Bathroom tile
Wall, shower and floor tile installed on a flat, waterproofed, movement-ready base, because what's under the tile decides how long it lasts.
Open daily 7 AM to 10 PM. Talk to us about your bathroom.
The tile you choose is the part everyone sees. The substrate, membrane, setting mortar and joints underneath are what decide whether it stays flat, dry and uncracked. Most failed tile we're asked to replace failed from below.
Royal Bathroom Remodeling installs tile on bathroom walls, shower walls and floors, tub surrounds, backsplashes and bathroom floors. We tile as part of a larger remodel or as a standalone job when the rest of the room is in good shape.
If you're still choosing materials, our comparison of porcelain and ceramic tile explains density, water absorption and where each one fits.
Cement board, foam board or a mortar bed for wet areas. Never plain drywall or the old "greenboard" inside a shower. On wood floors, the subfloor has to be stiff enough that it doesn't flex under a person's weight, or grout and tile will crack.
A sheet or liquid-applied membrane that makes the shower a continuous waterproof box, with sealed corners, seams and pipe penetrations. Tile and grout are not waterproof on their own. See how shower waterproofing works.
A membrane on floors that lets small movement in the slab happen without the crack telegraphing up through the tile. Especially useful in North Texas, where clay soils move foundations seasonally.
Flexible sealant, not grout, at inside corners, where walls meet floors, around the tub and at the room's perimeter. These let the tile field expand and shift without cracking.
Before any tile is set, we lay out the room so cuts land where you won't notice them and no row ends in a sliver at a doorway or a shower niche.
Clean and modern, but it shows every wall that isn't square and every uneven grout line.
Forgiving on walls. With long rectangular tile we usually use a one-third offset instead of centering each joint, because the middle of a long tile often bows slightly and a centered joint puts two high points side by side.
More cuts and more time, and they reward a room with a clear centerline to start from.
Makes a low ceiling or a narrow shower read taller. Niche and valve positions should line up with the grout grid.
Planning a bathroom project? Call and tell us what you have in mind. We'll talk through scope and arrange a visit. Open daily 7 AM to 10 PM.
Tile with an edge of 15 inches or longer is commonly treated as large format. It looks calm and has fewer grout lines, and it demands more of the surface underneath.
| Cementitious grout | Epoxy grout | |
|---|---|---|
| Stain resistance | Moderate; needs sealing | High; no sealing |
| Installation | Faster and more forgiving | Slower, short working time |
| Color consistency | Can vary with water and cure | Very consistent |
| Best used | Walls outside the shower, low-use floors | Shower floors, busy floors, light colors |
Outside the shower, trim matters as much as grout. Metal edge profiles or bullnose pieces finish exposed tile edges on wainscots, niches and window returns, and deciding on them before the tile is ordered avoids a raw cut edge where the tile simply stops. Where wall tile meets a painted wall, we plan the stopping point to line up with something, such as the top of the vanity mirror or the door casing, rather than an arbitrary height.
Dallas-area water leaves mineral deposits that dull cement grout over time. A sealed grout or an epoxy, plus a pH-neutral cleaner, keeps shower grout looking the way it did on day one for much longer.
We check flatness, plumb and what's behind the existing surface.
Tile, grout, trim profiles and a layout plan, with extra tile ordered for cuts and future repairs.
Old tile out, new board or mortar bed in, flattened.
Waterproofing in wet areas, crack isolation on floors, flood test for showers.
Tile set, grouted, joints sealed with flexible sealant where the tile changes plane.
For a whole-room view, read what goes into a remodel estimate. Tile on the floor often pairs with our bathroom flooring installation, and shower-only retiles are covered on the shower remodel page.
Cracks running straight across several floor tiles usually trace to slab movement without an isolation layer. Loose or hollow-sounding tile points to poor mortar coverage. Dark grout lines and a musty smell in a shower almost always mean water got behind the tile. Each has a fix, and each starts with removing enough tile to see the cause.
We install bathroom tile across Dallas and nearby cities, including Highland Park and Plano. The full list is on our service areas page.
Sometimes on a floor, rarely in a shower. Tiling over old floor tile only works if the old tile is firmly bonded, flat and the added height doesn't cause problems at doors and the toilet flange. In a shower we remove the old tile so the waterproofing can be checked or replaced; covering it hides whatever is going on behind it.
In showers and on floors that get wet often, it usually is. Epoxy grout resists staining and doesn't need sealing, which suits hard-water areas. It's slower and more exacting to install, so it adds labor. Cementitious grout is fine for wall areas outside the shower and for many floors if it's sealed and cleaned regularly.
That's lippage, a height difference between neighboring tiles. Large tiles are rarely perfectly flat, and any dip in the floor or wall shows at the edges. It's controlled by flattening the substrate first, using a leveling clip system and choosing the right offset for long rectangular tile.
It depends on the setting material and grout. Most cement-based products need a few days before regular water exposure, and epoxy grout has its own cure time. We give you the date for your specific products at the end of the job.
Talk to a remodeler
One call is enough to tell us what you'd like to change. We'll ask a few questions, then arrange a visit to measure and give you a written scope and estimate.
(469) 249-8764Open daily, 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM
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