Welcome, take off your shoes, have a seat by the fire and let's chat (and Forum Rules!)

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Hearth.com forums. I hope you can learn and share with your fellow users of FIRE. Please note that although you can read most material as a "guest", there are advantages in registering using the link at the top of each page. Registering allows you to post your own topics as well as answering existing subjects. It also may allow you access to hidden forums.

If you are a commercial member, meaning having a business related to subjects discussed here, please be sure to read this post and the wiki article with the rules for commercial members.

Note - A more complete guide to most forum functions is here:
http://www.hearth.com/xfguide/

A guide to image uploading is at:
http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/putting-images-into-your-forums-posts.87212/

As always, common sense and decency should be the guidelines. The users of this forum have an amazing amount of experience and can help you with just about any hearth related question.

We try to keep it family friendly. That means respect for everyone of every stripe - You may not insult members here based on their religion, race, sex, political beliefs, or whether they are gay or straight.

Any screen names, photos or avatars and sigs should be hearth or home related - Like no Obama or GW Bush pics, references, etc...please keep references to your political beliefs, your gun collection, your religion or lack thereof, etc. off of Hearth.com (exception - The Ash Can posts)

Let's try to stay on-topic, although occasional rants are part of the scene...as long as we don't get into flame wars, that's OK.

This is YOUR forum - and I hope everyone has a safer and happier FIRE experience due to your participation

Note, if you do want to see some Forum rules and Guidelines, please look at this article:
http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Forum_Rules/
Our Mission Statement is at:
http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Mission_Statement/

If you break any of our Forum Rules or otherwise post in a way which concerns the moderators or administration, you may receive "warning points". These are somewhat like points on your DL in that they can add up and eventually result in loss of privileges. Realistically, 99% of our members are mature and well behaved so these systems are used very little. We may delete or modify posts in an attempt to make them palatable for our GA (general audience) rating.

Please also note that Hearth.com is a BIG place. You can explore the site further by using the drop down menus which are located on most of our pages.

Thanks for stopping by,