- Subfloor moisture pre-test (calcium chloride or in-situ RH probe)
- Pin-meter reading on adjacent millwork and existing floors
- HVAC system check — confirmed running for minimum 14 days pre-install
- Door clearance measurement at every threshold
- Existing baseboard height and reveal documented
- Toilet, vanity, and appliance footprint photographed
- Material delivery path measured (driveway → install zone)
- Pet and child safety walkthrough with homeowner
Service · Tile Installation · 8 Tampa Bay Cities
Tile Installation.
Tile Installation.
Tampa Bay & Sarasota.
Porcelain, ceramic, natural stone, and large-format slabs — set flat, set straight, and set to the slope your shower pan actually needs.
8 cities served
300+ Tampa Bay floors finished since 2020
5.0★ · 5 reviews
47-point install standard
01
Tile durability depends on the assembly beneath it. Substrate flatness, movement joints, crack treatment, mortar selection, coverage and cure time all change with tile size, room type and existing conditions. Large-format porcelain exposes dips and lippage more readily than small tile, so preparation must be measured rather than assumed.
Wet areas require a complete code-compliant waterproofing system; tile and grout are only the finish surface. Floors over concrete may need crack-isolation or uncoupling based on the substrate and specification. Product instructions, applicable industry standards and local inspection requirements should be reflected in the scope before material is set.
300+
300+ Tampa Bay floors finished since 2020.
5 verified reviews · 5.0★ Google · Licensed & Insured
This service is available in all eight cities we cover — pick the city closest to you below for tile-specific pricing, FAQ, and a local-context page tailored to that market.
02
- ●Ceramic field tile (4″–18″ formats)
- ●Porcelain field tile (12″–24″ formats)
- ●Large-format porcelain (24×48 and larger)
- ●Natural stone — travertine, marble, slate, granite
- ●Mosaic and decorative inlay work
- ●Schluter Kerdi waterproofing for wet areas
- ●Wedi panel shower system installation
- ●Crack-isolation membrane (Schluter Ditra)
- ●Heated-floor mat installation (Schluter Ditra-Heat)
- ●Self-leveling underlayment when slab requires
- ●Bullnose and Schluter trim profile installation
- ●Grouting (sanded, unsanded, urethane, epoxy)
- ●Caulk-and-grout sealing at change-of-plane
- ●Old tile demolition & substrate prep
- ●Toilet pull-and-reset, appliance moves
03
- Boxes opened on-site within 4 hours of delivery
- Planks cross-stacked for full airflow on all faces
- Digital hygrometer placed inside acclimation zone
- Minimum 72-hour acclimation logged (hardwood)
- Minimum 48-hour acclimation logged (engineered + laminate)
- Material temperature confirmed within 5° of install zone
- Final pin-meter reading on planks before install
- Acclimation log photographed and saved to job file
- Old flooring fully removed including staples and adhesive residue
- Subfloor swept and shop-vac'd to bare surface
- Squeak survey — all squeaks identified and screwed
- Slab self-level pour if dips exceed manufacturer spec
- Plywood patching for joist-line dips and damaged areas
- 6-mil vapor barrier installed where slab moisture warrants
- Crack-isolation membrane installed on tile substrate
- Final flatness check — 1/8″ tolerance over 10 ft confirmed
- Racking plan laid out before first plank is installed
- Starting wall verified for square and straightness
- Expansion gap measured and maintained at every wall (3/8″ minimum)
- End-joints staggered minimum 6 inches between adjacent rows
- Nailing schedule matched to manufacturer spec (cleat spacing)
- Glue coverage verified on every glue-down plank (lift-test)
- Plank-to-plank tightness confirmed every 10 linear feet
- Daily progress photo documentation
- Threshold and transition strips custom-cut to room
- Quarter-round or shoe-mold installed on every wall
- Mitered corners cut and seated (no gaps)
- Existing baseboards reset or replaced as scoped
- Stair-tread nosing returns scribed and finished
- Door undercuts performed where clearance required
- Toilet flange height verified post-install
- Floor swept, vacuumed, and damp-mopped
- Final moisture reading on subfloor and adjacent millwork
- Walk-through with homeowner — every plank visually inspected
- Touch-up tube provided for any future scratches
- Care-and-maintenance handout printed and signed
- 12-month workmanship warranty registration signed
- Job file with photos & logs sent to homeowner
- Follow-up call scheduled 30 days post-install
04
01
Using the wrong setting mortar for the tile size.
TCNA spec is explicit: tile under 15 inches uses standard modified thinset mortar (medium bed at most); tile 15 inches and larger requires a large-format / medium-bed (LFT/MB) mortar applied at 1/4-inch trowel notch minimum, back-buttered. Using standard thinset under a 24x48 large-format tile is the number-one cause of hollow spots and lippage on premium tile installs. The mortar matters more than the brand of tile.
02
Skipping the crack-isolation membrane on a slab.
Florida slabs crack. They always do, eventually — from settlement, from temperature cycling, from the soil shifting underneath. A tile floor installed directly on a slab will crack along the same lines as the slab below it. A Schluter Ditra or equivalent crack-isolation membrane decouples the tile floor from the slab, so a hairline crack in the concrete doesn’t telegraph through to a $15 per square foot porcelain tile. Skipping the membrane saves $2.50–$4 per square foot. Re-tiling the floor after a crack costs $12–$18 per square foot.
03
Letting the original installer build the shower waterproofing.
The old-school method (tar paper plus wire-lath mud bed plus a clamping drain) still passes code in some jurisdictions but has dozens of failure points. We exclusively install bonded sheet-membrane systems (Schluter Kerdi) or foam-panel systems (Wedi). Both are dramatically more reliable, easier to inspect, and what we put on every shower job. The vast majority of catastrophic bathroom failures we get called to fix trace back to a shower that was waterproofed with the old method, badly, by someone who didn’t know what they were doing.
