If by floating the floor you mean they're going to put down a dry bed to isolate the tile from the subfloor, as long as they know what they're doing it's a good thing. In my house we've used Ditra, which is the modern equivalent for those of us who don't know how to do it properly any other way. Orange waffle type material with a fibre backing. Thinset on the subfloor, then Ditra. Then thinset on top of Ditra which works its way into the waffle shaped surface and locks in mechanically, not by adhesive so much. Tile goes on this bed of thinset. If the subfloor moves, less movement is transferred to the tile. I wouldn't install a natural stone floor without it. My 2nd floor bath is on 2x8 joists that span 15 feet (true 2x8 lumber - 90 years old) and the laundry room is right next to the bathroom. 3 years in and the 80 sq ft of 12x12 inch marble tile and grout doesn't have any cracks. Just put 30 sq ft of marble on the basement slab - used Ditra there too. Works with heated floors as well - heating system goes under the Ditra. My bathroom floors can go to 90 degrees no problem. Hardiboard etc. has nothing to do with a floating floor. It's just another subfloor material. You want 2 layers of plywood at least 1 1/4" thick total (if I recall) for stone floors. Don't need cement board under tile. People use it on shower walls etc. as it's less prone to damage from moisture but if you're getting moisture to your surface under the tile you're pooched whether its drywall or concrete board. That's why showers always need Kerdi or another waterproofing layer between the tile and the wall.

I wanted to let you know what I have found with my upstairs front loader over the past several years. I had major issues with vibration too from my 3 year old Kenmore front loader (dishes would fall off my shelves on the first floor). It died 3 weeks out of the extended warranty (isn't that always the case?). I had my husband bring my older model Kenmore front loader from our rental property. It was an older model one and it was really heavy (I would guess 400 pounds). The repairman told me the older ones actually had a rim of cement in them for added weight to dampen the vibrations. Ironically, the old heavy machine doesn't vibrate at all. The extra weight more than dampens the spin cycle vibrations and we don't have any more issues. I would choose the heaviest one I can find next time I buy one. Maybe you can trying weighting it down with a few hundred pounds to see if it improves??? My washer just sits on hardwood. I only do laundry when I am home so I don't worry about a leak. Maybe the key to fixing your machines may be to add weight to it.

Thanks, Ron. I should also mention that I'm in a condo and on the top floor. There are condos below me. The condo building was built in the 1920s. The wiring in the junction box runs to the basement. The wiring for the new light fixtures and fan, on the other hand, run to a new sub-panel I installed in the kitchen. It was very tricky finding a path from the basement to the sub-panel! We eventually discovered a path by following a vent stack that ran from the basement to the roof. To make a long story short, I don't see how we could have gotten rid of the old wiring in the junction box. Placing wire nuts on the wires and installing a plate seemed to be a reasonable solution, though it may not look ideal on the ceiling from an aesthetic point of view. But maybe someone out there has a better solution. Again, thanks for your feedback.

And I suppose a neurosurgeon is in charge of the local elementary school health office? Because that would be equally likely that someone who could earn hundreds of thousands was stuck somewhere patching up a old boiler and changing light bulbs in a hall. Maybe if he had his license revoked. With prejudice. Or he had to change his name and enter witness protection In which case, he would still not be legal. Sorry. but not sorry here. You hired a full blown hack. Intentionally hired a full blown hack. And you want to semi laugh it off as cute that you got ugly tile like it’s a lopsided wedding cake or something. No, it’s more like you got safety belts in your car made of lasagna noodles. It’s not cute. It actually damages your property in fundamental ways that completely ruins it’s value and functionality. Your are going to have s MUCH more expensive job the secind time around, after the rot. And after your neighbors below sue you for damage to their unit. You got what you paid for. And you didn’t get what you didn’t pay for. Mr. Cheapo didn’t do the job correctly. On any level. Sack it up and pay to have it all redone. You won’t be done with finding shortcomings, I guarantee it. And as the cherry on top, now your relationship with this “super” is damaged and he is going to be hissy about allowing access sad working with someone else to get it redone correctly. Don’t spit where you eat.