Hey ChickaDDD, I know what you mean about Chicklet's story. He sounds super natural or something. Sleeping on roof, resetting his own arm, Typhoon or something and his birthday. WOW. But like you said if it is true your are surely helping them and thats all that matters. I must have missed it when the unwelcoming committee killed a catbird chick. That is awful!!! And it is not FUN to get rid of HOSP. I dont know why they would say that and it makes me sick. I cant believe they said it was fun, that is disgusting and shows how stupid they are. I hope you dont dislike ME for it but I have seen them with my own eyes terrorize my other birds and not just the cavity nesters, but i dont enjoy it. I just want to save my other birds. They were after Braveheart today when he and Scardycat would try to feed their babies AND they are building two nests in two of my boxes right now :-( When papa tries to bring food they jump him and fall to the ground. It is just pure harassment and today i noticed his right eye was closed up. I dont think it was the HOSP because he was fighting two mockers today too and they probably got fed up with him getting in the middle and decided to kick him around awhile. My blue is insane they are twice his size. But now he will be at risk of hawk attack because he cant see from that side. Ahhhhhhh SIGH. I am having such stress this year with the bluebirds. I love them and all the birds except the HOSP and it is hard on me because I worry so about the birds. My other little sparrows are building in my holly bush that the robins used three times this year ( they were busy ), you know the little ones that i keep blowing there little babies out of the bush. So at least i know where they are this time and wont blow them out. Birds are so funny. She fusses at me every time i go out there but then builds her nest right in my back steps. Go figure :-) Why would they kill a catbird? I dont understand that, it must have been before i joined because i dont remember seeing it. Do you know what month and maybe i can go back and find that post. That is very disturbing, maybe they are just animal killers? Maybe they do enjoy it. They almost had me convinced that the house wrens were evil till Bet got on there. Maybe they kill all birds except bluebirds. That's sick :-( Well im glad you didn't have any little jets get confused and end up in your house today :-) Maybe they realized that outside is where they belong. Hopefully for you and your families sake. All summer without air conditioning is a horrible thought for me. You are a very strong and sweet person to sacrifice your comfort for the little jets. I bet Daisy was hot too with all that hair. My Mary is very hairy like that ( 4 layers of fur ) and she doesn't even like to be outside in the summer. We are very spoiled. Im glad your kitties got bored with the swifts, i know you were blaming yourself for the deaths but you didn't know they were coming so im glad all is good now :-) I better go because this is long but i know i could talk a lot more!!! LOL. She who is to long winded~~~~~~~Bonnie

DensPlus (and other non-paper-faced gypsum panels) are much more resistant to moisture than the green paper panels. That's why they can be used as tile backers. However, Dens Plus is much harder to prepare for painting than green board; it needs a skim coat. Frankly, other than in a bathroom, I've never used anything other than standard drywall in basements. But I always have a dehumidifier running to keep rh below 50%. And keeping the drywall a few inches above the floor and using XPS under the baseplates protects the wall from minor flood damage. Sealing the interior of a block wall--to the extent that the sealers can even do that--just means moisture accumulates in the wall and possibly causes damage.

I assume the "tar" is in fact creosote from past use of the fireplace before it had the stainless steel liner. My understanding is the a masonry chimney (is this lined with tile, of an older chimney that is just the brick or block?) should be "power cleaned" (if needed, i.e., it has creosote that doesn't come out with a simple chimney brushing) before a stainless steel pipe is inserted, and then sealed at the top so that the inside of the SS pipe is the only air passage to the outside/roof. Not sure, some may also put insulation in the area between the SS pipe and the rest of the original chimney. Now that said, as you've had "experts" (I assume licensed or at least certified chimney experts) look and try to fix it must not be what I just said. I add here just in case it has some value. In our case we have finally given up on a 20 year old insert, this isn't airtight, well the insert is but it just dumps into the brick/tile smoke chamber, doesn't have a sealed pipe connection. The reason is we get some real bad old fire smell in the house whenever the weather is warm and humid, often the case in the summer in NJ. We're waiting for the temp to get above freezing to have the chimney power cleaned and a Lock-Top damper put on the top, with a chain coming down the chimney to open/close. This means we'll use this fireplace only as a fireplace, and not often I suspect as it will not give us a net heat gain for our money spent on wood.

The coolers work awesome except some foams and caulks eat styrofoam so some testing needs to take place before you head into the attic. If you have to deal with codes and an inspector ask his opinion first. There are covers available that can be caulked in place and are treated so they won't burn and aren't quite as easy to find, are more of a pain to work with and to some are expensive if you have a dozen to do. One other option is a 'sealed' trim that goes on the inside. I think these are great if installed and caulked in place so they truly are sealed but then painting can be a challenge later. They come with a flakey stick on gasket which is still much better than a cheap trim but still is far from perfect without caulk. I have purchased the trims from Ebay much cheaper than home depot or lowes and I did use caulk and caulked the tiny slots in the top of the trim and at the ring to sheetrock contact area. Doing the rings inside the house still does not spare you from sealing the wires and pipes that enter into the attic which are huge leaks also. Most people blow off the recessed light sealing and they can be the largest hole into your attic and cause the most comfort/allergy issues. I have 14 and on an energy audit we tested the cfm or cubic feet per minute of air at each vent and register and also tested each recessed light on a day with light wind. I had an average leakage of 5 cfm from each light which doesn't seem like much until you do the math per hour and per day. 70cfm per minute for 14 lights 4,200 cfm per hour 100,800 cfm per day. I don't even remember the numbers when we fanned the doors but they went all over the place negative and positive which pulls nice clean air out of your attic and cellulose fibers or fiberglass fibers in for the owner to live in. I highly recommend paying someone to shoot your house inside and out with a thermal imaging camera before you jump in too far so you can develop a game plan. I also highly recommend a blower door test with the thermal camera and cfm testing ducts and such. I had less than 150cfm total of actual return air going through my registers on a 1200cfm system because I was sucking air out of the attic and basement for return air. I would have never known the severity of the issue without the test. Get the testing done and pay for it get photos of the results. I would pay for the testing and any other services I would wait on until you digest the information and figure the best way to attack the issues. I hope I get to read your findings and what approach you decide on. You are on track to keep money in your wallet and be more comfortable in the process.