I have read the buildingscience article but was wondering if anyone could answer a related question. While I have never had any water in my basement, the group around my house saturates quickly, so I'm sure there is moisture behind the wall. My contractor's advice is to simply build a standard framed wall a couple inches inside my poured concrete wall for airflow, keeping any unfaced fiberglass away from the concrete. Would it be better to put XPS on the concrete and then frame a wall an inch inside of that, leaving a gap between the XPS and the FG? The buildingscience article seems to put the FG directly against the XPS. Anyone have any experience with framed walls inside of XPS on poured concrete? Also, while buildingscience recommends a 2-inch XPS panel, I am finding it impossible to find. Lowes carries Dow WallMate, but only 1.5 inches thick. HD carries InsulPink, but I don't think they even make it 2 inches thick. If I combine 1.5 inch XPS (R7) plus R13 FG, it seems like that would be sufficient. Opinions?

Recess light cans are great to use for basement remodel projects. A trim from Halo called Eyeball lets you adjust the light to your desired direction. There are endless trims that can be installed with most recessed light cans. Always install recessed light cans with thermal overload protection in case some one screws a wrong light bulb it will shut down if it overheats. If brightness is an issue consider dimmer switching and have light fixtures that are dimmable compatible. A good idea also is to have your lighting power on its own circurit breakers and not tapped off of the nearest outlets. This way if a outlet breaker trips from overload it will not knock your lights off also. www.dbelectric.us

I like that name "Oregon Trail Millennial" — my age is of that in between era of firmly Millennial or Gen-X. I think my experience with homes and remodeling has straddled the generations equally. I used to watch home improvement shows on PBS, before there were cable channels dedicated to the topic, and I was a regular on the original GardenWeb site, before Houzz was even around. I've seen so many building and design trends and ideas come and go, but I've certainly embraced the trends that would likely be considered new school by older generations. Ideas such as green building/sustainability, quality over quantity, a love of throwback/time-proven designs (Mid-century, Craftsman, Scandinavian, etc.), reuse/recycling, DIY — all seem to be pretty important to Millennials. It's all new spins on old-school traditions and, at their core, ideas that can be practiced both frugally and safely (e.g. You may tire of a chair, but it's been in style for 100 years so it's unlikely to become dated). My experience diverges though in that I'm on my third home, and the second one that I will have remodeled. I learned my lessons from the first remodel, after using all that easy money the banks were throwing at us to make improvements. Sure it was a nice house when it was done, and I severely miss my kitchen — but I couldn't pay for it on my own, even with a roommate, so it had to be sold at an overall loss when my ex and I divorced. My current project, where barring any major life changes I intend to own until I'm old and gray, is a 1929 Craftsman that had most of the upgrades I was shopping for (new electric cause I didn't want to deal with that again!) but still needs a lot of TLC. In perhaps true Millennial style, I purchased this property for well, well under what the banks said I was approved to spend. I made a choice to forgo all the bells and whistles and spend no more than what could be covered by slinging coffee at a Starbucks. And, unless I add on square footage (or build an apartment for my mother that lives with me) I plan to continue paying cash for my upgrades. The DIY progress is slower, but damn if it isn't financially prudent. And yeah, not being house rich and cash poor means I get to do things like travel or pursue other hobbies that make me as equally happy as having a really nice house. To get to the actual question, projects in the mix include finishing up adding insulation to the walls, cause you know they couldn't be bothered to add that in 1929, hand oiling the wood floors, rehabbing windows and planning for bigger jobs — like the exterior painting and roofing that I'll not foolishly DIY. Hiring pros to do work, as someone with enough knowledge to be dangerous, means bringing in vendors that have a client-centric process, good communication skills, and because it's happened, aren't sexist/ageist/generally crummy people. At the end of the day, I have to like the people that are working on my house, because we're going to likely be seeing a lot of each other if it's a bigger project.

Hi Patricia and thank you for your comment. However, I did not post on the same subject. My other question is separate as I indicated in this post. If you'd like to check out the other post I welcome your feedback on that grout issue as well. And, as I said, we've been happy with our contractors work overall. That's why discovering this mistake and his lack of communication about it surprised us so much. 90% of the job is done and done well, so I'm not too concerned about that. I know he'll come for his last check, and I expect that he will fix it per what we request. I am seeking advice on exactly what to ask him to do from those with tiling/tile-fixing experience. Replace the whole tile on each piece that is chipped/or has the accidental hole? Or, is there an acceptable enamel-type fix anyone would recommend? I am the painter on this project and 2 of these tiles are next to the ceiling. I'm worried about damage to the new drywall, ceiling, and time I don't have to paint again as hubby and I are working full time during this closure. So, rather than flippant calls for shame, why not thoughtful ones about what to ask my contractor to do?