Showers
One of the most important aspects of the shower installation process is often overlooked. The crucial part of creating a beautiful finished shower is the preparation work before installing a single tile. The methods and materials used for preparation will ensure that your shower is waterproof and that your space will be beautiful and functional for years to come.
The work done before the tile installation needs to be precise and effective to ensure any water that makes it past the tile and grout goes down the drain and not into your walls and subfloor. This can cause major damage to your home! Most people and sadly even some contractors believe that tile and grout are waterproof, however, that is not the case. If steps are skipped during the preparation of the shower and waterproofing, you could find yourself with a leaking shower.
Unfortunately, many of our clients call us after they start to notice excessive mildew growing on their grout joints or see damage to the sheetrock or baseboard directly next to their new shower. This is often the result of a shower not properly prepared for tile installation. Unfortunately, if you can see water damage from a leaking shower, in most cases the only fix is a complete remodel. It can sometimes take years for a leaky shower to show itself on the surface, meanwhile, the damage is taking place inside the walls.
There are multiple acceptable and TCNA (Tile Council of N. America) approved ways to prepare a shower for tile installation. We are familiar with all of them and depending on your tile choice, location, and budget we will always use one of the approved and time tested methods for shower tile installation and waterproofing. Many of the materials manufacturers offer great warranties when using their complete product line and we are happy to help you register for the warranty.
Building a shower is like making a cake
You cannot skip steps and expect it to be beautiful and delicious. Some people can make a tasty cake but the presentation is poor, on the other hand, some might make their cake look good on the outside, but the taste leaves a lot to be desired! Just like it takes a real professional to bake both a good looking and delicious cake, it also takes a real professional to build a functional and beautiful tiled shower.
When considering a large investment like a tiled shower, we urge you to take your time when choosing both the tile itself and the contractor you will hire. Take into consideration these 5 points.
- Does the contractor specialize in shower tile installation?
- What materials are being used for the waterproofing of the substrate?
- Will a Flood Test be performed on the shower pan?
- Does the manufacturer of the installation products offer a warranty?
- Does the contractor offer a warranty on the workmanship?
Recent Shower Projects
Rating
Some of the best contractors we’ve ever hired. Ultra friendly people, super responsive, and did incredible work. We had them install tile for our backsplash, and they did a super job! It’s so great when you find people that really care, it makes working with them so great.
We finally (finally) got these projects done. Yay! PhD Home Solutions came to the rescue! They do excellent wall tile work plus other odds and ends. They mounted a bathroom cabinet and ceramic tiled its wall, installed a countertop and wall tile toilet in our laundry, removed an old and replaced with new toilet, and did some detail trim work under our main entry door. Fast response, super nice folks, efficient, detailed, fast and they know what they’re doing really, really well. PhD’s prices are reasonable. The owners Paul and Carrie are fabulous and we highly recommend them to anyone who needs work done in the home. Kudos!
Carrie, Paul and their son Jackson were an absolute joy to work with and did an amazing job on our kitchen backsplash. I received their name from the Tile Shop and Carrie called me back within an hour of me calling them. She even came over the same day to take a look at the work we wanted done. They were super flexible with me when our job was scheduled for the next day and I decided I hated the tile I picked out! They worked me back in within a few weeks. When they came out, the demo was very clean and Carrie has a great eye for where each tile should go. Highly professional, very friendly and the job was completed perfectly! Recommend them to anyone!
If you are looking for an efficient and reasonably priced company to install your tile backsplash or accent wall your search is over if you go with PhD Home Solutions. Paul and Carrie Dunbar have been in business for about 29 years. Their easy-going approach makes the project take shape without totally disrupting your life. The quality of their work is outstanding. I would not hesitate to hire them again for future projects.
PhD did a great job with our backsplash and island tiling. The whole process was seamless, and I couldn't be more happy with the experience and the end result. Paul and Carrie are responsive, reliable and professional. We ordered the tiles from Tile Shop, and they picked up the tile and installed it in 3 days. I would highly highly recommend them.
Paul and Carrie did a herringbone backsplash in my kitchen. Their work is literal perfection. I was given their name by The Tile Shop in Scottsdale. I was amazed how they carried the pattern around the corners of our kitchen. I highly recommend them. They cleaned everything up each day and were timely and professional. We remodeled our whole kitchen and they were by far the most professional part of our process. Highly recommend.
Paul did a complete remodel on our master bathroom shower and it turned out very nice. I would recommend him.