I am just a homeowner who knows NOTHING about HVAC, so I'm afraid I have no idea what tone system or furnace size. I even looked on the furnace - and looked through the manual and can't see the information. I will say that the manual seems to cover several models - I have no idea which mine is - and even if I did, I dont' see where it lists # tons of the system - and don't know how to determine if th extra restriction will restrict flow or not? This is somewhat Greek to me but since I was online looking to order replacement filters (and my husband and i are highly allergic/sensitive to dust and allergens), I thought I'd consider this upgrade to MERV 13 - if it in fact would help air quality (not that I think our air qualtiy is bad - in fact I suspect we have a relativeliy low-dust house). I wouldn't have a clue how to determine if this extra filtraiton would restrict flow. Unfortunately, I don't like our current HVAC people and haven't found their advice to be worth much (looking for someone new). The father and son company who installed the system 12 years ago went out of business and I can't find them- so I can't ask them. Any ideas how I can get this information? Thank you. Lynn.

Immediate thought, and agrees with WoW, those are 23 year old ProLine windows. That they made it 23 years is a surprise in itself. Second thought, agree with Todd 100% on his questions/concerns. Third thought (actually my initial thought when I read your original post..) .$25 sqft for VIG??? $125 I would say was a great price and $225 I would call reasonable, but $25, including shipping from China? There is no way in hell that I would touch that at any level. Two biggest concerns about VIG's, first is how the edge is sealed since it has to seal a vacuum for years in a potentially very hostile environment in a window system and second would be the pillars separating the glass. VIG space between lites is crazy narrow, about .3mm (3/10's), with the glass panes being held apart using tiny pillars placed every square inch throughout the entire glass area. The pillars are clear but not invisible, you can see them when looking through the glass. I find it distracting, others maybe are fine with it. I truly hate to discourage someone who is trying to be cutting edge and pushing the envelope, but IMO in your situation you would be much better off installing new high performance conventional triple pane windows rather than trying to mesh what you have with what you want in a questionable hybrid of an IG unit. For what it's worth there are very good reasons why IG manufacturers don't use wood spacers when building IG units....there were some that tried 40 years ago, and they are no longer around.

I do not have an issue with the black windows but why a black roof/ As for the rest the shutters have to go and what is the style you are wanting for the house? The garage door looks pink on my montor so what is planned for that? I need some input from you . I think if you go black for the roof you pretty much have to do gray for the siding and IMO for the garage door too. So find a gray that works with the brick and for sure no strorm door it hides the front door which would be nice to at least see If you use the storm door for the screen get a phantom screen and then an interesting front door with lots of glass.Forget the silly home sign and do a nice big pot filled to overflowing with seasonal plants . I did look at your idea book but nothing there but from that I think you are young why do old lady front door landing decor. especailly if you are going black windows and roof .Actually some redo of the landscaping is the next step .

On our new home. I was able to visit with a technician from the University of AK cold weather housing research center. With over 4 0 years of experience building energy efficient homes around AK. And I spent 2 years in college learning RHVAC. Our walls will consist of. Outside layer of 1/2" cdx plywood over the 2x6 studs, tyvex over the plywood and fiber cement siding. Inside the stud bays is 6" rockwool fire and sound insulation. Then 6 mil visqueen vapor barrier. Here is where things get different. I will install 2" of pinkboard ridgid foam insulation then the visqueen vapor barrier. This is a thermal barrier and extra insulation. I will add 1x3 lathe ran horizontally, 5 rows. Top, bottom, middle and between middle and top, bottom. Then 1x4 lathe ran vertically, 16"oc. Using 6" long screws. So no chance of sagging. Utilities, water lines and electric lines are ran in the middle of the lathe grid. Then sheetrock. This will give me better than r 31 wall insulation. And will blow in 2 7" of cellulose fiber insulation into the attic. For r 7 0 in the attic. This building technique is used in Scandinavian countries. If you can add more insulation into the attic you will save yourself more energy/money. Yes I understand that this is kinda unique in design but I feel confident that the outcome will work well. And help save us more energy/money. For heat we will have in floor hydronic heating. I added 30% more tubing in the floor for more heat mass. The toyo brand boiler will also supply non stop hot water. And we have a fuel oil drip stove, Kuma classic, in our living room. It requires no electricity as we have electric outages often. And we have a nice fire to watch for ambiance. If you can add any energy savings into your home you will be better off. I would suggest that you look into adding new rockwool insulation in the walls. Which I understand that rodents do not like to be around. And then the vapor barrier, ridgid foam. Just install the lathe to fasten the drywall to vertically over the ridgid insulation and drywall