Service
Bathrooms & Custom Showers
Full remodels and custom showers on bonded waterproofing. Curbless entries, linear drains, marble and stone.
Showers fail from the inside out. The stain on the ceiling downstairs usually started years earlier at an unsealed corner or a pan that was never sloped. Every shower we build starts with a mortar pre-slope, floated by hand. A bonded membrane goes over that, the seams and corners get sealed, and the whole pan is flood tested before any tile.
We build on Schluter's KERDI system, with the membrane bonded right over the mud bed and walls and a KERDI-DRAIN or KERDI-LINE linear drain tied into it. Get that foundation right and the details people actually call about are the easy part. Curbless entries. Big porcelain panels with barely a grout line. Book-matched marble, mitered corners, niches that line up with the courses around them.
For a full remodel we take the room from demo to the last bead of caulk. A lot of Long Island bathrooms were built between 1950 and 1980, and after 30+ years of opening them up we know what's usually behind the wall. A cast-iron tub sitting on a mud bed, plaster, plumbing that's been moved once or twice already. We price for that up front, not after demo day.
What’s included
- Demo, haul-away and dust control
- Mortar-bed pre-slopes, floated by hand
- Schluter KERDI membrane and KERDI-BOARD walls
- KERDI-DRAIN and KERDI-LINE linear drains
- Curbless entries, benches, niches and half walls
- Marble, quartzite and large-format porcelain
- Steam shower prep
- Flood test before any tile is set
Full bath remodels
Gut to complete, one crew
A whole bathroom, start to finish. You deal with Lou the entire way through, and his crew is in the room every day it's open.
- 01
Gut it
Everything comes out. Tile, tub, vanity, old mortar beds, down to the studs and the subfloor. We haul it away and set up dust protection through the house on the way in and out.
- 02
Fix what's behind the wall
Rotten framing, a subfloor that flexes, studs that are out of plumb, joists that never got blocked. This is where an old Long Island bathroom either gets straightened out or stays crooked forever, and it's cheaper to do now than to tile over.
- 03
Plumbing and electrical rough-in
Moving a drain, adding a niche light, running a circuit for heated floors. Licensed trades do that part. Lou schedules them and works around their rough-in so nothing gets opened up twice.
- 04
Waterproof and flood test
A mortar pre-slope floated by hand, Schluter KERDI bonded over it, corners and seams sealed, drain tied in. Then it gets filled with water and left overnight before a single tile is set.
- 05
Tile and stone
Floor, walls, shower, niches, benches, thresholds. Laid out on the wall before the first cut so the pattern centers where your eye lands and the small cuts end up where nobody looks.
- 06
Grout, fixtures, walkthrough
Grout and caulk, stone sealed, trim and fixtures set, glass measured. Then Lou walks the room with you, and anything on your list gets handled before he calls it done.
One bathroom, start to finish
How a shower goes together
Same job, in order. The old pan came out, the mud bed went in over the radiant tubing, KERDI went over the mud, and the marble went on last. These are Lou's photos from that bathroom.
01Tear it out
The old pan comes out down to the joists. Whatever failed gets found and fixed before anything new goes in.
02Float the mud bed
Packed mortar over wire lath, floated flat and sloped by hand, with the radiant tubing encapsulated in it.
03Bond the waterproofing
Schluter KERDI bonded to the mud bed, drains tied in, corners and seams sealed, then flood tested.
04Set the tile
Marble walls and a hex mosaic floor, set on a base that's dead flat, fully supported and completely waterproof.
Questions
Bathrooms & Custom Showers FAQ
- What does "bonded" waterproofing actually mean?
- An old-style shower pan puts a liner under the mortar bed, so the mortar above it stays damp and the grout can go musty. A bonded membrane sits right under the tile, so water stops at the surface and runs to the drain. You keep the solid mud base, with less water trapped in the floor.
- How long does a bathroom remodel take?
- A typical hall bath runs two to three weeks once materials are on site. Primary baths with custom showers, heated floors or layout changes take longer. You get the schedule in writing with the estimate.
- Do you do the plumbing and electrical?
- Our crew does the tile and stone. For plumbing and electrical, we'll recommend licensed pros we've worked beside for years and schedule the tile work around them so nothing gets done twice. If you already have your own, that works too.
- Can I have a curbless shower in an older house?
- Usually. It comes down to the floor framing and where the drain is. We check both on the site visit and tell you exactly what it takes.
- Is marble a bad idea in a shower?
- Not if it's installed and cared for properly. That means bonded waterproofing behind it, white thinset, and re-sealing every year or two. If that sounds like a hassle, a marble-look porcelain is the honest answer.
Still have a question?
Call and ask. Or text a photo and Lou will tell you what he's looking at, what it takes, and roughly what it costs.
Where we work
Bathrooms & Custom Showers across Suffolk County
Free estimates