Miami — Miami-Dade
Many bathroom tile problems start in the same few spots: the shower floor, the corner where the wall meets the tub, and grout that was never sealed. Near Biscayne Bay and the ocean, the air carries salt, and humidity stays high most of the year. Waterproofing has to go down before any tile, and that order decides whether your shower lasts.
Brickell, Downtown Miami, Miami Beach and Aventura are dense with high-rise condo towers. Many condo associations set work hours, require elevator reservations and ask for sound-control underlayment under hard floors. If your bathroom is in one of these buildings, those rules shape the job before the first tile is cut.
The schedule is the first thing to fix. A bathroom job in a tower needs the elevator booked for materials and debris, and the work hours written into the plan. Ask the association for its rules before you pick a start date, because changing the plan after the booking is harder than setting it right first.
Florida passed SB 4-D in 2022, after the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside. The law requires milestone structural inspections of condominium buildings three stories or taller. For your bathroom, the practical point is this: if the work touches the floor slab, a shared wall or a shared plumbing stack, ask the association what it needs to see first.
For tile outside the bathroom, such as entries and kitchens, see our tile installation in Miami page.
In a high-rise, the bathroom floor is a concrete slab, and that slab is also the ceiling of the unit below. Water that gets through the tile does not stop at the slab. It reaches the ceiling below, which is why waterproofing above a tower bathroom matters more than it does on a ground floor.
A membrane that meets ANSI A118.10 is the layer that does this job. It goes over the prepared substrate in the shower and runs up the walls, so the tile is only the finish. The membrane is what keeps the unit below dry, so it has to be continuous, with no gaps at the drain or where the wall meets the floor.
Before any tile is set, the shower pan gets a flood test that runs for 24 hours. The pan is filled with water and checked for any drop in level. A drop means water is leaving the pan, and in a tower that water has somewhere expensive to go. Finding the leak while the floor is open is much easier than finding it after the tile is set.
The floor also has to drain. The shower floor slopes 1/4 inch per foot toward the drain, so water runs off instead of standing on the membrane.
Behind the shower tile, use cement backer board or a foam panel made for wet areas. Plain gypsum drywall should not sit behind a shower, because it soaks up water. Walls that take daily spray need that board behind them, not gypsum.
Set the tile with at least 95% mortar coverage in wet areas, so no hollow spots trap water behind it. Leave movement joints at the perimeter and wherever one plane meets another, such as the shower wall meeting the bathroom floor.
On a bathroom floor that gets wet, porcelain with a DCOF of 0.42 or higher is the safer pick. Grout can be cement or epoxy. Epoxy does not stain and never needs sealing. Natural stone does need a sealer, so ask about the finish before you choose it.
A small condo bathroom has more cuts around the toilet, the vanity and the niche. Each cut is an edge that has to stay sealed. In a small room those edges sit close together, so clean cuts make a visible difference.
Before the tile
In a tower, the membrane under the shower is the layer between the tile and the unit below.
Associations often fix work hours and elevator bookings, so the tile schedule has to fit inside them.
The shower pan holds water for 24 hours before tile. In a tower, a drop in level is a leak that can reach the unit below.
Many associations ask for sound-control underlayment under hard floors, so check that requirement before you pick the tile.
The price depends on the size of the bathroom, how much wall gets tile, the shower work and the tile you choose. In a tower, access and the association's rules add planning time, which is part of the job. Large-format tile needs a flatter substrate, and natural marble needs more careful setting and sealing. We quote after measuring your bathroom, so the number reflects your room.
The building sets the outer limits: the association's work hours and the elevator booking come first. Inside those limits the order is fixed. Old surfaces come out, the membrane goes on, the pan is flood-tested for 24 hours, then the tile is set and the grout follows. The test is a wait that cannot be shortened.
It depends on the address. Permits come from the city for addresses inside city limits and from the county for unincorporated areas. The City of Miami runs its own building department, and Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Doral and Aventura are separate cities with their own. Kendall is unincorporated and goes through Miami-Dade County. In a condo, also check the association's rules.
On a floor that gets wet, use porcelain with a DCOF of 0.42 or higher. Humidity stays high here most of the year, so the grout and the sealed edges matter as much as the tile. Natural marble suits a primary bath, but it needs sealing and more upkeep.
"Full master bathroom renovation — floor, walls, shower surround, and niche. AP Stone did the substrate, waterproofing, and tile in a single coordinated project. Absolutely perfect result, done in five days."
Carlos M.
Miami — Master Bathroom
"We had two bathrooms done at once to minimize disruption. The crew worked both rooms simultaneously. The 24x48 porcelain in both rooms looks incredible. No issues after 18 months."
Susan K.
Miami — Two Bathroom Renovation
"Guest bathroom in subway marble wall tile and large-format porcelain floor. They leveled the old substrate before installing — something two other quotes didn't even mention. The floor is perfectly flat."
Michael B.
Miami — Guest Bathroom
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