I'd be ropeable if I discovered builders had used what must have been obviously brand new white towels for whatever they wanted them for. I certainly hope they reimburse you or replace them.

That's a pretty egregious design flaw if the lower handle fouls on the upper handle on your diverter. I'm not normally that picky but I wouldn't put up with that.

Hope your bathroom reno gets there in the end :-)

Are handles are reversed? The top one looks like it is shorter and would clear the base of the one above.

If not for the handle snafu I would highly doubt your assumption on the towels and the tile guy. I would as the guy who lives there....Maybe this reprise on your timeline is an opportunity to think about a curtain instead of doors.

Lars, we hung a temporary suction cup curtain rod and shower liner to keep water off the floors while we waited for our glass doors.I found the rod at homegoods. I hope the issues are all sorted out with in the next month. It looks nice. I like your finishes.

Maybe the new towels were put in the laundry to wash before first use?

roarah said what I was going to say. I've used a tension rod and shower curtain for 24 years in my shower.

Why would you keep new white towels in the contractors storage area? Is there a chance they thought they were for use for projects? The issues you describe - besides the towels - are normal ‘punch list’ items for the contractor to address. It looks like you are happy with the work otherwise? Just hang tight and have patience. Coincidentally I just watched the episode of The Office last night where Dwight tried to power through an appendicitis in order to be considered for a promotion :) hope your contractor recovers smoothly. Enjoy your new bathrooms!

thinkdesign, the towels were in his closet, not the contractors storage area.

I'd be miffed about the towels as well. But the re-do is looking good!

If the contractor needed some rags, he should have asked for some. Taking new towels out of the closet was inappropriate.

A tile setter should bring their own rags. It's part of their tool kit.

Can't you have a glass company install the doors? You'd probably get a better install from them too.

Your bathroom looks nice! Our 90's hall bathroom is almost identical to your before photo, and we want to renovate that and the master eventually. I am hoping it goes better than the kitchen remodel last year!

The closet in question is my personal clothes closet and has some of my clothes hanging in it, as well as new linens that are still in their original packing. The towels were in the bag from the store and are obviously new and never used, and the bag was in the back corner of the closet. The plumbing fixtures were in the front of the closet, near the door, on shelves. This was the best place for me to put them so that the contractor could access them easily, but I in no way authorized him to use new towels from the closet, and they were not even on a shelf. I did give him a couple of old towels when he asked for them, but no one asked me if they could use the new towels. I checked the washer and dryer, as well as every other place in the house and garage, but the towels are nowhere to be found. I agree that they should have brought their own rags as well as blankets for covering the toilet when they were doing the work. The contractor left the old towels that I let him use in the garage.

I thought about asking the contractor to hire someone else to install the glass doors, but I am not in that much of a hurry. He also needs the money and does not want to hire someone else to do it. We could consider using a temporary shower curtain, but my own walk-in shower is large enough that I don't even need one. I think it is about 39" x 60". Here's how it looks without the doors:

The handles are not reversed - the large one is supposed to go at the bottom. I have an almost identical diverter in my bathroom in Los Angeles.

The new house is in Coachella Valley, in Cathedral City, 10 minutes from downtown Palm Springs, and so the climate is extremely dry. For this reason, the mirrors do not fog up, and my face gets dry without using a towel before I get a chance to shave. This is not our primary residence, and we intend to rent it out much of the year, but Cathedral City passed a temporary ban on any new short term vacation rentals (STVRs, as they call them) but we can still rent it out on a month to month basis, as long as it is rented for at least 30 days at a time. We want to rent it as VRBO, which is what most people in CC do, but we will have to wait for the ban to be lifted, which we expect to happen by the end of the year. This is one of the reasons that we are not in a huge hurry at this time. We also had the pool replastered, and I rejected the finished plaster due to roughness, and so parts of it are going to have to be buffed out, probably in the next two weeks, but I was not given a firm date. I mainly want the spa and the bench in the pool to be buffed out. Most of the walls of the pool were fairly smooth, but the bench was so rough that it cut my fingers when I rubbed them across it. The pool guy admitted that this was not acceptable and agreed to fix it.

