Waterproofed first. Tiled second.

Count on $14–$26 per square foot, all-in and installed, for Oak Harbor tile work — the tile, setting materials, substrate preparation and labor included, labor itself starting from $11 per square foot. Tub-shower surrounds land between $3,200 and $6,800, and a complete bathroom holding floor, shower and niche typically totals $6,500 to $14,000. Format drives the labor more than tile price does — mosaic sheets and oversized planks each eat far more time per square foot than 12×12.

A standard alcove shower in Oak Harbor runs $3,200 to $6,800 all-in: the tear-out, bonded waterproofing, a pre-sloped base or pan, the tile setting, niche and grout. Steam showers, benches, curbless entries and full-height stone push higher. Waterproofing is roughly a tenth of the invoice — and the reason you never meet the five-figure repair.

Every shower gets it, no exceptions asked or granted. Bonded waterproofing — never bare cement board and thinset — means a sloped base, an ANSI A118.10 sheet or liquid membrane rising the full wall, corners, seams and penetrations sealed, and a photographed 24-hour flood test standing between prep and the first tile. Water passes tile and grout eventually; keeping it out of the framing is the membrane's doing.

Four to six working days is the honest schedule for an Oak Harbor bathroom: demolition and dust protection, substrate plus waterproofing and the 24-hour flood test, a day or two of setting, then grout, silicone and trim to finish. Give it 24 more hours of grout cure before first use. A floor alone takes a day or two. If you're working around a move, deployment or PCS date, say so — the schedule goes in writing.

Porcelain wherever there's water or traffic: it takes on less than 0.5% water, fights off chips and handles wear — the right call in Oak Harbor's damp island climate. Ceramic is a sound, cheaper choice for walls and backsplashes. Our spec runs porcelain on every floor and shower floor, with ceramic or glass earning wall duty.

Yes. An electric radiant mat under tile runs $11–$16 per square foot installed, with its thermostat in that price. It installs over an uncoupling membrane, is resistance-tested at the start and the end of setting, and runs on a dedicated circuit. The scheduling truth: it's only worth adding while the floor is open, so we fold it into the plan from day one rather than revisiting later.

In most cases, yes. Demo and the dump run come from $3.50 per square foot and buy the only true reading of the subfloor — rot, movement and threshold heights all get checked then. Tiling over existing tile is workable on a sound, flat and firmly bonded base, though it raises finished height and buries whatever we'd rather have found at demolition.

At the typical 30 square feet, backsplash installation in Oak Harbor runs $1,100 up to $2,200 — outlets cut in, edges finished, grout keyed to the counter. Mosaic sheets, herringbone, picture-frame details on the range wall and full-height slab-look porcelain claim the top of that range; the price lives in layout and cutting time.

Regularly, yes. Starting from an $8/sq ft rate, repair and regrout is the answer for stained or crumbling grout, an impact crack or two, and corners due to trade grout for silicone. It stops being the answer once the substrate quits — hollow ring underfoot, loosening that travels, a wall gone soft — because then repair just delays demolition. Which one you have, we diagnose and put in writing before any quote.

All of Oak Harbor and North Whidbey — Old Town, Scenic Heights, Swantown, Fort Nugent, Crescent Harbor, Maylor Point, Clover Valley, Dugualla Bay, Strawberry Point, Polnell Point and West Beach — plus Penn Cove Park, San de Fuca, Coupeville and Cornet Bay, and across the bridge to Anacortes.

Tile installation carries OC Flooring's 2-year workmanship warranty — intentionally longer than our carpet warranty, because tile faults declare themselves in year two, never week two. When the full bonded waterproofing assembly comes from one manufacturer, their warranty adds to ours. Photos of the membrane and its flood test stay in your records — useful at resale or for a housing office file.