The beam appears to be the same width as the rest of the framing lumber and since it will be sheetrocked anyway, it does not need to be a beam, but a header. Since it spans a good distance it will be rather stout...possibly an engineered beam supported on each end by those walls that are on your plan or maybe a double 2x10 with a sheet of OSB inbetween them. But it will still be part of the wall framing and not there to hold up the ceiling that is above it. Personally, I'd be inclined to leave the area open between the kitchen/dining area and the livingroom and forget the beam (or header in this case) all together. If you want it there, tell the builder that you want it even though it is not required for structural reasons. Tell him you want some definition between the two areas instead of the open floor plan that you would end up with if the beam or header was left out.

Unfortunately, I used up all the dark one before opening the light one, and I have more cans I need to buy. The lighter one seemed to be older, with some stuff congealed at the bottom--but not like it was terribly old or lumpy. I called the varathane 800# and the guy was not helpful. I'm wondering if its possible to add tint or stain to the light finish somehow to get that dark maple syrup color? If so, what product to use? I do think the browner tone does result in subtly different effect-- reminds me of the waterlox tung finish which I used on another project, a richer color. Sometimes I've used polyurethane and it'll have more of a yucky too-yellow kind of look. Jon, good luck w/ your project. Mine actually looks very nice now that I got it right!

I would really appreciate if some of you can help with my dilemma. We are looking into flooring options for our new home. We live in Arizona. I was looking in to wood look porcelain tile because I really like the look of wood, but I want something where I can have the same kind of flooring in the entire main floor, so hard wood tile combo is out. We have hardwood in our current house in both our floors except kitchen and stairs as much as I love the look of it, I don’t like the upkeep that comes with it. A couple of our friends got LVP done in their homes and they really like it. I love how it looks but just can’t get over the vinyl part and how will it effect the value of the house? I spoke to a couple of local suppliers and contractors and they said I can’t go wrong with either it just comes down to personal choice. And with regard to the value they said only hard wood increases the value and carpet may decrease the value because buyers would like to change the carpet but vinyl or tile don’t add or delete anything in our are. it most likely will be our forever home till we downsize but just in case. Our home will be around 700k. I understand that vinyl costs less in labor charges but a 20mil wear layer vinyl is not cheap in material and I don’t mind to spend more on the labor of tile and prefer to compromise somewhere else which I can change easily later . I know some of the same things were discussed in this thread but most of them are over a year old was wondering if everyone is still on the same page. For everyone who has wood look porcelain tile or LVP do you still like it after a couple of years? What are the pros and cons. For me one big con with the tile is grout. And LVP’s pro is it’s looks. Do you have problems with footprints being seen on LVP like how a few mentioned in an other thread? any pro’s please give your input on what you think? Thanks a lot if you read till now. I will greatly appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks you so much for your help. we might redo the backsplash after we settle. From what we read online, regrouting the subway tiles seems easy, didn’t come across much information about these kind of mosaic ones. we assumed we can get help from here. So we have option of painting as well. Gray design In the tiles blends with the gray grout and tan grout might help to highlight the design. regarding the clause, we never noticed until the project manager refused to redo. We are in a state where attorney review is not part of the process. it Is our first time building a home, so we never see it coming. We are not playing victim here. Definitely the builders are not on the right side. they save installed lighter grout in the neighborhood for similar mosaic tiles. Builders have separate paperwork for dark grout based on owners choice (which we came to know after our issue). Even the design studio people verbally agree that it is not their usual way to use dark grout without request. They are surprised when e stopped at the design studio to confirm on the sample. These are not the only issue with the builders, and the work is not clean by their supposed standard and $$$ they are charging, please don’t judge, as people can be genuine with their worries, thanks again for all your suggestions.