You've told me so much and you know the things you need to know. Like ignore all the "fertilize with K and P annually". In Knoxville, at the University, Ione planted a tea noisette, Duchesse de Auerstadt, in river loam about 100 yards from the Tennessee River. (I grow a clone of that, several hundred feet higher and in tight red clay. You'd think they were different roses, but they-from the same supplier- are in different microclimates and soils.) You are in the heat 'island' that is the Nashville Basin. Your soils are self fertilizing but for the N. If I were you, I'd collect Tea Noisettes and make the most bodaceously beautiful rose fence in Tennessee. I might even be tempted to put a few Hybrid Perpetuals in for splashes of red-purple color. Foget the once bloomers. With your water conditions, with the nutrients that are in your river soils, the only thing you need to do is work to keep your pH in the zone where the K and P aren't tied up as salts and stay available to your roses' roots. That you don't have abundant cedar, BTW, tells me that you don't have a lot of limestone anywhere near the surface. In my fields I can almost tell you where there are subterranean limestone remnants under the soils. Even the cedar seeds don't sprout in my red clay. As for trees to tolerate in your fenceline: yes to dogwoods and redbuds- they aren't that bad. No to almost everything else. In your soils with ground water, you may find ten to fifteen years of vertical growth each year. This year we are sufferening the ones we didn't cut back last fall and that loved the inch a week of rain we had all of last year. Kill: all hackberries (they make good firewood). They are the host to wooly hackberry aphids and the aphid poop drops heavily and then gets a black fungus on it and the fungus doesn't wash off. Really ugly when it drops on roses, and everything else. When you get to Knoxville, let me know. I've probably got some suckers you can use. More later, Ann

Thank you Gregmills! You certainly put my mind at ease last night. Sure enough...this morning the floor is glorious! This photo is from this morning and after the 2nd coat. It is completely dry now. Tonight...around 5 pm...they will be here for the final buffing and final coat. I know that people dread the length of time with oil based poly but for us...it is more than worth the time/smell/etc. I will post a few pics from different views to show that Gregmills was of course correct and the "rough" spots are now gone.

Brickeyee, I have a hard time explaining the cold in AL. I've lived in North Dakota, Massachusetts, and some midwest states in between, and the South is nothing like that. But we are almost to the TN border and do get some chilly nights in the winter. Lows in the 20s and occasionally in the teens December through February are quite common, though snow is only seen maybe two or three times per year, rarely accumulating. But our house gets very uncomfortable if we aren't in the enclosed room(s) with the heater going. All things considered, natural gas and electric are pretty cheap down here. Propane is going up (and the range and hot water heater are gas), so that is leading us to think a gas furnace and a switch to NG would be a good thing over all. Energy Rater, thanks for the back up. As I mentioned, I feel pretty silly calling AL cold when I've lived in much more frigid conditions, but I'm not sure a heat pump would keep this drafty old house comfortable. I was also told the defrost cycle would use lots of electricity, and our bill is already $200+ these winter months for just lights, small appliances, and two-three electric heaters in enclosed rooms. Initially, we had much higher quotes for a gas furnace versus a heat pump for downstairs, but we have received one really good, highly efficient furnace quote. I think we are leaning toward that. We are also looking into a home energy audit because we could get some rebate money for improvements that we need anyway. The quote for the Carrier gas furnace that we like also includes duct mastic. Is there anything else we should ask for since the duct system is going in brand new?

Thanks for the replys. Bill: Is 1.5" across a 10' span considered major floor sagging? I've done a lot of work on newer houses and I know it would be a tremendous problem for a modern structure, but I don't have a feel for what's acceptable in a building of this type. A lot of people post about a little floor sagging is in the nature of these houses... but where does character turn into defect? The plaster walls certainly seem original. The blown in insulation sounds like a winner. The PO replaced all the windows and doors and when I was in the house the other day I didn't feel any noticable drafts when I put my hands by the windows. Tony: I'm 38 and I'd like this to be the house I retire in. The land is very important to me, not just as a place to relax, but as a place for my daughters to play and explore. I have a degree in electrical engineering, and I used to build custom furniture, mostly case goods; shelves, chests, and cabinetry. I brought my first house back from being condemned (did 90% of the work myself) and my second house only needed new wiring, plumbing and some sheet rock (but those were both modern framed homes). So most work is within my range... but I also know my limits, and major structural work on an old stone farm house is my limits! Thanks again!