Bathroom tile cost

Bathroom tile costs $10 to $40 a square foot installed, typically around $20. A small bathroom floor of 40 square feet is therefore $400 to $1,600, and a tiled shower on top of that is $1,500 to $5,000.

Tile is the material people compare and labor is where the money is. The same tile laid in a herringbone pattern costs twice what it does in a straight grid.

What it costs

The waterproofing is not optional and not the tile

This is the part that decides whether the bathroom lasts twenty years or six.

Tile is not waterproof. Grout is not waterproof. Cement backer board is not waterproof; it simply does not disintegrate when wet. Water passes through a tiled shower wall continuously in normal use, and something behind the tile has to stop it reaching the framing.

That something is a membrane: a sheet product bonded to the substrate, or a liquid applied in coats, with the corners, the changes of plane and every screw penetration sealed. In a shower it must connect to a bonded pan so the whole assembly is continuous.

Ask which system the contractor uses by name. A contractor who answers immediately and specifically is the one you want. Tile over green drywall is a failure with a date on it, and it is still being installed.

Where labor cost comes from

Pattern. A straight grid or running bond is the baseline. Herringbone, chevron, basketweave and diagonal all take two to three times as long because every tile meets a cut.

Tile size. Large format tile needs a very flat substrate; anything out by a few millimeters shows as lippage. Leveling a floor for 24 inch tile can cost more than the tile.

Small mosaic. Fast over open field, slow at every edge, corner and drain, where chips are cut individually.

Shower floors. A sloped shower floor to a central or linear drain is skilled work and is priced separately from the walls for good reason.

Natural stone. Sealed before grouting and again after, and unforgiving of an uneven wall.

Choosing tile that suits a bathroom

Floor tile needs slip resistance. Look for a COF rating of 0.42 or above for wet areas. Polished marble on a bathroom floor is beautiful and genuinely slippery.

Shower floors want small tile, because more grout lines mean more grip and small tiles conform to the slope.

Porcelain over ceramic where water is constant. Porcelain absorbs less than 0.5% water; ceramic absorbs more.

Rectified edges allow narrow grout lines and cost more. Non-rectified tile needs wider grout to hide size variation.

Grout. Epoxy grout resists staining and is harder to work with and more expensive. Cement grout with a good sealer is fine for most bathrooms if it is actually sealed.

Frequently asked questions

Can I tile a bathroom myself?

A floor, plausibly, with a weekend and a decent tile cutter. A shower, not unless you are prepared to learn the waterproofing properly, because that is the part that fails and it fails invisibly for two years first.

How long does it take?

A small bathroom floor is one to two days. A full bathroom with a tiled shower is five to ten days, because the membrane, the mortar and the grout each need to cure before the next stage. Rushing that is exactly how it goes wrong.

Can I tile over existing tile?

On a floor, sometimes, and it adds height that affects the door and the toilet flange. In a shower, no. If you are retiling a shower, the reason is usually that the waterproofing failed, and covering it does not address that.

What grout color should I use?

Matching grout makes the wall read as one surface and hides pattern. Contrasting grout makes the pattern the feature and shows every wobble in the setting. Mid-gray is the forgiving default on a floor because it does not show dirt.

Is heated floor worth it?

In a bathroom, more than anywhere else in the house, because you stand on it barefoot. An electric mat under a small bathroom floor is $400 to $800 in materials and the labor is marginal while the floor is already up. It is the upgrade people report being most pleased with.