Tigerdunes - We have a sort of complicated system I think. We already had a Crestron home control system with a wall sensor in each of the three zones reporting back to the Crestron thermostats (CHV-THSTAT) located in the furnace room. An EWC control board controls the automatic dampers (model UZC4). Initially, there was not an outside temp sensor for the EWC board, but I had them install that last spring. At that time they also checked the HP refrigerant charge, so that should be OK. The dip switches I need them to check are on the EWC board - I don't think it is set right now to have the outside temp sensor control turning off the HP. We had switched to a different HVAC contractor for this furnace/HP install as they have a good reputation, but are not the cheapest in town. They work mostly with Trane systems and do a lot of heat pumps, but were not familiar with the EWC control panel or interfacing with this Crestron system. Their quote to check the furnace/HP for overall function and CO, etc is $135. My only real question is to have them check that the humidifier is running correctly (not hooked to a specific humidity, but runs when heat is called for); it appears otherwise that the system is working ok and CO levels are zero. I'm not sure there is much reason to do a whole system check at this point. When selling us the system, they argued that using a HP for the long fall and spring times is more efficient than using gas all year - for average yearly temps, using the HP about 206 days (some of that is cooling but mostly heating) and furnace 159 days. Last winter, I manually locked out the HP (a switch on the EWC panel) for most of the winter as we had a cold winter last year. I got different answers as to when to lock out the HP. The chart they gave us suggested around 35 degrees, but the salesman suggested around 25 degrees or so. Hopefully this winter the changeover between HP and furnace will be based on outside temp. Last year without the temp sensor, the thermostat would call for the changeover when it would take too long to get the house up to the desired temp using the HP. Regarding utility rates on the most recent bills: natural gas per therm: $0.9897 + $0.1177 distribution charge, but there also was a rebate of 0.26/ therm for change in gas rates. elec: $0.1015/KWH Hopefully this makes some sense! Thanks!

If the posts are already notched in to the rim joist depending on how deep the notch is it might be possible to use the Simpson set ups and get your finnal. Simpson has the market with these fasteners and they are a little spendy. They have that market for good reason having jumped thru all the rings of fire to get it. This all lands on your Contrator,the contract you signed with him,and if he is a stand up guy. JonMon

akkw, so sorry this is turning out like it is, but I think you are making a wise decision. Even if this means a little chaos to start with schools etc. it probably means less chaos in the long run for your family. You don't know if you would have to move out of the other house for any period of time to fix problems and re-mediate the mold so better some chaos now than a lot more later. It will most likley just seem like some chaos of moving anyways and you'll be better off long term.

I have purchased a number of older homes, and this sounds like par for the course for me. All this "money pit" and "walk away" stuff is perplexing. If you want a new home, then get one. If you want one from 1960, it is going to have systems near the end of their lives and some items to repair. Anything already disclosed or already visually obvious is off the table. No Seller is going to rebuild the deck for you, or replace a roof that is not leaking. You are buying what you see. The only reason for inspection is to reveal unknown issues you will have to deal with in the future. I'd ask for repair of the electrical issues because those can be safety issues. Then evaluate the cost of a new roof and a new deck, compare that with the cost of a similar house in perfect new repair, and ask for some reasonable dollar amount or amount off the purchase price. If you cannot afford to repair these items, think twice about an older home.