Tile installation · Los Angeles
Bathroom tile, set flat and detailed to last
Tile is the part of a bathroom everyone sees and judges. Whether it holds up depends on the parts nobody sees: a flat substrate, a continuous membrane, the right setting material and a layout worked out before the first piece goes down.
Materials
Choosing a tile for the job it has to do
Floors, shower walls, shower floors and backsplashes ask different things of a tile. Here's how the common materials compare in a bathroom.
| Material | Character | Water & stain resistance | Care | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porcelain | Dense, consistent; convincing stone and concrete looks; large formats and slabs | Very high | Low. No sealing of the tile itself | Almost anywhere, including shower floors in textured finishes |
| Ceramic | Softer body, glazed face; wide color range; classic subway and hex | Good when glazed | Low | Walls and wainscots; lighter-duty floors |
| Zellige | Handmade glazed clay; uneven faces, color variation, glowing surface | Glaze is resistant; edges and body are more porous | Moderate. Often sealed; chips are part of the look | Shower walls, backsplashes, feature walls |
| Terrazzo | Chips of stone or glass in a cement or resin matrix; tiles or slabs | Varies by binder and finish | Moderate. Usually sealed; acids can etch cement-based types | Floors and vanity tops; check suitability for wet areas |
| Marble | Veined, luminous, soft; polished or honed | Porous; etches with acids | Higher. Sealing and pH-neutral cleaners | Walls, floors outside the shower, honed shower floors with care |
| Limestone | Quiet, even, often warm-toned | Porous; softer than marble in many varieties | Higher. Sealing; gentle cleaning | Floors and walls in lower-splash areas |
| Travertine | Textured, with natural voids usually filled | Porous; filled voids can open over time | Higher. Sealing and occasional refilling | Floors and walls; honed or tumbled finishes |
If you're still collecting ideas, our journal has a piece on tile ideas suited to Los Angeles homes, from restoring a 1930s look to large-format porcelain.
Prep is most of the work
A tile job goes wrong in the layers beneath it. Cracked grout, hollow-sounding tiles, efflorescence and leaks almost always trace back to the substrate or the waterproofing rather than the tile.
Substrate
Walls get cement board or a foam board system on sound framing. Floors need a stiff, solid base. In the raised-foundation homes common in Pasadena and Glendale, that can mean looking at joist size and spacing and adding plywood or an uncoupling membrane before tile. On slabs, cracks get assessed and treated.
Flatness
Large tiles are unforgiving. A wall or floor that's fine for a small mosaic can be too wavy for a long plank or a big-format panel. We check flatness with a long straightedge and correct it with patching, leveling compound or re-shimmed framing before setting.
Waterproofing underneath
Grout and tile are not waterproof. In showers, a continuous membrane (liquid-applied or sheet) runs behind the tile, into the drain and up past the spray zone, with seams, corners and pipe penetrations detailed. Our page on shower remodeling goes deeper on pans and membranes.
Large-format lippage
Every tile has some warpage, and long tiles show it most at the edges. Offsetting a long tile at its midpoint exaggerates it, so we usually suggest a smaller offset, use leveling clips, and back-butter large pieces for full coverage in the thinset.
Setting out the layout before anything is stuck down
Good tile work looks inevitable: full tiles where your eye lands, balanced cuts at both ends of a wall, grout lines that meet the niche, the valve and the glass on purpose. That comes from a layout drawn and dry-laid first.
We find the centerlines that matter (the vanity, the shower opening, the view from the door) and work the cuts to the edges nobody looks at. Niches are sized to the tile module so they don't need slivers. Floor and wall joints are aligned where the tile sizes allow it.
Pattern changes everything too. A vertical stack, a herringbone and a simple offset can use the same tile and give three very different rooms.
Details
Grout, edges and shower floors
- Cementitious grout
- The traditional choice, easy to work and available in many colors. Modern polymer-modified versions are more stain-resistant than older sanded grout, but still benefit from sealing in wet areas.
- Epoxy grout
- Highly stain- and water-resistant and doesn't need sealing. Slower and harder to install, and less forgiving on porous or textured tile, so it suits some tiles better than others.
- Metal profiles
- Schluter-type trims in brushed metal or matte finishes give a crisp, thin edge at outside corners, niches and where tile stops mid-wall.
- Bullnose and trim pieces
- Some tile lines include rounded or finished-edge pieces. They suit traditional and period bathrooms, where metal edges can look out of place.
- Mitered corners
- Two tiles cut at matching angles to meet at a corner, hiding the body of the tile. It suits porcelain with through-body color and stone, and takes care to protect the fragile edge.
- Shower floor grip
- Shower floors need a textured, matte or honed surface, and smaller tiles give more grout joints for traction and follow the slope to the drain more easily. Polished stone and glossy tile belong on walls.
Tile in Los Angeles homes
Original tile worth a look
Many 1920s to 1950s bathrooms still have mortar-bed tile in period colors. Sometimes it's worth keeping a floor or wainscot and designing around it; sometimes the substrate is past saving. We'll tell you which.
Older floors and wood framing
Raised foundations with crawlspaces flex more than slabs. Stone and large-format tile need a stiffer floor, which may mean added framing or plywood before tile.
Condos and sound rules
Many HOAs ask for acoustic underlayment under hard flooring. It affects floor height and transitions, so it's planned into the build-up. Our condo bathroom remodeling page has more.
What drives the cost of tile work
Labor usually outweighs the tile itself. The main factors are the amount of surface covered, tile size (very small mosaics and very large formats both take longer than mid-size tile), pattern complexity, the number of cuts around niches and corners, the edge details you choose, and how much prep the substrate needs. Natural stone and handmade tile add sealing and more careful handling. We explain how that feeds into a quote on the remodel cost and estimates page.
Tile work is part of nearly every project we plan, from a tub-to-shower conversion to a stone-clad primary suite.
Have a tile in mind? Send us the name and we'll talk through where it will work.
Call (213) 566-7696Tile questions
Can new tile go over old tile?
Occasionally on a sound floor, but we rarely recommend it in a bathroom. It raises the floor, hides the condition of what's underneath and doesn't solve waterproofing in a shower. Removing the old tile is usually the better path.
Is marble a bad idea in a shower?
Not a bad idea, but a higher-maintenance one. Marble etches with acidic cleaners and some products, and needs periodic sealing. Honed finishes hide wear better than polished and give more grip underfoot.
Why does zellige look uneven?
That's the point of it. Each piece is handmade, so faces, edges and color vary. It's installed with tight joints and accepted variation; if you want a flat, uniform wall, a glazed ceramic or porcelain is a better fit.
Should I choose epoxy grout?
It's excellent in showers and on floors where stains are a concern. It's less suited to some porous or deeply textured tiles, where it can be hard to clean off the surface. We'll suggest the grout once the tile is chosen.
How much extra tile should I order?
Enough to cover cuts, breakage and a few spares for future repairs, with more for diagonal and herringbone patterns. We calculate the quantity from the layout rather than a flat allowance.
Tile installation across our service area
Call us
Talk to us about your bathroom
Call and tell us what isn’t working in the room. We’ll talk through scope, materials and timing, then set up a visit to measure and see the plumbing and structure.
Call for a consultation
(213) 566-7696Open daily, 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM
- Tell us whether it’s a house, condo or ADU
- Describe which bathroom and what you’d like to change
- We arrange a visit to measure and look at the room