Isn't "Remodeling He11" redundant? LOL Sorry for all the snafus.

Love what's done so far Lars! I agree that quality glass doors are a must for a nice, finished, look. Your design work is spot on! When you hire it out, there will be snafu's. The hot & cold handles....ya gotta smile. It'll get fixed. Thanks for posting the photos. I love to look.

I think I am kind of bucking the trends by using dark tiles here, but his wall are an off-white color that he chose that blends well with the lighted vanity mirror. I personally like the dark tiles and feel that they give the space a more masculine look. I chose 24"x24" tiles in a straight pattern because I was going for a more minimalist look. Also, I avoided using contrasting tiles in the niche, as I find that to be an unnecessary detail. Kevin is very happy with how it is turning out, but he did say that this bathroom is much nicer than the one he has here in L.A.! We may or may not add a teak bench. We already have one for my shower, but I keep it beside the shower instead of inside, and it is easy to move it inside if needed. I'll have to see how I feel after the glass is installed.

No it sounds like the towels were stolen. Time to tighten supervision of all trades on site. Again, good luck!

Thanks for sharing! I really like what has happened so far. I do like the dark large tiles. Love the rock shower floors. I would be upset about the towels. I am sure those were much more expensive than the towels needed for tile cleaning. I know the towels of mine that were used for tile clean up had to be thrown out because they were stiff and it would not wash out. Mine were also used with out asking! Unacceptable.

Good luck with your project!

The bathroom is looking great so far. I too would be upset about the towels and that the installers were lax with the handle install. Sometimes you’ve got to wonder how they are even in the business. Probably some guys without supervision and oversight and just trying to get it done and out of there for the day. Some just don’t have the real skills to properly do all the finishing work they are asked to do. Your pool is a good example.

I think you are right about the guys not having supervision and just doing whatever.

The reason they can stay in business is that there is a shortage of contractors and skilled laborers in Coachella Valley, and most people that I asked to quote on the project told me that they were not taking any new jobs at the time and that they were overbooked. The pool guys were simply not taking enough time to do the job properly, and I think they were rushed to finish it, but not by me.

It's possible that because I used expensive Italian tiles from a high-end store in Palm Desert (a very upscale city with Rolls Royce and Lamborghini dealerships), they thought I was rich and would not mind their using new towels. That's just a guess. The contractor told me that he was not used to using the high-end bathroom fixtures that I bought, and so it was a bit of a learning project. I would have preferred to have hired someone who had experience with Hansgrohe fixtures and faucets, but the ones I found refused to quote. I have Hansgrohe in my bathroom, and Kevin picked out Grohe fixtures for his. My rainshower is Italian, Fortis Siena, however, because the Hansgrohe was too big, and the Fortis Siena was exactly the size I wanted.

I will say that I am very happy with the pebble floor - it is much more comfortable than I expected. And, in this climate the floor dries very quickly.

A painful process, but the results look great!

I think it's important to separate the contractor from his tile guys.

The contractor sounds like a decent enough guy who seems to have done good work and is now suffering a serious health problem that could not have been predicted.

The tile guys on the other hand sound like jerks who used your new towels, rather than getting some 5 cent rags. You need to be reimbursed for that and beyond that it's very rude. Fortunately they sound like regular white towels instead of special towels you picked to match your paint colors. I've had many bad experiences with workers destroying my things ( for example using my ceramic bathroom trash can for hauling busted up tiles). Unfortunately there are many people on a job site and some are conscientious while others are not.

It's not cool and you are right to be angry.

But you have to separate your irritation from the contractor, who is on the mend, and deserves some sympathy. Let him know by text or e-mail now that there are problems to be resolved including the towels and say something like "we can follow up on this when you feel better". Then in a while you can follow up on finishing the work, getting the wrench back and being reimbursed for your towels.

The Grohe line has held up perfectly for us -- new in 2001.

I am not holding my contractor responsible for the towels (just the wrench and the adjustment of the diverter handle, which I told him was not urgent), but I told him this in an email, and I don't know how often he reads emails. He seems to respond only to texts, and I have a difficult time expressing myself compassionately in texts. I told him in the email that I prefer email to text so that I will not come off as blunt, but I really hate using texts and easily becoming irritated when forced to use them.

