Waterproofed first. Tiled second.

Arlington tile jobs price out near $14 to $26 per square foot once installed — the tile, prep work on the substrate, setting materials and labor all ride inside that spread, and labor alone begins at $11 for each square foot. Figure $3,200 up to $6,800 for a typical tub-shower surround; a bathroom done complete — floor, shower, niche — settles around $6,500 to $14,000. Format, more than sticker price, is what moves cost: mosaic sheets and large-format alike ask considerably more labor per foot than plain 12×12.

Tiling out a standard alcove shower in Arlington means $3,200–$6,800 — a figure which folds in demolition, the bonded waterproofing build, a pre-sloped pan, setting the tile, a niche and the grout. Push past standard — benches, curbless entries, full-height stone, steam — and the price follows. Waterproofing amounts to maybe a tenth of the bill, yet it's the piece that spares you a failure running into the tens of thousands.

Without exception. Every shower we build carries a bonded waterproofing system behind its tile — never cement board alone with thinset on top. The base comes pre-sloped; a liquid or sheet membrane climbs the walls; corners, seams and pipe penetrations all get sealed; and photos document a 24-hour flood test before we set anything. Water rolls off grout and tile, but nothing about them is waterproof — the membrane is what stands between water and your framing.

Start to finish, an Arlington bathroom needs four to six working days: dust containment and demo first; substrate and waterproofing next, with 24 hours of flood-test water standing on the new membrane; setting takes a day, maybe two; then comes the close-out of grout, silicone and trim. Give the finished shower 24 hours to cure before using it. A floor alone typically wraps inside one or two days.

Porcelain, wherever water or foot traffic is involved. Denser than ceramic, it absorbs below 0.5% water, shrugs off chips, and its glaze resists the iron tint hard Arlington well water leaves behind on softer surfaces. Ceramic belongs on backsplashes and walls, where duty is light and the savings are real. The rule we work by: floors and shower floors get porcelain; the merely decorative spots can take ceramic or glass.

We do — often. Under-tile electric radiant adds somewhere near $11–$16 per square foot installed, thermostat in the price. The mat sits atop an uncoupling membrane, resistance measured before the tile goes down and again after, power from a dedicated circuit. The economics work exactly once: while the floor is open. Retrofitting means demolishing finished tile.

Almost every time, yes. Tear-out with haul-away prices around $3.50 per square foot, and what it buys is sight of the subfloor — evidence of rot, of movement, of how finished height will land at each doorway. Setting new tile over old can succeed when the existing surface is flat, solid and firmly bonded, but it raises the floor and entombs whatever is wrong below it. Problems found at demo cost less than problems found after grout.

In Arlington, a standard 30 square foot backsplash installs for $1,100 up to $2,200 — outlet openings cut, edges trimmed, grout keyed to the countertop. Reaching the upper end takes a labor-hungry layout: herringbone, mosaic sheeting, a framed feature behind the range, or slab-look porcelain that climbs clear to the ceiling. Plain subway keeps you near the bottom figure.

Frequently, yes. Pricing for repair and regrout opens at $8 per square foot — right for grout that's stained or breaking apart, a tile or two cracked by a dropped pan, or shower corners where tired grout needs cutting out for silicone. When tiles sound hollow underfoot, release in a spreading pattern, or a wall yields to pressure, the substrate itself has failed, and patching it merely borrows time. Before quoting, we tell you which situation you're in.

All of Arlington — Downtown and the blocks off Olympic Avenue, Gleneagle, Smokey Point, Kent Prairie, Arlington Heights, Sisco Heights, Trafton, Cicero and Bryant — plus the surrounding country toward Silvana, Island Crossing, Lakewood and Oso. We also tile in Marysville, Stanwood, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens and across north Snohomish County.

A 2-year workmanship warranty rides on every OC Flooring tile install — twice the coverage carpet gets, because tile trouble tends to surface in year two, not in week two. Install a waterproofing maker's full assembly and their system coverage stacks over ours. The membrane and the flood test both get photographed, which means proof of what's behind your wall exists whenever you sell.