If you want a 'super insulated' home what about SIPs?? osb sandwiches foam, minimal loss of ins value due to little use of framing members, and imo the best building system to date. Granted you are not in my climate, but I met a friend here years ago who lived in Michigan, He was a SIPs builder and it performed as well there as here, so I feel comfortable in recommending it to you as well. SIPs panels are being used in our hurricane recovery areas, as prefered systems due to high wind requirements, strength and the energy efficiency savings. With SIPs as well as ICF as Rbadger noted, adhering to load calculations is a must for not only an efficient home, but a healthy one. Less tonnage of hvac is one benefit with these better building systems. Don't expect the hvac industry to provide you a 'free' load calc. The more tons of hvac they can sell you the more their profit. And sadly, many companies either don't use the proper input values .. ie SIP or ICF true values & air leakage reduction values, and the load calc is not 'true'. * reread this when you see the same symbol below... Rbadger does unbiased load calcs, and can also do a duct design & layout..( I think he does the latter two..). Unbiased is the key word in that statement. You should at some point 'talk' with him. There may be a hvac co in your area that does the true calcs. But be prepared to shop around. With SIPs in my area we are achieving 750 sq ft per ton..although I hate rule of thumb sizing,,it is a term you will hear alot as you shop hvac co's. Rule of thumb is at best a guess. * see above For fast quotes- many hvac co's use them..around here the ones who haven't chosen educate themselves use 400 to 500 sq ft per ton. Steer away from these hvac co's. Be prepared to shop. Also SIPs panels come in different insulation values, this differece is due to thickness of foam 4", 6" and possibly 8". panels come as blanks, meaning that window and door openings are not cut, or precut, but there is little room for error in precuts. If this is a system you may be interested in ...I'll email the retired SIPs builder and ask him to chime in. Windows..they can be trimmed out, additional cost, but for me it is not the way it looks that is as important at this stage. Buying a better window is important. The windows and doors are the weak spot of any wall. Look for a NFRC sticker on the window brands that you are shopping. NFRC is an independent (see how I keep comming back to an independent source of info..beware of sites selling you products) company that tests & rates all windows worth buying. You'll find that the common numbers to shop for are on this sticker..Solar Heat Gain Coefficients (SHGC) and U-factors. .4 SHGC or LESS is the best buy, invest in Low e glass as it will keep heat in the house in the cold months. I see a lot of .35 SHGC windows around here, of course the Low e install is in my climate, your Low e will be located on a different glass surface as per your climate. The important thing is to buy a window that will not transfer heat or cold from the outside to the inside. Metal windows condensate and cause a LOT of moisture/mold issues that take years to show the total depth of damage. The only way that metal windows don't have some degree of condensation is if they have a wood frame to the interior. Metal transfers heat/cold and is a good conductor..wood is a poor conductor. Oberon is the window expert here that is happy to share his expertiese & years of experience. Best of luck and enjoy your learning experience. Keep in mind the house as a system..not individual componets. Everything has to work together, not against each other to achieve a healthy house.

Have you done the "weigh your current load" test? I'm sure the 1986 will handle loads up to 13 lbs/6 kilos, and I expect the Asko would, too. Take your current laundry (dry) and weigh a typical load (subtract weight of basket, of course). If you're currently doing less 13 lbs (6K) in each load, you will do no more loads than you are currently doing. The extremely long Euro-style cycle is not really an issue with a 1986 since it has the shorter cycle as the default; you can choose long cycles for unusually serious cleaning. I believe it also has a time delay feature which means you can program a load to finish as you wake, and run the dryer while getting ready to go out. And then start a load timed to finish when you return and are ready to flip it to the dryer. I am not as familiar with the features of the Asko model you have mentioned - mine are older, without the delay cycle, but with generally shorter cycles than the typical long Euro cycle in older Mieles. One of the reasons I think some of the Euro FLs have decided to "dumb down" their machines is because they could never persuade people to really believe in how much can be handled in these dishwasher-sized carcasses. Apparently even your salesman is still confused. Both of these machines a true horizonatal axis machines which means they don't lose any space due to a tilted drum like just about every other brand model out there, from the similar sized Sears machines to the fancy Asian behemoths. If had to replace any of my machines I would go to enormous trouble to find a Miele 1918 or 1986 because of its reliablity and superior washing characteristics. The heaters on those machines are simply far and away better than what you can buy today. And with kids having that heater will give you many more options for stain removal, without harsh chemicals. From your user name, you sound like you're in French-speaking Canada. Dare I hope that I might easily find a 1986 up there? I am in northern NY, and my regional Miele sales rep recently told me that no more 1918 or 1986s are available anywhere in his territory. But a trip to Canada would not be out of the question. Don't worry, I'm not trying to beat you out of the machine you found! Truly, do the laundry weighing test and see what you learn. HTH, Molly~

Presumably spraying the backsplash with great abandon, with a chemical solution or even vinegar and water solution, is a thing of the past? You betcha. I can't remember, though, the last time I grouted a job that had to have the haze cleaned with anything other than water... WITHOUT the vinegar. You just need to take your time. I KNOW you can afford your own labor fees! :-) As for a newbie grouting it, It's not going to be easy to get nice clean lines, even for a pro, but if you take your time, mixing just a little bit of grout at a time so it doesn't "go off" on you, you should be fine. It's not impossible for someone like yourself to grout tile like that.

I have not scheduled surgery yet and am ignoring the suggestion of having them both done at once. When I was a newly graduated RN I worked ortho for a year ( some disasters but hips have come along way) and my mom had a horrible hip replacement outcome, so I am putting it off for as long as I can. Don't wait so long you are too out of shape ... it's best done while you are still reasonably spry with muscle strength left for rehab instead of totally crippled and weak. And before you have wrecked the surrounding support muscles and tendons compensating for the pain and lack of mobility. (SO has a prosthetic knee, his brother has 2 of them, and another brother has a hip replacement he loves). Yes, it's come a LONG ways, even using 3-d imaging and custom manufacture of the prosthetics if needed. They can build a copy of the joint, figure out exactly how things need to be altered and dry-fit the prosthesis without ever lifting a scalpel.