I know it's an old thread, but I came across it and felt I could add something for other people wondering the same thing. Wow, so ok, this thread is... very interesting? Went from somewhat helpful to nursery bashing lol. There are four ways to control vigor/ size in a tree: Precocity, spacing, dwarfing rootstocks, and pruning out large branches. You can plant them 2ft apart in the row and 8ft alleys as a spindle if you want, or 20 ft apart as an open vase if you want (hint: the spindle is going to yield more than the vase per acre). The biggest thing to maximizing yields is maximizing bearing surface and light interception per acre. I use dual-leader UFO (upright fruiting offshoot) training for everything now. UFO was originally developed for spur-fruiting species (apples, plums, pears, cherries), but it can be modified to work with tip and year-old-growth bearing species (some apples, peaches, apricots). You just have to space out your uprights more and allow for limited lateral branching. For peaches, I plant trees 8 feet apart in row, with 7ft alleys (I use a TYM 234 tractor). I plant the trees at roughly a 45 degree angle. I allow the uprights on the primary leader to grow (keep terminal bud upright), and select one below the bottom cordon to train as the second leader. I then remove the other buds below the bottom wire. By the end of 1st leaf, you should have both leaders tied to the wire, and mostly filled the space between trees, you've pruned off the pendant shoots, and you should have some fruiting wood for next year. In the winter, tip back the fruit sticks and eliminate damaged/crowded wood. second leaf- limited fruiting possible, focus on establishing your uprights roughly every 10 inches (6 inches for spur bearing species) and finish filling in the space. Eliminate pendant wood, shoots sticking outside of the vertical plane, and any uprights beyond your "permanent" ones in late summer, after any harvest (limited regrowth that way). Next year's fruiting wood is now on the upright shoots. Tip back the fruit sticks and eliminate damaged/crowded fruiting wood. Third Leaf- should definitely get fruit, goal is to get your upright shoots to the top wire (which for a should be roughly 75% of your alley width, IMO). Same kind of pruning as previous years. At some point, your laterals are going to start to grow together, at that point, you need to do renewal pruning in the winter back to a bud near the upright. Once your uprights get to about 1.25x your alley width, head the uprights back to on bud above the top wire (otherwise you'll shade the bottom of the next row). As uprights approach 3/4 to 1 inch diameter at the base, take the largest one every year down to one bud above the leader (unlike apples and cherries, peaches don't regenerate as readily, so you need to give it the best chance). All renewal type pruning should be done before budbreak, to encourage vigorous regrowth.

Back onto the OP question, I don't believe moving from 2x4 to 2x6 should be as costly as your architect believes. MacV's breakdown is much more accurate from my experience. 2x6's were around $1 more per 10ft in my area, so the extra lumber bill was in the $3,000 range. If you order the windows and doors from the manufacturer with the jambs built for 2x6, the extra cost is minimal, something like $20 per window or door (maybe $50 for doors). Insulation, well you can spend as little or as much as you want, but striking the balance between air infiltration and price is the center of most debates. R value is great in a lab, but in the real world, you need your doors and windows to shut tight and keep the walls from allowing wind in. Worthy's mention of an exterior foam board (taped at the seams) coupled with a blown in cellulose or fiberglass is a great economical choice. He's also right about the interior walls, I should have done 2x6 there as well. You really can't insulate around the DWV pipes for sound in a 2x4 wall.

Thanks!! I'll have to take a photo of it to post. I don't know--just "looks" utilitarian. Not toungue & groove, I don't think--you can see the spaces in between the boards. Just a really rough finish--not that that means anything, since it's been under at least 60 years of particle board and think laminate tile. It's a pretty big house (3100sf) but all original with no additions--even though that back part steps down a few inches to the back two bedrooms and bath (obviously added later!). I'm guessing the back 1/3 was not considered as "formal" since the ceilings are 2 ft. lower. The interesting part of the whole equation is that the only other room in the house with this type of flooring is the front parlour, currently covered in carpet. You would think it would have had the nicest flooring, since it's the formal living space, but my father-in-law (who's father bought this place in the 50's) swears that this room was never intended for hardwood flooring--it had carpet from day one (but how would he know from 80 years prior?). What are the chances of that being true? I just find it odd that all of the other original floors are in tact but this one. But I can't imagine someone would rip out perfectly good, matching hardwood floors either...at some point prior to 1950. Owning an old home really is like a scavenger hunt, I tell you! -Sarah

Michigan occupies building climate zones 5 - 7. Zone 5 is the warmest zone that can still comply with the R20 cavity-only requirement. It looks like Ontario has adopted similar IRC mandatory exterior insulative sheathing. We use the performance compliance path on every home, one of the many advantages to including a third party energy rater. Most raters are not keen on getting too far away from code prescriptions. For some of the prescriptions, like blower door minimums, it's cost-effective to exceed code. Most high performance builders are exceeding code with exterior insulation as code encourages risky wall strategies, hence the recommended minimum table I first posted about. Even leaky, all natural homes can have poor indoor air quality. Outdoor air ventilation is now required by current IRC codes and a smart idea for any inhabited enclosed space. It's a life-safety requirement and long overdue measure for modern homes.