I agree with the above. Plus the fact that too much personal information gets divulged or can be mined by joining facebook. I'd rather limit my online participation to forums like GW and other, less inclusive, less wide open sites. I've been a member here for a long time....going on a couple of decades......and I have seen the same ebb and flow of visitor traffic through the seasons as we are now witnessing. January, February, March are always as slow as molasses but it will pick up when the gardening season comes into to full force in the next 6-8 weeks. And I have to say that the comments about excessive ads and pop-ups surprises me. I don't experience hardly any at all and just use Explorer with the standard firewalls. Didn't realize this was much of a problem anymore regardless of the Internet server one used...... I have to be honest when I say I read more than post. Most of the topics don't hold a great deal of interest for me and I tend only to respond to questions that get neglected or overlooked or when erroneous info is provided. Since conifers are not my area of concentrated expertise, I let others respond first - there is an amazing knowledge base here :-) But I still remain pretty active in some other forums. I also live in an area where the Internet is not widely available so I am not online at home. And since my work life is pretty seasonal and therefore computer access the same, I tend not to post much in winter anyway.

I looked at the Windsor Pinnacle Casement online and there was not enough information for me to take them seriously. I was not impressed with what little was offered which consisted of typical sales claims ("heavy duty extruded cladding" that appeared to be thin hollow extrusions) and a cut-away sample of a lower corner of a window that was impossible to understand since it was cut diagonally. Marvin provides scaled detail drawings in plan and section that can be downloaded.

Lavender, thanks for the advice, and we really have taken everything into consideration. It has been two months since I posted my first version of our plan, and there was a month I was silent while trying to figure out a way to make it work with the kitchen in the back. There are two alternatives we considered and below is the thought process we went through while making a decision. For each I put together an inspiration board of photos and in the end we decided the kitchen in the front was the best plan for us. 1. Place the kitchen in the back to the right of the dining room (or flip the room) keeping the living/dining room as is. Summerfield did a plan for us with the kitchen in the back, and we seiously considered it as it is a wonderful plan, however that setup had different draw backs. In Summerfield's plan we didn't like the kitchen was more closed off. While if it is opened up then the room feels too long and narrow and we lost the feeling of width created by having windows on both sides. 2. Dining room near the entry, the kitchen in the back with the great room. This allows for a smaller dining room since it isn't balancing out the space with great room and kitchen and allows for more light moving across the house. I like this set up in larger homes with a seperation between formal public areas and private informal areas, however that isn't the way we actually live. For us, putting the kitchen next to the great room and moving the dining room to the front makes everything feel to informal and I hate the competition between the TV and the kitchen. For the plan I posted, with the kitchen in the front, we measured it all out to make certain the space works and moved our own furniture around to see how it would feel. The icing on the cake, on Memorial day weekend we rented a huge home with friends in wine country that had a similar main room layout (only much larger), and it really solidified that we love this floor plan. We actually measured it all out in the rental to see how our plan fits and it really helped us visualize it. We love being able to enjoy both our front and back views/light/breezes, that the living/dining spaces are together, and that the kitchen is at once part of the space and at the same time seperate. All that said, if the new designer (or Summerfield) comes up with a great idea that is different to what we have outlined we are open minded, I just don't see how it would work more effectively. Also, writing out everything here has helped relieve some of my own anxiety about this plan and gain some more confidence in our decisions. It is "different" and I've been worried about that, but it is what works for us, and it isn't so diferent that we need to worry about resale value.

Thanks for the info Sharon. I am ok with the windows and doors-they seem fine and in good shape. I moved my furniture in the day they put in the carpeting(they did that in the am, I moved in the pm) and the floors were ok. The water pipes seem ok..everything underneath checked out fine, heat tape, etc. all ok. There was one leak where the main roof joined the pullout section roof, I repaired the roof and the inside ceiling and it seems fine now. I definitely will get a turn off for the toilet-there is none now and you are right about needing one. I cleaned the roof and gutters-must not have been done in years..they were full of soil that had formed and seedlings were starting! This will be an annual cleaning but not a problem..have a ladder and can climb it lol. One thing I have noticed is that all of the wood products seem to be either plywood or actual wood-there does not seem to be any 'particle board' or any of those wood products in the place-I think it may be old enough to actually predate the particle board. I have checked nearly all of the woodwork all over the place and have found only plywood or actual wood(fortunately). The only thing I have done to any of the paneling or woodwork just involved cleaning it, or refinishing some of the cabinetry(below the kitchen sink and the bathroom vanity. It was solid wood with some plywood and it refinished just fine. Just matched up the stain and it looks fine. The kitchen is small(the dining area and kitchen together are maybe 10 by 13) but well laid out, and the corners have two solid wood curio cabinets built in that are in perfect condition. I am surprised that there is no buckling, warping or anything like that-the main problem with the place was it needed a good cleaning and the outside original paint had weathered some and needed redoing. But besided those few cosmetic things(and the new carpet) it really is fine and I am impressed for it being 40 years old. Hopefully I will not be posting about any number of unexpected disasters! lol. Also the (small but functional) main bedroom is in the very back. There was a second small bedroom between the living room and the back(with the bedroom and bathroom). They completely took out the wall of the middle bedroom and left it open..and this widened hallway/open area leading from the living room to the back is much better than the two foot wide hallway that would have been there otherwise. The middle bedroom is now just an open storage area with a built in dresser and closet on one side, and cabinetry above and a large counter area below on the other side-where I can work on my artwork and stuff. I guess I am really pleased with it so far, and it will be cheap to live here and I can save money once I get back on my feet financially. As long as I am single I do not see why I would want to move anywhere else actually. Too bad there is such a stigma about any kind of modular, manufactured, or (worst of all!) mobile homes or older trailer. And this is a trailer really..it has the flat roof and everything. So it will never look like a conventional home-but that does not mean it has to look like crap either. With the right touches, landscaping, painting, etc. it is shaping up really nicely. Maybe I will post some pics of it once I am finished with the painting this Spring.