Tile guy came in last night to put grout in and I did ask him about the cement board and he used a thin layer of mortar underneath. He also said the way he layed the tile, he made sure to "stack" them so that they were very stable (I don't know what the means, but that is what he said). With the bracing from underneath and by his confidence in his answer, I don't think there will be any issue. So I guess now if Dad comes over I'll just have to say to him to shut up because its already in! He's coming over to seal it tomorrow night. I can't wait until this project is over. It all started because I decided to re-refinish the hardwoods. Then we started taking half-walls down, moving electrical, moving cold air returns, replacing closet doors, building new shelves for the insides of closets, picking new paing, rugs & light fixtures, etc. Its been about 3 months and I'll be glad when my house is complete. The tile was about the final step.

I assume this is a hot water system and not steam. I am a homeowner and not an expert, but you have to be careful about matching the size of the boiler to the amount of baseboard. You should discuss with the HVAC contractor how this will affect the performance. I suppose you can think of the extra manifold being connected to a separate zone which is never enabled. Boilers have long lives, so I would not be worried about reducing it. I grew up in old houses which had oversized boilers. They seemed to last forever.

FD, I don't know if someone would have noticed it or not. The incident was 2.5 months ago. The only person that would notice it would be a taller person. I am 5'4" and the dents are way above my eye level. So I really would not have noticed---as it was, I had to climb up on the running board to really get a close look. Dh is 5'10 and my dad is about the same height--so that is why it was at eye level for both of them more. I don't know. My dad is never really around my car like that--I mean, as in walking us out to car and going around to DD's side. And DH is never the one to help the kids in the car, either. That was why he noticed it---the car was in the driveway, and our lawn actually sits up a bit higher than the driveway and he was standing next to the car door and that was when he saw them. I don't know. She is around my car everytime she drops SS off but she is not allowed to pull into the drive or even step FOOT into our drive---she has to stay at the curb. And no, DH never takes my car. So if she did it, unless she snuck over some night, it was that particular night. And even if she DID sneak over at night---my car is almost ALWAYs in the garage. I think if she did it it HAD to be that night. Like I said, it could have been vandals but I just don't know when or where? It doesn't much matter, anyway, even if she did do it--nothing I can do about it. :(

I know the trepidation you are feeling in finalizing such a big and expensive decision. The feeling of once I pull the trigger that's it I'm stuck with it good or bad. Hang in there you are doing your do diligence and Miele stands behind it's product. So if your temps are off they will adjust it no questions asked. That is my experience with them. You should also get there extended five year warranty also. They did offer the warranty free if it was over a certain price but they run that promo from time to time so check with your vendor. It does seem slow to preheat when in baking mode but convection heats faster so I will switch after it reaches temp. I don't know if somebody has done a test to see the preheat time of each brand of oven, but that would be an interesting thread to read if everybody posted the time it takes to reach 350 in different baking modes. I really enjoy using the master chef as well as my Miele steam oven, the probe roasting is great and rotisserie works fantastic.