I did tell him via text that he should take it easy for two weeks and not worry about installing my doors until the doctor says he can work, but I think he wants to get back to work much earlier than he should. He subcontracted the tile guys, and so he is really responsible for them, I think, since I do not know their names or have contact info for them, except through my contractor. I did tell him (via email) that I considered the loss of the towels to be part of the cost of renovating the bathrooms, but I'm still not thrilled about it. I think I can replace the towel sets for about $100 total, and so that is a minor amount. I think I am more upset that they went into my personal closet to look for towels when they had no business there.

I did fire my previous pool maintenance guy after his worker broke two outdoor light bulbs and did not replace them, but mainly because he did not have the right equipment to maintain the pool with new plaster. The plaster guy said that only brush vacs (and not roller vacs) should be used for the first month after the plaster has cured. He refused to buy the brushes (which cost less than $25), and so I told him I would have to get someone else who uses brush vacs. The roller vacs could damage the plaster, and it is not worth the risk. The pool replastering cost more than both bathrooms combined! However, it had to be done, at least by next year if not this year, and I did not want to wait a year for that. I did get a good warranty on the plaster job, and I upgraded the plaster to Diamond Brite, which is possibly why it is rougher than the previous plaster, as it contains quartz.

By the way, the plasterers caused several of my pool tiles to come loose, and I agreed to pay to have them re-installed, for which I was charged $640.00, which I thought was excessive. There were only about six loose tiles, and about four of them were re-installed in two pieces, since they had broken in half. Still, they look okay, and I did not want to do a complete re-tiling. Because of the high price I am paying for the pool, I expect it to be done correctly.

If you think the contractor is rushing back to work too fast you could just give him an excuse. A white lie for his benefit and yours. "Oh, hey two weeks from now isn't good. I have a work trip. It has to be three weeks".

If texting bothers you and he ignores e-mails then it might be better to make a list and then talk to him and go over it in person at the job site.

The texts might be useful mostly for your records and to give him a heads up. Talking in person might be best.

He should reimburse you for the towels if only because the rudeness of the tile guys irritates you and compensation is a way to put the matter to rest. It also puts some pressure on the contractor to figure out which tile guy did it and reprimand him. That's to the contractor's benefit because it will avoid more offended customers in the future. It could be next time this tile guy uses somebody's keepsake hankies passed down from their grandmother for mop duty. It's not mean to want to put things right and help the contractor keep his workers on track.

For the text vs email, you could also send him a text, telling him that you sent an email, and for him to review.

Your bathrooms look great so far, love the darker tile and the correctly laid pebble tile (no straight seams between the pebbles! Yay!)

Even if you could easily replace the towels, whoever took them should be held to account for them- otherwise they'll think, "Well, I got away with that" and help themselves to other customers' stuff.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the vanity that I ordered was delivered with the wrong top - it was sent with two cut-outs for double sinks even though I ordered it with a single sink and only one sink was sent. The vanity was made correctly for one sink, except that they sent it with two left side elements, but my contractor was able to change the door swing on one of them so that we did not have to replace that. The vanity company did send a replacement top because I sent them photos the same day (I was given 24 hours) of the wrong top, and they said that when the replacement top would be delivered that the delivery person would pick up the wrong top. They emailed me a BOL, but I was not there when the new top was delivered, and when the delivery man delivered the new top, he called me and told me that he had no orders to pick up the wrong top and refused to take it from my garage. Three weeks later (today), I got an email from the vanity company saying that I should call their shipping company to arrange for a time to have them pick up the wrong top, and that I should have it packed in its original packing with the pallet (which I saved), but of course I am not at the house now, and I cannot lift the top to repack it, although it is in its original box with packing and is on its original pallet. They also said that I should print out three copies of the new BOL, but I sort of think that that is their responsibility and that they should provide that to the shipping company instead of expecting me to print out their paperwork. They've been very nice to deal with, except for sending me the wrong items, and I guess I will have to call them tomorrow, which will be Saturday, and let them know that my contractor is in the hospital. I'm sure he's out by now, but I might not tell them that.

