I can't tell you what's causing dust in your house, but will tell you how we manage in our house. We have forced air heating and central air. Here in North Carolina we almost never open the windows because it's usually too hot or too cold. During only about 6 weeks, 3 in spring and 3 in late summer/early fall, can we comfortably open windows for a while. That means we are dealing with continually recirculating air. Indoor air quality is a problem. It can get polluted (and dusty). We use MMM air filters, which cost about $15 each. They are probably the most expensive air filters on the market but, unlike the cheap filters that last only one month, these last 3 months. These filters are endorsed by the American Lung Association, and they do a very good job filtering even very small particles. We also use a vacuum that has a HEPA filter. This is very important because vacuum cleaners that do not have such a filter do redistribute fine dust particles into the air. There are several vacuum cleaners on the market that come with HEPA filters. Ours cost over $500, but we found out after buying ours that there are several that cost much less. Shop around. I don't know how much activity or how many people are in your house, but I would say, vacuum often, and sweep the kitchen floor at least once a day. To control indoor air pollution build up, they say it's a good idea to open the windows for a few minutes once or twice a week. We try to do that when the temperature is mildest -- early morning in summer, midafternoon in winter. An old fashioned wood burning fireplace can generate a lot of dust, especially if the chimney has not been cleaned for some time. When dusting furniture and other surfaces that gather dust, be sure to use SWIFERS (or whatever they're called), or use a paper towel that's very lightly dampened with water, so you'll catch the dust and not cause it to go into the air. (It's true that water is not good for wood furniture IF IT'S ALLOWED TO PUDDLE AND STAY THERE FOR A LONG TIME), but if you use a very lightly dampened cloth you won't harm it. I hope these suggestions help.

Hi Estreya: I have five cats and one male sprayer named Elvis. I had Elvis on antidepressants for about three years. The vet changed from Amitryptilin to Paxil. They just kept upping the dosage and it never did ever stop his spraying completely. He was just doped up all the time. I finally hated seeing him look so out of it and took him off of them completely. Yes he still sprays, but not near as much as he did in the past. I have no idea why that is. He is 11, so I guess I will be dealing with this for a couple more years, but I am used to it and have become quite the cleaner because of it. LOL! I tried the Feliway spray when it first came out. I would have to spray the whole house because he would just spray somewhere new. It was a bit rediculous and costly. I am lucky that now in the house we have lived in for the last four years he has more room and is keeping his spraying to one room in the basement. We have cement floors that I sealed thank goodness, but like your problem we had the cheap base boards. We took them off cleaned the area replaced with new cheap base boards and this time I sealed around the top of the base boards with caulking. We now keep the door closed, but the odor is gone. It was just absorbed into the baseboards not the drywall because I had painted the wall all the way to the floor before we installed the first base boards. I really don't think there is any product out there that will get the urine smell out of carpet padding though. The enzyme cleaners like you are using are the only option for cutting some of the odor though. I use a Hoover steam cleaner on my carpet. It is the best investment I have made for my house and my sanity. LOL! I am with you about putting in hardwood floors and ditching the carpet. Go for it! If you do decide to put your cat on an antidepressant ask your vet to prescribe it in a compounded form. It is basically a cream form you rub on the outside of the ear and it absorbs into the skin. Pilling a cat is no fun as you probably know, so just to save you and your precious cat from a stressful situation go for the cream form. I also used a liquid form and it was a mess. If you ever have to have someone else watch your cat it is much easier for them to put cream on the cat's ear than pill it. LOL! Sorry this is so long, but I feel your pain. We love them so much we will do about anything for them. One more thing you might try is putting a second litter box in the room she seems to be spraying in the most and see if she will use it instead of spraying. My male cats sprays in his litter box also. LOL! I know that is not very appealing having a litter box in your living areas, but it might do the trick. Just make sure it is a hooded one to keep the smell in. I clean my three litter boxes twice a day and I have used the attract cat litter. It is pretty expensive for three litter boxes and I am not certain if it did any good, but it is always worth a try. Boy have I worn your eyes out yet? Sorry this is so long. :) Good luck tomorrow. Let us know how it all goes.

Ashe 42, I love charcoal slate and these tiles are great. They are rectangular with variation in size of the rectangles, so sort of a more linear look than a lot of traditional square slate tiles. The tile is from Earthstone Gallery in Reno, NV but I don't actually know the brand (ordered them directly from the showroom based on the display). I now have 24 square feet of gently used tile, but it wasn't inexpensive - upward of $20/sq ft as I recall. Argh. Linelle, thanks for the words of support - greatly appreciated! Unfortunately there is some tangential family connection and it is a small community. I don't think they're bad people, it's just not a business model that lends itself to good customer service (we have to fight with them to get itemized cost lists, like for plumbing fixtures, and then consistently find errors - all of which labels us "bad clients"). This crew does good work, so I'm a lot better off than other stories I've heard in that I feel the house will hold up! All the subs live in fear of this builder and their designers, who will cut them off at the drop of a hat if they talk to their clients out of turn, etc. But that is the business model - controlling the clients to get them to agree to what is profitable, and controlling the subs to get them to do what they want, is the bottom line for the relatively low price/sq ft in a more assembly line "semi-custom home" approach. I do feel ambivalent about having made this choice, and honestly had no idea what I was getting into; nonetheless, it was our choice. The good news is that I really like the foreman and many of the subs, so the people who are actually doing the work are great (vs the owners, managers and avaricious designers).

They'll get better as the season goes on. I usually test various plants to see how they do in my area. I generally trust the perennial and annual labels, and even what people say, but there just seems to be some plants that I like which I want to see how durable they are. I have an annual salvia that has been growing for about 5 years without dying back. I thought it was the salvia itself that was defying its label for my region, but last year, I planted another same plant in another area of the garden, and it died. So now I have realized, the random spot next to the house that I planted that first one, was just a lucky spot. It must have the right microclimate to survive the winters.