Hi Marion, If it won't be stored in one of those climate controlled places, then I would do a couple things. We had to do this for 4 months once so I understand your concern. Put bricks or blocks under the feet of your furniture to raise it up a bit. It helps with moisture and bugs. Cover it loosely with plastic. Home Depot sells big sheets of thin plastic in the painting section as drop cloths that would work. Or even garbage bags or shower curtains. Put several bug strips and other insecticides around. Maybe some of those sticky little mouse catcher pads too. Try to get to the storage facility each month and open it up so it can air out and you can check on possible water damage. If there's mildew starting you can catch it quickly and fix it. Bring a fan with you and blow air into the unit for an hour to reduce humidity. Bring a book or a radio with you and think of it as a mini-vacation! I used to have lunch with my furniture about every 2 weeks. Serious 'me time'. I had one of the chairs right by the door so I could pull it out in the sunshine and relax while airing the place out. There are probably some good desiccants available. Publix has some in little containers but there might be something commercially available that would be better. Hope this helps, Hugs, Kate

Laura, thanks, I do know not to put out bird feeders, if I did, I would be inviting a big black bear to come and visit Mike. Yes, I'm gonna put a couple of my Walmart specials out for a trial. One time I went so far as to put some cubes of rat poison down into the tunnels in the yard. I really don't want to do that again.

I agree with both Sue and Weissman. He hasn't got a leg to stand on without a signed change order that specifically notes a change in the insert size (which he obviously doesn't have since you never changed the size...!) You could let him finish (insisting he do what you want), then simply deduct the extra cost from your final payment if he has the gall to include it. He's not going to go after you for $500, especially when there is no contract in place. On the other hand, in your shoes, I think I would take Sue's approach and just get a GOOD tile guy in to do the job after the rest of the work is done and the GC has cleared out. That's what we did -- the backsplash wasn't done for another 5 months, but we took our time, found a tiler we really liked and for whom the references were phenomenal (which is why we had to wait that long -- he was booked solid) and the backsplash quite honestly is probably the most professional part of our kitchen remodel. I'm not sure I'd let a GC do it himself no matter what, unless he can give you plenty of references (that you actually see) indicating he's done this before and knows what he's doing. I would tell your GC that given his confusion about your specifications, the "moving target" on the price, and your concern about how he plans to do this, you have decided to engage a professional tile installer instead. As a question, have you basically paid him everything he's owed on the rest of the work, or did you hold back something? And how serious are the items on the punch list or are they very minor? (since he may be ticked about not having the additional money from the backsplash work and may just walk on you if there's no contract... might be worth letting him do that if the consequences wouldn't be extreme...)

Chisue, I don't know if it's true about the maternal side but show me a person who is bipolar and I will find a family member in their past who also had "issues". Unfortunately a lot of Bipolar traits (and other mental health conditions) are overlooked as quirks or just people making bad choices. Things like serial marriage or relationships,alcoholism,drug use,obsessiveness, "artistic temperament" etc. There is still a trend to blame nurture or background for certain criminal behaviors. An example would be be something like "he takes drugs because his father drank and beat him". No one takes the next step of considering the possibilty he takes drugs to self medicate and his father drank and beat him because father was mentally ill also. It's much more comfortable for people to look at things as good or evil or appropriate or inappropriate. Looking deeper and beyond is uncomfortable and scary for most. No one wants to look too closely at dysfunctional generations of families. It is easier to blame culture and nurture rather than nature. The idea of so many mentally ill is too frightening for the general population. But until mental illness is de-stigmatized nothing will change.