We sealed our bonus room (over the 3-car garage) floor, knee walls, and ceiling with foam, and then insulated with cellulose. My daughter and grandson sleep there, and it's the warmest room on the 2nd floor. Be sure they seal EVERY crack between the garage ceiling and the MBR/bath floor with the foam. In my previous home (a condo), I had a long wall crack and some tie rod form holes that had popped leaks sealed with some kind of soft white goop--done by a company called Mr. Sponge. Their web site is mrsponge.com, but they are only in Michigan. They have some kind of proprietary sealer that they inject, but maybe if you look at the Fox News explanation posted on their web site, you can figure out what to ask someone in your area about for your leaks. 25 years later, when we had to take out the finished wall paneling to fix a different leak, these patches were still as dry as a bone, and the goop was just as resilient as the day it was put in. The walls are repaired from the INSIDE. Our present master bath is on 2 NW facing outside walls plus a garage wall, has a 9' ceiling, and is too cool for me--it's also at the far end of the heating run from the furnace. We just use a small space heater sometimes in Nov-Mar, and it is fine. However, with your "HUGE bathroom with very, very high cathedral ceilings", if a space heater doesn't solve the problem, you may have to make a choice between tearing up the floor tile and putting in radiant, or dropping the ceiling down quite a few feet. We put radiant in our lower level bathroom, since my mother was supposed to spend several months down there. As it turned out my daughter uses that bath to shower, but even though it can be cool during the winter (we're still in the process of adjusting our ducts throughout the house, since when we use the woodstove it throws off the house thermostat), she doesn't use the radiant since it takes a while to warm the floor, and she doesn't pre-set it. We got a Brookstone sleep therapy machine similar to the one linked below to block out the noise of our 3 very young grandchildren (early risers) who live with us during the week. Maybe something like this might help you adjust to the noise from your garage door opening under you. You don't have to spend this much--DH likes his gadgets! We chose a New Age sounding music from the 12 choices, and like that it goes all night. I can empathize with how tired and discouraged you are right now. We were owner-builders, so when we moved in, there were quite a few things that still needed to be finished, and we certainly had our share of unexpected things to be fixed as we went along. We've been in for over 2 years, and our list is getting shorter. Life is finally getting to be more enjoyable now that we're past our major hassles and most of the extra little jobs! The unexpectedness of your need for some major fixes, plus having to spend more money after saving for so long, when you thought you'd move in and love it must be a real downer. I'm sorry you're having to go through this. Part of the difficulty and discouraging part is not knowing how to fix everything. Good luck with it all--they are fixable problems, and I hope some of these suggestions will work for you. Anne Here is a link that might be useful: Brookstone sleep therapy machine

I wouldn't take the feet off. It will be impossible to move to clean and service. I would call the manufacturer and see if they have a filler kit that might work to fit to the stone and go under the glass. (hope that makes sense) This one is for a gas range but I think you'll get the idea. You have to adapt it otherwise, it's going to get funky under there. Otherwise, you may have to have it made like Sophie indicated. Good luck, your kitchen is beautiful!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just learned about a company that makes a product for staining brick that I thought you might like to know about. The company is called Masonry Cosmetics and you can buy a DIY kit for just $119 that looks like it is enough to do the front of your home. The guy emphasizes it's not a paint, so you're not going to experience any cracking or fading or peeling like you could if you whitewashed or painted the brick. What got my notice is you can lighten the brick, not just darken it! Click on their name for some before and afters. It still looks like brick - not painted brick. All the natural variations in the brick are still there! Also, to answer your question above - if your windows or wooden, they can be painted. Many houses have vinyl windows that cannot be painted - those are typically white or cream.

Only my instinct given that he didn't execute the visible finishing in an accepted, and well-known, manner. If the visible isn't up to standards, what's behind the walls? My alarm bells went off but it's too late to check it without tearing it all out. You'll know within the year and that's why a warranty is so important. I'm just a check, check-again person after reading the forums for several years. Also, I'm going through my own reno and, despite written instructions and pictures, there have been some silly errors. I try to have a basic understanding of what should be happening so that I can, hopefully, catch it before we have to tear out the work. Also, hired a GC with positive local standing...just like you did. Mine has taken care of things, which have been minor like the wrong size cans and placement. It's like any medical issue, I'm my own best advocate and it's my duty to ask questions. I have to have an idea of the possibilities to ask the questions. Approach it like that. I see no reason to be confrontational. After some self-education with the TCNA handbook (Tile Council of North America), johnbridge is a great place to become acquainted with basics, just say that you expected silicone at the changes of plane and you're confident that he (or his tile person) will follow industry standards.