You could pull the permit under your own name, that'll relieve the contractor of any worries over an open permit in his name languishing while awaiting final inspections. As to doing your own demo, the concern there could be that if he blocks out his schedule to start the work and you don't have the demo complete, he'll be twiddling his thumbs waiting for you to finish. I'd recommend setting up an appointment with him for him to see the bathroom a couple of days before he is to start his portion of the work. If this is not your only bathroom, you could do the demo early, have everything broom clean, then he can come by a couple of days before he is to start to inspect your work. He can then give you an "everything's fine" or he might give you a couple of more tasks to do. It can also be an advantage to him as well, because the early visit will prevent any surprises when he shows up to start work. Budgets are not unlimited, I understand your position. But I also see his point, in that this project will sort of have his name on it, yet it's up to you to properly finish the detail work for a project that he started. Still, it's your house. It's your money. He can chose to work within the scope of work offered, or you can find someone else.

so it wasn't anyone's business whether she could or couldn't afford a $49 bench [so that her cats could look out the window at the birds]. Caroloh, we are going to have to agree to disagree. I sent her money a few months ago because she portrayed herself to be in a desperate situation. Maybe in your opinion, that doesn't make it my business, but I felt I had to say something about this proposed expenditure. And I said it as nicely as I could. You can be a friend in various ways, and I think I was a friend in sending her money and in cautioning her against discretionary purchases when she had/has no income.

We had our 85-year-old floors professionally sanded and finished with Glitsa. It's what our flooring guy called a "Swedish finish" and it was stiiiiiinkay! But it's beautiful, our floors look brand new. The problem is that I'm sure that the guys who applied it were wearing respirators while they spread it; the fumes 24 hours later when I came in to open the windows were awful, and we could smell it when the house had been closed up for at least a month. If you're doing your own work I think I would pick something a little less pungent. Nevertheless, it's a lovely, tough finish. Vicki

Tundra Finish Works, thanks for the reply. Yes, exactly my concern - tying the pan to the room floor! One thin line of silicon sealer is all that is between me and disaster? I will have the room floor fully waterproofed and the room walls are going to be tiled to about 45" and waterproofed to some reasonable height (have not discussed it yet with Jim, the contractor). He knows that he is pitching the room floor toward the shower and has instructed me to chose a room tile no larger than 3-4" for that reason. One of the reasons I chose Transolid is this video:Transolid shower pan demo He says that they solved the problem of the transition between the floor and the pan, though he does not explain how they solved it. Now that pan is not exactly the same as the one they are selling to me, as it does not have the covered drains or the faux tile look. The video is from 2010, and I imagine they have made changes to the pans in that time. Not to mention that this was a "facilities" show and not aimed at the homeowner. But their design is otherwise similar, with their half-inch "low static barrier redirecting the water to the center drain." They do not talk about the transition to the floor in their Spec Sheet. I am using their Remodel wall system. This Spec Sheet is for the 60 x 36 size shower. For some reason, they do not have the ADA shower size Remodel walls in their web offerings, though they do sell them. I am buying a couple extra pieces of their wall material to do the ceiling, too. I spray upward and hit the ceiling sometimes. Plus the one shower I had where we did the ceiling with the same wallboard as the walls lasted FOREVER when it should never have worked at all, since the material was not approved for use in the shower (I was young and stupid and had run out of money). Shower Wall Specs Creative Tile Eastern CT, thank you so much for the Trending Accessibility link. I have started to look at this. I see the part about their wall system being made with plywood so that things can be added later. Smart. I am putting in all the bells and whistles and bars to begin with. We are tearing out and rebuilding the walls in different places, so blocking will be put in place for everything when the walls are built. I have an "L" Jaclo grab bar for one end, a hand-held shower head vertical bar that is also a grab bar, toward the opposite end, a corner shelf (HealthCraft Invisia) that is also a grab bar and a grab bar to use vertically at the entrance. I will use a free-standing stool because I already have it and it is more flexible. I do want to look at the Trending Accessibility shower pans more closely. I see that their wall systems are assembled in the same way as the Transolid. Off I go to explore their site and learn more!