Does anyone here install tile or granite or has anyone here recently had either or both installed?

[Jer]

We're looking to remodel our whole house and being as we're not rich we're starting out with the master bathroom and going one room at a time. I'm curious if we have anyone among us who does tile or granite for a living I could bounce some ideas off of, get some pro tips or possibly even hire for some portions of the work. Likewise, if we have members who have recently remodeled a bathroom using tile or granite that could give some tips or what to avoid that also be helpful. I used to do fix & flips and had to do my share of tile work so I'm by no means a pro but have a basic working idea on how to do it. The current plan is to tackle most of this myself but I'm considering farming out some of the work and would obviously need someone who does granite as well. In the past I had granite places that would do remnants for cheap (or free with the amount of business I gave them) and I paid for the labor to cut, polish and install. Curious if anyone has any connections like that or if maybe we don't have people like that among our ranks.

I can add details as we go but the basic idea is pulling out a large soaker tub and some crappy builder-grade white tile in favor of more attractive tile to the ceiling and some niches and probably pouring a full-size shower pan. I need to relocate the drain and some other plumbing to turn a single tub/shower into a two-person shower. At the same time I'd like to yank the vinyl vanity and put in a granite vanity as well as use matching pieces for window cap, curb cap, bench cap and niche caps. We'll likely use a frameless door situation to complete the look and some undermount sinks for the vanity. Might even do some fancy looking rectangle ones if I can find a deal. I may add lighting to the shower as well but I haven't decided for sure yet. Might just leave it as is to save on time/labor/money.

Thoughts? Anything you think I should avoid in your experience or must-haves for a recent remodel?

Let me know!

Thanks!

[Irving]

Bmac does remodels. I'm in the exact same situation and will be doing things a little at a time as well.

[Great-Kazoo]

I got a guy. Will call to see where he's at work load wise. He's about 20 minutes from your area.

[Jer]

I got a guy. Will call to see where he's at work load wise. He's about 20 minutes from your area.

A granite guy or a tile guy? In my experience they're different people. Also, I have a tile guy that I'm talking to (same guy who backed into my truck in a Walmart parking lot last year in fact lol) about a few things and even got a quite for pouring the shower pan/curb the right way but would be open to another quote for that aspect as it's the one thing I haven't yet done myself and probably the most mission critical aspect of the install. I think I'm more looking for a granite guy, some pro tips on specific aspects or even pictures from people who have recently remodeled their bathrooms and heavy tile or granite work would be a bonus. That last thing I can find via Google image searches so more looking for things like "Don't do rectangular sinks because they suck because of...." or "Don't do frame-less shower doors because..." that sort of thing. A granite fella who can work me a deal is probably the primary mission of this thread with opening up lines of communication for the other aspects or ideas is probably secondary at this juncture of our process. If someone has a recommendation for a tile company, pattern or combo they liked I'm open to that sort of thing too.

[Great-Kazoo]

He's a tile guy.

[jslo]

Don't know if you've poured a mud pan before but I've gone away from them. I'm now using preformed pans or shower pan kits. While they are more expensive, the Quick Drain kit I'm using now for a 5×5 curbless shower with a trough drain was $850, I feel my liability is way less. It installed in less than 2 hours. Quick Drain is located in Frisco has good tech support so maybe check it out as an alternative.

[Gman]

Had all of our countertops and sinks replaced last year with ubatuba granite (looks great with the maple cabinets). I'll see if the wife still has some pictures. That was a whole lotta stone. Kitchen has a big island, a counter on both sides of the fridge on one wall, and a desk, along with counters on both sides of the range and the 'L' that includes the sink. 5 undermount porcelain Kohler vanity sinks for 3 bathrooms, a deep Sterling 60/40 stainless undermount in the kitchen that was a freebie. Just remembered they also replaced the countertop on the wet bar. We reused the stainless bar sink. Did I mention there was a lot of stone? I can almost feel the radon from all that granite.

They had a plumber replace everything between the sinks and the wall, including new 1/4 turn supply valves and waste lines. They even removed the 3 wall mounted mirrors since the back splash was a little taller. We had to come up with a new disposal and kitchen faucet and any faucets we wanted to replace in the vanities.

This was done over 3 days. Demo and prep on day 1, stone and sink install on day 2, and plumbing on day 3. They ran into a snag on day 2 with a double vanity counter that they found had a fracture, but they ran back to the shop and fabricated a new counter the same day.

We went through Costco and got a promotional discount - $9k and change total. Put it on our Costco AMEX and got cash back, and then paid off the AMEX. This was by far the best pricing we found.

