Just a tiny suggestion, we have a nursery, and we try not to use peat moss. You have to get it wet or it turns into a rock. Then they can get over watered. I keep mine in the shade by the house. A few turn black but that can be normal with many cuttings. It doesn't mean anything unless you pull it out and its rotted. I use potting soil and perlite. You can use sand. I just have more luck with roses in potting soil and perlite. Perlite leaves air spaces so the soil doesn't compact down. I don't why roses like it but they do. I also have more luck with willow bark water or aspirin then root and grow. I'm not impressed with it. I use it and they maybe decide to root. Blue Stem Nursery explains this on their page. I just grab any willow branches i can find jam them in a stew pot and add water. I let it sit overnight. It may stain your stew pot it just depends. Leave it overnite until it cools, take out the wet branches and lay them over a plant that's not doing so good. Willow bark water helps things root, because of Salicic acid, which is how aspirin is made. Blue Stems recipe is one aspirin to 5 gallons of water. My girlfriend told me she used aspirin at the bottom of the one pot of a plant and it died. No kidding she killed it We make stew pots of willow water and pour it over our liner beds twice a year. It also gives their immune systems a fighting chance. I soak my roses in willow bark water a day or two before I plant them and just pray. Pray to the faeries, pray to God, just pray. Talk to them. They do pretty well. I know there's many ways to do it, but sticking them just as plants works. As often as possible I put them near their mother plant, I always feel she helps them root. I also found scientific evidence for that. But if it's too sunny like by some of my roses I put them on the porch behind the house so I see them every time I go out the back door. Messy? Yes it is. But I don't care, they're too precious Also I take them any time of the year, dont care. I take fat ones, thin ones, any I can find when I prune them back. The more you take the better a chance you have of getting some to root. Your choice, you have to find the way that works for you. Blessings, I know you will find a way. Best to you, Cat

Kswl, I'm so sorry, but amazed you've come through this with your sense of humor intact. You have a great GC! Buy his wife flowers. Here in SC we've got a bit of a situation here at the marina. It's gotten down into the teens for a couple of nights running, and while the marina staff turned off the water to the docks Sunday and opened all the valves at each and every spigot on our power stands,the pipes didn't drain sufficiently and there are shattered water pipes on every dock and the main dock. I think they're going to have to replace all the water lines. Meanwhile we have no water to the boats. On our own boat we're having problems with our water pump, and we've got to keep our hot water heater running, because we're afraid our own water lines will freeze. We can't run water continously because our water tank is finite, only half full, and who knows when we'll have a water source again from the dock. I'm ready for this weather pattern to abate.

By on top, i mean in front. The cavities between the studs seem to have a 1/2" thick drywall piece fitted in the voids between them- we are renovating a downstairs bathroom and this seems to be the case too- maybe this was draft protection in case anything got in through the shingle siding, and then the cedar interlocking planks- anyway, the original pipes downstairs never had a problem on the exterior wall either it seems, although they did have the added crappy 1950s faced batt as well. Not sure if all the batt can be removed from below, insulation contractor thinks its possible- but i'm thinking it will not be successful.

I would be extremely hesitant to go through with this purchase. There is so much damage all over the house from water -- I've cut out rot, filled and repainted from outside door trim and the back door to the garage, and that wasn't hard, but you seem to have so much of it! How old is this house? And trying to pass off the water heater as only 5 years old really concerns me. All of the houses in my neighborhood have the washers draining into a floor drain (into the utility tub then down a pipe to the floor drain opening) -- all built in the 1940s -- not a problem in any way . The mildew smell, if it is not from the shower curtain, is a big red flag also. Could be that they fixed the leak then closed up the wet area without letting it dry out. I think a major price reduction is in order here. I wouldn't let them make any repairs, but would insist on price savings to cover the cost or have them deposit the necessary funds in an escrow account for that purpose. Now that they have that inspection report, I think they have to disclose it to the other potential buyer also, so it isn't as if they have a sure thing in their pocket. Do you really love the location, lot and layout enough to take on these repairs?