Tile Installation & Repair

Flat first, tile second

Almost every tile problem traces back to what is underneath. A floor that is not flat gives you lippage, one tile edge standing proud of the next, which you feel with a bare foot and see under a low light. A substrate that flexes gives you cracked grout, then cracked tile. Waterproofing that was skipped gives you a shower that looks fine for three years and then rots the wall behind it.

So the preparation is the job. Substrate checked for plane and flattened where it needs it, cement board where water is involved, membrane behind anything that gets wet, and movement joints where the tile meets something that moves.

Backsplashes

The most visible tile in most houses and the fastest to turn around. The cuts that matter are the ones nobody notices when they are right: outlets, the return at a window, the top edge where tile meets wall, and the join with the countertop. That last one gets silicone, not grout, because the counter and the wall move independently.

Floors

Bathrooms, entries, laundry rooms, mudrooms. Layout is set out dry before anything is bedded, so cuts land where they are least visible and you do not end up with a sliver of tile in the doorway.

Showers and tub surrounds

Cement board, a waterproof membrane, then tile. Niches, curbs and corners are where showers leak, and they are the parts that get the most attention. Silicone at every internal corner and change of plane.

Repairs and regrouting

Cracked or drummy tiles lifted and replaced, grout raked out properly rather than skimmed over with a thin layer that fails in months, and silicone renewed where it has gone black or pulled away from the edge.

A tiled feature wall is a different job again. That lives with accent and feature walls, where the substrate, the lighting and the tile get planned together.

Getting a price

Photograph the area and give us a rough size in feet, plus what tile you have chosen if you have chosen it. Tile is quoted per project. Full shower installations are worth a short look in person before the number is fixed.