The company that performed the work also mentioned that they did work for the casinos in Blackhawk. I'll see if I can find their name if you want to talk with them directly.

We also made some inquiries about remodeling our master bath. One of the key points made on the frameless shower enclosure was to make sure the wall was framed to support the weight of the glass door.

[asmo]

BMAC

[Jer]

He's a tile guy.

I'd be interested to talk to him though about a few things to get a second (fifth?) opinion.

Don't know if you've poured a mud pan before but I've gone away from them. I'm now using preformed pans or shower pan kits. While they are more expensive, the Quick Drain kit I'm using now for a 5×5 curbless shower with a trough drain was $850, I feel my liability is way less. It installed in less than 2 hours. Quick Drain is located in Frisco has good tech support so maybe check it out as an alternative.

I personally haven't and it's mission critical enough that I had pretty much decided to outsource that job to someone who has plenty of experience. That's something you want to be perfect and being as I've never done one I can imagine there's a learning curve and maybe it takes the third or fourth one to get it right but even if it only takes two to get the process down that's one more than I'm willing to install in my own home. I want this done right and the tile guy I know said he'd do one for a pretty reasonable rate so that's why I was just going to let a pro do that part. Might even be willing to let a pro do more if the price is right too. I considered doing a preformed pan but was seeing price of about $800-$900ish and wasn't wanting to pay that much when I can get a pan poured by a professional to my specifications for about half of that before adding the tile/grout. I like the idea of curbless though and would entertain this idea further. I think my ideal shower would be a curbless with gutter drain that runs the length of a frameless door/wall and then the same tile used in the bathroom floor too. This would make cleaning the floor super easy since you can squeegee the liquid right into the drain for the whole floor. I've heard horror stories about those gutter/trough drains though and putting them together and getting them trimmed and seated properly. I may have to revisit this idea further.

Had all of our countertops and sinks replaced last year with ubatuba granite (looks great with the maple cabinets). I'll see if the wife still has some pictures. That was a whole lotta stone. Kitchen has a big island, a counter on both sides of the fridge on one wall, and a desk, along with counters on both sides of the range and the 'L' that includes the sink. 5 undermount porcelain Kohler vanity sinks for 3 bathrooms, a deep Sterling 60/40 stainless undermount in the kitchen that was a freebie. Just remembered they also replaced the countertop on the wet bar. We reused the stainless bar sink. Did I mention there was a lot of stone? I can almost feel the radon from all that granite.

They had a plumber replace everything between the sinks and the wall, including new 1/4 turn supply valves and waste lines. They even removed the 3 wall mounted mirrors since the back splash was a little taller. We had to come up with a new disposal and kitchen faucet and any faucets we wanted to replace in the vanities.

This was done over 3 days. Demo and prep on day 1, stone and sink install on day 2, and plumbing on day 3. They ran into a snag on day 2 with a double vanity counter that they found had a fracture, but they ran back to the shop and fabricated a new counter the same day.

We went through Costco and got a promotional discount - $9k and change total. Put it on our Costco AMEX and got cash back, and then paid off the AMEX. This was by far the best pricing we found.

The company that performed the work also mentioned that they did work for the casinos in Blackhawk. I'll see if I can find their name if you want to talk with them directly.

We also made some inquiries about remodeling our master bath. One of the key points made on the frameless shower enclosure was to make sure the wall was framed to support the weight of the glass door.

I googled that granite and we actually have an upgraded fake granite in our kitchen (lots of counter top/bar top/desk top so granite at the time of build would have been absurd at their prices) and it's the fake version of what you have that's real. We have cherry/red cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms and while it looks alright I think if I had to do over again I'd go with a different color. I don't think it looks awful (lived with it for 10 years now) but if I'm going to do it over I'm not sure it would be my first or second choice. It sounds like we have a similar setup to you and that's why I'm waiting to update the kitchen because that's going to be a spendy one. Tempted to get an appraisal at the current market values, refinance at a lower interest rate and then take a little equity out to do these things and finish out the basement too. At this point we've decided to do a room at a time with cash to avoid adding to our payoff though but the silly prices right now make lots of things tempting. We went through that a few times now though and it doesn't always end well for some so a little less likely to go down this path.

CostCo, huh? Might have to look into that. I didn't even think they might have some sort of connections for this sort of thing but I guess I should have known.

Great point on the wall framing for the weight of the glass. I'll make sure they're framed up to my over-engineered standards.

BMAC

May have to hit him up.

[Tim K]

I'll be the proud owner of a granite shop in about 60 days. We're expanding. I can surely help if you can wait.