Tile Showers & Floors in Waterbury

Tile and grout aren't waterproof by themselves. Water soaks through grout lines, so a shower depends on the layer behind them. We use a continuous membrane, either a sheet product or a liquid applied in coats, that runs from the drain across the floor, up the walls past the shower head and into the niche. Seams get banded, and the membrane ties into the drain flange.

The shower floor slopes to the drain before the membrane goes on, so water can't sit under the tile. On a curbless shower, that slope has to start outside the shower, which sometimes means recessing the subfloor between joists.

Honed marble walls, a hex floor and one glass door on brass hinges

Small mosaic tile tolerates a little movement. Large tile and natural stone don't, and floors in prewar houses often bounce or sag. Before we tile, we sister weak joists where needed and add a layer of plywood and an uncoupling membrane. Marble wants the stiffest floor of all.

Floors in newer houses are usually flatter, which opens up large-format porcelain: 24-by-48-inch planks or big squares with thin grout lines that make a bathroom look wider. We still check the floor for stiffness before choosing the size, since a long tile shows every dip.

Marble is the one people fall for, and it's soft. Acidic cleaners etch it and it needs a sealer, though a honed finish hides wear better than a polished one. Porcelain is dense and close to maintenance-free, and the better marble-look porcelains are hard to tell apart from stone at a glance. For walls, glazed ceramic subway tile is still the classic. It's affordable, and replacing one cracked piece years later is easy. On floors, unglazed porcelain mosaic in hex or penny round is the traditional choice, and all those grout lines give bare feet some grip.

White beveled subway tile, a pencil liner and a brass valve handle