Soonermagic, Kerdi is the perfect choice for a steam shower. No if's and's or but's. Here's the deal as best as I can describe on the forum...what follows is not a perfect description, but generalities: Unmodified thinset cures via a chemical reaction. Essentially, it does not need air to cure and harden. The chemical reaction consumes water in the cure. Put a dollop of unmodifed thinset in a zip lock bag and it will still cure and harden. Add a latex modifier to the thinset for lightly modified thinset? You still have the "no air required" chemical cure for the thinset, but the latex modifier needs exposure to free air to dry. No air, it'll remain slightly soft. Highly modified thinsets need even more exposure to free air so the additional latex modified portion of the thinset can fully dry. Put a dollop of highly modified in a ziplock bag and it may not fully harden, even after several days. What is Kerdi? A polyethylene sheet membrane. Air can't pass through it. Air can't pass through glass tile either. So a modified thinset will take longer to cure and harden when sammiched between Kerdi and glass than would an unmodified thinset. Small glass mosaic tiles like yours have a lot of grout joints, the modified thinset can "air dry" through those joints. It may take longer than glass over cement board (air can pass through cement board), but will usually eventually dry. This is why Kerdi recommends using non-modified thinset in a lot of their installation documents. It depends on what you're tiling, the size of the tile, etc, but in general Kerdi recommends non-modified, or "dry set" thinset. Glass tile, being smooth, needs something that will grab and hold it. That's why most glass manufacturer's will recommend a modified thinset to adhere glass, as the modified has better bonding properties and has a bit more flex to it, meaning it's bond is not as brittle as a dry set bond. Therein lays the conflict. I've installed a lot of glass over Kerdi. You just need to know what you're doing before you attempt it. It takes a bit of reconciliation between the tile installation instructions and the Kerdi instructions, with a bit of common sense thrown in. Tilers need to better educate themselves before attacking installations like yours. Tile products have evolved over the years, and continuing education is the difference between a true professional and someone who just shows up to work with his lunch pail. I'm not necessarily knocking your installer, but your GC and tiler should have been on top of this long before the first batch of thinset was mixed. Best, Mongo

Was there greenboard over the studs before he installed the cement board?Either way he needed to tape seams and should have used thinset.But if there wasnt even greenboard behind there you will have problems from the get go.I would rip it out regardless.

I like your room. I like the calm feel that the neutral colors give. I like that you have avoided crowding the room with too much furniture or the typical 3-seat sofa. The light color for the loveseat and chair was a good decision versus a darker color that would have taken up more visual space. I love the cove ceiling. Right now you have a TV viewing room. The room isn't set up for several people to sit and face one another and talk or play a board game. I doubt you could read a book using one or both of the lamps you have there. Someone sitting on the left side of the sofa has no light or end table to put a drink down. I understand the space constraints you have, and maybe this room can't have more than one purpose. If it were my house, I would switch out the two lamps for ones that were slightly taller and less traditional, given that the sofa and chair are not traditional. Adding texture to the room is easier said than done since much of the room is already furnished, and I don't know whether you are prepared to change out what you have. Fabulous drapes can make a room. I can't see what's inside the built in bookcase, but it has potential for putting fabric on the back wall and adding a lamp in there or Ikea type lights coming off the top of the bookcase. A quietly patterned solid color area rug would add texture. I love the ones that have a basketweave effect. The accessories that you have on the tables seem like afterthoughts. You don't have a lot of them, which I like, but they don't interest my eye. I wonder how many of those things you truly love and how many were just put there to fill a space. I would be tempted to do something to the ceiling. For lamps, I would go more square or angular. I don't know that this is the right lamp, but this is the idea. Notice the texture in the shade. You can sneak texture all kinds of ways if you pay attention to detail.

My thanks to all of you who posted comments, both good and bad. I can't begin to tell you how feedback about my florals opened my eyes, so I was able to change things for my next set of photos. I'd never think that removable "props" would turn someone off. I also have to say that you're taking it well and seem to appreciate the feedback. Those of us selling can now see our house through strangers eyes and what a potential buyer might think when seeing our house online. How the photos look will dictate whether they take the time to actually walk our houses. The last time our house was for sale we did not get any feedback, so I'm very thankful for this forum and hope that the feedback you got helps you. I noticed that the wallpaper in my home got some of the most frequent and critical remarks and it's left me wondering about something. Is wallpaper no longer in vogue in new or remodeled homes or is it that my particular wallpaper is not to the liking of most of you? I've walked a lot of new communities with model homes and can say that here they are still using wallpaper but not in all of the rooms. You might pick the nicest rooms to keep the wallpaper. I love the foyer wallpaper but not with the door color and not with the flooring. You might think to leave some of it up and paint other walls, using it as an accent. Back entrance wallpaper - I would take it down. Half bath - I like the wallpaper but not with the light fixture. Study - I've seen similar paper used in homes I've walked. Utility - dislike the walls - would sheet rock & paint 1st floor master - would paint 1st floor master bath - I like the paper but not for a room like this. I would paint and think about putting up beadboard 2nd floor master - while I like the top paper, I think it would look better painted. The wood on the door is much too dark. I'd also think about putting up a scarf on the windows, then opening the blinds for the photo. While I like pink, others do not :( Second floor vanity/dressing area - this paper you could get away with leaving. Bath 2, second floor - I would try to lighten this room up or leave the picture out. Living Room - I would paint this I also realize that the paneled family room is dated but my thoughts on that is to either paint the paneling a neutral color or rip off the paneling, put up sheetrock and then paint. I also want to install engineered wood flooring in that room and perhaps extend it in to the foyer where, I admit, the tile color is also dated. Another area of critical comments was due to my home having so much carpeting. Has carpeting also gone out of style or do I just have too many rooms with carpet? We just did this in the master bedroom. I would sheet rock. The carpet wouldn't bother me here. I'm one of the weird ones that actually likes carpet, especially for my bad back. Walking on wood floors kills me. BTW, the Saint Bernard that appeared in at least one photo and brought about a comment or two that some people wouldn't even consider buying a home where a dog had been passed away on June 10 much to my hurt. I'm in the process of cleaning up all traces of his presence here. That is, everywhere but in my heart! Very sorry for your loss. After 22 years, I still miss our German Shepherd.