i knew that i should ask about your kitchen-- i had a feeling we would have similar taste!! So we are building a house and I am planning to have == White perimiter cabinets with chocolate brown glaze, and cherry island with glaze... but i'm really stuck on the floor and granite!! Hubby does not want to use the mirage maple floor (that we are using in living, dining and foyer)- with two little kids and dog he thinks it will take a beating in the kitchen (our most used room) Any thoughts?? Here is a tile i saw today but i'm not sure i'm feeling it. I want to use Oil rub bronze fixtures.. I'm not sure how to make my pics bigger?? Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others! Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Curb movement like that is typically from a wood-built curb (stacked 2-by lumber, for example) that is absorbing moisture and expanding/swelling. How is moisture getting to the curb? Could be one of several things. Not sure how conscientious the installer was in terms of making sure the shower pan membrane is sloped (versus laying the membrane flat on a flat subfloor), or how he detailed the membrane over the curb. It's possible there are nails through the top or inside faces of the curb (and thus through the membrane) and moisture is getting through the nail holes. It's possible that he built you a perfect curb but used wet pressure-treated wood and the PT wood is warping as it dries. Or your house is on a slab, and he put the wood right on the slab. Moisture through the slab is causing the wood curb to expand. So it could be one of several things. It should be fairly easy to diagnose though, as the tiles are popping off on the outside face of the curb. They'll have to be removed eventually to diagnose and repair. When they are removed, take a look to see what's in there. Post photos if you can. To give you a bit of an education as to how a typical CPE-membraned shower with a wood curb is built, check out Harry's pictorial. Note that Harry's membrane is "draped" over the wood curb. That there are no nails/screws on the top or inside face of the curb. That the lathe (wire mesh) is bent in a "U" shape and it's simply the inverted "U" bends that hold it over the curb. Again, there are no fasteners through the lathe and into the top or inside face of the curb. I have seen instances where the membrane gets draped over the wood curb, then the installer nails cement board on the three faces of the curb and tiles on the cement board. Not good. Again, nails through the membrane on the top and inside face are a no-no. I don't see screws through the bottom track of your door frame that go into the curb. That's good. Best, Mongo

thanks to all who have posted so far, especially Eric. We can probably save/budget down the road for a kitchen redo, or do part of it ourselves. Additions would be a little harder for us except finish work (floors, tile, etc. Can do drywall even but would need to find time to do it). What that kitchen has is a U shaped layout, not too bad except there are overhanging cabinets between a small dining/family space and the kitchen. It's a counter/pass through kind of setup where someone can sit at stools and talk with the person in the kitchen....except the cabinets hang down so the person in the kitchen has to look under them. We would likely tear those out and relocate the stovetop to the perimeter wall and make that pass through an island. Then that entire space could become kitchen/dining. It is possible we could still move out a wall on that (kitchen) side of the house down the road too, we are in Hawaii so all the construction costs are much, much higher than mainland. So jealous of all the posters here who can put on a large extension for less than 50K. Plan A or Plan B will cost us about the same. We don't plan to sell and move anytime soon, but should we need to we're leaning toward sq. footage instead of just extending current bath and upgrading the kitchen. Our neighborhood is about 20 years old so people are beginning to redo those rooms as the fixtures and appliances are ageing. We redid all the appliances about three years ago with stainless finishes, new faucet/sink, and redid the countertop Corian, so the kitchen is livable - just need to clear out some clutter and make smarter usage on available storage space. We could paint or restain the cabinet doors to freshen it up. A few neighbors are creating the "big bang" kitchen now but I'm not certain a 70K upgrade will improve the value that much as a new neighborhood is planned about 5 miles away within the next couple of years. Would we love to live in a "WOW" kitchen, of course. But as with most people we have to make a decision on where it is best to spend the money for now. We could feasibly also add on a 2nd story in future years, but we prefer the single story and if we age-in-place as planned, the new bath will include wide accesses and no-curb shower.

Finally! We heard from the builder and they are going to reimburse us for the cost to demo and rebuild the shower. Thank goodness... lol I swear this shower is cursed...we brought in a new team (not affiliated with the builder) to remodel our whole bathroom (install new floor, new fixtures, re-install shower and tub)...and what do you know the contractor installed our paper faced tiles backwards...it is literally a comedy show at this point - we stopped him in his tracks he will not be returning and will be reimbursing us for the tiles and the sub par tile job all over and the remainder of work that is still to be completed - told us, well this is our best work, so with us this is what you get...so onto a new contractor...