I just posted this on someone else's thread but I wanted to say THANK YOU for helping me find my voice! And making progress! The granite guy came today and fixed the crack. You can't tell at all standing over it. I can see it when the sunlight is reflecting off of it, but also bc I was specifically looking for it. Anyone else would just see it as graining. Granite guy said it happened probably when the cabinet guy was hacking at the trim he had to remove bc it wasn't right. This I can live with. The cabinet guy showed up yesterday. The magnet he brought to fix door wasn't the right one. I started to show him which cabs had nails still sticking out and he said he'd check all of them. Then he said ok I'm done. I opened a cab and said the nails aren't finished, I thought you were going to finish them. He says,"Oh I didnt realize that you wanted me to do that." Really?Really? I guess he thought the splintered wood was fine? So then he says ok I'm done. I'm going to run to HD and get the magnet and be right back. Then I went to check his work. He missed cutting nails in 2 cab and didn't finish 3 others. Well...An 1 1/2 later he calls and says he got the battery but needed to go home and he'd come back tomorrow. I told him he missed more nails etc. And... he didn't come. But I do consider it a small victory he came at all. And lastly, I called the glass guy and said it was really driving me crazy everytime I look at it. He said he was going to call daltile to see if there was anything he could do, but if not, they would have to do it over bc it was their mistake. Yea! So I'll let everyone know how things turn out. I really don't expect to hear from cab guy. But, it's not the last he'll hear from me!

You are right to worry about the garage door looking like a converted garage door. It will, and the reason is the placement of the framing. The header is considerably lower than the upper edges of the other openings in the facade, and there is nothing below the bottom edge of the door. The architecturally consistent thing to do (and it's not the cheapest way by a long shot) is to resize the opening to match the double windows to the left of the front doors, and installing a matching pair in the rebuilt wall. That means tearing out several courses of brick and replacing the structural elements inside the wall to support the narrower opening, adding the lower section of wall, reframing for the window, and filling in the brickwork. It's not easy to do, particularly when you will need to match the brick, but if you do it at the same time you build your addition, you'll have the trades already there to accomplish it. You already have a section of siding on the front of your house, and you could conceivably use the same siding to create the new window wall, but unless you are considering painting the house to make the old and new materials the same color (and that's a reasonable option), I think you will disrupt the balance of your front facade.

If you just want to clean up the floor so you can put down other floor coverings, I would have it cleaned, degreased, and primed, then put down a feather coat of self-leveling concrete (SLC). That will level out all the divots and other imperfections. However, many garages are built with a slope toward the middle and toward the door for drainage, and using SLC will get rid of that slope. It might be more complicated than you expect. On top of the concrete you can put tile, or a pad and carpet that can be taken out by a future owner. If you want something simple and very easy to maintain I would consider higher quality sheet vinyl that is only glued on the edges. Since its on top of cold cement it won't be especially warm, but it should be okay in your climate. If you insulate properly you should be able to heat/cool with a mini-split AC/heat pump unit. However, you need to have enough electrical amps to run the unit, and most garages only have 1 or 2 household circuits. You may end up running new electric to a garage subpanel, which won't be a cheap electrical task in your area. That will be the case for any type of electric heat you use. Another complication others have found when you install HVAC in a garage is that some cities then apply all the residential code rules to that garage. It can get expensive to seal the large garage door and windows so that it meets all new residential code for insulation, air infiltration, etc. I assume you probably also have to meet electrical requirements for GFCI's, AFCI's, etc. Bruce

Zulu Spillane, I gave up on a wheelchair-base vanity and designed my own. The ones offered for sale to the homeowner cost at least $3000, then are wall-hung with little storage. I dislike wall-hung because I still walk, with failing knees. I sometimes grab furniture and lean on it. I want things I lean on to have legs that contact the floor and to be sturdy enough to take the weight. Many wheelchair accessible vanities extend far out from the wall. That is so that if a person using foot rests with their legs elevated tries to wash their hands, they can reach the sink before their legs hit the wall. My bathroom did not have room for a deep counter as well as room to maneuver a wheelchair. Pick one, it became for me. I chose the floor space and a 16” deep countertop with a semi-recessed sink that comes out a bit from the counter’s edge on one end of the vanity. My vanity depth was also driven by the fact that increasing the door width to 36” took away depth from my counter space area. You can begin to see that each disabled person is disabled in their own unique way. One-size-fits-all solutions like ADA guidelines, therefore, do not tend to work well for individuals in standard sized homes. You do your best to meet current needs and try to predict and meet the future needs, as well. Store-bought wheelchair vanities often do not fit into our spaces. That leaves even fewer buyers for them, making them almost a custom item, with a custom price. I simply took the next step, and designed a truly custom vanity for my own needs and my space. Wall sinks like the ones above can be a great solution, as long as the disabled person can reach the controls and the water flow without smashing their knees, toes, or extended legs into the wall.