@hlove - you did a great job on your kitchen. It took a minute for me to realize you moved your ceiling up so much. It was hard to reference with the upper cabinets missing. We were originally going to do that here, however, that would mean we would to have to build yet another addition elsewhere to add a bedroom, so we decided to live with 7' ceilings. @Maine_Mare - your cabinets fit in very nicely! Your contractor did a wonderful job. They look like they fit perfectly in the house. I am so glad that others have to deal with 7' ceilings also. Most people enter my house and wonder why we haven't tore it down. Of course that was before the renovation started, so I am hoping to make a ton of converts. We have decided to go for the recessed lighting, I am with you and not a huge fan, but I like a lot of light in my kitchen and there was no other way I could get it where I needed it and for years we banged our head on another light in that kitchen and decided no more. We found some really nice options for trim for the recessed and hubby has some other ideas if we don't like that once it is up, so we will see. I absolutely am in LOVE with your sink though!!! I so wish I had enough space for that. Where did you get that? Do they have smaller versions?

Hi all. After batting around several options for far too long, I finally bit the bullet and ordered the Grundfos recirc unit. Of course, immediately after doing so, I found this tidbit on the RedyTemp website, that has me more concerned than any of the other "cons" I found about the crossover recirc systems: "COMFORT VALVE HOT WATER CIRCULATOR PROBLEMS According to nearly 100 trade professionals attending the 2006 Southern California PHCC trade show, homeowners with Watts and Grundfos thermostatic valve hot water recirculating pumps experience excessively high monthly gas bills and waiting for cold water. A closer examination and understanding of thermostatic valve functions identified the costly inefficiencies and loss of cold water inherent with these systems. Comfort valve hot water circulators utilize a pump installed at the water heater connected to the hot water supply pipe. By design, these pumps must run continuously (continuous energy consumption) to prevent the "normally-open" thermostatic valve from opening. It should be noted that heater mounted pumps often have narrower connection fittings than the water heater's actual pipe reducing flow capacity and load fulfillment capabilities. Thermostatic valves or sensor valves install under sinks connecting the homes hot and cold water lines together. Material within these valves expand and contract (open / close) depending on the temperature of the water contacting the valve. These "normally open" thermostatic valves close when 95F degree water contacts the valve, preventing hot water from entering the cold water lines. This being true also means anytime less than 95F degree water contacts the valve the valve will be open. Any use of cold water, i.e. toilet flushing, watering lawn, etc. drops the water pressure in the cold water lines but, not the hot water lines. The higher pressure in the hot water line force's water to siphon through open thermostatic valves and into the cold water line even though you intended to only use cold water. Until 95F degree water from the water heater reaches and closes the valve the homeowner is left waiting for cold water. It's important to remember that any amount of water siphoned into the cold water line is instantly replaced at the water heater with very cold city water. Thus, repeatedly placing demand on your water heater when using cold water." Justalurker (or anyone, of course), in your long experience with the Autocirc, did you experience anything like this (hot water demand when using cold water)? I'm hoping this is seriously overstated, and/or depends on ambient line pressure, etc., that won't be a problem in our location! Otherwise, this seems like a serious design deficiency in these "comfort" systems. Thanks again for the opinions.

I just bought 2 nutone heat, vent light fans for $195 each at Lowes. nice product, 2 sones (very quite) with direction adjustable heat vent in cover. about 2" larger than existing bath fans. perfect imo, to just cut the hole a bit larger. I also installed daylight cfl bulbs. used hardcast brand mastic tape to seal housing to cut in sheetrock before installing cover. also used the mastic tape to install the damper (and penny) to the housing of the bath fan, and the venting to the damper. took about an hour per bath fan. not my first rodeo. I also like panasonic whisper quite fans, but twice the price of the nutone. never liked nutone before, but saw mostly elcheepo bath fans that sounded like a 747 taking off. these were quite nice, and the low sones rating means that they will be used. I recommend running the fan for half an hour after shower. best of luck.

But then you made it clear you arent in the trades your an accountant gone weekender and maybe youre good at it who knows Well I grew up in construction had both a plumbing and electricians license....So yeah I am pretty damned good at it. but we know thats rare as evidenced here by all the travesties in reno's on these forums Ninety five percent of the posts on these forums are from trades taking advantage of people. Do you even look at the posts? How many times have we seen tile installed terribly? So I am sorry if these particular forums are evidence of anything it is the incompetent nature of the trades. Now I am not saying that this the case, people post here when they have a problem, but I am saying it sure as hell isn't evidence to the contrary. Jumping to defraud folks now Huh? how about selling a home without permitted bathrooms.....defrauding... This is a deflection. I am sure my mom said something about two rights don't make a wrong. Furthermore, can you please show me anywhere I said that bathrooms shouldn't be permitted? I have never made that claim, in fact, I said permitting was pretty easy. Furthermore, there is nothing and I mean absolutely nothing fraudulent about selling a home with unpermitted work done. NOTHING. Now it is fraud if the homeowner doesn't reveal that, but in no way are those things equal. But I may be charging wages for the hours of time I spend driving to procure building materials for you at which I pay taxes at the point of sale and I may get my standard 10% markup on that or I may add it to the job if you choose to purchase and procure all that I have no idea what you are even trying to say here, but I will note that you are prohibited from benefiting from a 10% markup in either a time and materials or a cost plus contract. So are you saying that you are working in a time and materials contract (assumed because you are charging for driving around) and not passing trade discounts on to your customers? Heck I could spend an hour explaining SPF2 KDHT lumber vs KDAT and then have you call me from the lumber yard or show up with abunch of warped lumber. Again, this really has nothing to do with a bathroom remodel. Did I advise people to go buy treated lumber? We are talking fixtures and tile. But its also the first place people come to complain when it goes horribly wrong. See above... Someday when an isurance claim gets declined.. Homeowners insurance can't deny claims for DIY work unless the work was done negligently (which it wouldn't be unless you were intentionally trying to damage your home). Furthermore, where am I advocating for a DIY? I didn't. I advocated for consumers purchasing their fixtures and tile smartly. You are all in a bunch about something I never said. ETA: i know you are a good one at arguing with pros here over the years. No I am not. I am a good one at arguing that people think about the marginal costs of projects. There are times and budgets when pros are necessary and I absolutely defend pros when they are needed or when they are right. Again, I am not arguing for a DIY project nor did I ever. I am advocating making smart consumer buying choices. There is no legitimate reason that a time and materials contractor needs to be the one to purchase fixtures. Consumers should ensure they are buying the right product and there can be a few problems if the contractor isn't given model numbers and relevant information in advance, however, done properly there are significant savings with no cost to contractor.