Tile Installer Recommendation (Austin, Burnet, Celeste: homes, to buy, price)

[CarnivalGal]

I would like to tile the two bathrooms upstairs. They are both jack-and-jill style. They currently have linoleum in the tub and toilet room (water closet) and carpet in the sink area.

To save some money, I would be willing to rip up the carpet, pull up and replace the toilets, and grout and seal the tile. I basically just want someone to lay down the backer-board and lay the tile.

Can anyone recommend someone who would do this and not charge an arm and a leg?

BTW, I will just be putting in basic ceramic or porcelain tile.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by mm57553

I would like to tile the two bathrooms upstairs. They are both jack-and-jill style. They currently have linoleum in the tub and toilet room (water closet) and carpet in the sink area.

To save some money, I would be willing to rip up the carpet, pull up and replace the toilets, and grout and seal the tile. I basically just want someone to lay down the backer-board and lay the tile.

Can anyone recommend someone who would do this and not charge an arm and a leg?

BTW, I will just be putting in basic ceramic or porcelain tile.

Tile is one of the few things that you can easily do yourself. They have spacers to ensure you get consistent spacing. Just buy an entry level power tile saw at home depot and you will be good to go.

Replacing toilets is harder than laying tile.

[atxcio]

While installing tile is easy, I can see how you might want to skip the labor on the jack-n-jills. Undercutting door jambs (or notching tiles around them) is kind of a pain. And you'd have several to do. Also, if you are removing carpet from some part of the bath, beware pulling it up near the threshold -- you want to make sure the job ends up with a nice transition, plus you could end up causing the carpet in the adjacent room to need re-stretching (and it'll take a year before you notice)..

Sorry I don't have a recommendation for labor. I would probably do as the above posters and just tile it myself (I've done that a few times with the $80 home depot saw, and it works great)... but I can understand why you might want to hire someone to lay the tile. Maybe you can ask Floor & Decor for some installer contacts. That's also the best place to buy tile, most in-stock selection and lots of inexpensive options.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Tile is one of the few things that you can easily do yourself. They have spacers to ensure you get consistent spacing. Just buy an entry level power tile saw at home depot and you will be good to go.

Replacing toilets is harder than laying tile.

I have done it myself, and it sucked. That's why I don't want to do it again. Hauling heavy backer board, tile, grout, mortar, etc., up and down the stairs is no fun. Nor is running up and down the stairs 100 times to do cuts.

[RooCeleste]

Contact Glades (pronounced Gladys) at TexBest Floors and Tile (Burnet and Braker - 512-299-6718). Tell her Celeste said to call. I have used them to install a travertine surround at my master bath, a split-face travertine backsplash in my mudroom, stacked travertine/quartz under my kitchen island, and the same stacked stone around my fireplace. The work was amazing, precise, and very reasonably priced! Glades was exceptional with her design recommendations, too. I wish I had more projects right now for them to do, but when I do, I won't contact anyone else. If you want to email me at celeste.havis@gmail.com I can send you photos of their work. I think they also have a Facebook page where I uploaded pics.

[CptnRn]

Darrell McGuire, 567-3285 installed the tile floor in our kitchen after removing the old linoleum, and installed it in an addition we built also. He did excellent work at a reasonable price.

[sequelcs]

Look here, floorinstallation.webs.com this installer is very good...!!!

[BentBow]

A lot of the newer homes built today, don't have the subfloor strength to lay tiles. Too much deflection, with joists/trusses @ 19 -24 inches apart. CBU is not a stiffener, it is just an uncoupling membrane to counter the wood substrates shrink and swell.
To do it right, you may need a mudbed, instead of CBU backer.

Tile, although fairly easy, is not a "just slap it on the floor" type of job. Tile failures are very common, because the movement is not corrected before setting tiles.