I've worked in this industry for over 20 years, having owned and built my own business and now I work at training people. I am one of a relatively small group who believe carpet cleaners should be qualified. We are cleaning thousands of dollars worth of carpet and home furnishings. Electricians and plumbers don't deal with property worth as much as what a textile floor cleaner does yet they must have a full certificate and serve an apprenticeship. The Carpet and Rug institute recommends technicians certified with the IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification). Most of the Standards boards world wide will only recommend Hot Water Extraction HWE as a full restoration style of cleaning. I think Chem-Dry were losing market share due to this and in more recent years added HWE (They had been using it on carpeted stairs for years). To continue their "Dry" branding they promote their patented Carbonated cleaning method. I have had many discussions with Chem-Dry technicians over the years and they all sprout the glories of their unique system but I've never seen results from them results to go with it. In the end it always comes down to the operator. You need someone who cares enough to pay attention to detail and who wants to be trained in all aspects of their craft = Fibre technology, suitable chemistry for those fibres, stain removal, water damage restoration etc. etc. This often comes from an owner operator of a small business who truly wants to impress you and so do the best possible job. For me it was seeing colleagues who didn't care and wanting to rise above that and restore rather than destroy carpets. May I suggest next time you need your carpet cleaned that you try the IICRC for a recommended cleaner and compare the difference? I'm not suggesting you will get a bad job from Chem-Dry, I am only suggesting you check their qualifications and look for the very best option. http://www.iicrc.org/ All the best

WOT just click there and on that page click on the download now and you want to get the one for the browser you use so if you use Internet Explorer choose the one for it IE if you use firefox choose the one for firefox, if you use both then you have to get both for each browser and use the specific browser to get them. that is all there is to it, after that you will see the green yellow or red circles to let you know if you want to go to that page, if it is red stay away.

First off lets get one thing perfectly clear I have NEVER claimed to be the ONLY person here HELPING, how absurd. I volunteer on numerous wonderful support/help forums with a multitude of absolutely wonderful knowledgeable people this one included. I never advise anyone to do or use something that I would not use myself and that will NOT change. And any time I see one recommended that I know has some problem I WILL with out doubt provide that info so that any person considering it will have full info to make an informed decision on that program themselves, with full knowledge. And I appreciate it when someone who knows something negative about a programs speaks up and provides that info, it is how we learn. IObit has been found guilty of several thefts of program material over the years this theft of malwarebytes is just one more. NOT the kind of people I want to entrust ANY ones pc to. Try reading the info provided about IOBit. I never mentioned you anywhere in my post, I simply referred to the program,(which I would have done no matter who posted about it, and have done in the past) no idea why on Earth you felt the need to slam me, but I am not the only one here you have done it to, it really does not surprise me. Done

You should post your question in the fireplace forum to get lots of opinions. There is such a forum on gardenweb. My neighbor had some sort of deluxe fireplace installed. Not sure if it was an upgrade or if he never had one. He goes through mountains of wood but says it heats his whole house. He has a family room with a cathedral ceiling that has an opening to the second floor hallway and since heat rises...I think he said he used 5 cords of wood. I'm not sure, but I do recall thinking it was a lot of wood and it wasn't free (maybe one batch was free). I don't know how healthy that is to heat your house all the time with wood. Maybe it has doors and a filter...I don't know. He just got his gas bill and it was $50. Mine was $115, but I did have my mother-in-law here for a week with her "thin" FL blood so we had to keep the heat at 70-72 rather than 66-68. Neighbor and I both have tankless water heater. You might consider wood as a cheaper back up option and also ask on the other forum about a unit that can use gas and/or wood. That's what I would do if I had the $. On another note...MY gas usage on the current bill was higher than last year. Last year we used 65 ccf for a 28 day bill period with avg temp on bill listed as 49.6 This year we used 82 Ccf on a 33 day cycle with a temp of 45.5. The longer bill cycle, lower temp and mother-in-law makes it hard for me to see if my 97% heater,air sealing and tankless SAVED me anything over my old 91% furnace without air seal and my 57% water heater. I have to wait for a bill cycle that more closely matches the temp etc to tell if it helped or not.