Except this is wrong

Yep, water has never gotten behind tiles before.....

Your cement board is in the wet. It's not supposed to be in the wet.

Lucky for you, you can still "fix" it by either using Kerdi or Red Guard over your dry pack.

I don't get it. You're not done with the process. You can still put in a bench. You haven't put down the pack or done any water proofing.

Build your bench. Put your dry pack in. Then water proof either via painted membrane or "paper" membrane.

Go on Google streets and check out Asbury Park, Long Branch and Belmar.

Your big decision is: Do you want suburban living or shore living.

Despite it being only a difference of 10-15 miles, it's a distinctly different feel and lifestyle. Personally, I advocate for unique experiences when given the opportunity. This may be your only opportunity for beach/shore living.

Your math doesn't add up from my experience. I know electricity prices are regional, but as far as I know when you add supply and delivery, most of NJ is $.18/kWh. So 200kWh would be a savings of $36 not $60.

Heavy duty L brackets. Amazon has a decent selection

Central Jersey falls between 78 and 195. So if you want to talk North, Central, or South, you're in Central Jersey.

Talking to people from NJ, you'd say you're from the Highlands, which people will immediately know. If you're talking about where you live to people from out of the area, I'd say something like "The central coast of NJ on the bay, about an hour on the ferry to NYC"

This is not true. Schluter all set is a modified thin set which obviously can be used with schluter ditra and kerdi products.