Forests are often defined by their dominent species in a the mature or last climax succession. For example a if a woodland site is completely burned first smaller bushes will grow then successively larger trees until eventually you get a fairly stable group of plants. It sounds as if you might be in a Maple, Cherry Beech Appalachain type of forest. If you find a forestry text ( also may be called sylvics or sylviculture) you can find a list of what types of trees grow. Usually this will include the big trees and the understory trees. It has been several years since I studied this but I think you might find. Red Maple, Black Cherry, American Beech, Tulip Popler, Sugar Maple and Hemlock as some of you dominate species. Understory might include grey birch, yellow birch, witch hazel, sassafrass. The non-woody plants and much harder to define because they change more rapidly. As the trees grow the shade conditions change and plants that grew well before no longer do. If an area loses its trees by wind or fire wildflowers and other plants which have not been there for years suddenly appear because there is more light. The seeds have been in the soil all the time waiting for the right conditions to grow, this is called the seed bank.

I'm going to have to say fir. Based on the first pic I could have also gone with white pine, but the pic with it stained is the giveaway. I wouldn't recommend staining it without conditioner or sealer, or its going to look more or less like the last pic, IOW awful. IMO. Unless you like the zebra look. Casey

I have stone look laminate flooring in my kitchen and dinning area. At first I didn't like it because it spotted.. But since I bought swiffer It looks great. I didn't buy the swiffer mop...just a refill bottle. poked a hole in the top and squeezed it into a spray bottle...I just spray it on the floor and use my regular mop to do a real quick once over and it looks like new. It has been down for 5 or 6 years now and looks as good as the day we put it down...except in one spot over in the corner some one must have dropped something sharp and pointed and it made a little pointed gouge in it. I never see it and have to look for it to find it. With these three large dogs running and sliding and skidding across it all the time you would think it would be all scratched looking but it isn't. I admit , right now it looks dirty a lot...but I just don't have the energy to keep after those darn dogs. I sure wish there would have been a better solution to that dog problem. I can't wait for that part of all this to be over. patti

We had a screen porch when we moved in, one of the reasons for buying the house. I wish I had been able to spend a few days in the house before buying it for that reason, as it did increase the cost of the house compared to our neighbors, since it was "extra living space." We had a screen porch at the house we were leaving, so wanted one in our next house. Not all screen porches are created equally and be sure you have adequate circulation. The way our house was built/porch addition, the air was trapped and it was always hot. We used two floor fans and 2 ceiling fans and it was still hot and muggy (in the south). I had no idea there was that big difference in the location of porches and we ended up never using it, plus it blocked light to the interior which we so needed. A tornado one brisk spring did a great deal of damage to our porch, garden, roof, cars, etc. We decided when they tore the screen porch down, that we would not have a screen porch again at this house. I do love them when they work, but ours did not, so just make sure that all your weep holes and venting holes are not directed at you when you are outside, and that you have good air circulation. We added a pergola over what was our screen porch, left the concrete intact. We are able to have all-weather furniture and two swings and use it as often or more often than the cold screen porch in fall/winter, the hot screen porch in spring/summer. I do love screen porches but not all houses are located so that they work well. Just make sure of that before building. Having said all that,we built a small screen porch near our shop which is part of our house and we get great air circulation there and although it is not very large, only accommodates 4-5 people and the dog, we do enjoy it. I am saying, Just make sure the location of any screen porch has good air circulation and is not getting all the hot air from your attic in summer and cold air in winter.