Hi All. This is my 1st time on this site. I would appreciate any info anyone can give me. My Wife is pregnant with twins and I have this project plus alot more to accomplish and I have to move fast. Any input would be appreciated. I will be up front that I will be detailed on this as I want to make sure I give anyone enough info to give good advice. I was forced into having to do this on quick notice, and need to rush so we can get back into our house. Please dont let all the detail scare you away from reading this and replying. I really can use any advice anyone can give me. With my situation, I need to move fast to get back into my house. Please help. Thanks in advance :-) Facts: I have a dining room, and hallway that were carpet, and kitchen that was lenolium. Events have caused me to have to remove the carpet and pad, and the lenolium. Hallway - Roughly 4 foot 1 inch wide by 17 foot long with a 2X3 nook and a closet. I removed the carpet, pad, and 1/4 inch underlayment. As to match height with the Kitchen floor (connected, see below) I put down 5/8 CD plywood (made sure C side was smooth when purchased, and filled 2 small imperfections on CD plywood once screwed down. I should mention that below the 5/8 plywood is roofing underlayment for a moisture barrier. I screwed the 5/8 plywood down with 1 1/2 inch screws. Any squeaks after install, I used 3" screws and made sure to hit the joist so "I think" the hallway floor is solid. Feels solid anyway.) Kitchen - Cabinets are staying in place as is. If I remove the cabinets from the total square footage, I am left with having to cover a 7 foot X 10 foot area. This connects to the hallway via a 28 inch door and to the dinning room(see below). It had lenolium and 1/4 inch plywood that was ripped up, pulled out 2" staples that was hoding the plywood, and scraped up 1960s lenolium. I an down to a green thin felt like material that I cant get up. This green material is on 5/8 thick plywood of some sort (not sure if tonge and groove, but seems solid) Dining room - Connected to the kitchen by a 5 foot opening between island and wall. Dining room area is 9 foot X 10 Foot Had carpet and padding that was removed, also removed the same 1960s lenolium from here as was in the kitchen and am down to the same green felt like material on 5/8 plywood. Makeup of the house - The hallway, kitchen, and dinning room are over a crawl space. The crawl space does get damp and can get water in it (am working on fixing drainage to hopefully stop the water, water is 1/2 inch deep at most). I have dehumdifiers in the crawl space and fans. Crawl space currently does not ventilate to the outside. I have a block wall foundation, crawl space height is 3 to 4 1/2 to bottom of joist depending on where you stand. Joists run total is across 30 feet, the joists sit on a center support of double wide 2 X 9 beams. The support beams sit on the a center pillar of blocks (same as wall). 4 blocks to a layer in a square shape for this center pillar. Joists are 2 X 9 wood (not sure what kind of wood) which are 16" on center. Every about 8 feet is a row of short wood pieces in a X shape to keep the joists aligned. On top of the joists are 6" wide 3/4 inch thick pieces of wood which run at a 45% angle (diagonal). The wood floor are not tight, there is between 1/8 to 1/4 inch gap between them. On top of that is the old 5/8 plywood and green 1/16 thick material as described in the kitchen and dining room, and the roofing underlayment and 5/8 CD plywood in the hallway (see above). I am stuck here. I am wanting to move forward with putting down an underlayment and Tile, but am not sure where to go from here. Here are the facts. I have resorted to having to cut off the bottom of a hallway closet door, basement door, and 2 pocket doors to be able to put the tile in. A front entry door into the hallway has 2" clearance, A back entry door into the Dining room has only 1" clearance. That back door is my major sticking point to doing the tile (among other decisions). Here are my questions. 1. What should I use for underlayment. I purchased 1/2 durock, but because of the back door, feel I will be to close to scraping to use that. I also have 1/4 denshield. I have heard mixed reviews on denshield and feel I may need to get another product. What shoud I use for underlayment? 2. How do I install the underlayment that you will suggest. Do I need a thinset for what you suggest, will the thinset stick to the green material that was under the 1960s lenolium. Can your suggestion just be screwed? I have 1 1/2 inch hardi backer screws will that be enough for your subfloor suggestion? 3. Do I have enough support to put tile flooring down? Remember I only have 1 inch left before I am at the bottom of my back door so I dont have any more room to build up other than the underlayment material. 4. Am I safe to put tile down in the 1st place? Would swelling of wood to split my grout joints be an issue? I have read somewhere that I should put vaper barrier around the joists (up the joist, across the floor underside, down the joist, and so on through all joists); then put insulaton in the joists, then house wrap across the joists. Does this make sense to do if swelling is an issue? 5. Temprature of the crawl space (I have read) is 50 to 60 degrees year round. Dont really know for sure true temprature. Is this right? Do I have a temprature issue with installing tile and the tile being to cold. The laminate flooring that was in the kitchen was not that cold in the winter, but will Tile be worse for coldness than laminate flooring? 6. I purchases porcalin tile with a PEI rating of 5. The tile is a Glazed tile. I have heard this is the best PEI rating I can get to resist chipping to expose the porcelin. However I tested the tile by putting the tile on top of the 5/8 plywood, and droping a metal tape measure onto a tile. The tile shattered into 3 pieces. Crude test, but was trying to simulate dropping a pot or pan, or maybe a heavier childs toy. Is this a valid test, or not because I did not have the tile mortared down yet? If you read to this point, thanks for reading. Do you have any input on the above? My family "to be" thanks you for your time. Respectfully; Dan.

Wow, lots of info out there on the net and in here on this site, i only wish I had found you guys along time ago, as it is we are nearing the end of the live in remodel i have to tackel these showers The very day we had the carpet installed in the upstairs, my daughter was taking a shower and asked me her new carpet was wet. I freaked and started looking into it, blaming her for getting to much water outside of the shower. Well to make a long story short we pulled the carpet back and found the leak coming from under the wall, called a plumber friend and he he said yup thats your shower pan leaking. About a year has passed and that shower has not been used at all. This shower is upstairs with another shower that backs up to it, the base area is 36" x 39", there was nothing installed but some sort of shower pan, 2-3" of morter and tile over sheetrock. Needless to say i found some mold on the sheetrock behind the tile and I can see the back of the other shower and can see where the paper has that "ive been wet" look. I currently have the shower area tore down to sub floor and studs, i did leave the sheetrock at the 7' level since that will be the top of my tile. I have on order 2 of the 48 x 48 kerdi "kits", I have purchased 8 sheets of hardi backer board to do the walls and 1 $6.00 bag of plain ole morter to seal the cracks in the hardi board. I also have the correct fasteners and tape for the board. 1st question: since i am using the kerdi system do I need to put anything behind the hardi board before I screw it to the walls? 2nd question: can a niche be fabricated out of hardi board, 2x's, poly e calk, morter, and kerdi? plywood? seems crazy to pay 50+ for a water tight plastic box 3rd question: I plan on using 12" if not larger tiles in the shower(s), will this be a mistake trying to hang them on kerdi? novice here, i layed 600+ sq feet on the downstairs but nothing up a wall yet 4th question: am i forgetting anything? thanks guys im new here and have been reading so much i am telling the guys in h/d about stuff they done even realize they have, dreaming about it at night and the wife told me not to talk about it anymore even compared to my mechanic days, ugg