Subway, mosaic, herringbone, large-format porcelain, natural stone. Any layout looks good on Instagram — but only proper waterproofing and substrate make it last a decade. That's the part homeowners can't see and every good tile setter obsesses over.
Tile in a bathroom is a decorative surface. Water finds the smallest defect in the layer beneath it. If the waterproofing was skipped or done with the wrong product, your beautiful shower is going to rot studs, drop mold onto the room below, and be a full re-do in three to seven years.
We use Schluter Kerdi (sheet membrane), Wedi board, or liquid-applied waterproofing — depending on the substrate and the shower design. We never rely on "cement board is water-resistant" or the old plastic-pan-with-a-mud-bed approach. That's a bar we set for ourselves, not an upsell.
Tile pricing is mostly about area and complexity — how much surface, how hard it is to set, and how much prep sits underneath. What moves it:
Every quote is fixed and itemized after a free in-home visit.
A bathroom floor is typically two to three days. A shower surround is three to five days including waterproofing cure time. A full custom-tile walk-in shower is five to eight days.
Older Uptown and Wynnton bathrooms often have salt-glazed original tile you may want to keep — we work around it, or match it with modern reproductions. Slab-on-grade homes in Midland and North Columbus need proper crack-isolation membrane under the tile so the floor doesn't crack when the slab moves seasonally. It's an inexpensive material line most contractors skip; we don't.
See walk-in shower installation, full bathroom remodel, or tub-to-shower conversion.
Free in-home visit. Fixed written quote, no obligation.
