@nhb22, @R Jones, @tonya_wimberly, @charlene, @brooklyn Godwin, @indie49 Hi Everyone I hope that me tagging a few people from this thread it finds you;) We are starting the building process for the Elberton Way in North Alabama and are looking to see if we could view your home if possible. We have so many questions and would love to see in person if possible. Even if we can just see the exterior we would be appreciative. All that to say if you are in area or several hours out. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We are first time home builders and feel slightly overwhelmed. I would also like to ask if anyone built on a slab and also vaulted the living room? We are having some issues with HVAC stating it would be too complicated and would like your input if you built on a slab. Hope to hear from you soon! Thank you.

tigerdunes -- thanks for your input! Much appreciated. That is the direction I'm heading, subject to final price, warranties, etc. (The last quote from Company 2 had the Infinity furnace with the Comfort A/C.) The tendency here seems to be the "1 ton / 500 sf" approach. I've been pushing the final two dealers to really be sure about their sizing by giving them as much info as possible (the number of windows in the house, no insulation, orientation, etc, etc.) vyasmk9 -- I'm on the Peninsula -- as are all of the contractors I've contacted. It just seems that people around here seem to service a smaller area (although I could be wrong), plus I like to support local biz whenever I can. Just FYI, I started by selecting a couple of well-known brand names (Trane and Carrier) and looking on their websites for local dealers. Followed that up with searches for reviews of those dealers on local.yahoo.com and yelp, as well as checks on the BBB. Also asked my electrician and utility company guy for their thoughts/referrals. Not sure what the forum rules are for recommending contractors, so I'd rather ask before naming names. Anyone want to comment?

@ sshrivastava: Regarding the animated display: I'm not saying it can't be done but I think it won't be done. Miele does not even sell washers in any other color other than white (besides that one Chocolate Edition in Canada). Even their fanciest products have the same orange display. The only item, it seems, where Miele does allow several different colors are their vacuum cleaners. Their newest S6 line even comes wrapped in velvet. It's not only Miele that uses water softeners in dishwashers. Every single dishwasher manufacturer in Europe uses them. Again, not saying it can't be done or that it wouldn't be a good/interesting idea - I'm just saying that I don't see it happening any time soon. @ livebetter: Bosch makes some good appliances and very efficient ones, too. Even in green Europe, they are continuously bringing out appliances that are a little more efficient than all the others. Technically, the fill and drain hoses on the Miele washer are no problem as they should really be long enough to reach behind the dryer. The dryer, however, can be a problem because you will obviously have to add extra venting to connect the dryer's vent to the opening in the wall. This should add two more elbows, which can be problematic if there is already a long vent run to the outside. The Bosch washer is .24 cu.ft. larger, which means roughly one lbs. more capacity. Bosch calls it AquaStop - Miele Waterproof. Same technology. Unfortunately, there are very few videos of the Vision online. This one shows Miele's venting process on the Comforters cycle. How much more or less water the Bosch uses - I don't know. Regarding the max temperature: well, my washer can go up to 203F and I never use it. 140F is the highest temp I use, so 158 would be hot enough for me. Both washers will heat the water whenever needed - except for Miele's "Normal" cycle, I think. Both washers have cold-only rinses. The Bosch dryer does not reverse tumble. 100 rpm won't make much of a difference. "Spin Speed Optimized Drying Time" just gives you a better initial estimation of the time left to dry the load and that "DynamicAir" technology... Miele also has a very powerful blower but it's just not given a special name. Miele probalby makes the better washer/dryer but those doors and the venting... HTH, Alex

Sensational post, Len - just the sort of thing I'm looking for :) To answer your questions/observations: Q0. first up where in qld is alabama? if i might ask. A. Its a little known suburb of Rocky :) OK, I tried to change my preferences, and was rewarded with an error from the web server. C'est la Vie. Q1. plant data base, i reckon a good data base is going to take a lot of room on a web site that is if you are going to list the many plants that we can grow here in the sunshine state. so adding plants growths in stages will make that so much larger. for the main i think viewers will be looking for identifiacation and planting and care help. A. I agree that the majority of users will want the text relating to plant culture, but I also envisage providing *links* from the main database entry to allow them to view photos of the plant at different stages of its life. Personally, I find it frustrating trying to envisage the 'true' size of many plants from the label, and the '12-month' estimate is something I think many people would value (granted, conditions and growth rates vary enormously, but I think you know where I'm going with this). Q2.. sounds like a lot of work to manage A2. I absolutely agree, and its part of my reluctance to make this available to the outside world. There are a broad range of issues relating to security that I havent even touched on, but that goes with the territory. Removing the need to maintain all but the most basic membership data (name, username, location and email address) will minimise my concerns in this area, but I dont want to spend my days weeding out SPAM etc - hopefully, we are dealing with a better class of people :) Q3.. for me gardeners are well serviced with forums not long ago an aussie garden forum dissapeared due to lack of interest if i can put it that way. you are in a native plants forum here and it isn't over patronised a good crowd here though. A3. My broader aim is to help gardeners in their attempt to fuse natives with exotics - correct plant choice, companion planting and so on. This wont amuse the local provenance diehards, but it may just lessen the resistance to something with the word 'Native' in the masthead, and we might see more lillipillies and Austormyrtus alongside Gardenias and Camellias throughout Oz. I cant predict whether the site will have a longterm future - I can only put it out there and hope that people like yourself are prepared to give it a go. Q4.. faq's yes they are always handy for all gardeners but they need to be relevent to the point answers and the search engine for the faq's need to lead people to the answer they may be looking for many search engines like this for me just don't hit the mark unless you type in exactly the topic line as the author of the faq's has put it. A4. The whole search engine thing is a big topic - you can customise Google to have it restrict its search to your site, and I'm confident that...