QualityWhere installation quality decides everything
Custom Showers & Waterproofing
A shower does not fail at the tile. It fails behind it. Everything here is built around the layer nobody sees.
Shower systems we build
Curbless walk-in showers
Flush entry with the slope built into the substrate, so the floor drains without a lip to step over.
Frameless glass enclosures
Openings set true so the glass sits plumb and the door closes the same way in year five.
Full-height stone walls
Marble and porcelain to the ceiling, seams planned so the veining continues across the corner.
Linear and point drains
Drain placement decided with the tile layout, not after it.
The waterproofing standard
Sloped pre-slope
The slope goes under the membrane, not only on top of it. This is the detail most failed showers are missing.
Bonded membrane
Continuous waterproofing across the pan, up the walls and into every corner and pipe penetration.
Curb and niche detailing
Niches and curbs are wrapped, not merely tiled over — they are the two places leaks start.
Tested before tile
The assembly is checked for water holding before the first piece of tile is set. Correcting it later means demolition.
Why the Waterproofing Layer Decides Everything
Tile is not waterproof and grout is not waterproof. Both are designed to let a small amount of moisture through, and the membrane behind them is what keeps that moisture out of the wall. This is why two showers that look identical on day one can behave completely differently in year three.
The single most common defect we find in failed showers is a missing or incorrect pre-slope. The base under the membrane has to fall toward the drain. When the slope exists only on top of the membrane, water that penetrates the tile reaches the membrane and then has nowhere to go — it sits, the assembly stays saturated, and eventually it finds the framing.
Signs the waterproofing has already failed: grout that keeps cracking in the same spot after repair, tiles that sound hollow when tapped, staining on the wall or floor outside the shower, or a musty smell that returns after cleaning. If any of those are present, regrouting hides the symptom and you pay for the repair twice. That trade-off is covered on the tile repair and regrouting page.
Curbless Showers on a Florida Slab
A curbless shower removes the step at the entry so the floor runs flush into the shower. It reads as a design choice, but it is a structural one: the slope has to be built into the substrate rather than added on top, and on slab-on-grade construction — which is most of South Florida — that usually means recessing the pan area.
Whether it is possible on a given bathroom depends on the slab, the drain location and the height available. That is decided at the walkthrough, not on the phone. Where a fully curbless entry is not viable, a low-curb system gets most of the same look without compromising the drainage.
Linear drains change the layout math. A single linear drain lets the floor fall in one direction instead of four, which means larger tile can be used on the shower floor and the pattern can continue from the bathroom floor into the shower without breaking. Drain placement is decided together with the tile layout, not after it.
Frameless Glass, and Why the Opening Matters
Frameless enclosures have no frame to absorb error. The glass is cut to the opening, so the opening has to be plumb and square before the glass is measured. When walls are set without checking that, the result is a door that scrapes, a gap at the top, or a panel that will not sit flush.
The order matters: the substrate is corrected first, then tile is set to a true plane, then the glass is measured against the finished surfaces. Fixtures are aligned to the tile layout rather than drilled wherever they land.
Full-height stone walls are common in these showers. Seams are planned so the veining continues across the corner — see marble and natural stone for how that layout is decided, and large-format porcelain for the flatness tolerances panels require.
Planning a bathroom or tile project?
Serving Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs and nearby Broward County. English, Spanish and Portuguese.