Custom Bathroom Tile Remodel In Tampa, Florida


We recently completed a custom bathroom renovation in the Westchase area of  Tampa Florida. The customer had contacted us with an idea to do a full bathroom remodel and wanted help on the tile. After a phone conversation with them I had a feel of what they were looking for and sent them to a couple tile showrooms in Tampa to look at tile. At the first showroom they found a 9×13 porcelain tile from Keraben named Augusta Bone which also had a 3×13 surface bullnose tile. They selected that to be used on the shower walls. They also selected the Augusta Bone in 20×20 to be used on the main bathroom floor. Then they went to Alpha Tile and found the shower floor tile they liked which was a Cosmos 2×2 Cream and also a 5/8″ glass mosaic tile of caramel & tan glass with creme travertine for the tub deck and face.

I worked them up a proposal to do the demo of the glass enclosure, shower walls & floor tile installation, the tub deck tile and main floor tile. The price also included the installation of the pitched shower mud bed, the Schluter Kerdi-board waterproofing in the shower, building a niche & shower seat and also the tile installation in all areas. I also worked into the price supplying the tile from both distributors for the project to make it easy on the customer. The customer signed our tile installation agreement contract and gave us the deposit for the materials which locked in the installation date. I called both suppliers and put in the order for all of tile in the amounts needed. I also had to make a list of the other material I needed to get like the Schluter Kerdi, Kerdi chrome drain, thinset, grout, pre-blended sand/portland mix for the shower pan, caulk, wax toilet seal and material like that. All of the tile came into the warehouse prior to us starting the project.

We showed up the first day and unloaded the tile and started to do the shower rip out. We first took down the glass enclosure and ripped out the tile around the edge of the shower. I do this so we can cut out the wall and not affect the painted area we wont be tiling. We removed all of the wall tile and drywall in the shower and removed the tile off the tub. We also ripped up the old shower mud bed and shower floor tile and jack hammered up the main tile in the bathroom. We dump all tile debris in the Bagster we use on each job which makes things a lot easier on us. Once all of the tile was removed and disposed of we started on prep work and the installation of the Kerdi-board waterproofing. We packed the mud pan and then installed the Kerdi on the fresh mud which is faster for us and expedites the completion of waterproofing. We completed everything that day and were ready to start setting tile the next.

We got to the job and the first thing I did was do the layout in the shower. In my earlier meeting with the homeowners we determined that the 9×13 wall tile was going to be set in an offset brick pattern. After the layout was done we set the tile all the way up to the accent band, then after lunch we did the glass & travertine accent band and finished off the top row of tile and bullnose. Just before we left for the day the last thing we did was set the 2×2 mosaic tile on the shower floor. The next day I finished tiling the niche which used the glass & travertine in the back of it and also completed the shower seat. We installed the 20×20 floor tile on the main bathroom floor which took the rest of that day.  Then it was onto doing the glass & travertine tub deck which took us a full day since it is very detailed and tedious work. After all the tile was installed we did the marble sills on the windows and then grouted all of the tile.

We did the final wash to make all of the tile clean and then reset the toilet and some caulking in the corners. After we were completed the homeowner had the room painted, a new vanity and a granite counter installed, new shower head, shower control, sink faucets, tub hardware and to finish the room a custom made frame-less shower enclosure.

hope you liked reading about this project and will enjoy the pictures.