Update: I went back to the showroom today to return all the Brizo parts. I was hopping mad after being told I would have to pay a 25% restocking fee. However, once I arrived the rep said she spoke to Brizo and they were going to waive the fee (good thing because there was no way in the hot place I was going to pay it). Anyhoo... She showed me that the plastic I was seeing on the valve bodies is to protect the cartridges during installation and will come off after tile is complete. Even she was surprised at the poor quality of the shower heads. They really are dreadful - I've seen nicer on the shelf at Walmart - seriously! I decided to keep the valves and handles which are nicely made, heavy metal and do what I need them to do. I returned the plastic shower heads. We searched the showroom for non-plastic shower heads. Even most of Grohe's heads are plastic now! I was able to find two that will work. The shower head is a Jado Hatteras shower head 842/083 and the hand held is Brizo Vesi wall mount hand shower RP41202. I was not able to see either in person in the chrome finish but I have been assured they will be all metal. Next up - marble slab shopping tomorrow wheeee!

I have a stainless steel, professional workbench in my kitchen, and at the moment they're just stacked up at the very back of it. However, I'm thinking, when I have some work done on my kitchen, I may get the carpenter to build a couple of cradles for them on the back of the island. Something that would hold them in a way that I could just reach down and grab/dispense what I need. As to price? I'm really not sure. You see, my husband put them in my Christmas stocking (okay, so they didn't really fit IN the stocking) a couple of Christmases back. Whatever they cost, though, it's got to be way cheaper than the many rolls I normally go through. As to the thinness of the foil--yes, it's thinner, but it seems to hold up as well as thicker varieties. I haven't had any problems with it being too thin for anything I've used it for.

I remember helping someone replace a panel before I had any electrical experience myself who 'knew what they were doing.' They just taped the entrance cables and said 'that will be good enough' and when he was jerking.. I am not joking jerking on the old box to get it off the entrance cable the tape came off. We had been standing in a dark utility room area of the basement which became lit like like 1,000 of them flashing firecrackers. He called and had the meter pulled after that event.

Tape is intended to be used to repair damaged insulation and to replace it where it needed to be removed, like with some kinds of splices. If the terminal areas on devices were considered a "necessary" place to insulate the devices would be manufactured so the screw heads were recessed and side wiring would be eliminated. With care it isn't too hard to fold the wires into a box so the ground wire is away from connections. In my and many other people's opinion taping a device looks amateurish and causes unnecessary work if future access to the terminals is required. Although cheap tape is worse, almost any tape will also leave a sticky mess to deal with after a time as well. As time is money in service work, I habitually cut off taped devices rather than deal with the tape and replace the device. I've had people work for me in the past who were let go because they insisted on taping devices. I'm not sure whether I was more irritated with the tape or the refusal to take direction. UNK