My rooster was getting frostbite regularly until I started rubbing vaseline on his comb and wattles and bought the heat lamp bulb. It's one of those really big red heat lamp bulbs people put in their bathrooms. It's 250 watts and just goes into a regular (but not plastic) socket. It cost me about $10 and has been well worth it. I only run it at night when it's below -15 and the odd day when it is that cold all day. The vaseline helps a lot too. He struggled fiercly until I started stroking his comb with the vaseline. Then he got really still and just stood quietly though the whole procedure. I think he likes it. I've done it a few times. It's necessary anyway, whether he likes it or not. I laughed the first time, as one of the lead hens came up really close, watching, and asking a quiet question. When she got in his face he gave her a little chirp without moving and she went away. I guess she was worried. It was so cute! I remember that about Thunder Bay. The things that do grow well there get HUGE due to the extra long daylight. The blackflies and mosquitoes are fierce but only for a very short period of time, then nothing. They get so bad in May they drive the moose out onto the highways. I saw my only real life bald eagle up north and up close. I actually had to use the break to keep from running into him with the car. He was flying down the highway in front of us. HUGE and gorgeous bird with a wingspan much larger than our car. I had no idea they were so big! I never have the camera when I need it!

Tankless units are expensive compared to tank Electric tankless are expensive to wire and operate. The good ones (Rinnai) are expensive units because of their quality. All tankless units are very expensive to repair when the down the road issues arise. I won't buy the nonsense that they are expensive as tank heaters. At the most, $80 swing either for electric or gas. Finding someone with trained hands in your area to work/maintain tankless repairs are hard to find. Otherwise you are subjected to days, not hours without hot water and you are also depending on items shipped to you if you are capable of diagnosis, repair of your unit. The MAJORITY of homeowners have tank heaters, that's a fact. Salesmanship of trying to get the homeowners to spend thousands instead of 100's when the heater goes kaputz is putting personal finance in priority to customer's needs. Meaning that if you do not disclose the periodic maintenance of a tankless (deliming/descaling to heat exchanger to prevent efficiency loss) as required by most mfg warranties to stay intact, you are misleading the flock. The end user of such product needs to be fully aware of all parameters involving these units and understand that no one is coming over with a thermocouple or set of Robertshaw thermostats to fix their unit. It's more and more expensive. So if you have such tastes for steak when everyone is eating hamburger, expect the obvious. If money isn't a problem and got tons to spend, tankless is for you. There's a reason why homeowners never maintain their water heater and never think about it until the hot water quits coming out. They also go down the laundry list of plumbers trying to get the best price of how much to spend, usually under a grand. The majority DO care about quality, but cost is usually the driving force of MOST matters concerning heaters. That's why they price 4 different heaters from 4 different mfgs with the best deal. Jump on the tankless bandwagon and now you've isolated yourself from others that get their hot water back in hours, not days. Hopefully you of those that have tankless have in-area support when it breaks down. In my region they don't exist, the rep is usually out west or they swing it to a plumbing company as an authorized rep to keep replacing parts till it works.

Talia -- I'm so glad you decided against the firm! I didn't want to offer an opinion before as I have no experience with a kitchen reno in your budget. Mine was a relatively modest $20k - no structural work but I replaced every single thing. The one thing we do have in common though is that I didn't have time to manage my project either -- but I didn't have a choice, having a "more than full time" job/career. Yet when I fantasized about having a GC, I realized, "who am I kidding? I'm gonna be all over this no matter who is in charge! It's my home!" I did luck out though, finding the best licensed, insured, experienced carpenter, contractor -- George -- I could have found through asking around a LOT. Amazing, really. As the "GC" I hired the electrician, plumber and floor tile guy, (all referrals) but not without consulting George, my carpenter first who had a ton of experience and knowledge of other trades who checked their costs first for me, helped me tweak and negotiate, etc. George helped me with my lighting plan, a rather extensive one, for me and then he came here with me and "supervised" to make sure it was done right and according to plan. When I couldn't get out of a work meeting and get home for my granite install, George jumped in and then fielded a major problem with the island -- cut wrong size -- fabricator error. He called the fab and quickly resolved the problem and a new island top was put in the following week. And George? He removed and demo'd old cabs, installed the new ones and moldings and trim, cleared all trash and did cleanup, made me a second pantry with new door and shelves, put in new sink and faucet, new range and micro, new dishwasher and fridge, moved a misplaced chandelier (my fault) and patched/painted ceiling hole, kicked out the sloppy painter and found me a new one, patched kitchen floor after I decided to move a radiator a month after floor had been done, added new saddles... and I'm sure I missed a few things... which came to about $2,500. I gave him an additional $500.00 which he finally did take... not just for his extra supervision of others (that he throughly enjoyed doing and did so well with a very gentle touch) and jumping over here when I needed him and answering my 1,000+ questions about everything, but for caring about this job as if it were his own home. (I also gave him a like-new circular saw that I used only once some months ago and have been too scared to use again.) I also gave him 2 referrals that have turned into good jobs for him. Really, I feel like I owe him so much more! I think there are some real GEMS out there at reasonable cost that just need to be found. Of course with your budget and plans, you need more than a lone super-dedicated carpenter, but I'm hoping you'll find a firm or KD or GC or all three that will be your "George!" Note to Lovestocook -- I found 2 great Mauviel pieces at Home Goods! More great gems at...

The low and high staging heating are the W1 and W2 connections. The Y1 and Y2 are for cooling. You should ask if the wiring has been checked and verified to be correct. I have never installed a Nest thermostat and the documentation I have found so far is poor. I could be wrong, but I think the Nest detects what wires are connected and determines the stage settings. So if the Nest was originally installed with only the W1 wire connected, and no wire was detected on the W2 terminal, then the settings would have defaulted to single stage heating. Connecting the W2 wire only may not work. The Nest may have to be reset and go through its settings algorithm in order to detect a connection on W2. I suggest you call the Google support and ask what needs to be done when a furnace is replaced with a two stage model. This also could be a flaw in the Nest heating recovery algorithm. Are you setting back the temperature at night? If so what are the night and day temperature settings, and what time do you have it set for switching to the day temperature? You could ask Google support how the Nest handles set back and when is it supposed to switch to the high stage during a set back recovery.