What bathroom tile work looks like in a Sterling Heights home
Most bathrooms we tile in Sterling Heights sit in brick ranches and colonials built between the 1950s and the 1970s. The rooms are small. The subfloor has usually moved a little over the years, and the old tile tells on it with cracked grout near the tub. We start by pulling the room down to the wood or the slab so we can see what we are working with. If the floor flexes, we stiffen it before a single tile goes down. If the wall behind the tub is soft, that drywall comes out and cement board goes in. Prep is the part nobody sees. It is also the part that decides how the room holds up.
Layout comes next. This is where a bathroom either looks right or looks off. We dry lay the field first. We find the true center of the room and set the cuts so the thin slivers land where nobody looks. Doorways, the vanity toe kick, and the tub deck all get measured before we mix a bag of thinset. In a shower we build the slope to the drain, then set the pan, then run the walls from the bottom up with spacers holding every line. Grout goes in after the mortar cures, not the same day. We wipe the haze off and let the room rest. Then we seal the joints once the grout has dried all the way through.
- Full tear out down to the studs and the subfloor, so we fix soft spots and old leaks instead of tiling over them.
- Waterproofing behind the tile in every wet area, with sealed corners, seams, and pipe openings before the first tile goes on.
- Floor layout planned around the door, the vanity, and the tub, so cut tile lands out of your line of sight.
- Grout and caulk picked for a room that gets steam every day, with joints sealed once the grout has cured.
- One crew from tear out to final wipe down, so the person who answered your call is the person tracking the job.
Bathrooms in Macomb County take a beating in winter. Forced air heat runs for months and dries the room out. Then a hot shower dumps steam into it twice a day. That swing is hard on grout. It is harder on a bad caulk joint, which is why we raise the moisture question early, before anyone starts picking out tile. If the fan is weak, or if it dumps into the attic, we will tell you, because new tile will not fix a room that stays wet. Cold floors are the other thing we hear about, mostly in baths over a garage or an unheated crawl space. Floor heat under the tile is worth asking about while the floor is open. Once the tile is set, that window closes.
If your bathroom is dated, cracked, or leaking, we can look at it and give you a straight read on what it needs. We will tell you when a full tear out makes sense and when it does not. We work in Sterling Heights and the towns around it, including Utica, Shelby Township, Warren, Clinton Township, and Fraser. Call us and we will set a time to walk the room, take measurements, and put the scope in writing so you know what you are getting.
