This old thread got revisited. @dani_m08 to answer the question about extra probe, I believe I ordered an extra one when I bought the set up. The probe wire is just setting in the junction box I think but honestly I cant remember. When I laid out the underfloor heating and the probe, I just ran another probe near the first probe, and it was then sealed into the floor self leveling compound as per instructions. then the end was just threaded into the wall like the one that would be live, and not connected, but just laying there in the box. Regarding the tile layout. I just decided to run it this way, after getting instructions on the 90Degree way, IIRC. The herringbone that I love is from my childhood and the side walks in my neighborhood that all ran at 45Degree. so that to me is herringbone. I know you posted on @sochi thread about her amazing bathroom and a wall mounted faucet. I would totally do it if I had the right sink for it. In my case I had made my sink out of soapstone and an integrated backsplash. The pictures of this bathroom reveal are no longer available because of the use of photo bucket, when it was Gardenweb. I did not keep my account with photo bucket. I'll add some of the reveal pictures so you can see the sink and floor. Regarding the sink there is no ledge for water to drip from my hands when using the faucet. The water drips right into the sink. In my other bathroom with a deck mounted faucet I am always wiping up drips and it is a nuisance. I much prefer the setup for this sink. Below: I love the flush finish from the faucet to the bottom of the sink. nothing drips on a counter or edge of a sink. Below: looking in from the doorway. Below: Here I am finishing up the sink. the backsplash was epoxied on as a separate piece. The whole soapstone install in the room took next to nothing to buy as they were all small pieces that I epoxied together with a 3 part stone epoxy. Below: this is the counter at the tub, and is in 2 long pieces but I was able to epoxy them together at there edges to make a wide slab for the top. All the soapstone was finished with a 60 grit sandpaper to be rough and this lovely soft tone of blue/green/gray/white. I did not oil it so this color tone would remain light. Below: If I recall correctly @sochi helped me decide on this Hubberton Forge Mirror. I have 3 different metals in this room, but they are all a cool silver to black color. Below: the center of this tower shares space with the kitchen on the other side of the wall. there is also some extra space that houses some electrical wiring. this is an old simple house. this bathroom was an add on when it got move to the farm in the 30s IIRC. The plumbing was all rearrange and some of the details that were orignially there I kept but updated it, such as this tower feature. The old one went and the carpenter did a wonderful job with this one. Below: This feature was another thing I kept from the old bathroom but flipped it from the other end and had the carpenter put drawers in it. Before it was a hell hole. things got lost and the build was soooo old and creapy I didn't like using it for storage. Now it is perfect for storage.

Don’t do seconds cheap chinese marble. You have a high risk of it rusting. In addition to the spacing and thickness issues that it will have. And all of the other issues that marble has with staining, etching, and chipping.

Sagging has a lot to do with ceiling joist spacing. With the advent of trusses for roof framing, the 16” on center stick framed joists went to 24” on center. And you can’t really modify the bottom chords of a truss to add additional bracing without an OK from the engineer. A 24” span is a lot to ask of 1/2”. Especially in a humid climate with the typical poor air sealing into the attic that happens from builders. I prefer 5/8” X type for ceilings for greater rigidity.

