Tile is what you see. Waterproofing is what decides whether the room is still sound in ten years. We do not rush the part nobody photographs. Call (954) 331-7392.
A bathroom is a small room with an unusual amount of risk in it. Water, electricity and structure meet inside about forty square feet. When a bathroom fails, it rarely fails visibly — it fails behind the tile, quietly, until a ceiling downstairs goes soft or a baseboard in the next room starts to lift.
Cement board is a substrate. It is not a waterproof membrane. A shower needs a continuous waterproofing layer — a liquid-applied membrane or a sheet system — carried up the walls, into the corners, over the curb and bonded to the pan. Corners and the curb are where most failures start, because they are the fussy parts. We flood-test pans before tile goes on. It takes a day. It is worth the day.
Curbless showers look excellent and are genuinely better for anyone who does not want to step over anything. They also demand more of the framing and the slope, because there is no curb catching your mistakes. In a slab-on-grade Broward house the drain often has to be relocated, which means cutting concrete. That is a real cost and it should appear in the estimate on day one, not as a surprise in week two.
A bathroom fan that vents into an attic is not a bathroom fan, it is a mould generator. Every fan we install is ducted to the outside with insulated duct and the shortest run available. Sizing matters too — an undersized fan runs constantly and never clears the room. If your existing fan is original to the house, assume it needs replacing and budget for it.
There are two very different bathroom projects. One keeps every fixture where it is and replaces surfaces, fixtures and lighting — fast, predictable, considerably cheaper. The other moves the toilet or the shower, which means new drain lines, new venting and often concrete work. Both are legitimate. What is not legitimate is quoting the second as though it were the first. We will tell you plainly which one you are asking for.
Large-format tile needs a flatter wall than most houses have, so the prep is more of the labour than the setting. Narrow grout joints look sharper and are less forgiving of tile that varies in size. Epoxy grout resists staining and is harder to install. Natural stone needs sealing and will not stay uniform forever. We will show you the trade-offs before you fall in love with a photograph.
Blocking in the walls for future grab bars costs almost nothing during a renovation and is expensive to retrofit later. A comfort-height toilet, a handheld on a slide bar, a bench in the shower and a wider door do not have to read as medical. If anyone in the house is likely to want this within a decade, do it now while the walls are open.
Permits pulled where the work requires them. A flood test you are welcome to watch. A written scope with a fixed price, allowances stated clearly, and no change built without your signature. Licensed and insured. The bathroom is put back together, cleaned, and the debris leaves with us.