So Brick does a few things but they are minor in the grand scheme of things. Mostly the thermal mass helps as they heat up during the day and stay warm after the sun goes down so help to minimize wall heat loss (same with gain in summer). The R-value is about 1 but the thermal mass effect is a bit larger. I actually notice my loss more on the back wall which is not brick. I think there is probably an infiltration benefit with a brick wall but I can't say that for sure. Just looking at it , even with the weep holes, it looks to be a pretty effective air barrier compared to siding. You should easily be able to beat your spec house if you try. The only thing that $1800 doesn't include is the gas connection fee. I only used about $120 in gas last year but there is another $120 a year in connection costs. I try to justify that this fee is not really energy cost... In the country - orient your windows right. 1 inch foam (my biggest regret) on the walls and basic infiltration work (foaming windows and doors etc). I'm guessing no NG, so at least Seer 15 heat pumps. Get a geo quote but they are hard to justify generally. Use shade trees on those E/W walls (and south walls too as long as they are deciduous and not oaks or something that keeps leaves too long). Water? What is the motivation here? You should have a well? That is nature's best water reclaiming system. I priced a rain catchment and it was absurd. A well would have been cheaper and I am on city water. Code makes graywater difficult (although I don't know exactly which jurisdiction you are in). But generally NC is not Arizona so the benefits are minimal and jurisdictions have no need to be flexible. Shade/orient windows well/foam sheath/seer 15 - and you should have no problem getting below $1000 a year in HVAC costs. Lezarc - you must not drive much! Average car, average driving = $2000 a year - all carbon, mostly foreign (my house, mostly US uranium). Sure apples and oranges but perspective. You may not design cars but you decide what to buy....just tweaking you.

I live in Durham. I wanted to get a quote and compare with granite and quartz. When I looked and asked around, there weren't many (any?) SS fabricators here, at least none who do that exclusively. Our fabricator offers SS but they had actually never installed any, out of 16,000 jobs in the area. We got our slabs from Daltile off Poole Rd. They do have maybe two or three varieties, but I wasn't impressed with what I saw. Marva Marble in Morrisville also has some but I didn't see any in their warehouse. Call and talk to Marsha and she can find out for you. It might be worth checking into having someone like Florida Joshua do it instead. That's all he does, and he's fabulous (understatement) from what I hear. FWIW, we used the Countertop Factory on Triangle Drive off Hwy 70. I worked with Eric. If you decide to go with granite, I recommend them. They installed yesterday and the counters look great. I'll post pics separately.

Spent the better part of a week searching for soapstone in Dallas. A few of the big yards had Indian soapstone but have heard stories about it being dyed so scratches do not buff out easily and is it less dense than that from the USA. So far ,the best options seem to be to drive to Denver for a great selection or to order from RMG , a quarry in Castle ton Vermont. At four hundred dollars a slab you can suck up the fabrication costs.The variation in prices is astounding for the same product.. not for different qualities or countries of origin.So glad I did not relent and get Quartz. Heard a major US quartz company has brought legal action against China for dumping its product.(WSJ) Also ,there are some suits alleging high toxicity from silica being talked about .

It all looks very nice. Congratulations on things finally going right, and your kitchen is done. Bet you are very happy. Love the countertops and backsplash. Now it is time to add a bit of your personality in that kitchen. I would love to see some brighter accent pieces in there.