Tile
Tile showers are one of the things we specialise in, and they are the job in this trade where the difference between good and bad work is completely invisible on handover day. Anyone can set tile that looks straight. What determines whether a shower is still sound in fifteen years is the waterproofing system behind it, and that is the part we will talk to you about first.
A shower is a waterproofing job with tile on the front
It is worth being blunt about how tile showers fail, because it is almost never the tile. Water gets past the grout — grout is not waterproof and was never meant to be — and what stops it there is the membrane, the pan and the way the corners, the curb and the drain are detailed. If that system is right, the shower lasts decades. If it is not, the tile still looks perfect while the wall behind it quietly rots.
That is why we treat a shower as a waterproofing job that happens to be finished in tile, and why we would rather explain the build-up to you than sell you on a tile you liked. By the time a failure shows itself as a soft spot or a smell, the repair is not a tiling job any more — it is a demolition.
It is also the reason we are straight about scope. We do not take on repair work for hard surface flooring, tile or countertops on projects we did not install ourselves. That is not us being difficult: with tile especially, we cannot warrant a waterproofing system we did not build and cannot see.
What's included
- Tile showers as a specialty, waterproofing system included
- Bathroom, entry and mudroom tile floors
- Proper slope to drain, set before any tile is laid
- Substrate and movement joints detailed correctly
- Full-service — we handle the whole job, not just the setting
- 10 year labor warranty, plus the manufacturer warranty on the material
Showers, bathroom floors, entries and mudrooms
Showers and tub surrounds are the obvious one, and they are where the specialty matters most. Beyond that, tile is the most durable floor we install, and it is genuinely permanent in a way nothing else on our list is — a well-set tile floor outlives the fashion it was chosen in.
Bathroom floors are its second natural home, for the same water reasons as the shower. Entries and mudrooms are the third, and in this valley that is not a small thing: Woodburn averages around forty-two inches of rain a year and Newberg is not far behind. A tiled entry takes the water and the grit that walks in off the street and does not care.
Where we will point you elsewhere is the rest of the house. Tile is hard, cold and loud underfoot, it is unforgiving of a dropped glass, and over a large living area it costs considerably more to install than a very good LVP or laminate that will look the part. Using tile where it is genuinely better, rather than everywhere, is how the budget goes further.
Tile we've installed
Slope, substrate and movement, in that order
A shower floor has to fall evenly to the drain before a single tile is set, and that slope is built into the pan rather than fudged with thicker mortar under the tile at the edges. Get it right and the floor dries between uses; get it wrong and you have a low spot that holds water and grows something.
The substrate has to suit the room. Ordinary drywall does not belong in a wet area, and the backer or membrane system has to be continuous through the corners, over the curb and around the drain — the places where a system is either detailed properly or is simply decorative. Corners are where shortcuts hide, because they are the hardest part and the least visible.
Tile floors also need somewhere to move. Large tiled areas expand and contract, and if there is no movement accommodation at the perimeter and no soft joint where the floor meets a wall or changes plane, the stress goes into the tile and the grout instead. That is what tenting and hairline cracking across a floor usually is — not a bad tile, but a floor with nowhere to go.
Our labor warranty runs ten years, with the manufacturer's warranty on the material. On a shower in particular that commitment is only sane because we build the waterproofing ourselves and know what is behind the tile.
What homeowners say
"I have dealt with Norman's for many years, always found them to be professional and fair. My last project was to install new tile and carpet prior to sale of my home. They recommended the perfect carpet to balance cost and quality."
Linda M Verified Google Review "Matt Norman was great to work with! Great customer service! Installation was smooth and easy. No complaints!"
Emilie Jacobs Verified Google Review
Tile questions
Do you repair an existing tile shower?
Generally not, and it is better to say so up front. We do not take on repair work for hard surface flooring, tile or countertops on projects we did not install. With a shower the reason is specific: the waterproofing is buried behind the tile, we cannot inspect it, and patching the visible part of a system that may already have failed does you no favours. If we built it, that is a different conversation.
Is grout waterproof?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding about showers. Grout is a filler between tiles and it lets water through. Sealing it helps with staining and slows things down, but the thing actually keeping water out of your wall is the membrane and pan behind the tile. That is why we spend the time there rather than on the part you can see.
How long does a tile shower take?
Longer than people expect, because the sequence has waiting in it — the waterproofing has to cure before tile goes on, and the setting mortar has to cure before grouting. Rushing any of those stages is how failures start. We will give you a realistic schedule at the estimate, including the days when nothing appears to be happening.
Can I have a large-format tile on the shower floor?
On the walls, easily. On a shower floor it is more constrained, because the floor has to fall to the drain and a large rigid tile cannot follow a slope in two directions without help. Smaller formats or a mosaic conform to the fall naturally, which is why you see them on shower floors so often. We will show you what works with the pan we are building.
Flexible financing available
Tile by city
Other floors we install
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Luxury vinyl plank (LVP)
Luxury vinyl plank installed throughout Newberg and the surrounding valley — waterproof, hard-wearing and warm underfoot.
Learn more → -
Laminate
Laminate flooring supplied and installed around Newberg — a hard, realistic surface that has come a long way since the 1990s.
Learn more → -
Carpet
Carpet supplied and installed across Newberg and the Willamette Valley, from bedroom re-carpets to whole houses.
Learn more → -
Floor removal & demo
Floor removal and demolition around Newberg — the old floor out, the subfloor assessed, and the mess taken away with it.
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Stairs & trim
Stair and trim work across the valley's hillside towns — treads, risers, nosings and the transitions that finish a floor properly.
Learn more → -
Quartz Counters
Quartz countertops for Newberg kitchens and bathrooms — templated, fabricated and installed as part of a full-service job.
Learn more →
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