Kevin thought that the vanity was too expensive ($1150.00 on sale at a 20% discount, which includes the quartz top plus the sink), but I told him that I could not find anything else for less that I found acceptable. He's happy with it now - it is solid acacia wood with a dark gray stain, and it blends with the other pieces in his bathroom, especially the African mask, which is actually mine, but I am letting him use it.

The bathrooms are lookin' good, Lars! Love the showers, especially the pebble floors.

I hope the delay isn't too long and that you get some sort of compensation for the towels just on general principle if nothing else. The tile guys were totally and completely out of line to do that.

Returning to add that we had a sheet rocker steal from us while we were building our house. We were not here during the week, so he had no supervision. We didn't have much here at the time because the house was till under construction, but some of hubby's tools went missing along with a few other things.

The sheet rocker dude left some of his tools, a ladder and a scaffold here and never returned for them. I guess he was afraid to come back once he knew that we were aware of the theft. Hubby was able to use some of his things and sold the rest, so it came out about even in the end, but it was annoying as heck to have someone we we trusted to do that to us.

My father had workers steal tools from him too, or so he said. Since he had Alzheimer's and Parkinson's it's hard to tell whether he was imagining it or not. He also had someone who owed money to him that would not pay, and so he offered to paint my car in lieu of payment, and I had to take my car to him twice. Each time he siphoned off almost all of my gas, and I barely had enough to make it to a gas station. I told my father about this, and he did not believe me, but I made a point of checking the second time I left my car there, and after that, I put a locking gas cap on.

I guess stealing is more common than I would like to believe as well. Anyway, it was helpful to hear other's experiences with this.

I got an email from my contractor this morning, and he offered to pay
for the towels. He also said that he still has a fever and has to stay
in bed, and he asked me how long I thought the recovery would take,
since I had told him that I had also had an appendectomy. I told him it
could take 2-4 weeks and that he needs to stay in contact with his
doctor. I also told him that he didn't have to pay for the towels and
not to worry about when the glass doors get installed.

Mainly I wanted him to be aware of what happened so that it would not happen to someone else in the future.

Did you change contractors entirely after the first debacle with no waterproofing and spot bonded tile? Or did the original GC gut what had been done and just get new tile contractors to redo it?

If the house was left unsecured, even for a short while, it could have been strangers entering to steal, or a worker with unsupervised access.

After the first 2 burglaries of my house, when all the pawnable and sellable valuables (jewelry, camera/lenses, CD player) had been taken and not replaced, the following burglaries were all about setting up household items -- yes, the towels and washcloths, the pots/pans/knives/forks, the alarm clock, jeans/tshirts/sweaters. We suspected the workers at the nearby greenhouses. No one would have looked at my house and furnishings and thought I was rich, but a certain class of people tends to think that anyone who has, can afford the loss.

Lars, your bathrooms are gorgeous. Very nice job.

I really like that linear light fixture. Do you happen to recall what brand it is?

Here's a link to the light fixture. It's from Lamps Plus. Each one puts out the equivalent of 100W incandescence, and Kevin's mirror puts out the equivalent of 60W, which is enough for his bathroom.

Thank you, Lars. As I was hoping, it comes in a 36" version, too. Great looking fixture.

Picking out a light fixture was fairly difficult, and we ended up going to Lamps Plus so that we could see the fixtures in person. Some that looked good on-line did not look so good in person.

What's wrong about getting a set of allen wrenches to adjust the knobs? Those are not expensive. Most home owners develop a collection of miscellaneous tools for the house. I can't tell without a closer look. It seems that the handle should be pushed through the knob to the other side, or the knob rotated on the shaft to a different position. There may be a flat on the knob shaft that dictates where the set screw will be. Maybe the plumber did not get all the adjustments made before he fell ill. This should be a simple job once you have an allen wrench that fits. Typically, valves of this type can rotate through 3/4 of one rotation.

