- 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.
Finding the real path of the water before tearing into the wall
Water rarely stays where you see it. A dark grout line in a shower corner, a loose floor tile outside a tub, or a soft spot near a toilet usually means water has been traveling along the subfloor or down the studs for weeks. We come out to the house, look at the room, and trace the issue back to its source. We look for cracked grout joints, failed silicone at the tub ledger, missing waterproofing behind the cement board, or supply lines weeping inside the wall cavity.
In older Central Texas homes around Killeen and Temple, we often find regular drywall or basic green board used in wet areas with nothing more than thinset holding the tile. When water gets through the grout, that drywall turns into mush and loses all strength. You end up with tiles popping loose because the backing fell apart. We check the surrounding walls and floor transitions to see exactly how far the moisture spread before we start pulling anything off the wall.
Pulling back wet tile, backer board, and rotted wood
Trying to save water damaged tile is almost always a losing battle. Thinset sticks hard to the tile face, and removing the backer board destroys the substrate anyway. If water soaked into the wall cavity or subfloor, everything wet has to be removed down to clean, solid framing so the house can dry out properly.
- Tile and ruined backer board stripped cleanly back to the dry wall studs
- Swollen plywood subfloors and soft OSB cut out back to the center of the nearest floor joist
- Rotted bottom plates, blocking, and stud bases exposed for carpentry repairs
- Wet baseboards, vinyl plank, and damaged threshold transitions removed around the room perimeter
Letting the framing dry before closing up the space
You cannot tile over damp wood. If you trap moisture behind a new waterproofing membrane or under a new layer of cement board, the studs will warp, mold will grow, and fasteners will rust out. We coordinate with whoever is handling the moisture side and water mitigation on your property. The drying fans and dehumidifiers need to run until the moisture level in the wood framing and subfloor drops back to normal.
Once the structure is dry, we sister damaged studs, replace compromised subfloor sections, and make sure the framing is flat and plumb. A solid tile job requires a rigid substrate. If a floor joist has a bow or a wall stud is out of line, we correct it before hanging new cement board or backer panels. Taking the time to prep the framing properly prevents cracked tiles and broken grout down the road.
Rebuilding the waterproofing system to stop future leaks
Most tile leaks come down to improper waterproofing details. Tile and grout are not waterproof on their own. Water passes through grout joints and cementitious materials naturally. If the installer did not put a continuous, bonded waterproofing membrane behind the tile, that water enters the wall cavity. Common mistakes include puncturing pan liners too low, skipping sealant around valve penetrations, missing pre-slopes under shower pans, or building flat shower curbs that hold water.
When we rebuild, we build the wet area as a sealed vessel before a single tile is set. We use proper backer boards, seal all seams, and apply continuous waterproofing that laps over the tub flange or bonds to the shower drain. Shower floors are built with a consistent slope of one quarter inch per foot toward the drain so water drains away instead of sitting under the mud bed. For standard tub surrounds, our tile work is $2,000 flat, while custom showers and full room rebuilds are quoted after we inspect the room.
Setting new tile, grouting, and sealing the room
Once the prep work is complete, you choose your new tile. You can supply your own material or pick it out from the Temple supply house, where you can see porcelain, ceramic, marble, zellige, terrazzo, and mosaic options in person. What you pick is what gets set on your floor or wall. We bring the tile to the job site, plan out the cuts, and set everything with the proper thinset mortar and edge profiles, including clean satin or brass trims.
After the thinset cures, we pack the joints with grout, seal the surfaces where required, and caulk all plane changes with flexible sealant. We also install matching flooring transitions like reducers, stair noses, and thresholds to tie your new tile or vinyl plank back into the rest of the house. The same people who quote the job are the people who do the work, and every installation comes with our written one-year limited labor warranty from the date of completion.