Those numbers are definitely gas. $2800 seems like a lot. Longevity is of course variable and paying more probably gets you greater longevity. I haven't looked in a while but Marathon sold ones that significantly outlasted average ones. The first question is what is your fuel? NG is cheap and Propane is not (well it is relatively cheap now but more variable). Next is - not sure where you heard that tankless is not good. I have my issues with tankless but they should be considered. I have one in a new rental townhome and the water takes a long time to get hot. That is an issue but doesn't have to be. Some of that is plumbing but some is the nature of tankless. But in general tankless is the goto for many. It is a lot cheaper than $2800 and gives you 96% typically. Third question is why not use electricity? Heat pump hot water heater makes sense in a lot of environments. But you need to have the room and sound isolation. Lastly, there is some value still for solar hot water if you are concerned about being a good steward for the environment. Best if you don't have room for heat pump hot water. It also will outlast a heat pump. We paid about $7k but got $5k in incentives so it was a minimal cost to us for a good 80 gal tank with install. When considering the options, I always think it is good to remember that gas can not be created in a renewable fashion but electricity can. Also many electric utilities offer rebates for highly efficient electric devices. Many would be surprised but there is a growing return to electric resistance type hot water heaters for this reason. Particularly POU devices that eliminate the wait (and waste) of distributing hot water. I am still trying to figure out Duke Energy's incentives but I think we may be going back to solar if the incentives are still there.

This is something not to wait on fixing. One are all of the gas appliances is not venting properly when the door is closed. These gas fired appliances you have, require a certain amount of fresh air to draft naturally. The moment the fresh air is cut off/reduced in that closet, those units will not draft properly. Either a plumber or HVAC contractor should be called to determine the requirements for those combined units. Sometimes a specifically designed power vent can be used to aid in venting. We had a similar situation on a indoor pool whereas the pool equipment, house boiler and hot water heater shared the same space indoors in the basement and the same chimney. In order to properly vent ALL the of the gas fired units, a certain roof top power vent was installed. Also, a dedicated duct was installed to bring fresh air to the room. When pool heaters especially do not vent properly for a period of time, soot can be produced on the heater exchanger and further deplete venting. The heater should be checked for this before any fix. A solution may be a simple as making the door louvered. But, do hire someone to determine the needs. CO2 is deadly.

Movement in the floor by the sounds of it. What size tile was there previously? If not large format tile was the calculation done to insure that your flooring system has the proper deflection and weight carrying ability for the the large format tile? What is the subfloor? Prep done to the subfloor? How flat was the subfloor? Full mortar set on the new tiles? The fact tat they skim coated existing grout (which does not ever work well) tells me all I need to know. Is this a true tile professional or someone who does tile?

quite obviously, you need another appliance with butter sounds . . . :) but, yes. I know how disconcerting this can be be. When I got to grad school, my family and I were temporarily housed in honest-to-goodness quonset huts, temporary GI housing from 50 years earlier. One of the two-dozen work orders we had to submit was "hot water heater percolates." Seriously, it sounded like an old coffee pot. And it was int he living room. It seems that over decades, the lime builds up into limestones, and the gas from the water boiling lifts them up. As they get to the top, it is released into the air, and they rattle as they tumble down the side . . . appliances should be seen and not heard , , ,