Lee, Sorry to hear anyone having to let go of their collection ! I just emailed your post to Linda Thorne of Seagrove Orchids in North Carolina. She will be on her way up here to do the NCOS Orchid Show & Sale on Oct. 11 - 13. I thought you two might benefit each other. Give her a buzz, (336) 879-6677 or email, orchidlinda@rtmc.net. Hope that helps ! Chryss

I recall that video. Very interesting. However, your house is not falling down. It just looks like one section was exposed to water for too many years and is suffering from deterioration, perhaps from chemicals in the ground water. Sulfate attack, for instance. The interior parging could be falling off from the exterior-to-interior moisture drive and/or from a wall wetted by a wet foundation drawing in water by capillary action. The outside parging is probably deteriorating from the freeze/thaw cycle. Parging is sometimes applied as a "sacrificial" coating. In any case, you shouldn't expect it to be a permanent covering. It looks to me like the basement finishing job was designed to hide, not cure any problems. And not done well. The steel frame, for instance, is mounted directly to the damp floor, instead of being set on, at least, a vapour barrier. Anyway, before you spend a small fortune on hunches and distant guesswork--including mine!--get an inspection by a structural engineer.

OP - I really think you need to sit down and rethink your position. You have a lot of ideas swirling around, but they're not well defined or mutually consistent. First, you need to define much more concretely what kind of house you really want - you say simple, unpretentious, but then mention 10 foot ceilings in the basement, multiple living/family rooms and perhaps even a cupola. You don't need separate rooms for every function, which is what your wish list kind of comes across as: you might want to consider re-doing your "needs" and "wants" not in terms of rooms required but in terms of the functions you want your house as a whole to perform. Rooms that can do double duty would save you square footage and money. Second, as I mentioned previously, you need to get a handle on housing costs where you live. That may mean going to open houses, surfing Zillow, talking to local agents or having a sit down with a contractor or architect. Third, I think you should put aside the idea of paying for the house in cash. While I'm all in favor of getting rid of that mortgage asap for many of the reasons outlined by Mrs Pete (you cannot put a dollar value on the feeling of security you get if you grew up in a less than secure housing environment, but finally pay off your own home), nonetheless it makes a lot of sense to have a low-interest mortgage and put your cash into higher-return investments, especially if you're more or less "starting out." Fourth, you need to think about your personal financials, particularly once you have a better idea of what your housing costs are likely to be. When I bought my first house, I took out a mortgage that was about half of what the bank approved, because I knew I could pay that amount without having to chip into my contingency fund (at the time, 3 months salary) and while still contributing to my retirement fund and my regular investment fund. So, I bought a smaller, simpler place than my bank would have allowed, simply because it suited my long term financial goals better. I'm much older now, have built up a decent portfolio, as has my better half, so we did pay cash outright for our last house - but again, we built a house that was less than we could afford, but allowed us to leave savings and retirement funds intact (we did have to sell one investment property as well as our old home to make it happen, but that was no great sacrifice!) People talk a lot about dream houses, but sometimes a dream house isn't all marble floors and a backyard swimming pool or 5000 sq feet of space. Sometimes it's living comfortably and affordably in a good area, and enjoying a retirement that allows you to enjoy life, restaurants, travel, and friends. The dream life is more important to me than the dream house.

Thanks everyone, one of the contractors did leave me a message today so I called him back. He is coming next week on one of my days off. It will give me and my daughter time to pull up the carpet in the sunroom. I won't contact a home inspector. Chisue, I used to use it quite a bit when I first moved in. Loved reading in there on my big cushy chair and ottoman. Then neighbors back there had kids who would scream and fight and basically killed the enjoyment for me. I would love to sit out there again if I can put the screens back in and open the doors up. It gets pretty hot in there from Summer thru the Fall even with the overhead fan. I think I'd also use a covered porch too, but as others mentioned there are a lot of bugs here in KY too.