Hi Dearests! :) This is SO EMBARRASSING that EVERY DARNED TIME I get time to get on here and read, there's no time or I'm about to fall asleep (as is the case now - and I have to get up early)! I'm SURE I look like an opportunist just totally taking advantage of your advise, expertise and patience but please believe me that I simply have less time than I'm used to. Thank you so much for continuing this dialogue. I've gone into the worst depression over this! I just want to turn this over to someone else to represent me who's capable/competent enough but there's no one (or I don't dare ask) and I can't afford a lawyer nor do I want to get that legal. My contractor came back into town last Wednesday, Jan. 19th, if he meant what he said about his schedule, and every day I hope I don't hear from him. I just can't deal with this and barely know how. I mean Rohl said I could have a new sink but if I order it, I'd have to have the old sink out first in order to know which sink will be close enough in measurement to fit into the spot. I don't want to go pick up a new sink and leave it sitting on the side lines for weeks or months and then find out too late in the game that it won't fit in the old spot! So that means I need to get the old sink out, which brings me back to square one. I need to find new contractors or carpenters to get quotes from and feel so low I can't imagine figuring out where to turn, who to ask...who to trust. And who will be willing, after that last guy said he basically won't touch it with a 10-foot pole. My contractor's going to probably show up any day now to "finish the work" and then I'm also told by friends that I should no way let him finish the work but should deduct that which needs to be deducted and then pay someone else with the money. But he could file a lien on my house or whatever the terminology is. On the other hand I may never see him again since I paid him a partial payment that he may figure is close enough... Just to be clear: 1. My contractor bought the sink, not me. I mean I paid him sometime after that but he bought it using his own card. Not the dishwasher or counter or tile honing, cutting and installing which I bought, but the sink, faucet, disposal, flange and tile itself, yes. Now it's always possible he paid in cash and kept the whole order in my name since I had the items on hold in my name in which case there's no evidence he paid for it but who knows... 2. I truly believe that the sweet, young-sounding Rohl guy that I spoke to didn't really care and just called it defective for a couple of the reasons listed above by you guys but I do think if he has any experience at all (and he may not), that he suspects it was over-tightened and doesn't care - he just wants me to be a satisfied customer. My instincts and my own experience tell me so. And I don't think less of him or the company for it. 3. I have no proof that my contractor tightened the flange. I think it's possible that he didn't. But I don't think it's probable that he didn't. The timing of the cracks and the fact that no one else touched the area below it besides him and the way the hairline cracks splay out around the drain all tell me there's a better chance he cracked it than that he didn't. But it doesn't matter much if it can't be proven or that no forensic scientist - haha - will be coming around to pay more than the sink's worth to determine that. As for the issue of lying, I think there's a lot of context here to be considered. I believe he cracked it, and that Rohl is giving me a new sink but knows that he cracked it. My contractor bought the sink and installed it and messed around with it cause he didn't want me to bother his precious plumber when the leak needed to be stopped (don't get me started on how he thinks so highly of this totally flaky and rude plumber) and then it cracked. I think that covering my ARSE after everything else that's gone down is let's just say a fairly reasonable choice at this point, even if some think of that as lying. I get it, but I think that when you believe what I believe about what's really happened, it's not quite the same thing. And even then, I'm still willing to compromise at least a little - just because I'm not a one-dimensional human being and I believe my contractor isn't either. In my favor, sure, I guess, though yes I'm still really super uncomfortable about this whole thing and am as curious as the rest of you to know how strong I'll be and how well or disastrously this whole thing will turn out before it's truly over!! Ok that's it for now - it's 1:35 a.m. and I've gotta be up at 7:00. Yaaaay! ;) More soon. Thank you everyone - I am SO GRATEFUL that you're here. In fact you've been here "for me" more than just about anyone else, I swear!! That includes friends and family members and certainly contractors! How crazy is that!?

Bought a new home in Nov '20. Noticed air bursts at kitchen sink prior to closing & at walk through the day of closing. Put on punch out list for builder to address & correct the air in water lines. Plumber replaced the anode rod 1st of Feb '21. Reduced air bursts in hot water lines for abour 7 days. Did the fire test & air ignites into a fire ball as air bursts from the hot water faucet in our master bathtub. We have well water. Water tested this past week & has high salt level, 1,740 TDS. We have a water softener. Water heater is a Bradford White! Very concerned for the safety of my family. Any suggestions on what is needed to be done to eliminate the Hydrogen gas. Whole house RO system & a different brand of water heater? Rheem or AOSmith water heater?

It is true in my state of Georgia. They are legally protected from liability as long as they use the proper language on their contracts and inspections forms and letters. We had a retired engineer home inspector inspect our current house. His incompetence was breathtaking in its scope and depth. Just ONE example: The previous owners built two decks on either side of a second story screened porch with steps down on both sides to the back yard. Each deck was one step down from the porch. It so happened that the exhaust pipe for the condenser of our main 5 ton Trane furnace projected through the back brick wall where they put the step down, so the previous owners simply HAD IT CAPPED OFF by the idiot who built their (unpermitted) decks and the step built over it. They did not run the pipe elsewhere, just capped it off. The inspector, whose "specialty" was HVAC systems, did not notice this, and said in his report that the furnace was working normally. The condenser exhaust pipe was in place in the basement but there was nothing coming through to the outside. A few months later, when we went to turn on the furnace for the winter it would not heat appropriately, used much more gas than it should have, etc. the HVAC contractor who came out told us we were very lucky we called right away, for reasons ranging from personal safety, code violations, further damage to the system, etc. He put this in writing and documented what he did to relocate the pipe -- at a cost of about $500--- just so we could recover the actual cost of the repair. Our letter to the inspector cited his disclaimer and our attorney confirmed that he was ONLY liable for the cost of his inspection, not any damages or repairs resulting from his erroneous report and/or incompetence. This post was edited by kswl on Sat, Jul 19, 14 at 8:53

I can’t express how grateful I am for every single response to my post. I didn’t have a signed contract. I had put my faith in the contractor to do what he said he would do. My advice to those who are planning a remodel is watch closely,Research products, google the contractor to find anything that is online either positive or negative. When you go to buy the tile... Watch the reaction of sales person when you tell them who your working with. A poker face may be a sign they have heard negatively. I was blessed to have gotten the right person in when I did. He has gutted the shower. We found more screws through the vinyl bench than on the tiled DRYWALL ceiling! The chances of a tile falling from not being glued properly were not as likely as the entire sheet collapsing from no glue and a dozen short screws. Had I trusted my instincts and stopped the gc when I sensed he was a joke we would have saved thousands of dollars and weeks of chaos. Thanks again for all the guidance and compassion.