i read this and it made me feel so sad for you but also I got the impression that youare a lovely person with a good heart and you have been an excellent mother. I am a long way away from you in London but i felt your post was so heartfelt and you have been through so much. Apart from the menopause stuff, i do think what we go through in life makes us stronger and i wish you all the luck with everything including your procedure. Believe in yourself, things will get better.

Okay - I checked out the warranty and it is pretty standard, a little on the lean side, and makes no mention about finish adhesion, which is the top manufacturing related issue that I have had the pleasure of dealing with. Regarding going through the trouble - I would suggest not skipping that - at least verify all of the conditions - this is the best thing you can do so you do not have problems down the road. Warranties are only as good as the vendor you are dealing with. Every time I have had an issue and they start asking the "questions of doom", I simply pull out my pics, readings, documents, etc..., and the next question from them is asking me what my recommendation is and then they fund it - end of story. They pay for material and labor. On the flip side, before I did this, they would start asking the "questions of doom", I could not answer or back the answers up with proof (I used to be like the 85% of vendors- no testing, it was a hassle, "it don't matter" camp - and I paid for a ton of jobs with lots of zeros on the end of the replacement costs). They, rightfully so, turned me down, or if they felt sorry for me gave me a discount for the wood or give me a box or two at no charge. Since I have began doing things as correctly as possible, hardwood floor claims are basically nil. In my mind, Claims fall into four basic areas: Manufacturing Related, Installation Related, Site Related, and Maintenance Related. By performing the pre-installation testing, using qualified mechanics, & maintaining your floor correctly, you have just eliminated 95% of everything that ruins a natural hardwood floor (Actual Industry numbers puts Manufacturing related problems at <1%, but I think it is really higher than that because they get off the hook so often because of the lack of documentation of pre-install conditions). The warranty covers the delamination of the plies and walking through the finish from normal household use. The testing does more than keep a warranty intact, it gives you the best chance that there is never a problem with your natural floor product - if the installer knows how to do this testing and documentation - they probably know how to install the floor correctly too. It really does not take a huge amount of time to do this stuff, and if the installer/vendor doesn't have enough time to do it, do you think they will take the extra time to install your floor right? I would have my doubts. I have seen all of the major companies step up and take care of issues (delamination, finish peeling) when this information is presented to them - they actually are impressed and say they wished everyone would do this. You should never have to deal with the manufacturer directly - your vendor should do all of that for you.

@alley_cat_gw_7b The whole thing was just a disaster from the start. The reseller is Kigi Nursery, a reseller of the grower. This company never answered a single question I sent them in advance. Kigi is apparently too busy to either publish a phone number or answer questions before orders are placed. There is no phone number on the Contact Us page. No question sent by the Contact form was ever answered. No attempt to contact by email was ever answered. I even contacted the grower - whose job is not to answer questions for their reseller - and I begged them to get the reseller to contact me. The grower said they would pass the message and Kigi still did not contact me. All of these problems could have been avoided by just giving me the plant size before I placed an order. After I placed an order, the shipment date was missed and I asked about that by messaging in their order system, and that was ignored too. The first and only time Kigi nursery answered any question was when I complained about what I received. Now that I have the plants I am able to contact other resellers who claim to have three year old two-gallon plants that are identical size to what I received, and their price is $49, not $160. So the facts just do not add together. Kigi insists I received a five to six-year-old plant, but that plant is the identical size and appearance to what other resellers are selling as three-year-old plants. So I am angry because the company has no customer service at all, and they in fact sold me something at three times what its actual market price was. And the plant is smaller than what I wanted on top of that. Definitely, I will never do business with Kigi Nursery again, and anyone who is not local to them should probably find someone who has time to answer questions before ordering.

The windows on the peak, the stone inside the front porch, the window inside the porch says that was a later add on to me. I agree working with the stone is your best bet since it's inside too. #1DD just purchased a home that yours reminds me of. Lots to do to these post war homes. Have fun!!! If you expand your front steps/decking to the right with maybe even a pergola, perhaps the brick won't be so loud and proud as the back drop to a nice front patio.