OHW

I used to be a member of a hunting club in western Maryland where there was a lot of train traffic to/from the coal mines. They were CSX trains, and the horns in the middle of thenight could be quite loud. Well, I used to write insurance for CSX, and one year took a bunch of clients up for a turkey ...

I think HB has set you on the right path. If you happen to know someone with some experience - a friend, outside the profession - you might ask his advice. If the "swaying" floors only span 10', you must have a serious problem. But woithout seeing it, I may be way off base. How about just checking t...

I'm a commercial insurance broker to the construction industry.

I have a customer in Chestertown, MD with geothermal. It is quite a large old town house - 4000 sq ft - and the system works very well. In this case it was dreadfully expensive - about $85,000 - which is only slightly above the norm in this area. Whay? You need at least two wells, generally, often a...

I agree with HB and Don as well. If I ever want the stainless liners out, or they fail, it's a simple process to remove them. A poured liner is permanent, and makes demo of a brick chimney much more labor-intensive.

If the guy looked you in the eye and shook hands on the deal, I'd say you're really taking a chance on ignoring that agreement. Sure, a lawyer might get you out of trouble, but the city might just counter-sue you, arguing that your agreement was, in fact, an oral contract. At that point, guess what ...

Butcher's, like most paste waxes, is designed for unfinished floors. You have to regularly strip and re-wax if you use Butcher's, because it will actually dull the old finishes if you keep re-applying over shellac or whatever (I hate to think how many coats of shellac you'd need to put down on a flo...

lrk, there aren't too many career thieves living in luxury becasue as a rule, they're not all that bright. Witness, putting out the word on a Board! :wink: I think this kind of thing happens even more than we think. Sometimes it's sheer cussedness. My wife knows a woman with a great old range - coal...

Very cool. Nice to have that decision to make; I love the Tudor style. My first choice would be black, with coffee as #2. I just like the way the black makes that "half-timber" trim jump out. Not to mention it is historically correct in a Jacobean sense. You could talk me into the green, too, but I ...

You know, that may be the best idea. If you have some sense of what's there and what you might pay for it, get that amount of money out of the bank in $20s and go talk to him. You may find him hard and stingy, but he might just melt a little if faced with a wad of cash!