04
Choosing tile that’s rated for walls in a floor application.
Tile carries a PEI rating (Porcelain Enamel Institute) for surface hardness. PEI 1 is wall-only. PEI 2 is light residential floor traffic. PEI 3 and 4 are most residential floor applications. PEI 5 is commercial. Florida sand is abrasive; we recommend PEI 4 minimum for any floor application. A pretty wall tile installed on a floor will scratch and dull in the high-traffic lines within 12–18 months.
05
Picking grout without thinking about maintenance.
Cement-based sanded grout is cheap, easy to install, and stains permanently with any prolonged moisture contact. Urethane grout (Bostik TruColor, Mapei Flexcolor CQ) is stain-resistant, flexible, and costs about 3× per pound — but you spend nothing on grout sealing for the life of the floor. Epoxy grout is the gold standard for kitchens, bathrooms, and any wet-area floor. For premium tile jobs (over $10 per square foot installed), we almost always specify urethane or epoxy. The grout outlives the tile if you pick the right one.
2026 Tile Installation pricing.
| Tier | What it’s best for | Installed cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Ceramic Tile (12″–18″) | Tile included, basic patterns | $6.50–$9.75/sq ft installed |
| Porcelain Tile (12″–18″) | Most-installed for primary living areas | $7.50–$11.50/sq ft installed |
| Large-Format Porcelain (24×48) | Premium look, longer prep time | $10.75–$16/sq ft installed |
| Marble-Look Porcelain Slab (48×48+) | Slab handling adds labor | $14.75–$23/sq ft installed |
| Natural Stone (travertine/marble) | Plus sealing on day of install | $12.50–$21/sq ft installed |
| Mosaic / Decorative Inlay | Labor-intensive, custom layouts | $26–$52/sq ft installed |
| Schluter Kerdi Shower Waterproofing | Per standard 3×5 shower footprint | $1,350–$2,950 |
| Crack-Isolation Membrane (Ditra) | Critical over concrete slabs | $2.75–$4.25/sq ft |
| Tile Demo & Substrate Prep | Old tile + thinset removal | $3.25–$6.50/sq ft |
All prices include labor, prep, and standard transition trim. Old-floor removal $1.75–$3.25/sq ft. Financing available on jobs over $2,500. Free written quote within 24 hrs →
07
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★★★★★
We had luxury vinyl flooring installed in our home and the results exceeded our expectations. The installers were respectful, efficient, and clearly experienced in what they do. They answered all of our questions and made sure everything looked perfect before finishing the project. The floors look amazing and have completely updated the appearance of our house.
“
★★★★★
Rafael and his team did an amazing job on our new floors. The whole process was smooth from estimate to installation. Professional, on time, and very detail oriented. Highly recommend this flooring company!
“
★★★★★
This company did an outstanding job replacing the floors in our living room and bedrooms. Communication was great throughout the project, and the crew always arrived on time and kept the workspace clean. The craftsmanship and attention to detail really stood out, especially around corners, transitions, and trim work. We highly recommend them to anyone looking for reliable flooring professionals.
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★★★★★
Rafael did my parent’s flooring and he was amazing. Very professional and so easy to work with. The job was great and the finish produce was beautiful. Thank you!
“
★★★★★
Great price. Rafael did an excellent job overseeing the installation of LVP flooring in our two bedrooms and stairs. The workmanship was top-notch, the crew was professional, and the finished floors look amazing. Everything was completed on time. Always attention on small details making the job professional. 🙏🏼
07
Why does large-format tile cost so much more to install?
It's labor, not tile. The bigger the format, the flatter the substrate has to be: TCNA allows a quarter-inch of deviation over ten feet under tile below fifteen inches, but tightens that to an eighth of an inch once you're at fifteen inches and up — and a Florida slab almost never shows up that flat, so we self-level. Then the tiles themselves are heavy two-person lifts that have to be back-buttered and set into a fully troweled bed to keep lippage out. The plank might cost a couple dollars more a foot; the prep and the handling are where the real money goes, and skipping either is exactly why discount large-format jobs come back rocking.
Do I really need a waterproofing membrane in my shower?
A shower needs a code-compliant waterproof assembly behind or directly beneath the tile; tile and grout alone are not waterproofing. The approved system, drain connection, seams, penetrations and flood-test requirements should be documented before tile installation. Product instructions and the local inspector control the assembly.
Can you tile over an old tile floor?
Occasionally it's possible, but it's rarely the right call, and we'll usually tell you so. For it to even be on the table the old tile has to be fully bonded with no hollow spots when we sound it, the new tile has to be at least as large so no fresh joint lands over an old one, and your doorways have to be able to swallow another three-quarters of an inch of height — which most can't without trapping doors and transitions. Nine times out of ten we recommend pulling the old tile. It's real labor, but you end up with a floor that outlasts the house instead of inheriting whatever was wrong underneath.
Sanded vs. unsanded grout — does it matter?
More than most people expect. Unsanded grout belongs in joints an eighth-inch and narrower — most wall tile, mosaics, tight-set marble — and sanded grout in anything wider, which is most floor tile and large-format porcelain. Force sanded grout into a narrow wall joint and the grit scratches the tile face; use unsanded in a wide floor joint and it shrinks and cracks out as it cures. We pick the grout to the joint, not to whatever's on sale, and on premium jobs we'll often steer you to a urethane or epoxy that never needs sealing in the first place.
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Free in-home measure. Written, line-itemized quote within 24 hours. Tile done to the 47-point Napa’s standard.
(407) 627-9533