All good comments ...... Very happy to have found the blog..... Many thanks to all that have contributed.... My husband and I are planning on a new kitchen and went to the local shops to compare prices and appliances. We tried both gas and electric. However the place we are going to has no option for gas so electric it is. The sales person wanted to show us the cream of the crop of electric stoves so he brought us around to the induction display.... I liked the idea of fast cooking... Cool plate and easy cleaning .... However every time he would turn any of the plates on I could hear this high pitch noise .... It will start 1 or 2 seconds after the plate button was pressed to on.... Nor my husband or the sales person could hear it.... I could hear it and tell when it was on or off every time even in the showroom environment with music in the background and all the shop background noise.... After only a couple of minutes (no more than 5 min) I realised that my head was pounding and I had a shocking headache. (I rarely get any). The effect lasted for about 30 min after we left the showroom..... Safe to say we are not getting induction cooktop!!!!!

He says that the 8320s don't have dehumidification control, but the 8321s like this one do: https://customer.honeywell.com/en-US/Pages/Product.aspx?cat=HonECC Catalog&pid=TH8321U1006/U&category=VisionPRO%C2%AE&catpath=1.3.33.1.36 & rank=5&v1=Sort.1.Product.Rank&asc=1 (for some reason I can't paste this link in so that ti will work. When you paste into a browser, you have to replace the space between ECC and Catalog with a (percentSign)20) When I look at the product info sheet for this 8321 myself, the TH8321U1006/U is indeed 2H/2C, and the description says: "The L terminal is an input or output.; Selectable: Programmable or Non-Programmable; Includes Dehumidification Control." It doesn't mention a dehumidification range setting anywhere on the page though like the IAQ does; TH9421C1004/U:. "Includes Humidification Control with or without Frost Protection, Dehumidification using Whole House Dehumidifier or Air Conditioning with High or Low speed fan, Advanced Patented Ventilation Control and Advanced Dual Fuel Heat Pump Control." And at the bottom shows a dehumidification range setting of 40-80% RH. I looked at the owner's manual for the TH8321U1006. It does show how to set up for dehumidification and it says that it can use the a/c to do so. Can the IAQ actually control the VS furnace vs-like, whereas the 8321s can only control the VSs 2-stage? How do I counter? This post was edited by barbja on Wed, May 1, 13 at 10:04

This is also posted in HVAC. I received an estimate for a new AC unit, refrigeration line, moving a waterheater and first floor main furnace within the utility room to make room for my new master bath, and ductwork for our main floor and basement. The HVAC company suggested a secondary furnace for the basement only. I asked for the pricing to see the difference. I must have misunderstood when he sent the quote for the additional furnace and ducting, I thought the price jump was only for the secondary furnace and ducting. I didn't realize that he had removed new ductwork for the first floor from that quote. One of my main hopes was to get rid of the old duct board. I may have skipped the secondary furnace in favor of replacing the main floor duct work as it was important to me. I did not catch that on the estimate, I wish I had. We spoke about moving the furnace and were saying we had to redo the ductwork anyway, my bathroom contractor was with me on all conversations and he remembers that we never talked about leaving the first floor ducting. I don't see how the miscommunication happened. Now I am stuck with $2800 cost of removing the main duct board truck line and replacing it with uninsulated (he stressed that point to me) metal or just leaving the ductboard main trunk line. I am torn, that is an awful lot of money but for health sake it would be worth it...if it indeed is a health issue. Even then I'm not sure we can afford it. Secondary furnace is in, can't cut that out at this point otherwise I would have.

You will have only one opportunity in your life to buy that house so if owning a spectacular vintage home is your dream, buy it. Owning an old house is a lifestyle, not an investment. If it is worth substantially more after your updates, that's great but don't include that value in your financial planning for retirement. However fantastic the house is, I would not buy it if you couldn't live in it with the room types and sizes as it was built. Obviously the mechanicals have to be in good working order but an outdated kitchen can wait until you have spent enough time to learn about the quirks and qualities of this house. Decisions made after you live there will be different than those made after just walking through. Our previous home looked much like the one directly above and we owned it for 26 years. We moved in when I was pregnant with my oldest, moved out when youngest graduated from college. Buying a more modest house would have been a better overall deal financially because midrange houses in our community appreciated much more than ones at the top of the range. When we did sell, the net was 25% higher than we had paid. However we had the pleasure (and occasional pain!) of living in an architect designed house with tons of natural light, top quality construction and fittings, in a desirable neighborhood. Unlike many owners might have done, we did not update the house. We did have to redo the flat roof section, then added a few more electrical outlets and converted the coal room into a wine cellar and pantry. The mid 70s steam boiler was a cast iron monster that never failed. In particularly bad heat waves, we used a couple window AC units but solid masonry house and an attic fan handled most of the summer weather. We raised two kids in an old house with only one bathroom and no central air. We had coat hooks in a hallway, not a mudroom. We had basement laundry and a clothesline for good weather. Of course we would have enjoyed a big kitchen and a master suite but that wasn't how the house was built. My personal view is that if you want the features of a new house, buy or build one. If you love the beautiful house, be gentle and err on the side of doing less, not more