Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Schluter Bathroom Remodeling: The Tampa Owner’s Guide
A full Schluter-system bathroom remodel in Tampa typically runs $9,000 to $28,000 installed, depending on shower size, whether you’re converting a tub, and what’s hiding behind the old walls. Most owners call us after a failed tile job or a leaking shower pan, not because they planned a remodel on a Tuesday. We stock Schluter KERDI-BOARD, KERDI membrane, DITRA-HEAT, and the matching trim profiles, and we install them to Schluter’s published specifications. Bradford Remodeling Co Tampa is an independent contractor, not a Schluter dealer or affiliate. We’re the crew that fixes the Schluter work when it was done wrong the first time.
Here’s the scene we see repeat across Tampa neighborhoods: a homeowner pulls a loose tile near the shower curb and finds drywall behind it, no waterproofing, and a sponge where a substrate used to be. Or a shower that leaked for a year, quietly eating the subfloor under the pan. That’s when the conversation shifts from “can you patch this tile?” to “how much to do it right?” The answer starts with what Schluter product line you have, what failed, and what’s under it.
Which Schluter Models This Applies To
We work across the full Schluter product range for bathrooms: KERDI-BOARD shower walls and curbs, KERDI and KERDI-DS waterproofing membranes, DITRA and DITRA-HEAT uncoupling membranes for heated floors, KERDI-LINE and KERDI-DRAIN assemblies, and the matching profiles from the Schiene, Jolly, Rondec, and Quadec lines. If your shower was built with a Schluter system, we can match the existing components. If it was built without one and you want it now, that’s a conversion.
One identification gotcha specific to Schluter: the orange membrane you can see is never the whole system. A real Schluter shower includes the membrane, the KERDI-BOARD substrate, the KERDI-BAND at every seam, the pre-formed corners at the curb and niche, and the drain assembly. If any one of those is missing or was skipped, the system fails as a unit. We’ve torn out showers in Seminole Heights where a contractor used KERDI membrane on the walls but skipped the band at the floor-to-wall transition because it “looked fine.” It wasn’t fine. That seam is the most common flood point in any Schluter shower.
Aftermarket versus OEM: Schluter is a closed system. Generic cement board and roll-on waterproofing do not integrate with KERDI seams the way Schluter components do. We install genuine Schluter because the bond, thickness, and fleece-facing properties are matched. A substitution in the substrate or band is a leak waiting for the next humid Tampa August.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Schluter Bathroom Remodeling Is Failing
- Loose or hollow-sounding tiles near the shower floor or curb. That’s water intrusion behind the tile, and it’s already damaged the substrate bond. Tile doesn’t loosen on a properly waterproofed Schluter wall; it loosens when water got where it should never be.
- Musty odor you can’t place, strongest after a shower. Organic growth behind tile or under a pan. Tampa’s humidity makes this worse than in dryer markets; a small leak becomes a mold issue in weeks, not months.
- Discoloration or staining on the ceiling below a second-story bathroom. That’s a pan or drain-body leak traveling down. By the time the ceiling shows it, the framing has been wet for a while.
- Cracked grout at the wall-to-floor joints. That is the movement joint, and Schluter specifies it be filled with a flexible sealant, not rigid grout. Rigid grout there cracks the moment the house moves, and Tampa houses move.
- The shower drain has visible standing water around it or soft spots in the floor outside the curb. Soft floor outside the shower is a failed pan leak, full stop. Standing water around the drain means the bonding flange or height adjustment was installed incorrectly.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
A complete Schluter bathroom remodel in Tampa runs $9,000 to $28,000 installed. Here’s how that breaks down:
- Walk-in Schluter shower, standard 60″ x 32″ footprint: $4,500 to $12,000
- Tub-to-Schluter-shower conversion: $3,500 to $10,000
- Full Schluter bathroom remodel (shower, floor, vanity, fixtures): $9,000 to $28,000
- Small bathroom with Schluter walls and DITRA floor: $5,000 to $12,000
What drives the range: shower size and layout, whether the existing framing is square or needs correction, whether the old pan rotted the subfloor, and tile selection. A 12″ ceramic tile runs less per square foot than a 24″ porcelain or a natural stone that needs sealing. Every quote includes demolition, substrate replacement, full Schluter installation to spec, tile, grout, silicone, and a written scope of work. No change order surprises later.
Every Bradford Remodeling Co Tampa job carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the work fails inside a year, we come back and correct it at no charge. That’s in writing, handed to you at close-out, with the scope listed.
DIY or Call Us?
What you can safely do before we arrive: identify your shower’s construction type, note where the water is collecting, and shut off the water to the room if there’s active leakage. What you should not do: pull tiles to “find the leak.” Once you remove a tile from a Schluter wall, you’ve broken the waterproofing layer, and if the leak was elsewhere, you now have two problems. Waterproofing is not a patch job. The seams, corners, and drain flanges are part of one continuous plane, and a break anywhere is a break everywhere.
Schluter work is not a scene for the YouTube crowd. The margin between a waterproof shower and a $28,000 mold remediation is about three millimeters of KERDI-BAND placement. Call us at (941) 655-9297 and we’ll get eyes on it.
FAQs
A properly installed Schluter bathroom system lasts 25 to 40 years, though tile and grout may need maintenance before the waterproofing itself fails. In Tampa, the real lifespan risk is not the membrane; it’s what a slow leak does to the framing around it before you notice.
It depends on where the water is coming from. A single cracked tile or failed grout joint at the drain can sometimes be reset and re-sealed. A leak at a KERDI seam, curb, or drain body means the waterproofing plane is compromised, and the repair is a section rebuild, not a patch. Call (941) 655-9297 for a straight answer after an inspection.
A typical Schluter shower replacement runs 5 to 10 working days. A full bathroom remodel runs 2 to 4 weeks, depending on tile lead times and whether the framing needs correction. We give a written schedule with the written price, and we hold to both.
We keep KERDI-BOARD, KERDI membrane, KERDI-BAND, DITRA, DITRA-HEAT cable, and standard drain assemblies stocked on the truck. Specialty colors or profile finishes get ordered with a lead time. You never need to source Schluter components on your own. We also regularly install complementary brands like KraftMaid vanities, Cambria or Silestone counters, and Kohler or Moen fixtures when a full remodel is the scope.
Call Bradford Remodeling Co Tampa at (941) 655-9297 for a free estimate on your Schluter bathroom remodel. Curtis Lane and our crew will give you a straight number, a clear scope, and no surprises at close-out.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co Tampa, serving Tampa and nearby areas.
