dreamer-that does not sound right to me at all. I'd double check for sure. robyn-wow wow wow! I think you've got an awesome view from every single room! You HAVE to post one in the winter with snow on that beautiful mountain! tamaratom-love it all inside and out - wow, it's amazing. :D happeyvalley-that porch -those arches. :D :D Everyone is coming along so nicely and they all look great. Ahhh. If there were any way for a progressive house peeking snack tour I'd be all about it. ;) music-glad the trip was successful. Are you alllll settled now? I am thinking about taking a day off just to finish unpacking/organizing already. It's still driving me bonkers. I have 3 drawers and a lazy susan in the kitchen that are still all kitty wompus.

My Sea Pearl had bluish tones that turned greenish once in my home. Will they give you a sample? My stoneyard did not so I took a chance. Did you see the chart Karin_MT made up? Maybe you could go by her description of the various levels of quartzite. Will they let you do a water absorption test? The crystalline quartzite is easy to spot. Look at the names on the right, find one in your stoneyard and look for the grains, cross bedding, crystalline structure to see which one comes closest to looking like your stone. You might try either lemon juice or vinegar on a small paper towel in a zipper bag or maybe you could use an extra small empty hand sanitizer bottle. Don't ask...don't tell??? Don't forget to test it in different spots on the stone, not just one spot. Same with the glass test...use different spots. Read this article that Karin wrote about telling white stones apart. https://usenaturalstone.org/telling-white-stones-apart/ https://usenaturalstone.org/how-to-be-your-own-stone-sleuth/ And this one is excellent. https://usenaturalstone.org/properties-of-quartzite/

@amberm145 I have to chuckle at your post about the electricians. I went and helped my Dad put this sucker up one day. He was sitting on the top of a 16 foot ladder while I was hanging over the railing handing him each and every crystal ball. They were all numbered and had to go in a specific order. To say the hooks were small is an understatement, I'm surprised he could even hold on to them. He was fine, but I was the one shaking like a leaf even though I had a railing to lean against haha! (I was about 20 ft up) I think I was more nervous for him than anything. As for an update: Finally caught a break!! My bulldozing guy stopped by last night and informed me that the County called him because they saw him working on my property and also saw my "clean fill wanted" sign. They are bringing in 50 loads ... for FREE! Which is huge for us because it's not cheap here (is it anywhere?!) and I'm going to need a total of about 120 loads. I had a company bringing 30-40 loads on Friday so I had to ask them to move that to next week. I felt bad but simply can't turn down free fill. Hopefully this will help pay for the changes I had to make to my kitchen haha!

I am the resident expert only because real HVAC systems engineers don't frequent this forum, as far as I know. Noise introduced into the kitchen will be significantly reduced if an external blower with silencer can be fitted. A lot of the high frequency blade tip turbulence caused noise will be removed. This is also true of an in-line (duct mounted) blower. The issue of the neighbor is difficult to assess. What is the configuration of his or her windows relative to your potential external blower (1500 CFM I assume you meant). Your own window sound transmission is also an unknown. Generally, the external noise could be abated by (a) using a silencer on each side of a duct mounted in-line blower, or (b), using a deliberately under-driven* "up-blast" commercial blower (mounted as a side blast). (I think opaone is using an under-driven blower for his new system.) It is also possible to use a chase to move the blower up to roof level. I have a 1500 CFM nominal Wolf (Broan) blower on my roof. Its sound level is detectable but not obtrusive from the ground, but it might be if in a wall location where the sound is "trapped" between two houses. Possibly a more expensive but similar in design Abbaka downslope unit would be marginally quieter. ------ * commercial blowers of this type can use a pulley system between motor and fan that allows for different ratios. By choosing a ratio that operates the fan blades below their rated speed when the motor is receiving maximum voltage, significant turbulence noise can be avoided. The physical cost is a larger unit than would otherwise be required for the desired flow rate. Residential blower fans are directly coupled to their motors.