Continuing with my complete inability to be brief and concise: ;) Plywood has four typical face grades; A, B, C, and D. "A" and "B" grades are the best, with "A" having no flaws in the surface veneer, it's good for stain grade cabinetry. "B" has a nice finish, but can have some patches in it to get rid of knot holes in the veneer, it's suitable for paint grade. "C" and "D" are lesser grades, they are quite a bit rougher than A/B. The "X" refers to the glue being used to glue the veneers together being an exterior rated glue. The glue should not weaken when wet, allowing the plywood to delaminate. So, for cabinetry or furniture, you'd want AB plywood. For house framing (subfloors and wall/roof sheathing, CDX is what you'd want. As to the shower floor, 3/4" CDX ply is fine. If the subfloor were wood planking or 1/2" ply instead of 3/4", I'd add another layer of ply on top to isolate the wood planks from the deck mud or to strengthen the 1/2" CDX, depending on which you have. So once you have your plywood subfloor in place: On top of that I put down a "slip sheet". I use 6-mil poly, some use tar paper. Staple it to the floor, just enough staples to tack it into place. If there is any radiant floor heating under the shower, don't use tar paper. Instead use poly. Over the poly use expanded diamond mesh, that gets nailed to the floor right on top of the poly. Overlap any seams and work to get the mesh flat so there are no "pops" in it when you walk on it. The deck mud then gets packed on top of the mesh, pack it in well and build it up to the required thickness and slope. Mongo

Sort of funny in that I was a third of the way through the original post and thought "I should link her to Harry's thread." Sounds like the plumber is going to install a clamping drain, so you can pretty much follow Harry's thread. Kerdi won't work with a clamping drain. Pay close attention to the weep holes on the drain, you don't want to clog those by packing mud up against them. You;ll see references to placing a small pile of tile spacers or pea gravel or broken tile bits up against the weep holes to protect them from becoming clogged with mud. Since it's on a slab, any wood that's in contact with a slab should be pressure treated. But most PT wood is wet, and you don't want a wet stick inside a curb. So look for kiln dried PT if you do the wood curb. Attach the wood to the slab with tapcons. As an alternative, you can make the entire curb out of cement, leaving the wood out completely. But see on Harry's thread when the membrane and mesh get wrapped up and over the curb and fastened to the wood on the outside face of the curb? You can either friction fit it, or if you want to fasten it tapcons (concrete screws) would probably be easiest for you. I'd recommend a few tapcons for DIY.

Hi, We did buy some of the items online for our build. But here are some tips on what to do. Think logistics. 1) Check and make sure with/in your Contract as to how much money you will save if at all, if you go down this route. 2) If you delay getting your item, then what is the impact to the budget. For example if you are missing a shower valve. That delays bathrrom sheet rock, and tiling. Will there be a charge, and a delay on the build? In general buying things yourself is work and alot of it. The advantage is you get the things you like, rather than some default. For complex items like plumbing, I would use a proper shop which will coordinate with your Gen Contractor. You do not want expensive plumbing parts on site until they are needed. Damage, loss and theft are all issues. Even if you have the parts deliverd to your own address. You will then have to drive to the site and hand the items over to the contractor. You will also have to make sure you got the right parts. Any error in the logistical supply chain and you will eat the cost. Worst of all if you order the wrong part!!! You will have to return it, order a new part, and hold up your whole build. Again eating cost. For simpler small things like door knobs you can order online. The trick here is a spreadsheet and focused attention to detail. Inswing, outswing, left hand right hand, which finish etc. How many? Then you need to encode this into an order number which may look like Baldwin-4637B-OilRubBronz-Insw-Left or some code number like that. Any error you eat the cost. We did this, and so long as you are precise and extremely careful you can say money. The parts should be deliverd to where you live, not to the site. When the builder needs the parts, drive over and deliver them. Note avoid any type in web page. Do your order in a spreadsheet. Then having checked it over, FAX it at the company. Then follow up with a phone call. It is easier and less painful for you and the guy putting your order together. The store I used to love was Home Depot Expo. Cheap prices, and lots of stuff all in one place to. Sadly these stores where closed. If you do order from Home Depot, try and learn their ordering system. No kidding! By the end of my build I got so good at it, and you need to be that good, you would present a spreadsheet, printed out with all the SKU order numbers, pallet sizes, number of tiles etc. Last thing you want is some Home Dept clerk messing up your order. Any delay, wrong part, you eat the cost! Even if you can return it. Try returning a pallet of Garden Rock!!! As a side note, my daughter now hates Home Depot. This is because we spent so much time in those stores trying to order parts! Final word: Be Precise, Accurate, and Think Logistics and you can save money and get what you want. Good luck on your build, Best Mike.

I am not an expert, but when my hood and pendants were installed, I wanted them only as high as they needed to be so I wouldn't bump my head. I didn't want the underbelly of either one to be visible when walking into the kitchen. I don't care for pendants hung so high that the bulbs can be seen glaring out the bottom while standing across the room. Likewise, I don't care for the vent grates under the hood to be so visible, either. I was home when my hood as installed, and I literally stood at the stove so they could measure how low it could go and still clear my head. For me, 32 inches above the stove was plenty--within the specs for installation, gives me head clearance, and the underside of the hood isn't as noticeable when I'm standing in the kitchen. The pendants are about 33 inches, and this works fine for the island space. The range and the island are not centered together, so it doesn't matter that the pendants are slightly higher. If you want the bottoms to match up, you may need to hang the pendants first because it looks like it has fixed pieces in the arm. However, be careful of the specs and code restrictions of where your hood must hang--there is usually a guideline that must be followed.