- 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.
Sequencing tile with plumbers, framers and drywall on a new Killeen house
On a new house the tile setter is not first through the door. The slab has to cure, framers stand the walls close to plumb, the plumber sets the tub level and the shower valve at the right height, and electric boxes land where tile can cover them. Drywall hangers put up the board we bond to. Ignore that order and a late plumber hole cracks the work or a drywall sheet chips the floor. We usually walk after drywall is hung in the tiled rooms so the substrate is ready.
Cabinet installers and trim carpenters still work after us on most new builds. We cover finished floors with paper and boards so saws and boots do not scratch tile or knock pieces loose. If a threshold goes in later we leave the gap and return to set it once jambs are done. The same people who measured set the tile. Call (512) 297-7493, we look at the house and the other trades, then give a straight quote for the finish out. A tub surround if the plans have one is $2,000 flat. The rest of the showers, floors and backsplashes get quoted after we measure the actual space.
What the new slab and the framing look like before we set any tile
The slab on a new house in Temple or Belton is rarely dead flat. We check it with a straightedge. High spots get ground, low spots get filled with a patch that bonds to the concrete before any tile goes down. A crack that is still moving does not get tile over it. We tell you or the builder. Framing that is out of plumb shows up in the shower walls as a tapering grout joint or a cut that looks wrong. We measure the actual walls, not the plans, and we will not hide a problem that telegraphs through the porcelain or the marble.
- Check the slab with a straightedge and grind highs or fill lows
- Leave a live crack in the new concrete without tile over it
- Plumb shower walls so grout joints stay even
- Square corners so large porcelain and mosaic do not taper
Working with the builder's tile allowance on a new house
The allowance the builder wrote into the new house contract is their number, not ours. We leave it alone. You choose the tile. Bring it yourself or ride with us to the Temple supply house so you see the actual pallets, the shade variation in the marble, the size of the porcelain. What you pick is what gets set. We do not switch it later. After we measure we tell you what the labor will be for the showers, the floors and the backsplashes. Every house is different once the slab and the walls are up, so you call for a straight quote.
We set, grout, seal and clean up behind us. Grout color is chosen to either blend or contrast, your call. Sealer goes on marble and some porous ceramic so stains from the new construction dust do not set in. Clean up means the extra tile, the thinset bags and the grout haze leave with us, not in your dumpster. The written one-year limited labor warranty starts the day we finish. It covers issues from the original installation. Materials stay under the manufacturer's warranty. Changes you or another trade make after we leave are not covered. That is the same warranty on a new build as on a remodel.
Running one consistent tile layout through the whole new house
A new house has more than one tiled room, the entry, the kitchen and the bathrooms. If each is laid out alone the grout joints fail to line up where spaces meet and a porcelain plank run looks like two crews did it. We snap chalk lines from the front door through the hall into the last shower. Large format tile gets a wider joint so lippage stays down. Mosaic sheets center on the valve or the window the same way in every bath. Brass or satin edge profiles finish outside corners uniformly.
Cuts belong at the walls and under the cabinets, not in the middle of a field. On a long kitchen floor we start from the most visible wall so the last cut hides. In a shower we pitch the floor 1/4 inch per foot toward the drain so water does not sit. That slope is built into the mud bed or the foam pan, then the tile follows it. Waterproofing is a bonded membrane on the walls and the floor before any tile. If the membrane is skipped, water finds the drywall. We do not skip it. We work out from Killeen to Georgetown, Round Rock, Waco and Austin.
The punch list after the other trades leave a new construction house
Once the cabinets, the trim and the fixtures are in, we walk the tile with you or the superintendent. Chips from a ladder, a grout joint that got stepped on while it was still soft, a piece that cracked when the toilet was set, those go on the punch list. We replace the damaged tile, recut a tight piece, grout the repair and recaulk the tub or the shower where it meets the fixture. Most of the time this is a short return visit. We do not leave the job with open items we caused. Items caused by later trades get noted so it is clear whose work it is.
Grout has to cure before heavy traffic. On a new build the other trades want to keep moving, so we tape off the floors and put up simple signs. If someone ignores that and leaves footprints in the grout, that repair is on the punch list too. We seal where the tile needs it after the grout has dried. Final clean up is the last thing, haze off the marble, extra pieces stacked for you, bags out. Call (512) 297-7493 or email info@merlanstile.com when the house is far enough along for us to measure. We quote after that look, never before. No start date is promised on a website.