- Tub surround tile work: $2,000 flat.
- Kitchen backsplash tile work: $1,000 flat, labor.
- Tile floors: $3 per square foot labor, or $2 per square foot labor on jobs of 2,000 square feet or more.
Builder Grade Tile in Newer Harker Heights Primary Baths
Harker Heights sits east of Killeen along US 190 and I-14. The ground is higher and hillier than central Killeen. Houses in the newer subdivisions tend to run larger, and the primary baths are bigger than what you see in older parts of town. A lot of those floors came with builder grade tile. The tile is thin. The grout lines wander. The layout usually starts at a wall nobody faces when they walk in. Homeowners call a few years in when they want porcelain, ceramic, marble, terrazzo, or mosaic they picked themselves. That is the call we take from this side of US 190.
A bathroom floor is a small field with a lot of edges. The toilet flange has to finish at the right height after tile and thinset, or the bowl rocks and the wax ring fails. Cuts land at the vanity, at the door casing, and at the threshold into the hallway. Layout should come off the most visible line in the room, usually the line you see from the door, not off a wall that is out of square. Hillier lots and larger rooms change how a floor feels underfoot. That gets sorted before thinset hits the floor.
Subfloor, Toilet Flange Height, and Layout Off the Door Line
The subfloor has to be flat enough that porcelain and ceramic sit without lippage. High spots get ground. Low spots get filled. Deflection is a different fault. If the floor bounces, grout cracks later even when the set looked tight on day one. We check bounce when we walk the room. A bath floor in a larger Harker Heights house can span more joists than a small hall bath in older Killeen stock. Stiff floors take tile. Soft floors need work before thinset. Old ridges of adhesive and cupped planks show up under a straightedge.
- Reset the toilet flange to the new finished floor height
- Cut tile clean at the vanity and the door casing
- Set a threshold where the bath meets the hallway
- Strike layout from the sight line at the door, not from a crooked wall
Bathroom Floor Labor Price and How You Measure Square Footage
Tile floors are $3 per square foot labor. Jobs of 2,000 square feet or more are $2 per square foot labor. That is labor. The tile material is not in that number. You buy the tile, or we walk the Temple supply house with you and you pick it. What you pick is what gets set. A single bathroom floor is almost never 2,000 square feet. The 2,000 square foot break is written for large floor jobs that reach that size. Floor labor is published. You do not need to wait on a quote for it.
Work out square footage yourself with a tape. Measure in feet. Length times width. A bath that is 10 feet by 8 feet is 80 square feet. Measure wall to wall. Count the floor under the toilet. If the vanity is coming out and tile will run under the cabinet, count that floor too. If the vanity stays, count only the open floor. An L shape splits into two rectangles. Multiply each, then add. When you buy tile, get extra for cuts and breakage. Labor is based on the actual floor we set after we measure on site.
Demo, Temple Tile Picks, Grout, and Cleanup on a Harker Heights Bath Floor
The same people who look at your Harker Heights bath are the people who set the floor. Genaro Merlan runs Merlan's Tile out of Killeen. We measure the actual space. Bring your own tile if you already have it. If not, come to the Temple supply house with us and pick porcelain, ceramic, marble, zellige, terrazzo, or mosaic. Brass and satin edge profiles finish an exposed edge if the floor needs one. After the old floor is up and the subfloor is flat, we set, grout, seal, and clean up behind us.
On a primary bath floor, work usually starts with demo of the old tile or sheet goods, then flattening, then layout lines, then set. Grout comes after the thinset has time to cure. Sealer goes on where the tile and grout need it. Cleanup means the room is swept, the cuts are hauled, and the toilet can go back once the floor will take the weight. How long it takes depends on size, cut count, and whether the subfloor fights us. On a job like this it tends to run over a stretch of days, not hours. That is typical talk. Scheduling is arranged on the phone at (512) 297-7493.
One Year Limited Labor Warranty and Hallway Thresholds After the Floor Is Set
Every installation carries a written one-year limited labor warranty from the date of completion. It covers issues arising from the original installation. It does not cover materials. Those fall under the manufacturer's own warranty. It does not cover modifications made after the installation is complete. If someone recuts a doorway later or pulls the toilet and chips a tile, that is not the original installation. Call if a grout joint opens or a tile hollows from the set itself within that year.
Thresholds into the hallway matter because Harker Heights houses often change floor height from bath tile to carpet, vinyl plank, or wood in the hall. We set reducers and thresholds so the edge is bonded and the trip is not a sharp lip. Stair nose is for stairs, not a bath door, but the same finish thinking applies at any height change. Other tile work in the house, showers, tub surrounds, and backsplashes, is quoted after we look at the room. Roofing and vinyl plank flooring are quoted the same way. For a bathroom floor the labor number is already on this page. Phone (512) 297-7493. Email info@merlanstile.com.