Hi All. Live in eastern Ontario and just got installed a Greenspeed 25VNA048 heat pump w a 59MN7080 gas furnace to stop paying for oil. It was a learning curve for this system as it is an advanced heat pump system - expect the competition to ramp up their pumps HSPF to 13 also or lose the market. My coldest night so far was -15C and we got our 21C/70F indoor temp in our 2800 sq.ft house.My balance point is set for -17C/1F and I should be getting to -18C this wed/Thurs evening for a real test for the normal switch to gas furnace. Yes the system by default uses gas heat on defrost. Without it it would be blasting cold air in the ducts for 5 minutes. So the gas frnace heat modulates at 65% so to neutralize the cold air so air temp swings are minimum for comfort. Yes you can disable this on the touch screen interface in service/ setup/ heat source lockouts. Yes one can monitor electrical costs in $$$ or Kw and gas $$$ or therms on a per day/ per month and per year to date on the interface. I've experimented between the different options in choosing efficiency or comfort and there is a noticeable difference to the environment and a slight increase in costs of electricity between the two. I do prefer comfort. On an average cold day 0C/32F w -5C at night it costs me @ $5 per day in electricity and with heat on defrost w/ continuous low fan for only an additional cost of $1 every third day (.33cents per day). (yes the different areas of kw usage is separated in the readout) The only puzzle I have to resolve is last Saturday nite at 3 am the house felt cold - it was 15 F outside. Gas furnace came on for a couple of hours before pump came back ???. No codes or resetable fault codes registered on interface. The only way for the gas to go on at that temp way above the balance point is a 2 degree drop or a manual increase of temp of 2 degrees or more. So why did did happen.... stay tuned.... Gotta love saving money. Last year in October it cost me $425 in oil - this year for Oct gas+electrical $202 Included is a pic Update Jan 2014: had issues w furnace overiding heatpump prematurely and Carrier change my thermostat which had Version 9 to version 10 software - issue fixed. those who want to see what savings a heat pump can have over your specific system try this: http://sagoro.wrightsoft.com/Carrier/Default.aspx This post was edited by Cocobob on Mon, Jan 13, 14 at 23:22

In my picture above, the sample door on the left is an RTA cabinet received from Cabinets-express.com (a local RTA dealer) but their website does not show the white shaker. the cabinets express door is very bright white (i took the photo with my cell phone so may not be the best) but you can tell a very big difference in how white compared to the 6square (the door on the right with remnants of Spaghetti stain) which looks almost like an off white, linen/grey hue to it. The sheen on the 6square door is less shiny than the RTA cabinet when you see them in person. The 6square/cliq was my choice until i ran this test. I really wanted to order it and liked their style, options, etc. i was just thinking about it and looked at my current cabinets (woodgrain maple) which have had minor food splattered on them in the past past (i.e. cooking, a dropped plate, etc). Due to the wood color you didn't notice stains if you missed a spot when cleaning up splatters. Which got me to thinking "wouldn't it be terrible if an all white kitchen showed stains? ... what could you do other than live with it or repaint" so I did the testing and was disappointed to see the "painted white' 6square samples i received would not let go of a spaghetti stain. Glad I did the test before I ordered them. i am 99.99% certain that i am testing, looking at the "painted white" 6square and here is why i can say that with confidence. Before I got my 6square sample door (and corner samples all in "painted white dayton door style") we met a local 6square dealer and he showed us the "painted white" 6square cabinet door sample. I remember immediately thinking "is that really white?...it looks flat and linen/greenish". I didn't say anything at the time but mentioned it to my wife later...she said she didn't notice. So I ordered the door samples form Cliq and it is the exact same sheen and off white color. Hard to tell exactly unless you have a real white to compare to (I know there are tons of whites).. I am using the Home Depot Behr 'Ultra Pure White" semi gloss as a baseline for my comparisons. The off the shelf behr ultra pure white is very bright white and matches your typical "bright whites' like white appliances, etc The 'ultra Pure White" matches exactly with color of the RTA white cabinet in my picture. I showed my wife the same samples side by side and she said "wow, I see what you mean". So I have two unrelated confirmations that the 6square 'painted white' is an off white with a flatter sheen that might not work for a "wipeable" kitchen cabinet. for a bathroom they might be perfect but not a kitchen where food can splatter or drip. perhaps 6square never realized this or took the time to test their painted white but it is an inferior paint grade IMO and not suitable for a kitchen. This post was edited by goodguy2k2k on Mon, Apr 15, 13 at 10:28

I just had a quartz counter installed in my bathroom and notice those dull dots all over on the top. I’ve been looking for Quartz my kitchen counters and looked at several different brands. I see the dull dots on some and not others. It seems they appear on the cheaper brands? Maybe it’s a coincidence? I asked my court supplier why it looks like that and he said I don’t know? I do notice though that there are some that say polish and I don’t see those little doll dots so I wonder if it’s a finishing process on the quartz? Anyone have any similar situation if you hold it in a certain light, it looks like a bunch of pixels on a computer.

We ended up switching from an LVP to Mohawk RevWood Plus, which is a laminate that has a “WetProtect” lifetime surface and subfloor waterproof warranty, maximum scratch protection, and a lifetime “All Pet” warranty against pet stains. We are SO happy we decided to switch from LVP to this laminate, for a couple of reasons. We are still getting the water protection benefit of the LVP, while also getting the durability of a higher quality laminate, and for less money. Another huge plus, in our opinion, is that the “grain” in the surface of the laminate is visual without being abrasive. The Paradigm flooring was actually rough enough that I could not run a dust mop across the boards easily, only in the directions the boards were laid—which isn’t always the most convenient way of doing things. The laminate is enough smoother than this is not an issue, and is also MUCH more comfortable on bare feet, and gentler on socks and the knees of our little grandies crawling across it. Just my $0.02.