Please give you opinion on that Nasty Fire Box at the top before the pipe connects. It is nasty looking but all Soot in my opinion. Usually I sweep it off with a fan on top pulling Etc up.Getting in there is not fun due to my over-head tubes and “Young Body”. Sweeping with a broom has always cleaned the pipe and box. I did collect Etc from cleaning once years ago and tried to burn or ignite with no luck (thinking it was creosote). I’ll try to post a pic and would appreciate on what the collected material was. Thinking about it, most of the mess came off stainless I added as an extension due to my neighbor complaining of smoke coming down vs drafting up. The extension did not change the draft. Some winter days I noticed smoke would drift down. The mess was the build-up on the single stainless extension. Soot in a different form maybe??? I have not seen this mess since the extension was removed or smoke at ground level. I feel the single stainless sheet was colder above the insulated pipe and attracted the soot or etc. I was told I might have th crack a window to get a good draw with the insulated filled pipe. I added ducks in the hearth that were inside the Double faced fireplace with the doors closed. The steel back on one side cancel one 4” duck. My focus is to keep ash out of the duct. Plus I can see in it and vacuum if needed. Too much Stuff and excuse the order!

Easy, high-yield, portable conservation: 1) Compact fluorescents. Install these wherever you have lights that you leave on for a while. Lights that are turned on briefly and then off should still be incandescent since it takes a lot of power (relatively) to start a CF bulb and the short cycles significantly shorten their lives. 2) Low flow shower heads and flow restrictors on faucets. "The Incredible Head" is cheap and available at HD. It is easily installed with a wrench and some Teflon tape and is a really nice aerated showerhead. 3) Dry clothes on a rack or line. Towels will come out as stiff as a board, but that can be cured with a 2-3 minute tumble in the dryer. Line dried sheets smell much better than their machine dried version and are a summer treat at my house. 4) Install timers. If you forget to turn off the bathroom fan or an outdoor light, you can install a timer. These kinds of minor changes can be installed with simple tools and you can ask the people at Big Orange for instruction, if needed. 5) Eliminate phantom loads. Put transformers on switchable outlets so that you can switch off "phantom loads" when you aren't using them. Or just unplug the dang things. Same goes for your cable box and video/audio equipment with LED and time displays. 6) Water heater timers. If you have an electric water heater, install a timer. They are readily available at HD and easy to install. Set it to heat the water before your shower time then shut off so that water isn't unnecessarily reheated and kept hot while everyone is asleep or away from the home. 7) Insulate outlets and switches on exterior walls. I'm not sure what this will save you, but it's really easy and the little insulators cost about $.50 a piece. Not quite as portable, but still easy: 1) Honeycomb blinds. These can improve the "R-value" of your windows more than replacement with the best quality window and cost much less. 2) Caulk and air-infiltration proofing windows as much as possible. Improving door weatherproofing may be possible, too. 3) If you have a clothes drier, clean out the vent. 4) Close the damper on your fireplace. Keep it closed. Get a decorative fake plant or something. Can anyone add to this list?

Dandylandy, I'm so sorry to hear about this mess. You unfortunately do need to talk to a lawyer now. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to file a lawsuit--sometimes a stern letter or three from a lawyer is all it takes. Also, depending on the value of this (what's the total cost of the cabinets?) you might find yourself in small claims court or in mandatory arbitration, which is a lot easier and cheaper than a full-on lawsuit. Where I live any dispute worth $25,000 or less goes into arbitration, which just means you and the contractor show up (with or without your lawyers, but obviously I'm going to recommend WITH, absolutely) and say your piece to a group of three local lawyers who volunteer as mediators, and that group of three lawyers decides how to resolve it. It's much cheaper and easier than an actual lawsuit. If you're in NY, perhaps the cap is higher than $25k. Anyway, what I'm saying is that you may not be looking at a lawsuit at all; that's not the only way the legal system has for resolving disputes like this. So, put plywood on your counters or some other temporary fix, DO NOT pay the guy another dime, talk to a few local lawyers who specialize in real estate or construction law (ask friends and your architect for recommendations) and pick the lawyer who seems best to you. The first step will probably be for him or her to write a mean letter to the contractor, and then you go from there. Oh, about this: **"Some of the things that really bother me could have been avoided with better communication - e.g. if they couldn't go to the ceiling with the cabinets b/c my ceiling isn't totally level (or something, I am just speculating), and they warned me about it, that would have been a lot better than telling me "Yes" and then not delivering."** I don't even see how that would be possible; if your ceiling's not totally level, then the cabinets would stop somewhere below the ceiling and it would be up to you to decide whether to build up the ceiling a little bit or put some moulding on to hide the gap. In other words I can't think of a legitimate reason that your ceiling would prevent you from having ceiling-height cabinets. I just mention this to cut through any BS you may have heard from the cabinet guy. Anyway, gather together everything you have in writing (including any drawings or mock-ups) and write down everything you remember saying to or hearing from the contractor. Have your architect forward you any emails she sent to or received from the contractor. Also go through your voicemail and see if he left you any voicemails that could be relevant. Then try and write up in one or two pages exactly what you understood he was supposed to build for you, in every detail (dimensions, materials, etc.), and then what he actually did build, and what problems that caused or will cause (e.g. plumbing messed up, plates won't fit, layout changed so cost increased). Also note any scheduling screwups that occurred. Go over it with your architect and your hubby (if any) in case they remember things you don't. Then send this write-up to the lawyer, along with a copy of your contract with the cabinet guy and any other really critical documents like emails where the contractor committed to something that wasn't clear in the original contract or where he said X but it later turned out he did Y. It will take less time (and thus cost you less money) for the lawyer to read this than for the lawyer to "interview" you to figure out what happened. Best of luck.

We added a gas fpl to a room the PO used as office but we use as a LR. It cost about $6000 for just the unit (Town and Country 42"). Then labor to run a gas line. Tile (handmade) and tile work for the surround and hearth. Custom molding (our is pretty big). I am sure it was 10k or more altogether, but IDK because it was part of a whole house project. It didn't feel intrusive in our room because it is a pretty big room and the fpl just takes up one side of an octagon. Your room is very charming as it. I'd hesitate to plunk down something so large without being 100% sure. I agree with ATK, use a room planner, or even better, mock it up with a cardboard box before you go forward.