Bathroom Tile Remodeling in Bristol, CT

For a rental hall bath we plan the tile scope to run in about a week, with the plumber's rough-in and fixture set built into that schedule. We use porcelain on floors and walls, a bonded waterproofing system in the shower, and cementitious grout with a stain-resistant sealer or epoxy grout where it earns its cost: choices that survive tenants.

You cannot tile onto a fiberglass unit for the long term, so the choice is keep it or remove it. Removal is a cut-out job; once it is gone we typically find the surrounding drywall needs replacement anyway, which is exactly when a fully tiled and waterproofed shower makes sense.

The bathroom door gets a zip-wall with a zippered opening, the path from the door to the exit is protected with floor covering, and demolition debris goes out in sealed bags or a small dumpster the same day. The room is broom-clean every evening and vacuumed before grout.

Under the state building code, tiling and finish work with no structural changes or alterations need no building permit. Replacing the tub valve, changing the drain, or adding an outlet, light or fan is permitted trade work through the Bristol Building Department at 111 North Main Street, whose permits are applied for online. We tell you which items in your scope apply before demolition.

We build the pan, then go over it with a bonded waterproofing membrane such as a Schluter-KERDI style sheet or a liquid-applied one where the geometry calls for it. The membrane runs over the pan, up the walls, around the curb, and over every seam, corner and valve penetration, and we hold a twenty-four-hour flood test before any tile goes down. If a drop moves, we find it while it is still inexpensive to fix.

Only sometimes, and only when the old tile passes the checks: solidly bonded everywhere when you tap it, flat, and structurally sound, with enough give at the outlets, counters and doors to absorb the added thickness. When it fails any of those, tiling over it locks the problem in. On a wet area we almost always take it down to the substrate instead.