"as we start to lightly chisel at the tile the concrete underneath literally crumbles and falls apart in our hands...you can tell the builder never let the concrete cure properly." That's not "concrete". It's "deck mud". Deck mud is a very lean portland cement mixture, it's about five or six parts sand to one part of portland cement, half the amount of cement that's in concrete. It's made to be more sand so that any water that gets below your tile can percolate through the deck mud and eventually go out the secondary weep holes in your drain. The membrane being flat on your subfloor plywood, that's a problem. That membrane should have been placed on a sloped layer of deck mud. But enough about that. The Kerdi Tray and Kerdi board, it's an excellent system when done correctly. Just follow the Schluter tutorials. Go step-by-step. Make sure you cover any fastener heads and board seams so the system as a whole is water-tight. Your old plumbing might be a 1-1/2" drain. The Kerdi drain is 2". You can upgrade your waste plumbing to 2", or you can use an adapter to make the transition. Also, match the Kerdi drain material to your waste pipe material; ABS or PVC. Sorry in advance if too much info.

My husband and I installed a floating wood floor in our house -- about 1000 square feet. Yes, it took a long time, but it was actually not very difficult. Just time consuming, especially with having to fit it in on the weekends and evenings. We had friends who did a floating laminate floor, and they also had no difficulty. Really, once you've laid a few rows, it becomes pretty mindless. Just make sure you do a lot of reading beforehand, and do the required prepwork. I would imagine doing a glue down or nailed floor would be rather more difficult. I don't know what option is best for a radiant heat floor -- you will need to do some research on it. My husband and I have done a lot of tile in our house as well -- the front entranceway (slate; I wouldn't recommend it for beginners. We didn't do as good of a job as we should have), a bathroom floor (easy), and the bonus room floor (400 sq feet. Time consuming, but again, not difficult). We bought a cheap wet tile saw at Lowes, and have used it every time we've tiled. It's held up surprisingly well, considering it cost less than $100. I'll be frank and honest (and I'm sure some of the contractors on this board won't like hearing this), but we've had better work done when we've done it ourselves. Nearly every contractor we've worked with has done a shoddy job; they were not detail oriented, cut corners, and generally did just sloppy work. And these were people that we investigated fully, got references, etc. and we never went with the cheapest option. We've decided that we would much rather do whatever work possible when we can, because a) it's cheaper, and b) we can do it to our specifications. If you are detail oriented yourself, do the proper research, and follow instructions, there's no reason you can't do the work yourself -- frankly, it's not rocket science.* My husband and I are computer programmers, and we bought our first house 5 years ago, which give you an idea of how much home renovation experience we have (until we bought our house, none!) * The exception being electrical or plumbing work. We never attempt any of that ourselves.

EnergyRater - I guess I would rather have the choice of a material that was non toxic. Just because it is enclosed out of my living space, it still is produced and people working in the production of it are exposed to it, people installing it, people removing it are exposed to it, and then it has to break down into the environment too. So if there is a non toxic choice, that would be my preference. An air tight house is something I’m not sure I agree with. I don’t now enough about it yet. I realize that with an air tight house, it can work if you provide enough ventilation, but I’ve heard of air tight homes that became a hazard. I’m going to have to read up on that more. We are not doing the first floor, so probably we could not make the house air tight, but maybe you mean, if we are going to try for air tight, we may as well do it that way on the upstairs. Part of the second floor is storage under the eaves of the roof. We have a cape. The hallway shares that wall. Thank you ERater… :-)

First things first: get your ideas for the kitchen figures out. I know. You want a change because the carpets are done, but that's not a good reason to spend $12-$15/sf on flooring today, only to realize it LIMITS your kitchen options tomorrow. For me the tiles are fantastic. I would leave them for as long as possible. My question becomes: are you planning a FULL kitchen reno? Like down to the Studs? Moving plumbing and electrical? Or are you thinking more of a refresh...painted cabs + NEW counters + NEW backsplash and lighting? Another thing to remember: the AVERAGE kitchen reno = $50,000 that includes flooring for the space. The rest of the house will have a flooring budget on top of that cost (give yourself $15/sf...It will cover just about anything you want). Another rule of renos: Floors go in LAST! Sigh...see where I'm going with this? Yep. That's what I'm saying....floors wait for kitchen to be designed.