comes on. And before you scoff at the idea of a dedicated circuit for the microwave - a 1200W microwave draws 10A to 11A (depending on how close your supply voltage is to 120V). It should be on a 15A circuit to account for the spike it causes when it comes on. That leaves little or no room for other things on the same circuit. Some fluorescent lighting - probably OK. Other high-draw appliances, such as food processors or powerful blenders or mixers - not OK. The microwave should be on its own circuit. Oh, and here's another Really Stupid Way To Wire Your House - the hall lights are on a 3 way switch. There is a switch over by the living room. A switch outside the doors to the Master bedroom and the bedroom next to it. And the 3rd switch is outside the bathroom door. Which means the 3rd bedroom has no switch within reach. Which means when you get up in the middle of the night, you either risk breaking your neck getting to the bathroom, or you take a flashlight with you. Having a switch next to the bathroom, and none within reach of the 3rd bedroom, is sheer stupidity. Outside of TV shows about teenage cyborgs, nobody sleeps in the bathroom. And if you did - you wouldn't need access to the hall lights to get there. "Prewiring for an electric cooktop even when a gas is installed is quite commonly done for practical reasons" Well yes, it is. I mentioned it because I see the breaker in the box, but I can't see the outlet for it. I ASSUME it is wired to an outlet behind the current gas stove, but I have no way to test or check that without removing the stove, which I am not about to do. Another weirdness is where they mounted the breaker box. The breaker box is mounted on the OUTSIDE WALL of the garage, IN FRONT of the backyard fence to boot. It has to be locked - which is actually no protection from meddling because the only kind of lock you can put on it (because the place for it will only accept a small hasp) is easily snipped off. There is just no reason that couldn't have been mounted inside the garage or elsewhere inside the house. In addition, having to lock the box (and then having to keep track of the keys for it) means an extra thing you have to fiddle around with in the cold/dark/snow/rain/ice or whatever. I'm no spring chicken any more and I don't relish having to find the keys (possibly in the dark) go outside and fiddle with my breaker box in the rain (which raises potential safety issues on top of everything else) because my VitaMix blew the circuit breaker when my housemate unknowingly turns on the microwave at the same time. Or whatever other circuit gets unknowingly overloaded because things are not as they should be. Which is why I always map the breakers in a new place - hence this recent exercise. "There's absolutely no requirement that each bedroom be on it's own circuit, and in fact, many designs specifically don't do that. " If there isn't, there ought to be. Now instead of having 15A for each bedroom, the 2 rooms have to share 15A. It is bad design, whether or not "many designs specifically don't do that", especially in the era of a computer and TV in practically every room. Keep in mind, its not just the lights or just the outlets that are all on the same circuit - it is ALL the lights AND outlets in both rooms. In the meantime, there is a 15A circuit in the laundry that has only that one outlet on it (and maybe the lights in there, I forgot to write that down). Then there is ANOTHER outlet on the other side of that room that is on the same circuit as some of the garage outlets. And no real use for either outlet as the room is way too small to try to iron in there, not to mention how inaccessible the one behind the dryer is anyway. I'm sure its not against code. It's just against common sense. "Frankly other than the fact your panel is mislabeled, nothing seems out of code or even contrary to normal practice. " The only thing I said was against code - except possibly the refrigerator situation, which, if it isn't against code, certainly OUGHT to be - is the fact that the outlet the washing machine is plugged in to is not GFCI. Frankly, if you think that isn't against code, I hope you're not a professional electrician - or an amateur one either, for that matter. The rest of it is just sheer stupid design, and - as I said - I strongly doubt the inspection for this place was done properly, looking at the situation in the "laundry room" with the washing machine plugged in to a dedicated circuit (good) but without GFCI (bad). There was another thread where people were jumping all over a guy who was trying to get a layout from his electrical contractor, because some folks felt that the consumer/customer has NO RIGHT to have things done his/her way. This sort of stupidity is EXACTLY why anybody with any common sense gets a layout before allowing the electrician (or plumber, or the guy who is going to put in the interior walls, or anything else) to go to work. Otherwise you end up with all sorts of stupidity - like a shortfall of amperage in 2 of the bedrooms, one of which is supposed, after all, to be the MASTER bedroom, and outlets in a room the size of a closet that will never ever be used. And fridges on a circuit that feeds an outlet in a totally separate room, and god knows where the microwave is drawing power. And the panel being improperly labeled at the time of installation, by the guy who actually did the wiring, IS a big deal. That's just another indicator of shoddy work. The information should have been on the plans - and if the plans were not followed, then that's yet another sign of crappy work.

Ah I always check out these postings. I've found some excellent reads thanks to my fellow book lovers on this site. Right now I have a few suggestions that I have just finished or am on the final pages of: The Potato Factory - Bryce Courtenay (been out a few years and just discovered in the library reject pile) House of Spirits and Whispers - Annie Wilder . This is the true story of a haunted house. Is it scary...no, but as I love old houses and things that go bump in the night I liked it for a change of pace. Alone in the classroom - Elizabeth Hay. Half way done and am liking it well enough but wonder about all the hype. Those are my offerings this time around. Budster