Augie What size and efficiency systems both up and down do you have now-cooling and heating? Any specific issues with existing systems? I will assume you have conventional furnaces now. If you replace only outside condenser and inside evap coil and pair with existing furnace, you are just as well off staying with basic 13 SEER condensers. If you want higher SEER 15+, you must go with either two stage var speed furnace or at very least a single stage furnace model with high eff x-13 blower. I also question the sizing of the furnaces you were quoted. I will give a pass to the dealers on furnace models because these Trane furnaces whether down flow or upflow are adaptable to horizontal application which I suspect is what you have now. In other words, not a big deal. I do take exception to Mike's statement above about a two stage furnace running on low stage 90% of the time. Not true unless you have a true two stage thermostat. In fact if you use the timer on the furnace, you would be running probably 90% of time in high stage. A pet peeve of mine what dealers do to homeowners in this area. And yes a two stage stat costs more but will easily pay for itself. At this moment AHRI site is down. I will look up a system using both two stage furnace XV80 and single stage high eff blower XT80 for upstairs. I also recommend a pleated filter media cabinet that Mike suggested. IMO This post was edited by tigerdunes on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 7:32

I would not worry about cutting those tiles just yet as yes that is mold and the type that can make you sick. You need to get someone in to look at that and you may be tearing out a hell of a lot more than those two tiles. Why did you replace the toilet anyway, was it leaking? Copied from the remodeling forum.

The height of the closet flange/drain pipe was perfect as is. The problem isn't the height of the toilet, but rather the depth. Raising it up a quarter of an inch would not have affected anything since the tile baseboard is nearly 7" tall, so the neck still wouldn't have cleared. We were told not to opt for a flange extender nor an offset flange because of the delicate condition of the cast iron drain beneath. All of the drain lines to the house converge right at that pipe before heading toward sewer, and the professional plumber we hired to do the job told us that disturbing it would likely damage something in that configuration and would require a total plumbing overhaul. We weighed all of the options before doing it this way, and felt this was our best. (The tank is a good 1" off of the wall installed; the toilet was only too large at the base by a fourth of an inch.)

That 1st one is most likely Hylocereus undatus (pitahaya/pitaya, dragon fruit). What you see is the way it grows (and that's why I got rid of one I had :) It grows big, spiny, with those hard aerial roots. It needs to have support and be tied to contain it. I would grow it again only if I had lots of space, or (even better) if I lived in warm climate, where it would get plenty of sun and heat it needs to produce fruit. You can look up how they grow them on 'pitaya farms', trained up on trellises. There are also photos available of plants grown in containers and kept quite neat - if they are real. I am not sure if I would invest space, time and effort in my zone. Just to have a big, very prickly plant...Obviously, it is your choice to keep it or not. If you get it to bloom, flowers are very nice. They are big and IIRC, nocturnal. This plant is used a lot as a rootstock for exactly what you purchased - grafted plants. It is very vigorous and probably easy & inexpensive for that purpose. It grows easily from seeds if you purchase fruit in a grocery store.