We installed the Wicanders Original Dawn floating cork floor in our kitchen 7 months ago. Love it so much we purchased Wicanders plank (might be the identity color, cannot recall at the moment!) for our basement. Hubby is an engineer so he put it in the kitchen himself; its a small space at 8x13ft. Haven't had any issues with water etc. but to be fair we aren't 'years in' to utilizng the product. Wicanders sells a gel product you can put between the seams of the cork which we did purchase for the basement. It was not a lot more money - 1 tube cost $15 and does 100 sq ft ... and that is in Canada, so if you are in the US its likely cheaper! We haven't tackled the basement floor yet, likely on tap for May, so I cannot comment on how easily it applies etc. However, the Wicanders rep said the gel doesn't dry hard like glue, it stays flexible so we would be able to pull the planks apart and move them around during the install. Wicanders is one of the better rated cork flooring products (according to the various flooring places I spoke with) so I am certain you will be pleased. One of those places knew of an install in a commercial office environment and there was no wear on the product showing anywhere, so it does hold up well. Cheers

sc kathy I will respond but say up front, I don't care for Lennox HPs. in general, these are the minimum specs you should consider for high eff HP systems. 15 SEER, 12.5+ EER, 9 HSPF best matching var speed air handler full BTUs in both cooling and heating for rated size R-410a refrigerant scroll compressor preferred electronic demand defrost preferred thermostat with "dehumidify on demand" feature staged backup heat strips The XP14 is a mid line Lennox HP that has some nice numbers. The air handler that you have been quoted has a conventional blower, not var speed. I would not have a conventional blower. What exactly does your quote include? Ductwork? Any other add-ons? You will have to ask your HVAC dealer about any applicable Lennox rebates. I do know that these systems do not qualify for the fed govt tax credit because they are part of new construction, not for improvement where you are replacing an existing older system. I personally would ask for a quote on Trane's XL15i(AmStd Heritage 15) and/or Carrier's Performance 15(Bryant Preferred 15) "H" model only. These are the top single stg high eff HPs IMO. You should request a load calculation in writing broken out for each floor. What do you plan for the basement-another system at a future date? I do question your dealer's sizing for each floor assuming good new home construction/insulation qualities. Let me know if you have any other questions. See Energy Star Link for info on tax credit. IMO Good Luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Energy Star HVAC Tax Credit Info

My answer to your question depends on how other transitions between rooms are handled in your house. In modern designs, they are often left as just drywall, as in your picture. In older homes, they would be fitted out with moldings just like a door jamb would. Then when I saw the second picture, looking into your eating space from the kitchen, it appears that the hutch cabinet is extending past the opening between the rooms, extending into the dining area. If you trim the opening out with casing, it will look like you made an error in designing that hutch. It left the kitchen and extended into the next room. Rather than have that be suggested, I would leave the opening as it is, and pretend it is not there! In your first photo, since we do not see the left side of the opening, it looks just like the right side of "an archway between rooms," as you called it in the photo of the traditional kitchen in San Fransisco. I think that the wall on the right side is too wide for it to feel just like a support for a header. It does feel like a real wall and gives the impression that it is an opening between two rooms. Now that I look at it, would you consider changing the hutch cabinet so that it does end in the kitchen? I may be seeing it incorrectly with just the two pictures I have seen, but if it were my house, it would drive me nuts to see the hutch extend under the archway into the next room. JMHO and no criticism aimed at you. Here is what I did in my last house where there was an opening between the kitchen (the photo you see below, with microwave) and a former porch, where I had raised the floor on the back one-third and had made a galley-style pantry. I only had a 45" wide platform for the pantry, so I made the landing at the top of the stairs as big as possible and that extra floorspace became the standing and walking area for a small work station that was at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the kitchen. The microwave cabinet is entirely in the kitchen, though. Now click on my link below. Behind the microwave, see the counter? The right wall that is tiled with backsplash tiles and the wall behind the maple knick-knack shelf is the wall that supports the header you see behind the top of the microwave cabinet. There are two other knick-knack shelves in the kitchen, showing off my McCoy pot collection, so using another shelf as a transition between these two rooms made sense to us. We just kind of wrapped that side of the archway between the two rooms with cabinetry. You could do the same in your kitchen. Have your carpenter do some surgery on the Hutch, so that it ends just before it would go under the archway into the dining area. Then have him build a shallow (we did the microwave cab 18 inches deep) hutch facing into the dining area. It will back up to the side of the hutch in the kitchen and fill the space under the archway, extending a foot or so into the dining area, just like the hutch probably does now. It can have glass doors on the top and hold glassware, then hold dishes on the bottom, maybe desert plates or a chocolate fondue pot that you use only occasionally. You won't actually lose much kitchen storage, you can carry the cabinetry here to the top of the archway in the dining area and to the ceiling in the kitchen. It will no longer look like the hutch section is trying to make a get-away, inching towards that back door! From the one angle I see in the photo, it almost looks like the hutch could be split down the middle and the one side turned 90 degrees to accomplish what I am talking about. You can probably reuse the doors, just have the carpenter cut the cabinet and add a new back, then build a case for the section that faces the dining area. Am I the only one who is bothered by the hutch going between two rooms? Here is a link that might be useful: How we handled a change from one room to another within one kitchen

The top edge seam picture looks like it needs a razor blade to remove the excessive adhesive. There is a visible void at the bottom and that is sloppy work. Any straight edge will tell you if the pieces are on plane. Place it on the top and front edge too. It shouldn't rock in either place. I don't mind Unistrut on the flat, but you don't say how large the span is. Please do so. Lacquer thinner or acetone should remove the ink marks. The suction cup marks should come out. I've heard of using gradually increasing abrasives, but I'd start out with some MB20 and go from there. Some guys use estone slurry, but that's pretty radical. Plywood between the estone and cabinets serves no purpose.