Good news - they did manage to snake the wires through the wall w/o damage. I am very happy. The little contract we drew up did not mention anything about drywall repair, or any other repair for that matter. I have never done this sort of thing before, and never realized something like this SHOULD be in the contract. It was always my belief that when a worker comes into your home to do repairs, they are always expected to leave things in the same condition as they were when they found them. As for the copper....I know it was worth around $3 per pound. Someone else said as long as they didn't take 20 pounds (or $60), not to worry about it. To me, stealing is stealing....doesnt matter what dollar ammount it equates to, it still is unacceptable. I do know its better to "ignore" it happened. Had I said something, they probably would have done a horrible install. I know one little perk to being a plumber, electrician or HVAC guy means you have access to scrap copper. But if the homeowner specifies they want it, then it is not yours to take. Thanks for the help guys. Hope you all have a great day.

The clothes dryer manufacturers have specifications on the duct work. They want ducting not to exceed a certain length, and they want 4 inch rigid metal ducts. A 4 inch duct has twice the flow capacity of a 3 inch duct. The restriction of a 3 inch duct causes the clothes to take much longer to dry and also stress the fan motor. PVC pipe is known to build up a static charge which causes lint to stick to the surface - thus requiring more frequent cleaning to avoid a possible fire hazard. For long 4 inch metal ducts there are dryer booster fans. The radon people have fans that go into 3 inch PVC pipes that run continuously. What I need is something that will essentially double the flow capacity of the 3 inch PVC pipe while the dryer is running. It can sense the dryer fan pressure or whatever and just ram flow through the pipe and be done at reasonable cost. I just cannot believe that duct manufacturers cannot design and custom build devices like this.

hey_j - For the wall color I mentioned it was very close to BM's Mexican Tile it is because I actually don't know the name of the paint color. I went to the Habitat for Humanity Store which sells used household renovation items (perhaps some of you have one in your community). Anyways I went to this store as I wanted some antique style door handles (which I found for $1.00 each!) and while I was there I found this can of paint for $8.00 - guess it was a mistint from some store that was donated to Habitat and I just had to jump on it and turned out great. I went through my BM swatches and found it to be very close to BM Mexican Tile. Originally I painted the cabinets Desert Tan by BM and it looked HORRIFIC! LOL so I had to repaint them all over again YIKES! But it was totally worth it as the Tahoe color is so soothing I love it. What is so great about my husband making these cabinets is that it was his first time making anything like it and I think he did a wonderful job. Also by doing this we did it at a fraction of the cost and it has all the little personal touches from him - the little heart on the shelf valance etc etc. Mustang - I love the light fixture too. It was left here by the previous owners who are my husbands parents. They had this light hanging by a chain link about the stairs and the scale was all wrong so we removed the chain link - put it in a smaller area flush to the ceiling and it is just perfect now. I am thinking the fixture is about 30+ years old and has a beautiful 'antiquey' feel to it.

Thank you guys! blfenton, you are right! I want this to be an updated midcentury. I actually want the bathroom to look contemporary modern, with lots of white-clean, modern, and bright. The exterior will replicate the mcm architecture but the interior will be more updated. I am really stuck on the floors and very nervous because I want to do the whole house in one floor type. kwsl2-That acutally sounds like fun. I wouldnt want to pay to fly someone out here though. I have called a few places so far. One was recommended by a store, but they dont do residential properties. Another one I called only does multimillion dollar homes and wasnt interested. I called a couple other places, but havent gotten a return call. I called an architectural firm whose work I really like, but they do their own work and didnt know of anyone. I am also nervous about the cost. A lot of the stuff I see online is very expensive multimillion dollar traditional/farmhouse style homes. Maybe these places are expecting calls from builders or architects and not homeowners?