Thanks, gardenweb. We really appreciate the frank input on our shower trainwreck. To answer the specific questions: 1. There's a custom fabricated copper pan under the mud, which was installed by the plumber. This is in a a basement, and the copper sits directly on the slab with nothing else underneath it. 2. Yes, we may have forgotten to pull a permit. This turns out to be a pretty forgetful town. I'll deal with the plumber who caused this mess, but priority #1 is keeping this project on track. 3. There is no corresponding cement board on the interior of the curb, yet. It's just exposed copper right now. I'm planning to attach durock there, but please let me know if that's a bad idea. 4. The attached picture shows the "corrected" mud job. We spent a good deal of time measuring and fabricating a form which would allow us to achieve a good slope, and I'm pretty confident this will drain (and plan to test before tiling). So I've at least got one vote for ripping it all out and starting fresh from live_wire_oak. Frankly, that scares me a little, and I'd appreciate any further thoughts folks have about the pros and cons of tearing it out vs proceeding with the added mud. Please don't be shy if we need a little tough love here. Here is a link that might be useful: Corrected mud job

"Question: can this hole be fixed so that it will be totally unnoticeable?" Claude-007: You will always be able to find this repair, even if I fixed it and I have an Invicon kit. As I have mentioned in another thread, when the homeowner screws up, my repairs look fantastic, when the contractor does, not so much. The standard you should set is this: "Would a professional home inspector readily find this repair?" If the answer is no, it's successful, if yes, maybe not. I mistakenly drilled some holes on my nephew's new dresser drawers. We bought some flat stainless steel plugs that went perfectly with his pulls to fill the holes. It looked great. Sometimes a contrast is better. How about some pictures? One up close and one farther away.

We have an LG front load washer that has sprung 4 leaks in less than 4 years. First it was a water line coming from the cold water inlet valve, then the bellows hose, then the cold water inlet valve, and now the hot water inlet valve. The washer and drier are in a tight area in our laundry room, and the leaks have all been towards the rear of the washer. This makes them difficult to notice, as the water has been pooling up under the rear of the washer against the baseboard. My wife noticed water squishing out from under one of the 12 x 12 ceramic tiles in front of the washer a few days ago. I went under the house and found a water-logged OSB subfloor that is crumbling. Now I get to pull up the tile, hardyboard, and subfloor. I bought a drain pan from Home Depot that I'll have to install once the new floor goes down. My question is, is there a trick to getting a drain pan under the washer without breaking it, or should I set the washer down in it, then slide it in place?

I can't get around the drain pan, that's happening. The pan has a fold down front panel so you can slide the machine in and then back out -- it's made for appliances that are under counters. It will be attached to a floor drain so hopefully that will help if there's a leak. I think I have to give up on the toe kick idea. We have someone doing the countertop who does cabinet work as well, recommended by the cabinet dealer we use. If he's got a clever idea I'll let folks know. (btw the water valves will be accessible but I do laundry all the time, so shutting them on and off isn't super practical. We do shut the water off when we leave for vacation or long weekends though)