Building Science indicates that your third option--sealed conditioned crawlspaces--are the preferred method. This essentially makes the crawlspace an integral part of the home; it becomes a closed conditioned environment. North Carolina has been the location of many controlled field studies in this method of reconstruction. For instance, see here. Lack of humidity in winter only occurs in drafty, poorly insulated homes. Hence the use of humidifiers. In conjunction with your basement sealing, work on improving the air tightness of the above grade space. Here is a link that might be useful: Lstiburek on Sealed crawlspaces

I agree with earlier poster :Stay away from any product that is under the umbrella of Connect America. I used Medical Alert - one of their products - they own many, approximately 10 products- including Guardian on call for ex- tried both the mobile & in- home unit - not only do they not perform as advertised ( not able to communicate into mobile - so they can not talk to you nor you to them -so not able to determine if there is really a problem or if you're just testing, so for ex, they call emergency #s just for the test-those of you who pay for EMS coming should beware-when I complained about this they say it's because dispatchers are doing job extra well-hard to imagine a more pathetic answer). the in home stationary unit can't pick up a voice in the next room, despite claims that they can do that within 100 feet - there's incompetence on every level- and I figured out how to reach executive office -basic and essential info which i repeatedly provided even to higher ups was repeatedly recorded Incorrectly (existence & location of lock box, phone numbers, protocol of who should be called in what order, preferred hospital, the list goes on) and whenever a mistake was pointed out they attribute to customer instructions as excuse. They went so far as to send a tech to the home but failed to tell tech which system we were using - turns out tech had never seen it before. Amazing they're still in business. Plus if one pays over phone with cc when you get device the " contract" tries to make you sign off on allowing them to directly extract $ from your cc or checking acct- no alternative is offerred- they never disclose that they are keeping your credit card on file when you call - VERY sneaky. I should have listened to my intuition - when shopping around I was asked what other companies I was looking at & they trashed them with inaccurate info - which wa offensive. Someone I know used them so I let that trump my better judgement but I'm warning all of you -stay away. Would also like to know if DS Smallwood got the touch & talk unit...does no further info indicate a problem with that product?

Is there a point to your post? Is English your first language? Are you a SPAMMER? BTW - "typical" filters DO NOT soften water - they remove particulate and other microscopic things. Softeners, soften water. They can be combined with a filter if your application warrants. Better find a new job - one that you know something about.

I have finally narrowed my decision down to this one contractor. I am going to do a Goodman Heat pump with a back up gas furnace(my house is under wired to do electric back up). I would like some advice on which to choose option 1 14 SEER heat pump with 80% AFUE furnace and 4" media filter price after ameren rebate and tax credit $3946 option 2 same as option 1 but with a 95% AFUE furnace price after ameren, laclede, and tax credit $4268 I think I might as well spend a few hundred more to get the better furnace. It will look better when selling. So my main question I can uprgrade to a 16 SEER heat pump after all rebates for an additional $556. The guy said it would only save me about 10% more in my utilities so it probably wouldn't be worth it to spend the extra to upgrade but I was just curious if that would he better. I will probably only be in the house for another 5-10 years but that isn't for sure. It could be a little longer.