Websites for tile setters.

Because tile and grout are not waterproof. Water passes through grout by design; the membrane behind and below the tile is what keeps it out of your framing. Older showers built on tar paper and mud, or newer ones where the membrane was skipped to save a day, fail at the corners and the curb first. That is why we flood test before tiling and photograph it for you.

Sometimes on floors, if what is there is solidly bonded, flat and the height increase does not create a problem at the doors, and with the right preparation. In showers, almost never — you would be tiling over an unknown waterproofing layer and building the next failure into it. We will tell you which situation you have, and going over is not always the cheaper route once thickness and doors are dealt with.

For a full shower or bathroom, plan on one to two weeks depending on size and the other trades. Tile is one part of it: demolition, substrate, waterproofing and its cure time, setting, then grout, then a day before the shower gets used. Rushing the cure is how a beautiful job fails in year two, so we build the wait into the schedule rather than skip it.

Cement grout benefits from sealing and needs it redone periodically. Many customers are better served by an epoxy or a high-performance grout, which resists staining and does not need sealing, at a higher material and labour cost. Natural stone is the opposite question — the stone itself often needs sealing more than the grout does.

Order about ten to fifteen percent over the measured area, more for large format, herringbone or diagonal layouts where waste is higher. Also keep a box after the job. Tile runs vary between production batches, and matching a discontinued tile years later for one cracked piece is usually impossible.

In a bathroom, it is the upgrade people mention most often afterward. The material cost is modest against the tile job, the running cost is small on a thermostat with a floor sensor, and the only real chance to install it is while the floor is open. It needs its own circuit and a licensed electrician for the connection, which we coordinate.