I learned that 1/3 deposit is the max my state allows so it’s what contractors ask for. One person said they ask for a credit card number but don’t charge anything until they start.
That contractor uses spray foam insulation. This is for a crawl space. Does anyone have an opinion on spray foam?
Thx
Spray foam in a crawl space will provide both vapor barrier and insulation. These are the people I listen to on all things to do with insulation: https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/building-science-insights-newsletters/bsi-116-interior-spray-foam
As long as the people applying the spray foam are experienced (because things can go badly wrong if they don’t know what they’re doing), I am all for spray foam insulation. A fully encapsulated crawl space would be a requirement for me if our home had to have a crawl space. As mathmom said, it provides both vapor barrier and insulation; that’s assuming you use closed cell spray foam.
One of my goals in the new house is for it to be fully sealed so we’re using closed cell spray foam. Having a tight house requires doing mechanical ventilation, which I prefer anyway. In some climates that means an ERV or HRV, but we’re doing a ventilating dehumidifier instead due to the high humidity here.
Thanks for the replies and the link
Just notified that they underestimated materials and a portion of our roof is tarped waiting for the remainder which they think they can divert from another job within a couple of weeks. Our security camera is showing heavy snow right now…
Then there’s the sofa we also ordered last May that a kind neighbor (we met once) agreed to handle the delivery for. Yesterday, she waited inside the heat-free cabin for about 30 minutes before the driver texted her that he thought there was ice on the roadway to the cabin and was too full/heavy to attempt so we have to reschedule. It was 46 degrees, clear, and sunny at the time. Neighbor says, "This is Maine. It won’t get any better than yesterday, and a storm is coming (see above).
Thank heaven for bourbon.
So sorry Choatie, what worries.
Hi, need advice. I’m doing a total refresh on my house and am trying to select carpet for our bedrooms/upstairs hallway. DH and I thought we found a winner in a Karastan made with Smartstrand, but I started googling it and found quite a few negative reviews on its lack of durability. Plus I would have to get a new vacuum just for it.
Is nylon preferable? Any brands you recommend?
Thank you!
We went with Shaw Floors through Costco. The carpet was this, I believe:
Had it for 4 1/2 years, and it still looks brand new (one caveat - we don’t wear street shoes in the house).
OMG! The sofa that wasn’t delivered due to ice (upthread rant) was scheduled for re-delivery this morning. The kind neighbor who was all set to be there for the second attempt, pinged to say that the delivery company texted her that their truck broke down and we have to reschedule for next Monday–after DH paid $150 to have our street and driveway plowed and sanded and another neighbor shoveled and salted our walkway/steps yesterday! Just no words and not enough bourbon.
On the bright side, the roof is done and looks great.
Should probably be posting in the “Say it here” thread.
Glad that at least the roof saga is over! Geez 
on the sofa delivery fiasco! You bought in the right place… great neighbors! 
Our standing seam roof did great during the recent snowmageddon! Although Mr. B kept looking at it and saying we need to add heating strips to prevent snow chunks from sliding and hitting someone on the head. Sigh. My Mr. Safety guy. Every piece of furniture has to be bolted to the wall, no pictures on the walls above beds or sofas… because earthquakes! He was worried that the kids sliding down the street would hit the mailbox and hurt themselves… so was looking for padding to add around the mailbox during snowstorms. Lol.
Three home improvement projects apparently worth the investment:
To close out my sofa saga, after eight months, it was delivered finally on Monday by a different trucking company that had no problem with Maine roads or weather. God bless them and my angel of a neighbor.
!!! So happy to hear that “adventure” is over.
Hmmm…we’ve completed 2 of these 3 projects already. Water heater and HVAC were upgraded a couple of years ago. We just started on replacing the floors upstairs - changing from carpet to hardwood - glad to see that this is the 3rd project on the list!
Planning on small upgrades now while waiting for the larger upgrade (sunroom redo) in spring.
We’d like to get ceiling fans in all the bedrooms upstairs. Our ceilings are fairly low, so looking for flush mount/low profile fans. Also looking for fans with lights. Do folks have any recommendations on brands? Or features that we should be looking for?
I am a fan (pun intended) of Minka Aire. Seem to be the choice of hotels in the tropical places where we traveled.
I also like Minka Aire. We’re doing several of their fans in the house under construction. One will be a ceiling hugger type since the guest bedroom ceiling is 9’ and the most frequent occupant of that space is about 6’5".
Our temporary house has two fans (different styles, but same manufacturer) that operate with remote controls. The only problem is that they’re apparently on the same frequency and when I try to turn on one it often causes the other one to turn on. It’s also a pain because sometimes people will use the wall switch for the light then the remote won’t work. I’m not having any remote controls in the new house.
That is quite annoying! After we installed a ceiling fan in our House1, we realized that someone nearby had some remote operating on the same frequency because occasionally the light would turn on - in the middle of the night! Never the fan blades, always the light. My husband just removed the bulb… problem solved.
That’s annoying news about the remotes. We were thinking of getting remotes only because the fan will be over the bed and it would be hard to get to the pull cords. Does anyone here know if a fan with pull cords can automatically be hard-wired to a wall switch? That would be great - we wouldn’t need remotes then.
We have three ceiling fans with pull cords. All are hard wired to a wall switch. One switch works the fan and another switch works the included light fixture so you can turn them on/off individually.