Backsplash
The quick win in a kitchen. Subway tile, mosaic or a slab look. One or two days of work.
Services
Tile and stone
We are a tile installation contractor for floors, showers, tub walls, backsplashes and fireplaces in porcelain, ceramic and natural stone. Flat walls and tight grout lines are the whole trade, and we spend most of our time on the first one.
What is the difference between porcelain and ceramic tile?
Porcelain is fired hotter and denser, so it absorbs almost no water and resists chips. It suits floors, showers and outdoors. Ceramic is softer and cheaper, and it is fine on walls and backsplashes that do not get walked on or soaked. For a shower floor or a busy hallway, we use porcelain.
Step by step
How a tile job runs
Tile runs in six steps. The first two take longer than the tiling itself, and they are why the finish holds. See the process page for the stages every job shares, plan to finish.
Part 1Before the tile goes on
Check the base
Walls and floors are checked with a long level. Tile shows every bump, so low spots are filled and high spots ground down first.
Prepare and waterproof
Cement board or a waterproof board on wet walls, membrane in showers, primer on floors.
Lay out the pattern
We dry-lay the tile so cuts land at the edges and the pattern is centred where you look.
Part 2Setting and finishing
Set the tile
Thinset, levelling clips, and a straight edge on every row. Large tiles are back-buttered.
Grout and seal
After the thinset cures, grout goes in. Epoxy grout in showers if you want it. Stone gets sealed.
Trim and caulk
Metal edges, bullnose, and silicone in every corner and change of plane.
Example tile work for the look, not jobs we did. Real photos of our showers and floors are yours for the asking.
Small to large
Backsplash, shower or floor
Tile work splits into three jobs by where the tile goes. The wet ones get the most prep.
Shower and tub walls
The job where waterproofing matters most. Membrane, then tile, then sealed grout. Niches and benches built in.
Floors and fireplaces
Large porcelain on floors, stone or slim tile on a fireplace wall. Heated mats under bathroom and entry floors.
Behind the walls
Problems we find on tile jobs
Old tile comes off and shows what the last tiler skipped. These three come up the most.
Tile on drywall in a shower
The wall behind is soft. It comes out and gets a proper board and membrane.
Hollow tiles
Tiles set without full contact crack later. We back-butter large tiles so they are fully bedded.
Cracked grout along the tub
Grout cannot flex where the tub meets the wall. That joint gets silicone, not grout.
A thick mortar bed underneath
Older bathrooms set tile in a heavy layer of mortar. It comes out in slabs, and the subfloor under it often needs repair before new tile can go down.
The quote
What changes a tile quote
In tile installation, the tile itself is rarely the biggest cost. The shape of it and the wall under it are.
LineMoves the quote
- 01Large format tile, which needs a flatter base.
- 02Natural stone, which needs sealing and gentler cutting.
- 03Patterns like herringbone and chevron, which double the cuts.
- 04A niche, a bench or a curbless shower floor.
- 05Heated floor mats.
Questions
What people ask about tile and stone
Three tile questions that come up again and again.
Yes for cement grout, which is what most showers have. Sealing stops water and soap from soaking in and staining it. Epoxy grout does not need sealing. Either way, the corners get silicone, not grout, so they can move without cracking.
Yes, if the wall is flat. Heavy porcelain panels may also need a stronger board behind them and a mortar made for large tile. A large tile shows every bump, so we straighten the wall first, then set the tile with levelling clips so no edge sticks up. Big tiles mean fewer grout lines to clean.
Panels usually cost less, because a few large sheets go up faster than hundreds of tiles and need no grout. Tile costs more but gives you any pattern, a matching floor, and a niche or bench built into the wall. Both need a sound, sealed wall behind them, and we can price each one side by side.
When one tile is all it is
If you have one cracked tile and a box of spares, a handyman can swap it. We take the jobs where the whole surface is done.