- 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.
Brass and satin metal profiles that cap a tile field
A raw tile cut is ugly and it can chip. A metal profile covers that cut. The strip is brass or satin, L shaped or J shaped, and it sits on the wall before the field tile goes in. The tile edge tucks into the channel. Brass reads as a warm gold line. Satin reads as a quiet gray metal. We buy the profile at the same Temple supply house as the tile so the finish matches what you picked. We set it in thinset, not caulk, so it does not creep. If the substrate bows, we flatten it before the metal goes on.
On an outside corner the profile has a small radius or a square edge so two planes meet clean. We miter the metal at the top if the run turns, or we use a corner piece when the maker offers one. Satin hides fingerprints better in a shower. Brass will tarnish a little in wet rooms unless you wipe it, and that is normal. We leave a hairline caulk joint where the profile meets the tub deck or paint so movement does not crack grout. If the profile is not level, the field looks drunk. We snap a line then set tile to the strip.
Miter cuts on outside corners instead of metal
A miter is two tiles cut at forty five degrees so the glazed faces meet and no trim shows. It looks like the tile wrapped the corner. The tile has to be thick enough that the cut does not blow out the glaze. The body color has to match the face or you will see a stripe of biscuit or gray at the joint. We cut both pieces on a wet saw with a continuous rim blade, then we ease the sharp arris with a stone so it does not cut anyone. The two faces get dry fitted on the actual corner because walls are rarely a true square. If the corner is open, the miter shows a gap. If it is closed, the tips chip. We adjust the angle. The joint is grouted with the field grout. A miter that is too tight will crack when the house moves, so we do not jam it. Marble and dense porcelain take this well. Thin printed ceramic usually does not.
- Cut both legs on a wet saw, never a rail cutter that snaps
- Dry fit on the real corner before any thinset hits the wall
- Ease the cut edge so the miter does not slice a hand
- Grout the seam the same as the field so the corner reads as one piece
Bullnose tile, pencil liner, and quarter round trim
Bullnose is a factory rounded edge fired on the tile. You set that piece as the last course and the round turns the corner or the top. It is the simplest finish when the maker actually produces it in your dye lot. Many porcelain series skip bullnose. Zellige does not have it. Most mosaic sheets do not have it. When it is in the carton we use it on niche returns, half wall caps, and the exposed sides of a tub surround. We open the boxes and cull any piece whose radius does not match the others. A flatter bullnose next to a fatter one looks like a mistake even if the color is right. The bullnose still needs the same thinset coverage as the field. Starved corners pop later.
Pencil liner is a narrow stick of tile, often a half inch or three quarter inch face, that caps the field like a picture frame. Quarter round is a true quarter circle rod of ceramic or stone. Both are set in a full bed because they are small and they release if you only spot butter them. We back butter and comb the wall. A pencil can be mitered around an outside corner or it can die into a metal profile if the return is tight. Quarter round is common on older ceramic baths. It collects soap at the inside radius. We still set it when that is the look you want. None of these trims replace waterproofing. The membrane is behind the tile, always.
When the carton has no bullnose and the edge is still raw
Most of what comes out of the Temple supply house has no matching bullnose. Large format porcelain, zellige, many marbles, glass mosaic, and terrazzo look tiles leave a cut edge. Then we choose a brass or satin profile, a miter if the body will take it, or a pencil in a color that sits close. We do not grind a homemade bullnose down a whole wall. The radius will wander and the glaze will chip in a ragged line. On a short return, a couple of inches, we can ease the cut with a rubbing stone and grout the edge. That is a job site finish. You will see it in raking light. We tell you that before we cut.
We settle the edge in the room while we measure, not after the field is up. You pick the tile, either from stock you already have or at the supply house with us. Edge profiles get ordered with the tile so the finish and the length show up together. The same people who quote the job are the people who set, grout, seal and clean up. If you change the edge after the installation is complete, the written one-year limited labor warranty does not cover that modification. It covers issues arising from the original installation. Materials stay under the manufacturer warranty. For this kind of trim work there is no published price on this page. Call (512) 297-7493 or email info@merlanstile.com for a straight quote after we look at the actual space.
How an edge treatment changes the look of an entire tiled wall
A brass profile on subway tile reads as a finished, older bath. The gold line is a border. Satin on a large porcelain wall recedes. The wall looks more like a single plane. A mitered marble corner looks like the stone was built, not tiled. Factory bullnose on a ceramic tub surround is a common builder look. A dark pencil liner around a light field becomes a picture frame. That frame will be what you notice first. Quarter round adds a bead that belongs with older wood trim. If the rest of the house is square and simple, the bead fights it. We set a few loose pieces on your wall in daylight so you can judge, because store lighting lies.
Outside corners catch raking light from a window or a vanity lamp. A sharp miter throws a hard, straight shadow. A bullnose softens that shadow into a curve. In a small powder room, mosaic on every return plus metal on every edge can busy the room until it feels smaller. We keep the trim language consistent on one wall. Mixing brass on the niche and satin on the half wall only works if you want that contrast on purpose. Edge choice also changes the waterproofing details. A metal profile can terminate a membrane. Two mitered tiles still need the membrane wrapped behind both planes. Pitch on a shower half wall top is an eighth of an inch per foot so water does not sit. Ask for the edge to be drawn on the wall in pencil before thinset so you can sign off on the line. Work runs out from Killeen to Harker Heights, Copperas Cove, Nolanville, Belton, Temple, Salado, Georgetown, Round Rock, Waco and Austin.