Thanks everyone. Smick, the roof is polycarbonate panels from LHS, they come in clear, white, smoke and green. dcarch, we hope for snow and hardly ever see it here in central Arkansas, Sorie,the southeast, Sunnyca, it's not real square, but the doors and vents work fine and with a lot of caulk and paint on my part it looks fair and I had thought of the sign over the door idea, DH suggested "The Win-Door Astoria", since it's made from windows and doors.Thanks for the ideas. Syble

We're going to be here painting and overseeing the flooring installs, ect until the end of July. The aquariums are in the new place because we couldn't paint with them in this house. I hope my fish are ok! I transported my lovely pair of rainbow kribensis in a gallon jar on the floor of the truck between my feet, though that would be the safest. By the time we got there, the water was hot and they looked really bad. Had to cool them quickly by sitting the jar in a sink of cool water, without shocking them. They had perked up a lot by the time we were done unloading. We set up the aquariums as soon as we got there and acclimated the fish to the new water for a bit, then loosing them in their tanks. One of the silver dollars must have beaten himself up a bit in the bucket during the ride because he knocked off a bit of his dorsal fin.Ideally, we would have stayed overnight to observe, but the boys (our dogs) were here and probably needed to go out for 'walkies'. Jeff is going by tomorrow to check on the finny children. Today, I'm doing the lawn and cleaning the pond here. I'm really going to miss my pond. Sorry for the ramble, I need coffee! Pam

You are always going to have folks who THINK new is better. It's the way they are wired. A good many of those folks are in the real estate profession. They are looking at things from the point of the bottomline. Not always the best place to measure success from. I'd start by finding a different contractor. When it comes to contractors you generally have two types the one ones who like new because it's fast and easy and it fattens their wallets with a quick turn around and the the ones who are masters and will work with you to save what they can. Generally speaking the latter is more costly but they also have the advantage of being better problem solvers and better at their craft. There seems to be a point of pride they carry which the gut and build guys just don't have. That house has character. It has a good location and if you can afford to fix it up so it maintains that charm then I'd go for it. You fell in love with it as it is. Fixed up and maintained somebody else in the future will love it just as much if not more. My biggest rule in home ownership is go with your gut. If your gut tells you it's better to save it than flatten it them do it.

bwaibel: four months after katrina, my gc came in with his group of cleaners to throw everything out perishable. they cleaned all my dishes, disinfected everything. well, you can imagine. my husband had snuck in one week after the flood, and ripped out the carpet and punched holes on the sheetrock to ventilate. unfortunately, he left doors and windows open to ventilate the house, and at least one rat had moved in and discovered a goldmine of sam's club pistachios! i was displaced in texas with my family, so there was little i could do from there. i just let the gc deal with it--i couldn't face the situation at that time. looking back, i wish i had had more fortitude to face the situation, and taken better control of what the gc was up to. one day i stopped by and found his cleaners wiping down the dishes with something that smelled toxic. they threw so much away that didn't need throwing away, like non-perishable items. they had clogged my septic system with rolls of paper towels, and blamed me, saying that it was clogged because i must've poured cooking oil down the drain. when we moved in, i couldn't find anything (i think they broke a few things in the process). the toilet backed up into the bathroom. we lived here 8 years prior to katrina without one plumbing problem. ANYWAY, unless you are willing to totally supervise a group of people coming into your home, you had better not expect the attention to detail, and level of common sense, that you yourself would give. i've been where you are, not just with Katrina, but with dust everywhere from a total kitchen renovation. it is very upsetting, isn't it? i started with mopping everyday after the guys left. after a month, i only broomed and swiffered. thank goodness, as of one week ago, we are at 80% completion and done with the dust. last weekend, my husband's office housekeeper came for the big cleaning. she wiped down everything. it just helped so much to have someone working by my side. i think you feel overwhelmed. but i don't think you want a huge swarming crew of strangers in your home. hire someone to clean it in stages, not just in one shot. if they know you are cleaning too, the person will take more responsibilty. the two of us working together, i got five times more done than working by myself. i feel for you. i nearly went insane a month ago before the light started to appear at the end of the tunnel. hang in there, and don't wait to hire someone to help you now.