I'm sorry this post is long, but here's my advice. I have had the same frustrations that you detailed in your post. The ONLY times I have had serious problems on a project are the two times that I really felt I needed to hire a GC bc the projects were big. We had some serious problems with a kitchen remodel that can all be attributed to the GC hiring cheap unqualified subs, one of whom didn't know water likes to go down, not up. So when it came time for me to redo the 3 upstairs bathrooms, I was facing the same dilemma as you are now. Over the years, because of other projects, I had met a meticulous painter and a very skilled custom cabinet maker whom I really respect. I had a good plumber and electrician I trusted for small jobs and repairs we had done, and the painters crew had a good handyman on board for tying up loose ends such as installing hardware, lights, etc. BUT I didn't know any skilled tile professionals yet at that point, so I was worried that it would be impossible to find a truly skilled tile pro who was knowledgeable and meticulous about waterproofing. This was about 4 years ago. I decided to do a "semi" remodel at that time where we didn't touch the bath/tub combos bc I hadn't found a tile pro yet. We have the cabinet builder reface the vanities, make new doors and drawers, put the modern soft-closed and full glides. The electrician moved some rough ins; the plumber installed the new toilets and faucets, rejigging the plumbing a bit; a local glass company replaced the mirrors, painters repainted everything and I made pretty new shower curtains. We left the floor tile and the tub/shower combos alone at that time. A couple years later, because of another project I had final found a tile professional who was meticulous about waterproofing. So I had him come and do just the 3 upstairs bathroom floors and tub/showers, one of which he made into a shower only and expanded into the attic to make it bigger. He was able to do all that without messing up the vanities, walls, etc bc he was careful to cover everything. I only had to do a little touch up paint which was easy. Soooo, I did CG the 3 upstairs bathrooms myself, but because of the time lapse, it didn't all happen at the same time. If you do a little thinking about the order of tasks, I don't see why you can't handle the project yourself. I swear, it was actually relaxing, believe it or not, because I didn't spend the whole time afraid of what might go wrong. I trusted the people because I had already had them do some other work for me, and they knew I recognized quality work and was a reasonable customer to work with. I think the order of tasks for me was: - demo (I did some of this, but the cabinet builder sent his younger brother/helped to finish up what I couldn't get out myself. We didn't not demo the vanities, they were on the subfloor with the tile coming up and stopping at the edge. - refacing, making new drawers/doors - electrical rough in which a few needed to be moved a little bit - painting, install lights, hardware, towel bars, etc - install toilet So if you are going to do the bath/shower demo, framing, waterproofing and tile installation as part of this project, you would need to first, find someone qualified and then determine where that work fits into the order of tasks. Also, you'd need to determine who will demo the current bath/shower. In my case, I think if I had asked the painters handyman or my cabinet makers brother to do that they would have done it and just charged me for the day. People always say that having a GC ensures that the project moves along, scheduling is smoother, etc, but that wasn't my experience AT ALL when I had to hire a GC. It was terrible. In theory, it should go smoother with a GC, and I hope it does with other people. It's important that they all have insurance and you should definitely be sure you verify it. In my case the people I hired weren't just random guys. They run their own small businesses and are professionals so they had no problem showing me their insurance info and it was easily verified. IMO the tile professional is the most important person on the job. You can go to https://www.tile-assn.com, and click on "find a contractor" to help you locate someone. Also there's https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org. There's lots of good information on those sites. Also, if you're a nerd like me, buy a downloadable version of this handbook: https://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications.html It's a handbook explaining industry standards for tile installation. It's only about $40 for a downloadable version It's about 600 pages, but you don't have to read the whole thing. Read the introduction (about 50 pages) and then read the bath/shower or shower only chapters that are relevant to your project. For example bath/shower combo, or shower stall only, steam shower, etc. You can also check out DIY books from the library and read about waterproofing and tile installation on this forum and on the John Bridge forum. Also, now I say this with caution...you can look at Sal Diblasi's YouTube channel to watch his videos all about waterproofing and tiling. Stop there though because you can very easily go down a rabbit hole of misinformation on the internet. You can also of course ask friends, neighbors and colleagues if they know a tile professional, but I bet they don't. They probably all know a tile "dude." Doing all those things I just listed helped me ask the right questions and find a terrific tile professional who I hired directly to handle anything related to framing, waterproofing, and tiling. He did bring in a 2-man demo crew to hack up and take out the 3 bathtubs, and I'm sure if there had been anything else he wanted to sub out he would have, such as if there was electrical or AC equipment in the way when we expanded into the attic. There wasn't, but I trusted him to take ownership of the whole shebang and if he had wanted to get a sub for anything he would have. He and his colleague rebuilt 2 bath/tub combos, and converted and enlarged 1 shower, and they re-tiled all the bathroom floors. Even though there was a gap between the "semi" remodel and getting it all done, I'm glad we waited bc I just had to find someone qualified for the waterproofing and tile work. If you can find your team, you can do it all at the same time, but space the people out so that they aren't trying to work at the same time. Bathrooms are small and cramped placed to work with tools, etc, so you'll just have to try to schedule the people smartly. Best of luck with your project!