Late to the party but couldn't resist adding my horror story, greatly abbreviated to reduce my stress from reliving this hellish experience. DH & I, retirees on a modest fixed income, sold our longtime house in 7/07 & bought a waterfront shack, intending to build a fairly humble retirement home within 18 or so months. Picked a local experienced waterfront builder who gave us a very affordable informal estimate; had our lot surveyed by JIM HART & ASSOCIATES of KIRKLAND, WA in 9/07, & commissioned the builder's in-house designer to plan our house at a cost of $13,600. Meanwhile, the city was busy putting further restrictions on building, so we had to rush our designer to get the plan submitted in time to avoid the new construction limitations - made the deadline by the skin of our teeth! So happy! Our builder, however, was not being too helpful & procrastinated, & we unfortunately followed his advice longer than we should have done - the upshot was that it took us until 7/09 to finally get our wft building permit - cue dancing in street! The builder then made a formal bid that was over twice what he'd estimated many months previously. We found a better qualified builder at a similar cost & were getting ready to excavate when we were informed by the city that our $13,500 building permit was rescinded because JIM HART's 2007 SURVEY WAS INACCURATE , per alert neighbor's report! Somehow the city overlooked a basic error, despite charging us $135/hr for MANY MONTHS of "expert review." JIM HART's survey incorrectly stated the ordinary high water mark. Our lot is small, & waterfront construction requirements are stringent, so this inaccurate survey meant our house design would not fit on the lot & was now useless, as we'd only be allowed to build a tiny hut if we simply modified the original building permit. We ended up forced to reapply for (& pay again for) a new building permit, get (& pay again for) a new house design, & engage an expensive architect to try to resolve with the city the problems related to JIM HART's INACCURATE SURVEY as expeditiously & inexpensively as possible (MASSIVE FAILURE!!) So now here we sit, in 11/2010, no new building permit YET, the city keeps requiring more info, & we unhappily anticipate our 4th Christmas in a rented storage unit-cum-2 bdrm apt! We thought we could at least recoup some of our expenses from JIM HART, KIRKLAND WA SURVEYOR, but unfortunately, back in the ignorant bliss of 9/07, JIM HART'S contract limited his liability to the cost of the survey only. We have lost over $45,000, EXCLUSIVE of our extended rental costs, lost our hard-won building permit & experienced over 1 year's construction delay solely due to JIM HART's BAD SURVEY! However, we know we are EXTREMELY lucky to have this type of problem - something to engage us in our Golden Years (lucky ol' DH, a former engineer, has even more diversion - he now works as an oncall security guard @ $13/hr on the overnight shift to keep us in dog food!)

Thank you all for your coments I read them all, because I am an electrician with 23 yrs under my belt. Now I am helping my son remodel and when it comes to framing I am a good Electrician. We built our first wall today, what a night mare. He wanted to use screws, but, I said "no" cause I new there was a reason you guys swing those hamers or shoot your guns. We had hell I got the right nails but again, sparky cant hit a nail and dont know the tricks, however, my son (very head strong) had it in his head how to build it with screws, however, I got nails and as I am buying them. Then he tried to build what was in his head, I wish I would have gotten screws cause what a cluster fck that was. My hat is off to you guys no wonder you are usually the General Contractor on the job cause you no what to nail in first. We did use the pilot drill method and it worked great but my god If in I had to build a house with nails I would shoot myself for lack of hitting the head. Thank you for the help and keep posting and if I can help you with any electrical needs let me know cause I am way out of my depth on buildig things. Thanks

"...In the US, the drywall manufacturer recommended screw spec for wood studs is 1 1/4" Type W Bugle Head Screws. For metal studs they would be Type S..." - New England Architect I'm sure this specificatuion is the least you can use. The bare minimum. 1 5/8" screws is what I spec on all 1/2" and 5/8" drywall or quiet rock installs. Course thread for wood fine thread for metal. Wood screws can back out of metal studs because of the design and vibration. Fine thread screws can pull out of wood because there is not enogh grip. Drywallers here are getitng lazy. I see the guys using tiny 14 volt drills. It's no wonder they don't have a helper follwing them to hold the screws. It's not all the guys but it is a trend I'm seeing on more and more jobs. Check the fastners and specify what you want.

^^^HA! Snap! Millworkman hits it on the head...AGAIN! Your 'dude' (sigh...I'm telling you the guy with 2 years of experience has yet to have a MASSIVE fail that costs him his HOUSE!) is not making allowances for the gap (vertical gap....between the old house and the new house = gap between the wood and the concrete). That gap is going to move. Actually it isn't the gap that moves...it is the WOODEN side of the house that moves. Wood expands and contracts in the presence of moisture. That means between the seasons that gap will expand (in the dry winter months) and contract (during the humid summer air). Tile is NOT happy with this type of expansion and contraction. There will be issues with tile in the breeze way. I guarantee it. I would get this in writing. It will say, "I, Joe Schmoe floor guy with 2 years of experience, hereby promise to remove and replace all flooring that fails because of my installation technique. I promise I will not leave the town, state or country upon notice of complaint. I will guarantee my work for five (5 years). After such time I will offer prorated discounted repair service for the next 10 years should this floor fail due to my installation techniques." I can guarantee the installer will not agree to this. Because several hundred square feet of failed tile work could bankrupt his little business. This only works if you FLOAT a wood over a FLOATING wooden subfloor like Dricore ($1.35/sf + $1.65/sf labour = $3/sf). This STILL REQUIRES the two floors to be leveled out. This is a MAJOR renovation to get your vision to work. Again, you've been given the limitations of your situation. What you 'want' is not something your budget NOR your installer can handle. Go ahead and get 3mm cork underlay over top of the wooden floor...now float a wood floor over the concrete and over the cork. You will have to leave drop in a T-moulding at the gap...and you are DONE. This is what the HOUSE is able to do. Just because you 'want it' doesn't mean it is feasible. You could spend $10/sf on this area. You could hire a TOP flooring pro - not a well meaning 2 year pro. You could also shrug your shoulders and say, "Nah. I'll just to it the way the HOUSE wants it done. It's easy and FULLY ACCEPTABLE in the world of design and flooring." Go ahead and ask your installer, point blank, if he can AFFORD to pay for a complete redo of your home's flooring WHEN his plan fails???? If he looks shocked and angry, you know the answer is "Hell Naw!" You can swim upstream against the current and curse it every time you have to paddle harder or you can float with it and end up on the other side without any physical (or financial) exertion at all...other than keeping your beer from falling off the inner tube! It's your call....but the house has spoken.