Do you have the instruction sheet that is normally included in the box the valve was in? There is a possibility that it uses a metric sized wrench if it was made by a foreign company.

No shower doors, no problem. You can install a shower curtain for temporary use. The doors may not arrive for a month. Use a expandable shower curtain rod, the kind that is used with a tub and shower combination. This is held in place by soft cups on the ends and friction against the wall. This is an extra expense that can be avoided if the plumber, or his helper, could finish the job in a few days. If his appendix was removed, there will be a recovery period before he will be allowed to lift again. This type of shower rod and curtain is not expensive and will make the shower usable.

I do think the Allen wrench is metric, since the diverter was made in Germany, and I will look into getting some metric Allen wrenches, if we do not have any at our house in Los Angeles. I will take what we have here to see if any will work, but it would have been convenient if the contractor had left the Allen wrench that came with the fixture. I do have the instructions, such as they are, and they have essentially no text with them - only illustrations, and so it is better to go to Youtube for information on the adjustment. I'm sure it is simple and something that I can do myself, once I have the correct wrench.

The contractor called me today and said that the glass doors in the master bathroom are already installed, but he thinks there is an issue with the hinge at the bottom because it makes noise and the door is more difficult to open inward than outward. The glass company installed the doors - the contractor never intended to do this himself, and while he sounded a bit weak on the phone, he said he was feeling well enough to oversee what is being done. Unfortunately, the glass door installers damaged a tile in the hall bathroom, and so now that has to be replaced, which will happen tomorrow. The glass company will pay for this to be done of course, but the door should be reinstalled this week. Anyway, I will go on Friday to see what is being done regardless. We have lots of extra tiles, and so that is not an issue, but the contractor told me that the bottom hinge on the second glass door also appeared to have an issue. I let him know that I would not accept hinges that are not proper, as I do not want to have issues later on. I also told him that I am in no hurry to get this completed, but he is because I will not give him his final payment until the work is completed to my satisfaction.

There is no need now to get a shower curtain.

Your shower turned out very nicely, but I'm wondering with the door/hinges there, can you reach in and turn on the water from outside the shower? Or do you have to actually get into the shower to reach the controls?

Once that is finished, I think that you are going to enjoy it.

My wife and I are getting old and my wife finds it impossible to get up out of a tub if she should slip and find herself sitting in it. We decided to remove the tub and replace it with a low threshold shower stall. It took 2 months to get the job started. In one week, the tub was removed, the alcove extended, shower stall installed, but no doors. The floor was tiled and then came the excuses, one delay after another. I put up the shower curtain from the old setup so we could use the shower. The job was completed after 6 months! Fortunately, the workmanship was good quality

Put up a spring-loaded shower curtain rod and use an inexpensive shower curtain, so your brother can take a proper shower without worrying about water everywhere.

You have to get into the shower to turn it on, but it is easy to avoid the water, as there is plenty of room to avoid it. I generally turn on the hand-held shower first and hold it away from me to get the hot water started, but even if I start the rain shower first, I can stand out of the way of the water until it gets hot.

My brother will not be going to the house until his door is installed, which should be soon anyway. I'm going there tomorrow to check on the hinges and will not make the final payment until I am sure they are installed properly. I believe my brother's door will be installed by early next week so that I can check on that while I am there.

Everything turned out very nice in the end, and I gave the contractor his final payment, and he gave me back keys and garage door opener. Now it seems a bit anticlimactic and I was trying to think of other work I could have the contractor do, as we have become friends, of sorts. My brother and I already installed outdoor sconces ourselves, and so we don't need help with that.

I will post photos of the final installation tomorrow. The bathrooms look very different in morning light than in afternoon light.

Try posting both morning and afternoon if you can. With those dark walls I would think there would be times that the room would be a little too dark. One of those reasons I did not like the grey/gray trend. I like it so that the light reflects off the walls because winter here can be very gloomy for weeks.

Okay, I will post both morning and afternoon, but afternoon gets a lot of glare, since the bathrooms have west windows. The winters here are not gloomy and are instead quite delightful and probably the best time to be here, although we do have to heat the pool in the winter, as 70° water is way too cold.